Chapter Summaries

Sirian and the others helped restore the Sixth Floor’s Demon Woods and barren land while Linden learned about Nature Magic. As mushroom gathering drew adventurers and refugees to the Dungeon, Fahr asked Eiding to persuade Inanna to let the Duke’s House regulate the harvest, and Linden agreed to support the effort; Inanna, however, became distracted when Linden contacted her through Knight Puji.

• Sirian followed Treant Demons into the Secret Forest and used Nature Magic to heal several withering Demon Woods.
• Vera, Feiling, Feiyin, and Sirian spent several days tending the Demon Woods and restoring the cursed land, while Vera and Feiling gathered food.
• Adventurers and refugees crowded the Dungeon outskirts to harvest mushrooms, prompting Fahr to seek authority from the Duke’s House to manage the Fungal Carpet and distribute its produce.
• Fahr gave Eiding a sealed letter and asked him to persuade Inanna to support the plan, and Eiding rode off to report to Linden first.
• Linden told Eiding to continue with Fahr’s request and contacted Inanna through Knight Puji, but Inanna fixated on why he had not spoken to her sooner.

Inanna convinced Eric to let her travel toward Mute Wind Town after Eiding and Knight Puji proved capable of injuring him in a training match. On the road, Dylan was rescued from bandits by a Puji swarm, which revealed that his boss was nearby and alive.

• Eric opposed Inanna's trip, but agreed to let her go after Eiding and Knight Puji drew blood from him during a test fight.
• Eric sent Inanna toward Mute Wind Town with Eiding, Knight Puji, four Gold Rank guards, and life-saving equipment, ordering Eiding and Fahr to protect her.
• Dylan spotted Fungal Carpet beside the road and was trapped by seven bandits before he could confirm whether it belonged to his boss.
• More than a hundred Pujis emerged from the woods, killed one bandit, and surrounded the others.
• A wrinkled Puji ordered the bandits to squeal like pigs before they died, and the swarm attacked them as Dylan's boss greeted him through the Mycelium Network.

Dylan returned to the transformed Dungeon and met its new residents, but discovered a grave marker bearing his own name before Linden explained it was a mistake. He reunited with Louisa, Norris, and Little Black, then remembered to give Linden the spiral-patterned fruits he had brought back.

• Linden defeated seven bandits, absorbed their remains, and sent Dylan back to the Dungeon alone.
• Dylan entered the Dungeon and saw how much the Mushroom Garden had grown as he traveled downward.
• On the Fifth Floor, Dylan found a grave marker bearing his name and asked Linden how he had died; the Pujis then destroyed the marker.
• Linden summoned Louisa, Norris, and Little Black to meet Dylan near the Stone Fort Rift.
• Dylan greeted Louisa and Norris, accidentally upset Norris by praising his Common Tongue, and gave Linden the red spiral-patterned fruits from his backpack.

Linden discovered that cooking a Delicious mushroom made its flavor extraordinary, and the skill leveled up as he produced more. Two days later, Eiding brought Inanna to the Adventurer Guild tent, where Fahr was secretly enjoying mushroom soup.

• Dylan and Norris found the raw Delicious mushroom only slightly different from ordinary mushrooms, but a Drilling Puji cooked it into soup that Norris found astonishingly good.
• Norris asked Linden to replace his Blade Whip with a Drilling Puji, while Little Black ate a Delicious Puji and secretly kept Norris’s fallen scale.
• Linden learned that producing more Delicious mushrooms raised the skill to LV2, and Qiong tried exchanging for the newly listed Delicious Mushroom.
• An adventurer found a vivid red mushroom near Mute Wind Town and took it away to show his companions.
• Two days later, Eiding brought Inanna into the Adventurer Guild tent, where Fahr hurriedly tried to hide the Fluorescent Mushroom Soup he had been drinking.

The spread of Delicious Red Mushrooms drew Adventurers into Mute Wind Town, where Saint Clair guards claimed the mushrooms under Lady Inanna’s territorial authority. As Adventurers gathered to protest the Guild’s control, Fahr told Inanna it was time to act.

• The mushroom-picking craze revived as Adventurers searched for Delicious Red Mushrooms near Amethyst Dungeon.
• Qiong exchanged Contribution Points for Delicious Mushrooms, which sprouted beside him in No. 3 Mushroom Garden.
• A young Adventurer tried to pick a Red Mushroom near the dungeon gate, but two Adventurers confronted him and guards seized the mushroom in Saint Clair’s name.
• The guards told the Adventurers that Lady Inanna had formally exercised territorial control rights over Mute Wind Town, and the Adventurers went to the Temporary Camp to protest.
• Adventurers crowded around the Guild’s notice and protested the Saint Clair Family’s claim to the town’s mushroom output.
• Fahr stood beside Inanna in the main tent and told her it was time.

