Mushroom Garden's Number One Employee

Inside a tent made from the hides of various monsters, Dylan sat on a boar hide.

This was the Gnolls' camp in the forest. Several Pujis had led him here.

There were very few items inside the tent, only crooked racks made of bones and wood. Dylan even spotted a human skull among them...

Dylan was deeply uneasy.

Following his instincts back to the Dungeon had been somewhat self-destructive, but he had never expected things to turn out like this.

The Pujis were actually controlled by some mysterious will!

No wonder they had done things like wiping out the Parasitic Trees and Green-Eyed Frogs, acts far beyond the needs of survival.

And now, that mysterious will had come for him.

What worried him even more was...

The tent flap was suddenly lifted, and a Gnoll covered head to toe in grayish-white mushrooms walked in stiffly.

It set down a roasted pig trotter beside him, then swayed away.

As it left, the tent snagged it, knocking off a mushroom...

Dylan felt his throat tighten. Was this the fate of The Parasitized?

Would he become like that someday too?

Dylan did not know, but he was beginning to regret returning to the Dungeon so casually.

"Eat. Don't be polite."

That voice appeared again. Dylan could only pick up the slightly charred pig trotter and bite down with a stiff resolve.

So bland... and so gamey...

Meanwhile, Linden had not actually meant to scare him.

Dylan was human, after all. Neither Poison Mist Lake nor the swamp was suitable for him to stay in.

And there happened to be ready-made tents here in Gnoll Forest. There was no reason not to use them, since the Gnolls would not be needing them much longer anyway.

As for the taste of the pig trotter, watching Dylan gnaw it clean in just a few bites, Linden thought his cooking must have been pretty good.

Wasn't good food just something grilled with a sprinkle of salt?

After finishing the pig trotter, Dylan hesitated before taking a bottle of Mana Potion from his clothes.

Over the past half month, he had discovered that ordinary food could no longer fully satisfy his needs. He had to drink a sip of Mana Potion every day to ease his hunger. He guessed the Mycelium inside his body needed mana.

"Actually, there's no need for you to waste potions."

Dylan stopped pulling at the cork and instinctively asked, "Then what should I do?"

The tent flap was lifted again, and the Mushroom Gnoll was still standing outside.

The Gnoll beckoned to him. Dylan had no choice but to put away the potion and follow it out.

They walked all the way to one end of the forest, where dozens of Mushroom Gnolls were chopping down trees.

Dylan was brought to the edge of the logging site. There were many felled, hollowed-out Giant Trees here, making him think involuntarily of coffins.

Their insides were packed with dense Mycelium, making Dylan's scalp tingle.

"Lie down inside and give it a try."

"Ah... this is... Fine, I'll lie down."

As strange as it was, Dylan felt somewhat uneasy. But after thinking about it, his life did not seem to be in his own hands anymore, so there was no point in being timid.

With the mindset of heading to the execution block, Dylan threw himself down with a look of determination.

The moment he lay down, he felt the Mycelium reaching toward him, wriggling as it... connected with the Mycelium on his body!?

"This is... oh..."

It was clearly just a hollowed-out piece of broken wood, yet Dylan felt as though he were lying on a velvet bed.

Even more precious was this feeling of fulfillment and security!

Soon, the taut heartstrings that had plagued him with anxiety for months suddenly relaxed.

"Just lie there and rest easy. Let's chat a little while we're at it."

The voice seemed to drift over from the horizon. At this moment, Dylan could not raise even a trace of guard.

"Okay... let's chat..."

"Dylan, tell me your story. I'm rather curious why you came back. Did you want more Parasitic Tree seeds?"

"Not for... seeds. I came back because..."

Dylan was dazed, as if he were speaking to a close friend he had known for years.

He poured out all of his experiences and thoughts in one breath, holding nothing back.

Seeing him like this, Linden could not help but sigh.

Adding a little Hallucinogenic Spores while replenishing nutrients was really useful...

In fact, through the absolute advantage granted by Fusion Parasitism, coupled with the Mycelium Network, Linden could sense the general emotions of The Parasitized when they spoke.

This had been verified during his previous experiments on the Gnolls.

He could use it to determine whether The Parasitized were lying.

But interrogating someone through a slow, question-and-answer exchange was far too inefficient, and it did not look very friendly either.

Better to take the gentle approach.

"How long was I asleep?"

Dylan did not know when he had fallen asleep. The Gnolls who had been logging were all lying motionless inside the hollow logs around him.

His memories of what had happened before he slept were hazy, but he could roughly guess what had occurred.

By all rights, he should have been wary now.

But strangely enough, he only felt relaxed in both body and mind, as if he had woken up at home—except this wooden bed was a little too crude, and it dug into his hand when he placed it on it.

"Dylan, I understand your situation now."

Linden's voice appeared in Dylan's mind again at just the right moment.

"I don't mind giving you a place to stay here.

But just like you have to work and earn money in the human world, I have a few small tasks here that I need you to help with.

Don't worry. It'll be much easier than being an Adventurer.

We're an ethical business here. Food and lodging included, with extra rewards for good work."

Though he did not know what a business was, Dylan understood the meaning and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Will I become like those Gnolls?"

To Dylan, those fellows were no different from dead—though they were indeed dead.

"Gnolls?" Linden's voice rose slightly. "Of course not. Your will belongs to you."

Provided you don't get yourself killed.

Dylan nodded and dropped to one knee.

"Dylan is willing to serve you. May I know your name?"

"Don't keep calling me 'you,' it feels weird. I'm Linden. You can call me Boss."

"Yes, Boss." Dylan had originally planned to call him Master.

Dylan did not ask who or what Linden was.

Since Linden had not appeared before him, he naturally did not want Dylan to know certain things. Asking would only make things awkward.

"Oh, right. While you were asleep, I sorted out the wildly growing Mycelium in your body. I also added a skill for you. Consider it an advance on your wages."

"Added a skill?"

Dylan looked as if he could not understand.

Rotten Willow Tavern was as noisy as ever. Dylan gulped down watered-down cheap liquor—he had not been able to visit a tavern in a long time.

He was not hiding his face now. There was not a trace of Mycelium visible on it, and he looked just like an ordinary person.

[Mimicry LV2]

Just as Linden could add skills to Pujis, he could also add skills to The Parasitized.

It was simply countless times more costly to add a skill to a human who already possessed many skills.

This single skill had consumed enough mana to create forty Combat Pujis.

But it was worth it.

Linden had obtained this skill from the Deep Zone early on. It could only make very crude changes, such as altering the color and texture of skin.

It had never had much use before, but now it had finally come in handy.

At this moment, Dylan felt that choosing to return to Amethyst Dungeon had truly been the most correct decision of his life.

Of course, that did not make him want to leave the Dungeon and return to a normal life.

Camouflage was still just Camouflage. At his core, he was still half a Mushroom Man. Who knew when he might be exposed?

Besides, he now needed the Mycelium to replenish his nutrients. Otherwise, no amount of gold would be enough to cover the Mana Potions alone.

The reason he was here now was naturally Linden's first task.

After another cup of liquor went down, several Adventurers sat across from Dylan.

"You're Dylan, right? I heard you have the latest guide for the Fifth Floor?"

Setting down his cup, Dylan wiped the foam from his face with one hand and grinned.

"I do! But I risked my life to scout it out, so it won't come cheap..."