Puff—
Under Julia’s excited watch, a Puchi with a rainbow-colored mushroom cap crawled out of the cocoon.
“Puchi God? Or… divine messenger, Lord Mushroom Tribe?” Julia asked tentatively.
But the emerged Puchi didn’t immediately acknowledge her. It first stood steadily, then methodically began tidying the scattered hay in the cell corner.
Its tentacles deftly parted the hay left and right, stacking two perfectly equal, neat piles. Even stray strands were carefully tucked back.
Only after finishing did it plop its butt on the cell’s centerline and wave a tentacle, beckoning the bewildered Julia to sit in the designated spot.
“I am Twelve. The Fungus Lord heard your voice. I was sent to guide you to the truth.”
Julia heard a voice from the mycelial network for the first time.
“Truth…?” Julia repeated blankly.
Twelve took her hand and led her to the cell door. A tentacle lightly swiped—the iron lock fell to the ground.
The noise alerted the guard. He ran over and bumped right into Julia stepping out.
“Escape?” His hand went to his sword, but a flash of rainbow color instantly seized his attention. “Pu… chi?”
Twelve’s mushroom cap shimmered with flowing fluorescent colors.
The guard’s eyes gradually glazed. His grip on the sword loosened. He scratched his head blankly, sat back down, and completely ignored Twelve and Julia strolling out.
Not just the guard—even the other prisoners in nearby cells fell into the same daze.
Julia, an ordinary woman, watched this miraculous scene and murmured, “This is… a miracle?”
“What are you thinking? That’s just a charm skill,” Twelve ruthlessly shattered her fantasy. “Don’t label everything you don’t understand as a miracle—you’ll make a fool of yourself. We believe in seeking truth from facts…”
While leading Julia outward, Twelve educated her on the correct way to worship the Fungus Lord—her so-called Puchi God.
Along the way, every guard they met was easily charmed.
These mostly copper-tier jailers couldn’t resist [Charm LV9] even after the Puchi discount.
After leaving the prison was even easier.
With full-map navigation, bustling Mushroom Capital felt like an empty city. All the way to the dungeon entrance, Julia didn’t bump into a single person.
Inside the dungeon, she even experienced the legendary hidden Puchi room.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get the full Puchi spa treatment. The moment the hidden room door closed and opened, she suddenly found herself on the tenth floor!
Just like a miracle.
Her first dungeon visit had been quite scary.
Though the dungeon had become much safer since turning into the Puchi Dungeon, that was for adventurers.
Julia was just an ordinary woman.
But with Twelve guiding, she naturally encountered no danger.
Deep underground, she witnessed a shocking and frightening scene—demons!
In the deeper areas of the Puchi Dungeon, a considerable number of demons actually lived!
They worked alongside Puchis in various caverns.
Some mined ore or magic crystals. Some cultivated the increasingly rare glowgrass that was becoming scarce on the market.
Strangely, when these demons noticed her, there was no greed, no hostility, barely even curiosity—just the indifferent glance one gave a passing stranger.
This was completely different from the demon image she had heard of.
She cautiously asked, “Lord Messenger, these… are demons, right? Why are they here?”
“What ‘Lord Messenger’? Sounds weird. Just call me Twelve. Also, you should try communicating through the mycelial network. The Fungus Lord should have given you permission. Speaking aloud is hard to hear clearly.”
“As for these—they’re all mushroom garden citizens.”
“Mushroom garden citizens? Aren’t they demons?”
“That’s the problem.” Twelve extended a tentacle, pointing at a female lizardman gently harvesting mature mushrooms with her young. “What difference do you see between you and her?”
“Difference?” Julia looked blankly. “I’m human. She’s… a lizardman, a type of demon, right?”
First time seeing a living lizardman.
“But in the Fungus Lord’s eyes, there’s no difference.”
“How can there be no difference?” They clearly looked completely different.
“Same need to eat and drink, same joy and sorrow, same desire for safety and belonging. Most importantly, the Fungus Lord said that after death, your souls are essentially identical—no ‘human soul’ or ‘demon soul’ distinction.”
“Souls?” Julia had never considered this. “But human-demon wars…”
“Exactly. Because of language barriers, different appearances, opposing nations, and mountains of old grudges, you’re trapped in endless slaughter, and suffering grows from it.”
In the distance, a dwarf miner handed ore to a half-demon, teaching them to identify minerals. A mushroomkin followed a much shorter elf, listening to her explain how to select potion ingredients.
“But here it’s different. Here you’re all just mushroom citizens, nothing more.”
Following Twelve’s guidance, Julia stared dumbfounded at the scenes of racial harmony.
Twelve continued, “Imagine if dwarves, elves, humans, demons, even deep-sea merfolk and fishmen… every sentient being in the world became mushroom citizens…”
“No… conflict in the world…” Julia murmured.
“Correct. That is the truth.” Twelve’s mushroom cap glowed with soft rainbow light, as if echoing the vision. “Not just sheltering you from hunger and cold, but eliminating all strife, bringing this world… eternal peace.”
Julia seemed to see her husband no longer needing to don cold armor and march to uncertain death. Children growing up without hunger or fear. Different races holding hands without prejudice. A world where every sentient being could smile in peace.
Before, her gratitude toward the Puchi God had been simple and concrete.
Thanks for letting her husband survive Dragonroar Valley’s mountain of corpses. Thanks for filling their bellies with mushrooms. Her faith came from direct survival blessings.
Now, witnessing humans and demons living and working together—a microcosm of Twelve’s described world—she who had tasted war’s bitterness felt tears flow unconsciously.
Twelve didn’t disturb her emotion. It simply held her hand with a tentacle and continued leading her through the caverns.
Of course, it skillfully avoided areas that wouldn’t showcase the “Puchi God’s benevolence”—like the caverns holding D-class personnel or the arena echoing with roars and clashes.
That long speech about “eternal peace” was mostly from Lin Jun’s pre-written script, with a bit of Twelve’s improvisation.
Lin Jun hoped to shift Julia’s faith from simple personal gratitude to a grander, firmer ideal.
A noble goal and beautiful vision were essential for solidifying faith.
Similar to the Hand of Passage’s “next life,” but Lin Jun offered a tangible, visible future—with the mushroom garden as a working model.
And it wasn’t really deception.
Though Lin Jun spread mycelium and parasitized races to strengthen himself and live more freely and happily, if one day his fungal mat truly covered every corner of the world and achieved symbiosis with all, ending war would be just a thought—simply eliminate anyone trying to start one.
Of course, that assumed surviving the world-ending crisis.
As for the truth about that crisis—no need to tell Julia yet.
For now, this was merely a faith observation experiment.
After touring caverns and even talking with some citizens, Twelve brought the still-immersed Julia back to her cell.
Thanks to [Charm] and network navigation, no one even realized she had been gone half a day.
Even Julia herself, sitting back on the cold straw mat, felt like everything had been an overly beautiful dream.
“Rest easy. You won’t be trapped here long.” Twelve’s gentle voice rang in the mycelial network. “You are chosen by the Fungus Lord. If you need anything, call my number on the network anytime.”
Before leaving, it fed her a pre-prepared mouthful of water of life.
Julia knelt before the fungal mat patch, watching Twelve depart in this special way. She clasped hands to chest:
“Praise the Fungus Lord.”
(End of Chapter)
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