What's wrong with me, a mage, loving to farm?

Chapter 140. The Mushroom Man's Abilities

"I'm not at the Yavana Holy Mine..."

The mushroom man repeated the sentence, seemingly having calmed down.

It said to Kroa, "We were originally fungus people living in the dungeon of Mordax, but we were captured by the minions of the abyss lord Zul'Gurub and transformed into this."

"She used our dreams as a prison to trap our lives; anyone who ate us would be trapped in an endless nightmare of pain."

"Hmm." Kroya noted it down and continued, "So, is it true that they plan to attack the Prime Material Plane through the rift in the Aetheric Dimension?"

"Of course it's true!" The mushroom man said anxiously, "You are a mage, you should know that the existence of lower planes requires the principle of equivalent exchange to enter the main plane."

The Abyss Lord Zul'Gurub found a rift in the Aether.

The humans who die in our dreams become soul energy, which she uses to build passages between dimensions.

Once she has enough power, she will descend!

"Has she descended upon the prime plane?"

Hearing this, Kroya couldn't help but ask in confusion, "My knowledge tells me that almost no one can detect the Aether Realm. If she really has a rift in the Aether Realm, why would she attack the Prime Material Plane?"

"Can't the endless magic power within the Ether Realm satisfy her?"

Generally speaking, demons who want to cause trouble in the prime plane are either after souls or simply looking for fun.

But if she really had a rift in the etheric realm and could extract some magic from it, there would definitely be people eager to trade with her.

That's all absolutely pure magic.

Once the purity of magic reaches a certain threshold, the price will skyrocket.

With the rift in the Ethereal Realm, she essentially controlled a golden river directly. Why would she need to invade the Prime Material Plane and fight to the death with the Church and the Mage Association?

The Mage Association is one thing, but if the church members can't win, they'll actually pray for divine intervention on the spot—a perfect example of "the old man comes after the young one."

The mushroom man sighed, and the sigh was very clear.

"She learned of this rift from the prophecy of our God, and that this rift would only appear for a short period of time."

That's why she's so eager to invade.

"She wants to use the power of the Aether to spread spores and fungi to the Prime Material Plane. If she succeeds, the Yavana Mine will become her territory in the Prime Material Plane!"

That mine... was originally a miracle of the Earth Mother Goddess.

She can resist the rejection from the dominant plane; as long as she can occupy it, she can be permanently integrated into the dominant plane.

This is indeed explosive news, coinciding with Kroya's previous guesses.

The Earth Mother Goddess is indeed related to mining.

It seems that the "punishment" suffered by those who were punished was very likely related to the Earth Mother Goddess.

But he became increasingly confused.

"How do you know so much? Are these things some kind of open secret?"

How can a mushroom person, or even just any mushroom person you've randomly grabbed, know so much? Isn't this world a bit too crazy?

Its knowledge base and understanding of esoteric knowledge are simply outrageous.

If it weren't for the Celestial Imprint ability that allowed it to detect that it wasn't lying, Kroya would have thought it was deliberately trying to trick him.

The mushroom person replied, "Because she occupies our dreams, we can also glimpse some of her thoughts through those dreams."

"I see." Kroya nodded; that made sense, at least.

The abyss lord invaded the fungus people's dream world. As native inhabitants of the dream world, it's understandable that they could glimpse some things.

He then inquired about more details, including the situation inside the Yavana Holy Mine, their dreams, and how to rescue the infected people.

According to it, this dream is entirely built within the spiritual consciousness network of the fungus people, spreading through mycelium and special channels.

That was a blissful dream belonging to the mushroom people.

But it is still a dream after all. As long as people feel that it is a dream, they will instinctively resist and want to wake up. After all, what is a fungus's dream may not be a dream for humans.

"So ultimately it's a very special kind of mental magic. Well... why don't you try this and see if it works?"

Kroya took out the ancient pasture fungus that he had asked King Muyao to fetch earlier, intending to put it into a crystal bottle for the fungus people to experience.

The moment the ancient pasture fungus was taken out, the mushroom man's mental fluctuations revealed an incredibly shocked consciousness—

"How did you get this?"

Judging from its reaction, it clearly recognizes the ancient forage fungus.

As Kroya was also curious about what this thing was, she continued, "Do you know what it is?"

"Of course I know!"

The mushroom-man said, "This is a special species created for our mushroom-man race by a mage who traveled far and wide through the stars. It is said to have been blessed by the Earth Mother Goddess."

