[Seven Sins: Greed Triggered]
[Plundered Skill: Archery LV3→LV4]
[Plundered Skill: Pierce LV1→LV2]
[Plundered Skill: Block LV3→LV4]
[Plundered Skill: Lockpicking LV2→LV3]
...
With accelerated decomposition, Lin Jun helped Dylan clean up all traces.
Unfortunately, this time he hadn't managed to plunder enough proficiency to upgrade his Common Language skill.
But he couldn't always rely on Greed to learn languages.
When Dylan returned this time, Lin Jun would have him start teaching him the language properly.
During Dylan's absence, Lin Jun had focused his attention on two matters.
One was connecting the mycelial networks across all floors, working hard to eliminate latency.
The greatest obstacle to this endeavor was the slimes.
To Lin Jun's fungal carpet, they were nothing but pests.
Except for the third floor, which was filled entirely with traps and had no slimes, the first, second, and fourth floors all showed signs of their activity.
Lin Jun had to suppress the slime population to extremely low levels to ensure the mycelial network wouldn't suffer intermittent delays due to their destructive interference.
As for complete extermination?
Regrettably, based on his experience with the fifth floor, slimes were impossible to completely eliminate.
Ever since the fifth floor had come under Lin Jun's control, the native monsters had been almost entirely wiped out.
The gnolls and parasitic trees were actively eliminated by Lin Jun, while the crystallized bats and rock lizards were caught up in the mana surge.
The jade-eyed frogs had originally left some tadpoles in the lake, but after the three-headed serpent swam through, they too were completely extinct.
Several other species with smaller populations had almost all disappeared during the environmental changes on the fifth floor.
The only native species still visible on the fifth floor now were the acid slimes and water spirits.
They shared a common characteristic: given suitable environments and concentrated mana, they could potentially condense into existence.
If not creation from nothing, it was very close to it.
Therefore, to suppress slime numbers long-term, he still had to rely on puffshrooms to clear them out day after day.
But if he placed overly powerful puffshrooms on the upper floors, they would undoubtedly quickly attract human attention.
So Lin Jun limited the strength of puffshrooms on each floor to a certain degree, ensuring they wouldn't stand out.
For instance, the first floor only had [Spore Cannon LV2] and [Mana Storage LV2].
Just enough to handle slimes, as long as they didn't encounter those rare, large-sized slimes...
Occasionally humans would kill puffshrooms, but Lin Jun didn't mind.
Unlike the fifth floor stronghold, the current primary goal for other floors was to first establish the mycelial network.
As long as adventurers didn't massively destroy the fungal carpet, Lin Jun could accept it.
As for the other matter he was busy with...
In the swamp area below, in Lin Jun's little treasury.
A puffshroom sat before a small mountain made of low-grade magic crystals.
Its elliptical torso was covered with densely packed small diamond-shaped scales. Whenever its four bladed mycelial tentacles moved, the scales rubbed against each other, producing soft rustling sounds.
Each tentacle was currently wrapped around magic crystals, absorbing them.
Where the tentacles coiled, the crystal surfaces gradually became cloudy, and the originally somewhat transparent crystalline layers were corroded with web-like cracks.
When a magic crystal completely turned lead-gray, the tentacle suddenly tightened, and the crystal shattered into fine debris with a crisp sound.
The mechanical repetitive sound of shattering echoed through the space, and discarded crystal fragments spread in a thick layer around the puffshroom.
Within this puffshroom's body grew a magic crystal that had already reached B-grade quality and was still continuously purifying.
This was the puffshroom Lin Jun planned to send out to explore the outside world.
Its skill attributes were now fully configured; only the final step remained—elevating the symbiotic crystal to A-grade.
