Chapter 47: 47 Not Intentional

Although the Demon Tide has subsided, its impact is far from over.

The Fifth Layer, ravaged by the Demon Tide, is now a scene of utter devastation.

One-third of the trees in the forest were ignited by burning beetles, their charred trunks lying haphazardly in the cracked earth.

Another third were knocked down and trampled by giant demons; these thirty-meter-tall giants were uprooted, their trunks covered in claw marks and footprints.

The forest area has shrunk by nearly seventy percent, exposing vast stretches of the glowing dome that were once hidden beneath the canopy.

However, the fallen trees can be used as a breeding ground for mycelium, which Lin Jun finds acceptable.

The Poison Mist Lake fared much worse.

The three-headed serpent, dripping with poison, crossed half of the Fifth Layer, leaving a trail of dark green poison scabs in its wake; wherever it passed, not a blade of grass remained—and the Poison Mist Lake happened to lie directly in its path.

Perhaps it should be called the Venom Lake now.

In the deep green lake water, all native species have ceased to exist; only masses of dead fish and shrimp float to the shore, rotting and stinking.

The toxic water has even eroded the surrounding soil; no vegetation can grow nearby, and Lin Jun's mushrooms are no exception.

He does possess toxin resistance, but it is only at LV4.

Spores he tried scattering vanished instantly, completely unable to withstand such fierce poison.

However, this does not mean the area has become entirely uninhabitable.

A small dragon beast resembling a scaled salamander has moved in.

【Race: Dragon Beast - Miraji】

【Race Talent: Membrane (the entire body, inside and out, is protected by a membrane)】

Honestly, Lin Jun is not quite sure how a membrane can completely block the effects of venom, but they certainly do.

Combined with their inherent poison resistance, they are now thriving in the Venom Lake.

Pity that race talents cannot be stolen; otherwise, wrapping a Pujie in a membrane might be quite interesting.

However, Lin Jun feels these Miraji will not survive for long.

For now, they fill their stomachs with the dead fish and shrimp by the lakeside, but eventually, those will run out.

And the lake's original ecosystem was destroyed long ago by the venom.

In other words, starvation will come soon.

After starvation, they will likely go extinct naturally.

However, they possess the 【Scale Armor】 skill; perhaps they could be raised?

It is just unknown whether they eat mushrooms.

The lake and the forest are the areas most severely damaged.

As for the caves, they were collapsed entirely by Lin Jun himself; excavating them again will be a long project.

Of the entire Fifth Layer, only the swamp area remains largely unchanged.

Although Lin Jun's mycelial mat in the swamp was trampled flat, the environment itself has not changed much; indeed, due to the accumulation of corpses, the mana concentration within the swamp has even increased.

It counts as one of the few good news items after the Demon Tide.

Compared to the ground, the mycelial mat on the dome is completely undamaged.

Even flying demons did not waste time destroying the mushrooms on the dome during the Demon Tide.

Now, the mushrooms on the dome gently tremble their caps.

Accumulated spores are released in waves, causing a snowfall of pale green and gray spores across the entire Fifth Layer.

Although wandering demons have not been completely cleared, the remaining numbers can no longer cause significant destruction; it is time to restore vitality to the mushroom garden.

On the mycelial mat beside the ruins of Dylan's Hut.

A brand new Pujie was spawned, and Lin Jun holds special expectations for it.

The newly matured Pujie twisted its body, severed its connection to the mycelial mat, and stood up cheerfully.

A pair of claws lifted it, and then the Dragon Person took a bite.

"How does it feel?" Lin Jun asked.

With that single bite, the Dragon Person could not sever all the mycelium; it had to tear at it to eat.

The mycelium was chewed repeatedly by the Dragon Person before finally being swallowed.

"This one is delicious! I like it!"

Good, as long as you like it; this is a specially optimized spicy-strip Pujie!

Besides 【Mana Storage LV6】, this Pujie also gained 【Resilience LV5】.

"Then, after you finish eating, go kill some monsters for me. When you return, I'll give you a few more like this."

The Dragon Person nodded while chewing; fighting and then eating was much the same as before.

But before, she could only eat those tough-meat giant lizards and stinky rats; now she can eat soft, chewy, large mushrooms!

She was very satisfied.

"By the way, do you have a name?"

Actually, Lin Jun had wanted to ask this question long ago.

Through the status panel, Lin Jun can see everyone's names, but this Dragon Person's panel lacks a name field.

He was unsure whether she simply had no name or if some special reason prevented him from seeing it.

Logically, she should have a name.

The Dragon Person can speak, but her pronunciation is very strange; Lin Jun could only tell she was not speaking a human language.

He strongly suspected it was Dragon Tongue.

With language and communication, she should have a name.

Who knew, the Dragon Person shook her head while chewing the mycelium in her mouth, saying:

"No name," the Dragonkin said. "The weak have no names."

Ah, this...

Lin Jun felt that he probably didn't deserve a name either.

"Who is Great Dragon? Is it that super-scary dragon from that day?"

Mentioning that dragon, the Dragonkin instinctively shivered.

"No, that was Mother. Great Dragon is much smaller than Mother."

So it really was that dragon's offspring!

But thinking of her performance that day, why are you so afraid of your own mother?

Could she be a dragon in menopause?

As for "Great Dragon," it sounded like another dragon.

Do they live together with a whole bunch of dragons and Dragonkin over there?

"Then how do they call you?"

"Svergis."

"Then isn't your name Svergis?"

The Dragonkin continued to shake his head: "No, all the weak are Svergis."

Good lord, so it was a collective term; Lin Jun understood.

He already imagined a cruel dragon society where the weaklings were discriminated against so much they had no names, only fit to be called "lower class" or something.

However, even though the Dragonkin had no name, he couldn't keep calling her "you, you, you" forever, could he?

Using "Svergis" also felt strange.

"How about I give you a name?"

Who knew that upon hearing this, the Dragonkin shook his head very firmly and said, "Get stronger, and you will have a name!"

So he just didn't care about me naming him; he was a Dragonkin with dreams after all.

No choice, Lin Jun had to settle for the next best thing.

"But I still need a way to address you, right? The word 'Svergis' doesn't refer to you alone; it feels awkward for me to use, and it's too hard to pronounce.

How about I just call you 'Seeing Xiao Hei'?

It's not giving you a name, just calling you that."

It wasn't that Lin Jun had no taste and could only use words like "Seeing Xiao Hei" or "Little White"; mainly, this wasn't naming.

Anyway, it was just a temporary address; thinking too hard about it felt unnecessary.

The Dragonkin tilted his head and thought for a moment, seemed to find nothing wrong with it, then nodded to show agreement.

After settling on the address, the spicy strips were finally eaten up—adding 【Tenacity】 indeed made them much more durable to chew.

Seeing Xiao Hei stretched on all fours, then eagerly went to beat up the monsters as Lin Jun requested.

And Lin Jun discovered that a new line seemed to have appeared on her panel?

【Name: Seeing Xiao Hei】

【Race: Dragonkin】

Sorry!

I should have thought of one seriously!

Didn't we say it wasn't naming? What the hell kind of mechanism is this!?

(End of this chapter)