Chapter 5

"You... why do you have such a good magic crystal?"

"How long do you think I've been here..."

Lin Jun isn't sure exactly how long he has been in this world. There are no days, nights, or seasons deep in the dungeon, but Lin Jun feels it has been at least two or three years.

Even if he only counts the time since he started building the mushroom garden, it hasn't been short. This entire rock wall is his private mine. After mining for a long time, he naturally gets some high-quality magic crystals.

However, Lin Jun didn't collect them because he knew their value; it was simply because clean amethysts look better, and placing them around his main body can both attract mana and serve as decoration.

"Can you cast other spells faster using this?"

"You're giving this to me? Really?"

Even though he isn't familiar with Inanna yet, he can see that this person truly likes magic crystals or things related to magic.

"Of course, I also want to see more spells. Speaking of which, Inanna, I haven't asked you yet, what spells do you know?"

Lin Jun can indeed see things like [Light Magic LV4] from the panel, but this only represents that the highest-level light magic the other party can release is 4th-tier, but he doesn't know what specific spells they are.

Each element of magic has a wide variety of spells at each tier, and some spells have many variants, such as Biological Transformation, which can be subdivided into Eagle Transformation, Dog Transformation, Puji Transformation...

Inanna stands on the spot for a while, seemingly recalling the spells she knows.

Lin Jun feels that if she were still in human form, she would definitely be counting them on her fingers one by one.

"Let me see... Water Snake, Water Mirror Refraction, Ice Blade, Purification, Healing Light, Reveal, Illumination, Create Water, Energy Protection, Mud Swamp... Gu... that's all."

That's quite a lot.

"Then try casting Mud Swamp on this Puji."

A mining Puji that is smashing stones with its shelled mushroom cap is moved by Lin Jun to the open space where he self-destructed earlier, and another tentacle extends from under the mushroom to help Inanna tie the A-grade magic crystal to her mushroom cap.

"Be careful not to break it again, this is the last one here."

"I will be careful."

Mana pours from Inanna's body into the magic crystal. Unlike the previous time, this time, as soon as the spell is cast, the surrounding mana swarms in. The A-grade magic crystal above Inanna's head is like a small vortex devouring mana.

No wonder they say it can be used to make a staff. With such a large amount of mana blessing, no matter what kind of spell it is, its power will definitely be multiplied.

"It worked!"

The mining Puji sinks slightly. The originally solid ground turns into a puddle of mud. The Puji tries to lift its foot, but it is stuck and unable to move on the spot.

In fact, Mud Swamp should only be able to delay movement, and even if it is enhanced by the A-grade magic crystal, the direction should be area-of-effect.

The mining Puji can't break free purely because its shell is too heavy and the Puji's own strength isn't enough, so it is pressed on the spot.

"Try using Ice Blade on it again."

"Eh? Is it okay? It might..."

"It's fine, cast it."

It's just a Puji. If it dies in the mushroom garden, it will just turn into fertilizer and be recycled. The loss is negligible.

"Then I'll cast it."

Before long, an Ice Blade condenses in front of Inanna, which scares even her.

Unlike Mud Swamp, the Ice Blade spell after being blessed changes quite intuitively. The Ice Blade, which was originally less than a meter long, actually exceeds two meters under the blessing.

And the deep cold air emanating from it also makes Inanna clear that its power has likely increased significantly.

"Go!"

The shell and the Ice Blade intersect. After a crisp sound, it cuts in, cutting three-quarters of the way through before stopping.

Even Lin Jun thinks this power is not bad. You know, that is a level 4 Chitin Shell. Lin Jun himself would need two hits with a level 6 Mushroom Cannon to break the defense, yet it was cut open by more than half with a single Ice Blade of the same level.

It's just hard to tell if the spell itself is powerful or if the A-grade magic crystal blessing is powerful; it's probably both.

Magic is truly amazing. If he knew magic, he wouldn't have been so miserable in the early stages.

But it's not too late now. Although he doesn't know magic for the time being, with a helper who can use magic, some plans to go to the upper levels can be tried.

Of course, he doesn't mean killing the Flame Demon guarding the passage. Lin Jun has seen that guy through the sacrificed scouting Puji. Although the level gap is too large to see any detailed information on the panel, just the super-high level of 64 doesn't look like something he can mess with right now.

But who says you must go through the passage to go up?

"Inanna, do you want this magic crystal?"

"You want to give it to me?"

Eh?

Is this mushroom being so good to me some kind of trap?

Having just experienced betrayal, Inanna is now very cautious, not to mention the other party is a monster like Lin Jun whose true form is unknown.

"Of course it's not free. Cooperate with me to conquer some monsters, and it will be yours."

"Okay!"

Hearing that there are conditions, Inanna feels relieved. She really wants this magic crystal, but if Lin Jun gave it to her, she wouldn't dare to take it.

But monsters?

Speaking of which, this is the deep level of a dungeon. There are so many strange things in the mushroom garden that she almost forgot about this.

But to think a mushroom actually wants to conquer monsters...

How to conquer them? Using Puji?

"But what monsters are we going to conquer?"

"Earth Worms, do you know them?"

Earth Worms?

That sounds familiar. Where have I heard it?

Ah, I remember...

"Sorry, is the Earth Worm you're talking about the one that is huge, has skin like rock, likes to dig holes deep underground, and eats ore every day?"

Lin Jun thinks for a moment: "That's right."

"Are we going to conquer the larvae of the Earth Worm?"

"The adult."

"Aren't adults at least LV45, large monsters that must be conquered by a complete Gold-ranked adventurer team to be safe? Mr. Lin Jun, I'm only LV28!"

Inanna's head is full of: Me, fighting an Earth Worm?

Even if I hadn't been transformed, I would be eaten in one bite in front of an Earth Worm.

Is this mushroom's brain broken? A mushroom wants to hunt Earth Worms?

"You seem to have a bit of a bias in your positioning of me..."

Looking at the pink Puji's disbelief, Lin Jun remembers that he hasn't taken her to see the mushroom garden's border yet.

No wonder she is so distrustful of his strength.

Hunting Earth Worms is something he wanted to do a long time ago. This kind of worm has a skill called [High-Temperature Drilling].

It can generate high temperatures to embrittle rock, then use its rotating mouthparts to shred the stone and swallow it into its abdomen, and then discharge the unwanted components from its side gills to reinforce the tunnel walls.

If he can snatch this skill, he can dig a tunnel directly to the upper levels within the rock wall, instead of risking sneaking past the Flame Demon's nose.

It's just that this kind of worm has excellent digging ability. If it can't win, it will drill into the ground and escape. Coupled with its large size and thick blood, it takes half a day to kill it even when it's low on health.

He tried it once before, and the result was a significant loss, and he didn't get anything.

But just now, seeing Inanna's Mud Swamp, Lin Jun feels there is hope again. Earth Worms probably can't be fast in mud.

But before that, he really should get in sync with the new member.

"It's not that we have to go hunt Earth Worms right now. You still need to practice using this magic crystal to cast spells, right? Just take this opportunity to set off with the expedition team and practice."

"Expedition team?"

(End of chapter)