Deep within the tunnel, the tremors of puffshroom carapaces chiseling away never ceased in the darkness.
Several bull-horse puffshrooms were collecting the rubble from the ground and hauling it out. Since the tunnel was already several hundred meters long, the round trips required enormous amounts of time, to the point where the number of bull-horse puffshrooms responsible for transporting rubble now exceeded the number of excavation puffshrooms actually breaking rocks.
This area had already extended far beyond the amethyst mine's extraction range. What they were digging up was nothing but worthless stone, yet the puffshrooms continued their work under orders.
Due to the excessive distance, Lin Jun had no choice but to extend the mycelium carpet all the way in.
To describe this entire project as unprofitable and a massive waste of resources would be no exaggeration whatsoever.
But if they could eventually dig out the dungeon, it would all be worth it!
*Clang—*
Unlike the ordinary excavation sounds, this was like striking something exceptionally hard. A puffshroom trembled and collapsed to the ground—dead.
The tremendous recoil had destroyed its internal mycelium structure. But this wasn't a major problem; death wasn't the end.
Since these excavation puffshrooms occasionally injured themselves from the vibrations, Lin Jun had equipped them all with [Mycelium Reconstruction LV4]. Even if they were shocked to death like this, as long as they remained relatively intact, they could lie there for a while and then get back up to work again.
What concerned Lin Jun was that what lay before it was just ordinary rock layers—why would there be such massive recoil damage?
*Clang—*
Just as Lin Jun was preparing to investigate, the same sound rang out again, and another puffshroom trembled and went limp.
Lin Jun immediately ordered all excavation puffshrooms to stop working and concentrate near where the two puffshrooms had been shocked to death, beginning careful, meticulous excavation.
Before long, a "wall" was cleared.
Calling it a "wall" was somewhat misleading—it was actually the same rock found everywhere else in the tunnel, appearing no different from any other, but it was impossibly smooth!
Not smooth in appearance, but smooth to the actual touch.
Without the slightest bump or depression, when a puffshroom's shell pressed against it, it couldn't even feel any friction!
It was absolutely absurd!
If he had to describe it, it was like an extremely thin yet incredibly sturdy transparent wall separating the inside from the outside.
This "wall" was different from the air wall Lin Jun had encountered on the staircase before. The air wall had felt like a spring—just a force preventing forward movement.
This transparent wall was different. It was ridiculously hard.
To test the transparent wall's hardness, Lin Jun even used mushroom cannons and self-detonation, which caused a small-scale collapse that took ages to clear the rubble from.
Even so, the transparent wall remained completely unmoved.
Lin Jun even brought Little Black over to see if she could smash through the transparent wall.
One punch!
The transparent wall didn't budge at all!
Instead, Little Black, who had always been unstoppable, clutched her right claw and rolled around on the ground "hmm-hmm-ing" in pain, making such a commotion it nearly caused another collapse.
Afterward, she hid in the mushroom house and ignored the mushrooms entirely. Lin Jun had no choice but to rummage through his little treasury. Unable to find any ordinary gems, he could only pick out a ring with +1 Strength to give to Little Black before finally restoring her favor.
Since they couldn't dig horizontally, Lin Jun had the puffshrooms change direction and begin spiraling upward.
This time they didn't dig for long. After most of a day, with another trembling sound—they hit the top!
This height was roughly at the junction between the fourth and fifth floors.
So... was he living inside a giant glass box?
Though he had long anticipated that they wouldn't be able to dig their way out, discovering that he was living inside a giant glass box still felt quite peculiar, reminding Lin Jun of petri dishes from his previous life...
---
United Kingdom's capital, Oath City.
In this land where every inch was worth its weight in gold, the eastern district housed a magnificent yet sparsely visited building—the Relic Society headquarters.
This building, over 300 years old, was constructed from white granite as its main body, supplemented with decorative wooden structures. Time had left numerous traces upon it.
Under the midday sun, the entire building presented a warm honey-colored tone.
A luxurious carriage pulled by four black horses stopped before the main entrance, the prominent coat of arms on the carriage representing the family it belonged to.
Behind the carriage followed four mounted guards.
Erik handed the reins to a servant who hurried forward, then personally opened the carriage door and helped the young lady seated inside step down.
"Miss Inanna, Mr. Erik, welcome to our establishment."
A Relic Society staff member who had been waiting at the entrance smiled and approached them. Inanna noticed the badge on his chest representing scholarly rank and curtsied slightly, performing a noble's courtesy.
The "Hero Summoning" had long since passed, but the demon clan, having suffered losses, had never ceased their retaliatory actions. Inanna had thus been forced to remain confined at home for several months.
However, she had never forgotten about helping Lin Jun search for information about dungeons.
This time, after much pleading and persuasion, she had finally obtained her father's consent to visit the Relic Society under Erik's accompaniment.
Erik, standing beside her, naturally guessed that Inanna's purpose for coming here was probably related to that letter from before. He had also sent people to investigate that man named Dylan.
Though there were suspicious points, such as suddenly acquiring a considerable sum of money to purchase life-reversal potions.
But logically speaking, he should have had no connection with the young lady whatsoever.
Erik judged that he was probably just an intermediary, but Erik couldn't discover anything about the person behind him.
Recently, even Dylan had disappeared, so the investigation had to be temporarily suspended.
Under the scholar's guidance, Inanna passed through the main hall, walked through corridors for nearly ten minutes, and arrived at a library-like location.
"Level 2 access clearance."
The scholar produced a document bearing Duke Alama's seal and handed it to the old man guarding the entrance.
After glancing at it, the old man signed the document and allowed Inanna to enter, while Erik remained where he was—in principle, he lacked the qualifications to enter. The Level 2 access clearance was granted to Inanna by Duke Alama.
It could even be said that if he weren't accompanying Inanna, he wouldn't have been able to enter the Relic Society headquarters at all.
"Miss Inanna, you applied to review materials related to dungeons, correct?" the scholar walking ahead asked gently.
Though he behaved like a true reception attendant, Inanna dared not treat him carelessly—after all, her magic teacher was merely a scholar as well.
"Yes."
The scholar led Inanna through three compartments to a row of bookshelves.
"Everything in this room contains materials about dungeons, covering a very broad range. You may select what interests you.
Since these are 'Secret' level materials, you cannot take them out. Please finish reading them here."
Inanna first nodded, then looked at the entire row of bookshelves feeling somewhat overwhelmed—she hadn't expected there would be so many!
She looked toward the scholar as if seeking help.
Seeing her expression, the scholar finally couldn't help but chuckle softly. After thinking for a moment, he stepped forward and said: "I personally recommend you start with this one."
With that, he pulled a book from the shelf: *"Dungeon Structures Beyond the Naked Eye"*
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