The so-called "white moonlight" only exists in its most perfect form when it remains solely in your mind.
Once you truly approach it, you'll only discover countless disparities.
The same principle applied to the sun that Lin Jun yearned for.
Under the blazing sun, the yellow earth on both sides of the official road was baked white, and the rising heat waves distorted the distant scenery. These past few days marked the final rampage of midsummer's peak heat. In another half month, cold winds from the north would sweep away this vexing sultry air, but at this moment, the steamer-like heat still scorched every traveler.
Dylan rode atop his brown stallion, galloping along the road toward the city.
His first destination was Norweide, a city three days' journey from Mute Wind Town.
On Dylan's back hung a somewhat oddly-shaped backpack, secured by three reinforced leather straps running across his shoulders and waist, firmly fastened behind him—this was the Scout in its mimicked form!
His actual luggage was stored in the saddlebags on either side of his horse.
However, at this moment, the Scout that should have been tightly secured to his back had become rather loose and saggy.
Dylan controlled the reins with one hand while reaching back with the other to investigate.
The sensation his fingertips encountered was no longer the familiar elasticity of before, but rather felt like... dried sheepskin?
"Boss, what's wrong with it?"
His safety on this journey depended entirely on this puffshroom behind him.
"Uh..." Lin Jun looked at the dehydration status on the Scout's panel, equally speechless. "It's probably... wilted from the sun..."
Mushrooms dehydrate when exposed to intense sunlight—how frustratingly logical.
It seemed there was still some difference between sunstones and the actual sun. At least the Knight had never been cooked limp by sunstones.
Since arriving in this world, it had been magic power this, magic power that, all day long, making Lin Jun almost believe that magic power was omnipotent.
He'd thought that as long as there was no shortage of magic power, the puffshroom would remain healthy.
Apparently not...
Under the shade of trees, Dylan unscrewed a water pouch and slowly poured water over the Scout's mushroom cap.
The clear water seeped through the gaps in its scales. After absorbing the moisture, the Scout visibly perked up considerably.
This made Dylan breathe a slight sigh of relief—he'd been afraid that once it wilted, even rehydration wouldn't revive it.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
However...
Dylan looked at his dwindling water supplies—he needed to find somewhere to resupply.
The city was out of the question; it was still too far.
He'd have to look for a nearby stream or village where he could get some water.
---
Mute Wind Town, the newly rebuilt Adventurers' Guild.
This gray stone building, embraced by three towers, had risen from the original ruins.
Perhaps to restore adventurers' confidence in the guild, the guild hall was fully twice as large as before.
In the center of the hall, ten pillars carved with reliefs depicting the ecology of each floor of the Amethyst Dungeon supported the hall's dome.
However, due to recent changes in the dungeon's ecosystem, it was said that the first few pillars would need to be re-carved.
The entire east wall had been transformed into a three-tiered suspended quest board. Through the effects of magical formations, quests of various levels rotated automatically within crystal cases, casting the crimson emblems from the bounty notices onto the armor of passing adventurers.
"Little handsome, long time no see. Place your identification plate here." Helena observed the three young people before her, her lips curving into a professionally practiced arc.
Seemingly surprised that the red-haired woman behind the reception desk actually remembered him, the young man's movement to hand over his identification plate slowed by half a beat.
This hesitation, lasting no more than half a second, was precisely captured by his companion beside him.
One of the young women frowned slightly and directly reached out to intercept the metal nameplate suspended in mid-air, placing it on the counter for him.
These young people were naturally Vera's trio, who had been wandering outside for over two months before returning.
During this time, though they hadn't entered the dungeon, they hadn't been idle either.
Instead, they'd tried working as caravan guards.
Their recent experiences as dungeon adventurers, encountering life-and-death crises twice in succession, had truly made them want to quit.
They'd thought perhaps they could change paths—caravan guards might earn less, but surely wouldn't be so dangerous, right?
Little did they know, this work left all three of them utterly exhausted.
The long journey hadn't seemed hard to them, nor had goblin attacks on the caravan frightened them.
What really made the work unbearable was the people in the caravan.
Or more precisely, the fat son of the caravan leader.
The little fatty was in his twenties but had barely reached Bronze rank.
He had little ability but plenty of lecherous intentions.
Throughout the escort journey, he constantly harassed the two sisters.
But how could Fei Ling and Fei Yin possibly be interested in such trash!
Due to their employment relationship, the group could only try to avoid him as much as possible.
Seeing his pursuit failing, this wretch came up with a twisted scheme—drugging them.
Then Fei Yin caught him red-handed.
Ever since that incident with the Reapers' powder, Fei Yin had been intensively studying such substances.
How could she possibly miss the run-of-the-mill paralyzing drug this fatty was using?
This changed the nature of the situation entirely—it could no longer be dismissed as mere harassment.
Vera's trio beat him severely, with Fei Ling striking hardest, kicking out two of the fatty's front teeth.
The commotion naturally attracted attention from others in the caravan, eventually escalating to a tense standoff between Vera's group and the leader's faction.
The leader's son had been so despicable that while most people in the caravan didn't stand with Vera's group, they didn't stand with the leader either.
The matter eventually petered out, but Vera's group couldn't possibly continue working as caravan guards.
Upon reaching a city, the leader threw their withheld wages at them and drove them away like plague victims.
This caravan guard experience had been thoroughly awful.
So much so that the three had little enthusiasm for trying another caravan.
In comparison, the risks of being adventurers suddenly seemed not so unacceptable.
So after deliberating, the three had cheerfully run back to Mute Wind Town to resume this quite promising profession of adventuring.
However, the new Mute Wind Town seemed just a tiny bit different from before.
After leaving the guild, they discovered the familiar Rotten Willow Tavern was closed, so they had to randomly find a street-side eatery.
"Boss, what is this?" Vera looked at the bowl of eerie, glowing thick soup in his hands and asked the proprietor.
The boss looked at Vera with some displeasure, saying impatiently, "Didn't you order the cheapest set meal? That's mushroom soup!"
"Mushrooms!?"
With the boss's explanation, Vera gradually connected the soup's color with that of the fluorescent mushrooms from the dungeon's fifth floor.
"No way... this is actually edible?"
He looked up at the two sisters sitting across from him—neither had touched their spoons, both waiting for him to eat first...
Food being sold surely couldn't be inedible, right?
He scooped up a spoonful and shoved it into his mouth.
This taste!
Surprisingly ordinary...
Neither delicious nor unpalatable, slightly bland, probably because the boss was stingy with salt.
Vera continued spooning the soup into his mouth, then suddenly noticed the two across from him still hadn't started eating.
"The taste is passable, why aren't you eating?"
Seeing Fei Ling and Fei Yin staring at him, Vera somewhat belatedly wiped his mouth.
His hand came away glowing...
---
Author's Note: Let me mention the future plans for this book.
First, Lin Jun is definitely the sole protagonist. The two newly summoned characters can only be considered supporting characters with hero titles. Their stories will certainly relate to the main plot, but their overall screen time will be at the level of secondary supporting characters.
Regarding outdoor adventures, since only one puffshroom is going out, this won't affect the progression of the farming plot back home. The focus will remain primarily on the dungeon with adventures as secondary, and I'll adjust the ratio between the two based on future developments.
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