"Not that! It's about people! Becoming like him!"
Lin Jun pointed at the completely bewildered Dylan with one of his puffshroom tentacles.
Standing before Dylan was a large puffshroom with thick black scales, two arms, and a mycelium tail dragging behind it!
Its wings seemed to have been stuffed into its chubby body—this puffshroom looked like it had gained a whole size compared to Little Black's original form.
Damn it!
Why did it mimic into a puffshroom?!
What did I consume all that magic power for?
Well, to be fair, it might actually serve some disguise purpose.
At least adventurers won't know there's a dragonkin on the fifth floor—there's just one particularly conspicuous large pure-black puffshroom! (Compared to other puffshrooms, anyway)
But why is it black in the first place?
It should be able to change colors, right?!
Does this guy even know how to use it properly?
Won't it just get mistaken for an elite monster, drawing adventurers to fight it?
Wouldn't that cause even more conflict?!
Lin Jun wanted to try harder.
His mycelium tentacles reached toward the template tool-person Dylan's face, stretching his cheeks.
"Little Black, look more carefully and mimic this!"
Level 4 Mimicry was no longer just about changing colors and smoothing wrinkles.
It could actually alter the real body shape to a certain degree while maintaining unchanged attributes.
Just like Little Black now—it had become a special tailed puffshroom.
So changing back would also be quite taxing.
"Mmm—"
After watching Little Black struggle blindly for a while, not only did it fail to transform into human form, but it actually became some indescribable coal ball?!
At that moment, Lin Jun suddenly realized: Could the Mimicry skill be linked to intelligence?
Holy crap!
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed!
Sigh, Lin Jun had no choice but to temporarily give up and let her return to puffshroom form.
Fine then.
At least it was better than maintaining the dragonkin appearance.
Just a little bit better...
Sigh—
What kind of troubles were these, day after day?
Looking at Little Black, who was already getting impatient and eager to go out and wander around.
Lin Jun could only fulfill his promise, but still repeatedly warned her not to attack humans first.
"Green ones, okay?"
"Green ones? Ah... I guess that's fine..."
Looking at the black fatty that left obvious footprints with each step—clearly much heavier than other puffshrooms.
Lin Jun still felt uneasy.
Before, when there was no one in the dungeon, she could play around freely, but now...
Under Lin Jun's control, two puffshrooms quickly followed.
One big and two small—it really did look like an elite monster leading minions.
Dylan, still standing in place, looked around. Everyone had left.
He wanted to go back to sleep, but somehow couldn't fall asleep anymore.
Recently, despite being on vacation, something felt off.
After thinking it over, it was the lack of alcohol!
After requesting permission to go out through the mycelial network, Dylan took his equipment, including the phantom cloak the boss had newly given him.
He decided to go to the Rotten Willow Tavern and directly buy a whole barrel of liquor from Cole to bring down.
While he was at it, he should also tell him about being hunted by demons last time.
No matter how he thought about it, that incident shouldn't be blamed on him. Rather, if information had leaked, it was a problem on Cole's side.
Having nearly died because of it, he should be demanding compensation instead.
"Oh right, Dylan, help me mail this out."
Lin Jun's voice suddenly came through the mycelial network, and then he saw a puffshroom running over with a letter and an S-rank magic crystal.
He knew about the letter—it was what the boss had dictated for him to write earlier, asking Miss Inanna to help investigate dungeon materials.
Heaven knew how the boss was acquainted with the Duke's daughter.
He'd heard that Miss Inanna had been trapped in a dungeon for a while before. He secretly guessed it might be related to that.
As for the magic crystal...
When Dylan received the magic crystal, his hands wouldn't stop trembling.
He had to use his other hand to steady it to prevent the magic crystal from falling and getting damaged.
He'd never touched something so valuable in his entire life!
Despite being only ring-sized, he'd have trouble saving enough money to buy it even after working as a Silver-rank adventurer for 100 years!
This thing was a priceless treasure with no market!
Boss... this was trust!
For a moment, warmth flowed through his heart.
Having been an adventurer for most of his life, when had anyone ever trusted him this much?
Even though the boss wasn't human...
"Don't worry, Boss! I'll complete this mission even if it kills me!"
"Huh? Well... okay, but your safety comes first."
"I won't betray your trust!"
...
Actually, Lin Jun wanted to say it wasn't that serious.
Although S-rank magic crystals were highly valuable, he now had the [Crystal Symbiosis] skill, and once he leveled up, he shouldn't lack high-grade magic crystals.
If such a small piece got lost, it would just be unfortunate.
In comparison, a human subordinate who he'd spent considerable time with, who was fairly trustworthy, and could serve as his tentacle reaching the surface was far more important.
But seeing Dylan being so serious, getting free loyalty +1, Lin Jun could only play along.
Before leaving, Lin Jun allocated him two magic potions as reimbursement for his business trip expenses.
Watching Dylan disappear into the stairwell, Lin Jun turned his attention back to Little Black, or rather, the large black puffshroom.
Right now, she was playing with a poisonous slime...
The sixth floor was a large botanical garden, with most inhabitants being plant monsters or creatures related to that ecosystem.
Slimes barely counted.
Actually, most floors had slimes.
Though the varieties differed—from basic slimes to acid slimes, then poison, metal, and all sorts of weird subspecies.
Looking at it this way, they were somewhat similar to his puffshrooms.
However, Lin Jun particularly hated slimes because other monsters would only eat the mushrooms he grew.
Slimes would digest the mycelial carpet along with everything else, leaving nothing behind.
For Lin Jun to extend his perception to other floors without delay, he had to find a way to clear out the slimes—at least most of them.
The one Little Black was playing with now was a red slime containing neurotoxin.
Little Black stuck both her scale-covered puffshroom hands into the slime's body, trying to grab its slippery core.
As for the neurotoxin?
With Level 7 poison resistance, unless she drank large quantities directly, it had no effect whatsoever.
After playing like this for a while, it seemed the mimicked puffshroom hands weren't as useful as her original claws. Unable to catch the core, Little Black got frustrated.
She pulled both hands out and delivered a hammer blow!
The slime burst like a water balloon, splattering everywhere.
One of the following puffshrooms was positioned poorly and standing too close, getting drenched.
If it had been an acid slime, it would definitely be dead.
But puffshrooms were immune to neurotoxin, so it was just dyed red.
After smashing the slime, Little Black's bad mood from earlier disappeared.
She looked around, seemingly getting her bearings.
Then she chose a pathless direction and burrowed in.
The two puffshrooms followed, passing through various plant-type monsters' territories along the way.
Little Black showed strong purpose throughout the journey, not getting distracted by the various monsters, as if she really knew the direction rather than wandering randomly.
This truly surprised Lin Jun. After all, this wasn't following a path—Little Black could actually remember such complex terrain?
Or maybe she hadn't memorized the terrain but was using perception to lock onto something.
Back when he was underground, he could still be found. Little Black's various perception skills weren't low-level.
After walking for most of the day, Lin Jun saw Little Black's destination.
And he understood what "green humanoid creatures" meant.
There were actually treants in this dungeon?!
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