Smack—
The yarn-like creature called Shadowbug was mercilessly stomped flat by a Puffshroom.
Its corpse didn't leave remains like ordinary creatures but rapidly disintegrated and dissolved, like erased ink, leaving no substance for the creep to decompose.
Even observing through [Truth Vision], Lin Jun couldn't capture any trace of a soul from this scrapped-design bug.
It was as if it had never truly existed, merely a void briefly projected into reality.
From any angle, this thing seemed unable to serve as a source for the [Greed] skill to obtain abilities.
Moreover, the material consumption for the entire summoning ritual was quite substantial.
Even so, Lin Jun still decided to continue deepening his research into abyss magic.
This seemed to be currently the only possible path to glimpse this world's truth.
At least it was more reliable than praying to gods and asking them to tell you the answers.
After cleaning up the ritual's remaining magic material scraps, he began organizing the complex information he'd just received.
A full five minutes of ritual—the total amount of information received was still less than the two-second impact from contacting the abyss void before.
Moreover, unlike last time's all-encompassing information flood, the information received this time was almost entirely structural parameters of various biological bodies, with almost no useful information from which deeper meaning could be analyzed.
Was this just coincidence, or would different types of abyss rituals leak different categories of specific information?
This point was worth recording for verification in the next experiment.
Sigh... such a gloomy mood.
Though he didn't like to brag, Lin Jun had actually been quite proud in his heart of his management and achievements all along.
Possessing a dungeon that he controlled with increasing skill; gradually establishing a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with humans, able to spread creep far and wide while lying back; raising a large group of subordinates in the Far North and developing his own forces; even in elf territories mushrooms were sprouting everywhere; and recently unexpectedly acquiring a bloodkin duke's body, able to taste deliciousness again...
Everything seemed to be developing in a better direction.
Then suddenly, reality slapped him hard across the face!
Everything might just be a meaningless virtual game? He himself might even be just an NPC! Who could withstand that?
Troubled by nihilism, even his main body deep in the swamp—its teal mushroom cap drooped listlessly.
Fortunately, when his mood plummeted to rock bottom, Lin Jun had his unique way of dispelling worry and finding amusement—the number one ranking on the Interesting Dream List!
That ultimate source of happiness he normally couldn't bear to easily enter, afraid of accidentally breaking it and losing the fun forever!
In Mushroom City, within a residential district not far from the bustling city center, the house Vera's trio had jointly purchased was located here.
Having bought it when Mushroom City was still expanding, the price at that time was incredibly cheap. Now the housing prices in this area had risen with the tide, climbing to a level that made them click their tongues.
Every time they discussed this, the three couldn't help but feel fortunate about their decisive purchase back then—they'd picked up a great bargain.
The house wasn't very large. Vera lived in a smaller bedroom himself, leaving the more spacious master bedroom with windows for the Feline and Feyn sisters.
As for Sirian, he chose to live at a nearby tavern. Due to his presence, the tavern's business was better than usual, so the owner gave him a very favorable price.
They had just successfully completed an escort mission, protecting a batch of Puffshrooms to Norweid's trade market.
The compensation was quite generous, bringing them another step closer to their savings goal. Their dream was to acquire a small shop space in what was now Mushroom City's central district.
As for what to operate, they hadn't completely decided yet.
Perhaps selling herbs that Feline collected and prepared, perhaps dealing in basic magic books and scrolls, or even opening a small Puffshroom trading agency—all were within consideration.
As long as it was a stable small business belonging to them, that would be good. After all, being an adventurer was very difficult to do for a lifetime.
Outside the window, night rain pattered against the glass. Vera lay on his bed, thinking about future matters, his consciousness gradually blurring as he sank into a warm dream.
A slight friction sound, almost masked by the rain, rang out.
Boom—!
Lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating a round figure filling the entire window...
Vera's dream was ordinary—adventuring with his squad, helping when encountering injustice, then after completing missions, drinking heartily and eating well in taverns, laughter and cheer continuous, almost no different from real life.
But Lin Jun ranked his dream as number one—naturally there was something unique about it!
Vera's dream, with just the right approach, could...
A chilling, bone-piercing black wind invaded the lively tavern, sweeping away Feline and Feyn right before everyone's eyes!
The wind only left behind a sinister mutter: "Finally found them—twins with rare blood!"
Vera roared and tried to give chase, but it was futile. He could only watch helplessly as that evil wind disappeared at the edge of his vision, with only the equally stunned elf Sirian beside him.
Just then, a Teal Mushroom Elder jumped out, solemnly informing Vera that the one who'd abducted the sisters was a powerful bloodkin duke, and providing guidance—to defeat the duke, he must first deal with his four heavenly kings...
Morning came. Little birds chirping on the eaves outside woke Vera with their noise.
He sat up, face full of exhaustion, covering his face with his hands, struggling to recall the dream's bizarre final chapter.
"What the hell is a Mushroom Elder, and why are there five heavenly kings when it should be four... and it's actually Sirian..."
In the dream, all along the way were difficult choices—sacrifice one person or give up on more.
And when Sirian silently walked out from behind him and calmly took the fifth seat, that shock and bewilderment still lingered in his mind.
Having not rested well, Vera emerged from his room sporting a corpse-like face that startled the twins!
When the four gathered, Sirian had just escaped the advances of two overly enthusiastic female adventurers trying to get handsy with him.
He turned his head and saw the mentally exhausted Vera, looking as if his body had been hollowed out, then looked at the radiant, glowing Feline and Feyn sisters beside him.
This handsome elf ranger's face showed a trace of hesitation. He opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed back the caring words like "you should exercise restraint" that had reached his lips, only casting a complex and slightly worried glance.
Unfortunately, the dream was still too short—the bigger twist prepared at the end didn't get used.
If only he could create an eternal dream someday!
However, this exhilarating "creation" was enough.
Lin Jun felt the pent-up gloom in his mushroom cap dissipate by more than half, his mood becoming much more relaxed. Finally, he had the inclination to turn back and handle serious business.
And the so-called serious business was those werewolf remnants still holed up on his dungeon's tenth layer, stubbornly resisting!
The previously frequent strategy of using Charm Puffshrooms to lure away isolated werewolves had now become ineffective.
After suffering too many losses, the remaining werewolves' vigilance had greatly increased—they no longer fell for tricks easily.
The werewolf tribe's scale had already severely shrunk. A large portion of them were old wolves with stubborn thoughts, loyal to the so-called "Demon King" tradition. For these "melons twisted by force," Lin Jun had no interest in recruiting them.
Forcibly taking them in would instead easily lead his other werewolves astray—just let them rot on the tenth layer.
However, mixed in the tribe were still some young werewolves with value worth fighting for. Lin Jun's goal this time was to package them all up and take them away, thoroughly draining this werewolf tribe's last remaining value!
(Overslept, third update delayed by one day)
(End of Chapter)
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