This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 600 599.10%
"As long as you follow my instructions... all of this will be yours."

"Ouch——!"

"Yes, yes, it's time for today's routine check-up, sweetie."

They successfully coaxed Xiao Hei out of the mushroom house and had her lie on a particularly sturdy giant mushroom.

Several Puji immediately began their work, using their mycelial tentacles with dimensional markings to measure the arc length of her increasingly broad dragon wings from the root to the wingtip, while also recording the growth progress of the additional, incomplete patterns on her small black scales.

To entice Xiao Hei to cooperate with the inspection, Lin Jun placed some sparkly little trinkets on the ground in front of it.

Several smooth pearls, a few colorful glass marbles, and...

Norris, who happened to be passing by, stopped and hesitated for a long time before finally asking in a low voice, "Boss, the 'everything' you mentioned earlier... it shouldn't include me, right?"

……

Regular checkups for Xiao Hei have now become a weekly routine at the Mushroom Garden.

Through daily practice of the [Bloodline Enhancement] skill, the mysterious [Ancient Dragon Path] progress in Xiao Hei's status bar is slowly but steadily advancing.

[Ancient Dragon Road 9%]

The connection to "Gu Long" is no small matter, and real changes are indeed taking place.

Xiao Hei's already impressive dragon wings expanded further, the wing membranes became more resilient, and the outline of its skeleton became even thicker and stronger.

What's even more special are the scales on Xiao Hei's body. The scales, which were originally pure black, are now beginning to show extremely fine yet complex patterns.

Those patterns looked somewhat similar to the magical patterns on the ancient dragon scale that Lin Jun had once obtained.

Unfortunately, it seems that the magic runes lose their effectiveness after the dragon scales fall off, and we don't know what the specific effects are.

However, these signs are enough to infer that the so-called "Ancient Dragon Path" is likely a deep ancestral return or sublimation of bloodline, guiding Xiao Hei's life form to slowly evolve towards the direction of a true ancient dragon.

But can a dragon-human truly transform into a complete ancient dragon in the end?

Or will I become an ancient dragon?

However, Lin Jun only felt a little curious. Faced with a higher level of power, there was no reason not to try and acquire it.

As for whether one can maintain human form after gaining power?
Is a humanoid figure something very important?

Lin Jun herself doesn't have a human form, but she's still doing just fine.

Only a conservative like Norris would get hung up on such trivial details; a natural-minded little black guy probably wouldn't care.

The real problem is... Xiao Hei has become too lazy because Lin Jun has raised him.

Just now, as soon as the routine inspection was over, Xiao Hei couldn't wait to spread its increasingly thick wings forward, like a huge black tent, completely covering itself, a juicy and delicious Puji next to it, and all the glistening things.

Norris dodged backward, preventing himself from being pulled in as well.

Then, the sound of satisfied chewing came from inside, which quickly turned into even and heavy breathing.

She entered a seamless cycle of "eating-sleep".

Lin Jun wasn't even sure if evolution required sleep, or if she had accidentally spoiled Xiao Hei... or maybe both?
Fortunately, most of the extra nutrition and energy seemed to be used for wing growth and scale strengthening; otherwise, given its current attitude of preferring to lie down rather than stand and using its mouth rather than its claws, it would have long since become a round, fat, lazy dragon.

In any case, I can no longer find that agile, fierce, and relentlessly pursuing knight-errant aura from our first meeting.

In fact, if Lin Jun hadn't been urging her every day, she would never have taken the initiative to use skills like [Bloodline Enhancement], which require energy and can even cause temporary discomfort, if she didn't feel the crisis.

While using her mycelial tentacles to pull Xiao Hei, who had just fallen asleep, back up and urge her to complete today's [Bloodline Enhancement], Lin Jun lamented her failure in educating her.

[Ancient Dragon Road 10%]

Oh? The progress has increased again, that's good!

