Chapter 117: 116 Punishment

"It's all my fault..."

In the clearing before the Mushroom House, Norris knelt amidst a crowd of Pujis, with Seeing Xiao Hei squatting in a corner watching him.

He kept his head down, scales scraping against the ground making a faint rustling sound, his broken confession drifting through the air along with a faint scent of blood.

At this moment, Norris's right foot had been reattached and the wound on his chest had already healed, yet his disheveled state remained undeniable.

The flesh at the joint of the reattached limb still bore a clear dividing line where it hadn't fully fused; scales were missing in patches all over his body, and those that remained were mostly cracked, no longer as bright as before.

Norris didn't even understand how he had lost control of his emotions; he should have been used to being bullied after so many years.

Now that he had committed the crime of murder, he could only honestly confess what happened, then wait anxiously for his fate.

With the dual effects of the Fungal Network and Parasitism, Norris couldn't hide any lies from Lin Jun.

In Lin Jun's view, it wasn't entirely Norris's fault, since the humans had struck first.

But Norris's handling of the situation was indeed improper.

When humans adventurers got involved, Lin Jun would have accepted either Norris fighting or fleeing, but he should have informed Lin Jun immediately through the Fungal Network; acting unilaterally in a crisis was not a good sign.

As for three humans dying, it wasn't a big deal in the Dungeon.

So Lin Jun quickly issued Norris's punishment:

"Norris, you acted on your own and violated the Mushroom Garden discipline. Now you are punished to scrub the Slimes' floor for one month."

"Scrub the Slimes' floor?"

Norris's mind couldn't turn fast enough; subconsciously he still thought his crime was murder, but now hearing the Boss's words, was his problem merely failing to report?

"What, do you have an objection?" Lin Jun thought Norris might be unwilling.

Scrubbing the Slimes' floor was no easy task.

That two-colored Shi Laimu was quite good at splitting; the so-called floor scrubbing meant that after killing the split Slimes, one had to collect the cores and place them on the Fungal Carpet, while the remaining slime had to be washed entirely into the underground sewers with water.

During the work, eating and sleeping were all within the cavern of the mountain, which was effectively solitary confinement; saying the job lasted from morning till night was no exaggeration.

Not to mention the hanging cage would occasionally be raised to release curses to train the Pujis, and Norris would surely suffer along with them inside.

But for Norris, this punishment was already lighter than his best expectations.

So he hurriedly bowed his head and accepted: "No, no, I have no objection."

Two Pujis, looking quite official, escorted Norris forward and backward to serve his sentence.

Seeing Xiao Hei didn't understand what had happened at all and even waved goodbye to the departing Norris.

Lin Jun then went to find Little Green to confirm the adventurers' strength.

Three Silver-rank adventurers capable of operating on the sixth floor; in a direct confrontation with them, Norris achieved a score of one-for-two.

The last one was dealt with by Little Green, who arrived in time; without Little Green, Norris would probably be dead by now.

In this incident, compared to Norris's mistakes, Lin Jun saw more of the strength he had displayed.

Keep in mind, Norris is only level 24!

Previously, fighting monsters involved challenging higher levels, but monsters lacked brains compared to Norris, so killing them wasn't surprising.

But this time it was three human adventurers, solidly one tier higher than him, yet he still achieved such results, proving that the effect of the skills Lin Jun added was indeed very good.

Higher skill levels combined with reasonable pairings compensated for the attribute gap caused by Norris's insufficient level.

Lin Jun also understood that this compensation had limits; at the Gold or even Diamond levels, people's own skill levels would be very high and their pairings reasonable, at which point the advantage of Lin Jun granting skills would not be obvious.

But undoubtedly, relying on this ability, as long as there were enough suitable materials, Lin Jun could mass-produce a batch of core members capable of quickly reaching Silver or even Gold strength.

It's just... it seems I can't find any materials?

After so long in the Dungeon, only Norris was found as a blank slate; every other one entering the Dungeon came with a set of "skills."

