Chapter 125: 124 Ice Pop Pujing

A Pujing floated quietly in the deep blue water, its entire body submerged, with only a green mushroom cap remaining above the surface.

Attached to the seemingly drifting cap was a sturdy rope made of three tangled mycelial tentacles, connecting to the mycelial mat on the ceiling, while hidden within the Pujing's body was a small sickle weapon serving as a hook.

On the shore sat a group of spare Pujings and a Big Black Mushroom that had come to join the fun; without Lin Jun's command, Big Black Mushrooms would randomly spawn on the ground where the Pujings gathered.

At first, when Seeing Xiao Hei saw the Pujings soaking in the water, he wanted to go down too, but was stopped by the other Pujings; now he leaned against the wall by the shore, staring blankly at the Pujings in the water, wondering who knows what.

Suddenly, the Pujing in the water sank slightly, then bounced back to the surface.

Something was about to take the bait!

Lin Jun was fully alert!

To be fair, Lin Jun didn't think he would catch nothing; how could he fail to fish when he could perceive the bait's condition in real time?

That creature underwater had just torn off half of the Pujing's foot, intending to drag the Pujing into the depths, but instead had its foot snapped off by the rope; it would surely return.

Sure enough, the bait Pujing sensed a current approaching—

A massive catfish leaped out of the water, swallowing the Pujing and half the rope in one huge gulp, then immediately plunged back into the water.

The rope instantly tightened under the strain; the Pujings on the shore extended their tentacles to pull the catfish back, but before they could hook it, the rope fixed to the ceiling was ripped away along with the soil and gravel, falling into the water and vanishing.

Fishing is like this; anything can happen, which is why it's fun.

Lin Jun had a good mindset; he had the Pujings change positions, and under the infusion of mana, a new rope quickly grew; a hook was tied to the front, and the bait Pujing was carefully threaded onto it.

Round two, fishing begins!

A giant shrimp's claw snapped the rope...

A Frost Giant Eel froze the water's surface and calmly ate the part beneath the ice...

A Bone-Armored Crocodile Turtle bit the Pujing, hook, and rope to pieces in one bite...

The one who delivered the fatal blow to Lin Jun was Seeing Xiao Hei, who had watched the entire process.

Seemingly finally understanding what the Pujings wanted, Seeing Xiao Hei quietly dived underwater, caught a catfish with his bare hands, and pushed it toward the Pujings on the shore.

Clearly, failing to catch fish wasn't a problem with Lin Jun's skill; it was simply that the fish on the seventh floor weren't ordinary fish.

Demonic beasts!

They were all ferocious demonic beasts!

Ordinary fishing methods naturally wouldn't work.

Several hours later, a new batch of Pujings returned in high spirits!

After casually dropping some mushrooms to create a bait patch and waiting a while, Lin Jun felt the time was right, and six Pujings jumped into the water one by one.

【Infrasound Attack Lv6】

The invisible attack spread through the water, yet not a single ripple could be detected on the surface.

Soon, a pile of dead fish with ruptured internal organs floated to the surface.

However, Lin Jun was not entirely satisfied—there were no big fish.

The big fish with high health had dodged away immediately after the attack; only the truly insignificant small fry were eliminated.

After cleaning up the floating fish and tossing them onto the mycelial mat for accelerated decomposition, the results were indeed as expected: almost nothing was gained.

Big fish were still needed!

Fortunately, Lin Jun's plan this time included more than one option; a chubby Pujing stepped forward.

Don't let the chubby Pujing's fat fool you; its density was actually low, and its belly was hollow in the middle, so if it entered the water directly, it would float like a water balloon; thus, Lin Jun had the chubby one stuff several stones into its belly beforehand.

As soon as it hit the water, the chubby one sank straight to the bottom.

Lin Jun had chosen the edge of the waterway, where the depth at the bottom was less than ten meters.

The chubby Pujing lay quietly underwater; Lin Jun ignored it as some small fish began to tentatively nibble its body.

Confidence brought by high health!

Until a Frost Giant Eel swam over, wrapping its serpentine body around the chubby Pujing as prey... a dull sound came from underwater, causing ripples to spread across the surface.

Several Pujings equipped with 【Underwater Adaptation Lv4】 jumped into the water; at that moment, there wasn't a single live fish in the water, as the survivors had long been scared away by the vibrations.

Soon, the Frost Giant Eel's corpse, exploded into several segments, was fished up by the Pujings; along with it came a giant shrimp, which had crawled over but hadn't even taken a bite of the chubby Pujing before it exploded, blowing off its claws.

Lin Jun, being kind-hearted, helped fish up its claws too so they could be reunited.

【Seven Sins: Greed Triggered】

【Plunder Skill: Path of Frost Lv1】

【Plunder Skill: Frost Shield Lv1】

【Plunder Skill: Jet Wake Lv1】

【Plunder Skill: Saliva Arrow Lv4 → Lv5】

【Plunder Skill: Water Flow Perception Lv1 → Lv2】

【Plunder Skill: Claw Pincer Strike Lv1 → Lv2】

After the two subpar catches were decomposed, Lin Jun finally obtained the skills he wanted, though they were still very low-level.

After testing a few temporarily made Pujings, Lin Jun figured out these skills.

【Path of Frost】 and 【Frost Shield】 were both underwater skills of the Giant Eel.

The former could briefly freeze the surroundings, while the latter could temporarily form an ice shield, but they felt of average practicality when installed on a Pujing.

On the contrary, the giant shrimp's skills looked much more suitable.

【Jet Wake】As the name suggests, by expelling water stored within the body while underwater, it achieves an acceleration effect—quite useful for Puji's underwater dodging and escaping.

Still have to rely on the veteran employee, Fatty Puji.

Once its usefulness was confirmed, production of Fatty Puji began in all areas of the seventh layer that had already been covered in fungal carpet.

With a bit of magic power to speed things up, he estimated that in about half a month he could gather all the underwater skills.

The rift problem truly couldn't be ignored—now was not the time to be stingy with magic power.

——

A palm-sized aromatic pill floated on the water's surface, its pale-red substance slowly diffusing through the water, while four Gold-rank adventurers hid not far from the bank, waiting quietly.

A faint ripple appeared, and everyone snapped to full alert.

Here it comes!

A massive catfish leapt out of the water and swallowed the aromatic pill whole.

"Now!"

A dazzling light flared to life on the mage's staff.

Fifth-tier spell—Ice Seal!

The waterway, over ten meters wide, was frozen in an instant. The catfish slammed heavily onto the ice, its tail even trapped in the freeze, and it began thrashing violently under the instinct to survive.

"Don't give it a chance to break the ice!" the captain shouted as he charged in at the head of the group.

Under the squad leader's command, the experienced few quickly finished off the catfish, which barely had any ability to resist.

Cutting off the catfish whiskers, the captain then cut open its belly. Besides the whiskers being usable as magical ingredient material, a piece of meat from this catfish's belly was also a top-grade food ingredient, worth some money—and even if they didn't sell it, the few of them could enjoy it themselves just fine.

"Hm? What's this?"

After some fumbling, the captain pulled a small sickle out of the catfish's belly with a thoroughly confused look…

(End of Chapter)