In the kingdom’s rear lines, out in the desolate wilderness, a human supply convoy had just set up camp.
As dusk settled, several campfires flickered in the thickening night, pushing back the chill.
A few soldiers sat around one of the fires, chatting idly while staring eagerly at the large iron pot bubbling over the flas.
A young soldier boredly scraped his boot sole with a stick. Sticky mycelium mixed with dirt flaked off, and he couldn’t help complaining:
“This road is impossible now! Everything’s covered in this sticky fungus. If I don’t scrape it off a few tis a day, my boots get so heavy I can’t lift my feet.”
“You see that and still think it’s bad?” the scar-faced veteran beside him chuckled slyly, then quickly pulled sothing from his coat and shook it in front of the young man before hiding it again.
It was a plump, firm mushroom with a vivid red cap. Before anyone could take a good look, he tore it apart and tossed the pieces into the boiling pot.
“Delicious Capshroom!” The young soldier’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Shh—! Keep it down!” The veteran shot a nervous glance around. “You want the whole convoy coming for a share?”
The young soldier nodded, whispering, “Where’d you get it?”
“Luck today. Found it on the roadside.” The veteran smacked his lips smugly. “Now you still think the fungus carpet is a bad thing?”
The young man shook his head so fast he looked like a rattle drum.
A year ago, a small fry like him would never dream of tasting sothing only nobles could afford.
The veteran chuckled again. “And ever since these mycelium carpets spread here, camping in this area’s been much easier.”
“Oh? How so?”
“You haven’t traveled this route before.” The veteran pointed at the darkness. “This area used to have a kind of big rat—I forget the na. Nearly the size of a chicken, with razor teeth. They’d sneak out in the dead of night and chew through wagon wheels and supplies. Every night we camped here, we had to double the night watch, and even then people kept being woken up by the noise. No one slept well. But once the fungus spread here, those pests finally vanished. Otherwise tonight one of us would definitely be stuck guarding the wagons.”
“The fungus shows up, and the big rats disappear? Why?”
The veteran shrugged. “How would I know? Maybe the sticky stuff hurts their paws so they moved away.”
“I think I hear sothing… Not the big rats, right?” The young soldier pressed his ear to the ground.
The veteran tried too, but heard nothing.
“My ears are better,” the young man whispered. “But the sound is constant… so probably not rats…”
…
In the underground tunnels, countless puji linked head to tail, forming a living train that surged rapidly through the winding passage.
These puji joined the formation one after another as the knight traveled back.
Normally, such caution wouldn’t be necessary.
After all, in any region with fungal tunnels, Lin Jun had already wiped out any burrowing monsters that might threaten the network—otherwise maintenance costs would be absurd.
But since this was his life-bound artifact, no degree of caution was excessive.
Truthfully, Lin Jun always felt he had yet to fully develop the potential of the Sunstone.
Look at other people’s Heartwood Cores: they could attack with life energy, transfer vitality, open the Divine Tree family’s gates…
Then look at his Sunstone: used for sunbathing the fungal carpet, or sunbathing vampires.
Could it not also be developed into sothing like a direct attack thod or so other practical function?
He could only hope the complete Sunstone would reveal new surprises.
Otherwise its final purpose might just be getting embedded into his still-unfinished “Puji God-Engine” as a ga power core.
It would take several days for the Sunstone to be brought back. Lin Jun finally had ti to handle other matters.
Such as… rewards and recognition.
…
Puji Underground City, Deep Layer.
Aiden followed a guiding puji toward the designated eting place.
Thanks to expensive potions, his severed arm had regrown. But the new skin was tender and pale, impossible to show in public. Even in sumr, he still wore formal noble attire and white gloves.
Walking along, Aiden wondered whether the boss was finally going to give him his pay.
Upon returning from the successful mission last ti, the boss had been busy and hadn’t summoned him. Aiden hadn’t asked directly, but inwardly he’d been thinking about that promised S-rank magic crystal.
He had even planned out how to best utilize S-rank crystals of various sizes!
Report said many core mbers of the Mushroom Garden would attend today. Aiden rarely t anyone except Inanna and Dylan when working in Mordu.
This was a good chance to build connections.
Mushfolk, vampires, werewolves, lizardn… oh—the lizardman was Norris; Aiden still rembered him.
Even so, seeing how many demonfolk were among the core, Aiden’s eyelid twitched.
