Reincarnated as a Mushroom?-Chapter 47 - 46: The Soul of the Beast Made Manifest

Chapter 46: The Soul of the Beast Made Manifest

---

The light was blinding.

Not metaphorically — not theatrically. Literally, painfully, retina-scorching white-hot psionic brilliance radiated from the hovering form. And within that light, something shifted. Something grew.

Crystal stood transfixed, her psionic senses flaring like wildfire, watching as the luminous anomaly began to evolve. The glow expanded, twisted unnaturally in one direction — then convulsed, reshaped, and surged in another. It was trial and error incarnate. Evolution without restraint. A divine tantrum of form-finding.

Eventually, the light settled on a shape — her shape. The predator’s form. The one Irvine had dissected. Only now, it was... colossal. The form thickened, widened, and grew until it towered over the lab, stretching to nearly two and a half meters in height. If the original jungle predator had looked ominous in the brush, this one looked like a biomechanical nightmare sculpted from divine wrath.

The creature’s musculature rippled like taut cables beneath synthetic fur. Its forelimbs — already massive before — had doubled in density. The paws now looked less like feline feet and more like weaponized battering rams. Each claw, once a razor, now resembled a jagged, serrated obsidian dagger that pulsed with latent psychic feedback.

Its twin tails lashed behind it like whips of energy-bound sinew, moving with the calm grace of a regal executioner. The beast’s fur — once natural grays and wild stripes — had been transformed into a glowing, rippling pattern of blue and white, radiant as nebulae and etched down its spine with jagged psionic spikes, humming like the thrum of distant drums of war.

And yet... it lay still. Hovering in the air, asleep. Dreaming. Waiting.

The blinding light finally faded, unveiling the completed creature in all its unnatural majesty.

And I, Irvine, stood before it — slack-jawed and with the only words I could muster:

"What the fuck."

I didn’t move. Not out of fear. Out of awe. I felt something—an impulse. My Origin wanted something. It didn’t speak in words or images. Just... a pull. A suggestion. A purpose.

So I moved.

I walked slowly toward the beast, my eyes locked onto its enormous skull. Crystal floated nearby, her eyes twin storms of protective instinct, but her psionic color still flickered a calm lavender. She hadn’t decided to murder anything yet. That was promising. fгeewebnovёl.com

I placed my palm against the creature’s forehead.

And entered Mindspace.

---

Inside, the edges of my mind shimmered like oil on water. I drifted to the boundaries of my mental fortress — the gates of Self. Beyond those gates, in the deeper sea of the psionic realm, floated a familiar shape.

The heart.

Not metaphorical. Not poetic. A literal, luminous, electric-blue heart beat gently in the aether. Pulsing. Waiting.

And Crystal was nearby — I could feel her towering psionic presence looming over the dreamlike horizon, watching, silent. Protective. Terrified.

I reached out with a strand of psionic silk. Delicate. Controlled. Fishing the heart through the barrier of Self, I felt a moment of resistance — a flash of weakness — as it passed through and crossed the veil. Once inside, it didn’t hesitate. It rocketed toward the center of my Mindspace.

Toward my Origin.

There, the transformation began again. This time, I saw it. The heart became the beast. The exact same creature now curled in my lab, but rendered in psionic essence. Pure energy given form through memory, will, and respect.

And then... she opened her eyes.

Sapphire light blazed.

And I was thrown violently back into reality.

---

I blinked. The world returned to focus.

And I was face-to-face with a pair of impossibly blue, wide feline eyes — and then a massive tongue, rougher than sandpaper and big enough to count as a mop, licked my entire face.

"ACK—!!" I flailed backward, too stunned to respond.

Crystal snapped.

In a blur of motion and wrath, she speared me bodily across the lab, her instinct overriding her brain. Her mind didn’t ask questions. She saw: me, blood, predator. Her answer was violence. Soft, guilt-laced violence, but still violence.

One second I was face-to-face with a psionic tiger-beast, and the next, I was sprawled across the lab like a ragdoll with Crystal hovering over me, stroking my hair with trembling hands.

"My love—my love, are you okay?!"

Blood dripped from my nose. "I’m fine, just—what the fuck was that?!"

Crystal turned toward the beast, her psychic aura sharpening like blades.

And then she froze.

Because the beast was... gone.

"Where—"

The massive head of the creature was resting on my shoulder, blinking slowly, nuzzling against my neck like a housecat. Except the size of a car. Crystal’s eyes dilated. Her color changed. Her energy screamed.

I had no choice. I had to neutralize the most dangerous entity in the room — not the beast.

Crystal.

