CHAPTER 56: VERDANITATION

Back in the hideout, Ash announced his decision to rename the gang.

"So, no objections, right?"

"No, boss. It’s a perfect name for us, who are devoted to you."

"Kind of weird to hear something like that, Jack. Keep it to yourself..."

"I understand, boss. I apologize..." Jack kneeled, then bowed his head unnecessarily low, which made the same kind of uncomfortableness appear in Ash’s mind.

But he could only let it out with a huge sigh and continue with his life.

In the dead of the night, none of Verdant Litany members were asleep.

First of all, they now somehow didn’t feel tired. The urge for sleep was nonexistent.

Their bodies constantly breathed in mana and were constantly energized.

The same goes with their leader. He also didn’t need sleep.

In fact, he might even have forgotten about it if not for the fact that other living beings around him needed sleep to properly function.

He already had a habit of exploring the forest when the night came. He couldn’t just simply decide to lie down after being used to being busy 24/7 for weeks.

To pass the time and make use of his unused energy, Ash wanted to do something productive.

So, Ash decided to make the members of Verdant Litany embody the name better.

There was nothing wrong with the current boys because they already carried Ash’s blessing and devoted themselves to him.

They could even do a litany if they were asked to, but there’s no way in hell Ash would let something like that slide.

He had already gotten embarrassed enough with everyone calling him boss.

But to make them have the Verdant part of the name, Ash wanted to bring a specialty of the Verdant Necropolis onto his little family here in the slum.

Using his own DNA as the source, Ash began growing flowers in the members’ bodies.

The same flower that was growing on top of the verdant wolf’s back. The one that gave it the ability to summon and control vines.

But of course, Ash made the flowers grow on their chest and limited the size.

The strength of the vine they could summon would weaken due to simple biology, but Ash thought that the world wouldn’t be ready yet to see humans walking on the street with flowers growing on their chests.

All of Verdant Litany members could now summon their own vines.

It would be strong enough to strangle a low tier 1 awakened with physical enhancement ability, but it wouldn’t be enough to tie down a raging bull.

When everybody had gotten used to using their vines, Ash told them not to use them carelessly.

Unless it was an emergency situation where it involved their lives, they should refrain from showing other people that they had a living flower growing on their bodies.

Or they could make sure that no one lived to tell the tale.

Either of the two was a valid reason to use the ability.

If everyone around the area had been inducted into Ash’s family, then they wouldn’t need to hide the flowers anymore.

However, for the current status quo, it was still very difficult to do.

Spreading his gifts in the slums, or rather, inside human society, wasn’t as simple as it was in the Verdant Necropolis.

In that fractured zone, the residents, who were all plants and animals, wouldn’t care much about the change in their surroundings.

They wouldn’t suddenly go into a panic if they found out that their neighbors suddenly had the ability to spit out acid bile despite having no mouths before.

As for the humans, things weren’t as simple.

In human society, people would realize it if Old John next door could suddenly lift up a boulder with one hand or grow vines out of his back.

Besides, the types of diseases Ash had were not easily transferable.

The way the animals and plants in the Verdant Necropolis shared Ash’s gift was to poke their fellow creatures with their claws, fangs, or thorns.

By sharing their own blood or bodily fluid with another creature’s open wound, then Ash’s disease and mana would transfer to them.

And what would be weird with a wolf suddenly biting a carnivorous tree’s vine?

Actually... It is weird, but no one would suddenly cast the wolf as a weirdo and throw it outside of the forest.

But if Jack suddenly bit a random girl on the street and dripped his saliva onto the wound?

Hell, even criminals have standards.

Everyone and their mothers would go out on a ped* hunt to kill Jack right on the spot.

’I really do need an airborne disease, don’t I...’

Unfortunately, Ash’s family members couldn’t simply manipulate the diseases on their bodies.

Hence the reason why they couldn’t just throw out mushroom spores and spread out the hallucinogenic spores everywhere like Ash did.

’Well, let’s try finding someone with a common cold when the clinic’s open...’ Ash thought to himself as he gave Jack one more disease.

Besides the basic 4, the berserker thorn, and the steelbark, Ash remembered one more ability that would make Jack a bona fide threat to even someone at Eben’s level.

He already was with his current abilities, but with twitchstep, then someone like Eben wouldn’t even be able to touch Jack without catching him in surprise.

Ash wanted to trust Jack with protecting the Verdant Litany hideout while he went outside.

Something that he expected to do now that he had accepted Eben’s proposal of becoming an underground fighter.

After a quick minute of seizures, Jack finally gained the twitchstep ability.

And who would’ve thought, the sporeblight crawl, the disease that caused twitchstep, caused certain symptoms that were a boon for Ash.

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Sporeblight Crawl (Mushroom Centipede)

A dogcentipede-like creature that releases tiny fungal pods as it scuttles.

+Symptoms:

-Sporogenic Shedding: Tiny spore sacs grow from the infected’s skin and periodically rupture.

-Neuromuscular Jitters: The infected’s limbs occasionally twitch due to nerve interference.

+Ability: Twitchstep I (Active) — Brief bursts of explosive movement.

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It actually caused spore sacs to grow from Jack’s skin.

And when he survived the disease, there were now minuscule spore sacs remaining on his skin.

Which meant that,

"Jack! You could now spread my gift without biting little girls until they bleed!"

Jack stood frozen in place.

His eyes stared wide at Ash.

A tinge of confusion and a ton of worry painted in them.

"Um... Boss? Who said I planned to bite little girls...?"