This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 161, Section 160: Mycelial Network
Inside Cave No. 3, Lin Jun was testing her newly acquired skills.

A strangely shaped poopy stands on the edge of the rock wall.

It is slightly taller than its kind, about 1.4 meters tall, and looks like a tall and thin person standing next to a normal Puji.

Its excessive height caused it to wobble precariously when it tried to stand upright, but fortunately, it had four legs at the bottom that were doing their best to support it and prevent it from collapsing.

The mushroom cap was replaced by a giant mouth with three layers of sharp teeth.

It's called a giant mouth, but that's only relative to the size of the Puji; it's incomparable to the earthworm at all.

Next to this Puji lies a senior mushroom that is emitting the aroma of roasted mushrooms. This proves that [High Temperature Drilling] must be used in conjunction with [High Temperature Resistance] to function; otherwise, it's just a simple self-heating mushroom.

Try activating the skill of the Drilling Puji No. 2. The three rows of sharp teeth gradually turned red and emitted high temperature.

Under Lin Jun's command, the heated and brittle rock wall was quickly smashed open by the twisting and turning motion.

Puji's four legs spun around, making its body rotate continuously. In this way, Puji burrowed into the rock wall little by little, like a drill bit.

The speed isn't particularly fast, but that's only because the skill is only at LV1.

Moreover, even with only a level one skill, the movement speed is much faster than Lin Jun used to rely on [Rock Eater] or directly use [Chitinous Shell] to smash rocks.

However, when most of his body was inside the rock wall, leaving only his buttocks outside, his four legs suddenly went limp—he died!
How did he die again?
We weren't attacked...

Several ordinary Puji worked together to pull out Drill No. 2. The pulled-out Puji was tattered and covered in scratches.

And in that small hole that had been drilled out, the walls were covered with the remaining mycelium...

Could you possibly scrape yourself to death while drilling?

【High-Temperature Drilling】 would cause Puji to expel the stones it ate from its body to reinforce the surrounding rock walls. However, it seems that Puji's body strength was insufficient, and it was unable to squeeze through the rock walls.

Thinking about it this way, it seems that the earthworm does not actually move through the walls with its soft flesh, but is covered with a layer of rock armor.

So [Rock Eater] is actually a necessary skill!
It was already half a day before Drill Puji No. 3 appeared. Lin Jun had it eat a layer of rock armor before coming over.

Sure enough, with the rock shell created by [Rock Eater LV8] for protection, Puji successfully burrowed his entire body into the rock wall without getting hurt.

It rotates its body from behind using its four short legs. Although it is not as quick and convenient as the earthworm that can rotate by twisting its body, it can still move forward steadily.

After all, puji don't have the natural body structure that's suited for burrowing like insects; as long as they work, that's fine.

As for efficiency, Lin Jun can accept a slower pace.

You can't dig through different levels of the dungeon; the main purpose of this skill is to create holes between levels to hide mycelium.

Even in a maze of bluestone bricks, holes can be dug in the middle of the walls.

Besides these, Lin Jun also wanted to try to drill a hole in the six-layered rift valley.

The six layers connect directly to the deep zone, where the Thousand-Headed Mayfly dwells.

Although Lin Jun has now seized a piece of territory from them to connect the upper and lower levels, she is still a long way from annihilating them.

Now, a few mayflies fly in every day to bother us, but they are all driven back by the hundreds of puffs blocking the entrance.

But who knows, one day a level 60+ monster might appear and take back this position.

The disruption of the mushroom net would be fatal to the expedition, but that location also prevented Lin Jun from maintaining a large force as a regular defensive force.

You can't just leave seven or eight hundred puji there all the time to guard against any big insects that might appear, right? If you could carve out one, or even several, fungal network tunnels deep within the rock walls of the rift valley, connecting the upper and lower levels, that would be true safety.

Even in the deeper areas, we can consider using mycelial mesh channels...

Ok?
Lin Jun suddenly felt that the underground drilling machine No. 3 had stopped working.

It wasn't because of a malfunction, but because there were suddenly no stones around!

In the void, Drilling No. 3 drifted further and further away, and finally, like all the other things that fell into the void, it suddenly lost contact at some point.

Looking at the crack in the rock wall, Lin Jun was speechless.

While digging, they unearthed a crack; who would have thought that?

The discovery of the first one means there must be a second and a third...

Feeling alright, Lin Jun had already gotten used to the dilapidated state of her underground city.

……

After the drilling test was completed, production began on all levels, and then the digging work started quietly.

Because the burrowing and cutting through rocks produces slight vibrations and a "clicking" sound, they should only be allowed to work when it is confirmed that there are no adventurers around.

After all, once the mycelial network is exposed, it loses its most important function of concealment.

The project was not without its challenges.

For example, in the three-tiered trap zone, many passages are constructed by suspending boulders with iron chains, and are not continuous, making it extremely difficult to dig the net tunnels.

The sixth floor presents a different situation, with severe groundwater infiltration. Digging too shallow would result in damage from plant roots, while digging too deep would likely lead to flooding. Finding a suitable location is quite troublesome.

Nevertheless, the mycelial network project is progressing steadily, and its progress is far more reliable than that of another skill that was previously highly anticipated.

[Cocoon]

In the swamp, several puki, wrapped in clumps of mycelium, are now completely still.

Lin Jun could sense through the mushroom net that the Puji inside had neither changed shape nor gained any new skills.

At first, it absorbed a lot of magic power, but then nothing happened. It just consumed the magic power needed for Puji's daily maintenance.

Lin Jun even wondered if this skill was just a bed-weaving skill that the worm used to sleep.
I wonder if it's lacking some condition to proceed to the next step. Perhaps I should observe the cocooning of other mayflies?
Of course, it's also possible that there wasn't enough time, although Lin Jun thought that possibility was very small, because there was no change inside at all.

Ultimately, the only hope is that after the mycelial network is dug, we can secretly monitor the other large insects to see if we can find anything.

……

While Lin Jun was diligently building the beautiful underground city, a small thing caught his attention.

A guard-like guy rented a lighting Puji, then suddenly attacked and killed the unsuspecting poor Puji, before fleeing the dungeon with the Puji's corpse in his arms.

Through the perspective of Silent Wind Town, Lin Jun watched as he led Puji all the way into the Adventurers' Guild.

What do you mean?
Did someone post a quest to get a Light-up Poogie?
Regardless of the circumstances, betraying a service-oriented Puji is unacceptable, so Lin Jun added this guy to the dungeon's blacklist.

　A new attempt at martial arts, initially under pressure, gaining momentum around chapter 80. Rising from humble beginnings, step by step ascending to the highest level, I will become the supreme ruler of humanity!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)