[Where’s Norris?]
[And what is this “Jida”?]
[What do you mean, Norris and Jida are living happily in their new home, so I shouldn’t worry?!]
The Yellow Book had just been released from confinement—only to hear the devastating news: it was already outdated!
“With Jida, Norris can run wide-area reconnaissance on his own. He really doesn’t need you anymore,” the Voice Puji said coldly.
[But… but I can still give Norris advice! That kid is such an idiot!]
“You mean the ‘advice’ where you told him not to report you when you were sneaking souls?”
[I can still tell stories!] the Yellow Book argued desperately.
That only made things worse. Lin Jun couldn’t hold back a snort of disdain.
“Forget whether stories are useful or not—just look at the ones you tell! I read a few. What the hell was that garbage?”“A fallen noble trying to restore his family’s honor, only to be murdered in the wilderness by two adventurers after his heirloom ring.”
“A princess of a ruined kingdom who endured humiliation to get revenge—only to end up giving her enemy eight children.”
“Seriously? What kind of miserable crap are you feeding people?”
[Th-those were all real events!] The book’s pages trembled harder.
“Enough! Quit whining about your trash stories!” The Voice Puji cut in impatiently. “Start figuring out how to deal with that core!”
[The core!]
At that word, the Yellow Book instantly forgot all about Norris.
[Boss, you’ve found the core already?]
[Wonderful! This dungeon is practically ours now!]
“Wonderful, my ass. We can’t even get past the door!”
The Pujis carried the Yellow Book to the edge of the core chamber and pointed at the two crystalline puppets.
[War Puppets?!]
[And made entirely of S-rank crystals?!]
[No wonder you can’t get through. Even during the Oath War, these things were nightmare-class weapons!]
“Oath War?”
[Three hundred years ago—the founding war of the Human Kingdom. That’s why their capital is called Oath City.]
Lin Jun wasn’t interested in ancient history. “I asked about those puppets.”
[The masterpieces of puppet-masters. Combat constructs powered by high-grade crystals. Normally they’d use just a few choice pieces, never full S-rank from head to toe!]
[But after intercontinental trade collapsed, crystal supply and quality dropped. With raw materials gone, the profession basically died out. Maybe only dwarves and some long-lived races still know it.]
“I don’t need a history lecture! I asked how we deal with those two gatekeepers!”
[We can’t.]
“…What?”
[Boss, what you’re looking at are peak-level war puppets. Full-body S-rank crystal. That kind of wasteful luxury? Never before, never again!]
“You mean we just sit here and watch, waiting for the dungeon to collapse on its own?” Lin Jun’s voice turned dangerous.
[Well of course… not!] The Yellow Book backpedaled fast. [They’re just automated puppets. Why fight them head-on?]
“Don’t tell me your idea is to wait until their energy runs out?”
[Why not?]
“Because their energy comes directly from the dungeon’s supply! It’ll never run out!” Lin Jun snapped.
Thanks to [Mana Perception], he could clearly see the dungeon’s magic constantly surging into both puppets. In a place like the Amethyst Dungeon, worrying about energy shortage was a joke.
[Boss, you don’t understand. War puppets don’t actually have intelligence.]
“No intelligence? Bullshit!”
He’d just fought them. Sneak attacks, targeting casters, situational judgment—they weren’t brainless at all, they were too damned smart!
[That’s because their intelligence is being computed by the dungeon core!] the Yellow Book blurted. [And isn’t the dungeon’s problem right now that its “brain” is failing? Its processing capacity is running out! If we keep pushing them, we’ll drain what little computing power it has left…]
“Wait!” Lin Jun interrupted sharply. “If I force it to waste the last scraps of processing, won’t that make the dungeon collapse faster?!”
[That’s true.]
[But even if you do nothing, in two or three months these puppets will break down anyway.]
[And between their shutdown and the dungeon’s collapse, there will be a window of time for us to act!]
[The advantage of forcing them is that you’ll know the very moment they stop working.]
…
Lin Jun considered it. It… actually made sense.
And the Yellow Book had just let slip another secret—
Core Processing Power.
So that’s how the dungeon sustains itself! Just like a computer running out of CPU.
“How can the processing be restored?” Lin Jun pressed.
[…]
[Normally the core maintains itself. If its capacity is dropping, something inside must be damaged.]
[If we’re lucky, we can fix it with some adjustments. If not…]
“What if not?”
[Then, Boss… if some parts are truly destroyed, there’s no way to repair them. We can’t exactly order spare components for a dungeon core.]
“What about stealing parts from humans or demons?” Lin Jun refused to give up.
[If that were possible, humans would’ve been raiding the core already.]
“…Fine.” After a moment’s silence, Lin Jun added, “Yellow Book. This time, as long as you do your best, I’ll stop restricting you. I’ll treat you as a true member of the Mushroom Garden. But you’d better not disappoint me.”
[Boss! I’ll do everything I can! For the Mushroom Garden! And for myself!]
The Pujis nodded their caps and carried the book deeper into safety.
“I’ll start draining their processing power. You’ll need to stay nearby. It’ll be rough, but once the dungeon is repaired, I’ll let you roam free.”
[I understand.]
They stowed the Yellow Book three chambers away from the core. Then Lin Jun began following its advice—sending wave after wave of Pujis to trigger the war puppets and die.
He never mentioned Mushroom Garden No. 3.
That was his backup, in case the dungeon collapsed entirely. And if that happened, the Yellow Book was either useless or scheming. In either case, it didn’t need to know.
Of course, if the book really did help him stabilize the dungeon and seize control of the core, Lin Jun would keep his word—he’d grant it true freedom.