This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 117, Section 116: Punishment
"it's all my fault……"

In the open space in front of the Mushroom House, Norris knelt in the center of a group of Puji, and even Xiao Hei squatted in the corner watching him.

He hung his head, his scales scraping against the ground with a soft rustling sound, and his intermittent confessions floated in the air along with a faint smell of blood.

Norris's right leg had been reattached and his chest wound had healed, but he still looked disheveled.

The flesh at the joint of the severed limbs, which was not yet fully fused together, had a clear dividing line. The scales all over the body were missing pieces here and there, and the remaining ones were mostly cracked, no longer as bright as before.

Norris didn't know why he lost control of his emotions. He should have gotten used to being bullied for so many years.

Now that he had committed murder, he could only honestly confess what had happened, and then anxiously await his fate.

With its dual effects of fungal webs and parasitism, Norris wouldn't be able to fool Lin Jun if he lied.

In Lin Jun's opinion, it's not entirely Norris's fault, since humans struck first.

But Norris's handling of the situation was also true.

Lin Jun could accept Norris being entangled with human adventurers, whether he fought or fled, but he should have informed her through the fungal network immediately. Acting arbitrarily in the face of trouble was not a good sign.

As for the death of three humans, it's really not a big deal in the dungeon.

Therefore, Lin Jun quickly gave Norris his punishment:
"Norris, you acted without authorization and violated the rules of the Mushroom Garden. You are hereby punished to clean the slime ground for a month."

"Defending slimes?"

Norris was momentarily stunned. Subconsciously, he still felt that his crime was murder, but now, listening to his boss, his problem was that he hadn't reported it.
"What, you have a problem with that?" Lin Jun thought Norris was unwilling.

Cleaning up slimes is no easy task.

That two-colored slime is quite good at splitting. The so-called "washing" is to collect the cores after killing the split slimes and put them on the creep, while the remaining slime is flushed into the underground sewers with water.

During the work period, we ate and slept in the caves in the mountain, which was a kind of confinement. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that we worked from morning till night.

Not to mention that the cage is pulled up from time to time to release a curse to train the Puji, and Norris will definitely suffer in it too.

But for Norris, the punishment was lighter than he had best expected.

So he quickly lowered his head and admitted, "No, no, I have no objection."

The two little poopies, looking quite professional, escorted Norris to his prison cell, one in front and one behind.

Little Black had no idea what was going on and even waved to Norris as he left.

Lin Jun then went to Xiao Lü to confirm the adventurer's strength.

Norris defeated three silver-ranked adventurers who were able to operate on the sixth floor, achieving a 1-for-2 exchange in their direct confrontation.

The last person was dealt with by Little Green, who arrived just in time; without Little Green, Norris would probably be dead by now.

In this incident, Lin Jun saw more of Norris's strength than the mistakes he made.

Keep in mind, Norris is only level 24 right now!

Previously, I had challenged monsters that were much stronger than me, but compared to Norris, the monsters were less intelligent, so it's not surprising that I was able to kill them.

But this time there were three human adventurers who were a whole rank higher than him, and he still managed to achieve such a result, which shows that the effect of the skills he added was indeed very good.

A higher skill level, combined with a reasonable combination of items, compensated for the attribute gap caused by Norris's insufficient level.

Lin Jun also understood that this kind of compensation had its limits. When people reached the gold or even diamond level, their own skill levels would be very high and their skills would be well-matched. At that time, the advantage that Lin Jun gave to the skills would not be obvious.

But without a doubt, with this ability, as long as there are enough suitable materials, Lin Jun can mass-produce a group of mid-level talents who can quickly reach the level of silver or even gold.

But... I can't seem to find any material?
In all my time in the dungeon, I've only encountered Norris, a complete novice. Everyone else who enters the dungeon is a master of their craft.

Perhaps there are many civilians and children who are close to being blank slates, but taking people away will obviously attract the attention of others, and in the end, it may be a case of more harm than good.

