Chapter 94: 93: Mycelium Network Upgrade

The battle on the sixth floor was still slowly progressing; although control of the sixth floor had not yet been obtained, some gains had already begun to appear.

【Seven Sins — Greed triggered】

【Skill Plundered: Neurotoxin lv3 → lv4】

【Skill Plundered: Digestive Mucus lv6 → lv7】

【Skill Plundered: Physical Resistance lv5 → lv6】

……

That said, the slime skills on this floor were still quite useful.

Neurotoxin could be considered a liquid version of hallucinogenic spores — stronger at the same level, but relatively less convenient to use.

In Lin Jun's opinion, maybe it could be used together with Mimicry — squeeze it right into an enemy's face as they passed by?

Digestive Mucus was a kind of corrosive damage, and was still pretty good for dealing with junk.

Things like skeletons the mycelium couldn't break down, or equipment that was completely ruined and had lost its value — Lin Jun would toss them all into the mucus to be dissolved.

Physical Resistance went without saying, although for the most ordinary Puji it probably wouldn't be needed.

After all, with HP that low, even with reduction it would still die in one hit.

But for elite Puji it was a different story.

Since Lin Jun had more mana recently, it was time to put together a batch of elites that could step out of the definition of cannon fodder.

However, this plan was temporarily queued behind the completion of the sixth-floor raid. Raiding the sixth floor was itself a massive project that burned through mana like water; even with Lin Jun's current mana output, it was barely breaking even.

And aside from these skills that relied on Greed's level-ups, another skill — one that depended entirely on Lin Jun's own effort and sweat — had finally leveled up too!

【Skill Leveled Up: Mycelium Network lv6 → lv7】

That said, as one of Lin Jun's core skills, Mycelium Network truly offered no shortcuts when leveling — it all came down to slow, grinding work.

From leaving the deep zone until now, such a long stretch of time, and finally another level!

What pleasantly surprised Lin Jun was that, after leveling up, the skill's description in the panel had gained an extra line: relay nodes can be created within the Mycelium Network.

It looked like a derived function, but what exactly was a relay node?

If you don't understand it, try it out!

Lin Jun casually picked four Puji that were mining, and by feel, turned one of them into a relay node.

The Puji kept on working, its shelled mushroom cap tapping the stone again and again — only the rhythm of these four Puji had… synchronized?

The other three Puji had all synced their movements with the one that became the relay node.

When that Puji took a step forward, the others also stepped forward — even if a wall was ahead.

When that Puji tapped the stone once, the others tapped too — even if there was nothing in front of them.

How does this just feel like a synchronizer?

Completely useless.

Lin Jun thought for a moment, then shook awake Xiao Hei, who was hugging a glass bead and sleeping soundly.

Xiao Hei slung a shoulder, yawning and rubbing her eyes, looking listless as a Puji led her out of the mushroom house with its tentacles.

The Puji brought her to a small clearing in the mushroom forest, where a large group of Puji was standing.

In the mycelial network, Lin Jun turned Xiao Hei into a relay node and assigned one Puji under her.

The effect was immediate.

The Puji imitated Xiao Hei, extending a mycelial tentacle in front of itself and rubbing eyes that didn't exist.

Still just a synchronizer — this was not the result Lin Jun wanted.

"Xiao Hei, stop being groggy. Feel anything different about yourself?"

"Different?"

Hearing Lin Jun's voice, Xiao Hei roused herself a little.

She turned her head and spotted the Puji that was imitating her.

"What is this?"

Xiao Hei stepped forward twice, trying to pick up the Puji.

Yet the Puji, imitating her, also walked forward two steps.

……

Xiao Hei broke into a stride to chase, the Puji broke into a stride to run, and the two of them moved forward in sync, one behind the other.

In the end, Xiao Hei used the advantage of her longer legs to catch up to the Puji, scooped it into her arms, and began studying this little thing that had some special resonance with her. Lin Jun watched her study it for quite a while; the Puji simply kept imitating Xiao Hei's movements.

