On the highest terrace of the central tower of the Mushroom Fortress, facing the thin sunlight of the Northern Territory.
Looking down at the three new mushrooms surrounded by the Mushroom Citizens below, the Sword Saint asked the Marshal Puchi beside him: "Performing divine miracles, resurrecting the dead, are you... a god?"
Although he really wanted to puff up his mushroom body, unfold the radiance of the Sunstone behind his mushroom cap, and then dashingly admit it.
But Lin Jun was an honest mushroom.
"Not yet."
The Sword Saint didn't press on what this "yet" meant. It just tilted its mushroom cap: "Then why did you resurrect them?"
Hearing the Sword Saint's question, the Marshal Puchi bounced up with righteous indignation: "What do you mean why? They are all my precious subjects! If they can be resurrected, of course I should try to resurrect them... Anyway, it doesn't cost money."
For some unknown reason, the Sword Saint always felt that last half-sentence was the main point.
It originally thought that the Boss must have paid some kind of price to resurrect itself.
After all, as a Sword Saint, it had this value.
It had envisioned many possibilities: consuming precious resources, paying some kind of price, or utilizing some taboo power.
But looking at it now... the resurrection ability the Boss mastered was much more convenient than it expected.
So convenient that it simply didn't seem like something that should appear in the hands of mortals.
Of course, the Boss was obviously neither "mortal" nor "human." But regardless, this ability still seemed too powerful in the Sword Saint's view.
It didn't know how long a Puchi could live, but since they could be resurrected at will, lifespan was presumably no longer a problem.
Setting aside the point that "one must discard their human form and turn into a Puchi," this method of eternal life looked much more formidable than those tricks of the vampires.
If a vampire was killed, they would die.
But Puchis... were truly "as long as the fungal mat is immortal, Puchis will not die" in the truest sense.
Growing back out from the fungal mat after dying—it had experienced this itself several times.
The Sword Saint didn't know much about souls, but even without specialized research, it was very easy to infer one thing:
If the Boss continued resurrecting like this, there would be more and more Mushroom Converts, more and more, until one day, the world was stuffed full of Puchis.
Could this be considered a world-class crisis?
Although thinking this way, the Sword Saint didn't intend to do any actions that would let Lin Jun down.
The mist was the real crisis that needed to be faced. The matter of too many Puchis was something to consider later. Wait until the world is saved, then properly discuss relevant matters with the Boss; it wasn't impossible.
Taking ten thousand steps back, everyone becoming Puchis, although feeling a bit weird, didn't seem completely unacceptable.
At least, the Sword Saint was quite satisfied with its current mushroom body.
As it was thinking about these random things, the Boss's telepathy suddenly came through the mycelial network.
"What are you thinking about?" The Marshal Puchi's tentacle stretched in front of it and gently poked the edge of its mushroom cap. "Could it be that you're thinking, wait until the matter of reincarnation spreads out, those things about yourself being toyed with by Inanna and Galadriel will be exposed?"
That emotion full of anticipation within the telepathy wasn't concealed in the slightest.
The Sword Saint was silent for a long time.
It changed its mind.
Being a Puchi... was truly too difficult.
...
If one were to say who was the happiest about having three more Mushroom Converts, it definitely had to be Will.
As the first Mushroom Tribe member to complete "ascending to mushroom" by relying on faith in the truest sense, he had spent a complex period of time.
At first, it was panic. When he woke up and found he was no longer himself, that blankness and loss lasted for a long time.
Then it was being moved. Learning from No. 7 that the Mushroom Lord personally guided his soul, allowing him to return from death.
Next was novelty. He spent a whole week wandering around the Mushroom Garden, using this new body to get used to walking, climbing slopes, and using tentacles to roll things up.
Later on, there was a faint, lingering loneliness.
Life in the Mushroom Garden wasn't difficult.
No. 7 was an enthusiastic guide, although occasionally somewhat... eccentric.
Will still remembered the scene when he first met that black dragon-kin. That thing was called Little Black, said to also be a resident of the Mushroom Garden.
That day No. 7 was taking him to familiarize himself with the environment. Little Black popped out from who-knows-where, grabbed No. 7 by the leg, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.
Will was so scared at the time that all four of his tentacles stiffened.
As a result, not long after, the resurrected No. 7 appeared before him alive and kicking again, happily sharing its experience of being eaten with him: "Did you know, when being chewed by her, if you turn your body slightly sideways, that sensation of being crushed will be more even!"
Will listened silently, tentacles trembling slightly, afraid in another sense of the word.
Although he couldn't agree with No. 7's unique aesthetic, he at least understood one thing: the Mushroom Tribe didn't need to worry about death.
Strangely, that dragon-kin named Little Black didn't seem too interested in him. Meeting several times, she only snatched No. 7 away and turned a blind eye to Will.
Will occasionally wondered, could No. 7 really be tastier?
Unfortunately, after becoming a Puchi, he could no longer taste anything.
But what truly made him uneasy was another thing.
Loneliness.
In the Mushroom Fortress, he didn't lack objects to communicate with. No. 7 often came to find him, the Demon-kin passing by would also stop to greet him, and even the dragon-kin Little Black would respond to his telepathy—although they often talked past each other like a chicken talking to a duck or a donkey's lips not matching a horse's mouth.
The Mushroom Lord also didn't restrict his range of activity. He could even leave the Mushroom Garden and stroll around that magical city, the Mushroom Fortress.
But here, he was the only one converted from a human into a mushroom.
No. 7 and No. 14 were naturally born as Mushroom Tribe members. Only he was once human, was once called Will, and had chopped wood, carried stones, and prayed alongside a group of refugees in the mushroom forest of the Church of Mushroom.
He couldn't find his own kind.
Therefore, when he heard that the Mushroom Fortress suddenly gained three more Mushroom Converts, Will was the happiest one among everyone.
He squeezed into the crowd in the square early in the morning, mingled among that patch of Mushroom Citizens, found a wooden crate, and looked at the appearance of those three new mushrooms from afar.
His own kind!
Although among those three Mushroom Converts, only one was human, in Will's eyes, this didn't matter.
They all believed in the same Mushroom Lord.
They had all become Puchis now.
Everything in the past—race, identity, what they did when alive—was no longer important.
Simultaneously, he also realized that in the future, his own kind would become more and more numerous. Those refugees, those believers, those Mushroom Citizens who died in wars... they would all come here and turn into his current appearance.
The era belonging to the Mushroom Lord and Puchis would eventually arrive.
And Will was a part of it!
"Praise the Mushroom Lord!"
"Mm."
"..."
If only the Mushroom Lord could be a bit more mysterious and aloof—Will also quietly thought this way sometimes.
...
While the people of the Mushroom Fortress cheered for the newly born Mushroom Tribe members, Eugene and Dean were intensely organizing a large army and seeking external aid, seemingly wanting to take down the Mushroom Fortress once and for all.
Regarding this, Lin Jun was naturally completely clear.
Then, Lin Jun sent a request for aid to the dwarves.
(End of Chapter)
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