The lake churned, ripples spreading as Unn leaned forward until her face was level with Lin Jin's.
There's a mossy smell, Lin Jin thought involuntarily.
He was close enough now to be almost face-to-face with the goddess.
Her voice was barely a whisper, but her words were not what he had expected. "Burner, first, take a step forward."
[There's nothing to be afraid of.]
Lin Jin stepped forward and lowered his hood, revealing his mask for the other bugs to see.
Looking straight into Unn's eyes, he continued until he reached the edge of the pier.
Unn first lowered an eyestalk directly in front of Lin Jin's face, then gently pressed it against his forehead. He immediately felt their minds connect.
Unlike Radiance's "brutality" in the dream world, Unn's connection to his mind was far less invasive.
It was a simple channel of communication between minds, rather than a spike that dug and bored deep.
"Burner, I have been waiting for you ever since you arrived in this land."
"Every inch of soil, every green leaf has proclaimed how extraordinary you are."
"Your arrival... this was not part of fate. Mushroom told me the same thing."
"Mushroom?"
A complicated look flashed through Lin Jin's eyes. The secret he least wanted anyone to know had finally been discovered.
But at the same time, Mushroom...
Lin Jin could not help thinking of the mysterious being known as Mr. Mushroom.
Even Hornet respectfully addressed him as an esteemed messenger.
In his previous life, some had speculated that Mr. Mushroom was a messenger who used his foresight to visit civilization after civilization, witnessing their final days before the end.
As everyone knew, mushrooms were a type of fungus, and fungi happened to be the earliest form of life in this world.
In other words,