Magic

"You... why do you have such good Magic Crystals?"

"How long do you think I've been here...?"

Linden wasn't sure exactly how long he had been in this world. There was no day or night, no seasons in the depths of the Dungeon, but he felt it had been at least two or three years.

Even just counting from when he established the Mushroom Garden, it had been quite a while. This entire rock wall was his personal mine, so naturally, after mining for so long, he had accumulated some high-quality Magic Crystals.

However, Linden had collected them not because he knew their value, but simply because the clean Amethyst crystals looked prettier. Placing them around his main body could attract magic and serve as decoration.

"Can you cast other spells faster with this?"

"You're giving this to me? Really?"

Even though he still wasn't very familiar with Inanna, he could tell that she truly loved Magic Crystals—or rather, anything related to magic.

"Of course. I want to see more spells too. Come to think of it, Inanna, I still haven't asked: what spells can you use?"

Linden could indeed see things like [Light Magic LV4] on the Panel, but that only meant the highest-tier Light Magic she could cast was Tier 4. It didn't tell him exactly which spells she knew.

Every branch of magic had a wide variety of spells across different tiers, and many spells had numerous variants. Biological Transformation Spell, for example, could be divided into transforming into an eagle, a dog, a Puji...

Inanna stood still for a while, seemingly trying to recall the spells she knew.

Linden felt that if she were still in human form, she would definitely be counting them off on her fingers right now.

"Let me see... Water Snake Art, Water Mirror Refraction, Ice Blade, Purification, Healing Light, Invisibility Spell, Illumination Art, Create Water, Energy Shield, Mud Swamp Art... Gurgle... that's all."

That was quite a lot.

"Try using Mud Swamp Art on that Puji."

A Mining Puji that had been smashing stones with a shelled Mushroom Cap was moved by Linden to the open area where the Self-Destruct had occurred earlier. At the same time, another tentacle extended from beneath the mushroom and tied the A-Rank Magic Crystal to Inanna's Mushroom Cap.

"Be careful not to tear it off again. That's the last one here."

"I'll be careful."

Magic power surged from Inanna's body into the Magic Crystal. Unlike before, the moment she began casting, magic power from the surroundings came flooding in. The A-Rank Magic Crystal above her head was like a tiny vortex swallowing magic power.

No wonder it could be made into a staff. With such an immense infusion of magic power, any spell's strength would surely multiply.

"It worked!"

The Mining Puji sank slightly. The once-solid ground turned into a pool of sludge. The Puji tried to lift its foot, but it was stuck fast and couldn't move at all.

Mud Swamp Art should only have been able to hinder movement. Even enhanced by an A-Rank Magic Crystal, its improvement should have been in range.

The Mining Puji couldn't break free purely because its shell was too heavy. The Puji itself wasn't particularly strong, so it was pinned in place.

"Try using an Ice Blade on it too."

"Huh? Is that okay? It might..."

"It's fine. Cast it."

It was only a Puji. Even if it died in the Mushroom Garden, it would simply become fertilizer and cycle back in. The loss was negligible.

"Then I'll cast it."

Before long, an Ice Blade condensed in front of Inanna, but this time, even she was startled.

Unlike Mud Swamp Art, the enhancement to Ice Blade was immediately obvious. The Ice Blade, originally less than a meter long, had grown to over two meters under the boost.

The deep chill radiating from it also made Inanna realize that its power had likely increased dramatically.

"Go!"

Shell met Ice Blade. After a crisp crack, the blade cut in, slicing through until it reached three-quarters of the way before stopping.

Even Linden thought that power was impressive. That was an LV4 Chitin Shell. Even his own LV6 Mushroom Cannon needed two shots to break its defenses, yet an Ice Blade of the same level had cut through most of it in one strike.

He just didn't know whether the spell itself was powerful or whether the A-Rank Magic Crystal's enhancement was powerful. Probably both.

Magic was truly amazing. If he had known spells himself, the early stages would not have been so painful.

But it wasn't too late now. Although he couldn't use magic for the moment, he had a helper who could. He could try putting some of his plans to reach the upper levels into action.

Of course, he wasn't talking about killing the Flame Demon guarding the passage. Linden had seen that thing through a scouting Puji that had Sacrificed itself. Though the level gap was too great for the Panel to show any detailed information, LV64 alone was far beyond anything he could consider challenging now.

But who said going upward meant they had to use the passage?

"Inanna, do you want this Magic Crystal?"

"You're giving it to me?"

Huh?

This mushroom is being so nice to me... could this be some kind of trap?

Having just experienced betrayal, Inanna was extremely cautious now, especially when the other party was a Monster like Linden whose true form remained unknown.

"Of course not for free. Help me subjugate some Monsters, and it'll be yours."

"Okay!"

Hearing that there were conditions actually reassured Inanna. She really wanted that Magic Crystal, but if Linden simply gave it to her, she wouldn't have dared accept it.

But Monsters?

Come to think of it, this was the deep level of a Dungeon. There were so many strange things in the Mushroom Garden that she had nearly forgotten.

But this mushroom wanted to subjugate Monsters...

How would it do that? With Pujis?

"But what Monster are we subjugating?"

"Earth Worms. Do you know them?"

Earth Worms?

That sounded familiar. Where had she heard of them?

Ah, she remembered...

"Sorry, are the Earth Worms you mean those huge creatures with rock-like skin that like burrowing deep underground and eat ore every day?"

Linden thought for a moment. "That's right."

"Are we subjugating an Earth Worm larva?"

"An adult."

"Aren't adults large Monsters that are at least LV45, and can only be safely subjugated by a complete Gold Rank adventurer team? Mr. Linden, I'm only LV28!"

Inanna's mind was filled with one thought: Me, fighting an Earth Worm?

Even if she hadn't been transformed, an Earth Worm would have swallowed her in one bite.

Is this mushroom out of its mind? A mushroom wants to hunt an Earth Worm?

"You seem to have misunderstood my capabilities a little..."

Seeing the Pink Puji's disbelieving expression, Linden remembered that he had never taken her to see the edge of the Mushroom Garden.

No wonder she had so little faith in his strength.

Hunting Earth Worms was something he had wanted to do for a long time. These creatures possessed a skill called [High-Temperature Tunneling].

They could generate high heat to make rock brittle, then use their rotating mouthparts to crush the stone and swallow it. Afterward, they expelled the non-mineral rock through their side gills to reinforce the tunnel walls.

If he could seize that skill, he could dig a passage through the rock wall directly to the upper levels, rather than risk sneaking past the Flame Demon.

But these creatures were exceptional diggers. If they couldn't win, they would burrow into the ground and flee. Combined with their enormous size and thick health bars, even killing one at low health took forever.

He had tried once before. In the end, he suffered considerable losses and gained nothing.

But after seeing Inanna's Mud Swamp Art just now, Linden felt there was hope again. Earth Worms probably wouldn't be able to move very quickly through mud.

Still, before that, he really should get accustomed to working with the new member.

"I'm not saying we're going to hunt Earth Worms right now. You'll need practice getting used to casting with that Magic Crystal too. We can take this chance to head out with the Expedition Team and let you get some field experience."

"Expedition Team?"