The number of people around Mute Wind Town had increased even more.
Ever since a certain adventurer used poison detection to confirm the red mushrooms were non-toxic and personally taste-tested them, the "mushroom picking fever" that had gradually cooled down suddenly reignited with a vengeance!
Only this time, the fanatic target had shifted from ordinary mushrooms to red mushrooms possessing the [Delicious] trait!
[Delicious]
Plants with this characteristic were almost impossible to cultivate.
Nurturing deliciousness required more magical power, making them both dependent on adequate magical concentration in the environment while unable to withstand the magical dilution brought by large-scale concentrated cultivation.
Even if you found a suitable location, it was easily coveted by others.
To guard against magical beasts and human thieves, you needed to invest manpower for day and night vigilance.
Therefore, places with stable [Delicious] production were either lords' private estates guarded by soldiers, or remote locations where no one ventured, or the depths of dungeons fraught with danger.
Among these, the most famous dungeon delicacy was a type of magical plant from the elven Esogal Dungeon, which used [Delicious] fruits emanating deadly temptation to lure greedy adventurers and magical beasts.
As for the Amethyst Dungeon, there had been none before.
But now, just by wandering slightly around its outer area, you actually had a chance to encounter red mushrooms bearing the [Delicious] trait?!
Although the appearance probability was very small, and the portion of a single mushroom was far inferior to other delicious fruits, this delicacy that could be harvested with relatively insignificant time investment was no different from pie falling from the sky!
The only danger was the so-called "dungeon collapse," but after so many days with nothing happening, many people were beginning to speculate whether the dungeon might not collapse after all?
Nowadays, commoners searched for food among the trampled and scattered mycelium mats near Mute Wind Town; more cautious adventurers would follow the spreading traces of the mycelium mats, venturing deep into forests inhabited by low-level magical beasts to collect various mushrooms; while the boldest had already begun operating in areas not far from the first floor entrance of the dungeon, targeting only the delicious red mushrooms!
It's worth mentioning that this situation wasn't deliberately guided by Lin Jun.
Delicious mushrooms, like the hallucinogenic blue mushrooms, were randomly generated within mushroom colonies, but due to high magical power consumption, their natural yield was scarce.
If Lin Jun truly wanted to produce them deliberately, it would be like what was happening at Mushroom Garden No. 3 right now—
Qiong had come to exchange for delicious mushrooms again. After trying a small bowl's worth last time, that unprecedented deliciousness lingered in his heart. He couldn't wait to share it with Shou, even though these delicious mushrooms required contribution points that were a full twenty times that of ordinary mushrooms!
After confirming the exchange, those delicious mushrooms that adventurers searched everywhere for but couldn't find began sprouting one after another from the mycelium mat beside Qiong.
Qiong patiently waited for several minutes, until these small caps had absorbed their fill of magical power and fully unfurled in their plump glory, before extending his finger to pinch off each stem one by one, quickly filling half a small bag.
Weighing the delicious mushrooms in his hand, Qiong was already anticipating Shou's expression when he tasted them tonight!
......
......
......
On the mycelium mat not far from the dungeon entrance, a bright red and beautiful delicious mushroom grew there, though it was still somewhat small in size, seemingly having room to continue growing.
A young adventurer carrying a bag, walking from the direction of the forest, spotted it with his sharp eyes and instantly burst into wild joy: "Ha! What incredible luck!"
He rushed forward in three steps that should have been two, bending down to pick it.
*Whoosh—!*
A cold gleam swept past his fingertips and pierced into the ground before him, the knife handle still trembling incessantly!
"Kid, don't you know the rules?" A rough, hoarse voice rang out. From the tree shade not far away, two adventurers with unfriendly expressions emerged.
One of them crossed his arms, jutting his chin toward that delicious mushroom: "This treasure here, we've been watching for quite a while, just waiting for it to grow to its plumpest. And here you come, trying to steal it right from under us?"
The young adventurer, still shaken, immediately flew into a rage: "Bullshit! You weren't crouching right beside it—who's to know whether you just arrived? Is your name carved on this mushroom? Besides, whoever picks it first gets it!"
Having a flying knife suddenly thrown at him, the young man simply couldn't stand it. He drew the short sword from his waist and pointed the blade directly at his opponent.
The two men across from him also brandished their weapons. The atmosphere instantly became tense with drawn swords, greed, anger, and killing intent intertwining as a bloody conflict seemed about to erupt.
"All of you, stop!"
A resounding shout, accompanied by the clanging clash of armor, brought five guards in gleaming armor between the three men.
They moved swiftly with disciplined training, their cold spear points glinting with frigid light.
The lead guard captain, right before the several adventurers' eyes, plucked the red mushroom.
"Save your strength. Fighting over what? This mushroom doesn't belong to you, nor does it belong to them," he surveyed the circle, his voice cold and hard as iron. "It belongs to Saint Claire!"
"You!"
At these words, the three adventurers who had been at each other's throats instantly exploded, all their fury turning in unison toward those soldiers, their eyes practically shooting flames.
The atmosphere suddenly tightened. That captain was merely Silver rank, and the four soldiers behind him were ordinary soldiers of Bronze rank strength, while the three adventurers facing them were all Silver rank. If it really came to blows, it was unclear which side would win.
However, the guard captain showed not the slightest trace of fear on his face, even carrying a hint of condescending indifference.
This confidence didn't stem from strength, but from the emblem on his chest representing the Saint Claire family.
"What's the meaning of this?!" One adventurer forcibly suppressed his impulse, his voice hoarse with rage. "Is His Grace the Duke now going to control even our mushroom picking in the wilderness?!"
The guard captain glanced at him and said without any emotion: "If it were truly deep in the forest or inside the dungeon, naturally no one would care whether you lived or died. But here, you're still standing on Mute Wind Town's territory! Miss Inanna has formally exercised territorial control rights. If you have questions, go check the announcement at the temporary camp yourself."
The three adventurers trembled with anger, their gazes fixed deadly on the red mushroom in the captain's hand as if they wanted to snatch it back with their stares, yet none dared truly point their weapons at the guards.
In the end, the three men shot the guards a vicious glare, turned around, and strode toward the camp.
They had to see just what this suddenly appearing duke's daughter intended to do!
When they arrived at the guild's temporary camp, a large crowd of adventurers had already gathered there, almost all having had similar encounters.
Just squeezing into the outer perimeter, they heard a loud, booming voice mixed among the pile of adventurers, protesting:
"The Saint Claire family says one word, and all the output from Mute Wind Town and the surrounding mycelium mats belongs to the guild? On what grounds?! There was no such rule before! Even a duke's family can't just decide whatever they want, right?!"
"Exactly, exactly! This is way too domineering!"
"This is completely unreasonable!"
This undisguised questioning was like adding fuel to fire, and the crowd immediately boiled over.
Emboldened by strength in numbers, the adventurers mixed within opened their throats and poured out their accumulated dissatisfaction and doubts, waves of protest rising higher than the last.
For a moment, even the several guards near the announcement could barely suppress the disturbance.
Outside the tent, the clamor shook the heavens, but inside the great tent, the atmosphere was completely different.
Fal stood quietly to one side, his gaze directed toward the duke's daughter who was intimately surrounded by puffshrooms, his voice steady and clear: "Miss Inanna, it's about time."
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