Liam felt like his eyes would be blinded—if he had any.
Looking around his mushroom garden, the standard-issue Shroomies were bottom-feeders of the food chain, boasting pathetic stats of 1 in every category and a measly 10 HP.
Yet, this pink anomaly in front of him had 3,000 HP? That was a number only boss monsters should have, not a walking fungus.
Of course, Liam could still crush her easily if he wanted to. But that row of passive buffs was enough to make any mushroom green with envy.
Envious enough to eat her... maybe steal her abilities...
He paused.
Nah. It's rare to find something this interesting in this boring underworld. I'll keep it as a pet for now.
Besides, looking at her Status Window, this Shroomie was almost certainly a human before. Liam wasn't quite ready to abandon his humanity to the point of eating people alive. Not yet, anyway.
"Have you calmed down?" Liam commanded the Shroomies restraining her to loosen their grip, relieving the pressure.
The sudden voice in her head terrified Eleanor. She still didn't know if this entity was a person or a demon. All she knew was that every mushroom in the vicinity obeyed its will.
Is this part of the plot? Is this the executioner sent to finish the job?
"If... if you're going to kill me, just do it!"
"Why would I want to kill you? Can you just chill out for a second?"
"Eh?"
Outsiders possess no manners, Liam thought. She wrecked my garden and doesn't even apologize.
"I am the Lord of all mushrooms on this floor. You can call me Liam. And what do I call you?"
"Mushroom... Lord..."
Eleanor couldn't connect the words "Mushroom" and "Lord." In her world, Shroomies were trash mobs capped at Level 10. Even at max level, they were snacks for wolves.
But the scene before her defied logic. No Level 10 mob could organize a settlement like this, let alone use high-tier telepathy magic like [Mind Link].
And it wasn't just speech. Since the connection formed, Eleanor's senses had expanded. She could feel everything within a wide radius, as if she were sharing the sensory input of every single mushroom nearby.
She couldn't gauge this "Mushroom Lord's" power at all.
Play dumb. Pretend to be a normal Shroomie.
"I... I am also a Shroomie. I don't have a name..."
"Then I'll give you one. How about... Eleanor?"
"..."
Eh?!
How does he know?!
Does this telepathy come with mind-reading?!
The Shroomies that had backed off started inching closer again.
Is he going to kill me for lying?
No! Please!
Just as the fungal circle closed in, they stopped. Liam's voice echoed in her mind again.
"I'm actually a very friendly guy. But that depends on you not playing games with me. Otherwise, I don't mind adding a bit more fertilizer to the soil. Capiche?"
Eleanor nodded her mushroom cap furiously.
"Let's try that again. Name."
"Eleanor... St. Clair..."
"Identity?"
"Daughter of... Duke Amara..."
A Duke's daughter?
So the outside world is a feudal society.
That explained the [Blessing of the Church] and the [Fruit of Life]. A 3,000 HP mushroom.
No matter which world you're in, having a rich daddy is the ultimate cheat code.
"So, tell me. How did a Duke's daughter end up falling into my backyard?"
Since her cover was blown, Eleanor had no reason to hide anything. She poured out the whole story—the betrayal, the polymorph, the fall. She answered every question Liam threw at her.
Liam gathered a lot of intel.
Apparently, his dungeon was located within the territory of Eleanor's family. And this was the Deep Zone, which explained the high monster density.
The surface world was populated by various races, and humanity was currently at war with the Vampire Clans of the Demonkin. The two traitors who tossed Eleanor down here were likely colluding with the vamps.
More importantly, Liam realized something crucial: Eleanor, a native of this world, couldn't see the Status Windows. If she could, she wouldn't have tried to lie about her name earlier.
Maybe the System Interface is a hidden perk for "Heroes" or otherworlders like me?
Having gathered a bountiful harvest of information, Liam found the pink Shroomie much more pleasing to the eye.
"Alright, Eleanor. Now that you're a Shroomie, what are your plans?"
"Plans? ...You really won't turn me into fertilizer?" After the earlier threat, Eleanor was still terrified of Liam.
"I promise."
"I want to go back to the surface..."
Eleanor didn't just want to return; she wanted to find her father, break the curse, and slaughter those two traitors!
"Ah, the surface," Liam laughed. "I want to go there too. But look at us. You're a mushroom, I'm a mushroom. How exactly do we punch through a dungeon full of horrors to get there? Just on this floor alone, the exit is guarded by a Balrog's lair."
A Balrog.
That was a High-Tier monster, Level 55 at minimum. Even in her human form, Eleanor couldn't beat one. As a mushroom? She'd be grilled instantly.
"By the way, won't your Duke daddy come to rescue you?"
"He should... I think..."
Eleanor remembered what the traitors said about her father being "finished." Her confidence wavered.
Visibly, her pink cap drooped in depression.
Right. I can't even use magic in this form. How can I ever go back?
"There, there. Since you're here, you might as well get comfortable. You've been thrashing around for a while; you must be hungry. Let's get some grub."
Can't let my new toy starve to death.
A Shroomie with a cyan cap popped out of the garden patch and walked up to guide Eleanor. Her stomach—or whatever mushrooms had instead of stomachs—rumbled in agreement.
"Is this you?"
"Yes and no. All mushrooms here are me."
Liam actually had a main body, but he wasn't about to reveal its location to a stranger.
Eleanor nodded, half-understanding, and followed the cyan guide to a patch of ground covered in a thick, pulsating carpet of mycelium.
Liam kindly demonstrated how Shroomies eat. He commanded a drone to lie down. Thin white hyphal threads rose from the carpet, pierced the drone's body, and pumped nutrients directly into it. It was full in under five minutes.
Watching this, Eleanor's cap turned a pale shade of pink.
What is that?!
Letting weird tentacles stab into your body and inject unknown fluids?!
For sixteen years, Eleanor had eaten with a silver spoon and her mouth. This method was... physiologically unacceptable.
Liam didn't push her. If the kid doesn't eat, she's just not hungry enough. Starvation fixes pickiness.
Eventually, the weakness in her body won. Eleanor lay down on the mycelium carpet.
The sensation!
Nutrients surged into her from countless connection points below. A wave of satisfaction and fullness washed over her.
So happy...
When she was full and the hyphae disconnected, Eleanor stood up, feeling surprisingly content.
Being a mushroom... isn't actually that bad?
No, no! What am I thinking?!
Eleanor, has your brain turned into fungus too?!
Oh wait. My brain is literally a mushroom cap now. And it's pink...
Liam, unaware of Eleanor's internal identity crisis, saw she was done eating and began the grand tour.
"That was the Cafeteria. You've seen the Nursery; that's where you knocked over my workers."
"See that rock wall? Below that is the Mining District."
"Over there is the Ranch. I'm raising some Roller Beetles and Slimes. They're aggressive, so don't wander in there."
"See that giant mushroom on the right? That's the Processing Plant. It's hard to explain; go look for yourself later."
"Don't go that way. That leads outside the Garden's territory. Not safe."
Liam chattered on, but Eleanor's brain had crashed at the first sentence.
Mining District? Ranch? Processing Plant?
Eleanor felt like Liam wasn't describing a dungeon, but a fully functional frontier town.
Am I still in the Amethyst Dungeon?
Where are the other monsters?
And how does a bunch of mushrooms hold so much territory in the Deep Zone?
Eleanor's head was filled with question marks. The deeper she went, the more confused she became. Common sense had died here.