Pink—a new variety!
Magical—delicious!
For Little Black, this temptation was absolutely irresistible. There was no reason not to give it a taste!
But the moment she took her first step forward, the knight beside the pink puffshroom reacted instantly. Several fungal tendrils flashed like lightning, wrapping around the still-bewildered Inanna and immediately fleeing!
That rapidly approaching mass of black mushroom in the distance, radiating an aura of "dinner time," made the completely dumbfounded Edin's scalp tingle with fear. Without a word, he silently cast a powerful invisibility spell on himself and shrank into the shadows.
Who knew if this was something the boss had arranged?
He didn't dare act rashly.
Inanna had no idea what was happening. Bound by the knight's tendrils, she had no ability to resist, and her commands had no effect.
"Boss! Boss! What's going on? Why is it tying me up and running away?"
"That's what I want to know! Why did you transform yourself into a puffshroom?"
"I-I-I wanted to try connecting to the fungal carpet!" Inanna replied with a mix of panic and embarrassment.
"???"
Something's not right with you!
When Lin Jun saw Inanna using transformation magic, his entire mushroom cap was full of question marks, not understanding what she meant.
And when Little Black caught the scent and came over, Lin Jun's whole mushroom went numb!
This was someone who carried the same mark of vengeance as her!
She ate everything—this would only harm herself!
Fortunately, Little Black just thought this was the usual pre-meal exercise she played with the puffshrooms, so she didn't use her full strength.
But this still wouldn't do!
While Lin Jun tried to dissuade Little Black through the fungal network, he controlled several honey-covered sweet puffshrooms to charge out.
They jumped out one by one, throwing themselves desperately toward the underside of the big black mushroom's cap—the location of Little Black's mouth after her mimicry.
Faced with sweet puffshrooms actively diving into her mouth, Little Black really couldn't refuse such hospitality.
One, two, three...
Finally, a big black mushroom with a round, bulging belly, covered from head to toe in honey from the "battle," collapsed under a giant mushroom tree.
She was stuffed...
"Burp..."
When the overly enthusiastic puffshrooms were force-feeding her halfway through, she had already forgotten that pink puffshroom completely.
The overstuffed Little Black struggled to move her heavy body, slowly crawling back to her warm little nest. Soon, satisfied snoring sounds could be heard.
But in her dreams, that pink, tender puffshroom radiating tempting magical fragrance once again made her drool with desire...
...
Damn it!
What kind of fetish did this pink puffshroom have? That nearly caused a major problem!
Grabbing the still-invisible Edin, he brought both of them to the sixth floor, isolating them from Little Black.
Completely unaware that she had just brushed past the edge of a top predator's menu, as soon as the pink puffshroom was dropped next to the sixth floor's massive "Puffshroom Public Cafeteria," she cheered and eagerly "splat"—plastered herself into the moist fungal carpet.
When countless delicate fungal threads gently wound around and connected to her body, that familiar and deeply missed sensation—as if returning to the womb—of warmth and fullness instantly enveloped her.
In this moment, there was no duke's daughter, no Inanna—only a puffshroom completely integrated into the fungal carpet network, being gently "filled" with surging magical power and nutrients.
No worries, no troubles—only pure, incomparable satisfaction!
Several minutes later, "feeding" had long since finished, energy replenishment had reached saturation, yet the pink puffshroom remained motionless, lying comfortably on the fungal carpet with her little stubby legs wiggling up and down. It seemed she was determined to stay in this tender paradise until the transformation spell automatically wore off.
"Do you... want to try it too?"
The devil's temptation echoed in Edin's mind. Looking at the completely indulgent young lady before him, Edin firmly shook his head.
Although he had already pledged allegiance to the puffshrooms, he was still human. Being assimilated into a puffshroom was too terrifying.
Actually, Lin Jun was just asking casually.
Seeing that Edin didn't need it, he naturally wouldn't force him.
"Edin," Lin Jun's thoughts turned to approval, carrying obvious satisfaction, "this time, you did quite well!"
Whether it was cleverly calling Inanna over through guild channels, or "perfectly timing" the "discovery" and capture of the knight puffshroom in the deep zone—Edin's execution was flawless.
Lin Jun naturally wouldn't shortchange him.
A puffshroom carrying two heavy crystals that radiated pure and powerful magical fluctuations presented them to Edin.
"A-grade magic crystals!? And... this big?!" Edin's voice cracked.
He wasn't inexperienced—his own staff was embedded with an A-grade magic crystal he'd bought at great expense. That crystal was only finger-sized, already a precious item!
But these two before him... each was as large as an adult's palm!
Sharp-edged, completely flawless and clear, with what seemed like liquid magical halos slowly flowing within. Even more astonishing was that their shape, size, and even the frequency of their magical fluctuations were nearly identical!
These were absolutely perfect base materials for crafting twin magical items requiring perfect resonance!
But using A-grade crystals of this quality for anything other than forging a powerful staff would be wasteful!
For a moment, holding these two magic crystals, Edin fell into a state of tremendous, blissful anxiety.
After a long pause, he finally snapped out of his daze and carefully stored the two crystals.
Looking up again, he seemed to have made some kind of resolution.
"Boss! I... am also willing to become a puffshroom!"
"What are you saying? I don't understand."
...
...
...
The misunderstanding ran deep, explanations were troublesome, so Lin Jun simply sent Edin to the fungal carpet to experience what fungal carpet magic replenishment was all about.
The two A-grade magic crystals he'd given him were indeed precious, but to Lin Jun, they were just so-so.
Since reclaiming the old mushroom garden, that magic crystal mine naturally wouldn't remain idle.
The crystals mined there were much higher quality than those from the fifth floor, and with the puffshrooms' [Crystal Symbiosis LV7], A-grade magic crystals were never in short supply.
Lin Jun had a premonition that when this skill upgraded to LV8, he should be able to produce S-grade magic crystals.
However, improving this skill could only rely on him continuously devouring massive amounts of low-grade magic crystals to slowly accumulate experience—pure grinding work. It wasn't clear when it could level up again.
Actually, if Edin had fewer skills, Lin Jun would have wanted to reward him with some practical abilities.
Unfortunately, as an experienced diamond-level middle-aged adventurer, his skill list was even longer than Dylan's. Lin Jun currently couldn't bear to spend that much magic power adding skills for him.
Fortunately, judging from Edin's reaction, simple and crude hard currency rewards had already exceeded his needs.
---
The sixth floor entertained two meritorious contributors.
In the deep zone, a certain tailless silver-scaled lizardman who had finally completed his modifications slowly awakened.
"Boss?" Norris's consciousness was still somewhat foggy.
"You're awake! Now that you're up, come test things out!"
Lin Jun was already dying to know what changes would occur when a key skill like [Mental Integration LV7] was applied to someone else!
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