Chapter Summaries

Spark inscribed a newborn Demon Descendant with [Cold Resistance LV8] after the Pujis bestowed the same skill, causing the skill level to stack to LV9. Meanwhile, the Empire's chieftain ordered Galen to go to the Far North and secure the tribe's Magic Cores if they refused to submit.

• Spark connected to the Mycelium Network and explained Cradle and the newborn ritual to Linden, who asked what would happen if a skill was bestowed before it was inscribed.
• Spark and the Pujis performed the ritual and inscribed [Cold Resistance LV8] on a newborn Demon Descendant, whose skill reached LV9.
• Gray returned to Garbatai and ignored Galen's challenge after seeing him defeat twenty Demon Descendants.
• Gray reported the Far North tribe's situation and its likely refusal to swear fealty to the Empire's chieftain.
• The chieftain ordered Gray to bring Galen in and sent him to the Far North to escort the tribe south or recover its Magic Cores.

Linden expanded his workforce after the Demon Descendant Tribe joined him, then sent Puji through a Rift into the Sacred Tree Dungeon to explore its forest. After capturing a nimble Azure Sky-Radiance Parrot, Puji discovered a dying Elf hidden inside a giant tree.

• The Demon Descendant Tribe completed mushroomization, and Linden increased the demon descendants' Contribution Point wages by 50%, easing Puji's workforce shortage.
• Linden chose a Rift on the Seventh Floor that led to the Sacred Tree Dungeon, a spiral dungeon within the main world, and sent scout Puji to explore it.
• Puji surveyed the sunlit forest and encountered an Azure Sky-Radiance Parrot that dodged its tentacles and taunted it.
• Puji used Hallucinogenic Spores to make the parrot crash into shrubs, then captured it and stored it away.
• Puji detected faint sounds inside a giant tree, found a hidden hollow, and discovered a dying Elf.

Linden found a poisoned Elf and waited for her to die, but after Wind Wolves attacked and he drove them off, her health stopped falling and the poison disappeared. The Elf remained unconscious and paralyzed, leaving Linden unsure why she had survived.

• Scout Puji found an unconscious, paralyzed Elf with a spreading neurotoxin wound, and Linden decided to wait rather than help her.
• The Elf briefly woke, mistook Puji for a furball, rested against him, and lost consciousness again.
• A pack of Wind Wolves followed the Elf's scent to the tree hollow, but Linden killed the wolves that entered and the rest retreated.
• Linden noticed the Elf's health had fallen below ten percent, then saw it stop falling as her poison status vanished.
• Scout Puji stepped on the Elf's face to see whether she would die, but she remained unconscious and paralyzed.

After Elawen woke in a tree hollow, Linden used Scout Puji’s connection to her to try to accompany her into an elf city. Elawen invited Puji along, and her missing companion Feifei answered from inside Puji.

• Elawen woke beside two dead Wind Wolves and excitedly treated Scout Puji as the creature that had saved her.
• Linden changed Scout Puji’s plan to follow Elawen toward an elf city, hoping her Friend of Animals title would help it blend in.
• Elawen tried to cuddle Puji, which kicked her in the face, then buried the Wind Wolves and gathered fruit from a tree.
• Elawen used Nature Affinity to invite Puji to come with her, and Puji perched on her head.
• Elawen called for Feifei, and a muffled birdcall came from inside Puji.

Linden reached level sixty after the Fungal Carpet spread and mushroom farming flourished, drawing refugees to Mute Wind Town and overwhelming its ability to manage the population. He postponed choosing a new skill and asked his allies to research the options, while Eiding and a Duke's Daughter took up the task.

• Linden reached level sixty as the sunlit Fungal Carpet expanded and produced more mushrooms.
• Refugees fleeing the war flocked to Mute Wind Town, where Fahr struggled to manage the growing population and its disputes.
• Linden received three skill options—Mental Guidance, Resonance, and Negative Energy Collection—but closed his panel without choosing one.
• Eiding noticed Linden's new task through the Mycelium Network and began looking up the skills.
• A Duke's Daughter offered to help research the skills.

Linden reviewed research on several skills and chose Resonance after the Guild records offered little information about it. Just as he made his choice, Inanna revealed her family might have preserved Dream Flowers, giving Linden another lead for acquiring skills.

