Chapter 777: The Difficult Days of Waiting, Ale for the Mushroom Boy Soaked in Poisonous Mushrooms

Jier had let the little sprite perform his pranks, and he had even managed to say the necessary words of praise; at this moment, Jier was crossing his arms and humming as he watched the little sprite.

"According to the agreement just now, don't you have to complete some of my 'little' requests?"

Jier smirked, walked around triumphantly in place, and then feigned a pleading look: "Oh my, I accidentally got trapped here, and outside the dream is the Evil Flame that I don't know when will extinguish. What should I do?"

He wore a distressed expression.

The little sprite 'strode' out, patting its chest as if taking on a great responsibility: "Yeah, ji-ji bo-bo, kua-cha kua-cha."

It seemed to be making a guarantee to Jier that it would definitely make Jier's difficulties disappear.

"How impressive. Well then, I'll just sit here and watch your performance. Please, go ahead!"

Jier sat his butt down on the cap of a fat-headed Mushroom, crossed his legs, and gestured for the little sprite to begin.

The little sprite wrinkled its nose in a cocky manner, spun around in place with an exaggerated motion, and vanished with a 'pop'.

Jier blinked. It wasn't very difficult for this little thing to enter and exit the dream, so why had it always stayed in this silent place? Oh, it was requested by Ms. Apolifina.

Jier only then remembered that the lady had previously requested this little sprite to assist Jier here, but the relationship between the two had actually never been very good; Jier loathed the little sprite for always acting up and disturbing him, and the little sprite would always escalate its pranks every time Jier showed his disgust.

It was like that at the beginning, but as time passed, the little sprite helped Jier out of predicaments many times, and Jier changed his mind.

He believed that it was the boring environment here that forced it to find some fun every time Jier came in; if that was the case, Jier could accept it.

Especially during these few days of getting along in the dream, Jier himself felt extremely bored, so at this time, the little sprite's prank attacks no longer made Jier feel irritable, and they could even make Jier laugh out loud every time.

However, at this moment, seeing this little thing leave the lady's dream instantly, Jier was still very surprised.

"I didn't expect that despite looking like they're just playing around, these sprites are actually very compliant with contracts."

Jier muttered, but just as he finished muttering, the little sprite appeared in place again; however, the moment it appeared, it started wailing, and its whole body was covered in evil green flames.

What! Demon Flame?

Jier was greatly alarmed and wanted to immediately find water to douse the flames on the little sprite, but as he looked closely at the little sprite, he discovered that although the little sprite was covered in fire, these vicious flames were not burning out from its body, but rather its clothes and pants were on fire.

Or rather, it wasn't the clothes and pants themselves, but the matching pockets of both that were spewing out raging flames.

The little sprite looked extremely anxious, waving its little hands to continuously pat at the large amount of flames erupting from its pockets.

These powerful Evil Flames, which had previously been warned about by the Great Bird Deity, were extinguished in whole patches the moment the little sprite waved its hand and patted them.

But that still wasn't enough; it didn't know what it had stuffed in its pockets, as they kept spewing fire.

This made the little sprite shout and scream, looking as if it had suffered a painful loss of treasure.

At this time, the Mushroom Boys around them, who had been watching the fun and dancing, were in total chaos when faced with the suddenly appearing Demon Flame; they scattered and fled in panic, and quite a few pushed each other and fell into the Pond in the center of the Yingdi, melting and disappearing on the spot.

There were also some who stumbled and fled into the surrounding pitch-black Shulin, tucking in their heads and hiding under the tall tree roots, looking as if they were ordinary mushrooms who knew nothing.

There were even some small Mushroom Boys who hid directly behind Jier, letting Jier, this 'tall' mushroom, block the front.

"Are you okay? Are you okay?"

Jier wanted to go up and help, but he was afraid that if he came into contact with the Demon Flame, he would just keel over and burn to death right here.

Therefore, he was also at a complete loss.

But fortunately, as the little sprite reached its little hand into its clothing pocket and fiddled around for a while, the clothing pocket stopped spewing Demon Flame. It seemed that the legendary, powerful Demon Flame could not do anything to this seemingly tiny little sprite.

