Chapter 161: 158 Reunion

On this day, the master of the Mushroom Garden returned once more to his loyal old capital!

However, the place had been so thoroughly transformed by the Cave Dwellers that even Lin Jun could barely recognize any trace of its former self.

Yet the rock wall embedded with high-quality Magic Crystals remained; these crystals were likely the most valuable asset of the old Mushroom Garden.

Although these Cave Dwellers cultivated mushrooms, they clearly lacked Lin Jun's cultivation insights, knowing neither how to use Magic Crystals to fertilize the fields nor how to mine them; the few crystals in the warehouse were carelessly tossed into a corner, truly a waste of good goods.

In this battle, the losses suffered by the Pujis were negligible.

The greatest casualties were the twenty-plus Pujis crushed by the debris flung out by Louisa; other Pujis stabbed to death by Cave Dweller spears simply lay there for a while before automatically repairing themselves.

The Cave Dwellers' resistance was earnest only at the very beginning; afterward, it was pure cat-and-mouse.

This outcome did not surprise Lin Jun.

Just like Lin Jun's old Mushroom Garden back then, they existed solely because of their remote location, with no high-level monsters eyeing them.

In terms of combat power, they were even inferior to the old Mushroom Garden, and the Cave Dwellers' luck was clearly not good enough, as they had caught Lin Jun's attention...

Had Lin Jun not needed to capture them as many as possible alive, the battle would have ended quickly, and they would never have struggled as they did now.

Of course, one could not say their luck was bad, for Lin Jun did not intend to exterminate them.

Lin Jun simply wanted to realize equality within this slave-holding race!

Every bound Cave Dweller was knocked unconscious by hallucinogenic spores, beaten to critical health, and finally covered with spores by specialized Pujis to complete the fusion with the mycelium in their sleep.

When they woke up, they would discover that the former hierarchy based on pheromone concentration no longer existed; all Cave Dwellers now shared the same identity—Lin Jun's slaves... subordinates!

Of course, the above applied only to valuable ordinary Cave Dwellers; as for those few worthless fat Cave Dwellers...

Louisa was quite satisfied; although the blood fat content was a bit high, it was at least the blood of a sentient being, tasting far better than that of low-level monsters.

The Yellow-Book was also quite satisfied, having received two more souls than it had expected.

As for Norris, Lin Jun had promised to pick out an item of equipment for him later.

Under Lin Jun's distribution, everyone obtained happiness.

As for the fat Cave Dwellers?

Although they had been howling constantly while being drained of blood, they raised no objections.

Several still-obese but completely bloodless Cave Dweller elder corpses were tossed by the Pujis into their mushroom fields.

The mycelium consumed and decomposed the corpses, ultimately gaining no skills, only some mana and nutrients.

One could only say... as expected?

The fact that skills were likely related to souls had already been noticed by Lin Jun through the Yellow-Book's stealing of food; this time served as verification of the result.

Simply put, this Yellow-Book was stealing food from itself; truly, if not you, then who should be hungry?

This reconnection with the old Mushroom Garden also made Lin Jun realize that even parts of himself that had spread out long ago could smoothly return under his control once reconnected to the mycelial network.

However, once detached from his control, the mycelial carpet would only naturally generate primitive, skill-less Pujis; if not for the Cave Dwellers raising them, they would likely have been eaten by Slimes or similar creatures by now.

Lin Jun turned the Cave Dwellers' stronghold upside down, highlighting one word: poverty.

Besides food like moss mushrooms, there were only some bone items.

Lin Jun even saw a Minotaur skull; it seemed they had achieved some battle records in the past.

If one had to say what other gains Lin Jun made besides this batch of Cave Dwellers, it was probably the Cave Dwellers' fortress itself.

【Race: Snail-Wood】

【Level: 25】

【Skills: Tenacity Lv6, Hardening Lv5, Physical Resistance Lv4, Rapid Growth Lv4...】

This thing followed the principle of "the harder, the better"; Louisa's previous ordinary strike had failed to break the wooden shell directly.