Inanna confronted Adventurers protesting the Guild’s takeover of mushroom harvesting in Mute Wind Town, claiming the Fungal Carpet as her own. She proved her claim by using Knight Puji to make a vast crop of mushrooms erupt from the carpet, leaving the crowd and Fahr stunned.

• The Guild announced that it would temporarily control Mute Wind Town and place local produce under Branch President Fahr’s allocation.
• Adventurers gathered to protest losing access to mushroom harvesting, while Fahr prepared to enforce the new rules by force if needed.
• Inanna told the Adventurers that the Fungal Carpet belonged to her and stopped a guard from retaliating against their objections.
• Inanna corrected them that the Puji King’s name was Knight, then thrust Knight toward the Fungal Carpet.
• The carpet rapidly produced a dense mass of mushrooms, including Delicious Red Mushrooms, stunning the Adventurers and Fahr.

Inanna helped the Guild secure control of the mushroom fields, while Fahr learned that the Dungeon was recovering and blamed Guge for his costly misjudgments. As Adventurers returned to the dangerous Dungeon, a search party looking for Vera found her and her companions alive on the Sixth Floor.

• Inanna used Knight Puji to stimulate the Fungal Carpet again, but the weakened patch produced only a few mushrooms.
• Fahr thanked Inanna, agreed to argue in his report that she should remain nearby, and promised to arrange a residence for her.
• After learning that the Dungeon was repairing itself, Fahr wrote to Guild headquarters, condemned Guge, and requested an expert assessment without him.
• Adventurers rushed back into the Dungeon and encountered increased Monster numbers and unfamiliar species, leaving many teams retreating or dying.
• A swordsman, hunter, and mage who owed Vera a debt searched the Dungeon for her, and found Vera and her companions sharing mushroom soup on the Sixth Floor.

Vera and his companions finished restoring the Sixth Floor and were allowed to leave by the Puji, while Linden planned how to expand the Fungal Carpet and investigate the remaining Rifts. On the Third Floor, Qiong’s generosity with Red Mushrooms came at the cost of Contribution Points the tribe needed for its future.

• Sirian completed the Sixth Floor’s restoration, and the Puji rewarded him with an A-Rank Magic Crystal while giving Vera and his companions Red Mushrooms and clearing their way out.
• Vera led the swordsman and his companions past the Puji toward the Fifth Floor, and Feiling wondered whether Puji could become magic pets.
• Linden assessed the Fungal Carpet’s need for water in sunny areas and prepared Second-Generation Scouts to explore and evaluate the remaining Rifts.
• Qiong shared mushroom soup with his clansmen and a Lizardman, while Shou noticed Qiong had spent much of his Contribution Points on Red Mushrooms.
• Shou reminded Qiong that the tribe needed Contribution Points for companions’ cores and Fat Beasts, leaving Qiong and the other Demon Descendants feeling guilty.

Horn reunited with Aimei and Noah in Mute Wind Town and led them into the recovered Dungeon to scout its first floors. On the third floor, they discovered a hidden room, where a Puji appeared in the doorway.

• Horn found the town’s inns full and saw Guild staff organizing mushroom fields outside Mute Wind Town.
• Aimei and Noah reunited with Horn, who told them Old Hammer was jailed after a drunken fight.
• Horn, Aimei, and Noah entered the Dungeon and headed toward the fifth floor to collect Monster corpses for a lottery draw.
• On the third floor, the group found an adventurer’s corpse surrounded by gold coins, which Horn revealed were disguised Gold Coin Bugs.
• Aimei spotted a hidden room, and Horn opened its stone door, revealing a round, lazy-looking Puji.

Horn, Noah, and Aimei discovered a Puji-run restaurant in a Hidden Room, where mushroom soup and a massage left them refreshed before the room vanished. Linden revealed that he had stocked the Hidden Room with treasure and turned it into a restaurant, while his [Delicious] skill made Louisa devour a captured Minotaur.

• Horn and Noah entered a Hidden Room and found Fatty Puji preparing a mushroom soup with honey and Flower Demon Paralysis Fluid.
• Horn drank the soup, collapsed under the Puji’s massage, and recovered; Aimei and Noah also took turns enjoying the meal and treatment.
• The Hidden Room vanished, leaving Horn to realize that the group had found no treasure.
• Linden revealed that he had taken the Hidden Room’s treasures and set up the Puji restaurant to give adventurers something to find.
• Linden used [Delicious] on a captured Minotaur, and Louisa drained it before regretting that she had eaten it all at once.