• Eiding reported that Mental Guidance came from the extinct Dream Flower, Resonance was poorly documented, and Negative Energy Collection could be found in two known locations.
• Linden decided to leave Negative Energy Collection for later and considered choosing Resonance, while he and Elawen spent two days waiting for Migratory Trees to pass through the Sacred Tree Dungeon.
• Pink Puji's research returned the same information as Eiding's, and Linden praised Inanna and had Knight Puji rub her head.
• Inanna told Linden that her family might still have sealed Dream Flowers stored as potion ingredients, and Linden eagerly said he wanted them.
• Linden opened the panel and obtained Resonance LV1.

Linden discovered how [Resonance] linked Puji skills and used it to upgrade Jida with a stronger shield and mushroom cannon. Meanwhile, Inanna returned to the Duke's Mansion for Dream Flowers and faced questions from the butler Eric.

• Linden tested [Resonance] with three Pujis and found that matching bodies, attributes, and skill levels improved its effects, while different skills produced varying results.
• Linden mounted a resonant Mana Shield Sphere and a triple-mounted Long-Barreled Mushroom Cannon on Jida, whose resonant attacks reached Diamond Rank in sheer force.
• Linden considered promoting Jida among the Demon Descendants so more Pujis could practice [Resonance].
• Inanna rushed back to the Duke's Mansion, entered the family treasury, and found two shelves filled with Dream Flowers.
• Inanna took two boxes of Dream Flowers, and the butler Eric asked whether she had a special use for them.

Inanna took Dream Flowers from the Saint Clair treasury after Eric asked whether she had been having nightmares, while Eiding admired the S-Rank Magic Crystal his boss had given him. In the Sacred Tree Dungeon, Elawen and her companions followed the path cleared by the Migratory Trees and reached the outskirts of the elf city.

• Inanna told Eric she needed Dream Flowers for Eiding, and he let her take them while warning her to report any nightmares.
• Eric suggested that Eiding visit the Saint Clair treasury in person for special materials, leaving Inanna reluctant to respond.
• Eiding sneezed while imagining what he could craft with the S-Rank Magic Crystal he had received.
• Elawen watched the Migratory Trees leave, revealing a direct path out of the Sacred Tree Dungeon.
• Scout Puji took its place on Elawen's head, and Feifei reluctantly settled on her shoulder.
• After a day of travel through the forest, Elawen and her companions spotted the elf city.

Linden and Puji followed Elawen through the guarded Elf Forest and reached Isildorin, where its grand treetop city contrasted with Elawen’s secluded home beneath the trees. There, Elawen reunited with her unusual animal companions while Feifei chatted beside the Shadow Marsh Python.

• Linden noticed Silver- and Gold-Rank elven sentries and hidden magic arrays along the route, but none stopped Elawen.
• Elawen climbed into an aerial marketplace of treehouses, shops, and bridges, then welcomed Puji to Isildorin beside a magnificent palace.
• Elawen led Puji and Feifei away from the palace to her small home beneath the trees, where another elf complained that her bear had eaten a Moon Lotus.
• Elawen greeted Furball, then found bubbles and Douding in a nearby burrow and cuddled the Earth Bear as it prepared to hibernate.
• Feifei perched by the Shadow Marsh Python and chattered while occasionally glancing at Puji.

After the human delegation’s failed negotiations with the elves, Sarian returned to find Elawen’s house wrecked and her pets scattered. When Elawen revealed that Scout Puji had saved her life, Sarian demanded the full story, giving Puji a chance to escape.

• The Elven King refused the humans’ request for troops and agreed to provide only half the requested food, while Elwin and Galadriel traded insults as the delegation departed.
• Sarian left the palace and went to check on his younger sister Elawen at her isolated wooden house.
• Sarian found the house trashed and its pets incapacitated, then bound Scout Puji with magic to examine it.
• Elawen returned, stopped Sarian from inspecting Puji, and blurted out that it had saved her life.
• Sarian grabbed Elawen and demanded an explanation, while Scout Puji escaped through a hole in the back wall.

Puji explored the Elf city and found an Elf funeral, giving Linden a chance to consider retrieving the buried body for the Fungal Carpet. Meanwhile, Linden expanded his network through the Sacred Tree Dungeon, concealed the Rift, and sent Scout No. 2 to explore as Pink Puji returned with her prize.

