Lin Jun now felt like his eyes were about to be blinded by the brilliance—if he had eyes, that is.
Don't let the abundance of Puffkins in his mushroom garden fool you; basic version Puffkins were all standard bottom-of-the-food-chain creatures with 1 point in all five attributes and 10 HP. Could an ordinary Puffkin reach the realm of 3000 HP?
Of course, if Lin Jun wanted to handle her, it would still be quite easy. It was just that row of fixed effects that truly made this mushroom envious.
So envious that he almost wanted to devour her and seize her abilities...
Just kidding—it was rare to encounter someone he could actually communicate with.
Besides, judging from her status panel, this Puffkin was most likely human. Lin Jun hadn't yet fallen so far from grace as to feast on living people.
"Calmed down yet?" Lin Jun controlled the Puffkins that had been restraining her to loosen up a bit, not wanting to put too much pressure on her.
Having a voice suddenly appear in her mind left Inanna quite panicked. Even now, she had no idea whether the other party was human or demon—she only knew that all the Puffkins in the vicinity were under their control.
Could this be the follow-up to that conspiracy, someone here to execute me?
"If... if you're going to kill me, just do it!"
"How did I ever say I was going to kill you? Could you please calm down a little?"
"Eh?"
This outsider mushroom really had no manners, making such a mess of his mushroom garden without even knowing to apologize.
"I am the lord of all mushrooms on this level. You can call me Lin Jun. What's your name?"
"Mushroom... lord..."
Inanna couldn't fathom how the words "mushroom" and "lord" could possibly be connected.
In her understanding, weren't mushrooms creatures with a level cap of 10 that would be treated as food by other monsters of just a few levels, even when maxed out—bottom-tier beings?
Yet the scene she witnessed here didn't look like something a mere level 10 monster could possess, let alone this communication method that resembled 5th-tier magic telepathy.
And this was clearly more than just simple telepathy.
Ever since the connection was established, Inanna's perceptual range had instantly expanded from the few meters around her to much farther distances.
Moreover, it was incredibly clear and detailed, as if she were receiving sensory input from all the mushrooms in the surrounding area.
Inanna was completely unable to judge what level of strength this mushroom lord actually possessed.
In any case, she'd try pretending to also be a Puffkin and muddle through.
"I'm... I'm also a Puffkin. I don't have a name or anything..."
"Then how about I give you one? Let's call you Inanna."
"..."
Huh?
Why would he know that?
Did this telepathy-like skill also have mind-reading effects?
The Puffkins that had previously spread out slowly surrounded her again. Was she going to be eliminated for lying?
No way!
Fortunately, when only a sliver of space remained, the Puffkins stopped, and Lin Jun's voice once again resonated in her mind.
"I'm quite friendly, but that's on the condition that you don't play little tricks. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind having some extra fertilizer to enrich the soil. Understand?"
Inanna nodded her mushroom cap vigorously.
"Let's try this again. Name."
"I-Inanna Saint Claire..."
"And your identity?"
"Duke... Arama's... daughter..."
A duke's daughter?
So the outside world had a medieval-like structure.
No wonder she had both church blessings and Fruits of Life—even after becoming a Puffkin, she still had 3000 HP.
No matter which world it was, having a good father was always a shortcut in life.
"Tell me, how did a duke's daughter like you end up falling into my place?"
Since her cover was already blown, Inanna saw no need to hide the rest.
She not only explained how she'd been harmed and ended up falling down here, but also answered all of Lin Jun's other questions thoroughly.
Lin Jun took this opportunity to learn a great deal of information.
For instance, the place he was in was actually a dungeon located within Inanna's family territory—specifically in the deep layers, which explained why monsters were everywhere.
For example, the outside world had various races, and humans were on the brink of war with vampires among the demon race. Those two traitors who wanted Inanna dead had most likely colluded with vampires.
Not only that, he also realized that Inanna, being a local, apparently couldn't see status panels—otherwise she wouldn't have tried to conceal her name.
Perhaps this panel was a hidden perk for "Heroes"?
In any case, having gained so much, Lin Jun now found this pink Puffkin much more pleasing to the eye.
"Inanna, now that you've become a Puffkin, what are your plans going forward?"
