Chapter 2: 2 The Mushroom Garden Got a Foreign Mushroom

Lin Jun now felt his eyes were about to be blinded—assuming he had eyes.

Sure, there are plenty of pukiji in my own mushroom garden, but the basic pukiji all have standard stats of 1 point in each of the five attributes, 10 HP, and sit at the bottom of the food chain; can 3000 HP really be the limit a normal pukiji can reach?

Of course, Lin Jun could easily control her, but that row of fixed effects was truly envious for a mushroom.

So envious he even wanted to eat her and steal her abilities…

Just kidding, it's rare to meet someone who can communicate.

Besides, judging from the panel, this pukiji is probably human—Lin Jun hadn't sunk so low as to treat a living person like food yet.

"Calmed down yet?" Lin Jun loosened the pukiji clamping her, easing the pressure.

A sudden voice in her mind threw Inanna into panic—she still didn't know if the speaker was human or demon, only that all nearby pukiji were under his control.

Could this be the next move of the conspiracy, someone sent here to kill me?

"Then just kill me if you're going to!"

"Why would I kill you? Can you please calm down?"

"Huh?"

Foreign mushrooms are so rude—they mess up my mushroom garden and don't even apologize.

"I'm the lord of all mushrooms on this level. You can call me Lin Jun. What's your name?"

"Mushroom… lord…"

Inanna had no idea how the words "mushroom" and "lord" could possibly be connected.

In her mind, mushrooms were just creatures with a level cap of 10—even at max level, they'd still be eaten by other monsters with only a few levels.

But what she saw here couldn't possibly belong to a level-10 monster, let alone this kind of communication resembling a fifth-tier magic spell—Mind Talk.

And this clearly wasn't just Mind Talk.

Ever since the connection, Inanna's perception range expanded from a few meters around her to far beyond.

And it was clearer, more detailed—as if she could now perceive everything the surrounding mushrooms perceived.

Inanna had absolutely no way to judge this mushroom lord's true strength.

In short, she'd try pretending she was just another pukiji and bluff her way through.

"I—I'm a pukiji too. I don't have a name…"

"Then let me name you. How about Inanna?"

"…"

Huh?

How did he know?

Could this Mind Talk skill also read minds?

The pukiji that had scattered began slowly circling back—was she about to be eliminated for lying?

No!

Fortunately, just as the last sliver of space remained, the pukiji halted—and Lin Jun's voice echoed again in her mind.

"I'm quite friendly—but only if you don't play petty tricks. Otherwise, I won't mind adding a bit more fertilizer to enrich the soil. Understood?"

Inanna nodded her mushroom cap vigorously.

"Let's try again. Name."

"I, Inanna Saint-Clair…"

"Your title?"

"Daughter of Duke Amaral…"

A duke's daughter?

So the World of the Surface has a medieval-style structure?

No wonder she had divine blessings and a Fruit of Life—still managed 3000 HP even as a pukiji.

In any world, having a good father is a shortcut in life.

"So tell me—how did a duke's daughter end up here?"

Now that her secret was out, Inanna had no reason to hide anything else.

She told him everything: how she'd been betrayed and fallen here, and answered all of Lin Jun's follow-up questions honestly.

Lin Jun learned a great deal in the process.

For instance, the place he was in was actually an underground dungeon located within Inanna's family's territory—and deep within it, no wonder everywhere was crawling with monsters.

For another, the World of the Surface had many races, and humans were on the brink of war with the vampire faction of the demon race; the two traitors who tried to kill her were likely colluding with the vampires.

Moreover, he realized that Inanna, as a native, couldn't see the panel—otherwise she wouldn't have tried hiding her name.

Perhaps the panel was a hidden perk for "Heroes"?

In short, Lin Jun now found the pink pukiji much more pleasant to look at.

"Inanna, now that you're a pukiji, what are your plans for the future?"

"Plans for the future… you won't turn me into fertilizer, right?" After being pressured earlier, Inanna was now a little afraid of Lin Jun.

"I give you my word."

"I want to go back to the surface…"

Inanna didn't just want to return to the surface—she wanted to find her father, break the transformation spell, and take revenge on the two traitors!

"Ah, going back to the surface…"

Lin Jun laughed.

"I want to go to the surface too!"

But as you can see—you're a mushroom, I'm a mushroom—how do we break through this underground world full of terrifying monsters to reach the surface?

Never mind the distant places—on our very level, the passage upward is inside the lair of a Fire Demon.

A Fire Demon? That's a high-level monster, at least LV55!

Even if Inanna hadn't been transformed, she couldn't defeat it—and even if she encountered one, whether she could escape is doubtful.

"By the way, won't your duke father come to rescue you?"

"He probably will…."

Inanna remembered what the two traitors had said—that her father was about to be finished—and her confidence wavered.

The pink mushroom cap visibly withered.

Yes, after becoming Pukiji, she couldn't even use her most skilled magic—how could she possibly return to the surface?

"Alright, alright, since you're here, make the best of it. You've been fussing long enough—you must be hungry. Let's eat something."

This new novelty I just found can't starve to death.

A Pukiji with a blue cap leapt out from the mushroom field, walked up to Inanna, and led her forward; Inanna indeed felt she was getting hungry.

"Is that you?"

"Yes and no—all the mushrooms here are me."

In truth, he had a mushroom body, but he had no intention of mentioning it.

Inanna nodded, half-understanding, and the two soon arrived at a carpet of mycelium.

Lin Jun kindly demonstrated to Inanna how a Pukiji eats.

The Pukiji he controlled lay down on the spot, letting the mycelium on the ground connect to it and deliver nutrients; within five minutes, it was fully replenished.

Inanna's mushroom cap changed color as she watched.

What is this?

Letting a mass of mycelium pierce your body and pump in unknown substances?

This scene, after sixteen years of consuming food through her mouth, was something Inanna could not accept.

Lin Jun did not rush her. If a child refused to eat, it was simply not hungry enough—when truly desperate, she'd eat on her own.

Her gradually weakening body finally made Inanna lie down on the mycelial carpet.

This feeling!

Nutrients surged in through countless connection points beneath her, bringing a deep, satisfying sense of being fed and filled.

So happy…

Only when her body was fully saturated and the mycelium ceased supplying nutrients did Inanna rise, reluctant to leave.

Being a mushroom… is surprisingly nice?

No no, what am I thinking?

Inanna, have you turned your brain into a mushroom too?

Oh right—her brain had indeed become a mushroom cap… and it was pink…

Lin Jun didn't know Inanna's inner thoughts; seeing her finish eating, he began introducing her to the different zones of the mushroom garden.

"You know the cafeteria, and you've seen the Pukiji cultivation zone—that's where you knocked over my Pukiji."

"See that rock wall? Beneath it is the mining zone."

"Over there is the breeding zone—they keep rolling armored beetles and slimes—both are aggressive, don't go near them."

"See that giant mushroom on the right? That's the division zone—it's complicated to explain, you can check it out yourself later."

"Don't go that way—walking that direction takes you outside the mushroom garden, and it's unsafe."

Lin Jun went on explaining on his own, while Inanna, beside him, had shut down from the very first word.

Cultivation zone? Breeding zone?

Inanna felt Lin Jun wasn't describing zones within the dungeon—he was describing a fully functional little town.

Was she still in the Purple Crystal Dungeon?

Where were the other monsters?

After all, it was just a bunch of mushrooms—how could they control such vast territory in the deadly depths of the dungeon?

Inanna's mind filled with questions, growing more confused the more she thought—she felt the dungeon's depths were utterly bizarre, where even common sense no longer existed.

(End of Chapter)