Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 543 - 533: Avatar? Clone?

In the dark lower forest, an elf and a Puki faced each other in silence.

The elf tried to take two steps back, while Puki followed with four steps forward.

Mycelium squirmed, and Puki’s ragged voice also emerged.

"Sirean? Divine Wood L... Lord?" Lin Jun asked tentatively.

Bang—!

Sirean was startled, stepping on the talking Puki, then grabbed another Puki nearby.

"Quiet!" Divine Wood’s voice appeared in Lin Jun’s consciousness.

It really is Divine Wood!

Confirmed speculation left Lin Jun in shock.

However, this time, Divine Wood’s voice was no longer so light, but rather somewhat embarrassed and annoyed.

Sirean’s emerald eyes stared intently at the Puki in his hand, conveying through his thoughts, "Our deal is complete, whatever you do next is up to you, let’s not interfere with each other, as if we don’t know each other, understand?"

He gently put down the Puki and turned to leave.

However, four soft mycelium tendrils instantly wrapped around his right ankle.

Sirean wanted to break free from the entanglement, but more Pukis had already "popped" out from the surrounding fungal mat. Their round bodies eagerly clung to his calf and thigh, dragging down his steps.

"You little brat..."

The forest suddenly came to life.

Several ancient trees around shook their trunks, their roots bursting from the ground, like agile vines, picking up Pukis and tossing them afar.

New Pukis tried to approach again, only to be mercilessly blocked by more swinging roots and suddenly sprouting branches.

Just as Sirean was about to leave gracefully under the forest’s protection, Lin Jun had no choice but to throw out his trump card:

"Divine Wood Lord, you wouldn’t want, um... that Vera to know your true identity, right?"

Sirean’s footsteps suddenly halted, he slowly turned around and walked back, the Puki entangled by the roots tightened under his gaze.

"Threatening me?" Divine Wood’s thoughts turned cold, "Do you think provoking me will benefit you in any way?"

"You’re the one who tricked me first!"

Lin Jun was filled with grief and indignation, emotions running high.

"Saying the world is doomed, wanting to sleep until the world ends, but what happened? Secretly sneaking out for fun! Leaving the world-saving drudgery to me, the poor, weak, and helpless Puki!"

"If successful, you reap the benefits; if it fails, we all lose, but you’ve enjoyed yourself for years, haven’t you?"

"Only you get to finish your happy tree life, I don’t agree!"

The Puki twisted arduously, extending trembling tendrils, stubbornly re-entangling Sirean’s boot tip.

Sirean looked down expressionlessly at the Puki, as if it had suffered a great wrong, "Just say what you want?"

The tendrils coiled around the boot tip instantly loosened, rubbing together with agility, the tone of grief swept away, replaced by straightforwardness: "Divine Artifact."

"Impossible."

An expected refusal.

Lin Jun was undeterred, immediately beginning to haggle, looking a world apart from the earlier moment.

"Then help me take out a troublesome enemy... or give a special skill with no level restriction... worst case, teach me how to control these ancient trees..."

He put forward several requests in succession, but all were rejected.

"This won’t do, that won’t do," Lin Jun’s thoughts carried a hint of complaint, "Then I want to study Abyss Magic, you must have some way to help?"

For researching Abyss Magic, a practice seen as dangerous and taboo by most creatures, Sirean showed no surprise or disdain, but asked casually, "What specific problem have you encountered?"

"Risk control! I’m afraid of accidentally creating something unmanageable, destroying my own home. Big guy, do you have any good methods, or something to cover all bases? Like... one-click field clearing expulsion or something?"

"There’s no such thing..." Sirean thought for a moment, "Why not do it in the underground city’s attached space, if problems arise it won’t affect the outside."

The Puki’s cap tilted: "Makes sense!"

The Puki extended its mycelium tendrils, spreading them in front of Sirean, the action carried an expected sense of entitlement.

Sirean looked down at the few shaking tendrils, "What do you mean?"

"You must give me a ’key’, otherwise how do I get in?" Lin Jun said, also using the Puki to point at the sapling in the distance connecting the Divine Wood Dungeon’s Abyssal Space.

