A strange Puji with a purple mushroom cap wobbled its round body enthusiastically in front of a tailless Lizardman sitting cross-legged.
“Norris, how does it feel?” Lin Jun asked.
“What… feel?” Norris looked baffled, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Isn’t it just a Puji… uh… having a cramp?”
“Don’t you feel even a little… blood boiling? Your primal instincts roaring? The urge to protect it at all costs, to cradle it tenderly?” Lin Jun’s voice was filled with coaxing temptation.
“No, boss!” Norris was exasperated. “It’s a Puji! Who knows if it’s one of those self-detonating ones? Why should I feel blood boiling? I just want to stay far away, so I don’t get blown up!”
Useless? Could it be this guy doesn’t count as human anymore?
Lin Jun refused to give up. After pestering him for a while longer, Norris finally showed a faint status effect: 【Chard (Minor)】.
“Huh?” Norris blinked with confusion, subconsciously reaching out. “This Puji… actually looks kind of… cute?”
His fingertip was about to touch the swaying purple cap.
Then suddenly, he shuddered. “Wait! Boss! You’re not using as so experint, are you?”
The instant realization struck, the charm vanished.
Well, with such a low skill level, that was expected. And Norris knew himself too well—once he beca suspicious, his mind was resistant. The result wasn’t surprising.
Lin Jun then turned the skill loose on so weaker-willed Lizardman captives. The effect was imdiate. Before long, the target’s eyes glazed over, and he nearly hugged the test Puji like a treasured baby.
So the skill worked. But a problem followed—after charming them, then what?
Those chard indeed carried the “special” Puji close, guarding it like treasure, but nothing more.
Without the Spore Network, Lin Jun couldn’t issue commands through them.
If he made a speaking Puji to give orders, the sudden voice scared the target straight awake.
Clearly, a supporting skill was missing.
Further study showed that what he lacked was called 【ntal Suggestion】.
That skill existed in the half-demon leader Bastaldos, but Lin Jun obviously wasn’t going to break him down just for that.
Bastaldos’s reason for surrender was simple.
First, because he couldn’t win.
Second, his ho was destroyed, and the rest of his tribe—aside from the hundred beside him—were all in Lin Jun’s hands.
Surrender might at least grant his people a slightly better life.
So he was still useful—not worth consuming for a single skill.
Lin Jun also tested 【Kiss of Temptation】 with excitent.
The effect? When a Puji clung to soone, it could drain a small amount of life force.
Practical enough. But there was neither “temptation” nor “kiss.” The na could’ve been “Life Drain” and it would’ve fit better.
His imagined “alluring Puji of irresistible charm” was clearly a lost cause.
Among his new acquisitions, the most useful was 【Regeneration】.
Its recovery stacked with 【Mycelium Reconstitution】, the cost still being mana when applied to Pujis.
Whether on heavy-armored Pujis or his subordinates, it would be excellent—once leveled up.
As for 【Feign Death】, it was like “turtle breath.” It stopped all activity, even mana circulation, leaving only the minimum to stay alive.
In that state, even if the Puji stood again, its lack of mana ant it couldn’t keep fighting.
Not totally useless, but applications were too narrow to matter much.
Beyond looted skills, Lin Jun’s core ability 【ntal Integration】 finally broke through, rising to LV8.
His maximum controlled Pujis doubled from 2,500 to 5,000!
But Lin Jun noticed a detail.
From LV6 to LV7, the number had also doubled, from 1,500 to 3,000.
Yet before this upgrade, his actual cap was only 2,500, since the Dungeon Core consud 500 units of “processing capacity.”
By logic, the new cap should’ve been 5,500. But in fact, it doubled from the reduced base—so still 5,000.
This ant the Dungeon Core didn’t consu a fixed 500. It took one constant fraction—exactly one-sixth of his total ntal power.
Bad news followed.
Lin Jun tested raising Xīnghuǒ(Spark)’s 【ntal Integration】 to LV8.
The result was disappointing. Nothing changed.
Xīnghuǒ(Spark), among the demonkin, was best at controlling Pujis, capping at about 150.
But upgrading didn’t increase his limit, nor did it unlock Norris’s precision control over multiple Pujis with separate commands.
It was as if Xīnghuǒ(Spark)’s potential was already maxed out—leveling the skill brought nothing more.
Tests on other demonkin gave the sa outco. 【ntal Integration】’s “expansion” effect applied only to Lin Jun himself.
After tallying his gains, Lin Jun began considering what ca next.
So had escaped. That was inevitable.
In a world full of skills, magic, and flight, with numbers so large, so experts of escape would break through.
And not all escapees would return to their tribes. So, seeing their hos destroyed, simply wandered off on their own.
Still, leaks were inevitable.
If he were the Empire, what would he do?
The two nearest tribes had already fallen. The more distant ones, even if they wished to help, were helpless against the cold and distance.
And even if they ca, victory wasn’t guaranteed.
As for the Empire sending an army—impossible.
After all, its soldiers likely lacked advanced 【Cold Resistance】. In this harsh environnt, Lin Jun was unmatched.
That left only two options:
Either leave him alone for now, or send individuals strong enough to defeat him—the Dukes!
To prepare for that possibility, Lin Jun had only one solution.
In short—it was ti to move.
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