【Mushroom Cannon LV10】
At last—his very first max-level skill achieved entirely through practice, without relying on [Greedy Devour] at all!
If he could push several mushroom-related skills to maximum, perhaps they could even fuse into some “Ultimate of Mushrooms”?
Now the cannon’s power, on top of the Level 9 base, had increased by several more degrees.
Stack it with the effect of [Resonance LV4], and it was even more terrifying!
Speaking of [Resonance], as its level rose, so too did the number of Pujis he could coordinate.
The resonance cannon used before had been a combination of over a dozen Pujis.
But that battle had also exposed plenty of problems.
For instance, the thing was so long it had to be carried by multiple Pujis at once. That made it slow to turn, nearly useless against high-speed targets.
This weapon was basically a cannon—best for bombardment and fire suppression, not precision sniping.Still, with enough of them firing wildly across a battlefield, the effect would be worth seeing.
But that led to the second problem—mana consumption!
A two-Pujis resonance cannon didn’t just double the mana cost.
The more participants, the more mana it devoured exponentially.
That was why after the first two shots, the resonance cannon’s firing intervals grew longer.
The Pujis’ natural mana had been drained. After that, every shot had to be temporarily recharged from the Mycelium Carpet, slowing things down.
Of course, in the face of such overwhelming firepower, these were minor issues. Lin Jun was hardly someone lacking mana!
…
Just two days after the battle, the spot on Gray’s forehead—where Garon’s crushing punch had shattered her scales—was already sprouting tiny new black scales.
Another ten days or so, and it would be fully healed.
Lin Jun had purchased a batch of gems from human merchants for her. Though none compared to her treasured pure green emerald, their sparkling clarity and vivid colors far outshone ordinary glass baubles. Gray was very pleased.
The price Lin Jun had paid? Only a few red mushrooms with [Delicious LV6], with some even left over for Aiden to use as event funds.
Worth noting, in human markets, common Delicious Mushrooms (usually only LV2) had already begun a steady decline in price.
Though the yield ratio wasn’t particularly high, the mushroom farms had expanded so explosively that what was once rare was now becoming commonplace.
The price drop didn’t just affect mushrooms—it dragged down the market value of all fruits bearing the [Delicious] attribute.
Some nobles, furious over their losses, tried pressuring Fahl to restrict mushroom farm expansion.
Too bad—Fahl didn’t care in the slightest.
The constant surge of mushroom exports was now his greatest political and economic leverage.
Especially since the elves were unwilling to send more grain, Silentwind Town’s importance to the United Kingdom grew daily.
And with Fahl’s father being the President of the Adventurers’ Guild—though the man never played favorites—the sheer fact of his existence was enough to make would-be schemers hesitate. Was it really worth risking ruin over a few coins?
Through grain trade, Fahl had secured the management talent and high-quality building stone Silentwind lacked. Bit by bit, the town was transforming into a true city.
But meanwhile, Gray had a new problem—too many shinies. Her mushroom house was nearly full!
Every time she pushed open the door, a few gems would tumble out with a clatter.
She could only squat down and carefully gather each fallen treasure back inside.
But whenever she tried opening the door again… the scene repeated.
Gray wasn’t stupid. After a dozen rounds of this, she simply gave up on sleeping inside.
Instead, she curled up outside, wrapping her thick tail around herself, and slept in the open air.
Fortunately, her adaptability was strong. Thanks to it, her [Cold Resistance] had already risen to Level 8. Otherwise, she might have frozen herself silly.
And truth be told, she rather liked this—sleeping outside made it easier to bare her fangs at any demonkin foolish enough to come near her mushroom house!
Lin Jun had no plans to expand her mushroom house for her. That would only treat the symptom, not the cause.
Barely half a year had passed and already she’d stuffed a house full. With her ever-growing collecting ability, even an expanded house would soon overflow again.
Was he supposed to build her an entire “Shiny Storage Zone,” a whole row of mushroom houses just for her hoard?
No—he’d heard that life’s struggles often sparked ingenuity. He chose to believe in Gray’s wisdom!
…
Though Garon’s situation had drawn much of his focus, the spread of the Mycelium Carpet in the Sacred Tree Dungeon never stopped.
At the topmost surface of that colossal spiral structure—the dungeon’s entrance to the surface—
A mound of dirt shifted. Several Pujis popped out from the newly dug tunnel.
They ignored the nearby monsters who peeked curiously at the disturbance, scattering special spores around the hole as markers before slipping back underground.
Lin Jun’s plan was to dig downward at a slant. By the time they entered the elves’ scouting zone, they’d be one or two hundred meters deep—safe from detection.
A natural barrier of that much rock and soil. Even Lin Jun’s own scout Pujis couldn’t sense the surface from so deep. There was no way elves could do better.
It wasn’t that he doubted their technology, but such wide-area detection simply couldn’t cover an entire elf city.
If they could keep watch over the royal palace, that was already impressive enough.
Of course, Lin Jun still prepared for the worst.
Every Puji chosen for this mission had been carefully screened. Aside from the odd-looking burrowers, they all looked relatively ordinary, and none carried mana crystals.
Even if discovered, they could pass for “a group of mutated wild Pujis digging underground.”
Surely elves wouldn’t wipe out every mouse and mole beneath their city.
And indeed, Lin Jun’s caution proved excessive.
The excavation went smoothly. Not a single elf intervention.
The only issue was the occasional underground water vein, forcing the Pujis to reroute.
Just when Lin Jun was already thinking about how to help the elf graveyard spirits return to nature more quickly, the rock resistance ahead abruptly vanished.
One burrower lost its footing and fell straight into an open space.
Not a natural cavern, but a clearly man-made chamber, crudely carved.
The space was small—less than ten square meters.
No one was inside—otherwise Lin Jun would have noticed already.
A dusty wooden bed. A shut chest. An empty table. A corner lamp made from a small mana crystal.
Clearly, someone once lived here—but had long since left.
But the key point was… this was nearly two hundred meters underground!
What kind of underground chamber would be built at such an absurd depth?
In any case… best to open the chest first.