Does the ultimate deliciousness stem from the most cherished, beautiful memories in one's heart?
The aftereffects were strong. Old Dylan was still in a trance, occasionally murmuring his daughter Bella's name.
The Sword Saint and the Marshal Puchi had also been pulled into the illusion. Although, due to his Puchi body, the Puchi Sword Saint's expression couldn't be seen, Lin Jun still sensed that he had been moved.
This meant that Mushroom Converts like the Sword Saint, although unable to directly taste the Peerless Flavor Mushroom, could piggyback on someone else's Peerless Flavor experience.
It felt like this could be used as some sort of high-end entertainment for the Mushroom Converts!
However, given the mana consumption of the Peerless Flavor Mushroom, even if Lin Jun was willing to provide it, it would cost an astronomical price.
Fortunately, many people or mushrooms could experience it together at once. If the cost was split, it seemed viable as an occasional luxury experience.
But how to put it?
The effects of this Peerless Flavor Mushroom were quite different from what Lin Jun had initially imagined.
The plan to rely on the Peerless Flavor Mushroom to control the experts of various races and ultimately unify the world seemed impossible to implement now.
However, releasing a person's memories to form a nearly realistic illusion—this function felt very familiar.
The thick white mist that sprayed out was also very familiar.
The Mist?
Speaking of which, the mana concentration inside the Mist was also extremely high.
So, is mana concentrated to its absolute extreme just the Mist?
It probably wasn't entirely that. After all, the white mist and illusions produced by the Peerless Flavor Mushroom still had quite a few differences from the Mist. However, there might indeed be some kind of relationship between the two.
Additionally, Lin Jun felt that this Peerless Flavor Mushroom could be appropriately processed a bit.
He still had the last Peerless Flavor Mushroom on hand, left behind by the disappointing Ming.
Honestly, kids just don't have what it takes. So what if you streak naked? What's the big deal?
When had Puchis ever worn clothes? When had he ever been shy about it?
But this was fine; it saved Lin Jun the time of having to generate a new Peerless Flavor Mushroom.
After everyone left, a completely pitch-black Puchi took the Peerless Flavor Mushroom away and placed it in a restricted cavern.
The cavern was overgrown with mushrooms of all sizes, just like any other cavern.
The difference was that all the mushrooms here were pitch-black, devoid of any color.
Next door to this cavern was the D-class personnel amusement park, and this cavern stored a massive amount of negative emotions gathered through [Negative Energy Collection].
Hmm—mainly fear and despair.
Planting the Peerless Flavor Mushroom in the center of the cavern, under Lin Jun's guidance, massive amounts of black emotions slowly crept up the mushroom, forming winding black patterns on the surface of its cyan cap.
Just as it could absorb massive amounts of mana, the Peerless Flavor Mushroom's capacity to store negative emotions was equally immense.
After a full day of cultivation, all the mushrooms in the cavern had taken on a new look, reverting to their colorful state.
And the Peerless Flavor Mushroom in the center was so black that its original cyan color was almost imperceptible.
A Labor Puchi wrapped its tentacles around that blackened Peerless Flavor Mushroom.
Then, as per usual, public experiments utilized core members, while classified experiments utilized D-class talents.
When pure black mist enveloped the entire cavern, wails and howls far exceeding the usual norm rang out from inside, mixed with furious roars and the near-mad sounds of slaughter.
Of course, all sounds were blocked by the soundproofing magic array at the cavern entrance and wouldn't frighten the Mushroom Citizens working and commuting several caverns away.
After everything ended, the fungal mat decomposed all the corpses.
Looking at the traces of madness all over the cavern, Lin Jun felt that he had found the true usage of the Peerless Flavor Mushroom...
...
The war in the Northern Territory had ended, but its subsequent impact was still brewing.
The dwarves were already working intensely to prepare for war. It was obvious they wanted to take advantage of the empty defenses on Dean's side to deal him a vicious blow.
Of course, because they weren't as well-informed about the situation inside the Empire as Lin Jun, they merely planned to cause more destruction and casualties, while setting up ample reinforcements in the rear to ensure that when the Empire's internal reinforcements arrived, the attacking troops could smoothly withdraw.
Things were different on the Mushroom Fortress's side.
Giant Puchis, large combat constructs, and more, stronger combat Puchis.
The newly promoted second-generation Mushroom Tribe members were also conducting combat training around the clock.
They were preparing entirely with the goal of swallowing the Empire's northern border.
And Dean wasn't idle on his end either.
Since there wouldn't be any more reinforcements from within the Empire in the short term, Dean, completely reliant on himself, also became ruthless.
He forcefully conscripted combat power within his territory, using coercion, bribery, and promises of rewards to bind the nobles formerly under Eugene to his war chariot.
Even the routed soldiers parasitized by mycelium were reincorporated into his ranks.
However, whether intentionally or unintentionally...
These soldiers parasitized by mycelium were mostly placed in relatively frontline positions that could be abandoned at any time.
While those areas that truly needed to be firmly defended were occupied by pure, unparasitized troops.
In Dean's view, holding onto the parasitized individuals was an act of desperation to begin with. Naturally, it was impossible to arrange these dangerous elements into important places.
This wasn't exactly a wrong decision, but it triggered a chain reaction.
Most of the routed soldiers were completely oblivious to this. They merely sighed with emotion that they were finally out after being locked up for so long, while cursing the other soldiers who looked at them with strange eyes.
But a small portion of the smart and sharp parasitized individuals still noticed this.
Some remained silent, choosing to accept this arrangement.
Some quietly began to plot an escape route for themselves.
And others privately spread their findings, disseminating them among the parasitized soldiers in the form of rumors.
This situation was discovered by some mid-level generals. They caught batch after batch of rumor-mongers, punishing them more severely each time, even executing a few in the end, before finally suppressing the rumors.
However, this was only on the surface.
Their actions of killing to silence mouths seemed to further confirm the truth of the theory.
More and more parasitized individuals began to believe that they had completely become sacrificial lambs that Dean intended to consume.
Even more rumors began to spread among the parasitized, only this time, it was more covert—the mycelial network.
In the eyes of other soldiers, these parasitized individuals were becoming increasingly bizarre and reticent.
Sometimes they would clearly see two parasitized individuals beaming with joy, but upon getting closer, they wouldn't hear a single sound of communication.
The generals knew this was a telepathic communication ability called the mycelial network, but to the ordinary soldiers, this weirdness made them even more unwilling to interact with these freaks.
The barrier between the parasitized and the unparasitized was constantly thickening.
This, in turn, further spawned even more rumors within the mycelial network.
Among them, there were even extreme claims saying that after this war, even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be put to death.
For a time, the parasitized individuals were in a state of panic.
They couldn't understand why they, who had fought for the Empire, would fall into such a situation. Was it simply because they had failed to achieve victory?
Similarly, they didn't know where they should go from here.
Some soldiers wanted to resist or run away.
But resistance couldn't possibly succeed, and where could they run away to?
Setting aside the identity of a deserter, just look at these mycelia on their bodies.
Dean's side guarded against them, so wouldn't the rest of the Empire guard against them too?
For a moment, confusion occupied their hearts.
In their daze, some of the soldiers heard a whisper from the deepest parts of the mycelial network: "Pitiful and confused non-shrooms, worship the Mushroom, and you shall obtain a new sanctuary!"
(End of Chapter)
Comments