With the clothing pocket settled, the little sprite then shoved both hands into the pockets of its bloomers, fiddled for a while, and then sat down on the Elf Silver Plate on the ground, revealing a look of having suffered a huge loss.

"As long as you're okay, as long as you're okay."

Jier hurried over to comfort it. He stretched out a finger, wanting to rub the little sprite's hair, but before Jier could touch it, the little sprite acted as if it had been pricked by a needle, terrifiedly pressing its little hand against the top of its head to prevent Jier's reaching finger from knocking off its hat and rubbing the sparse hair underneath.

That's right, although he always called it a little sprite, in reality, this sprite that kept Jier company had a long, graying goat beard, and the hair on its head wasn't very thick, looking a bit like a middle-aged or elderly retired sprite.

Therefore, it was very careful about its hat and would not let it fall off at any time.

"Ah!" Glared at by the little sprite, Jier gave an awkward laugh: "I was just worried you were hurt. Seeing you so lively, you should be fine. So, is it still full of Demon Flame outside?"

After glaring at Jier for a while, the little sprite nodded, then shook its head.

"What does that mean? Nodding and shaking your head."

The little sprite gestured and shouted, and after some effort, it finally made Jier understand what the situation outside the dream was like.

"The large patches of Demon Flame that ignited the Shulin have been extinguished, but there are still three large clusters of fire that are stubbornly unextinguished, right? And the exit of the dream, which is the spatial location where I came in, is near two of the large clusters of Demon Flame? Am I right?"

This time, the little sprite nodded, acknowledging Jier's words.

This made Jier understand at once that the three remaining clusters of Demon Flame had clearly burned three Humans here; the souls of the Humans provided more lasting fuel for the flames here.

He understood that two of them must have been the Hunter brothers who were confronting Jier at the time, but what about the third?

Was it a Bandit who was present and tried to escape at the time? But weren't there two of them? What about the last one?

Unable to figure it out, Jier lay on the ground with regret, preparing to have a nice sleep. He couldn't go out at this time; he could only wait for the Demon Flame outside the dream to extinguish naturally.

Sleep, stay here for another day, and explore tomorrow.

Another day passed in the Dreamy Forest, and this time Jier begged the little sprite, who was making furniture in its little house.

"Please, help me go out and take a look again, how about it? I can't touch even a bit of Demon Flame; if I touch it, I'll die. You won't have a single injury, please, help me?"

Jier squatted outside the little sprite's house, pleading with the little sprite, who was changing the appearance of the furniture inside, through the tiny window on the house.

The little sprite was annoyed, and finally flew out of its little house and landed on the roof.

It reached out and pointed at the surroundings, and a Mushroom Boy flew into the air, dancing and waving its arms. Then the little sprite whistled, and its mount—that large Snail Shell—rose rapidly from around the house and flew under the feet of the Mushroom Boy in the air, letting the Mushroom Boy's mycelium feet stand on it.

Immediately after, the little sprite let out a strange cry, stretched out its hands toward the Mushroom Boy standing on the Snail Shell, and with a 'bang', both the Mushroom Boy and the Snail Shell vanished in an instant.

"This? It just went out like that?"

Jier hadn't expected that the little sprite could not only easily enter and exit the dream itself, but could actually let other things enter and exit the dream as well.

Bang!

There was another sound, and the Mushroom Boy and Snail Shell that had just disappeared appeared in place again.

But having gone out and come back, they were clearly different. The Snail Shell was fine, but the Mushroom Boy on top of the Snail Shell was now covered in green Demon Flame, which quickly and mercilessly burned the entire Mushroom Boy to ashes.

But that was all. Because the little sprite had lifted the Mushroom Boy and the Snail Shell into mid-air, the Demon Flame they were stained with after one trip in and out couldn't burn anything once they entered the dream; those green Evil Flames could only form a small head shape in mid-air, silently roaring, and then dissipate after leaving behind a wave of heat.

