Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 445 - 436: Experiment

Pujie Dungeon, Deep Area, Lin Jun’s lair—a swampy cave filled with glowing mushroom trees.

Countless mushroom trees emitting a faint glow grew from the murky puddles, illuminating the entire space like a dream.

Visible spore particles floated in the air, making the whole cave appear hazy.

At first glance, this spore-infested cave seemed unusually quiet. There were no signs of wild demons, nor a trace of Lin Jun’s subordinates, only a few ordinary Puki aimlessly wandering through the mushroom forest.

However, beneath the surface, danger lurks everywhere.

But in truth, this seemingly lifeless cave is packed with a total of a thousand Pukis meticulously arranged.

The turrets Puki, using the [Rock Eating] skill to meld with rock ceilings and walls, hung inverted from above; the landmines Puki, [Mimicry] into ordinary mushrooms, scattered across every surface; hidden within the stout mushroom tree trunks were massive Heavy Armor Puki; and beneath the murky swamp, two S-Class Demon Crystal Knight Puki, using [Fake Death] to conceal their presence, lay in wait.

The reason for such tight defense in this safe rear area is that this world, full of incredible skills and magic, is too dangerous. Not to mention the various chaotic rumors, but even Lin Jun can’t shake the memory of the scene during the Northern Territory battle when two members of the Demon Race used Abyss Magic to teleport away right before his eyes.

Although he doesn’t know the result of the teleportation, since he has experienced the unreliability of Abyss Magic firsthand, that doesn’t stop him from making preparations for the worst-case scenario.

With the cave’s defensive configuration, even if a duke-level powerhouse like Sigmund suddenly teleports in, as long as he doesn’t appear directly in front of Lin Jun’s true form, this defense system can at least buy him enough time to respond.

At that time, whether quickly moving with the true form or using the [Split Body] skill to swap the true form’s place with a distant Puki, leaving just a decoy, he can handle it calmly.

Additionally, this cave is adjacent to the Dungeon Core. If an intruder fails to see through Lin Jun’s split body immediately, Lin Jun can lure them to the core area with the split body and then activate those two magic puppets.

Of course, if it comes to that, it would mean that the true form’s information has been leaked, and the situation is already quite critical.

For Lin Jun, he hopes that these painstakingly arranged defenses will never have to be used.

Below the swamp is a space supported by mycelium, where Lin Jun’s true form resides.

Lin Jun likes the swamp environment but doesn’t want dirty things to directly touch him, so he usually creates a separate space in the swamp to live in.

At this moment, Lin Jun’s usually motionless true form finally stirred.

Finally!

Finally, he’s acquired a levelless skill entirely of his own!

Ming’s [Physical Immunity] doesn’t count, as that skill isn’t on Lin Jun himself.

Moreover, that kid Ming, despite having such an extraordinary talent, was ultimately born too late.

Even if he learns various knowledge every morning from Qiong, enters the octagonal cage for brutal melees every afternoon, and also takes potential activation potions prepared by Riel.

Under such high-intensity pressure, he has barely reached the silver level, and who knows how long it will take before it’s useful.

But [Life Essence] is a genuinely levelless skill that belongs to Lin Jun himself, one that can definitely be used in the upcoming battle!

The Puki army that perished under [Extreme Sword] deeply imprinted the power of levelless abilities onto Lin Jun’s heart.

He dreams of the day when the Sword Saint suddenly dies of old age, allowing Lin Jun to deconstruct him and obtain this super skill.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t get [Extreme Sword] but got this instead!

Lin Jun can hardly contain his excitement.

Of course, he still needs to figure out the actual effect of this skill first.

From the name alone, it seems to be something that enhances life force, possibly similar to a super regeneration effect?

But after carefully sensing it, Lin Jun felt something wasn’t right.

Ever since acquiring this skill, he felt his true form becoming increasingly moist.

What the heck? This skill isn’t called Juicy...

He summoned a Puki and attached the skill to it.

On the panel, the Puki successfully received [Life Essence], but on Lin Jun’s panel, [Life Essence] didn’t disappear like [Split Body]; instead, it grayed out.

A skill graying out? This is the first time he’s seen this, but it’s understandable.

He tried attaching it to a second Puki, and as expected, it failed.

After killing the first Puki, without waiting for Lin Jun to devour it with Greed, [Life Essence] on the panel lit up again.

It seems that although he can’t let all Puki share this levelless skill, at least he won’t permanently lose it due to an inability to recover bodies.

Then... what if he gives the skill to someone else?

Probably the same, the skill would return once that person dies.

Now, to the main point.

The sound of mycelium snapping echoed in the cave as a Heavy Armor Puki tore through a mushroom tree and stepped out.

Lin Jun had put [Life Essence] on it.

Next, he needed to test the specific effects of this skill, and the Heavy Armor Puki was sturdy.

Slash with knives, stab with guns, electrocute, burn with fire, bake with salt, braise with oil...

Yet, after a round of testing, Lin Jun was dumbfounded.

It wasn’t useless; the Heavy Armor Puki’s regenerative ability had significantly increased. Mycelium tentacles could regenerate in seconds; even after being cut in half, it could grow back, provided it wasn’t killed instantly. It was indeed a decent recovery skill.

But... does this deserve to be called a levelless skill?

If it can’t regenerate a complete Heavy Armor Puki from a single mycelium in seconds, can it qualify as a levelless skill?

At this level, if Lin Jun trained the [Regeneration] skill a bit higher, combining it with [Fungal Filament Reassembly], he could achieve a similar effect, and that even includes a rebirth feature after death!

[Regeneration LV10] + [Fungal Filament Reassembly LV10] ≥ [Life Essence]?

What a joke!

After fully deconstructing and reclaiming the skill from the Heavy Armor Puki, a disappointed Lin Jun fell into thought.

Could it be that because this is a defective levelless skill, that old godwood bastard gave it so readily?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

A few Puki rose from the fungal mat at the bottom of the Divine Wood Dungeon, and Lin Jun intended to discuss the afterward issues with Divine Wood, at least to clarify things!

How could he be played like this, as if he’s never seen the world and can’t recognize a good deal?!

Just as he was about to knock on Divine Wood’s "door"—

Drip.

A drop of transparent liquid slowly slid down from the edge of the cap of a blue mushroom, pulling a crystal-clear waterline.

What the heck?