Perhaps there are many human commoners and children close to a blank slate, but taking away people would obviously attract attention, and in the end, it would likely be counterproductive.

For now, put the thought aside.

After Norris finishes his confinement, Lin Jun plans to give him a second round of transformation.

The originally planned 【Mimicry】 seems unable to be granted for now; Norris's strength is insufficient and his personality not steady enough. If he went out wandering with 【Mimicry】 like this, one day acting impulsively, he might expose himself.

It's better to cultivate him more. In comparison, Little Green's performance this time was very good.

In the Treant Forest, Little Green knelt on the damp earth, extending its roots into the soil to carefully comb through the interwoven root systems of the new trees.

Under conditions of abundant mana, every so often, a Treant would condense a jade-green tender branch within its body.

Leaving the tender branch and part of the roots in the body on the ground would grow into Demon Wood, which upon maturity would gain consciousness and become a new Treant.

Thanks to Lin Jun's reward, the Treants obtained many Magic Crystals, greatly increasing their efficiency in absorbing mana.

Naturally, recently planted tender branches were more numerous; some, like the one before Little Green, had grown well and already become healthy Demon Wood.

The Treants would occasionally help the Demon Woods tidy up their overgrown roots—the space underground in the Treant Forest was much more crowded than it appeared on the surface...

"Little Green."

The sudden transmission made Little Green stop its current work.

"What is it, Boss? Please give your orders."

"It's not an order, but a proposal I'd like to see your opinion on.

The land over by Little Hill has been empty since it was cleared; rather than letting other monsters take it, I might as well plant some mushrooms there.

It would also prevent adventurers from accidentally entering the mountain body.

So I'm just asking, do you have any intention of planting some trees over there as well?

This way, we'd have bases on both the east and west sides, so we wouldn't have to run such a long distance every time."

"Expanding territory..." Lin Jun's proposal made Little Green fall into thought.

Indeed, although the land in the Treant Forest is still sufficient now, if development continues as it is, outward expansion is almost inevitable.

Originally, according to Little Green's idea, they would expand slowly from the forest entrance.

Now, according to the Boss's meaning, he wants them to set up a new home directly on the other side.

Seems that would work too?

The tree spirits have long been content to dwell in seclusion; first, because their numbers were previously limited, the Tree Spirit Forest was sufficient for survival.

Secondly, they did not wish to draw too much attention from human adventurers; living in a remote area while staying together made them difficult for adventurers to attack.

Now the situation is different; whenever the tree spirits go out, a group of Pujis follows behind them. Not only has their combat power increased, but the adventurers also seem to fear the Pujis greatly, so conflicts have decreased significantly.

In that case, opening up a new home far from the forest is not impossible.

"Boss, do you intend for the Pujis and tree spirits to live together?"

"Live together?"

To Lin Jun, the Pujis were merely tools, while the tree spirits counted as subordinates; using the term "live together" for subordinates and tools felt somewhat strange to Lin Jun, though Little Green's understanding was acceptable.

"You could say so. I plan to establish it where a mushroom forest emerges.

Speaking of which, since you haven't reached the fifth layer yet, you haven't seen the mushroom forest. You should like it."

In Lin Jun's conception, tree spirits were quite suitable for living alongside a mushroom forest.

Mushrooms mainly gather mana from the air, while tree spirits mainly absorb mana from the soil; the two do not interfere with each other.

Furthermore, the mushroom forest can provide environmental effects like spores, and the tree spirits can lead the Pujis to guard the mushroom forest without Lin Jun needing to worry.

The ultimate purpose of everything is actually to conceal the rift and the two-colored slime within the mountain cavity; all other aspects are merely incidental.

"Boss, I have no objections. When do we start?"

After Little Green learned it was about living together with the Pujis, he felt relieved; with the Pujis around, there was no need to fear adventurers.

"Then we can start right now; my Pujis have already come down!"

"Then I will gather my clan immediately!"

(End of this chapter)