Sirean’s perfect elf face instantly darkened: "When did I ever say I would lend you my place for your experiments? Doesn’t the Thirteenth Dungeon have its own auxiliary space?"

"My own space has to be kept as a last resort, I can’t afford to mess it up easily," Lin Jun replied as a matter of course.

For the first time, veins appeared on the elf’s forehead, something that hadn’t happened even when tangled by tentacles. With a slight force, this Puki was crushed.

However, in the next second, another identical Puki popped out from the nearby fungal mat with a "pop".

Completely ignoring that he had just wiped out a Puki, he casually spread his tentacles, with a continuous stream of eager thoughts conveyed through his mind.

Sirean took a deep breath to calm his temperament: "It’s impossible for you to use my territory, but there is indeed an ownerless one that might do."

He picked up a piece of wood from the ground, closed his eyes for a moment, and then tossed the wood to Puki.

The moment Puki touched it, a wave of information surged into his consciousness.

The feeling was quite similar to the information blocks in the Abyssal Space, except this time the information was solidified on a physical piece of wood, and once fully read, the wood itself lost all its special resonance, reverting to ordinary wood.

In Lin Jun’s mind, a detailed layout of two complex magic arrays appeared, along with a geographic coordinate.

"This is...?"

"Typically, the Abyssal Space below a dungeon collapses with the destruction of the Dungeon Core," Sirean’s voice returned to its initial calm and detached tone, "but there... there once was a dungeon which was destroyed in an abnormal way, and its connected auxiliary space accidentally was preserved, becoming an independent fragment."

"Find that coordinate point, place the first array there, and then place the second array at your chosen new anchor point, and you’ll be able to move the connection point between space and the world."

"Alright, that’s all. If you’re still not satisfied, do as you please. But by then, don’t even think about developing in my Underground City again."

With that said, Sirean turned and left.

Having come to this point, Lin Jun could only take what was offered.

The structures of those two magic arrays were intricate and profound, difficult to fully grasp for a moment, but the accompanying instructions were extremely detailed, making the collection of materials and setup fairly straightforward.

It’s just that this coordinate...

Isn’t it within the Empire?!

And it doesn’t seem to be within Xiao Xi’s sphere of influence, rather it’s slanted towards the northern side... Feels like it’s going to be a bit tricky.

Lin Jun was pondering this when he saw Sirean turn back again: "Given the situation now, why don’t you go ahead and tell me where Vera and the others are, so I don’t waste time searching."

Vera?!

Lin Jun truly didn’t know his whereabouts.

To Lin Jun, after all, Vera was just a slightly quirky ordinary adventurer, not someone he would spend special effort monitoring.

Of course, now knowing this Divine Wood, whether real or an avatar, is in the team, he would certainly pay more attention in the future.

The boss just shared some benefits, so helping him search is only fair.

His will swept through Mushroom City, Oath City, and the fallen area...

Hm?

Nothing.

He expanded the search area and looked again, but still no sign of Vera or any members of her team.

Could they already be dead?

"Where?" Sirean asked, his gaze falling on Puki.

"Couldn’t find them," Lin Jun had to honestly confess.

Sirean grabbed Puki’s cap and lifted it, his face full of displeasure: "You didn’t even know where they were, yet you dared to use them to threaten me just now?"

"I’ll help you find them! I’ll search carefully right away! I can guess where they might be!" Puki’s short little legs kicked helplessly in the air before Sirean loosened his grip, allowing it to fall back to the ground.

"They might be active around the West Coast, a lot of adventurers have gone that way recently," Lin Jun analyzed.

That area, full of Slimes, was a blind spot for Lin Jun’s vision.

"You’re quick to act," Sirean snorted softly, but it was unclear whether in approval or otherwise.

This Old Deng of Divine Wood clearly knows quite a bit, yet is unwilling to share, this enigmatic behavior was duly noted.

Puki enthusiastically moved a little closer, wiggling its mycelium tentacles in a placating manner: "Boss, please be patient, give me a day or two, and I’ll definitely find them for you!"

Sirean could only sit down, casually grabbing Puki, slightly furrowing his brow, and rubbing it punitively.

Several Scout Pukis rapidly generated in the Kingdom’s fallen zones.

Target: Locate Adventurer Vera!