Puchi Dungeon, deep zone, an empty cavern.
This was a remote edge area with no special resources.
Before the fungal mat arrived it had been bare rock. After the mat spread, mushrooms grew, attracting some rolling-armor beetles that fed on them. That was all.
There were many similar caverns in the deep zone. Lin Jun usually used them for skill experiments. Today was no exception.
As the test began, mana in the cavern’s fungal mat surged wildly toward a single point.
The armor beetles, insensitive to mana, noticed nothing and continued lazily munching mushrooms.
One beetle gnawed at a plump mushroom when the cap beneath its mouth suddenly withered and shriveled, as if its life essence had been sucked dry in an instant.
Confused, it turned its simple brain, but before it could find the next mushroom, a force flung its body into the air.
Mid-flight, the startled beetle curled into a ball and rolled away into a rock crevice the moment it landed.
At the cavern’s center, the mana vortex had become almost solid. The fungal mat visibly lost luster, turning from vibrant to withered, finally dying completely.
This wasn’t the end. Even adjacent caverns suffered. Thriving mushrooms wilted en masse.
When the mana storm subsided, five entire caverns’ fungal mats had died from mana drain.
The price: half a knight Puchi’s butt…
When the vortex vanished, the unsupported Puchi butt wobbled and flopped onto the dead mat.
Great. So he had been too greedy. The new ability didn’t come with free mana…
【Title: Kin Maker (Rapidly create one kin)】
This title had popped up yesterday the moment [Puchi Creation] hit LV10.
The title system was always mysterious; acquisition conditions were hidden, and ordinary people never even encountered titles.
But clearly one condition for [Kin Maker] was maxing [Puchi Creation], or perhaps any creation skill.
The effect was literal: rapidly create one Puchi, now confirmed to consume normal mana.
Lin Jun’s current [Puchi Creation LV10]: without mana acceleration, cannon-fodder Puchis with three or four skills took hours; elite Puchis with under ten skills and attributes took about five days; stronger ones like heavy-armor or scout Puchis took half a month.
These could all be sped up with mana, like the poison-bomb cannon fodder during the cult incident, spawned in thirty seconds.
But there was a limit. Extreme mana waste could produce elite Puchis in half a day, scouts or heavy-armor in three days minimum.
Knights, though, had to be grown slowly.
Now this title ability, though the first attempt failed, was Lin Jun’s attempt to cheese a free knight.
Under normal mana cost, fungal mats could effortlessly produce elite Puchis. With some prep and stored mana, scouts and heavy-armor Puchis could be quick-grown.
In short: Lin Jun could now airdrop high-tier Puchis instead of relying only on cannon fodder.
In theory knights were possible too, but even normal gestation mana far exceeded a single mat’s storage.
Lin Jun changed caverns to try spawning a heavy-armor Puchi.
This time… no response.
Right… cooldown…
After testing, he confirmed the ability could be used once every five days.
That made it an emergency tool, not regular production.
Still decent for a random free title.
…
Meanwhile, the far-north city, built by willing labor from multiple races, was taking shape.
Per Lin Jun’s request: circular walls, four gates named North Gate, South Gate, West Gate, and Call Gate.
In the future, captives would be moved here instead of crowding the mushroom garden.
These captives weren’t just fighters.
When Qisi had stolen from the half-demon tribe… thinking of Qisi still made Lin Jun mad. The bastard had taken his loot and vanished. Lin Jun couldn’t even find him for revenge…
Anyway, the half-demon tribe had only fighters left, but Lin Jun had packed up the entire lizardman tribe.
Later, buying various slaves from other tribes, his population had grown diverse.
Demons, humans, even dwarves; most weren’t combatants.
A proper fortified city was necessary.
With completion nearing, chief overseer Xing came to the marshal Puchi on her head, asking Lin Jun to name the city.
Lin Jun thought. “Make it domineering: Mycelium Puchi Fortress!”
Xing felt no dominance at all, opened her mouth several times, then gave up.
While Lin Jun dreamed of turning Mycelium Puchi Fortress into the world’s most desirable city, Spark reported bad news to the marshal Puchi.
“You’re saying nearby tribes might band together against us? How did you figure that?”
Lin Jun’s vision swept several northern spots; nothing unusual.
“Boss, trade. Recently those tribes have been bringing only weak, disabled, or child slaves; all trading for plain mushrooms, none for delicious ones.”
“Your point?”
“They’re guarding against our growth. And hoarding plain mushrooms instead of enjoying delicious ones; likely preparing for war. Spring is coming; food will be plentiful even here. No reason to stockpile unless war’s coming. And since they all changed at once, they’ve probably coordinated. We’re the most likely target.”
Spark paused, then added, “Of course, just my guess. Needs verification.”
“Hmm… makes sense.” Though Lin Jun said that, he was thinking: you deduced all this from trade?
They were doing business fine. Why suddenly attack? He hadn’t even struck first!
Verifying Spark’s theory wasn’t hard; just watch them for a while.
Even if true, Lin Jun wasn’t too worried.
Those tribes combined weren’t weak, but his far-north forces had grown massively, plus wider fungal mats.
Forget the rest; with raw power and vision advantage, crushing them one by one would be easy.
Compared to that, the continental shift on the other front mattered far more.
(End of Chapter)
