The group had no intention of directly entering the dungeon.
The scene of the dungeon's initial collapse remained vivid in their minds—twisted spatial rifts, a tottering dome, and the frenzied roars of magical beasts. Though it hadn't collapsed as the guild had predicted, approaching it still carried enormous risks.
They only planned to reach the location of Mute Wind Town. The latest news was that the small town had been covered by mycelium.
At that location, even if they encountered danger, with their abilities, they could still escape in time.
On the small path leading to Mute Wind Town, a heavy cart passed by them. The draft horse pulling it snorted heavily through its nostrils, while sacks piled high on the cart emitted the mixed scent of earth and fungi.
Vera didn't recognize the people accompanying the cart, but through the gaps in the sacks, all he could see were mushrooms.
The food shortage problem was becoming increasingly severe, so naturally there were those with nimble minds and great courage who set their sights on the mushrooms here.
In the past, this cartload of mushrooms would have been worth at most a few silver coins, not even covering transportation costs. But now, aside from the flaw of being difficult to preserve for long periods, these mushrooms were life-saving food, and their prices had already skyrocketed countless times.
Regarding these people's profit-seeking behavior, Vera held no judgment.
The mushrooms were originally ownerless—whoever picked them owned them. If one had to speak of ownership, perhaps they should belong to that duke's daughter who had taken away the Puffshroom King?
Stepping into Mute Wind Town, the scene before their eyes confirmed the news they had heard—the street surfaces and almost all exposed areas were covered with a thick carpet of white mycelium.
However, within their field of vision, they could hardly find a single fully-formed mushroom.
Clearly, the people from that cart earlier had already swept this area clean.
Vera selected a clearing where the mycelium coverage was particularly thick: "This spot will do."
Feilin could no longer contain herself, her toes excitedly tapping the ground: "Sirian, quickly! Give it a try!"
"Are you sure there's no problem? Aren't the puffshrooms from this dungeon quite terrifying?" Sirian recalled the scene when he had first fallen into the Amethyst Dungeon—those puffshrooms madly fighting with other magical beasts—and felt somewhat hesitant.
Vera looked around: "It should be fine... There are no puffshrooms around, and besides, this is the edge. If there's a problem, we'll just run!"
Only then did Sirian nod. He walked to the edge of that thick fungal carpet, slowly knelt down with bent knees, and clasped his hands together at his chest.
Melodious elven chanting once again flowed from his lips, and emerald magical radiance gathered and spread from his palms, covering the fungal carpet beneath his feet.
* * *
Lin Jun had been busy again lately.
Most of his attention was immersed in the enormous crystal monument at the dungeon's core, tirelessly "poking and clicking" at the vast constellation of light points within it, numerous as the stars in the sea.
Each light point corresponded to a minute permission within the dungeon. Mastering them meant mastering control of this massive dungeon!
The problem was, there were too many star points! So many that his mushroom cap felt numb!
Moreover, after triggering a certain light point, the feedback was often vague and unclear—it was normal for there to be no response at all, like a stone sinking into the sea.
Lin Jun could only try them one by one, then do his best to observe the changes the dungeon underwent as a result.
While Lin Jun was immersed in his research, the dungeon's native magical beasts suffered greatly.
For instance, lightning bolts would strike from thin air, vaporizing several unlucky creatures without a trace. Or some magical beasts would be sleeping soundly in their lairs, only to suddenly discover that the magical power concentration in their vicinity had plummeted, ultimately forcing them to pack up and move while cursing.
Through such experimentation, Lin Jun actually made some gains—he had figured out an elevator!
More precisely, he had found the star point that controlled the positional transfer of hidden rooms.
Now he could make the hidden room freely travel between the first and tenth floors. Wasn't this just like an elevator!
Though after each transfer, it had to be manually opened from the outside...
Honestly, he hadn't yet figured out the wonderful uses of this function. Perhaps... it could save some effort when transporting goods in the future?
Compared to the elevator, Lin Jun was more interested in the source of the treasures that appeared out of thin air in those treasure chests, but unfortunately, he hadn't figured out this part yet.
He could only say that the road to exploring the core was still very long.
