This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

Dragon Cliff Dungeon.

Although it was called a “dungeon,” it was in truth more like a vast alternate dimension—and dragons were its sole masters.

Unlike other dungeons that extended downward, Dragon Cliff was built upward from its foundation, layer upon layer, piercing the clouds above.

At the lowest level dwelled all kinds of dragon beasts—mostly subspecies with thin bloodlines but strong reproductive stability.

At the very top, thousands of meters above, was the domain of the pureblood dragons.

Of course, dragons weren’t the only creatures inhabiting this realm.

For instance, kobolds—servants who worshipped their respective dragon masters and were granted limited rights to move within designated zones.

Gugu was one such kobold, born for the sacred purpose of serving a mighty dragon.

Today was the day of fulfilling his holy duty—cleaning his master’s lair.

After the tribe’s shaman cast corrosion resistance spells on them, the cleaners dared to take up their tools and carefully enter the cave that constantly exuded a faint black mist.

Tiptoeing, Gugu cautiously avoided the piles of scattered gold coins and jewels, terrified of making any noise that might disturb the slumbering master—a mighty black dragon in its prime.

However, before they could even start cleaning, something unexpected happened.

From outside the cave came a furious roar that reverberated through the entire Dragon Cliff.

An overwhelming dragon’s might pressed down like a physical force, freezing every kobold in place as they trembled uncontrollably.

One of them, overwhelmed by the crushing aura, lost control of his bladder—the foul yellow liquid splashing onto the sacred floor of their master’s lair…

From the darkness, two massive golden eyes suddenly snapped open!

A moment later, a jet-black breath swept across the chamber.

The urinating kobold and another unfortunate one behind him were instantly reduced to two piles of decayed bones before they could even scream. The bones clattered onto the ground.

Then, a huge claw covered in pitch-black scales rose high and came crashing down across the treasure pile, scattering countless coins and gems before slamming into the rock wall.

BOOM—!

The entire cavern shook violently.

Cracks spread out like a spiderweb from the impact point, and debris rained down from the ceiling.

A stone struck the back of Gugu’s head, but he didn’t dare to move a muscle—he only pressed himself flatter to the ground, trembling.

“Master, O Supreme One, please calm your anger! This is your noble lair!”

The trembling old shaman pleaded in Dragon Tongue, groveling low.

Gugu could even feel the dragon’s burning breath sweep across his quivering back—it was so close he hardly dared to breathe.

After a long silence, the black dragon’s fury finally seemed to subside slightly.

That ferocious dragon head slowly withdrew into the shadows at the back of the cavern, leaving behind only a low, incomprehensible murmur echoing in the dark:

“Just a mere Svilgis… dares covet…”

…

“Easy… easy now… it’s alright.”

Louisa’s pale, slender fingers gently stroked the dragon scales that had flared up from fear, carefully soothing the trembling Gray[“Little Black”] who had curled herself tightly within her wings.

After all, if she wasn’t careful, she could end up like those few pujis nearby—shredded by accident.

Only after quite a while did Gray finally begin to relax.

She hugged her big tail tightly with one claw, and with the other, scooped up an unfortunate Puji that had died nearby, sobbing as she took large bites.

All around her was devastation—the mushroom house reduced to a broken foundation, the ground littered with charred mycelium remains corroded by dragon breath. The air still reeked faintly of acid.

Any Puji without resistance couldn’t even get close.

It was thanks to Gray’s quick recovery that half of Zone 3 hadn’t been obliterated entirely.

Several pujis gathered around. One of them extended a mycelium tendril, squeezed out some honey, and dripped it onto the Puji in Gray’s arms to give it a bit of sweetness.

Sure enough, as the sugary taste spread, Gray’s eating became more focused, and her sobbing gradually stopped.

Lin Jun finally asked, “What happened? You blew away the whole mushroom house.”

“Big dragons… so many dragons… tail… angry…”

As usual, her words came haltingly, fragmented into broken phrases.

Fortunately, after so long together, Lin Jun had already mastered the art of translating “Gray-speak.”

In short, she seemed to have dreamed that a group of dragons were chasing and biting her tail, and she had woken up in a panic attack.

Lin Jun figured it was probably growing pains—after all… she really had grown quite a bit…

Her already-large wings had widened by another third—and that wasn’t the only change…

It took the combined effort of several pujis and a piglet to make Gray release her tail and stand upright again.

Where she had learned that habit of looping her tail under her legs, no one knew.

Two pujis climbed atop each other to compare height with her.

Gray naturally picked up the top one, turned it over, and began eating from the feet.

After the first bite, she realized it wasn’t a “tasty” Puji and looked at the others in confusion—but still kept eating out of politeness, not wanting to waste their goodwill.

It hadn’t been Lin Jun’s intention to feed her that one anyway, but at this point, whatever.

Just from that comparison, he could tell—Gray was now as tall as two stacked pujis, about one meter sixty, a full ten centimeters taller than before.

And on her status panel, she’d jumped two levels to Level 63.

All her physical stats—except Intelligence—had risen impressively.

And that was only from the Level 2 [Bloodline Enhancement] effect.

So why didn’t he have any Ancient Mushroom bloodline?

As a Hero, how could he not awaken his bloodline power? That was way too strange!

And even stranger—

[Status: Ancient Dragon Path 1%]

Was that a bloodline unlock progress bar?

Didn’t seem like it. There was no way Gray’s bloodline was only 1% unlocked.

The [Bloodline Enhancement] skill itself didn’t seem particularly special—Pigmen and the Half-Demon Chief had it too, and for them it was just a straightforward strengthening skill.

So why was it so flashy on her?

The whole “Ancient Dragon” thing was still far too mysterious for Lin Jun. Even humans had little data on it. He’d have to find time to check the Elven Library later.

…

After soothing Gray and settling her temporarily in Norris’s mushroom house, Lin Jun turned his attention back to his Far North Research Base.

Here resided a particularly special Fatty Puji.

[Giant LV2]

This Fatty Puji’s body was nearly half again larger than that of an ordinary Puji—a round little mound like a tiny hill.

But what truly thrilled Lin Jun was the number on its attribute panel—its Constitution stat had actually exceeded the normal Puji limit.

Until now, all Puji stats were directly tied to Lin Jun’s level, currently capped at 64 points.

By comparison, human Diamond-rankers usually had one or two core stats already in the triple digits.

So even a Knight Puji was at a fundamental disadvantage in raw stats, relying on absurdly high-tier skills to make up the gap in power.

Yet this gigantic Fatty Puji had broken through—

Even if it was only in Constitution, it was still a huge milestone.

The only problem was that this skill seemed directly tied to size.

A Puji with the [Giant] skill automatically grew to the physical limit of its current attributes, unable to maintain a nimble combat form like a Knight Puji.

It seemed better suited for tanks or living bombs…

Lin Jun decided to train this skill more—he wanted to see just how big a Puji could grow at Level 10.