"Plans for the future... you really won't turn me into fertilizer, will you?" Having been pressured earlier, Inanna was now somewhat afraid of Lin Jun.
"I promise."
"I want to return to the surface..."
Inanna not only wanted to return to the surface but also to find her father, remove the transformation spell, and then seek revenge on those two traitors!
"Ah, returning to the surface."
Lin Jun couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.
"I want to go to the surface too! But as you can see, you're a mushroom and I'm also a mushroom. How exactly are we supposed to fight through an underground world full of terrifying monsters to reach the surface?
"Never mind the distant future—just on our current level, the passage upward is right in a Flame Demon's lair."
A Flame Demon—that was at least a high-tier monster of level 55 or above!
Even if Inanna hadn't been transformed, she couldn't possibly defeat one. Whether she could even escape if she encountered one was questionable.
"Speaking of which, won't your duke father come to rescue you?"
"He should... probably..."
Thinking of what the two traitors had said about her father being doomed, Inanna felt uncertain.
Her pink mushroom cap visibly drooped with dejection.
Right—after becoming a Puffkin, she couldn't even use the magic she was best at. How could she possibly return to the surface?
"There, there. Since you're here, you might as well make yourself comfortable. You've been making such a fuss for so long, you must be hungry. Come eat something first."
He couldn't let this newly acquired curious toy starve to death.
A Puffkin with a blue cap jumped out from the mushroom field and walked up to Inanna to guide her, and Inanna did indeed feel somewhat hungry.
"Is this you?"
"Yes and no. All the mushrooms here are me."
Actually, he did have a main mushroom body, but he wasn't planning to mention that.
Inanna nodded with seeming understanding, and the two subsequently arrived at a mycelial mat formed by converging fungal threads.
Lin Jun thoughtfully demonstrated how Puffkins fed.
The Puffkin he controlled lay down on the spot, allowing the fungal threads from the ground to connect and transfer nutrients. In less than five minutes, it was fully replenished.
Watching from the side, Inanna's mushroom cap changed color.
What was this?
Letting a bunch of fungal threads penetrate her body and inject unknown substances?
This scene before her was difficult for Inanna, who had spent sixteen years consuming food through her mouth, to accept.
Lin Jun wasn't in a hurry about this. Children who won't eat simply aren't hungry enough yet—when they're desperate with hunger, they'll naturally know to eat.
Her gradually weakening body eventually made Inanna lie down on the mycelial mat.
This sensation!
Nutrients surged in from countless connection points beneath her, creating a sense of being fed and filled with satisfaction.
So blissful...
Only after she was fully nourished and the fungal threads stopped supplying nutrients did Inanna reluctantly get up.
Being a mushroom seemed unexpectedly... nice?
No, no, what was she thinking?
Inanna, had even her brain turned into a mushroom?
Oh wait, her brain had indeed become a mushroom cap—a pink one at that...
Lin Jun was unaware of these internal struggles. Seeing that she'd finished her meal, he began introducing the various areas of the mushroom garden.
"You know about the cafeteria now, and you've seen the Puffkin cultivation area—that's where you knocked over my Puffkins."
"See that rock wall over there? Below it is the mining area."
"That area over there is the breeding zone. We raise some Armored Beetles and Slimes there—they're all aggressive, so don't wander over casually."
"See that giant mushroom on the right? That's the specialization area. It's complicated to explain, but you can go check it out yourself later and you'll understand."
"Don't go in that direction—if you walk that way, you'll leave the mushroom garden's boundaries, and it's not safe."
Lin Jun continued his self-guided introduction, while Inanna beside him had been stuck in a loop since the very first term.
What cultivation garden? What breeding zone?
Inanna felt like Lin Jun wasn't describing areas within a dungeon, but rather introducing some functionally complete small town.
She was still in the Amethyst Dungeon, right?
Where were all the other monsters?
When it came down to it, how could a bunch of mushrooms claim such a large territory in the extremely dangerous deep layers of a dungeon?
With a head full of questions that only grew more confusing the more she thought about them, Inanna could only feel that the deep layers of the dungeon were incredibly bizarre—even common sense didn't seem to exist here.
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