Chapter 46: 46 Innate Deficiency

The cross-section of the Tentacle Mushroom Cannon slowly writhed, its tip now having re-woven itself into a complete conical structure.

Under the effect of 【Mycelium Reconstruction LV2】, the knight's six mycelial tentacles had basically returned to their original state.

They were just slightly lighter in color compared to the other parts.

In contrast, the claw marks on the shell remained clearly visible.

The shell was a skill product and fell outside the scope of reconstruction; it could only be regenerated later by replacing the old with the new.

The Demon Tide outside finally entered its end; the monsters began returning to their respective layers, and the dragon beasts each drilled back into the rifts.

The monsters also resumed their usual state of attacking one another.

Lin Jun saw a Fanged Beast, just before leaving, suddenly snatch the tail fin of a small dragon beast and drag its struggling prey into the staircase.

Monsters that got lost wandering the fifth layer and couldn't find their way back, provided they were above LV25, all gained a negative effect.

【Fixed Status: Soul Siphon (gradually losing attributes and skill proficiency)】

Clearly, this was the dungeon's method of restoring the original order between layers after the Demon Tide.

If one couldn't return for long, one would probably be drained dry in the end.

But... having one's soul siphoned...

Just thinking about it made Lin Jun shudder with cold dread.

Fortunately, Lin Jun himself did not have it.

Not only did Lin Jun not have it, but the dragon person did not either.

This actually matched Lin Jun's guess—he and the dragon person did not belong to the Demon Tide.

As for Lin Jun himself, it went without saying; the dungeon family had never truly accepted him.

As for the dragon person, one could see a hint of it from her behavioral patterns.

During the Demon Tide, when monsters were in harmony, she would attack other monsters to protect her food; unlike other monsters who rushed to burst out of the dungeon, she instead wandered the fifth layer everywhere looking for Lin Jun's Poojis to eat.

Lin Jun's own uniqueness was due to his Hero title.

As for the dragon person?

It might be her identity as an Ancient Dragon offspring.

Speaking of the dragon person...

"Hungry..."

Inside the cave, collapsed down to less than 20 square meters.

The dragon person squatted in the corner, her paws resting on her knees, her eyes fixed on the few Battery Poojis on the other side, drool practically about to drip out.

Sigh—

One Battery Puffeater leaped over the rubble in the middle, "Poo-poo"ing its way to the dragon person's side.

She grabbed the Puffeater in a hug, affectionately rubbing her cheek against it; the Puffeater was quickly scratched open in several places by the scales on the dragon person's face.

Just like Dylan, after being parasitized, the dragon person also developed an affinity for the Poojis.

At least she didn't fight Lin Jun's knight to the death immediately upon waking; instead, she was willing to listen to some of his words.

Of course, the Poojis still had to be eaten...

The Battery Pooji, with only 10 HP, was scraped to death by the scales and was quickly gnawed along the edge of the mushroom cap by the dragon person, who had finished being affectionate enough.

This dragon person was not very smart.

Previously, after connecting to the mycelial network and exchanging a few words, Lin Jun found her intelligence was comparable to that of a child.

This level of intelligence actually matched her performance within the fifth layer.

But logically, with one parent being human and the other an Ancient Dragon, neither being low-intelligence existences, there was no reason for her to be stupid.

Like the half-dragon person seen before, whose intelligence appeared no different from an ordinary person's.

The answer lay on the dragon person's status panel:

【Fixed Status: Innate Deficiency. Intelligence (Intelligence attribute reduced by 80%)】

Although the Intelligence attribute relates to spellcasting ability and cannot be equated directly with IQ.

But with an Innate Deficiency, she must be naturally mentally disabled; reflected in the attributes, it simply means a low Intelligence attribute.

Additionally, the Innate Deficiencies on her body were not just one.

【Fixed Status: Innate Deficiency. Mana Leakage (mana within the body naturally decreases over time)】

Lin Jun even suspected she must have offended the heavens in a past life.

