The First Mycelium Speaker

In the pitch-black forest, Dylan held a torch and called out anxiously:

"Bella! Bella, where are you? Answer Dad!"

"Da... Dad..."

A faint voice came from nearby. Dylan hurriedly followed it, pushing aside the grass to find his daughter leaning against a tree, covered in blood.

"Bella! How did you get hurt so badly?"

"Don't be afraid, Bella. Dad's here. Dad's here."

Tears streaming down his face, Dylan pulled his weak daughter into his arms.

"Dad, I... I..."

"I'm here, I'm here. Take your time."

"Dad..." Bella wrapped her arms around Dylan's neck and opened her crimson eyes. "I'm so hungry..."

Sharp teeth sank into his neck. Dylan's blood gushed out, and through his blurred vision, he saw Bella swallow his flesh and blood with tears in her eyes.

"Ah!"

Dylan jolted awake, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.

It was a dream. Thank goodness it was only a dream...

Where am I...?

Dylan looked up and saw a Puji moving away from him in disgust.

A Monster... a mutated Puji...

He remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness. Where were those Parasitic Trees?

Then Dylan noticed the Parasitic Tree remains scattered all over the ground, mushrooms growing from them.

A quick glance showed there were far more than the five that had chased him.

Did... did these Pujis do all this?

Dylan could hardly believe it. Even if the Pujis had mutated, could they really kill so many Parasitic Trees?

Yet his hazy memories from before he fainted, combined with the sight before him, seemed to tell him it was true.

This was that Hidden Room. He saw the stone chest that had been opened.

So it was a Treasure Room.

The Pujis were probably the Monsters guarding the treasure chest.

Yet the Pujis around him did not seem hostile toward him. More strangely, he did not feel uncomfortable around them either. It felt as though things were supposed to be this way... How strange...

Right, what about his injuries?

Dylan reached for his abdomen. The wound was gone, but when he looked closely, shock surged through his heart.

The wound had been filled with Mycelium. A tiny Mushroom had even grown from it...

He had seen something similar before—on people captured and parasitized by the Parasitic Trees.

No wonder the mutated Pujis did not attack him. No wonder he felt close to them. He had been parasitized.

But his mind was still clear, and unlike those captured by the Parasitic Trees, he was not restrained.

Before he was completely controlled, he seemed to still have a little time.

He looked at the Parasitic Tree remains, where many tree seeds still hung. A bold idea surfaced in his mind.

Dylan did not care whether he lived or died, or whether Parasitism would take control of him. He only wanted to get money to save his daughter. If he did not have enough time, he would entrust the fat man with saving her.

What he needed now was to bring the Parasitic Tree seeds back to the surface.

He crawled over to a Parasitic Tree and carefully picked a seed, stuffing it into his clothes.

Looking around, the Pujis did not seem to care about what he was doing.

Relieved, he gathered every seed in the room one by one.

That was enough. So many had to be enough.

Holding the seeds, he walked to the stone door and looked back once more. The Pujis were still acting as usual.

How... strange.

Watching Dylan disappear beyond the stone door, Linden had not spoken to him from beginning to end, even though Dylan was now connected to the Mycelium Network.

Saving him was part of Linden's principles. That did not mean he trusted him.

Dylan had indeed been parasitized, and he was already at the final step.

As long as Linden wished it, the Mycelium inside Dylan's body could completely destroy his mind and turn him into something like a Puppet.

But that would go against the original purpose of saving him.

Let him go. After saving his life and giving him the tree seeds, Linden had already repaid the favor of opening the door. Whatever happened afterward had nothing to do with him.

Come to think of it, that man had taken such a huge risk for the tree seeds. They seemed like useful things. Should Linden stockpile some too?

They might come in handy later. Besides, directly breaking them down would only yield a pitiful amount of magic power.

While Dylan was unconscious, Linden had taken the Pujis out for a stroll and hunted down some fertilizer.

He had also checked the area with the Panel, and based on the levels, he had basically confirmed that this was the Fifth Floor.

That Teleportation Array Labyrinth really was unreasonable. It had thrown him straight from the Eighth Floor to the Fifth Floor. Could there be teleportation arrays that sent people to the Tenth Floor, or even the Deep Zone?

Fortunately, he had not encountered one. He silently marked the Eighth Floor as extremely dangerous.

What concerned Linden most now was where to establish the new Mushroom Garden.

Although this Treasure Room had magic water, the supply was not actually that great. Once the pool he had stored was used up, this place would not be worth much.

Furthermore, he was beginning to understand how this Dungeon worked. It probably would not let him keep the door open forever. Some mechanism might activate at any moment, and if he was still inside when that happened, he would be in trouble.

As for charging straight out of the Dungeon and basking in the sun?

He wanted to, but he did not dare.

The Dungeon only had one entrance and exit. He would inevitably run into many humans, and there might even be powerful ones among them.

He did not want to fall before dawn.

It was better to be cautious. Even if it took a little longer, he could see hope now. He could endure it.

For the new Mushroom Garden, he wanted somewhere safe that would also make hunting and stealing skills convenient.

And he discovered that this Swamp Zone was actually perfect.

Adventurers would rarely choose to pass through dangerous swamp terrain, and even if they entered, their movements would be slowed.

But to lightly equipped Pujis without shells, the ever-present swamp was not much different from solid ground.

And if the Mushroom Garden was in the swamp, Linden's main body could hide beneath it. That was also a very reliable method.

The only issue was the local residents.

When he first dealt with those five Parasitic Trees, Linden had not taken them seriously. But when he went out for a stroll, he ended up fighting a tough battle.

These Parasitic Trees liked to call their friends and gang up on others. They were utterly shameless.

They also possessed a wide variety of skills and magic, with wildly differing levels of strength.

Linden had encountered a Parasitic Tree inhabiting a level 36 Mage. Without checking the Panel first, he had carelessly suffered a small loss and lost several more Pujis.

Before that, how could he have imagined that such a high-level Mage would fall here...

There were probably an unknown number of powerful Parasitized lurking throughout the swamp. If there was one above level fifty... There probably would not be, right...?

More importantly, fighting these Parasitic Trees did not actually yield much profit. That was what mattered most.

The Parasitic Trees possessed very limited skills: [Fusion Parasitism], [Entangle], [Resilience], plus a few kinds of resistance.

What was truly formidable were the bizarre and varied abilities of The Parasitized.

But Linden had tried it. Breaking down those parasitized shells yielded no skills at all, and even the magic power was minimal, as though everything inside had been drained dry.

The difficulty of fighting them clearly did not match the rewards if all he wanted were the few skills belonging to the Parasitic Trees themselves.

But if he also considered that he needed to seize territory and build a new Mushroom Garden, then it was barely acceptable.

After giving it some thought, Linden still decided on the Swamp Zone.

With the target decided, he would begin the conquest plan once he produced another batch of Pujis suited to swamp terrain!