Dylan relaxed on the Fifth Floor while Linden tested his upgraded Crystal Symbiosis and produced a tiny S-Rank Magic Crystal. Linden then prepared to test Scout Pujis and Norris’s new Jida in the Deep Zone, where Norris woke from a nightmare and declared himself ready.

• Dylan chose to keep living on the Fifth Floor, where Scout Pujis absorbed magic crystals to strengthen their scouting abilities.
• After Crystal Symbiosis reached Level 8, Linden used five standard large A-Rank Magic Crystals to create a tiny S-Rank Magic Crystal.
• Linden stopped the costly experiment, stored the crystal, and planned to give it to Pink Puji to find a skilled craftsman.
• Linden sent Scout Pujis to meet Norris in the Deep Zone and test their combat performance alongside his new drill-equipped Jida.
• A Language Puji woke Norris with an eerie whispered call, and Norris shook off his fear before climbing into Jida and announcing he was ready.

Norris tested Jida against two Scout Puji, winning through a risky counterattack and his new Air Step skill despite Linden’s criticism of the drill. As Linden prepared to explore the Dense Forest Rift, two Dwarves fell out of a cursed Rift on the Fifth Floor.

• Linden’s two Scout Puji overwhelmed Norris’s Jida, but Norris sacrificed its Rock Armor to destroy one Scout and then used Jida’s drill to finish it.
• The remaining Scout Puji broke Jida’s leg and destroyed its eye, but Norris leaped from the wreckage and used Air Step to catch and defeat it with his Mushroom Cannon.
• Linden criticized Norris’s drill and reflected that Norris’s new Air Step, gained at Level 30 Silver Rank, had secured the win.
• Linden judged Scout Puji’s combat performance favorably and planned to explore the Dense Forest Rift.
• Two Dwarves tumbled screaming from a cursed Rift on the Fifth Floor, disturbing Old Dylan as he dozed among the incense.

Torin and Grum became trapped in a windmill in the Wheat Field Labyrinth after their compass failed, and they suspected a foxkin had caused their sudden descent. They bribed a crow to guide them through the fields and reached a cliff overlooking what appeared to be the Dungeon's edge zone, with Scarecrows closing in behind them.

• Torin and Grum argued over why Torin's guide compass had stopped working and blamed a foxkin they had met earlier.
• Grum proposed bribing a crow, took Torin's emerald-green gem, and offered a smaller Ruby to a crow through the mill window.
• The crow flew into the wheat field, and Torin and Grum followed it while fighting Scarecrows along the way.
• Torin and Grum reached the edge of a steep cliff with Scarecrows pursuing them, while the crow waited on a dead tree across the chasm beside a sparse wheat field.

Torin and Grum fell from the Scarecrow Abyss into the Amethyst Dungeon, where they mistook its strange mushroom inhabitants for harmless Puji. After meeting Horn’s trio, Grum confidently struck a Puji, triggering a blast that sent Torin flying.

• Grum’s failed jump dragged Torin from the cliff, and the two dwarves fell into darkness after their handhold broke.
• Torin and Grum landed inside a Mushroom Tree in a glowing forest and realized they had entered another dungeon.
• Dylan watched the dwarves from behind a mushroom tree before shifting from Mimicry into human form.
• The dwarves walked through the forest as a growing group of Puji followed them, then encountered Horn’s trio at its edge.
• Grum learned they were in the Amethyst Dungeon and struck a nearby Puji with his short axe.
• The Puji was blown away, and the resulting blast sent Torin flying as Horn shouted in alarm.

Torin asked the Adventurer Guild to rescue Grum from the Puji, and Linden agreed to release the dwarf. Linden then sent a Scout Puji through the rift to investigate the strange wheat farm, where it encountered a crow.

• Torin asked Horn and the others to help rescue Grum, and Noah suggested posting a commission with the Adventurer Guild.
• Torin told Fahr how Grum had been captured by the Puji and offered gems for the Guild's help.
• Fahr verified Torin's identity and sent Inanna to retrieve Grum after Linden gave permission.
• Inanna brought Grum back to Torin, then stayed behind to comfort the Puji.
• Linden sent a Scout Puji through the rift, discovered that the forest looped back to the wheat field, and began exploring the farm.
• A crow confronted the Scout Puji when it landed on an empty scarecrow frame.

