Chapter 86

When the three Puji arrived at the Tree Demon forest again, Lin Jun found that the number of Tree Demons connected to the fungal network had increased.

"We meet again, my Tree Demon neighbors; is it five this time..."

Compared to the base of hundreds of Tree Demons in the entire forest, it was very few, but it was a good start.

Several Tree Demons clearly had also sensed the Puji from the fungal network long ago and had been waiting for Lin Jun's arrival.

Lin Jun could feel that they were all a little nervous.

However, after discovering that Xiao Hei hadn't followed, this nervousness decreased quite a bit.

Seemingly worried that Lin Jun would think it was too few, the same Tree Demon from last time with a mushroom growing on its head stood out and said: "Mushroom Overlord, the kin need more time to accept the change; I hope you understand."

A thought carrying soothing emotions was transmitted from the fungal network to several Tree Demons: "I am very happy to see five beings willing to come out and communicate; in fact, I came this time to ask you all for a small favor; is anyone willing to come? Of course, there is compensation."

Lin Jun didn't say what the small favor was; testing the relay node was something that couldn't be explained clearly in a moment.

Several Tree Demons looked at each other; they had all prepared themselves mentally before connecting to the fungal network, so naturally, there was no reason to refuse at this time, and they all walked out together.

It was just that no matter how Lin Jun looked at it, there was a sense of determination.

Also, thanks to Xiao Hei's good start, they might think now that the "small favor" was being sent to Xiao Hei to play with and dismantle...

Take it slow.

The Puji led several Tree Demons out of the forest, and the destination was the bottom of the rock wall near the stairs that had already been covered by the fungal mat.

The location of the Tree Demon forest was indeed very remote, and they had to pass through several other monsters' territories along the way.

In fact, there were five Puji when they set off, but without Xiao Hei clearing the way, only three reached the Tree Demon forest in the end.

For example, now, the team encountered a situation on the return trip; a vine-type monster suddenly entangled a passing Puji, gradually tightening, and it looked like it was about to squeeze the Puji to death.

Lin Jun hadn't paid attention to this originally; it was too late to save it.

On the floors above and below, Puji usually died by the hundreds every day, not to mention that it was the sixth-floor strategy period now, so even more died.

But a Tree Demon walked up from behind, reached out and stroked the vine, and the vine actually took the initiative to let go of its prey!

What kind of thing was this?

Lin Jun opened the panel, searched for a long time, and barely saw a skill 【Plant Affinity lv4】.

He had known before that Tree Demons had this skill, but he had always thought it was used for growing mushrooms and moss on their bodies.

So this was the effect?

If Puji had this skill, wouldn't it be...

Several Tree Demons inexplicably felt a chill, but couldn't find the source.

No, no, no!

There was no need to do anything extreme.

He could just go back and pick up the corpses of Tree Demons that died accidentally... They shouldn't have a cremation culture, right?

After being attacked by the vine once, the Tree Demon bypassed the Puji and took the initiative to act as the vanguard.

Whenever they encountered aggressive plants, they would first use 【Plant Affinity】 to soothe the other party before letting the team pass.

This also gave Lin Jun a clearer understanding of this skill—it wasn't as easy to use as he had first thought.

At first, Lin Jun thought that with this skill, they wouldn't be attacked; after watching the Tree Demon use it a few more times, he realized it was an active skill, not a passive one.

You have to touch the plant when using it, but you have to know, when a Puji is touched, it would likely die instantly...

And the effect of the skill looked more like a plant version of Charm.

If it succeeded, the other party would give up the attack; if it failed... a vine forcibly broken by the Tree Demon's brute force was the result.

When the five Tree Demons finally arrived at the destination, what they saw was the fungal mat spreading across the entire rock wall, and more than sixty Puji under the rock wall.

Each Tree Demon's heart was shrouded in anxiety about the unknown; a bolder Tree Demon asked directly:

"Mushroom Overlord, can you tell us what we need to do now?"

Lin Jun didn't deliberately leave them hanging and explained directly:

"The favor I'd like to ask you for this time is to test the fungal network; the fungal network is what we are using to communicate now; you just need to know roughly about it."

As he spoke, Lin Jun transferred the control of two Puji to the Tree Demon who had spoken.

The Tree Demon realized the change almost instantly. It first looked at the two Puji that were imitating its movements, and after half a minute, without any extra reminders from Lin Jun, it understood how to issue commands to the Puji.

"How does it feel?" Lin Jun asked.

"It feels..." The Tree Demon controlled the two Puji to do different movements in front of it, "a bit like root veins, but different."

Root veins, Lin Jun knew, were the way Tree Demons communicated, but they could only transmit emotions; the specific meaning was all based on guessing, far less convenient than the fungal network.

And that wasn't what Lin Jun wanted to ask.

"How do you feel mentally? Is there any pressure?"

The Tree Demon shook its head, indicating no.

Lin Jun decisively assigned 4 more Puji to it.

Seeing that it still seemed to have no problem, Lin Jun continued to increase the number.

"Tell me if you feel pressure!"

It wasn't until the number was increased to 24 that the Tree Demon waved its hand, indicating that it felt uncomfortable.

"Dizzy..."

Lin Jun hurriedly took back the control and let this Tree Demon rest on the side.

Next, Lin Jun had the other Tree Demons test it one by one.

He found that Tree Demons could generally control more than 12 Puji, and the Tree Demon with the mushroom on its head could master even 20.

Looking at it this way, the twenty-plus he gave Xiao Hei before was indeed a bit too much...

These Tree Demons felt very suitable for helping him out!

However, Lin Jun wasn't in a hurry to let them lead the Puji to start running rampant on the sixth floor; this matter couldn't be rushed.

Just five Tree Demons wouldn't do much.

After finishing the test, Lin Jun took out the reward he had prepared long ago.

Five C-grade magic crystals the size of a finger.

It didn't look like much, but for these Tree Demons, this mission itself was just going out for a stroll, which could be said to be quite generous.

And Lin Jun had observed that although magic crystals existed on the sixth floor, they were cracked and mixed, with poor quality, bordering on waste.

The quality was so poor that some magic crystals were directly exposed outside the dirt walls, and passing adventurers were too lazy to pick them up.

C-grade magic crystals were definitely a rare resource for sixth-floor monsters.

And for Tree Demons, magic crystals should be no different from mushrooms—they could be used to fertilize the fields.

Sure enough, after receiving the magic crystals, the spirits of several Tree Demons were clearly lifted; it seemed they hadn't expected such a good thing!

Lin Jun didn't delay any longer; after paying the daily wages, he let them go back on their own.

Looking at their appearance, Lin Jun knew that the second goal of this time had also been achieved.

Come a few more times, have a foundation of trust, and then Lin Jun would select some Tree Demons from among them who were willing to completely lean toward him and give them more preferential treatment.

With examples, slowly there would be more and more mushroom factions among the Tree Demons, and finally, they would be completely absorbed in!

Lin Jun had already planned the future for the Tree Demons.

At that time, relying on the relay nodes of the fungal network, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about the management and maintenance of the sixth floor at all?

It would be great if there were Tree Demons on other floors too.

Thinking about it, Lin Jun remembered that the werewolves on the 10th floor might meet the conditions?

But for one, the 10th floor was a bit far, and Lin Jun hadn't figured out how to break through the teleportation maze on the 8th floor yet.

Secondly, werewolves probably weren't easy to get along with; he didn't have any good impressions of werewolves in his memory...

Everyone, there will probably be double updates at 6 o'clock from now on