[What about Norris?] [What is Jida anyway?] [What do you mean Norris and Jida are doing well in their new home, so I shouldn't worry about them?]
The Yellow Book had barely emerged from seclusion when it heard the devastating news—it had become an outdated version!
"With Jida's help, Norris can conduct large-scale reconnaissance on his own. He really doesn't need you anymore!" The voice puffshroom delivered these words with absolutely no warmth.
[But... I can still give Norris advice! That kid is so stupid!]
"By 'advice,' you mean letting him not report you when you steal souls?"
[I can still tell stories!] The Yellow Book continued trying to argue its case.
It would have been better if it hadn't mentioned this. Once it did, Lin Jun truly couldn't hold back his disdain: "Never mind that storytelling has no practical significance—I've read some of your stories, and what kind of garbage are they?!"
"A fallen noble, trying to restore his family's honor by starting from the bottom, only to be murdered by two adventurers coveting his ancestral ring in the wilderness."
"A displaced princess seeking revenge by infiltrating the enemy to assassinate them, only to end up bearing eight children for her enemy!"
"Look at what depressing stories you tell all day long—what's entertaining about any of this?"
[These... these... these are all true stories based on real people!] The book's pages trembled even more violently.
"Enough, enough! Stop going on about your crappy stories!" The voice puffshroom interrupted impatiently. "Hurry up and figure out what to do about this core!"
[The core!]
At the mention of the core, the Yellow Book indeed cast thoughts of Norris and the like to the back of its mind.
[Boss, you finally found the core?]
[What tremendous news! This dungeon is as good as ours!]
"Good what good—we can't even get through the door!"
The puffshrooms led the Yellow Book to the edge of the core area, pointing from afar at those two amethyst golems.
[War puppets?!]
[And extravagant enough to use full S-grade magic crystals as their bodies?!]
[No wonder you can't get in, boss! Even during the Covenant War, these things were deadly weapons of mass destruction!]
"What's the Covenant War?"
[It was the founding war of the human kingdom three hundred years ago. Their capital is called Covenant City, isn't it?]
Lin Jun wasn't particularly interested in history from centuries past: "What about these... war puppets?"
[Masterworks of golem crafters—combat puppets powered by high-quality magic crystals. Of course, normally they'd only use a few high-quality magic crystals, not have their entire bodies made of S-grade crystals like these.]
[But with the interruption of transcontinental trade, magic crystal quantities and quality declined. With insufficient raw materials, this profession has nearly disappeared.]
[Now probably only dwarves and certain long-lived races still understand this technology.]
"Who asked you for a history lesson!" Lin Jun interrupted. "I'm asking how to deal with these two door guardians!"
[No way to deal with them,] the Yellow Book answered decisively.
"Huh?"
[Boss, what you're facing are probably the pinnacle works among war puppets!]
[Full S-grade crystal bodies! Such extravagant costs were unheard of before and will certainly be extinct in the future!]
"You mean," Lin Jun's tone grew dangerous, "we just stare helplessly and wait for the dungeon to collapse on its own?"
[Of course... not!] The Yellow Book quickly backtracked. [They're just automatically operating war puppets—why fight them head-on?]
"Don't tell me you're thinking of something like exhausting their energy?"
[Why not?] The pages fluttered in confusion.
"Magic crystal energy is directly supplied by the dungeon—it's impossible to deplete!" Lin Jun said irritably.
With his [Mana Perception], Lin Jun could clearly see that during combat, mana from throughout the dungeon continuously flowed into the two war puppets. Against a mana source of the entire Amethyst Dungeon's magnitude, running out of magic was a joke!
[Boss, you don't understand—war puppets themselves have no intelligence.]
"No intelligence? Nonsense!"
Having just fought them, Lin Jun had witnessed ambush tactics, targeting the backline, situational judgment... Far from lacking intelligence, their intelligence was too high!
[All their intelligence relies on the dungeon core's computational support!] The Yellow Book hastily explained. [The dungeon's current problem is that its 'brain' isn't sufficient and is about to fall apart, right? As long as we continue consuming that pitiful computational capacity...]
"Wait!" Lin Jun suddenly interrupted. "According to what you're saying, if I go consume what little 'brain power' it has left, won't the dungeon collapse even faster?!"
[Indeed so.]
[Actually, even if you leave it alone, in two or three months, these two war puppets will become mere decorations anyway.]
[But rest assured, there's still a time window for us to operate between when the war puppets shut down and when the dungeon completely collapses!]
[The advantage of you actively consuming it is that you'll know the moment the war puppets stop functioning.]
Hmm...
Lin Jun thought about it—this seemed to make some sense.
Moreover, this Yellow Book had inadvertently revealed something else.
Core computational capacity!
So this was the principle behind how the core maintained the dungeon! It sounded just like a computer mainframe.
"How can this computational capacity be restored?" Lin Jun asked.
[...]
[Boss, normally the core can continuously maintain its computations on its own. The current continuous decline in computational capacity might be due to some structural problem inside.]
[If we're lucky, we can just go in and adjust and repair it. If we're unlucky...]
"What if we're unlucky?"
[Boss, to be honest, if we're unlucky and certain components are completely broken, even I can't fix them, since there's no way to obtain the corresponding replacement parts.]
"Could we try to get repair components from the humans or demons?" Lin Jun wasn't ready to give up.
[If that were possible, the humans wouldn't refuse to even enter.]
"Alright..." After a pause, Lin Jun added, "Yellow Book, as long as you do your best in this matter, I'll never restrict you again and will treat you as a true member of the Mushroom Garden. But the prerequisite is that you must give your all—don't disappoint me!"
[Boss! I will definitely give my all! For the Mushroom Garden! And for myself!]
The puffshrooms nodded their caps and carried the Yellow Book toward a safer area.
"I'll start consuming their computational resources. You'll need to stay in a nearby cavern. Endure the hardship for this period—once the dungeon is repaired, I'll give you freedom to move around!"
[This subordinate understands.]
After properly securing the Yellow Book in a location three caverns away from the core, Lin Jun began following the Yellow Book's suggestion of continuously sending puffshrooms to trigger the war puppets and die.
Throughout this entire process, Lin Jun never mentioned Mushroom Garden No. 3 to the Yellow Book.
That place was meant as a retreat if the dungeon collapsed. If the dungeon did collapse, it would mean the Yellow Book was either useless or harboring ill intentions—in which case, Mushroom Garden No. 3 should definitely not be disclosed to it.
Of course, if the Yellow Book truly helped him solve the dungeon problem and control the core, Lin Jun wouldn't mind granting it considerable freedom according to their agreement.
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