The world enters the fungal world

Chapter 102 The Protagonist's Destiny (Thanks to reader 20221011182228738 for the donation)

Behind the rotting human-faced mushroom, dark red mycelial tentacles appeared, lashing wildly in all directions, with the giant squid chasing after them.

Their previous battle had blasted a hole in the ground above, and they, along with the soil, rocks, and fragments of fungal shells, fell into this abyss.

Now, they have finally met again and are fighting once more.

Their battle was earth-shattering, destroying numerous mushroom mountains in the surrounding area and even scaring away the vampire moths and giant slugs that originally hid and lived in the mushroom mountains.

Those who didn't have time to escape were caught up in their battle and instantly torn to pieces.

Lin Muying helped Li Yu, and the five of them fled at full speed into the distance through the gaps between these mushroom-shaped mountains.

Fortunately, this underground world was formed by mushroom mountains, and there were gaps and passages between these mushroom mountains. Li Yu led them to escape into a narrow gap and hide.

The rotting human-faced mushroom and the giant squid tumbled and rolled past them from dozens of meters away, their battle destroying a large number of mushroom hills.

The rotting, human-faced mushroom seemed to be outmatched and fled into the distance, pursued by the giant squid. The chase soon ended, and they disappeared into the distance.

Seeing the two terrifying monsters leave, Li Yu stood up and ran back in the direction they had come from.

Lin Muying and Zhou Xigang and the other three hurriedly followed.

"When these two monsters were fighting, I saw that many giant slugs and blood-sucking moths hidden in Mushroom Mountain were swept up and died in this area. Everyone should search carefully. After these rare monsters are killed, there is a certain probability that they will drop enhancement crystal cores. These crystal cores can enhance our symbiotic bacteria."

Afterwards, Li Yu taught them the fusion method, so that everyone could directly fuse into the symbiotic bacteria once they found it.

Everyone perked up and became excited, busily and carefully searching around.

The fungal beasts that were hiding in this area have either fled to distant places or are dead, making this place the safest place now.

After searching for a while, Li Yu, with his sharp eyes, had the biggest find, discovering two enhancement crystal cores and a symbiotic bacterium of unknown purpose.

Lin Muying also found two enhancement crystals, and the Rockclaw Fungus received an enhancement.

Zhou Xigang and Fang Mingxuan each found an enhanced crystal core, while Qian Lili found a symbiotic bacterium.

Zhou Xigang fused the strengthening crystal core he had found, strengthening the Steel Skin Bacteria into a Level 1 Strengthened Steel Skin Bacteria.

After the first enhancement, the steel-skinned bacteria's strength is improved to a certain extent, and the steel color on its surface becomes more and more dark, indicating that its defensive capabilities have been greatly enhanced.

Fang Mingxuan doesn't have any symbiotic bacteria yet, so he can only temporarily put away this enhancement crystal core and use it later when he has symbiotic bacteria.

Li Yu fused the two enhanced crystal cores he had obtained. The energy fluctuations within the crystallized bacteria quickly subsided.

Seeing that the crystallizing bacteria could continue to fuse and strengthen the crystal core, Li Yu understood that the crystallizing bacteria could undergo three more strengthening processes.

Two-times enhanced crystallization is not its limit.

This made him very excited. The crystallized bacteria was already so powerful after two enhancements, so what would it be like after three enhancements?

Lin Muying's Rock Claw Fungus, after its first enhancement, not only gained increased strength, but its five rock claws also grew from half a foot to a foot.

After confirming that there would be no further gains, the group stopped to rest. Li Yu did not lead them away immediately, but instead opened the two remaining backpacks, took out edible fungi, and had them fill their stomachs before resting on the spot.

This is the safest place right now, perfect for them to rest and recover.

Everyone rested in silence. The surroundings were quiet. The Corpse-faced Mushroom and the Giant Squid had disappeared. The loud noises from the two monsters' battle could no longer be heard.

After a long silence, Qian Lili suddenly spoke up: "It's pitch black here, and there are mushrooms everywhere. How are we supposed to escape?"

.

Zhou Xigang sighed and continued, "No one expected that such a large underground space was hidden here. We rolled down this mushroom mountain, and I estimate that the drop is at least over 100 meters. That means we are now 100 meters underground."

Qian Lili, upon hearing this, turned pale and said, "Zhou Xigang, you're quick-witted. So what do you suggest we do? These mushrooms are too soft; they can't support our weight at all. Even if we follow these mushroom mountains, we still can't climb them."

Zhou Xigang shook his head in the darkness and said, "I don't know either. It's just too dark here, which affects visibility. I don't know what the terrain is like around me. Even if I want to find an exit, I need to see the surrounding environment clearly first."

As he said this, he looked at Li Yu, thinking that Li Yu's pupils were special and his eyesight was different from ordinary people, so perhaps he could see in the dark.

Seeing Zhou Xigang looking at him, Li Yu lowered his eyes slightly and said, "Rest well here first. After you recover from your injuries, we'll think of a way to find an exit. There will always be a way."

