A Foreign Mushroom Arrives at the Mushroom Garden

Linden felt like his eyes were about to be blinded—if he had eyes, that was.

The Mushroom Garden had plenty of Pujis, but the basic version all had standard stats of 1 in every category and 10 HP. They were at the very bottom of the food chain. Was 3,000 HP something an ordinary Puji could achieve?

Of course, Linden could still handle her easily, but that entire row of fixed effects was enough to make any mushroom jealous.

Jealous enough to want to eat her and take her abilities...

But something novel had finally appeared in this dull underground world, so he decided not to eat her.

Besides, judging by the Panel, this Puji was most likely human. Eating a living person raw was a line Linden had not yet fallen far enough to cross.

"Calmed down yet?" Linden made the Pujis clamping her loosen up a little, not putting too much pressure on her.

The sudden voice in her head had terrified Inanna. Even now, she did not know whether the other party was human or Demon Race. All she knew was that every Puji nearby was under its control.

Could this be the next part of their scheme? The one sent here to execute me?

"If... if you want to kill me, then kill me!"

"Why would I kill you? Could you please calm down?"

"Huh?"

Foreign mushrooms really had no manners. She had messed up his Mushroom Garden and did not even know to apologize.

"I'm the Lord of all the mushrooms on this floor. You can call me Linden. What's your name?"

"Mushroom... Lord..."

Inanna had no idea how the words mushroom and Lord could possibly be connected. In her understanding, weren't mushrooms lowly creatures with a level cap of 10, food even to other Monsters only a few levels above them after reaching max level?

Yet what she saw here was clearly not something a level 10 Monster could possess, much less this method of communication similar to the level 7 spell Thought Speech.

And this was clearly more than just Thought Speech. Since the connection had formed, the range she could sense had suddenly expanded from a few meters around her to a great distance away. It was also far clearer and more detailed, as though she had received the senses of every mushroom nearby.

Inanna had no way to judge just how powerful this Mushroom Lord was.

In any case, she tried to pass herself off as a Puji too.

"I-I'm a Puji too. I don't have a name or anything..."

"Then how about I give you one? Let's call you Inanna."

"..."

Huh?

Why did he know?

Could this Thought Speech-like skill also read minds?

The Pujis that had originally spread out around her slowly closed in again. Was she going to be killed for lying?

No, please!

Fortunately, just as the last sliver of space remained, the Pujis stopped, and Linden's voice rang out in her mind again.

"I'm very friendly, but that's on the condition that you don't try any little tricks. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind having more fertilizer to enrich the soil. Understand?"

Inanna nodded her Mushroom Cap furiously.

"Then let's try again. Name."

"I-Inanna Saint Clair..."

"And your identity?"

"The Duke... Amara's... daughter..."

The Duke's Daughter?

Was the world outside structured like the Middle Ages?

No wonder she had the Holy See Blessing and the Fruit of Life, and still had 3,000 HP even after becoming a Puji.

No matter the world, having a good father was a shortcut through life.

"So tell me, how did a Duke's Daughter like you end up here?"

Since her identity had already been exposed, Inanna saw no point in concealing anything else. She not only explained how she had been harmed and fallen down here, but also answered every other question Linden asked in full.

Linden took the chance to learn a great deal. For example, the place he was in was actually a Dungeon within Inanna's family territory, and it was even in the Deep Zone. No wonder there were Monsters everywhere.

For example, there were all sorts of races outside, and humans were currently at war with the Vampires of the Demon Race. The two traitors who had tried to kill Inanna had most likely colluded with Vampires.

More importantly, he realized that Inanna, a local, seemingly could not see the Panel. Otherwise, she would not have tried to hide her name.

Perhaps the Panel was some hidden benefit for a "Hero"?

In any case, Linden had gained a lot, and the pink Puji suddenly looked much more pleasing to him.

"Inanna, now that you've become a Puji, what plans do you have for the future?"

