Upgrade to Lv. 6

"The mana is so dense. This place is practically a natural gathering ground for mana."

"Oliver, keep it down."

Mark raised a hand to signal his companions to be quiet, then cautiously poked his head out to look below. Amid the many adorable Puchis were several hulking ones, each an enlarged version of a Puchi.

Nearly three meters tall, their once plump bodies were now packed with muscle. Their limbs were thick and powerful, and every step they took produced a heavy thud. Even from more than ten meters above, Mark could feel their oppressive presence.

"What the hell are those things?"

Oliver, who had also poked his head out, saw the hulking Puchis below. His handsome face immediately twisted a little. If those female adventurers who thought Puchis were cute and wanted to take them home as pets saw these mutated hulking Puchis,

who knew whether they would still want to keep Puchis as pets.

"What the hell are those things?"

Luo Ao, who was also peeking down, was startled by the hulking Puchis that had suddenly appeared. He knew that as the dungeon's level had risen over the past few days, the Fungus Lord had also reached level five, doubling the daily enhancement it granted him.

Now, the Fungus Lord alone gave Luo Ao an additional 20 points of Primordial Power every day.

But Luo Ao had not expected the Fungus Lord to create hulking Puchis on the Fourth Layer. As for the Mushroom Forest, Luo Ao naturally knew about it. The dungeon was part of his body, after all, and the environment had changed so drastically.

If Luo Ao claimed he did not know, he would just be playing dumb.

Still, this was his first creation, a monster created using the dungeon's only special resource from the moment it was born. It was a magical creature with limitless potential, so Luo Ao had always allowed the Fungus Lord to develop and evolve on its own.

[Name: Muscle Puchi]

[Level: Lv. 4]

[Skills: Mycelial Muscles Lv. 4, Mycelial Network Lv. 4, Colossal Strength Lv. 3, Combat Instinct Lv. 2, Spore Fist Lv. 2]

[Description: A type of Puchi born solely for battle. It has abandoned its instinct to reproduce and expand the Mycelial Network, existing only to protect it. Battle, slaughter, and muscles are everything to it.]

"Level four, and a Puchi born specifically for battle."

Looking at Muscle Puchi's panel, Luo Ao could only say that the Fungus Lord's Adaptive Evolution was far too powerful. Existing as a racial consciousness, the Fungus Lord could evolve different abilities and offspring according to different environments and the needs of its colony.

Perhaps one day, the Fungus Lord might evolve into something like the legendary Disaster Zerg.

"Keep it up. I have faith in you."

In the deepest room of the Fifth Layer, Luo Ao's true body, the great orb of light, glanced at the Puchis scattering spores around the room and gave them lavish praise.

"So, what now? Should we retreat?"

On the cliff more than ten meters above the bottom of the sinkhole, Ireland looked at the three hulking Puchis patrolling below. With their team's strength, defeating these three mutated Puchis would require them to pay a certain price.

Not to mention the hundreds of ordinary Puchis nearby. If they were surrounded, things would become dangerous.

"Let's rest here for a day, then investigate further."

Mark was unwilling to leave just like that. His eyes were fixed on the countless mushrooms growing wildly in the sinkhole below. Even from more than ten meters away, he could spot nearly a hundred Mana Mushrooms with a casual glance.

Those were all gold coins!

And those were only the ones they could see. There were even more Mana Mushrooms in places beyond their sight. If they could kill all the monsters below, then harvest every Mana Mushroom and bring them out of the dungeon,

then with that much wealth, he could hire powerful experts to train him, buy alchemical potions, and break through to become an intermediate knight in one go.

"I'll go find a safe campsite first."

Vinnie's voice came from the shadows. She also agreed they should stay. The countless Mana Mushrooms below were practically piles of gold coins. Who would be willing to give up such a fortune?

A few minutes later.

Vinnie appeared before everyone again. She had found a safe campsite nearby. A hole five or six meters deep had been dug into the wall, and it had originally housed a Gnome camp, which Vinnie had casually cleared out.

The four arrived at the campsite Vinnie had mentioned. After throwing all the Gnome corpses to the deepest part of the cave, Mark and Ireland began setting up the tents and preparing food respectively.

"I'll go set up the warning magic."

Seeing that he had nothing to do, Oliver called Vinnie over to set traps and warning magic at the cave entrance. That way, the four of them would not need to keep watch at night, and everyone could rest properly and recover the energy they had spent today.

Half an hour later.

Oliver and Vinnie returned together, and the tents had already been set up. A rich aroma filled the air as milky mushroom-and-meat soup churned in the boiling iron pot. When Ireland saw the two approaching, he handed them grilled jerky and bread.

The four gathered around the fire and began enjoying the meal. Since entering the dungeon, this was the first time they had had the chance to rest and eat.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Within the Venomous Swamp outside the Mushroom Forest, the groups of adventurers who had poured in continued pressing forward. The strongest and best-prepared among them were steadily advancing deeper into the Fourth Layer. Some gained rewards along the way, while others died.

Under Luo Ao's watch, the luckiest adventurer team did not head toward the Mushroom Forest. Instead, they went straight toward the center of the Fourth Layer, where the layer guardian, the Giant Tree Guardian, resided.

Their luck was truly good. Of course, they also died rather quickly.

Before they could even approach the central area, the giant tree that had grown on the Fourth Layer for who knew how many years, its canopy vast enough to cover half the layer, effortlessly killed several adventurers. Aerial roots hanging from its trunk moved like bloodthirsty venomous snakes.

Using the increasingly dense poisonous fog as cover, they silently looped around the adventurers' necks from above, their natural barbs piercing major arteries and greedily sucking their blood.

That intruding party of adventurers barely had a chance to resist before they all became little hanging dolls suspended in midair. The dungeon absorbed the essence of their bodies and their souls. As for the empty husks that remained, Luo Ao deliberately left them behind.

Once more and more adventurers died on the Fourth Layer in the future, the hanging aerial roots would eventually be filled with adventurer corpses dangling like little hanging dolls.

Primordial Power +136.

"That's so much Primordial Power at once. It's enough to level up!"

Seeing the notification suddenly appear on the panel, Luo Ao immediately focused his mental power on the source of the Primordial Power. In the outer region of the Fourth Layer, the stone ship carrying a large number of adventurers had sunk into the swamp.

Most of the adventurers aboard had gone down with the ship, leaving only seven or eight who escaped. At their head was the adventurer named Norton.

"Interesting."

Looking at Norton and the others, who were leaving directly instead of continuing deeper, Luo Ao seemed to understand something.

"Level up!"

Level Lv. 6 (0/700)