Congenital Deficiency

The severed end of the Tentacle Mushroom Cannon slowly wriggled, and its tip had already rewoven itself into a complete cone.

Under the effects of [Mycelium Reorganization LV2], the Knight's six Mycelium Tentacles had now mostly returned to normal.

They were just slightly paler than the rest of its body.

The claw marks on its shell, on the other hand, were still clearly visible.

The shell was considered a skill-generated product and could not be reorganized. It could only be replaced later by generating a new shell.

The Magic Tide outside had finally entered its final stages. The Monsters began returning to their respective floors, and the Dragon Beasts slipped back into the Rifts one by one.

The Monsters had also returned to their usual habit of attacking one another.

Linden saw a Ripper Beast suddenly clamp its jaws around the tail fin of a small Dragon Beast before leaving, dragging its struggling prey into the stairway.

Some Monsters wandering lost on the Fifth Floor, unable to find their way back, gained a negative effect so long as they were above LV25.

[Fixed Status: Soul Siphon (Gradually loses attributes and skill proficiency)]

Clearly, this was the Dungeon's method of restoring the original order between floors after the Magic Tide.

If they could not return for too long, they would probably be drained dry in the end.

But... having their souls siphoned away...

Just thinking about it made Linden shudder.

Fortunately, Linden did not have it.

Not only did Linden not have it, neither did the Dragonkin.

That matched Linden's guess—neither he nor the Dragonkin had been part of the Magic Tide.

There was no need to mention Linden himself. The Dungeon family had never truly accepted him.

As for the Dragonkin, he could tell from her behavior.

During the Monster harmony of the Magic Tide, she had attacked other Monsters to protect her food. Rather than rushing out of the Dungeon like the other Monsters, she had wandered around the Fifth Floor looking for Linden's Puji to eat.

Linden's own special status was because of the Hero title.

As for the Dragonkin?

It was probably because of her identity as an Ancient Dragon Scion.

Speaking of the Dragonkin...

"I'm hungry..."

Inside the collapsed cave, which had been reduced to less than twenty square meters.

The Dragonkin crouched in a corner, her claws resting on her knees. Her eyes remained fixed on the Battery Pujis on the other side, as if she were about to drool.

Sigh—

A Battery Puji crossed the rubble between them and waddled over to the Dragonkin with a series of "pu pu" sounds.

She snatched the Puji into her arms and rubbed her cheek against it affectionately. Before long, the scales on her face had scratched several cuts into the Puji.

Just like Dylan, the Dragonkin had developed a sense of closeness toward the Pujis after being parasitized.

At least, upon waking up, she had not fought Linden's Knight to the death again. Instead, she was willing to listen to some of what he said.

Of course, she still had to eat the Pujis...

The Battery Puji, with only 10 HP, was scraped to death by her scales. Once she had cuddled it enough, the Dragonkin began gnawing along the edge of its Mushroom Cap.

This Dragonkin was not very smart.

After connecting to the Mycelium Network and communicating with her a little, Linden found that her intelligence was about the same as a child's.

That level of intelligence did match her behavior on the Fifth Floor.

But logically speaking, one of her parents was human and the other was an Ancient Dragon. Neither was a low-intelligence being, so there was no reason for her to be so foolish.

The Half-Dragons Linden had seen before appeared no different from ordinary people in intelligence.

The answer was still on the Dragonkin's Panel:

[Fixed Status: Congenital Deficiency. Intelligence (Intelligence attribute reduced by 80%)]

Although the Intelligence attribute was related to spellcasting ability and could not be equated with actual intelligence.

Still, since it was Congenital Deficiency, she was probably born mentally impaired, which was reflected in her low Intelligence attribute.

Moreover, she had more than one Congenital Deficiency.

[Fixed Status: Congenital Deficiency. Mana Leak (Mana within the body naturally decreases over time)]

Linden even suspected she had offended the heavens in a past life.

Mana was the foundation of most skills.

Magic went without saying, but many skills that did not seem magical, such as [Assault Ejection], actually consumed Mana as well. Their consumption was merely very low.

When Mana was depleted, not only could skills not be used, but it also caused dizziness and nausea, and could even lead to unconsciousness.

Linden had plenty of experience with that. When he had first arrived in this world, he had known nothing and stepped into quite a few pitfalls.

So that was why she did not eat Hallucination Pujis.

Every Puji she ate possessed the [Magic Storage] skill.

Eating Pujis was probably her way of replenishing her Mana.

Just like now, as the Dragonkin ate the Puji in her arms, Linden could see on her Panel that the third of her Mana that had been empty was slowly recovering.

Of course, the Pujis probably tasted good too.

After all, [Magic Storage] was not a skill unique to him.

After stuffing the Puji's final little leg into her mouth, the Dragonkin licked her lips with lingering satisfaction.

"Are you full?" Linden asked.

At his words, the Dragonkin's golden pupils shifted slightly, moving her gaze from the remaining Battery Pujis to the Knight.

In her understanding, the Knight Puji was the one speaking to her—a delicious but very powerful being.

"I still want to eat!"

Linden glanced at her Panel.

Her Mana was already full, and she still wanted to eat!

"Help me with something first. Once you're done, I'll let you eat more, all right?"

After looking back at the three remaining Battery Pujis, the Dragonkin nodded fiercely.

What Linden wanted her to do was nothing special. She had dug her way in, so now she could dig them back out.

Their earlier battle had caused most of the cave to collapse. The Pujis responsible for digging had unfortunately all been crushed to death.

The Knight had a digging skill as well, but how could its efficiency compare to the Dragonkin's claws?

That was [Sharpness LV9]!

But in truth, Linden had gotten it slightly wrong.

Linden had thought she relied on her claws to tunnel, but in reality, her claws had only been used to break apart rocks. For the rest, she had forced her way through with sheer physical strength!

After she squeezed through, the rocks and soil closed back in behind her. It was completely unsuitable for bringing the Pujis along.

The Knight had no choice but to follow closely behind her feet. After being accidentally kicked by her N times, it barely managed to squeeze through.

That was only thanks to its hard shell.

As for the three shell-less Battery Pujis... they had failed to keep up from the very beginning...

So, when the Dragonkin came over with an expectant expression to ask for Pujis, Linden was already drenched in sweat...

Linden was truly afraid that if she disagreed with him, she would decide to eat the Knight again.

It was not that he feared it would actually be eaten. If things became truly dangerous, he could complete the final step of Parasitism and turn her into a Puppet.

But what then?

Turning into a Puppet was basically brain death, right? Would that trigger the Mark of Vengeance?

Linden did not know, and he had no intention of gambling on it.

So he still had to fool this simpleton who only knew how to eat.

"Ah... over there." One of the Knight Puji's tentacles pointed toward the forest. "There's food over there. You'll be able to eat once we get there."

At the same time, Linden hurriedly located a small patch of relatively intact Fungal Carpet in the forest. It was beside the ruins of Dylan's Cabin, one of the few Fungal Carpets that had survived the trampling of the Monster horde.

On the Fungal Carpet, he accelerated with all his might and hastened the growth of two Battery Pujis!

The Fifth Floor was still unsafe. Many Monsters were still wandering around, searching for their way back.

However, with a Dragonkin following Linden, they either ignored them or simply went around them.

Of course, there were also those whose brains did not work very well.

Linden sincerely thanked them for buying him a little more time.

Beside the ruins of Dylan's Cabin.

The Dragonkin impatiently picked up a Puji whose Mana had not yet fully replenished and began eating it in large bites—after moving around earlier, she was hungry again.

Before long, the Dragonkin's doubt came through the Mycelium Network:

"This one... doesn't taste very good..."