Chapter 27 27. Mushroom Garden Employee No. 1
In a tent made of various monster skins, Dylan sat on a wild boar skin.
This is the camp of the gnolls in the forest. He was brought here by several Pujis.
There were few items in the tent, only some crooked frames made of bones and wood. Dylan even saw a human skull among them...
Dylan was now fidgeting.
He felt that returning to the dungeon was a bit self-destructive, but he never expected the current situation to occur.
The Pujis are actually controlled by a mysterious will!
No wonder they would do things that go beyond their survival needs, such as exterminating parasitic trees and blue-eyed frogs.
And now this mysterious will has found him.
What worries him even more is...
The curtain was suddenly opened, and a werewolf covered with gray and white mushrooms walked in stiffly.
He placed a roasted pig's trotter next to him, then staggered away.
When I went out, I was scratched by the tent and a mushroom fell off...
Dylan felt his throat tighten. Is this the end of the parasite?
Will I become like that in the future?
Dylan didn't know, but he began to regret having chosen to return to the dungeon so casually.
"Eat, you're welcome."
The voice appeared again. Dylan could only pick up the slightly burnt pig's trotter and bite it hard.
So fuzzy... so fishy...
On the other hand, Lin Jun actually had no intention of scaring him.
But as a human being, it is not suitable for him to stay in the poisonous fog lake or live in the swamp.
There just happened to be some ready-made tents in the Gnoll Forest, so it would be a waste to use them since the Gnolls would not need them soon anyway.
As for the taste of the pig's trotter, watching Dylan finish eating the trotter in a few bites, Lin Jun was still thinking that the taste of what he made would probably be good.
Isn’t the so-called delicacy just grilled food sprinkled with salt?
After eating the pig's trotters, Dylan hesitated and took out a bottle of magic potion from his arms.
In the past half month, he found that ordinary food could no longer fully meet his needs. He had to drink a sip of magic potion every day to relieve his hunger. He guessed that the mycelium in his body needed magic power.
"You don't actually need to waste the potion."
Dylan stopped pulling out the cork and asked subconsciously, "What should I do?"
The tent was opened again, and outside was the same mushroom jackal.
The gnoll waved to him, and Dylan had no choice but to put away the potion and follow him out.
Walking all the way to one end of the forest, there were dozens of mushroom gnolls cutting down trees.
Dylan was taken to the edge of a logging site, where there were many huge trees that had been chopped down and hollowed out, which reminded people of coffins.
The interior was filled with dense mycelium, which made Dylan's scalp tingle.
"Try lying down in there."
"Ah... this is... forget it, I'll lie down."
This strangeness made Dylan feel a little guilty, but after thinking about it, it seemed that his life was not in his own hands now, so there was no need to be timid.
With the mentality of going to the execution ground, Dylan fell up with a determined look on his face.
As soon as he lay down, he felt the hyphae reaching out to him, wriggling and connecting with the hyphae on his body...! ?
“This is…oh…”
Although it was just a hollowed-out piece of wood, Dylan felt like he was sleeping on a large velvet bed.
What is even more rare is this sense of satisfaction and peace of mind!
Soon, the anxiety that had lasted for months finally relaxed.
"Just lie down and relax, let's chat for a while."
The voice seemed to come from the horizon, and Dylan was not on guard at all.
"Okay... let's chat..."
"Dylan, tell me your story. I'm curious why you came back? Do you want more parasitic tree species?"
"I'm not here for...trees. I'm here for..."
Dylan was in a daze, as if the person talking to him was his close friend of many years.
He poured out all his experiences and thoughts without reservation.
Seeing him like this, Lin Jun couldn't help but sigh:
It is really useful to add some hallucinogenic spores when supplementing nutrition...
In fact, relying on the absolute advantage of fusion parasitism and the fungal network, Lin Jun can sense the general emotions of the parasite when he speaks.
This has been verified in previous experiments on werewolves.
This can be used to determine whether the host is lying.
But that kind of interrogation method of asking and answering questions one by one like squeezing toothpaste is too inefficient and does not look friendly.
It's better to have something softer.
————
"How long have I slept?"
Dylan didn't know when he fell asleep. The jackals who were cutting wood lay in the hollow logs around them and didn't move.
He only had a vague impression of what happened before he went to bed, but he could roughly guess what happened.
Logically speaking, he should be on guard now.
But magically, he now just felt relaxed physically and mentally, just like waking up at home - the only difference is that the wooden bed was a bit simple, and it was a bit uncomfortable to put his hands on it.
"Dylan, I understand your situation."
Lin Jun's voice appeared in Dylan's mind again at the right time.
"I don't mind giving you a place to stay here.
But just like you have to work to earn money in the human world, I also have some small things here that I need your help with.
Don't worry, it will be much easier than being an adventurer.
We are a conscientious enterprise, providing food and accommodation, and there are extra rewards for good work."
Although he didn't know what a company was, Dylan understood the meaning, so he asked the question he was most concerned about:
"Will I be like these gnolls then?"
To Dylan, these guys looked as good as dead—and they were.
"Gnoll?" Lin Jun's voice rose by two degrees. "Of course not. Your will belongs to you."
The premise is that you don’t commit suicide.
Dylan nodded and knelt on one knee:
"Dylan is willing to serve you, but I don't know your name yet."
"Don't be awkward. You can call me boss."
"Yes, boss." Dylan was about to call him master.
Dylan didn't ask who or what Lin Jun was.
Lin Jun didn't appear in front of him, so naturally she didn't want him to know anything. Asking him would just be a waste of time.
"By the way, when you were asleep, I helped you straighten out the messy mycelium and added a skill for you. I'll consider it as an advance payment."
"Add skills?"
Dylan looked as if he didn't understand.
————
In the Rotten Willow Tavern, amid the usual noise, Dylan gulped down cheap wine mixed with water - he hadn't been to the tavern for a long time.
At this time, he did not cover his face, and there was no trace of mycelium on his face, just like an ordinary person.
【Mimesis LV2】
Just like adding skills to Puji, Lin Jun can also add skills to the person being parasitized.
Just adding skills to humans who already have many skills increases the cost countless times.
This skill alone consumes enough magic power to create 40 combat Pujis.
But it's worth it.
Lin Jun had acquired this skill from the deep zone in the early days, and it only allowed him to perform a very rough camouflage skill such as changing the skin color and texture.
There has never been any application scenario for it, but now it finally comes in handy.
At this moment, Dylan felt that his decision to return to the Amethyst Dungeon was the right one.
Of course, he did not think of leaving the dungeon and returning to normal life.
Disguise is always a disguise. In essence, he is still half mushroom man. Who knows when he will be exposed.
Moreover, he now needs to rely on mycelium to supplement his nutrition, otherwise no matter how many gold coins he has, it will not be enough to just drink magic potions.
The reason why he appeared here now was naturally because of Lin Jun’s first mission.
After another glass of wine, a few adventurers sat down opposite Dylan.
"Dylan, huh? I heard you have the latest strategy for the fifth floor?"
Putting down the wine glass and wiping the wine foam off his face, Dylan grinned:
"Yes! But I spent my life to find it, it's not cheap..."
(End of this chapter)
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