The tide surged up, then receded.
Will stood on the shore.
Washed by the spray, the stains on Will's body were cleansed, giving him an unprecedented sense of relief.
The current Will couldn't remember the hideous face of the cultist, couldn't remember those companions of the Church of Mushroom, and couldn't even remember how he came to this coast.
He just stood here, hesitating about where to go.
Behind him was an extending sandy beach, and further away was a vast white expanse of empty space with nothing in it.
He vaguely felt he should walk that way. That was the end, the destination, the place where everyone standing here ultimately had to go.
But the ocean was urging him to stay.
Waves came one after another, each time receding a little slower, rolling a little deeper.
Will stood on the shore for a long time. Ultimately, he took a step toward the direction of the ocean.
Step after step, the seawater submerged his calves, submerged his waist, submerged his chest.
He continued walking, not feeling cold, nor feeling suffocated, only feeling that himself wrapped by the seawater was getting lighter and lighter, lighter and lighter...
Will's world plunged into darkness once again.
Puchi—
...
"Didn't expect a new Mushroom Tribe member to be born suddenly. How nice, No. 14, you're no longer the youngest."
"..., so is this one called No. 15?"
"It moved, it moved, it's about to come out!"
Telepathic dialogue directly appeared in Will's thoughts. He knew this was communication through the mycelial network, but he was extremely unfamiliar with these two telepathic voices conversing.
Who were they?
Companions from the Church of Mushroom? Did he actually survive by a stroke of luck?
Will wanted to open his eyes but found he couldn't.
Could he be blind?
This thought made Will somewhat panicked. Losing an arm had already made his life difficult enough; if he lost his eyes too... then it would have been more merciful to have been killed on the spot by the cultist back then.
But soon, Will discovered an anomaly.
Although he didn't open his eyes, he could perceive his surroundings. He was currently wrapped inside a layer of something.
Wait.
Right arm?
His right arm, which should have been empty, had something slightly squirming.
"Tentacles?!"
Poof—!
Startled, Will jumped and burst out of the mycelial cocoon, then landed on the ground, bounced once, and rolled in front of the Sword Saint and No. 7.
Not yet accustomed to the round body and four tentacles, Will, fallen on the ground, flopped back and forth like a fish ashore.
No. 7: "What an energetic new mushroom!"
Sword Saint: "Body coordination seems lacking."
"Mushroom... Mushroom Envoy? Two of them? No..." No. 7 was one thing, but the Sword Saint Puchi had four swords longer than its entire body strapped horizontally across its back. Just standing there casually with tentacles crossed, looking all arrogant, it obviously wasn't a Mushroom Envoy.
Simultaneously, Will also realized another thing: his mouth was gone too, and he could only communicate through the mycelial network.
Also, this round appearance of his with tentacles, no matter how he looked at it, seemed like...
"How did I become... a Puchi?"
"Become?" The Sword Saint caught this word, moved half a step forward, and asked tentatively, "What... is your name?"
"My name is Will," Will answered honestly.
As soon as he answered, the Sword Saint understood for the most part in his heart. Probably another guy who was transformed like himself, right.
While No. 7 was first shocked that it wasn't named No. 15, then extended a tentacle and patted Will's mushroom cap comfortingly.
The two of them were called by Lin Jun to guide the new mushroom, so they led Will to stroll around the Mushroom Garden while asking about Will's origins.
"Actually promoted into a Puchi by the Mushroom Lord. No wonder it has no number," No. 7 realized in a flash.
The Sword Saint's focus was obviously in another direction: "Hand of Passage... heh, truly can never be chopped clean."
And Will, at this time, also gradually came back to his senses.
Looking at this magical Mushroom Garden, he remembered that passage in the doctrine: Believe in Puchis, attain eternal life.
Whether eternal life was true or not he didn't know, but at least he was reborn!
Although in the form of a Puchi, however, compared to death, what was there to be particular about?
Thinking of this, Will couldn't help but pray devoutly: "Praise the Mushroom Lord!"
"Mm." Another unfamiliar telepathy appeared in his mind. "Familiarize yourself well in the Mushroom Garden first. I'll send you back after a period of time."
Will was stunned.
He subconsciously "looked" at the Sword Saint and No. 7: "Whose... whose voice is that?"
"The Mushroom Lord's! Weren't you just praising the Mushroom Lord?" No. 7 also felt this new mushroom seemed not too bright.
Will nodded, but always felt something was weird.
Gods... could actually communicate like this?
...
Faith truly worked!
Strictly speaking, Will was considered the second person to reincarnate into a Puchi through faith, but the first one wasn't devout enough, lacking soul adhesiveness.
After accidentally dying, the soul merged into the world.
Will was different; his soul's adhesiveness was much higher.
Although after the soul was taken out, the world's pulling force on it gradually increased, and if left alone, it would ultimately still merge into the world.
But this adhesiveness had given Lin Jun enough time to unhurriedly stuff Will into a mycelial cocoon.
This was simply a historic moment!
One must know, although Will was said to be a Mushroom Tribe member, unlike No. 7 and the others, his soul was still independent!
In other words, he could, like other people parasitized by mycelium, command a batch of Puchis through the mycelial network.
And compared to other parasitized people, if Will died, as long as Lin Jun collected his corpse in time, he could completely be resurrected and reused!
The army of the Mushroom Fortress looked grand and imposing now, but looking past the surface, they could actually be viewed as an army composed of summoners.
It didn't matter if summons were sacrificed; no matter how many died, it was just a consumption of mana.
But if the summoner themselves died, that was a tangible loss of combat power.
But if everyone became Puchis, this weakness that wasn't exactly a weakness would be gone too!
Parasitizing a person could only be considered temporary combat power. But transforming a Puchi meant he permanently increased his control upper limit by over twenty Puchis.
Like this, the importance of the Church of Mushroom project undoubtedly increased greatly!
Transforming people into mushrooms—if announced to the public, it would definitely attract many people to join the Church of Mushroom, but inevitably many people would feel terrified by this as well.
After all, strictly speaking, this thing was a similar act to transforming people into vampires.
Lin Jun decided to increase the support for the Church of Mushroom, developing according to the current policy first.
Wait until this method of development reached its limit, then expose the matter of transforming into Puchis to further expand the circle.
As for what the world would be like if everyone became Puchis?
A world full of Puchis didn't seem bad to Lin Jun at all!
They were all the same souls anyway. Since they could be humans, demons, elves, dwarves, or goblins, then why couldn't they be Puchis?
Everyone becoming Puchis, under the leadership of him as the Hero, united as one to save the world—isn't this pretty good!
(End of Chapter)
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