Opening the status panel:
[Species: Mushroom - Puffshroom]
[HP: 1120]
[Mana: 2560/2560]
[Strength: 52] [Agility: 52]
[Constitution: 52] [Intelligence: 52]
[Spirit: 1]
[Racial Talent: Spore Dispersal]
[Fixed Effects: Mycelial Network Connection, Familiar, Crystal Symbiosis (Skill Power +64%)]
[Skills: Mana Storage LV6, Infrasonic Attack LV6, Resilience LV5, Spore Cannon LV8, Precision LV5, Dodge LV7, Scale Armor LV5, Acceleration LV6, Blade Whip LV5, Mycelial Reconstruction LV3, Assault Launch LV5, Rolling Charge LV7, Stone Eating LV3, Underwater Adaptation LV4, Assimilative Absorption LV3, Mimicry LV4, Mana Sense LV6, Air Current Sense LV7, Light Sense LV4, Sonic Detection LV6, Self-Destruct LV4, Hallucinogenic Spores LV6, Magic Resistance LV5, Physical Resistance LV5, Corrosion Resistance LV4]
This was already equivalent to a minor knight.
Though there were still skills like Life Enhancement and Berserker Rage he wanted to install, the mana consumption was already at its limit.
Especially after Xiao Hei had recently consumed a large wave of it.
The puffshroom's base attributes, except for Spirit which was genuinely useless, had all been maximized. Ordinary puffshrooms didn't get the privilege of attribute enhancement.
Among human adventurers, it was common to see situations like level 30 with 40 Strength.
However, as Lin Jun's skill-generated familiar, the puffshroom's attribute values couldn't exceed Lin Jun's level.
The reason for strengthening this puffshroom to such a degree, even equipping it with an A-grade magic crystal, was mainly because Lin Jun wanted to use it to see more of the outside world.
Not just to catch a glimpse of the sun, but to explore the world.
All of Lin Jun's current understanding of the outside world came from oral accounts by Inanna and Dylan.
Everything was veiled behind a layer of illusory mist.
Now, Lin Jun wanted to lift that veil, even if only from the perspective of controlling a familiar.
---
"Boss, I want to leave for a while."
Dylan's first words upon returning to the fifth floor left Lin Jun scratching his mushroom cap in confusion.
"Why?"
"You know I have a daughter, and she's likely in danger right now. I can't rest easy..."
Dylan gave Lin Jun a detailed account of Bella's situation.
He maintained a restrained narrative pace, each syllable carefully chosen, with trailing notes that carried hesitant pauses.
When mentioning the destination was the archipelago, Dylan deliberately slowed his speech by half a beat.
His tone shifted from declarative to a consultative questioning intonation, tentatively observing Lin Jun's reaction, as if worried Lin Jun wouldn't let him leave.
After listening, Lin Jun recalled his impression of the "world map."
The United Kingdom was located in the southern part of the continental landmass, and the Amethyst Dungeon's position was at the kingdom's southernmost tip.
To reach the archipelago from here, one would first need to travel overland to a western port city, then take a ship from the port to the archipelago.
It seemed simple, but the journey to the western port city alone would take nearly a month, and the subsequent sea voyage and search would take who knows how much longer.
Didn't this mean that even if Dylan didn't die halfway and traveled unimpeded, it would still require 3-4 months? With any delays, not returning for half a year would be normal!?
Who would help him with surface matters during that time?
What about the just-planned Common Language learning schedule?
Lin Jun didn't intend to forcibly keep Dylan.
Forced melons aren't sweet.
But...
Maybe it was time to recruit Dylan Number Two?
"Speaking of which, I remember your daughter is stronger than you, right? If it's danger even she can't handle..."
Lin Jun was well aware of Dylan's capabilities. He was perfectly competent at various errands, but when it came to fighting... he was only slightly better than small fry.
Dylan had obviously considered this too: "I... plan to use my savings to hire adventurers to help."
Hiring adventurers to help?
That was indeed an option.
But according to Dylan, his daughter's potential conflict was with one of those three great slave masters, right?
What level of adventurers would be needed to help?
And how much money would it take to make them willing to offend such a major slave master?
At this moment, Lin Jun thought of his little knight still consuming magic crystals.
Since he was going to explore anyway, where he went didn't matter, right?
"Dylan, I have a proposal. How about you wait a couple more days..."
---
The next chapter will officially enter the Hero Summoning arc.
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