With all the grace of a suicidal idiot, I lunged at her and returned the favor — a full-speed, self-sacrificing spear into her chest. It didn’t hurt her. It just startled her. She fell, mostly out of guilt and panic.

I landed on top of her and pinned her arms beside her head, our faces inches apart.

"Look at me."

Her body tensed.

"I’m fine. That was not the beast’s fault. You need to stop projecting your guilt onto everything with claws and a tongue."

A drop of blood from my nose landed on her lips. She shivered.

Ah, yes. My blood. The hivemind’s most delicious, most intoxicating substance. A taste of my soul, my trust, my everything. That’s why I let Onyx lick my wounds. Why Kimchi kissed them. Why Crystal... melted.

She stilled.

I whispered, "I forgive you, Crystal. I never blamed you in the first place. And if you ever try to run from me again, I swear, I’ll be the one hunting you. Got it?"

She nodded, silently.

And I kissed her. Deeply.

The rage shattered.

When we pulled apart, she looked like herself again. A little sheepish. A little smug. A lot in love.

Then her eyes shifted to the beast again. "So. That’s new."

---

Crystal circled the creature slowly, her mind racing.

"Interesting. It’s physical. But it has no biomass to consume. That’s... disappointing."

I winced. I felt the beast’s discomfort as though it were my own. We were linked.

"Ah," Crystal noted aloud, "Of course. Another being now lives inside your Mindspace. Before me. A rival."

"She’s not a threat," I said.

"She doesn’t hurt you," Crystal clarified, eyes narrowed. "Curious."

She extended a sliver of thought. "May I look?"

I nodded.

She dove into my Mindspace — just a glimpse.

When she returned, she looked... shaken.

"My love," she said, voice soft, "are you sure you’re all right?"

I blinked. "Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?"

She took my hand, her tone dead serious. "The cost of that creature’s creation wasn’t just energy, Irvine. You used a piece of yourself. A shard of your soul. Your psionic essence. That moment of weakness you felt at the gate? That was you, giving something up."

I stared at her. "Wait. What?"

She nodded. "You birthed this being from your soul. You didn’t just create a construct. You forged a companion."

My gaze drifted back to the beast — now curled beside me, its tails swaying gently.

And for the first time, I understood what she was:

Not a pet.

Not a copy.

Not a construct.

She was a psionic heirloom. A living memorial. A tribute to the first life I ever took — a symbol of respect, evolution, and legacy.

I had forged a monster.

And I had loved it into being.

Chapter 46: The Soul of the Beast Made Manifest

---

The light was blinding.

Not metaphorically — not theatrically. Literally, painfully, retina-scorching white-hot psionic brilliance radiated from the hovering form. And within that light, something shifted. Something grew.

Crystal stood transfixed, her psionic senses flaring like wildfire, watching as the luminous anomaly began to evolve. The glow expanded, twisted unnaturally in one direction — then convulsed, reshaped, and surged in another. It was trial and error incarnate. Evolution without restraint. A divine tantrum of form-finding.

Eventually, the light settled on a shape — her shape. The predator’s form. The one Irvine had dissected. Only now, it was... colossal. The form thickened, widened, and grew until it towered over the lab, stretching to nearly two and a half meters in height. If the original jungle predator had looked ominous in the brush, this one looked like a biomechanical nightmare sculpted from divine wrath.

The creature’s musculature rippled like taut cables beneath synthetic fur. Its forelimbs — already massive before — had doubled in density. The paws now looked less like feline feet and more like weaponized battering rams. Each claw, once a razor, now resembled a jagged, serrated obsidian dagger that pulsed with latent psychic feedback.

Its twin tails lashed behind it like whips of energy-bound sinew, moving with the calm grace of a regal executioner. The beast’s fur — once natural grays and wild stripes — had been transformed into a glowing, rippling pattern of blue and white, radiant as nebulae and etched down its spine with jagged psionic spikes, humming like the thrum of distant drums of war.

And yet... it lay still. Hovering in the air, asleep. Dreaming. Waiting.

The blinding light finally faded, unveiling the completed creature in all its unnatural majesty.

And I, Irvine, stood before it — slack-jawed and with the only words I could muster:

"What the fuck."

I didn’t move. Not out of fear. Out of awe. I felt something—an impulse. My Origin wanted something. It didn’t speak in words or images. Just... a pull. A suggestion. A purpose.

So I moved.

I walked slowly toward the beast, my eyes locked onto its enormous skull. Crystal floated nearby, her eyes twin storms of protective instinct, but her psionic color still flickered a calm lavender. She hadn’t decided to murder anything yet. That was promising.

I placed my palm against the creature’s forehead.

And entered Mindspace.