Just as Lin Jun was starting to think this really was just a synchronizer, Xiao Hei seemed to have found the trick!

Xiao Hei's hands were still holding the Puji, but the Puji's four mycelial tentacles stretched out, twisting around each other into a single braid.

What was this?

Xiao Hei then set the Puji down. Once on the ground, the Puji began swinging the still-unraveled braid as it ran around Xiao Hei.

Lin Jun was quite certain he had not issued such a command.

"Xiao Hei, are you the one commanding this Puji now?"

"Seems like it!"

Xiao Hei's eyes lit up, shining with the excited glow of discovering a new toy.

And Lin Jun finally confirmed the function of this derived ability.

Simply put, it was subcontracting the work of controlling Puji out — the so-called relay node was like a squad leader he appointed himself.

However, this squad leader needed a certain amount of intelligence.

Letting an ordinary Puji be a squad leader would just turn it into a plain synchronizer.

Looking at it this way, this derived ability should suit Dylan quite well.

Unfortunately, Dilan wasn't in the mushroom garden right now, and the command authority over the scouts couldn't be handed to Dilan either.

The scouts had already gone so far away that Lin Jun could still control them entirely thanks to the skill 【Familiar Control】 maintaining the connection.

Once the control authority was transferred, 【Familiar Control】 would be severed.

And once severed, wanting to reconnect?

Sorry, the target is out of server range, please try again later...

By then, Dilan really could only rely entirely on himself.

While Lin Jun was over here pondering how to use the skill, Seeing Xiao Hei had already been controlling that Puji to actively run into her mouth.

Seeing Xiao Hei sat in place without moving, and the Puji voluntarily turned around to feed Seeing Xiao Hei the mushroom caps.

But after only eating one-third of the cap, the Puji went "pfft" and collapsed onto the ground—dead.

Seeing Xiao Hei then suddenly realized she had lost her remote-controlled toy, and her mood actually sank.

What the heck is going on, how could she end up getting depressed from playing on her own?

Lin Jun pulled two more Puji under Seeing Xiao Hei's command, and Seeing Xiao Hei's attention, sensing the connection change, indeed snapped right onto the new Puji.

As for the dead one on the ground, it was tossed out of mind at the speed of light.

But it didn't end there—Lin Jun kept transferring more Puji command authority to Seeing Xiao Hei.

4... 8... 15...

In the end, the command authority over all 21 Puji on site was handed entirely to Seeing Xiao Hei.

Lin Jun wanted to see where the limit of transferring command authority lay.

However, Lin Jun's limit for transferring authority was still far from being tested, but Seeing Xiao Hei's limit had already shown up first.

After gaining control of a large number of Puji, Seeing Xiao Hei tried to stand up, but stepped on her own right foot with her left, fell right onto a Puji and smashed it flat, then bounced on the ground like a fish that had just washed ashore.

As for the other Puji, they were either running around wildly, crashing into things and rolling all over the ground, or just standing in place without moving at all.

The whole scene turned into complete chaos.

It didn't calm down until Lin Jun took all the command authority back.

Seeing Xiao Hei shook her head, and the moment she recovered, she dragged her tail and ran back to the mushroom hut on all fours to hide.

Looks like that feeling just now wasn't very pleasant.

How could this be?

The ability to control Puji was related to intelligence, and Seeing Xiao Hei was dim-witted, so Lin Jun could understand that she couldn't control many.

But this was only a little over 20 of them!

Even if not commanding them as smoothly as one's own arm, she should at least be able to control them simply.

How did it end up that she couldn't even control her own hands and feet?

Thinking it over, it was probably because Seeing Xiao Hei was just too special—congenital deficiency, after all.

If only there were a being with normal intelligence to test it.

At times like this, Lin Jun would especially miss the days when Dilan was by her side—that ordinary man was actually quite useful...

Speaking of which... where does a tree demon's intelligence rank?

(End of chapter)