• Puji explored the Elf city wearing an identity band and searched for a way to learn the Elf language.
• Puji witnessed Elves bury an old Elf beneath a sapling nourished by a potion and Nature Magic, and Linden considered taking the corpse to the Fungal Carpet.
• Scout No. 2 and several Pujis emerged from the Rift as Linden spread the Fungal Carpet through the Sacred Tree Dungeon and cleared local Monsters.
• Linden used Fatty Pujis and stones to camouflage the Rift as a large hollow rock.
• Linden sent Scout No. 2 toward the Dungeon's center to explore downward, and Pink Puji returned to the Mycelium Network looking pleased with what she had brought back.

Linden tested the newly plundered Mental Guidance skill by entering a refugee bully’s dream and manipulating its dream figures. The bully survived but was left shaken, while Linden learned that killing a dream’s owner ended the dream and severed the connection.

• Inanna returned with three boxes, and Linden plundered Mental Guidance LV1 from a flower inside the house.
• Linden reflected on the difference between the souls of intelligent beings and the spirits of plants and most Monsters before deciding to test the skill on a refugee bully.
• Using Hallucinogenic Spores, Linden connected to the sleeping bully and entered his dream, where he appeared as a mushroom-headed figure.
• Linden used Mental Guidance to turn the dream guards against the bully, who died in the dream and caused the dreamscape to collapse.
• The bully woke the next day muttering about a mushroom monster and took until the third day to return to normal.

Linden tested [Mental Guidance] by entering Norris, Louisa, and Little Black’s dreams, learning how dream control worked and how each resisted it. He concluded the skill was mostly useful for amusement at its current level and wondered whether leveling it up would bring more surprises.

• Linden invaded Norris’s dream, where Norris defeated a Slime King with Jida’s drill before Louisa and Little Black chased him to bite him and steal his scales.
• Linden concluded Hallucinogenic Spores were not required to enter a dream because the Mycelium Network could provide a connection, though spores ensured a dream stage appeared.
• Linden found that he could alter dream characters’ behavior but could not create objects, and he gradually turned nearly a third of Louisa’s Puji against her.
• Linden controlled dream Raiders to steal Little Black’s treasure, but Little Black slaughtered them all and returned to counting her gems.
• The next day, Norris seemed tired, Piggy trained as usual, and Little Black growled at approaching Demon Descendants from farther away.
• Linden judged that [Mental Guidance] had little practical use at LV1 and hoped a higher level would bring more surprises.

Scout Puji explored Sacred Tree Dungeon and discovered Elves implanting a red stone in a native Treant Demon to give it the [Frenzy] status. The Elves killed Scout Puji No. 3, realized it was a modified familiar, and Linden sent Scout Puji No. 4 to investigate the Treant Demon.

• Scout Puji No. 3 flew down to the Sixth Floor of Sacred Tree Dungeon, avoiding the central hollow where flight was suppressed and noting the dungeon’s route.
• Linden spotted seven Elves—two Diamond Rank and five Gold Rank—using a magic array to bind a native Treant Demon and force an ominous red stone into its chest, giving it [Frenzy].
• Scout Puji No. 3 followed the Elves, but they attacked it with lightning and curved arrows, severing Linden’s control.
• The Elves examined Scout Puji’s corpse, found its B-Rank Magic Crystal, and their leader realized it was a modified familiar and that they had been exposed.
• Linden sent Scout Puji No. 4 down from the Fourth Floor to find the frenzied Treant Demon.

Linden abandoned the search below the Sixth Floor after Scout Puji No. 4 was eaten, while expanding his Fungal Carpet and sending Scout Puji No. 1 into the elven city. Elawen and Salian failed to find the missing Puji, and Linden’s attention shifted to an elf potion shop.

• Scout Puji No. 4 found no elves or Treant Demons, then was eaten by a Giant Magic Frog on the Seventh Floor, so Linden stopped investigating deeper levels.
• Linden expanded the Fungal Carpet toward the surface and poisoned a Monster Rat nest that threatened Drilling Puji.
• Scout Puji No. 1 removed its B-Rank Magic Crystal and lay recovering in a hidden tree hollow while Linden monitored its condition.
• Salian used a combined Spatial Detection and Phantom spell to help Elawen search for the missing Puji, but they found nothing after several days.
• Elawen continued searching alone after Salian withdrew, while Scout Puji No. 1 recovered and Linden discovered an elf potion shop where the shopkeeper brewed every potion.