"Plans for the future... You really won't turn me into fertilizer, will you?" After being threatened earlier, Inanna was now a little afraid of Linden.

"I promise."

"I want to return to the surface..."

Inanna did not just want to return to the surface. She wanted to find her father, undo the transformation spell, and then take revenge on the two traitors!

"Ah, return to the surface." Linden practically laughed when he heard that. "I want to go to the surface too, but as you can see, you're a mushroom and I'm a mushroom. How are we supposed to fight through an underground world full of terrifying Monsters to reach the surface? Forget farther away—even the passage to the floor above is inside a Flame Demon's lair."

A Flame Demon was a high-level Monster of at least LV55. Even if Inanna had not been transformed, she could never defeat one. If she encountered one, it was doubtful whether she could even escape alive.

"Come to think of it, won't your Duke father come rescue you?"

"He probably will..."

Inanna remembered what the two traitors had said—that her father was about to be finished—and her confidence wavered.

Her pink Mushroom Cap visibly drooped.

That was right. Now that she had become a Puji, she could not even use the magic she was best at. How could she possibly return to the surface?

"Alright, alright. Since you're here, make the best of it. You've been causing trouble for so long, you must be hungry. Come eat something first."

He could not let the novel thing he had just picked up starve to death.

A Puji with a green umbrella-like cap hopped out from the mushroom patch and walked up to lead Inanna away. Inanna did indeed feel rather hungry.

"Is that you?"

"Yes and no. Every mushroom here is me."

He did have a mushroom main body, but he was not planning to tell her about that.

Inanna nodded as though she understood, and the two soon arrived atop a Fungal Carpet formed from gathered Mycelium.

Linden thoughtfully demonstrated how a Puji ate. The Puji he controlled lay down where it was, allowing the Mycelium on the ground to connect to it and deliver nutrients. In less than five minutes, it was fully replenished.

The sight made Inanna's Mushroom Cap change color.

What was this?

Letting a pile of Mycelium stick into her body and inject unknown things into it?

Having eaten through her mouth for all sixteen years of her life, Inanna found the scene before her difficult to accept.

Linden did not urge her. If a child refused to eat, it simply meant they were not hungry enough. Once hunger got bad enough, she would know to eat on her own.

Her steadily weakening body eventually made Inanna lie down atop the Fungal Carpet.

This feeling!

Nutrients poured into her through countless connection points beneath her, and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction rose within her as she was fed and filled.

So wonderful...

Only after she was full and the Mycelium stopped supplying nutrients did Inanna rise reluctantly.

Being a mushroom seemed unexpectedly nice?

No, no, what am I thinking?

Inanna, have you turned even your brain into a mushroom?

Oh, her brain really had turned into a Mushroom Cap. And it was pink...

Linden had no idea about the thoughts running through Inanna's mind. Seeing that she had finished eating, he began introducing the various areas of the Mushroom Garden.

"You know the dining hall already. You've also seen the Puji cultivation area—that's where you knocked over my Pujis."

"See that rock wall? The area beneath it is the mining zone."

"That side is the breeding area. We raise some Rolling Beetles and Slimes there, so don't just wander over. They're aggressive."

"See that giant Mushroom on the right? That's the work division area. It's a hassle to explain, so go take a look yourself later and you'll understand."

"Don't go in that direction. You'll leave the Mushroom Garden's boundaries if you head that way, and it isn't safe."

Linden continued his introduction, while Inanna beside him had crashed from the very first term.

What cultivation area? What breeding area?

Inanna felt like Linden was not introducing areas within a Dungeon, but some fully functional small town.

Was she really still inside the Amethyst Dungeon?

Where were all the other Monsters?

More importantly, how could a bunch of mushrooms have such a huge territory in the extremely dangerous Deep Zone of a Dungeon?

The more Inanna thought about it, the more question marks filled her mind. She only felt that the Dungeon's Deep Zone was unbelievably bizarre, as though even common sense did not exist here.