Mushroom Garden.
Gray rubbed her growling stomach and looked around in confusion.
A puji happened to pass by her, and she grabbed it.
She brought its cap close to her nose, sniffed, then took a hesitant bite—only to release it in disappointnt.
Her stomach could no longer tolerate anything except delicious pujis. Putting a normal puji inside would just waste precious belly space.
Life had gotten hard for Gray lately.
There was a ti when those delicious pujis brimming with enticing magic power would voluntarily crawl into her mushroom house. She only needed to enjoy the pujis delivered straight to her doorstep.
But at so point… the pujis learned to hide.
Worse, the Mushroom Garden was now filled with a magical fog. Mixed within it, the delicious pujis’ magical signatures beca faint—far too hard to locate using Mana Perception alone.
So she reminisced about the good old days while casually lifting the flap of Norris’s mushroom house, peeking inside. Seeing not a single puji, she left in defeat.
Her footsteps faded away.
A mont later, Puji No. 1 cautiously erged from another mushroom house. Imdiately, a whole cluster of round, plump, “delicious pujis” filed out behind it.
Puji—puji—puji—
They scuttled quickly into the mushroom house Gray had just searched.
“We’re safe for now!” No. 1’s mushroom cap drooped weakly. It still felt lingering terror recalling the mont Gray paused outside their hiding place… but ultimately chose to search the house next door.
“Are we supposed to keep hiding like this forever?” No. 4 smacked a tentacle angrily on the soft mushroom bed, making a muffled puff.
“But we can’t beat her!” No. 5 curled up in a corner, trembling. “That black demon—even if we all attack together, we can’t hurt her at all!”
“But we are the glorious Mushroom Tribe!” No. 4 said passionately. “Even if we are destined to be eaten, it should be after a brave battle! Not living like this—cowering everywhere like that tail-dropping lizardkin who’s always chased by werewolves!”
No. 5 cried, “The mycelium lord gave us the ‘delicious’ trait! Doesn’t that an we were created to be eaten by that black demon? We were born as demon fodder! Wuwuwu…”
Watching No. 4 calling for a heroic final charge, and No. 5 falling deep into despair, No. 1 felt utterly helpless.
There were fewer pujis following it than before; the others had either gone independent or were lured away by the ambitious No. 2.
Among those that remained, No. 4 was the most loyal and steadfast—yet also the most reckless.
Seeing the chaos, No. 1 stepped in to calm them.
“You must not speak disrespectfully of the mycelium lord! You just don’t understand his wisdom! The mycelium lord gave us the ‘delicious’ trait, yet also instructs us to evade the black demon. This ‘chase and escape’ is ant to train our scouting skills, counter-tracking skills, and teamwork!”
It intensified its ntal tone.
“Have you forgotten the skills the mycelium lord let us choose after our last resurrection?”
As it finished speaking, its cap suddenly released a wave of thick magic-infused mist designed to disrupt Mana Perception.
“The mycelium lord wants us to learn coordination! To overco hardship together! Now—tell what skills you all chose!”
“Acceleration.”
“Acceleration.”
“Acceleration.”
“Self-destruct.”
And No. 5 answered even more dramatically—
The air around it warped.
It turned invisible.
The white mist scattering from No. 1’s cap was its tears.
How could the Mushroom Tribe ever beco great again with teammates like these?
Suddenly, the mushroom house’s door was thrown open. Gray’s head squeezed inside.
Her golden eyes instantly brightened when she saw a room full of delicious pujis—like a desert traveler finally finding an oasis.
No. 1 froze.
It hadn’t expected the demon to be so cautious as to re-check a house she had just searched.
No. 1 did not know that Gray simply had terrible mory and didn’t rember which houses she had already searched.
All pujis were trapped.
No escape.
At the critical mont—once again—No. 4 stepped forward.
“For the glory of the Mushroom Tribe!”
“Idiot!”
“No. 4, you mani—!”
Boom!!!
A violent explosion blasted the entire mushroom house apart. The pujis perished alongside Norris’s mushroom house, disintegrating into drifting mycelium dust.
Gray blinked, confused and aggrieved. She whimpered softly, then picked up the lone surviving leg fragnt of No. 1 from the rubble, swallowing it to at least take the edge off her hunger.
Then she had no choice but to resu her hunt for more pujis.
…
The mycelium cocoon split open, and No. 4 crawled out nervously. It had prepared itself to face the furious scolding of its fellow pujis after its “heroic sacrifice” got them all wiped out.
But the chaotic mob of angry pujis didn’t appear.
Only No. 10 was in the room—the solitary puji who usually preferred being alone.
No. 4 sent a puzzled signal through the mycelial network.
“No. 10? You got caught by the black demon too?”
“Hmph.”
No. 10 didn’t elaborate, but internally, it cursed No. 13’s na.
Earlier, during their escape, No. 13—cornered by Gray—attempted to use their soul resonance to drag No. 10 out of the puji group to serve as a decoy!
Thankfully, No. 10 always kept maximum vigilance.
Instead of being sacrificed, it tripped No. 13 with a strand of mycelium—causing No. 13 to stumble and get captured instead.
But No. 10 never imagined that No. 13 wouldn’t be eaten.
Instead, No. 13 sohow defected to Gray and beca her shaless guide.
And because of No. 13’s betrayal, even No. 10—normally cautious—was caught within half a day.
This grudge would not go unavenged.
As for No. 4, No. 10 didn’t bother explaining.
More importantly… this new body felt sturdier than before. Stronger.
It needed to find a chance to test it later.
But… this wasn’t the sunroom?
No. 10 and No. 4 turned at the sa ti.
Standing behind them, staring curiously with big eyes, was the pink-haired mushroom attendant.
At that mont, the mycelium lord descended his decree:
“Your next mission: protect the pink puji.”
No. 10 entered full alert imdiately, assessing the room and guarding their assigned target.
No. 4, however, trembled, extending a tentacle to poke Inanna’s arm.
“You… you’re a puji too?”
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