Scout Puji visited an elven potion shop, where Linden watched an old elf brew potions and decided to learn potion-making for the Dungeon. As Puji left to continue exploring, it heard a familiar voice calling, “Xiao Ji!”

• Riel spotted Puji outside the potion shop, and the old elf invited it inside.
• Puji observed the old elf make three potions from ingredients Linden recognized from the Dungeon and Sacred Tree Dungeon.
• Linden decided to study potion-making while also looking for new recruits, and he began having Puji copy recipes and test successful results.
• Riel failed to touch Puji and planned to block the window if it returned the next day.
• Puji left the shop and heard someone familiar call, “Xiao Ji!”

Elawen searched the Treehouse Market for Puji and endured Vilania and Lina’s ridicule until Puji returned and helped her get away. While Puji settled back in with Elawen and her companions, a level-sixty Demon Descendant named Galen approached the Far North Ice Plains and was detected by the Fungal Carpet.

• Elawen called for Puji at the Treehouse Market while Vilania and Lina mocked her and her unusual pets.
• Puji vanished Vilania’s Colorful Sparrow and cut the two Elves’ trouser belts before signaling Elawen to leave.
• Elawen found Puji on her head, freed the captured Colorful Sparrow, and returned home with Puji.
• Puji frightened Feifei and the other pets, then spent its days visiting potion shops while waiting for the Fungal Carpet to spread.
• The Fungal Carpet detected Galen, a level-sixty Demon Descendant, as he approached the Far North Ice Plains.

Galen arrived at the Demon Descendant Tribe to order them back into the Empire, but Shou and Spark refused and sprang a carefully prepared ambush. After dodging their attacks, Galen recognized a strange Monster as a threat and concluded that Gray had set him up.

• Galen reached the Far North and noticed mycelium growing among the ice and snow.
• Galen found the Demon Descendant settlement nearly deserted and saw mycelium woven through Shou and Spark’s Magic Runes.
• Galen ordered Shou and Spark to move into the Empire, but Shou refused, prompting Galen to prepare to attack.
• Puji threw its stone cup, and Shou and Spark retreated as multiple Puji self-destructed and a magic cannon fired at Galen.
• Galen dodged the cannon blasts and evaded a concealed Monster that spoke beside him.
• Galen saw the twisted Monster and accused Gray of setting him up.

Linden’s forces lured Galen into retreating across the ice field, where Little Black ambushed and badly wounded him. As Galen reached for a Healing Potion, the Pujis shattered it, leaving him surrounded and in dire straits.

• Galen dismissed Voice Puji’s warnings and chose to retreat rather than risk charging Linden’s forces.
• Galen smashed through Spark’s Ice Wall and endured Shou’s spear strike as he escaped across the Snow Plains.
• Linden revealed that Little Black was pursuing Galen, while Louisa and the others followed behind.
• A Voice Puji distracted Galen, allowing Little Black to dive at him and slam him into the frozen ground.
• Galen wounded Little Black with a desperate counterattack, but the Pujis shattered his Healing Potion before he could use it.

Galen failed to defeat Little Black and was captured for questioning, while Gray was summoned before his clan chief after Galen accused him of setting him up. The clan chief confronted Gray with Galen’s message, leaving Gray under suspicion.

• Galen’s desperate strike barely hurt Little Black, who subdued him with dragon breath until Linden stopped her with a Delicious Puji and promised her gemstones.
• The Pujis kept the unconscious Galen alive with a Healing Potion so Linden could interrogate him about the Empire, and Little Black gave Norris her shed scales in exchange for shinies.
• The Ox-Horse Pujis found a shattered Item Crystal while cleaning the battlefield.
• Gray was summoned to the clan chief’s hall and noticed that two armed clansmen were escorting him; he then heard a sword being drawn behind him.
• The clan chief showed Gray a communication item carrying Galen’s accusation that Gray had set him up, then demanded an explanation.