Just as Lin Jun was feeling somewhat gratified by this small progress, Xiao Hei, who had just been sleepy, suddenly bristled with dragon scales, tensed its muscles, and stretched its huge dragon wings to their limit. The wingtips even accidentally tore the mushroom house next to it.

She lowered her limbs, gripping the ground tightly, and let out a continuous low growl in a certain direction.

The sound was deep and fierce, completely different from its usual lazy whimper. Lin Jun immediately became alert, her senses rapidly extending in the direction of Xiao Hei's growl. Her perception swept across the mushroom garden, across the northern wasteland, and all the way to the empire's northern border…

However, apart from capturing a few future Class D personnel, no other potential threats were found.

Checking Xiao Hei's status panel, everything was normal except for [Ancient Dragon Path] jumping to 10%, with no new negative statuses or prompts.

Puji leaned forward and scratched Xiao Hei's chin with her tentacles. It took her a while to stop her growling, but Xiao Hei still looked nervous.

"Xiao Hei, what's wrong?" Lin Jun asked directly through the mushroom network.

"Fight... brat... want to fight!" The thoughts transmitted back by Xiao Hei were full of restlessness and vague hostility.

After asking the question in several different ways for a while, Lin Jun finally understood.

Xiao Hei seemed to have a premonition that she was about to clash with something, but she couldn't explain why she would fight, what the other party was, or even whether her premonition was reliable.

The direction Xiao Hei roared just now was south.

However, the Mushroom Garden is in the North, so even if a threat were to arise, it would definitely come from the South, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact location.

Lin Jun pondered for a moment and came up with an idea. The Puji, surrounding the still agitated Xiao Hei, led him through the rift to the Puji Dungeon.

Almost the instant it landed, Xiao Hei abruptly turned its head in another direction, growling again, its vigilance undiminished.

Take out the map.

Measure the angle of the new direction, compare it with the direction previously recorded in the mushroom garden, and then, considering the relative positions of the two locations, draw two extending lines on the map... which intersect...

If Xiao Hei's intuition is not far off, then the threat she sensed is... inside the Empire?
To be honest, Lin Jun was a little skeptical.

No perception skill could detect a threat from half a continent away, let alone display such a sense on the small black panel.

However, just to be on the safe side, let's make some preparations...

……

Empire, Twilight Fortress.

Emperor Mortis leaned back on his magnificent throne, his long, slender fingers slowly turning a crystal goblet.

He did not rush to drink the Blood Jade Wine in the cup. Instead, he brought the cup to his nose and took a deep sniff of the complex and domineering aroma before taking a small sip, letting the delicious flavor melt on his tongue, and slowly swallowing it.

A few steps ahead of him, the Empire's chief intelligence officer, the succubus Mofrey, was kneeling on one knee, reporting on recent intelligence from within the Empire.

The progress of slime eradication across the Empire...

The Northern Eugene and Dean's investigation plan...

Sigismund secretly sells lower-quality Blood Jade Wine...

Eleanor appears to have acquired a Mushroom Clan member and has begun cultivating creep in parts of her territory...

as well as,

"Strange activity in the Dragon Cliff Underground City?"

Mo Fulei immediately replied, "Yes, it seems to be a demonic tide. However, it has been less than two years since the last demonic tide in the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, which does not conform to the time pattern of demonic tides, so it cannot be confirmed yet."

She paused briefly before raising the question that required special authorization: "Your Majesty, should we send an exploration team into Dragon Cliff to conduct reconnaissance?"

Dragon Cliff Dungeon holds a very special position among all the known dungeons in the Empire.

It is not unclaimed territory; the empire has an understanding with it, and official forces usually do not intervene.

That is why Mofleh sought instructions separately.

“No need.” Mortis pondered for a moment, then slowly straightened up from his throne. “Make preparations. I will personally go to Dragon Cliff. It’s time… to see that old dragon again.”

(End of this chapter)