Scout Puffshroom Four came up empty.
The group of elves was long gone, and it didn’t bump into them on the way down.
The treant with the [Madness] status had vanished too.
In fact, Lin Jun couldn’t find a single treant on the sixth layer.
Were they active deeper down?
Lin Jun wasn’t sure if the elves had dragged that treant to the sixth layer or if it had wandered there and run into them.
Scout Four tried to push deeper, but a giant magic frog ate it on the seventh layer.
[Light Refraction Stealth LV7] wasn’t perfect—it caused slight light warping that most people and monsters couldn’t spot.
But this big frog clearly could.
Worse, Lin Jun didn’t expect its tongue to shoot out thirty meters in a flash, catching the Puffshroom off guard.
With Scout Four dead, Lin Jun put off exploring deeper for now.
Mapping up to the sixth layer was enough for now. His Mycelial Network was heading toward the surface first—the elf graveyard was waiting.
The Mycelial Network’s spread in the Godwood Dungeon went smoothly, mostly because few monsters here could wreck it on a large scale.
Slimes and mud monsters existed, but slimes were rare and scattered, and mud monsters stuck to fixed areas, easy to avoid.
Other monsters might nibble mushrooms, but they mostly ignored the Mycelial Network itself.
Digging underground tunnels was trickier—some monster rats bit the digging Puffshrooms’ butts.
Lin Jun spread poison through the tunnels, taking time to wipe them out completely.
Meanwhile, in Ishildorin, Scout Puffshroom One, hiding in a tree hollow, had just performed “surgery” on itself, removing the B-grade Magic Crystal from its core.
The crystal was added to boost fighting power, but since Scout One was now blending into the elf city, it didn’t need the extra strength. Plus, being caught with a crystal inside would be bad, so it took it out.
Cutting open its body to peel out a fused crystal was risky—one mistake could kill it.
Only Lin Jun’s ability to monitor its health on the status panel let him control the cut’s depth and range, barely pulling off the tricky surgery.
Now, the B-grade Magic Crystal, still tangled with some mycelium, sat in the hollow.
Scout Puffshroom lay nearby, its gaping wound slowly healing with [Mycelial Reconstruction].
The split body couldn’t move—only its mycelium tendrils could wiggle.
A random monster could take it out in this state.
But that wouldn’t happen. Before the surgery, Lin Jun picked this quiet spot where elves rarely came and cleared out all threatening wild monsters.
In the elf city, wild monsters above Gold-rank were almost all tamed. Scout Puffshroom cleaned them up easily.
Just lie low for a day…
“Little Ji—!” Airaven’s clear shout echoed through the forest, startling a few birds.
“You… don’t have to yell so loud,” Salian said, sounding a bit helpless.
His long hands hovered in front of him, a spinning, half-clear orb floating above his palms.
The orb’s center showed tiny images of him and his sister, spreading out to cover sixty meters around them.
Everything—tree-blocked areas, roots, and bugs under the soil—showed up clearly in this magical space projection.
Eighth-tier magic: Spatial Detection.
Third-tier magic: Illusion.
Salian blended these two spells carefully, creating a detection orb that moved with them.
This wasn’t just stacking spells—it needed deep knowledge of both, plus study of how their magic nodes meshed or clashed.
This unique orb was the result of his personal research.
If he kept digging into this path, he might even create a new, advanced version of Spatial Detection.
But right now, this promising mage was using his half-finished spell to help his sister find her lost, weird Puffshroom…
Salian tiredly waved away the orb, pulling a blue magic potion from his robe’s inner pocket and drinking it.
Two days of pushing this unpolished spell combo was wearing him out, even with his skill.
“Maybe… it’s run far off?” he said carefully, hinting Airaven might need to give up.
Fresh off that exhausting diplomatic meeting, with no rest, he was dragged into this. Salian felt worn out in body and mind.
“No way!” Airaven spun around, her face full of worry. “Little Ji’s just a Puffshroom! Even in Ishildorin, it’s too dangerous for it! What if a fierce forest owl or cave lizard grabs it? It saved my life, and I brought it from the dungeon—now I might’ve gotten it hurt…”
Salian’s mind flashed to the Puffshroom easily flattening Airaven’s other monsters. His mouth twitched. “Ishildorin’s probably… not as dangerous for it as you think.”
“You scared it off!” Airaven, a head shorter, stared up at him with clear green eyes.
Salian sighed, giving in. “…Fine, fine, let’s keep looking.”
He focused again, magic gathering, the half-clear orb floating back up. The siblings vanished into the green forest shade.
Two more days of searching, and still nothing.
On the fourth day, Salian, totally drained, stayed home and refused to come out.
Airaven kept looking alone, checking the tree-top market areas they hadn’t searched.
By now, Scout One was fully healed.
Lin Jun buried the dug-out Magic Crystal somewhere random.
A B-grade crystal? He had plenty.
Scout Puffshroom didn’t return to Airaven’s hut because Lin Jun’s attention was caught by an elf potion shop!
Yafeng Town had a potion shop too, but its owner could only make basic mana and health potions, getting most others from outside.
This elf potion shop was on another level—all its potions were made in-house!
(End of Chapter)
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