Having burned a Mushroom Boy to death, the little sprite didn't show much expression, but the other Mushroom Boys on the ground were terrified, and once again scattered in panic. This time, several foolish ones who fled in the wrong direction fell headlong into the Memory Water Pond in the center of the Yingdi, melting and disappearing.

However, this silent, gloomy forest only has enough light and sound around the Pond; those scattered Mushroom Boys will eventually return here to the Yingdi.

There is no need to feel regret for the Mushroom Boys that died just now. Over these past few days, Jier has crafted many Precious Metal Boxes made from Elf Silver Plate. He transferred many things in the Yingdi into these Precious Metal Boxes, which will remain unchanged for countless years; the wooden boxes he used to store things in before were left piled up in the corner of the Yingdi by him.

For the past day or two, those useless wooden boxes have become a paradise for the Mushroom Boys. They eat to their hearts' content there, and once some grow to the maximum size allowed by their mushroom species, they root themselves onto a wooden board, shake the caps on their heads, and tiny Mushroom Spores visible to the naked eye fall onto the board.

Afterward, new Mushrooms grow out.

Of course, these later-grown Mushrooms are not Mushroom Boys with hands and feet; they are just honest-to-goodness poisonous Mushrooms.

"So there is still Demon Flame. Sigh, if only I could have been a bit further away when I entered the dream."

There was no help for it; Jier had to shake his head and go find a place to sleep again.

Another day passed, and Jier asked the little sprite again, following the same process as yesterday. This time, the Mushroom Boy that went out and came back turned into a puff of green flame, just as expected.

This time, Jier looked at the gradually flattening Grain Bag and the Water Jar that was about to hit bottom, revealing a troubled expression.

Safe food and drinking water are about to run out; what should be done afterward?

Surely one cannot eat those Mushroom Boys that are poisonous Mushrooms themselves? Or perhaps drink the large barrel of ale that was polluted by several poisonous Mushroom Boys?

Jier was at his wit's end.

Another day passed, and just like before, another Mushroom Boy returned only to be burned to ashes by Demon Flame.

This made Jier feel incomparably regretful. Holding his rumbling stomach, he had to reduce his daily food consumption to half of what it was. He didn't eat much before, and reducing it by half again made it even less.

And this wasn't even the life-threatening part; the drinking water problem was even greater.

There wasn't a single drop of fresh water left in the Ceramic Water Jar, and Jier didn't want to drink the urine in the Urine Jar, which was incredibly pungent. He had no choice but to set his sights on the large barrel of ale polluted by the poisonous Mushroom Boys.

"If I die, I die. I don't believe that ale bathed in by a few poisonous Mushroom Boys could actually poison me to death!"

With a surge of ruthlessness, Jier pursed his parched, cracked lips and, with a look of grim determination, scooped up a large ladle of the polluted ale.

He sniffed it first; the thing still smelled like the original ale, at most with a bit of mushroom scent added in.

It didn't seem like there was any problem.

Jier lightly touched a tiny bit of this ale with his tongue.

"Huh?"

Jier raised an eyebrow. This feeling?

He sucked a small amount into his mouth. This time the feeling was even stronger; a peculiar sensation came from his tongue. It was an excessively delicious feeling; his tongue, his tongue was practically dancing.

Swallowing the ale down his throat, Jier felt it was even more wondrous. This delicious sensation actually flowed clearly from his throat down his esophagus into his stomach, and it gave his stomach a powerful sensation of a Thrust.

"Ugh, er..."

Jier had a feeling of wanting to vomit, not because the suspicious ale was poisonous—perhaps it was poisonous, but it certainly wouldn't take effect the moment it touched his mouth—but because his stomach couldn't handle the stimulation brought by the ale. At this moment, it was spasming repeatedly, trying to force this mouthful of strange ale out of its territory.

But Jier bit his teeth together tightly, not letting the bit of ale he had just drunk go to waste.

After a good while, Jier finally calmed down.

The little sprite watched from the side, laughing hysterically, clutching its stomach until it fell onto the ground.

Jier looked at it in this state, gave a mischievous smile, and used a large ladle to scoop up a bit to offer it: "Come, want to taste?"

