So mushrooms have grown in this dungeon, huh?
"You—say that again."
Duke Alama's fingers tightened until they turned pale white. The armrest of the mahogany throne let out an unbearable creak under the pressure.
Cold sweat seeped down the back of Butler Eric's neck, yet he still enunciated every word clearly.
"Pero and Ox, using Your Grace's name, tricked the young lady into leaving. They first went to the Amethyst Dungeon, then crossed the border and fled to the Hermit Empire. Judging from their route, the person they are seeking refuge with should be Duke Sigmund."
"Damn those traitors! Damn those vampires!"
The solid wooden armrest was crushed to pieces. Blood-red flames churned within the duke's pupils.
"Inanna is still alive. The tracking mark is still active, and the revenge seal hasn't been transferred. I must go and save her."
"My lord!"
Seeing the duke grab his greatsword, clearly about to rush out without regard for consequences, Eric had no choice but to shout.
"The moment you leave, Duke Sigmund will immediately lead the Blood Knight Order to raze Highfort Fortress to the ground. If Highfort falls, there will be nothing left to defend us. At that point, not only your duchy—but the entire Southern Federation—will be in danger."
"Then what? Am I supposed to watch Inanna die?!"
Cracks spread across the bluestone tiles beneath Alama's feet. Like a spiderweb, the fractures expanded rapidly. The oppressive aura of a Level 70 peak human powerhouse forced Eric down onto one knee.
"The Diamond-ranked adventurer team Silver Thorn is currently active nearby. We can secretly commission them to search for the young lady inside the Amethyst Dungeon."
"You, on the other hand, should create the illusion of leaving Highfort. Once Sigmund takes the bait and comes, we strike him head-on—and settle the score for his treachery."
After finishing in one breath, Eric nearly collapsed to the ground.
The pressure surrounding him gradually dissipated. Alama returned to his seat. With a single motion of his hand, he condensed the coordinates marking Inanna's location into a crystal and handed it to the butler.
"Do as you said. Tell those adventurers—bring Inanna back alive."
"I will reward them with a city."
"But if anything were to happen to my daughter…"
"Yes, my lord."
Deep within the dungeon, inside the mushroom garden.
Completely unaware that her father had already begun searching for her, Inanna stood at the edge of the breeding area, watching the scene before her with a hint of fear.
Beside the deep pit used for raising slimes, a hollow Pooji stuffed full of ordinary mushrooms was feeding them to the slimes.
As it was pouring the mushrooms in, one of the slimes suddenly bounced up, stuck to its foot, and dragged the Pooji down into the pit.
In the next moment, the slimes inside the pit swarmed over it, wrapping the Pooji completely.
The trapped Pooji was still struggling—it looked like it might still be saved.
"Lin Jun, Lin Jun! Your slimes are eating a Pooji!"
Busy with his work, Lin Jun heard the shout and briefly shifted his attention over.
"I know. I'll send a new Pooji over right away. I already told you—the breeding area is dangerous. Don't go over there casually."
Inanna wanted to say that wasn't what she meant, but when she looked again, the Pooji inside the slimes had already gone completely still and had begun to be dissolved. In the end, she swallowed her words.
The underground world was truly cruel.
The underground world really was cruel.
To survive in such a harsh place, Lin Jun was never not busy.
The Poojis themselves had very limited intelligence—at most, after being given an order, they could automatically navigate to their destination.
Whether it was breeding or mining, everything required Lin Jun's constant attention and fine control. And on top of that, the boundaries of the mushroom garden were occasionally assaulted by various monsters.
Even with Level 5 Mental Integration, operating everything was still extremely taxing.
Being able to spare the energy to familiarize Inanna with the surroundings was, in truth, already quite rare.
Although he didn't show it, Lin Jun was actually very happy to finally have someone he could communicate with.
At least from now on, he wouldn't need to rely on talking to himself just to keep his language skills from degrading.
However, after that, Lin Jun had no time to look after her anymore and could only let her wander around on her own.
He needed to focus his attention on the boundaries of the mushroom garden—fire mosquitoes were swarming over again.