Let's put those thoughts aside for now.

After Norris finishes his confinement, Lin Jun plans to give him a second round of rehabilitation.

It seems we can't give them the Mimicry as originally planned for now. Norris's strength is still insufficient, and his personality is not stable enough. If he goes out and wanders around like this with the Mimicry on, he might impulsively expose himself one day.

It would be better to nurture it further. In comparison, Xiao Lü's performance this time was much better.

In the Tree Spirit Forest, Little Green was kneeling on the damp ground, its roots probing into the soil, carefully combing through the tangled roots of the new tree.

When magic is abundant, every so often, the tree spirit will condense a jade-colored twig within its body.

Leaving tender branches and some roots from the tree in the ground will allow a demon tree to grow. Once mature, the demon tree will develop consciousness and become a new tree spirit.

Thanks to Lin Jun's gift, the tree spirits obtained many magic crystals, which greatly increased their efficiency in absorbing magic power.

Naturally, more new shoots have been planted recently, and some of them, like the one in front of Xiao Lü, have grown well and have become healthy, lush trees.

The tree spirits would occasionally tidy up the overgrown roots of the spirit trees—the space beneath the Tree Spirit Forest was much more cramped than it appeared on the surface…

"Little Green."

The sudden message made Xiao Lü stop what she was doing.

"What is it, boss? Please give your orders."

"It's not an order, it's just a suggestion I'd like to hear your opinion on."

The land over there on the hill has been empty since it was cleared out. Rather than letting other monsters take it over, I'd rather plant some mushrooms.

It also helps prevent adventurers from accidentally wandering into the mountainside.

I just wanted to ask if you're planning to plant some trees over there together?
With outposts on both the east and west sides, we don't have to travel far every time.

"Expanding territory..." Lin Jun's suggestion made Xiao Lü think.

Indeed, although the Tree Spirit Forest still has ample land, given its current momentum, expansion outwards is almost inevitable.

Xiao Lü's original plan was to gradually expand outwards from the forest entrance.

Now, according to the boss, he wants them to settle down in a new home on the other side.

It seems that's also possible?

The tree spirits have long lived in seclusion in one corner of the world, partly because their numbers were limited and the tree spirit forest was enough for them to survive.

Secondly, they didn't want to attract too much attention from human adventurers, so they lived in remote areas and stayed together, making them less likely to be attacked by adventurers.

The situation is different now. When the tree spirit goes out, it is followed by a group of puffies. Not only has its combat power increased, but adventurers seem to be quite afraid of the puffies, and conflicts have decreased a lot.

In that case, it wouldn't be impossible to establish a new home away from the forest.

"Boss, do you want Puji to live with the tree spirit?"

"Cohabitation?"

In Lin Jun's eyes, the Puji were just tools, while the tree spirits were subordinates. Lin Jun felt it was a bit strange to use the term "cohabitation" between subordinates and tools, but Xiao Lü's interpretation was acceptable.

"I guess so. I plan to come out of a mushroom forest."

"Speaking of which, you haven't even seen the mushroom forest since you haven't reached the fifth floor yet. You'll probably like it."

In Lin Jun's vision, tree spirits would be quite suitable to live with mushroom forests.

Mushrooms primarily collect magic from the air, while tree spirits mainly draw magic from the earth; the two do not interfere with each other.

Then the mushroom forest can provide environmental effects such as spores, and the tree spirit can lead the puffies to guard the mushroom forest without Lin Jun having to worry about it.

The ultimate goal was actually to cover up the fissure in the mountain cavity and the two-colored slime; everything else was secondary.

"Boss, I have no objections. When do we start?"

After learning that she was living with Puji, Xiao Lü felt relieved; with Puji around, she had nothing to fear from adventurers.

"Then we can do it now, my little one has already come down!"

"Then I will gather the clansmen right now!"

(End of this chapter)