“You… why do you have such high-quality magic crystals?”
“How long do you think I’ve been stuck in this place…”
Lin Jun wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been in this world. In the depths of the dungeon, there was no day or night, no seasons, but he felt it had to be at least two or three years by now.
Even if he only counted from when he started building the mushroom garden, it had been quite some time. This entire rock face was his personal mining ground, and after mining for so long, he naturally accumulated some high-quality magic crystals.
However, Lin Jun collected them not because he knew their value, but simply because the clean purple crystals looked better. Placing them around his main body could both attract magic and serve as decoration.
“Using this, can you cast other spells faster?”
“You’re giving this to me? Really?”
Even though he wasn’t familiar with Inanna yet, Lin Jun could tell this person genuinely loved magic crystals—or rather, anything magic-related.
“Of course. I’d also like to see more spells in action. Speaking of which, Inanna, I haven’t asked you yet—what spells do you know?”
Lin Jun could indeed see information like [Light Magic LV4] on her status panel, but this only indicated that the highest-level light magic she could cast was 4th tier. He wasn’t clear on what specific spells she knew.
Each school of magic had numerous spells of various tiers, and some spells had many variants. For example, biological transformation could be subdivided into eagle transformation, dog transformation, Puchi transformation…
Inanna stood in place for a while, seemingly recalling the spells she knew.
Lin Jun felt that if she were still in human form, she’d definitely be counting on her fingers one by one right now.
“Let me see… Water Serpent, Water Mirror Refraction, Ice Blade, Purification, Healing Light, Reveal/Conceal, Illumination, Create Water, Energy Shield, Swamp… guu… that’s about it.”
Quite a few, actually.
“Try casting Swamp on that Puchi.”
A mining Puchi that had been using its shell cap to smash rocks was called over to the empty area where the previous one had self-destructed. At the same time, another tentacle emerged from beneath the mushrooms to help Inanna tie the A-grade magic crystal to her cap.
“Be careful not to snap it again—this is the last one I have here.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Mana flowed from Inanna’s body into the magic crystal. Unlike the previous attempt, as soon as the spell began casting, surrounding mana rushed toward them. The A-grade crystal atop Inanna’s head became like a small whirlpool devouring mana.
No wonder it could be used to make a staff. With such massive mana enhancement, any spell would surely have its power multiplied.
“It’s out!”
The mining Puchi sank down slightly as the previously solid ground turned into a pool of mud. The Puchi tried to lift its foot but found itself stuck in place, unable to move.
Actually, Swamp should only slow movement—even with A-grade crystal enhancement, the improvement should have been in range rather than binding power.
The mining Puchi couldn’t break free purely because its shell was too heavy and the Puchi itself wasn’t strong enough, so it got pinned in place.
“Now try Ice Blade on it.”
“Eh? Is that okay? It might…”
“It’s fine, go ahead.”
It was just a Puchi. If it died in the mushroom garden, it would simply become fertilizer and re-enter the cycle. The loss was negligible.
“Then I’ll cast it.”
Soon, an ice blade condensed before Inanna, startling even her.
Unlike Swamp, the enhancement to Ice Blade was quite dramatic. The blade that should have been less than a meter long now exceeded two meters under the crystal’s boost.
The deep chill emanating from it also made Inanna realize its power had greatly increased.
“Go!”
Shell met ice blade with a crisp crack before being cut through, slicing three-quarters of the way before stopping.
Even Lin Jun was impressed by this power. That was LV4 chitin shell armor—Lin Jun’s own LV6 Mushroom Cannon needed two hits to break through its defense, yet an equivalent-level Ice Blade had cut through most of it in one strike.
Whether it was the spell itself being powerful or the A-grade crystal enhancement being effective, it was probably both.
Magic really was incredible. If he could use spells, his early days wouldn’t have been so painful.
But it wasn’t too late now. Though he couldn’t cast spells himself yet, having a helper who could use magic meant some plans for reaching the upper levels could finally be attempted.
Of course, he didn’t mean taking on the flame demon guarding the passage. Lin Jun had seen that thing through sacrificial scout Puchis—though the level gap was too great to see any detailed information on the status panel, just the extremely high level of LV64 was clearly beyond what he could handle right now.
But who said going up necessarily meant using the passage?
“Inanna, want this magic crystal?”
“You’re giving it to me?”
Eh?
Is this mushroom being so nice to me some kind of trap?
Having just experienced betrayal, Inanna was being very cautious now, especially with Lin Jun, whose true nature as a monster remained unclear.
“Of course it’s not free. Help me hunt some monsters, and it’s yours.”
“Okay!”
Hearing there were conditions actually reassured Inanna. She really wanted this magic crystal, but if Lin Jun just gave it to her, she wouldn’t dare accept it.
But monsters?
Come to think of it, this was the deep layer of a dungeon. With so many strange things in the mushroom garden, she’d almost forgotten about that.
Though it was odd—a mushroom wanting to hunt monsters…
How would it hunt? Using Puchis?
“But what monsters are we hunting?”
“Earth Worms. You know them?”
Earth Worms?
That sounds familiar. Where had she heard it before?
Ah, she remembered…
“Excuse me, the Earth Worms you’re talking about—are those the huge ones with rock-like skin that love digging tunnels deep underground and constantly eat minerals?”
Lin Jun thought about it: “That’s right.”
“Are we hunting Earth Worm larvae?”
“Adults.”
“Adult Earth Worms are at least LV45 large monsters that require a complete Gold-rank adventurer party to hunt safely! Lin Jun-san, I’m only LV28!”
Inanna’s mind was full of: Me, fight Earth Worms?
Even if she wasn’t transformed, she’d be swallowed in one gulp by an Earth Worm.
Had this mushroom’s brain gone bad? A mushroom hunting Earth Worms?
“You seem to have the wrong idea about my capabilities…”
Seeing the pink Puchi’s incredulous expression, Lin Jun realized he hadn’t taken her to see the mushroom garden’s borders yet.
No wonder she had so little confidence in his strength.
Hunting Earth Worms was something he’d wanted to do for a long time. These creatures had a skill called [High-Temperature Boring].
They could generate high temperatures to make rock brittle, then use rotating mouthparts to crush and swallow the stone, expelling unnecessary components through side gills to reinforce tunnel walls.
If he could steal this skill, he could dig a tunnel through the rock face straight to the upper level, without risking sneaking past the flame demon.
But these worms were excellent at tunneling—if they couldn’t win, they’d burrow away to escape. Combined with their large size and thick health, even when nearly dead, they took forever to kill.
He’d tried once before, and the result was significant losses with nothing gained.
But seeing Inanna’s Swamp just now, Lin Jun felt hopeful again. Earth Worms probably couldn’t move fast in mud, right?
Before that though, he should indeed get some practice with his new member.
“It’s not like we’re hunting Earth Worms right now. You’ll need practice getting familiar with casting spells using this magic crystal, right? Perfect opportunity to go out with the expedition team and get some hands-on experience.”
“Expedition team?”
