
You can absolutely do something like this. I encourage all forms of learning. Never to late to learn new and fascinating things. Heck what I am doing now is giving me tons of new stuff to learn. And I have to do so independently. Independent learning is someone the best learning. No grades and no harping from teachers lol
I am terrible a writing research papers so I did terrible in actual class but put me in a lab and I dominate lol. Find something you love and learn it. Even if you don't got to college for it. Learning is something we are all doing ever se and of the day.

That's hard to say....the mushroom seemed to already have its own intelligence....and for whatever reason, despite being a mushroom, isn't an invasive species. It was already communicating with the dying An Zhe ... We don't see that happening with any of the other non-human life forms. Prior to engaging with and then fusing with the human DNA they were treated as not so intelligent?!? And for whatever reason started attacking or spreading?!? Which is kind of funny, considering that fungi are an invasive species and grows well in many environments and its spores are easily dispersed and there are a MILLION SPORES. Yet this story chose to only it have it produce ONLY ONE?!?

We do also have throw away real biology though. On both the human side and the fugus side. The fugus evolved to have intelligence.
We are see the insect part as a coordinated attack, with the worms, thus intelligence is evolving in. Now on the predatory side we haven seen. But let's assume there too.
The mushrooms species probably had evolved to only bring to life 1 spore. And we know in reality that mushrooms are invasive. But this one evolved to not be invasive

What I mean is that the survival of the species involves producing more than ONE heir. If that one progeny dies the whole "colony" dies. Though, assuming that the spore is resistant to being demolished, then perhaps. But it's a typical of a species to evolve to only produce just a single offspring. Although it's not quite an offspring as it is more resistant to destruction than other life forms? Idk.

Oh I agree it would be a very destructive evolution path, only one offspring. Not very "spread the line" so to speak. But this is a science fantasy, they get to play with the science and reality of it all.
I mean when they explained the comic radiation hitting earth and people surviving it. Yeah we as humans don't evolve that fast.
Sure humans are very adaptable to their surroundings. I like it when stories throw a little bit of truth in the storyline. Makes it more attachable for my mind. Lol.

Yeah. But it just blows my mind that mushrooms have one spore when literally there are millions!!!! It's so against nature so to speak. Given how they go with the insects incubating inside humans en masse but not the mushroom. Like make it make sense. Like, ok, let's say he has multiple spores but ONE got taken.
Anywho, yes. Ik that's how sci Fi works but

Maybe that's it. Maybe there are millions of spores, but because of its intelligence, it cares for all its spores. And since only 1 spore was taken its focusing on that spore. It wants it sporling(?) back... I feel like my brain power is on the frits but I am ok! Coffee is needed.
And with the insect thing I think that's where the "grain of truth" is. To make it more believable. Spores to speak.
Biology for the win. We share DNA with mushrooms. Is that probably why our dear loveable MC hasn't been found out yet. Is it becasue he absorbed the original human and thus got more of its DNA type. Thus making himself a hybrid and not a xenogenic..