This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

After the embrace, the two puji quieted down.

Of course, judging by how their tentacles were flailing about, they were not actually quiet—they had simply switched to a private chat on the mycelial network.

“Big brother, why are you here?”

He remembered that when Big Brother had returned to the Mushroom Garden together with Pink Puji before, Number One had been full of ambition, talking about becoming the “Northern Puji Representative,” instructing him to work hard to win over Pink Puji and Number Ten, and to look after the newly arrived Little Fourteen, binding them all together.

He had even painted a grand blueprint of “the North and the Kingdom echoing each other from afar, with the future firmly in the hands of the Puji.”

So how was it that in the blink of an eye, this “Northern Puji Representative” had appeared in the Elven Forest?

“Fourth Brother… sigh.”

Number One’s thought transmitted a long, heavy sigh, its mushroom cap drooping slightly, carrying the weight of someone who had endured many setbacks.

With a look of heartfelt indignation, Number One slowly recounted the cause.

In its telling, the great Mycelial Lord had originally intended to appoint it as the Northern representative. Yet at this critical moment, the sinister and treacherous Number Two suddenly struck, openly questioning the Mycelial Lord’s decision and attempting to seize the position.

“That despicable thing!” Number One’s thoughts burned with fury. “It actually dared to question the will of the Mycelial Lord!”

The magnanimous Mycelial Lord ultimately decided to grant a fair competition: both sides would each lead their subordinates in a contest.

Even though the most battle-hardened Fourth Brother had been dispatched elsewhere at the time, Number One still possessed formidable strength that did not lose out to Number Two.

Under Number One were Number Five, Number Six, and Number Eight.

Under Number Two were Number Three, Number Seven, and Number Eleven.

To be on the safe side, Number One had even secured the temporary support of Number Thirteen through certain promises.

The Mycelial Lord personally stuffed silver scales from a tailless lizardman into the puji bodies of both sides, right in front of the Black Demon.

They should have had the upper hand. Although Number Five was not good at fighting, its ability to hide was second to none—not to mention that they had superior numbers.

Who could have expected that Number Thirteen had already been bought off by Number Two, resulting in the poor Number Five’s death?

Worse still, it broke the rules and joined Number Two’s team to surround Number One’s side, bullying them with numbers!

Although all the puji were ultimately discovered and had their scales seized by the Black Demon who arrived after sensing the disturbance, Number One still lost the competition by a single step.

The position of “Northern Puji Representative,” closest to the Mushroom Garden and the Mycelial Lord, symbolizing supreme authority and honor, ultimately landed on Number Two’s smug mushroom cap!

And it, Number One, had been exiled to this stretch of forest, ruling over these long-eared humans who clearly had no future to speak of…

At this point, Number One’s mushroom cap drooped even further. One of its tentacles tightly coiled around Number Four’s, its thoughts filled with pain and indignation.

“Fourth Brother… now that Number Two has gained power, its arrogance knows no bounds. It even seeks to monopolize the Mycelial Lord’s favor and glory alone… Every time I think of this, my mycelium aches with stabbing pain!”

“Big brother!” Number Four’s thoughts responded immediately, firm and resolute. “I will always support Big Brother!”

Number One nodded its mushroom cap in relief, then lowered its thoughts and asked quietly, “How goes your side? Is the effort to win over Pink Puji and Number Ten progressing smoothly? Are they… willing to follow your commands?”

Number Four’s mushroom cap tilted ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. There was a fleeting hesitation in the transmission of its thoughts.

“M-more or less. It’s… fairly smooth.”

“Good! Worthy of my good Fourth Brother! I knew you were the most reliable one!”

Number One’s thoughts instantly lifted in spirits, its mushroom cap puffing back up.

Only then did the two puji finally conclude their long private exchange.

When they came back to their senses, they realized the forest clearing was already empty. The diplomatic delegation and the elven ranger commander, Eko, had departed. Only a single elven ranger had been left behind, squatting idly beneath a nearby tree, waiting for them to finish chatting.

…

The moment she stepped into the Elven Forest, Inanna almost thought she had wandered into some woodland outside Mordu that had been heavily overrun by the mycelial carpet.

As far as the eye could see, intertwined mycelium formed softly glowing mushrooms among ancient tree roots, while puji of various shapes flitted in and out of the dappled forest light.

If not for the fact that every tree here was so massive it would take ten people to encircle, their canopies towering into the clouds, she truly would have thought she had returned to the outskirts of Mordu.

It wasn’t just Inanna who was surprised. Everyone in the delegation had failed to anticipate that they would encounter puji tamers here—let alone that the very commander of the elven rangers, Eko himself, was one.

You had to know, this might well be the highest-level puji tamer in the world at present…

Moreover, the elves seemed to have developed a puji culture entirely different from that of the Kingdom.

Unlike human puji tamers, who pursued the upper limit of control numbers and wished to be surrounded by swarms of puji at all times to flaunt their status, elven puji tamers treated their puji more like household pets.

They did not seek quantity, instead preferring to keep a single puji, and it was even fashionable to perch one on their head.

Their preferred types were different as well.

On the Kingdom’s side, there were all kinds of puji. On the elven side, perhaps due to living among tree trunks, they leaned more toward puji with small wings.

Despite all these differences, Inanna felt her nose sting slightly, and she quietly wiped away the moisture welling at the corner of her eye.

She was genuinely happy to see puji being accepted so naturally and harmoniously by the elves.

Sword Saint Puji, on the other hand, felt a strange illusion, as though he had been dead for more than ten years before being resurrected. The last time he had come here, it definitely hadn’t been like this.

And Eko… what was going on with that guy, anyway?

Surely it wasn’t that he had gone too hard the last time they crossed swords, to the point that even elven secret medicines had been unable to save him, forcing him to rely on mycelial parasitism just to cling to life?

The Sword Saint’s mind was filled with countless questions, yet he couldn’t ask them outright.

There were old acquaintances here who knew “Elvian.” While communicating through the mycelial network was different from speaking aloud, a careless remark could still expose his identity.

Leaving aside how those elven old friends or the unfathomable Mycelial Lord might react, just the leak of such news would likely cause Arama to immediately abandon the defensive works, heft his ancestral greatsword, and chase him down all the way…

Mm… compared to satisfying that trivial curiosity, preserving the “late Sword Saint Elvian’s” dignity was obviously more important.

He was now—and had to be—Puji Number Fourteen.

Cradled in Inanna’s arms and receiving the routine kneading, the Sword Saint Puji thought so.

…

However, as the group continued deeper, they discovered that the elves’ acceptance of puji was not without limits.

Some teams clad in standardized uniforms, clearly belonging to the elven authorities, were systematically casting nature magic in designated forest areas. Gentle green light flowed from their hands, and wherever it passed, the excessively rampant mycelial carpet slowly retreated, revealing the original soil beneath.

This was a sight one would never see on the Kingdom’s side.

In the end, the delegation was settled in a side hall adjoining the royal palace to rest. Other elven leaders did not appear immediately.

This was not because the elves were intentionally slighting the Kingdom’s envoys, but simply because the timing was unfortunate—they were in the middle of an important meeting.

The core topic of that meeting was precisely the balance of forest ecology and the prevention and control of the mycelial carpet.