On the second day of the victory banquet, the dwarves were about to leave. This was actually much shorter than the time they had originally expected to stay in the Northern Territory.
First, the war ended too quickly. Once the Empire's army fell into a disadvantage, the Mushroom Fortress's relentless pursuit completely prevented them from reorganizing any decent combat strength, ultimately settling the victory in a single battle.
Second, there was no delay caused by the wounded. They either died straight out on the battlefield or were sprinkled with some spores by the Puchis, returning to being alive and kicking in two or three days.
However, upon leaving, aside from the spoils of war and several jugs of [Deliciousness LV10] Mushroom Wine, they also took away another item—the latest combat construct produced by the Mushroom Fortress's forging factory.
Through the efforts of Mark, Torin, and those senior dwarven craftsmen who had joined later, they finally replicated the first combat construct. Its operational status met the standards, tangibly proving the value of this project.
Combat construct technology was considered a collaborative project between the Mushroom Fortress and the Mountains. Letting the dwarves take this sample back was naturally in the hope that they would increase their investment and send over more master craftsmen.
Overall, this collaboration with the dwarves could be considered a joy for both hosts and guests—at least until they realized the true problem with the mycelium.
With the victory celebrations over, the Mushroom Fortress resumed its operations.
A massive number of captives were parasitized and thrown into the labor reform camp. There, Lin Jun would do his best to reform every Demon-kin into a qualified Mushroom Garden warrior.
For those who were truly stubbornly irreclaimable, Lin Jun could also teach them according to their aptitude and send them to a suitable place.
It is worth mentioning that among the Mushroom Fortress soldiers responsible for commanding and guarding them, quite a few had also gathered enough contribution points and graduated from here. Managing these juniors was considered a familiar path for them.
The busiest person post-war had to be Xinghuo.
A massive accumulation of magic cores was waiting for him to take to the Cradle to convert into new Shroom-kin.
Every day, the moment he opened his eyes, it was a rebirth ritual, from morning till night. Lin Jun had already prepared to convert him into a Puchi if he died of sudden overwork.
Little Pig, on the other hand, hid in the command room the entire time, reviewing the battle and researching new Puchi tactics.
Of course, there was also the daily task of pouring blood into the mouth of the statue in the command room.
However, today, all core members were called by Lin Jun to a meeting in the deep-level zone of the Puchi Dungeon—the Peerless Flavor Mushroom had finished growing.
The mushroom, which was originally just one, had eventually split into three under the irrigation of a massive amount of mana. They were currently placed on an oversized plate in front of everyone.
In fact, the Peerless Flavor Mushroom had finished growing as early as the beginning of the war.
However, as the fruit of a level-less skill that Lin Jun had obtained entirely through his own strength, Lin Jun didn't want its debut to be too hasty.
He would not enjoy this glory alone!
Looking at the three bizarre cyan mushrooms continuously emitting wisps of white vapor, everyone was somewhat silent.
Only Little Black, hugging her new gemstone, was drooling and staring fixedly at those mushrooms, looking like she really wanted to eat them.
The Marshal Puchi stood on the long table, pacing along the edge, its bright red cape trailing behind it.
It walked up to Little Pig: "What's wrong? Didn't I say it's an upgraded version of the Delicious Mushroom? Does no one want to try it first?"
Little Pig sat upright, looking straight ahead: "If you order it, Boss."
"What are you saying? How could I force everyone? Truly inflexible." The Marshal Puchi shook its mushroom cap, came to Norris's side, and rested a mycelial tentacle on his shoulder. "How about it, little Norris, want a taste?"
Norris shrank his neck: "Boss, that mushroom is cyan..."
Having lived in the Mushroom Garden for so long, 'cyan = hallucinogenic poison' was basic common sense.
"Cowardly. That's why you are still single even now." The Marshal Puchi walked away, disappointed by his failure to meet expectations, letting Norris breathe a small sigh of relief.
[Exactly, cowardly!]
[If I had a mouth, I would have rushed to eat it long ago. Little Nuo, you actually dare to question the Boss's judgment!]
The Pink Puchi looked around. Just as it was about to raise its hand, it was discreetly held down by Idin, who was resting with his eyes closed nearby.
He still had to bring Inanna back completely intact; otherwise, Alamar, who already found him displeasing to the eye, might do something extreme to him.