---

Inside, the edges of my mind shimmered like oil on water. I drifted to the boundaries of my mental fortress — the gates of Self. Beyond those gates, in the deeper sea of the psionic realm, floated a familiar shape.

The heart.

Not metaphorical. Not poetic. A literal, luminous, electric-blue heart beat gently in the aether. Pulsing. Waiting.

And Crystal was nearby — I could feel her towering psionic presence looming over the dreamlike horizon, watching, silent. Protective. Terrified.

I reached out with a strand of psionic silk. Delicate. Controlled. Fishing the heart through the barrier of Self, I felt a moment of resistance — a flash of weakness — as it passed through and crossed the veil. Once inside, it didn’t hesitate. It rocketed toward the center of my Mindspace.

Toward my Origin.

There, the transformation began again. This time, I saw it. The heart became the beast. The exact same creature now curled in my lab, but rendered in psionic essence. Pure energy given form through memory, will, and respect.

And then... she opened her eyes.

Sapphire light blazed.

And I was thrown violently back into reality.

---

I blinked. The world returned to focus.

And I was face-to-face with a pair of impossibly blue, wide feline eyes — and then a massive tongue, rougher than sandpaper and big enough to count as a mop, licked my entire face.

"ACK—!!" I flailed backward, too stunned to respond.

Crystal snapped.

In a blur of motion and wrath, she speared me bodily across the lab, her instinct overriding her brain. Her mind didn’t ask questions. She saw: me, blood, predator. Her answer was violence. Soft, guilt-laced violence, but still violence.

One second I was face-to-face with a psionic tiger-beast, and the next, I was sprawled across the lab like a ragdoll with Crystal hovering over me, stroking my hair with trembling hands.

"My love—my love, are you okay?!"

Blood dripped from my nose. "I’m fine, just—what the fuck was that?!"

Crystal turned toward the beast, her psychic aura sharpening like blades.

And then she froze.

Because the beast was... gone.

"Where—"

The massive head of the creature was resting on my shoulder, blinking slowly, nuzzling against my neck like a housecat. Except the size of a car. Crystal’s eyes dilated. Her color changed. Her energy screamed.

I had no choice. I had to neutralize the most dangerous entity in the room — not the beast.

Crystal.

With all the grace of a suicidal idiot, I lunged at her and returned the favor — a full-speed, self-sacrificing spear into her chest. It didn’t hurt her. It just startled her. She fell, mostly out of guilt and panic.

I landed on top of her and pinned her arms beside her head, our faces inches apart.

"Look at me."

Her body tensed.

"I’m fine. That was not the beast’s fault. You need to stop projecting your guilt onto everything with claws and a tongue."

A drop of blood from my nose landed on her lips. She shivered.

Ah, yes. My blood. The hivemind’s most delicious, most intoxicating substance. A taste of my soul, my trust, my everything. That’s why I let Onyx lick my wounds. Why Kimchi kissed them. Why Crystal... melted.

She stilled.

I whispered, "I forgive you, Crystal. I never blamed you in the first place. And if you ever try to run from me again, I swear, I’ll be the one hunting you. Got it?"

She nodded, silently.

And I kissed her. Deeply.

The rage shattered.

When we pulled apart, she looked like herself again. A little sheepish. A little smug. A lot in love.

Then her eyes shifted to the beast again. "So. That’s new."

---

Crystal circled the creature slowly, her mind racing.

"Interesting. It’s physical. But it has no biomass to consume. That’s... disappointing."

I winced. I felt the beast’s discomfort as though it were my own. We were linked.

"Ah," Crystal noted aloud, "Of course. Another being now lives inside your Mindspace. Before me. A rival."

"She’s not a threat," I said.

"She doesn’t hurt you," Crystal clarified, eyes narrowed. "Curious."

She extended a sliver of thought. "May I look?"

I nodded.

She dove into my Mindspace — just a glimpse.

When she returned, she looked... shaken.

"My love," she said, voice soft, "are you sure you’re all right?"

I blinked. "Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?"

She took my hand, her tone dead serious. "The cost of that creature’s creation wasn’t just energy, Irvine. You used a piece of yourself. A shard of your soul. Your psionic essence. That moment of weakness you felt at the gate? That was you, giving something up."

I stared at her. "Wait. What?"

She nodded. "You birthed this being from your soul. You didn’t just create a construct. You forged a companion."

My gaze drifted back to the beast — now curled beside me, its tails swaying gently.

And for the first time, I understood what she was:

Not a pet.

Not a copy.

Not a construct.

She was a psionic heirloom. A living memorial. A tribute to the first life I ever took — a symbol of respect, evolution, and legacy.

I had forged a monster.

And I had loved it into being.

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