The little sprite wasn't stupid, and besides, it didn't need to eat, so it refused repeatedly.

But Jier said in a strange tone: "But the taste of this thing is quite good, you know? Are you sure you don't want to taste it?"

The little sprite suspiciously leaned toward the wooden ladle that was half its size and used its hand to scoop a bit into its mouth.

Jier watched it with burning eyes, waiting to see what reaction it would have.

But the little sprite just wiped its mouth after drinking, without the slightest reaction, still wearing a strange expression on its face, as if it were saying, 'That's it? That's it?'

Seeing that it was fine, Jier drank another small mouthful of the ale with the strange texture, but he himself could feel a strong umami and a unique sensation from his tongue, oral cavity, esophagus, and stomach.

"Yie—, could it be that only Humans have this feeling?"

Jier fed a bit more ale to a Mushroom Boy passing by, pouring this strange ale onto the fungal hyphae at the Mushroom Boy's feet. Before long, the little guy started swaying as if it were drunk.

But it didn't have the intense stimulation Jier felt when he drank it.

"Ka lai, hai si wen ti chu Xi'an jiao wo shen shang. Hmm? Tu lu lu lu lu~"

Jier felt something was wrong; his mouth was numb, and his tongue was becoming somewhat disobedient.

At the same time, the little sprite before his eyes also blurrily turned from one into three, which made Jier stare with wide eyes.

"Ni hai you zhe zhong ben ling ne?"

But when he looked to the side, the sneaky Mushroom Boys around him had also inexplicably increased in number.

"You, you xie bu tui jin..."

Jier not only saw the surrounding Mushrooms and the little sprite increasing, but even the trunks of the large trees in the gloomy forest were filling his vision before he knew it.

He suddenly realized that he seemed to have been poisoned. Sigh, that ale had soaked several poisonous Mushrooms; sure enough, drinking it was a problem!

Jier stood in place, swaying for a good while, before he remembered he needed treatment.

And the thing for treatment in the dream was not far from where he entered every time. There, the little sprite had spent some effort to create a small patch of mushroom ground with healing abilities.

As long as he went there and lay on it, those Mushrooms should be able to treat his current poisoning abnormality.

But as soon as Jier took a step, he felt as if he had fallen into the ocean. There was cold seawater everywhere around him, which forced Jier to swim with all his might to reach the entrance of the dream.

The little sprite and the Mushroom Boys all watched the only Human here doing strange things.

Jier was lying flat on the ground, struggling to 'paddle and kick' on the Elf Silver Plate.

While 'swimming', he kept lifting his head and face up, taking deep breaths.

The little sprite watched Jier suspiciously for a while, then imitated Jier's movements, swimming in the void on its Snail Shell.

Seeing their sprite boss imitating the Human's movements, the Mushroom Boys all came out from the surrounding corners, followed suit by lying on the ground, and started swimming on dry land.

The Mushrooms waved their little fungal hyphae hands and little fungal hyphae feet, swaying and rolling around on the ground.

"Hee hee, haha."

The little sprite felt this was very interesting and a lot of fun.

By the time Jier realized he was not in the water, but on the ground, he did not know how much time had passed.

He sat stunned on the ground, looked left and right, and discovered that many Mushroom Boys had come out from their hiding places and were swimming on the ground. Beside Jier, the little sprite was also lying flat on a Snail Shell, paddling through the air back and forth.

Realizing he had made a fool of himself, Jier tried to stand up quietly, but after one attempt, he felt his body had no strength and he could not even stand steadily.

With no other choice, he had to lie flat on the ground and crawl toward the entrance of the dream realm using his hands and feet.

This also had one benefit: he did not have to worry about losing his balance and falling, like those panicked Mushroom Boys, into the Pond to melt and disappear.

After Jier lay for a good while on a carpet of mushrooms that glowed with fluorescence and had Mysterious Patterns on their caps, all his discomfort finally vanished.

"Huff, huff, this thing."

Jier gritted his teeth and finally grumbled irritably: "Next time, I'll just lie here and drink; it'll save me from making a fool of myself."