It was Ming who immediately raised his hand after hearing the Boss evaluate Norris as cowardly.
The Marshal Puchi immediately went up and rubbed his head: "Good, good, good. As expected of my best Ming, much braver than that tailless lizard!"
Ming, laughing foolishly while having his head rubbed, didn't forget to cover for Norris: "Hehehe, Big Brother Norris is just relatively cautious!"
In the end, of the three Peerless Flavor Mushrooms: one for Little Black, one for Ming, and one for Old Dylan.
Old Dylan had simply been living his retired life for so long that, upon rarely attending this kind of staff meeting, he thought he would show off a bit and find some sense of presence.
Besides, he was indeed very curious about what the so-called "tastier than Deliciousness LV10" was exactly like.
At most, it would just be so delicious that he'd twist around on the ground. It wasn't like he'd grow three heads and six arms or something.
As the owner of Puchi's Home, he had seen plenty of scenes where eating Delicious Mushrooms led to a loss of composure. At his age, he no longer cared about face as much as young folks like Norris. He could afford to lose this bit of face.
Therefore, after being the first to get the Peerless Flavor Mushroom, Dylan didn't hesitate much and swallowed it in one bite.
"Awooo~~~!!!"
Thick white mist sprayed from the skin all over his body. It didn't harm Dylan, but it instantly blasted off all his clothes, not even leaving his underpants.
That was the extremely concentrated form of the massive mana consumed while nurturing the Peerless Flavor Mushroom.
However, Old Dylan no longer had the time to feel embarrassed. His consciousness had already been taken by the Peerless Flavor into a realistic and beautiful illusion.
Not only that, after the white concentrated mana pouring out from his body enveloped the entire cavern, everyone present fell into it together.
Little Pig, Idin, Shou, and the others immediately became alert, but they soon realized that although this illusion was realistic, it wasn't dangerous.
In a not-so-large, even somewhat rudimentary room, a young Dylan was bandaging the wound of a little girl who was crying constantly because her palm was bleeding. While bandaging, he lectured: "I told you not to touch Daddy's sword. Thankfully, it's just a cut!"
"Sigh... I wonder if it will leave a scar..."
The scene then changed. A young Dylan handed a wooden sword into the hands of the slightly older girl.
The girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at the wooden sword: "I love Daddy the most!"
The scene changed again. The girl had grown up, and her face was exactly that of Bella, whom Lin Jun had seen once.
She had a real sword fastened at her waist and wore adventurer's attire.
"Father, then I am setting off."
Dylan's emotions affected everyone within this illusion, much stronger than the usual mutual perception of emotions in the mycelial network, and it faintly roused a resonance among the crowd.
However, the reactions of the others varied.
The Pink Puchi cried a river, muttering "Old man" from its mouth.
Idin nearby was clearly also deeply moved, but he tried his best to suppress his emotions.
Norris, on the other hand, had a conflicted expression. The suffering left to him by his gambling addict father far outweighed any warmth.
Meanwhile, Little Pig, Little Black, Shou, and Xinghuo were expressionless, completely unaffected.
Lin Jun himself didn't feel anything special either.
The sprayed white mist had gradually thinned, and the scene began to blur.
Just when Lin Jun thought it was about to end, the illusion, comparable to a life flashing before one's eyes, changed once again.
"Boss, you eat too!"
It was a scene of Bianca, the clerk at Puchi's Home, smiling as she pushed a cake in front of Old Dylan.
The white mist completely dispersed, everything ended, and the surrounding mana became considerably denser as a result.
Everyone else broke free. Only Old Dylan, as the source point, whose inner heart and physical body had both been completely exposed to everyone, was still lying on the ground, dazedly murmuring the names of Bianca and Bella.
Gulp—
Ming looked at the Peerless Flavor Mushroom in front of him and cast a pleading look for help toward Norris.
Norris, who similarly didn't want his clothes to explode and streak naked, fixed his gaze on the blank pages of the yellow book, who knows what he was looking at.
Little Black didn't think about any of this. Grabbing the mana-filled Peerless Flavor Mushroom, she stuffed it into her mouth without hesitation.
Then, in the illusion, everyone saw an ordinary day in Little Black's life: sleeping amidst sparkling gems, eating Delicious No. 7s that proactively drilled into her mouth...
(End of Chapter)
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