On the surface world, the Mycelium Carpet stretched all the way to the horizon.
Towering mushroom-trees reached the clouds, endless and vast. Countless Pujis bustled among them—an energetic, thriving mushroom kingdom.
“Norris, listen to me! Drills are all flash and no substance! Wouldn’t it be better to install another set of Artillery Pujis instead?”
Boss Puji chattered ceaselessly at Norris’s feet.
Norris only stayed silent, carefully inspecting Jida’s condition, saying nothing.
Suddenly—the sky darkened, swallowed by rolling black clouds!
Then, a downpour—thick, sticky, and green.
No, not rain.
Slimes!
Slimes crashed down like hail, devouring the Carpet, dissolving Pujis, even corroding the mighty mushroom-trees until they groaned and toppled with sickening cracks!The Mushroom Garden was collapsing into disaster in the blink of an eye!
Norris’s eyes hardened. He leapt like lightning into Jida.
Artillery Pujis fired precisely, blasting approaching slimes into globs of sticky paste.
“ROAR—!”
The Slime King—its mountain-like bulk blotting out the sky—turned its gaze on the lone resister. With crushing force, it crashed down upon Jida!
“It’s over! All over! The Mushroom Garden is doomed! We’re dead!”
Boss Puji trembled under broken mushroom debris, his cap shivering in despair.
“As long as I still stand!”
Norris’s roar shook the heavens.
Jida did not retreat. Its right arm—the very drill Boss Puji mocked—erupted with a piercing screech, spinning into a whirlwind of death as Norris swung!
The drill tore into the Slime King’s massive body, ripping, grinding, piercing—until the monster exploded in a spray of slime!
Sticky fluid rained down like a storm.
“Whew… it’s over.”
Exhausted, Norris climbed out of Jida, wiping slime from his face as he looked toward the clearing skies.
“Norris! My hero!”
Boss Puji threw himself at Norris’s leg, clinging tightly, shouting in repentance.
“I was wrong! Drills are the strongest! It’s all thanks to you! You’re the savior of the Mushroom Garden!”
From the rubble, Gray and Louisa emerged, cheering as they hugged his waist.
“Norris, you’re truly the strongest! From now on, we’ll all rely on you!”
Norris smiled gently, comforting them, unaware that not far away, on a surviving patch of Carpet, a small, unremarkable green mushroom had quietly sprouted.
Suddenly, Louisa—half-kneeling, still hugging his waist—looked up, eyes shining.
“Norris, hero… could you do us one more little favor?”
“Of course!” Norris answered without thinking.
“Then I won’t be polite!”
Louisa’s words hadn’t even faded before her lips parted, revealing fangs—she sank them into Norris’s neck!
“I want some too!”
Gray squealed in delight, eyes glittering, her claws tugging at the silver scales on his body!
“Wait! No! This isn’t okay—stop, stop!”
Norris flailed, breaking free, scrambling into Jida and bolting in a panic.
“Don’t run, hero!” Louisa and Gray shrieked in excitement, chasing after him through the ruined garden, their voices echoing as three figures vanished into the distance.
Silence returned. The little green mushroom melted seamlessly back into the Carpet, disappearing without a trace.
—
New Mushroom Garden rule: defaming Boss Puji’s image is forbidden—even in dreams!
Lin Jun pulled his focus away from the Mushroom Hut, where Norris lay with eyes shut, brow tightly furrowed.
After multiple trials, Lin Jun had gained his first grasp of [Mental Guidance].
First: the connection. Hallucinogenic spores were not strictly required—they were just one way to build a bridge.
Like just now, when he invaded Norris’s dream, he had used the fungal network instead.
However, not every entry led to dreams. If the target wasn’t dreaming, he fell only into darkness. Spores guaranteed a stage.
Second: dream control.
At LV1, he couldn’t conjure things from nothing.
What he could do was alter the “rules” of dream NPCs—like making Gray and Louisa torment Norris, or flipping the drunkard’s guards to betray him.
The difficulty seemed tied to the target’s mental strength.
Take Louisa, for instance.
In her dream, she commanded tens of thousands of Pujis, dragging the world into fire.
When Lin Jun tried to seize some, he could only sway a handful at first.
Worse, Louisa immediately questioned the rebellion, analyzing the cause, then calmly directing the rest to suppress it.
Her mental stability slowed his invasion immensely.
But, as [Mental Guidance] deepened, by the time she awoke, Lin Jun had swayed nearly a third of her forces—dragging her conquest into a civil war.
Gray’s dream was another story.
Even asleep, she guarded her treasures—only here, they were multiplied many times, glittering with the finest jewels.
Lin Jun assumed her simple-mindedness would make her easy prey.
And indeed, he quickly seized control of the dream’s demonkin, directing them to steal her gems.
Yet the result shocked him.
Gray erupted in a frenzy, slaughtering every last invader he controlled!
Her resistance to mental intrusion was fiercer than Louisa’s.
When Lin Jun withdrew, she was already back among her gems, happily counting—safer now that all intruders were gone.
Clearly, different defenses—yet effective in their own ways.
And intelligence wasn’t the deciding factor in resisting mental control.
The next morning—
Norris awoke tired, but in far better shape than the drunkard had been.
Louisa remained disciplined as ever, showing no obvious effect.
Gray, however, was clearly changed—snarling at any demonkin who approached her hut, her “warning range” extending from ten to twenty meters.
Lin Jun figured she’d just carried her dream into reality. Not worth much data.
In the end, this rare soul-based skill was—for now—little more than a toy to entertain himself.
Sure, killing someone repeatedly in dreams might break their mind—but why bother, when a blade was faster?
Maybe higher levels would bring more surprises.
If only his default dream-form wasn’t always a damn mushroom…