Linden explored the Wheat Field Labyrinth through Scout Puji, discovering that its cursed wheat was Wicked Grass and that the fields were filled with scarecrows and traps. After waiting for the expected layer change, he finally felt a tugging sensation from his soul.

• Scout Puji inspected the wheat and discovered the stalks were Wicked Grass, then collected some to take back.
• Several Withered Servants approached Scout Puji, which turned invisible and escaped; a crow that detected it was killed and stored away.
• Scout Puji flew over the fields and observed crows, Barns, Windmill Mills, huts, and the scarecrow Farmer.
• Linden waited over a day for the Wheat Field Labyrinth to shift layers, but nothing happened, so he continued waiting.
• After another day, Linden finally sensed a faint tugging sensation from his soul.

Linden discovered that Puji could not cross between layers of Scarecrow Abyss because its massive soul could not pass through the space, so he explored the Wheat Field Labyrinth and then used the Rift to harvest its cursed grass. The Pujis returned to the Fifth Floor with a huge haul, and Greed strengthened Linden’s stolen skills.

• Linden used Inspiration to understand the Falling Curse and learned that Puji’s oversized soul could not descend through the layers of Scarecrow Abyss.
• Linden tried to guide Puji out of the Wheat Field Labyrinth with a crow, but the scenery looped back, so Puji returned to the Fifth Floor through the Rift after nearly three days.
• Linden triggered Greed and plundered Corrosion Curse LV1 and Sensory Enhancement LV1 before sealing the Rift.
• Linden sent nearly five hundred specialized Pujis through the Rift to defeat scarecrows and harvest evil grass while Scout Pujis guarded, Melee Pujis cut the wheat, and Ox-Horse Pujis carried the haul back.
• Linden observed a group of Dwarves appear in the Abyss and flee from the Pujis, while the harvest left the wheat field nearly bare.
• Dylan suffered from the cursed grass piled in the Mushroom Garden, and Linden had him carried away as Greed raised Corrosion Curse to LV5, Perception Enhancement to LV2, and Resilience to LV7.

Torin and Grum discussed Grum’s newly regrown legs and the strange changes in the Amethyst Dungeon before Torin received an angry message from his clan. Meanwhile, Linden studied a lingering curse, prepared for the Demon Descendants’ birth ceremony, and adjusted the Mushroom Garden’s workforce as the tribe returned home.

• Grum complained that the dungeon’s mushrooms were tough to chew, and Torin said they needed to be stewed longer.
• Grum showed Torin his regrown legs and admitted he owed him a favor, but refused to discount his future hiring fee.
• Torin told Grum that the Amethyst Dungeon’s changes had begun over the past half year and that humans had started calling it Puji Dungeon.
• Torin received a crystal message ordering him to return to his clan, and Grum sympathized with his difficult life as a young master.
• Linden assessed the lingering environmental damage from [Corrosion Curse LV5] and turned his attention toward observing the Demon Descendants’ birth ceremony.
• Shou led the Demon Descendants back to their tribe with a Magic Core and a Fat Worm, while Qiong stayed behind to work in No. 3 Mushroom Garden for doubled Contribution Points.

Louisa trained Norris in combat while Linden watched, and the Demon Descendants held a newborn ceremony for their tribe. The ceremony faltered when the magic supply failed during the newborn’s rune inscription, but Linden offered to help.

• Louisa defeated Norris in their sparring match and explained how he could improve his use of Air Step.
• Linden observed Louisa’s lessons and gained combat awareness.
• Shou and the Demon Descendants gathered as Spark began the tribe’s first newborn ceremony in over half a year.
• The ceremony created a new Demon Descendant, but the magic supply failed while Spark was inscribing the Cold Resistance rune.
• Spark told Shou that the rune was unfinished, and Linden suddenly offered to help.

Linden used the Puji and the mycelium network to complete an interrupted birth ritual and grant a newborn Demon Descendant Cold Resistance, saving his life. After the tribe celebrated the successful birth, Shou decided they should commit Mushroom Defection.

• Linden had the Puji enter Shou’s stone house and assess the newborn Demon Descendant, whose unfinished ritual left him dying from the cold.
• Four Drilling Puji warmed the house while the Bat Puji spread spores over the youth, and a Drilling Puji connected the stone house to the Fungal Carpet.
• Linden sent magic through the mycelium, granting the newborn Cold Resistance LV8 and allowing him to survive as the room cooled.
• Shou announced that the ritual had succeeded, and the Demon Descendants celebrated the birth while Spark questioned how the incomplete runes had worked.
• Shou considered the tribe’s ties to the mycelium and Puji, then told Spark they should commit Mushroom Defection.