Inside the back room of the potion shop, the air was thick with the strange mingled scents of all sorts of exotic ingredients. The little fairy Riel stood on a wooden stool, completely focused as she brewed a cauldron of Skylight Potion.
The mixture in the crucible was at its most critical stage, glowing with a soft amber light. A single mistake now would ruin the starlight moss and condensed night-orchid petals she had already added.
Riel held her breath, carefully sprinkling moon-dew butterfly wing powder evenly across the surface. Only when delicate silver flecks began to appear did she let out a soft sigh of relief and stir exactly three and a half circles clockwise with a silver spoon.
At that moment came the familiar creak of the window being pushed open.
Riel’s heart leaped with joy—she knew that sound. It was Big Mushroom sneaking in through the window again.
Ever since Grandpa left, only Big Mushroom stayed with her in the shop and watched her brew.
It hadn’t shown up for several days in a row, and she had started worrying it had been caught and eaten by some big bird.
After all, Big Mushroom really did look delicious and easy to eat.
What puzzled her was that the creaking didn’t stop. Big Mushroom never played with the window like that.
Distracted, Riel stirred a few extra circles. By the time she realized her mistake, yellow clumps had already begun forming in the once-silver potion.
“Ah… ruined!”
She threw down the silver spoon in annoyance, cheeks puffed out, and stormed out of the workshop. At a glance she spotted the culprit responsible for the commotion—a perfectly round, chubby Puchi stuck halfway through the window frame, wriggling left and right in a desperate attempt to squeeze inside.
Riel quickly ran outside first, double-checked the green cloth strip tied around the Puchi’s leg, and then reached in to help. With one good push, she finally shoved the noticeably fatter Puchi through.
“Big Mushroom! Where have you been all these days? How did you get so fat?!”
If not for that green strip, Riel would barely have recognized it.
Looking at this clearly larger, rounder, plumper Puchi, she suddenly had the urge to hug it—it had to feel amazing.
She reached out tentatively, but as expected, the Puchi immediately blocked her with its mycelial tentacles, firmly rejecting the affection.
After pushing away Riel’s restless little hands, the Puchi waddled into the inner room on its own and hopped up onto a high shelf.
Far out of Riel’s reach yet with a perfect view of the brewing process, it had naturally become the Puchi’s personal throne.
Lin Jun didn’t let Riel hug the Puchi for her own good.
Though it looked like nothing more than an extra-chunky scout Puchi, this one was a special combat model.
Aside from ordinary abilities, its plump body concealed razor-sharp spines. When triggered, they would burst out like a porcupine’s. Combined with [Blade Storm], it could shred an ambusher in an instant.
Its mycelial tentacles hid tiny venomous needles carrying a nerve-paralyzing toxin. And at its core—
—it even symbiotically housed an A-grade magic crystal. Besides amplifying skills, in emergencies Lin Jun could cast through it. Fully armed, in every sense.
Moreover, the fungal mat had now spread throughout the forest.
From the trees above, nothing looked different, but beneath the soil all sorts of mushrooms grew everywhere.
If needed, Lin Jun could instantly sprout massive numbers of cannon-fodder Puchis—though he preferred to avoid going that far.
The proliferation of mushrooms had naturally caught some elves’ attention, but no one saw it as a threat.
Forests were full of fungi anyway; this year they were simply growing especially well.
Even the scholars who might have been interested had been reassigned to the Sacred Tree Dungeon to assist with the mission.
For ordinary elves, the biggest change was a few new glowing mushroom dishes on the dinner table and a uniquely flavored mushroom broth. Even Riel secretly kept a small jar.
Though she probably felt it would be rude to eat mushrooms in front of a Puchi and hid it away.
In short, Lin Jun had made thorough defensive preparations.
If even that couldn’t protect Riel, then it could only be chalked up to the little fairy’s terrible luck.
If it ever came to that, the only thing Lin Jun could do for her would probably be to send her to reunite with her grandfather.
As for Airaven’s side—since the scout Puchi had been personally handed to Salian by her, a new one couldn’t get too close. It could only lurk in mimicry among the trees near her cabin, ready if needed.
…
On the other side, through the fungal mat, Lin Jun watched Ilos emerge from the dungeon and head toward the elven royal city.
Meanwhile, Pelagel—who had cautiously avoided the “safe paths” cleared by the rangers and thus taken much longer—had only just reached the lowest levels.
In fact, the bottom three floors were already fairly dangerous for a lone diamond-tier ranger.
Fortunately, most of the frenzied monsters had been cleared out earlier, and the special super-backpack Puchi on his back provided excellent scouting and warning. Thanks to that, he managed to pass through the dangerous zones without major incident and gradually approached the elven forward camp.
According to the original ranger plan, once most frenzied monsters were eliminated and the Sacred Tree Dungeon confirmed safe, they were supposed to gradually withdraw the main force, leaving only small elite teams to mop up remaining crazed creatures.
But then the unexpected happened. Their leader, Guard Captain Eko, along with several mages, had become trapped in an abnormal space.
Only Chief Ilos, with his profound knowledge and powerful spellcasting, had escaped.
In the chaos, the Chief had only managed to save the student closest to him. Everyone else remained trapped.
Under the circumstances, withdrawal was out of the question. The entire forward camp could only hold position and await the Chief’s return to the royal city to consult with the Elven King on a rescue plan.
Before departing, Chief Ilos had handed temporary command of the camp to the student he saved—Seldan.
Lin Jun and Pelagel, of course, knew nothing of these internal developments. Pelagel’s original plan had been to skirt the camp and sneak straight to the central area to investigate the mysterious sapling.
But when he caught a distant glimpse of a familiar figure in the camp, he lowered his longbow, changed his mind, and walked straight toward it.
…
“Pelagel? Is it really you? Tell me this isn’t an illusion!” In the center of the camp, tears of disbelief shone in Seldan’s eyes as he stared excitedly at his “returned from the dead” friend.
Pelagel simply folded his arms, tone unchanged. “You still owe me that bottle of high-grade mana potion you borrowed last time. Want me to slap you again to prove you’re not dreaming?”
“It really is you! You’re alive! This is wonderful!” Seldan was overjoyed and opened his arms for a brotherly hug, only to be firmly stopped by Pelagel’s outstretched hand on his shoulder.
Hugging was out of the question—he couldn’t risk Seldan brushing against the mycelium.
“None of that mushy stuff,” Pelagel said, smoothly blocking the embrace. “I just got hit by a weird poison and hid somewhere safe to recover, that’s all.”
“Poison? Any lingering effects? Do you need me to—”
“No need,” Pelagel interrupted, steering the conversation to the point. “On my way back I ran into the Chief. He ordered me to come assist you. Though honestly, I’m still pretty lost about what’s going on here.”
Seldan opened his mouth as if to explain immediately, but his gaze swept over the other elves coming and going in the camp and he swallowed the words.
He motioned for Pelagel to follow and led him toward the area where the mysterious little sapling at the dungeon’s heart grew.
No other elves were allowed here.
First confirming no one else was nearby, Seldan went further and cast a sound-isolation barrier around them before finally explaining everything he knew to his friend.
(End of Chapter)
Comments