Fifth floor, Dylan's mushroom hut.
A wisp of elegant green smoke curled upward—aromatic herbs from distant islands mixed with ground blue mushrooms, slowly burning over hot coals, releasing a uniquely soothing fragrance that calmed the mind and spirit.
This method of use could achieve relaxation without causing unconsciousness like the hallucinogenic spores would.
Dylan lounged contentedly in a hammock woven from mycelium, legs crossed, enjoying this long-missed tranquility.
No longer did he need to constantly worry about exposing his "mushroom person" identity, no longer did he have to act like a startled bird, only daring to travel through tunnels and ride black ships, unable to sleep peacefully. Returning to this underground city felt just like coming home.
Although Lin Jun had already upgraded his [Mimicry] to level seven, enough for perfect disguise, here in this territory belonging to mushrooms and puffshrooms, he could drop all pretense and let his distinctive green skin show freely—this was true relaxation!
His worry for his daughter Bella hadn't dissipated; he would still continuously gather information through intelligence brokers, but until he obtained more concrete clues, pointless anxiety would only add to his troubles.
At least... no bad news was itself a kind of good news.
Though Lin Jun had asked if he wanted to live with the others at Mushroom Garden No. 3, Dylan still preferred the familiar fifth floor, even though it had changed dramatically.
While the fifth floor had added some magical beasts from the Dense Forest Rift, the mushroom gardens remained the puffshrooms' absolute territory, completely safe.
In contrast, the stone fortress was far away, and traveling back and forth required relying on the bat puffshrooms' "air transport service." Dylan really didn't want to repeatedly experience that terrifying sensation of being suspended in air.
But on the fifth floor, he only needed the boss's elevator...
Dylan felt the boss was becoming increasingly miraculous, even able to control hidden rooms. Though he didn't know why the boss called hidden rooms "elevators," this thing was incredibly useful.
Originally, getting from the fifth floor to the surface took at least half a day at the fastest, but now it only took about ten minutes. Even that time was for caution's sake, making the "elevator" appear in a secluded corner of the first floor to avoid exposure.
In any case, for various reasons, Dylan chose to continue living on the fifth floor.
He wasn't alone either. At this moment, beside him, a group of puffshrooms were absorbing a pile of magic crystals.
These crystals were of mixed quality, from waste products from the sixth floor to B-grade magic crystals dug from the deep zones. The puffshrooms rolled up these crystals, absorbed them completely, then tossed the residue aside, leaving worker puffshrooms to clean up.
These second-generation scouts were born specifically for exploration, possessing stealth, reconnaissance, and self-destruct abilities. They were extremely fast and skilled at escape.
Considering their limited individual combat power—if they ran to the other side of the rift and died in just a few hits, they wouldn't be able to explore any useful information—so using [Crystal Symbiosis] to enhance them would not only improve their abilities, but Lin Jun could even cast some spells through the symbiotic crystals!
It didn't require too much consumption; having B-grade magic crystals form symbiotically within the puffshrooms' bodies would be sufficient.
Amidst this harmony.
[Skill Upgrade: Crystal Symbiosis LV7→LV8]
!!!
All scout puffshrooms stopped moving. The mycelium carpet rippled slightly, quickly bulging into a small mound.
Soon, a puffshroom carrying the brand new [Crystal Symbiosis LV8] skill was born.
As soon as it emerged, it dove headfirst into the crystal pile, but this wasn't enough!
Soon, worker puffshrooms brought more crystals, including even some A-grade magic crystals that had been mined.
Lin Jun wanted to see where the limit of this level-eight skill lay!
Finally, after consuming energy equivalent to five standard large A-grade magic crystals, the first S-grade magic crystal created by Lin Jun's own hand was born!
It was only the size of a fingertip. The entire manufacturing process involved staggering losses—strictly calculating the cost, it was definitely a huge loss—but the significance was extraordinary!
Lin Jun finally possessed the ability to independently produce S-grade magic crystals!
After successful verification, Lin Jun immediately had the puffshroom stop absorbing. It was indeed too wasteful.
Given Lin Jun's situation, he estimated he'd only enhance knight puffshrooms this way. After all, protecting the main body was worth any cost.
As for expanding the scope of use, or even achieving S-grade magic crystal freedom?
He'd wait until the skill continued to upgrade and losses decreased. For now, A-grade magic crystals were sufficient for most situations.
Comparing this way, those two golems composed entirely of S-grade magic crystals were truly outrageous. The person who originally built this underground city must have been incredibly wealthy!
Decomposing the experimental puffshroom, he stored away that small S-grade magic crystal.
The [Crystal Symbiosis] skill—the process of absorbing crystals was also a process of self-modification and adaptation. Only personally absorbed and condensed magic crystals could maximize the amplification effect.
Non-original magic crystals could also be used, but their effectiveness would be discounted.
So this S-grade magic crystal produced from skill experimentation would be somewhat wasted if given to the knight.
Lin Jun planned to hand it over to Pink Puffshroom to handle later. With her ducal family's connections and channels, she should be able to find skilled craftsmen to forge this S-grade magic crystal into a practical magical accessory, like a ring or talisman.
Speaking of equipment crafting, Adin actually knew a bit, but unfortunately only limited to making those consumable props for casting illusions, and he usually used C-grade or even worse magic crystals. Giving him an S-grade magic crystal to craft—even he would feel it was wasteful!
After handling these matters, Lin Jun turned back to prepare the scout puffshrooms, but didn't rush to explore the rift first. Instead, he sent two of them flying to the deep zone, where Norris, driving the new Jida, had been waiting for some time.
He had successfully replaced the blade whip with a drill and now urgently needed a battle to test its power, while Lin Jun also needed to test the scout puffshrooms' actual combat performance.
The reason for being in the deep zone was that these scouts weren't equipped with [Cold Resistance].
Due to the delay from the skill upgrade, when the scout puffshrooms arrived, Norris was hugging the reconnaissance puffshroom that served as Jida's "head," curled up on the mycelium carpet taking a nap.
His Jida crouched quietly nearby, several mycelial tendrils extending from the neck interface, connecting to the mycelium carpet for charging.
The mycelium carpet beside Norris's head writhed rapidly, and soon a language puffshroom was generated.
It twisted to Norris's ear, using a voice only he could hear—layered, overlapping, like nightmare whispers—repeatedly calling his name:
"Norris~ Norris~ Norris~~"
The eerie voice penetrated Norris's dreams. In his sleep, he frowned deeply, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his body trembled slightly.
Finally, he jerked awake with a start!
"Ha... ha..." Norris gasped heavily. Feeling the familiar touch of the reconnaissance puffshroom in his arms, he relaxed slightly.
He looked around in confusion, but the language puffshroom that had created the whispers had already quietly decomposed and vanished without a trace.
"Norris, are you alright? Having nightmares? If you're not feeling well, we can postpone the test," Lin Jun's concerned voice rang directly in his mind.
Hearing the boss's voice, Norris immediately remembered why he was here. He vigorously slapped his cheeks, dispelling the lingering drowsiness and that inexplicable chill.
"No, no! Boss, I'm fine, absolutely no problem!"
Norris quickly climbed into Jida, the reconnaissance puffshroom following close behind. Feeling the reconnaissance puffshroom's rear end pressed against his head, Norris exhaled: "Boss, I'm ready!"
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