The giant waves on the sea surface gradually subsided, and purple blood spread along the ocean currents, dyeing the entire sea area into a murky dark purple.
The Mushroom Fortress soldiers shuttled through the water, dragging the corpses of their comrades out from the churning wreckage and gently pushing them toward the fungal mat floating on the water surface. Mycelium slowly climbed onto their bodies, granting these loyal souls new vessels.
Keith's corpse, resembling a large island, lay across the edge of the trench. Those previously ferocious pillars of flesh and blood had now become piles of dead meat. Clusters of fluorescent mushrooms drilled out from its corpse, the blue-green fluorescence dotting the area like tiny lamps lit in the darkness. Unified as one.
This scrapped draft seemed to be the source of Keith's ability to fuse with other creatures, while [Gluttony] provided it with enough energy to supply so many flesh puppets. Keith's connection with the Abyss originated from that Abyss Core, but a simple Abyss Core should merely be a device to supply energy to Abyss Beasts. Who knows what Keith had experienced to cause this kind of mutation.
Lin Jun's gaze looked towards the west. At the end of his perception was an expanse of boundless white mist.
Was it because of the Mist?
And what exactly was Aether?
This was the second time Lin Jun had found this term in the Abyss. One of the Ark's functions seemed to be converting Aether, so was this thing some kind of energy source? It would be great if he could have more information.
As Keith's flesh and blood were gradually decomposed, before seizing its skills, Lin Jun first gained a massive amount of experience.
The experience Lin Jun needed to level up was already exceptionally high, and this was even more so after reaching a high level.
And Keith's corpse forcefully dragged Lin Jun up by four levels, something no other creature could accomplish.
Truth be told, it truly lived up to [Gluttony]; the accumulated energy was just that much!
Speaking of which, after Keith died, [Gluttony] naturally landed on Lin Jun's status panel.
He thought it was a Deadly Sin that matched him quite well, but on the panel, it was grayed out.
Was it because his table manners were too elegant?
As the decomposition continued, a massive amount of skills and skill proficiencies finally returned to Lin Jun's embrace.
[Greed of the Seven Deadly Sins Triggered]
[Plundered Skill: Mental Diffusion LV2]
Among them, [Mental Diffusion] was a new skill obtained from Keith. The specific effect was exactly like Keith's—controlling a batch of lower-level bugs through the eye-bugs controlled by [Kindred Manipulation].
Applied to Lin Jun, this meant Lin Jun could use just a single [Kindred Manipulation] slot to control an entire Puchi squad to operate independently from the fungal mat.
Of course, the drawback was also very obvious. If this Puchi under [Kindred Manipulation] accidentally died, all the other Puchis would lose control together.
[Mental Integration], on the other hand, was a skill that developed soul potential. Unfortunately, even at LV10, it merely allowed the number of Puchis Lin Jun could directly command to reach thirty thousand.
However, although this small number was no longer worth mentioning compared to his massive faction nowadays, by using these directly-controlled Puchis, Lin Jun could also build a few more warfare units like the Jida Divine Weapon.
As for the [Leviathan] that Lin Jun coveted the most.
Just like [Apex of the Sword], unranked skills were indeed harder to digest; the other end of this skill was even connected to Keith's soul.
This bug's soul was the largest soul Lin Jun had ever seen besides his own, roughly the size of several hundred ordinary human souls.
However, Lin Jun didn't plan to stuff it into a Puchi like the Sword Saint.
Unlike a skill like [Apex of the Sword] that required the user's combat awareness to support it, the effect of [Leviathan] was simply becoming super huge. Rather than binding it to a bug with a somewhat problematic mental state, it was much more convenient to store it in his own skill library to access at any time.
And apart from these harvests that delighted the mushroom, Lin Jun also discovered something that made him less happy.
[Assault Catapult LV8]
This skill was obtained by Lin Jun from the frogs in the underground city in the early days.
It belonged to the kind that wasn't outstanding but somewhat useful.
Although its usage rate wasn't high, thanks to obtaining it early, this skill had also reached max level early on.
Lin Jun clearly remembered that it had long been at LV10, but now...
Envy?
Why did using an ability still require paying a price?!
Look at [Greed], which had been with him all the way. Had it ever asked for anything?
How did it become pay-to-use when it came to [Envy]!
Sure enough, it was still because his compatibility with [Envy] was too poor...
Actually, dropping a few skill levels wouldn't be a big deal normally.
However, when using [Envy], it wouldn't pop up a panel for Lin Jun to choose which skill to sacrifice—this thing was random! That was not beautiful at all.
If the level of a frequently used skill dropped, who knows how much time it would take to train it back up.
And if what dropped were core skills like [Mental Integration] or [Mycelial Network], then he would be truly dumbfounded.
Sigh.
He originally wanted to seal Norris's skill bar when Karen was chasing him. Now it seemed the cost of playing around like this was a bit too high...
Besides these skills on the panel, another important harvest was that Lin Jun's Ocean Scepter was finally complete!
This scepter originally belonged to the fishmen, and the fishmen now belonged to Lin Jun, so the Ocean Scepter naturally also belonged to Lin Jun.
As for the female Hero stealing half of the scepter, considering it was returned to its rightful owner in time, Lin Jun wouldn't bicker with her over it.
The only thing that left Lin Jun with a bit of regret was—
The Tidal Sanctuary, the Demon King's seal at the bottom layer.
The seal had completely shattered, and the remains of several knights were floating nearby.
The seal ultimately failed to hold out until Lin Jun dealt with Keith and sent the scepter back. Under the circumstance where the navy's main forces had all gone to deal with Keith, this one-sixth Demon King managed to escape.
However, Lin Jun didn't let him have an easy time of it, either.
The moment the seal broke open, the three Knight Puchis struck at it. One of them secretly hid Lin Jun's [Soul Touch], and successfully shattered half of the soul in this lump of slime.
It smashed it so hard that the [Lust] on its status panel temporarily disappeared.
Coupled with the portion he had previously decomposed, the injuries on the Demon King's soul probably wouldn't recover in a short time.
He needed to figure out a way to kill this weakened slime before then!
Sophia's ship sank.
Thankfully, the fleet hadn't gone far. After receiving the distress signal, they were picked up by other ships.
"Damn it, those Puchis really don't plan to return the divine artifact!" Bella was still extremely annoyed. "I'm sorry, Lady Sophia, it's all my fault."
However, Sophia didn't blame her: "Looking at it now, only by making the scepter complete at that time could Keith be trapped. You don't need to take this matter to heart anymore."
Speaking of this, Samuel also looked confused: "That army had all sorts of races in it. It seems to align relatively well with the Mushroom Fortress faction, but why would the Mushroom Fortress in the North appear in this sea?"
Unfortunately, no one on this ship knew the answer to this question.
"Right," Sophia turned to look at Samuel, "I remember the Sword Saint who sacrificed himself in the previous Human-Demon War was named Elwyn, right? What is his full name?"
"Why is Lady Sophia suddenly asking this?" Samuel was somewhat puzzled but still answered quickly, "Sline. Lord Sword Saint's full name is Elwyn Sline."
Sophia nodded, glanced around, and then pulled Samuel away from the crowd.
Seeing the Hero's serious expression, Samuel also realized there was indeed serious business.
After arriving at a secluded place, without waiting for Sophia's instructions, the priest raised his hand and drew out a soundproofing barrier.
Sophia smiled, and only then did she ask: "Priest Samuel, I would first like to understand in detail what you mentioned in the past regarding resurrection and rebirth."
(End of Chapter)
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