On another front, recently some scattered refugees or small groups of adventurers had begun to cautiously step onto the fungal carpet he had laid outside the entrance of the Amethyst Dungeon, solely to pick the naturally growing mushrooms.
Combined with various information from Aydin's side, the human food shortage problem was clearly very serious.
Regarding these mushroom-gathering activities, Lin Jun maintained a completely permissive attitude.
These mushrooms all grew naturally from the fungal carpet—Lin Jun had never used magical power to catalyze them. Letting them be picked and eaten didn't matter to him, and it could even spread the reputation of mushrooms.
Lin Jun had considered how to reasonably integrate into the surface world. Becoming a reliable food source sounded quite good.
In any case, the more enthusiastically humans ate, the greater their demand for mushrooms, and the more they would need his fungal carpet to expand outward.
Only a small portion of the magical power in the fungal carpet would be used to produce mushrooms—for him, it was a guaranteed profit.
Just let the humans slowly eat to their heart's content. When both the surface and underground were full of mycelium...
Suddenly, an extremely subtle yet unusually clear "draining sensation" interrupted Lin Jun's blueprint planning.
Hmm? Who's draining my magical power?
How dare they!
It was like a cunning mosquito trying to silently steal a sip from the magical power he had stored in the fungal carpet!
His consciousness swept over and quickly locked onto that audacious "magical power thief"—an elf, plus three familiar human adventurers!
Those twin sisters were quite recognizable.
The culprit was that elf!
**[Name: Sirian·Twilight Song]**
**[Race: Elf]**
**[Level: 42]**
**[Racial Talents: Lithe Body, Nature's Affinity]**
**[Skills: Dagger Mastery LV7, Potion Mastery LV7, Nature Magic LV7, Magical Power Control LV6, Evasion LV6...]**
**[Title: Devout Believer (Mental attributes increased by 5%)]**
This was Lin Jun's first time seeing a pure-blooded elf (he hadn't paid attention during the fifth-floor melee)!
He had to say, worthy of being an elf girl—this appearance value truly outclassed humans!
But what was this guy doing?
He could see Sirian surrounded by gentle emerald magical radiance, softly chanting ancient rhythms.
Before him, the originally calm fungal carpet seemed to be awakened by invisible force. Plump mushrooms began popping up one after another with "pop pop pop" sounds, as if being fast-forwarded, growing and maturing at an astonishing speed!
Lin Jun quickly figured it out—this elf was using some kind of nature magic, extracting the magical power contained in the fungal carpet to directly catalyze mushroom growth!
Wasn't this equivalent to stealing his magical power to produce what they wanted?
What kind of bandit magic was this!
Simply outrageous!
Lin Jun tested it and felt relieved. Fortunately, this kind of magic was more like guidance and had no coercive effect. As long as he was aware of it and refused the change in magical power flow, the other party couldn't steal it.
What a scare!
If nature magic could really forcibly drain his magical power regardless of his will, wouldn't that be a natural counter to him?!
Thankfully, thankfully.
But this couldn't just end here. To actually try to use such tricks to steal his magical power—if he didn't teach them a lesson this time, what would happen in the future?!
* * *
"Wow! It worked! It really works! So many mushrooms!" Feilin looked at the mushrooms sprouting madly like bamboo shoots after rain before her eyes, so excited she nearly jumped up, her eyes sparkling.
Vera watched the elf Sirian, who was still concentrating on his chanting, with a trace of worry.
He had forgotten to ask how much this spell consumed for the elf. If the consumption was large, then even if it could grow mushrooms, the cost-effectiveness might not be worthwhile.
However, the effect was indeed astonishing... They should have brought a cart. How much could four people carry on their backs?
However, their joy didn't last long.
Under the astonished gazes of the group, the fungal carpet that had been continuously sprouting mushrooms suddenly bulged with small bumps...
"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"
Over a dozen round, plump puffshrooms instantly bounced out of the fungal carpet!
As soon as they popped out, they spread their short legs and ran in different directions, quickly surrounding the four people.
Vera's eyelid couldn't help but twitch: "Sirian, your magic... can also catalyze puffshrooms?"
A certain elf who had just stopped chanting: "..."
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