It felt like a demon clan gathering.
Though he knew they were all allies, he still felt a mont of instinctive panic and nearly threw up an illusion to hide himself.
Only when his eyes landed on the little fairy Rael—swinging her legs among a circle of demons while munching dried mushrooms—did his nerves finally ease.
When everyone was present, Marshal Puji arrived atop the stone platform, escorted by a gleaming phalanx of ceremonial puji.
Norris stood at the platform’s edge, holding the Yellow Book, and called out:
“Aiden!”
“For ritorious service—reward: one magic crystal! Bestowed: one sip!”
As soon as he finished, several puji carried a plump, round puji forward and set it before Aiden.
Aiden stared, confused.
Was this puji the reward? But wasn’t it supposed to be an S-rank magic crystal? Or… was the puji itself the “bestowal”?
Lin Jun suddenly rembered sothing. “Ah! I almost forgot!”
A puji passed him a silver carving knife, which he placed atop the round puji before Aiden.
Aiden: “…”
“What are you waiting for? Cut it open!” Lin Jun urged.
Still bewildered, Aiden picked up the knife, feeling less like he was receiving a reward and more like he was performing so secret cult ritual.
But the boss’s orders allowed no hesitation.
He took a breath and carefully sliced into the soft, plump puji body. The blade slid in easily—then tapped sothing incredibly hard, producing a crisp “click.”
“This…!”
As the flesh parted, a crystal was revealed—an S-rank magic crystal as thick as a grown man’s forearm, perfectly clear and pristine.
Gulp—
Aiden swallowed hard.
He had expected—at best—sothing fist-sized like the previous three he’d received. Even sothing smaller would have delighted him.
But this size… far beyond imagination.
A hundred burgeoning illusions—grand, intricate, false yet real—flashed before his mind.
“Boss!” he choked, overwheld.
But instead of words, the Marshal Puji reached out a soft, glistening mycelium tendril toward him.
At its tip, droplets quivered.
“Open up. Accept your bestowal.”
“Best…owal…”
Aiden stared at the tendril, then at the core mbers behind him watching with various expressions.
For the ever-calm illusionist, rare panic and embarrassnt welled up.
Norris cast him a sympathetic glance. He was almost certain—without question—the boss was doing this on purpose.
Finally, Aiden steeled himself, stepped forward, lifted his chin, and opened his mouth as wide as possible.
A few cold, sticky drops fell into his throat.
At first he wondered how sothing so tasteless could be special.
Then the surge ca—a majestic, pure wave of life energy burst from his stomach and flooded his entire body like a warm tidal wave.
Every cell seed to sing.
Only then did he truly understand why it was called a “bestowal.”
anwhile, through the fungal network, Lin Jun explained the “Life Water” to all core mbers.
“Noru— Louisa!” Norris hastily corrected a certain less-than-flattering title from the Yellow Book. “For rit in assisting command and training new forces—reward: one bestowal!”
Louisa shot to her feet instantly and strode forward.
Her eyes held no hesitation—only burning hunger.
“To serve the boss is my honor!” she declared.
Ever since experiencing that grand, sweeping battle through the fungal network, she had been savoring that intoxicating “taste.”
Even without the blood-soaked thrill of a real battlefield, the feeling of directing armies had left her restless with exhilaration.
It was pure bliss; she would gladly do it for no pay. And the boss had prepared additional rewards?
She tilted her head back without hesitation and swallowed the falling drops—every last one.
Then, like Aiden, the surge hit.
【Level Up: LV54 → LV55】
After showing Aiden and Louisa as examples, Lin Jun distributed diluted Life Water to all core mbers, letting each personally experience its effects.
Two were absent: Ming and Gray.
Both were receiving special treatnt—one because he trained hard, the other because he didn’t need to. Either way, morale-boosting etings weren’t necessary for them.
As for Powder Puji, he’d sneak her so later. Her “Elental Spirit’s Favor” was well worth nurturing.
If ti allowed, he even planned to bring her north to see if she could help deal with another rogue spirit.
But that was for the future.
Phew—!
With so many staff, arranging everything for everyone properly… being the boss wasn’t easy.
…
Sunset cast warm orange light across the sky. At the entrance of Puji Ho, old Dylan held a cup of herbal tea Bianca had brewed before heading off work. Leaning back in his chair, he slowly exhaled.
Another peaceful day without incidents.
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