Chapter 396


Deep within the Pujis Dungeon’s lower levels, in an uninhabited cavern.


This was a remote and barren area, devoid of any unique resources.


Before the Mycelium Carpet had spread here, the cave had been completely bare. After it arrived, mushrooms sprouted, attracting a few dung beetles that fed on them—but that was all.


There were many such caves in the lower levels. Lin Jun usually used these out-of-the-way places for his skill experiments, and today was no exception.


As the experiment began, mana from the entire fungal carpet surged violently toward a single point.


The beetles, insensitive to mana fluctuations, continued lazily munching on mushrooms, unaware of the change.


One beetle was halfway through devouring a plump mushroom when the cap suddenly withered and collapsed—as if its very life force had been drained away in an instant.


The beetle turned its tiny head in confusion, but before it could look for another mushroom, a surge of force hurled it across the cavern.


It instinctively curled into a ball midair and rolled straight into the cracks between the rocks, vanishing from sight.


At the cavern’s center, the vortex of mana became almost tangible. The Mycelium Carpet visibly lost its luster, turning from vibrant and moist to brittle and gray before finally becoming lifeless.


It didn’t stop there—the neighboring caverns were affected too. The once-lush mushrooms in those areas shriveled one after another.


When the mana storm finally subsided, five entire caverns’ worth of Mycelium Carpet had been drained to dust.


And in exchange, Lin Jun got… half a Pujis Knight’s butt.


When the vortex dissipated, the disembodied Pujis rump wobbled a little before flopping lifelessly onto the dead mycelium.


Well, he thought grimly, that confirmed it—no, this new ability couldn’t conjure something out of thin air. No free magic shortcuts.


【Achievement: Follower Maker (Quickly create one subordinate)】


This achievement had popped up the moment [Pujis Creation] reached LV10 the day before.


The Achievement System was still a complete mystery—its conditions always hidden, and ordinary people rarely even had a chance to trigger one.


But clearly, one requirement for 【Follower Maker】 must be maxing out [Pujis Creation], or perhaps any creation-type skill reaching maximum level.


Its effect was exactly what it said: the rapid creation of a Pujis—apparently consuming normal mana.


Now that Lin Jun’s [Pujis Creation] was LV10, without using mana acceleration, he could produce a low-tier, three-skill cannon-fodder Pujis in just a few hours.


An elite Pujis with ten or fewer skills and matching elemental affinity would take about five days.


Heavier units like the Armored Pujis or Scout Pujis required roughly half a month.


All of these could be sped up by channeling mana—like in the cultist incident, when dozens of toxin-laden cannon-fodder Pujis had been spawned in under thirty seconds.


But there was a limit. The process consumed vast amounts of mana. Even with extreme waste, an elite Pujis could be birthed in half a day, while a Scout would still take at least three.


As for Knights… those could only be cultivated slowly.


So this new achievement skill, though it failed now, had only failed because he’d been greedy enough to try skipping the cost for a Knight Pujis.


Under normal mana levels, the carpet could easily produce elites, and with some prior energy storage, even Scouts or Armored Pujis could be spawned quickly.


Simply put, Lin Jun could now air-drop high-tier Pujis instead of relying solely on cannon fodder each time.


In theory, even Knight Pujis could be spawned that way—but the mana required for one exceeded what an entire carpet could store.


Switching to another cavern, Lin Jun tried to create an Armored Pujis.


This time… nothing happened.


Ah. So there was a cooldown too.


After some testing, he confirmed it—the ability could only be used once every five days.


That meant it wasn’t suitable for regular production, but perfect as an emergency measure.


Not bad, he decided. For something earned out of nowhere, it was quite the free bonus.



Elsewhere, in the far north, the new city was finally taking shape under the joint labor of multiple races.


Following Lin Jun’s instructions, they had built circular walls with four gates—North, South, West, and “That Gate.”


In the future, all the captives under Lin Jun’s rule would move into the city, instead of being crowded together in the Mushroom Fields as they were now. The source of thɪs content is novel•


And those captives weren’t only fighters.


Back when the Half-Demon Tribe had their home raided by those damned Qis["Chiss"]—just thinking of them irritated Lin Jun—the creatures had stolen his loot and vanished completely. He still hadn’t found where they’d gone to exact revenge.


In any case, only the warriors had survived from the Half-Demon Tribe, but Lin Jun had transported the entire Lizardfolk tribe back intact.


Later, he bought various slaves from other tribes, and his population had become increasingly diverse.


There were demons, humans, even dwarves—most of them noncombatants.


A fortified city with proper defenses was absolutely necessary.


Now, as construction neared completion, the chief supervisor, Shou, came running to Lin Jun, requesting a name for the new city.


Lin Jun thought for a moment. “Make it sound impressive—let’s call it Mycelium Pujifort!


Shou felt no trace of “impressiveness” in that name. He opened his mouth to protest, then decided against it.


As Lin Jun mused about turning Mycelium Pujifort into a city of wonder that the world would envy, Xinghuo came up to report bad news to the Marshal Pujis perched on Shou’s head.


“You’re saying several nearby tribes might be joining forces against us? How can you tell?”


Lin Jun’s perspective swept quickly across the northern frontier, but he didn’t notice anything unusual.


“It’s the trade, Boss,” Xinghuo replied. “Those tribes have recently been bringing only weak or crippled slaves—or even children—to trade, and they’re exchanging them purely for ordinary mushrooms, not the Gourmet Mushrooms.”


“What do you mean?”


“The first sign means they’re starting to guard against our growing power. The second suggests they’re preparing for war. Even in the far north, now that spring’s come, food is plentiful again. There’s no reason for them to avoid eating Gourmet Mushrooms unless they’re hoarding supplies.


And since several tribes changed behavior at the same time, they’re likely in secret contact. That would make us their most probable target.”


Xinghuo paused, then added, “Of course, that’s just my personal speculation. It needs more verification.”


“Hmm… sounds reasonable,” Lin Jun admitted—but privately, he wondered, You got all that from a few trades?


And why would they attack when business was going so well? He hadn’t even picked a fight yet!


Verifying Xinghuo’s theory wouldn’t be hard; they’d just need to keep watch over time.


Even if it were true, Lin Jun wasn’t particularly worried.


Those northern tribes combined weren’t weak, but his strength in the far north had long since transformed—especially with the Mycelium Carpet’s vast expansion.


If they really dared to start a war, he could crush them one by one through sheer force and superior vision.


Compared to that, what mattered far more were the changes now unfolding across the entire continent.