Chapter 586, Section 585: Development Layout
On the dark, desolate, flat land, countless coffins were neatly arranged.
Row upon row, column upon column, all neatly arranged, stretching towards the horizon...
【jump over】
Another humanoid mist monster with a fish tail and shrimp claws, its shape twisted, grew mushrooms after being completely parasitized by mycelium, and became a puppet.
After the threat within the Tide Sanctuary was eliminated, the monsters that continued to emerge from the mist not only failed to pose a new threat to Lin Jun, but instead became another sustainable source of manpower.
Lin Jun ordered his subordinates to select the stronger individuals among the mist monsters, spare their lives, and transform them into controlled puppets to supplement the underwater combat force.
The only side effect was that every time Lin Jun parasitized these monsters with mycelium, a certain image would always flood his consciousness.
Although the viewing angle is slightly different each time—sometimes standing inside the coffin, sometimes overlooking the entire array—the core elements are still nothing more than the coffin, the mountains, and the pitch-black sky.
After watching it several times, Lin Jun lost interest and thereafter used her powerful mental strength to skip it the moment it appeared on screen.
Most people would probably have to put in a lot of effort to wake up from such a flood of images, but Lin Jun, with her immense mental strength, didn't have this problem.
Everything is proceeding according to plan!
At the Mushroom Garden, the reserves of regular troops and combat Puji are already saturated. Even the "Puji God Weapon," composed of a large number of Puji and considered a strategic weapon, has been assembled and is ready to be activated at any time.
The reason they're still holed up in the mushroom castle is simply because the temperature has dropped so low that even those with [Cold Resistance LV10] can't go outside normally.
All that's left is for Inanna to return from the dwarven territory with the Ring of Imprisonment, and to capture the frost elemental lord of the North who constantly exudes frigidity into the ring as well.
At that time, Mushroom Garden will expand in full force, truly bringing the entire Northern Territory under its control!
Meanwhile, on the Empire's side, Thirteen was also arranged to infiltrate its ranks.
Duke Eleanor...not exactly brilliant, but he's an ideal starting point.
Once the fungal mat is spread out, it's easy to spread it out, but once you try to remove it, it's incredibly difficult.
According to Lin Jun's information network, Eleanor has been overwhelmed by Qi Si recently. Under such circumstances, how could she resist the temptation to use the power of the Mushroom Clan that was offered to her?
As for Keith…
This guy really did sneak into the sea, and it seems he's actually developed quite well!
Although they were defeated, Lin Jun did not underestimate these insects.
If given more time to develop, it might really become a major threat.
The best way to deal with someone who can snowball into strength just like you is to crush them at the right time!
When Qisi first escaped, he was weak, his swarm of insects was small, and he was hiding in the deep sea, so Lin Jun really had a hard time locating him.
But things are different now. As its resources have grown, it has been forced to venture out to forage on a large scale, and its whereabouts have been completely exposed.
The navy under Lin Jun's command, apart from dealing with the fog at sea, was originally prepared for Qi Si.
Recently, several new types of Puji have been bred:
The Floating Mushroom can float on the water's surface, connecting with surrounding mycelium and algae to perform photosynthesis and store magic power; the Sea Monster Mushroom can become a mobile fortress in the sea by relying on its Giant ability and can carry a large number of torpedoes; and the new version of Jida relies on jet propulsion to achieve high-speed changes of direction underwater and is equipped with a variety of underwater skills.
Lin Jun is working overtime to produce these new varieties of Puji in order to quickly increase naval strength.
At the same time, more and more fishmen are joining the mushroom network.
Old Fishman Gulu was quite cooperative.
After reclaiming the Tide Sanctuary, it allowed Lin Jun to absorb the murlocs and spread mycelium throughout the dungeon, while it devoted itself to repairing the damaged statues.
Unfortunately, in Lin Jun's perception, even after being repaired, these statues no longer possessed their original shimmering spirituality; some unknown function seemed to have been permanently lost.
The only one that still retains that radiant soul light is the one that Norris and Ming initially rescued.
Although the fish-men are cooperative in many matters, they stubbornly persist in one thing.
Those who are on the verge of death must die in their sacrificial ritual.
Because mycelial parasitism grants the host an extremely strong ability to survive, this ritual is now mainly aimed at those fish-men who are aging naturally.
Although Lin Jun was dissatisfied with the inability to decompose corpses, considering that the merfolk had voluntarily submitted and that they were not currently lacking in skill benefits, she decided to let them continue their tradition for the time being.
Lin Jun had even witnessed the ceremony multiple times, and the process was indeed similar to that of the cultists known as the Hand of the Dead.
The only difference between the two is that the merman sacrifices himself, while the Hand of the Dead sacrifices others.
Through the perspective of "inspiration," Lin Jun also truly witnessed the changes in their souls during the ritual.
The gray substance attached to the surface of the soul to be sacrificed peeled off in large pieces under the influence of the ritual, and was absorbed by the old merman who presided over the ritual.
This process is reflected on the panel as the disappearance of skills.
This aligns with Lin Jun's past speculations: those attachments on the surface of the soul are likely related to skills, or even the skills themselves.
However, this is still different from being broken down by Lin Jun's "greed".
First of all, the ritual obviously cannot completely remove the attached material like he could. When the soul leaves the ritual and merges into the world, a lot of gray matter still remains on its surface.
It's unclear whether this is good or bad for the soul itself.
Secondly, although the old merman in charge of the ceremony had absorbed a large amount of attached substances, over the years, his soul had been almost stained dark black in Lin Jun's spiritual vision.
However, these absorbed substances did not grant it any new skills.
In short, Lin Jun saw no benefit whatsoever for either the old fishman himself or the person being sacrificed.
Perhaps... if we persevere, that so-called Grim Reaper will eventually bestow a blessing?
Just like the "Sage" title on the old fishman?
Moreover, Lin Jun was somewhat curious.
What would happen if I dismantled the old murloc with so much buildup on its body?
Is it only possible to obtain the old fishman's skills?
Or can we also obtain the skills of the murlocs who were sacrificed by the old murlocs in the past?
Lin Jun remembered that the normal lifespan of fish-people in this world was only thirty or forty years.
I glanced at the old murloc who was organizing the murlocs to carefully repair the idol, but unfortunately, his age wasn't displayed on his character panel, so I wondered how much longer he would live to die of old age...
Suddenly, Lin Jun, who was pondering the nature of the attached substance with a scientific spirit, paused.
[Level Up: LV69 → LV70]
kindness?!
finally……
Lord Mushroom! Making its grand entrance!
Lin Jun couldn't wait to pull up the panel, scrolled the long skill bar to the bottom, and clicked the newly appeared "+" at the end!
(End of this chapter)
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