After saying that, he slowly closed his eyes and silently sensed the changes in the mycelium spores within his body.

He sensed that the spores were growing in size again, which brought him a sense of joy.

After that, no one spoke again and they all rested silently. Lin Muying would occasionally activate "Radiant Spring" to help Li Yu, Zhou Xigang, and Fang Mingxuan speed up the healing of their injuries.

Lin Muying's physical and mental strength were exhausted from continuously using "Fountain of Light," so she changed her strategy. After each use, she would rest for a few minutes before activating it again.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Yu slowly opened his eyes. The surroundings were still completely dark, with countless points of light floating in the darkness.

Being in this underground world, Li Yu lost track of time and didn't know how much time had passed, or whether it was day or night outside.

He touched his chest and found that the wounds he had sustained had completely healed.

Just as he was about to stand up, Li Yu suddenly stopped, squinted slightly, and carefully sensed the fungal spores in his right eye.

He suddenly realized that the size of the pupil fungus spores had increased significantly, almost doubling the size it had been when he broke through before. This meant that he could break through to the intermediate stage at any time.

"What's going on? Based on the previous growth rate, it should have taken at least another day or two to reach this level. How come it's suddenly growing so rapidly? Could it be that the serious injuries sustained while fighting those rare beasts accelerated the spore growth?"

Li Yu fell into deep thought. After thinking about it, the only reasonable explanation was that when he killed those blood-sucking moth beasts in a desperate battle, almost all of his potential was unleashed, and he was even seriously injured and almost died as a result.

This process must have accelerated spore growth.

This discovery excited and thrilled Li Yu.

He is currently at the intermediate stage of the spore stage. If he can break through to the advanced stage again, what kind of power will he gain?

He has high expectations for the higher levels.

Li Yu glanced at his leather armor, which had been torn apart by the bloodsucking moth beast and was now just a burden. So he simply took off the tattered armor.

He now understood why Wei Tian wasn't wearing leather knee pads.

These leather knee pads can withstand attacks from ordinary fungal beasts, but they cannot stop elite-level fungal beasts, let alone powerful rare fungal beasts.

Once a person reaches the intermediate level of strength, the leather knee pads offer limited protection, let alone for advanced or even top-tier experts.

Seeing Li Yu stand up and take off his leather armor, the other five people all looked up at him.

"We've rested enough, it's time to go." Li Yu's injuries were the most severe, but they've now completely healed. It seems that Fang Mingxuan and Zhou Xigang's injuries have long since healed.

Fang Mingxuan nodded, holding a long knife in his right hand and a backpack in his left, and stood up.

The other three also stood up one after another.

Of all the people, only Li Yu had the best eyesight, and their only hope now was that Li Yu could lead them to escape this dark underground world.

Li Yu stood up and carefully observed his surroundings, scrutinizing the subtle changes in the points of light to determine which way to go.

After observing for several minutes, Li Yu finally stretched out his hand, pointed in one of the directions, and said, "Let's go in that direction."

Lin Muying nodded and hummed in agreement. She had unconditional faith in Li Yu and did not ask why.

Zhou Xigang couldn't help but ask curiously, "That seems to be the direction those monsters went. What if we run into them again if we go there? Will we be in danger?"

He looked around carefully, but all he could see was darkness. He could only make out the vague outlines of mushroom-shaped hills and could barely make out that the direction the giant squid and the rotting human-faced mushroom had gone.

"The light is brighter over there, so it's more likely to be the exit. Regardless of the danger, we have to go. We can't stay in this dark underground world forever." Li Yu replied as he took the iron spear and walked ahead.

Zhou Xigang was stunned. He looked again carefully but couldn't see where the light was bright. How did Li Yu see that the light was bright in the distance? Was it another of his pupils' special abilities?

Li Yu was too lazy to explain. In reality, he was observing the countless points of light in the distance and found that the points of light in that direction were slightly dimmer. The darker the place, the clearer the points of light were. Conversely, the brighter the place, the dimmer the points of light appeared to him.

Based on this principle, he chose the direction from which the distant light spot appeared fainter.

Although Zhou Xigang was puzzled, his body still obeyed and followed Li Yu into the darkness.

Although he didn't want to admit it and always felt that he was the protagonist destined by fate, his instincts were unconsciously influenced by Li Yu. All his doubts were just his way of trying to stand out, not because he was following Li Yu's lead.

As for Lin Muying, Qian Lili, and Fang Mingxuan, they didn't think much of it. When they heard Li Yu say which way to go, they followed without hesitation.

They all knew in their hearts that Li Yu had contributed the most to their survival; without him, they would have died long ago.

"Are you really sure you want to go this way?" Zhou Xigang asked again, even though he was following Li Yu.

He thought of the giant squid and the rotting human-faced mushroom, and still felt that he should choose the opposite direction.

Qian Lili couldn't hold back any longer: "Shut up, Zhou Xigang, you're so annoying. Since Li Yu said this direction, he must have his reasons. We should just follow him obediently. If you really don't want to, then you can go on the other side by yourself."