As long as we live in the environment in which it grows, we can forever enjoy dreams, but we will not become addicted to them.

"So what happened next? How did you lose it?"

"According to the elders of the tribe, it was taken to a strange large ship by the king of the fungus people at that time, and then disappeared."

The Mage, the Earth Mother, the Great Ship.

These can basically be connected.

No wonder the Earth Mother Goddess's divine power was able to awaken these ancient pasture fungi living on the seabed; it turns out they were originally related to the Earth Mother Goddess.

That so-called large ship is probably the Sky-Shining Ark.

As Kroa pondered, the mushroom man spoke again:

"Furthermore... if you're willing to give me this ancient pasture fungus, I can transfer it into its body, freeing it from this constraint!"

"Once I'm free from these constraints, I'm willing to help you take care of all the fungi and mushrooms you cultivate. We mushroom people have special cultivation methods."

That sounds really good; you can gain the loyalty of the mushroom people.

But Kroya frowned and asked, "What about the original consciousness of the Ancient Pasture Fungus? Are you going to devour it?"

To be honest, Kroya had a good impression of those ancient pasture fungi. These seemingly powerful but actually pitiful little things could indeed evoke people's pity.

"No, no!" The mushroom-man's voice seemed even more respectful as it quickly said, "It will live in symbiosis with me, and I can take it everywhere. I swear in the name of the mushroom-man god, everything I'm saying is true!"

Such oaths made to the gods of one's own race are indeed effective, and quite effective at that.

Kroya nodded, but did not act immediately. He extended his consciousness into the celestial body of the Ancient Pasture Fungus and told it what had happened.

As a result, this guy was even more excited than the mushroom man, and immediately got up, wanting to pour it into the crystal bottle.

Seeing this, Kroya could only sigh helplessly.

Then, he spoke to the mushroom person: "It has agreed, so how do you plan to leave this place?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the mushroom inside the bottle tremble violently, wither from the inside out, and eventually turn into a pool of grayish, foul-smelling water.

A tiny, almost invisible spore floated gently inside the bottle in the foul-smelling water.

It faintly conveyed its message: "Please help me, I have torn the prison apart with my own soul."

"..." Kroya reached out and used magic to shatter the bottle.

Having witnessed the entire process, he was certain that the mushroom-mane bitter feast mushroom was completely dead, even its astral body was gone, so it was definitely dead.

So there's no need to worry too much.

With a "pop," the green spores inside slowly flew onto the ancient grass fungus and eventually merged into it.

Through the Celestial Imprint Technique, Kroa could see that it had indeed not merged with the consciousness of the Ancient Pasture Fungus, but had become an independent entity.

The mycelium belonging to the fungus seemed to want to grow, but instead of seizing the magic contained in the ancient pasture fungus, it tried its best to absorb the magic that emanated from the surroundings.

"Fine, I'll help you one more time."

Seeing this, he waved his hand, and the Orpheus Swan Recorder Tree beside him immediately released a surge of magic power, which entered the body of the Ancient Pasture Fungus.

This magic helped it grow quickly, and soon a brand new, emerald green mushroom was born, with a small grass gently swaying on its cap.

That's ancient pasture fungus.

They should now be considered to have a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship.

To be fair, mushroom people are quite cute; they look like soft, cuddly mushrooms that can walk. No wonder they've played supporting roles in all sorts of stories.

They are usually friendly mushroom characters who help the protagonist overcome difficulties.

"What can you do?" Kroa reached out and grabbed the mushroom man, scrutinizing him closely from head to toe.

He discovered that the fungus man's body was composed of complex hyphae, seemingly intentionally designed in this way.

"Weren't you thinking about how to resolve these dreams?"

The mushroom man actually made a sound.

Its two tiny hands scrambled through the surrounding air, spraying out extremely fine spore dust. Then, it actually transformed the air into a tangible object.

"These are made using the magic of ancient grass fungi. If people who are troubled breathe in this air, they will quickly wake up."

Kroa took the wisp of air from it and examined it in her hand.

This is a shell formed by spore dust, which traps the air inside and looks rather dirty.

He put the thing aside and continued, "Any other abilities?"

"I can take care of all the fungi for you."

"I can learn to concoct alchemical potions very quickly."

"By the way, I can also help you create a dream world where you can communicate with anyone wherever my spores are."

"Is it okay no matter how far away?" Kroa's heart stirred slightly.

If he truly possessed such ability, wouldn't he be able to establish a communication network in this era...?

Its value is simply immeasurable.

(End of this chapter)