These flying insects looked like mosquitoes but were slightly larger than Poojis. Their average level was around LV20.
They were far from being the strongest monsters in the area, but they were absolutely among the most annoying.
They could fly, were extremely agile, moved in groups, and whenever they got the chance, they would use their sharp proboscises to skewer isolated Poojis. They were Lin Jun's greatest enemy during his early development phase.
Fortunately, Lin Jun already had a well-established response strategy.
Facing the swarm of incoming fire mosquitoes, several Poojis whose mushroom caps had been replaced with nozzle-like structures forcefully sprayed slime mucus into the air.
The slime had extremely strong adhesion and corrosive properties. Once a fire mosquito was hit, it could no longer fly and was forced to fall to the ground.
Meanwhile,大片 of purple mushrooms on the ground released spores with hallucinogenic effects, leaving the fallen fire mosquitoes weak and helpless.
Very quickly, after losing seven of their companions, the remaining fire mosquitoes fled without even looking back.
But Lin Jun knew well—these creatures never learned their lesson. They would come again next time.
Poojis with chitin-covered heads moved in one by one to finish off the unconscious fire mosquitoes. The monster corpses were then thrown into the mushroom garden to become fresh fertilizer.
[Seven Deadly Sins – Greed triggered]
[Plundered Skill: High-Temperature Resistance LV5 → LV6]
Leveled up?
Not bad, not bad. Once his high-temperature resistance increased a bit more, he could try sneaking through the Flame Demon's lair and see what the upper levels looked like.
He opened the panel.
[Level: LV42][HP: 420 / 420][MP: 8045 / 12450]
[Racial Talents:]Magic Absorption (Mycelium can draw magic from the environment, continuously providing experience)Scavenger (Gain nutrients and experience by decomposing corpses)
[Permanent Status: Connected to the Fungal Network]
[Skills:]Pooji Creation LV5, Mana Storage LV4, Mana Perception LV4, Entangle LV3, Mushroom Cannon LV6, Precision LV4, Mimicry LV2, Storage Sac LV4, Mycelial Network LV6, Minion Control LV6, Mental Integration LV5, Airflow Perception LV6, High-Temperature Resistance LV6, Evasion LV6, Peck LV7, Hallucinogenic Spores LV4, Chitinous Shell LV4, Digestive Slime LV3, Rolling Charge LV5
[Titles:]Seven Deadly Sins – Greed (Unique Title): Randomly plunder a skill or gain a fixed buff from corpsesMosquito Slayer: Damage dealt to mosquito-type enemies +10%Hero: Not restricted by racial level limits; can randomly draw one special title or skill (Already used)
Lin Jun's panel didn't even list any attributes. His true body was nothing more than an ordinary-looking mushroom.
Having only 420 HP at Level 42 was exactly what a mushroom should have. Someone like Inanna having over 3,000 HP was simply outrageous.
As for Lin Jun's abnormally high mana pool, that was actually because the entire mushroom garden was being counted as part of it.
The most absurd thing on the panel was undoubtedly the Hero title—even Lin Jun himself felt it was ridiculous.
How did a mushroom end up with a title like that?
Lin Jun had never seen his summoner and had no idea whether they were a deranged archmage or a god with a twisted sense of humor.
But one thing was certain—
That person was absolutely not normal.
Who would deliberately summon a mushroom as a hero?
Still, thanks to this title, Lin Jun had drawn Greed using the hero's privilege. Then, relying on Greed, he continuously plundered skills from underground monsters, and finally armed his Poojis with those abilities.
From being chased by slimes for meals at first, to now marking territory and farming in the corners of the dungeon, the whole process had been nothing but hardship and tears.
It was hard to imagine what he would have done if he hadn't drawn Greed—most likely, he would have ended up as nothing more than a pile of mush.
So… why summon him as a mushroom?
This question was becoming an obsession, second only to reaching the surface.
After dealing with the fire mosquitoes, Lin Jun finally had time to see what the new little friend was up to.
Ah… she was sneaking to pick up some of the dug-up purple crystals…