Mana is the foundation for the vast majority of skills.

Magic spells need no explanation; many other skills that don't look like magic, such as 【Burst Shot】, actually also require mana consumption, just in very small amounts.

When mana is empty, not only can skills not be used, but it also produces feelings of dizziness and nausea, even leading to unconsciousness.

Lin Jun had plenty to say on this matter; when he first arrived in this world, knowing nothing, he had stepped into many traps.

So, no wonder she didn't eat the Hallucinogenic Poojis.

The Poojis she ate all possessed the 【Mana Storage】 skill.

The act of eating Poojis was likely her way of replenishing her own mana.

Just like now, while the dragon person ate the Pooji in her arms, on the panel Lin Jun saw, her mana, which was one-third empty, was slowly replenishing.

Of course, the Poojis probably tasted good as well.

After all, 【Mana Storage】 was not a skill unique to him.

After stuffing the last little stubby leg of the Pooji into her mouth, the dragon person licked her lips, still unsatisfied.

"Are you full?" Lin Jun asked.

Hearing this, the dragon person's golden pupils shifted slightly, moving her gaze from the remaining few Battery Poojis over to the knight.

In her cognition, the Knight Pooji was the one speaking to her—a delicious but very strong fellow.

"I still want to eat!"

Lin Jun glanced at the panel.

The mana is already full, yet you still want to eat!

"Help me with something first; once you're done, I'll let you eat, okay?"

Looking back at the three remaining Battery Puji, the Dragonkin nodded fiercely.

What Lin Jun wanted her to do was nothing other than this: dig out the way they had dug in.

Their previous battle had collapsed most of the cave, and the few Puji responsible for digging had unfortunately all been crushed to death.

The Knight did have a digging skill, but how could its efficiency compare to the Dragonkin's claws?

That was 【Sharpness LV9】!

However, the truth was that Lin Jun had been slightly mistaken.

Lin Jun thought she drilled through relying on her sharp claws, but in reality, the claws only served to crush the rocks; the rest was squeezed through purely by physical constitution!

After she squeezed through, the crushed rocks and soil would close up again, making it completely unsuitable for bringing the Puji along to drill.

The Knight had to follow closely behind her feet, getting kicked N times unintentionally by her before it barely managed to squeeze up.

This was thanks to the merit of its hard shell.

As for the three shell-less Battery Puji... they never managed to keep up from the start...

So, when the Dragonkin came with an expectant face to demand the Puji, Lin Jun was already drenched in sweat...

Lin Jun was truly afraid that if they didn't get along, she would decide to eat the Knight again.

It wasn't worry about actually being eaten; in extreme danger, if she completed the final step of the parasitism, she would become a puppet.

But what then?

Becoming a puppet counts as brain death, right? Would that trigger the Vengeance Mark?

Lin Jun didn't know, and had no intention of gambling on it.

So, she still had to first fool this simpleton who only knew how to eat.

"Ah... over there," one of the Knight Puji's tentacles pointed toward the forest, "the food is over there; go over and you can eat."

At the same time, Lin Jun hurriedly located a small, relatively intact fungal carpet in the forest, right beside the ruins of Dylan's Hut; this was one of the few fungal carpets preserved amidst the demons' trampling.

On the fungal carpet, accelerating at full speed, she rushed the maturation of two Battery Puji!

The fifth floor is not yet safe; many demons are still wandering around, searching for the way back.

However, with a Dragonkin following Lin Jun, they either ignored them or simply went around.

Of course, some were not very bright.

Lin Jun sincerely thanked them for buying her a little more time.

Beside the ruins of Dylan's Hut.

The Dragonkin eagerly picked up the Puji that hadn't yet been filled with mana and took huge bites—after exercising a bit, she was hungry again.

Before long, the Dragonkin's doubt came through the fungal network:

"This one... doesn't taste very good..."

(End of Chapter)