That day, the master of the Mushroom Garden returned once again to his faithful old capital!
But the place had already been transformed beyond recognition by the cave dwellers. Even Lin Jun could barely see any trace of what it once was.
The only thing still there was the rock wall embedded with high-quality magic crystals—probably the most valuable thing left of the old Mushroom Garden.
Although these cave dwellers did raise mushrooms, they clearly lacked Lin Jun’s cultivation techniques. They didn’t know how to use magic crystals to enrich the fields, nor did they bother mining them. A few crystals tossed carelessly into a warehouse corner—what a waste.
This battle had cost the Pujis almost nothing.
The greatest loss was the twenty or so Pujis crushed by rocks blasted loose by Louisa. The ones that were pierced to death by the cave dwellers’ spears lay still for a while before automatically repairing themselves.
The cave dwellers’ resistance, apart from being somewhat fierce at the start, quickly turned into nothing more than a cat-and-mouse game.
Lin Jun wasn’t surprised by this outcome.
Just like with his old Mushroom Garden, its existence had only been possible because of its remote location, away from the eyes of higher-level monsters.
In terms of combat power, they were weaker than the old Mushroom Garden. And the cave dwellers’ luck was obviously worse—they’d been targeted by Lin Jun…If Lin Jun hadn’t been trying to capture as many as possible alive, the battle would have ended much faster. He wouldn’t have let them struggle for even that long.
Of course, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly bad luck. Lin Jun wasn’t trying to wipe them out.
All he wanted was to make this slave-driven race equal from the inside out!
Each bound cave dweller was first drugged unconscious with hallucinogenic spores, beaten down to near death, and finally fused with mycelium while in deep sleep by specialized Pujis sprinkling spores.
When they woke, they would find that the caste system once dictated by pheromone concentration no longer existed. All cave dwellers now shared the same identity—Lin Jun’s sla… subordinates!
Of course, that treatment was reserved for the valuable ordinary cave dwellers. As for those useless fat cave dwellers…
Louisa was very pleased. Though their cholesterol was a bit high, at least it was intelligent life’s blood—tasted much better than that of lesser monsters.
The Yellow Book was also satisfied. It had received two more souls than it had expected.
As for Norris, Lin Jun promised to pick him a piece of equipment later.
Under Lin Jun’s distribution, everyone ended up happy.
And the fat cave dwellers?
Even though they wailed when their blood was being drained, they didn’t voice any objections.
Several still-fat but completely bloodless corpses of cave elder chieftains were thrown into their mushroom fields by the Pujis.
The mycelium devoured and decomposed the bodies, but aside from absorbing magic and nutrients, no skills were gained.
Well… no surprise there.
Lin Jun had already suspected that skills were tied to souls, a fact he had noticed during the Yellow Book’s “snacking.” This time simply confirmed it.
To put it simply, the Yellow Book was competing with him for food—if he didn’t eat, who should?
Reconnecting with the old Mushroom Garden also made Lin Jun realize something: even when a portion of his network had been separated for a long time, as soon as it reconnected with the fungal web, he could immediately regain control.
However, once it left his control, the fungal mat would only produce primitive, skill-less Pujis. If not for the cave dwellers raising them, they would likely have been eaten long ago by slimes or the like.
Lin Jun scoured the cave dwellers’ lair, and the word that stood out was “poor.”
Aside from moss mushrooms and other food, there were only some bone-made items.
He even saw a minotaur’s skull—apparently they had enjoyed some victories in the past.
If he had to name one real gain beyond capturing the cave dwellers themselves, it would be the fortress they lived in.
[Race: Snailwood]
[Level: 25]
[Skills: Tenacity LV6, Hardening LV5, Physical Resistance LV4, Rapid Growth LV4…]
This thing was all about toughness. Louisa hadn’t been able to break through its shell with a single ordinary strike earlier.
Once it matured, its shape resembled its name—a giant snail shell. No wonder the cave dwellers had made it their lair.
And it seemed to grow quite quickly?
Lin Jun plucked a few seeds from the Snailwood’s center. He intended to continue the “cave dwellers + Snailwood” model, just with some added Pujis in the mix.
Cave dwellers were too low-level and too fragile. In Lin Jun’s mind, they weren’t fit for the front lines as part of the expeditionary force.
They couldn’t afford the consumption—frontline Pujis were swapped out in batches, and those who managed to survive three large monster caves were rare indeed.
Instead, Lin Jun planned to have cave dwellers lead Pujis to guard already-conquered caves.
These caves carried little danger and weren’t under much defensive pressure. By leaving these Puji-guarded outposts to cave dwellers, Lin Jun could free up more capacity to support his expeditionary forces.
He had originally worried about how to help cave dwellers settle into new caves, but now it seemed Snailwood would solve that problem nicely!
Of course, that was all for later. These cave dwellers would need a lot of training first.
He didn’t rush to relocate them—no other cave was as safe as the old Mushroom Garden.
Besides, within the Snailwood, he found the cave dwellers’ nursery. To his surprise, they laid eggs…
Every cave dweller was precious—including those unborn ones!
Lin Jun assigned a few newly awakened but still terrified cave dwellers to care for the eggs.
The rest of the awakened cave dwellers were handed over to Norris and the Yellow Book.
They trembled, waiting for their fate.
By this time, Louisa had already left with most of the forces under Lin Jun’s orders. She was headed to recapture the cave taken earlier by the Basilisk.
At Norris’s side remained only the bodyguards Lin Jun had given him—two minotaur puppets and a dozen elite Pujis.
The towering minotaur puppets were imposing and did indeed intimidate the cave dwellers.
But compared to nearly three hundred cave dwellers, Norris’s numbers were far too few.
So much so that a few cave dwellers even began plotting to escape.
But when one of them tried to run, it didn’t get far before mushrooms burst all over its body, turning it into a puppet. After that, the rest quickly learned obedience.
Lin Jun had given Norris and the Yellow Book only one task.
Teach the cave dwellers how to use the fungal web, how to command Pujis, and—most importantly—how to understand and obey their boss’s orders.
Even if Norris didn’t know exactly how, the Yellow Book surely did.
To keep the Yellow Book from slacking off, Lin Jun tempted it with the promise of more souls to eat.
…
Switching to a full-map perspective, Lin Jun began planning which caves the trained cave dwellers should be assigned to first.
The first batch should go to relatively safe caves to build up experience.
As he pondered, a vibration pulsed through the fungal web.
The feeling was so familiar… almost nostalgic!
Earthworm?
He wasn’t the only one to notice. Passing through a battered, hole-ridden cave with the expeditionary force, Louisa also stopped when she saw the pebbles beneath her feet jumping.
The tremors grew stronger. Louisa stood unmoving, but the Pujis wobbled and tumbled about.
Then suddenly, the ground burst open. A giant abyssal maw emerged, and in an instant, twelve Pujis vanished inside. Many more were killed by flying debris or crushed beneath collapsing rock.
The scene was exactly like the old campaign.
And at the edge of the giant worm’s mouth, the scars left by the Pujis’ mass self-detonation were still clearly visible.
[Race: Earthworm]
[Level: 51]
Once again, face to face with an old rival!
Do you have allies this time?