This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 105, Section 104: Swergis, so weak.
Norris had a dream.

I dreamt that I returned to the surface with magic crystal ore, and there was actually an A-grade magic crystal inside.

After selling it, Norris paid off his debts and even had a considerable amount of money left over.

He no longer has to dig in the mine every day, covered in dust and dirt.

With the money, Norris studied herbalism, became a pharmacist, opened a potions shop in Dullwind, and lived the peaceful life he had always dreamed of.

One day, the girl came to the shop.

The girl whose name he didn't even know.

Norris was so excited that he forgot how to greet the guests, but luckily the girl spoke first.

He assumed the girl was also there to buy medicine, but she said instead:

"Strange? Is it not fully awake yet?"

Then came a series of crisp slaps.

……

clap clap clap-

When I opened my eyes, I saw a puffy creature slapping my face back and forth with its tentacles. The force was so light that I could barely feel it, but the sound was very loud...

???

"Finally awake! How are you? Still clear-headed? You weren't poisoned, were you?"

This voice!

Death... no, it's the person who asked me before if I wanted to live.

Norris finally distinguished between dream and reality and remembered what had happened before.

"my body?"

I tried moving around a bit, and there was no discomfort at all; in fact, I felt exceptionally good!

"It actually works..."

As Norris propped himself up, a sound like metal scraping against metal came from his body.

He looked down and saw countless diamond-shaped, silvery-white scales covering his entire body, their iridescent color rising and falling with his breath in the glow of the surrounding fluorescent mushrooms.

Raising his hands, ten silver-thread-like claws seemed capable of easily tearing apart everything in front of him.

What struck him even more strange was the cavity in his right chest, inside which countless hyphae had formed a new structure…

What have I... become?
Norris looked completely bewildered in the mushroom house, even trying to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming, but his claws were too long to pinch himself.

"Are you awake now?" Lin Jun asked again.

"Who...who are you? Why did you turn me into this?" Norris felt like he had become a monster.

"I'm the one who saved your life. As for why you became like this, haven't I already told you? It's just a small price to pay after the treatment."

I specifically asked you that again, have you forgotten?

Norris thought about it and realized that was indeed the case, but he hadn't expected it to come at this price.

As if guessing Norris's thoughts, Lin Jun said again, "What, if you knew it would turn out like this, would you choose to give up living? You can still choose that now."

Norris looked at his sharp claws and swallowed hard.

Indeed, even knowing the outcome, I still don't want to die...

Lin Jun then comforted her:
"It's not so bad as it is now. Isn't the silver armor beautiful?"

Honestly, I never expected that mixing scales and steel bones would result in this color.

And not only are you beautiful, you've become stronger too!

"Get stronger...?"

"Do you want to try it?"

Soon, the two poops led Norris to a small clearing in the mushroom forest.

A fat, nerdy guy walked over step by step.

Gollum—

"Does this mean I have to fight it?"

It's not that Norris is a coward; he's genuinely bad at fighting. His only decent skill is [Mining Strike], used for mining, and he gets intimidated by Fatty's massive size. "Of course not."

Norris had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Fatty pull out a large wild boar from his belly.

???

Norris looked at the large creature lying unconscious on the ground and tried to recall the monster encyclopedia of the dungeon.

"Could it be a stone-skinned pig?" Norris asked uncertainly.

"answer!"

The Stone-skinned Wild Boar doesn't actually have stone skin; the name is just a descriptive term.

It is one of the few animal-type monsters that can roam freely in the six-layered botanical garden, relying on its thick skin, great strength, and immunity to the entanglement of the plants.

"No, no! How am I supposed to fight the monsters on the sixth floor?!"

Although Norris is level 21, he would have a tough time against the monsters in the first three floors if they actually fought.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm watching over you, you won't die."

The Puji pushed Norris back, and the Stone Boar slowly woke up. As soon as it woke up, a stone thrown by a Puji hit it on the head.

The boar shook its head and turned to notice Norris across from it—his silver armor was truly eye-catching.

Faced with a wild boar as tall as a person standing upright, Norris couldn't muster any courage and turned to run away.

He was fine when he didn't move, but when he did, the wild boar started moving too, charging straight at him.

[Charge LV3]

It's not a high-level skill, but with the added weight of the wild boar, the impact is astonishing.

Norris, running haphazardly, didn't even bother to observe the enemy's movements, blindly running around without noticing the boars charging.

The wild boar caught up from behind and then headbutted him, sending him flying.

Norris traced a beautiful parabola in the sky before crashing headfirst into a mushroom tree, bouncing off and falling to the ground.

The panel showed only 15% of his health had dropped, but Norris himself didn't realize it and thought he was going to die from the fall.

After writhing on the ground for a while, he realized that it only seemed to hurt a little, but by then the wild boar had already charged at him again.

This time, the stone-skinned boar pinned Norris against the mushroom tree, pushing him so hard that he sank in.

Norris was also driven to desperation. He tried to hold the boar's head down with both hands, but his claws easily tore through the boar's skin and went inside.

Unfortunately, the attack missed a vital spot, and the wounded boar went berserk.

It kept charging at him, and even though the boar's tusks weren't particularly sharp and Norris's scales weren't damaged, his internal organs couldn't take it.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Norris became ferocious, digging his claws into the boar's body and pulling desperately, his magic power instinctively converging at the opening in his right chest.

Bang!
The mushroom cannon exploded at point-blank range with a tremendous roar, the impact blasting off most of the wild boar's head, and Norris himself was thrown a long way on the ground by the shockwave.

Lin Jun, who was watching the battle, was not flustered at all. Norris looked dangerous, but he still had about 60% of his health left, some of which was taken away by her mushroom cannon.

After hiding the ruby, Little Black, who had somehow come to watch the show, gave his assessment: "Svergis, so weak."

Svergrande?
Lin Jun thought for a while before recalling that this seemed to be a general term used by the dragon race to refer to those who were not worthy of having names.

Could it be that Xiao Hei also considers him a dragon?
It clearly doesn't even have a tail or wings, and its scales are close-fitting, completely different from Xiao Hei's thick, upright scales. How could you mistake it for Xiao Hei?

However, the assessment is spot on—it's too weak.

The skills Lin Jun equipped on him could have defeated this stone-skinned boar if placed on Puji, let alone Norris, whose attribute values ​​are much higher. Yet, they ended up like this.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Judging from Norris's previous skill panel, he probably hasn't fought much.

Lin Jun and Xiao Hei thought Norris's performance was terrible, but Norris himself didn't think so at the time.

Norris stared at the fallen stone-skinned boar before him, his chest heaving violently.

A strange, stimulating sensation rose up his spine, and a mixture of fear, excitement, pleasure, and pain filled his mind.

He looked at his hands, which were still bleeding.

"This is... power!"

[Level Up: LV21 → LV22]

(End of this chapter)