Moreover, the shape of this wood after it grew was exactly as its name suggested, resembling a giant snail shell; no wonder the Cave Dwellers used it as their stronghold.

It seemed to grow quite fast as well?

Lin Jun extracted several seeds from the center of the Snail-Wood, planning to continue the Snail-Wood and Cave Dweller model, merely adding some Pujis into the mix.

Cave Dwellers were low-level and easily killed; in Jun's Thoughts, they were not suitable as members of an expedition team to be expended on the front lines. They could not afford such losses either; front-line Pujis were replaced in batches, and Pujis surviving from start to finish through three large monster caverns were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

In Lin Jun's plan, he intended to have the Cave Dwellers lead the Pujis to guard the already-conquered caverns.

These caverns posed little danger and faced low defensive pressure; by handing over the nodes for these guarding Pujis to the Cave Dwellers, Lin Jun could free up more capacity to support the expedition team.

Originally, there was still the issue of how to solve the Cave Dwellers' settlement problem in new caverns, but now it seemed they could simply use the Snail-Wood!

Of course, these were arrangements for the future; this batch of Cave Dwellers still needed some instruction first.

There was no rush to move the Cave Dwellers elsewhere, as no other cavern was truly as safe as the old Mushroom Garden's location.

Moreover, Lin Jun discovered the Cave Dwellers' nursery within the Snail-Wood; this thing was actually oviparous...

Every Cave Dweller was precious, including those not yet born!

Lin Jun assigned several Cave Dwellers, still in fear after waking, to care for their eggs.

The other awakened Cave Dwellers were handed over to Norris and the Yellow-Book.

They trembled in fear, awaiting their fate.

At this moment, Louisa had already departed with the main force under Lin Jun's arrangement; she was going to re-conquer the cavern that had been retaken by the Basilisks.

Only the personal guard squad Lin Jun gave him remained by Norris's side—two Minotaur puppets and over a dozen elite Pujis.

The Minotaur puppets were tall and burly, exuding immense momentum, indeed having a deterrent effect on the Cave Dwellers.

But compared to nearly three hundred Cave Dwellers, the number of people under Norris was a bit too small.

So much so that some agile-minded Cave Dwellers began to entertain thoughts of escape.

However, when a Cave Dweller who chose to flee had not run far before exploding with a mass of mushrooms and turning into a puppet, the remaining Cave Dwellers all learned to obey.

The new task Lin Jun gave Norris and the Yellow-Book was only one.

Teach the Cave Dwellers to use the mycelial network, control the Pujis, and most importantly—understand and obey the Boss's orders.

Even if Norris did not know exactly how to do it, the Yellow-Book certainly did.

To keep the Huang Pishu from slacking off, Lin Jun drew it a big pie of soul-devouring.

From a full-map perspective, Lin Jun was planning which caves to send the cave people to first after their training.

The first batch should be relatively safe caves to accumulate experience.

As he thought, a vibration came through the mycelial network.

This vibration was so familiar... one could even say nostalgic!

Earthworm?

Not only Lin Jun felt the vibration; Louisa, leading the expedition team past that pockmarked cave, stopped in her tracks as she watched the small pebbles beneath her feet jump incessantly.

The vibration grew more and more obvious; Louisa could stand still without moving a muscle, but the Puji were thrown off balance, swaying this way and that.

At a certain moment, clods of earth burst outward, and a chasm-like giant mouth emerged from within; instantly, twelve Puji vanished into the giant mouth, while even more Puji were crushed to death by the giant mouth or killed by flying rocks.

This scene was exactly the same as the expedition battle back then.

And on the giant worm's mouth, the scars left by the former Puji's great self-destruction were still clearly visible.

【Race: Earthworm】

【Level: lv51】

Meeting again, old rival!

Do you have any helpers this time?

(End of this chapter)