"Let me go! Let me go, you son of a bitch!"
Inanna, who had woken up to find herself stuffed in a sack, struggled violently.
"Pero, did you tamper with your coma spell? You woke up so soon."
"Idiot, don't call me by my name. Her duke father has poured so many resources into her—is her resistance low? It's already good that she only woke up now."
Inanna suddenly froze. These were both familiar voices.
"Pero? And you, Oakes! You plotted against me? You betrayed my father?"
"It's all your fault for being so talkative. She recognized us," Pero said angrily.
Oakes, however, seemed unconcerned: "What are you afraid of? She didn't have a chance to go out and tell anyone."
What did that mean? It wasn't just a kidnapping?
"What are you going to do?"
Realizing that her life might be in danger, Inanna became even more agitated.
The sack over her head was ripped off, and she immediately saw Oakes's ferocious face.
"What are you doing? Young lady, you're going to be a monster's dinner today!"
Inanna looked around; the walls of the dimly lit passage were scattered with purple crystals of varying sizes.
Had she been tied up in the Amethyst Dungeon?
"You two rats in human skin—the old man never mistreated you? And you betrayed him?"
"Because your father is finished. Do you really think he can stop the Empire's attack? Killing you is the last straw that breaks his back. Killing your father will also get me a noble title."
Thinking of the title promised by the person behind the scenes, Oakes couldn't help but laugh.
"Stop laughing; it'll attract monsters and cause trouble," Pero impatiently interrupted. "That's it, put her down."
Inanna was thrown to the ground, still looking like she was about to bite.
Looking at Inanna's beautiful face, Oakes said with a hint of regret, "Such a beauty—how come she's just like her father? I was even thinking of trying out what it's like to be a duke's daughter."
"This is the sixth level. If you don't mind the monsters biting your bare butt, you can go now."
"Just kidding. Once I become a nobleman, what woman can't I have?"
Pero raised his wand and pointed it at Inanna, chanting an obscure spell.
"Transfiguration?"
Inanna immediately recognized the magic Pero was using, kicking her bound feet at him in an attempt to interrupt the spell, but Oakes grabbed her.
"Kill me if you dare! You have the guts... kill..."
As the transfiguration spell finished, Inanna gradually lost her ability to speak, turning into a short-legged creature, commonly known as a walking mushroom.
After finishing the spell, Pero took out a bottle of star-like potion with a touch of pity and poured it on Inanna.
Oakes, watching from the side, clicked his tongue in amazement at this scene.
"Consolidation potion—you're really going all out. Why go through all this trouble? Just kill her and throw the body down to feed the monsters, wouldn't that be better?"
Pero felt his aversion to stupidity flare up at Oakes's mindless talk.
"Go ahead and kill her. See if you get the Duke's mark of vengeance on you. Don't let him betray me when he comes to kill you, risking his territory. Location magic, the mark of vengeance—she can't possibly be without it. Letting the monsters on the lower levels devour her is the safest way."
He then thoughtfully cast an extended version of the Slow Fall spell on the Puji that Inanna had transformed into, to prevent her from falling to her death.
"Never mind." Oakes wasn't angry at being mocked. He went to Inanna. "Farewell, Miss."
Then he kicked her, watching her being swallowed by the rift.
This was a rift leading directly to the depths of the dungeon; no one had ever fallen in and managed to climb back up, let alone a Puji with no fighting ability.
————
*Damn it!*
*You dared to lie to me in the old man's name!*
*I'm going to kill those two beasts with my own hands!*
*...*
The surroundings... *It's* so dark...
*This rift seems truly bottomless; even the extended version of the Slow Fall spell couldn't bring her to the bottom.*
After her anger cooled and she felt the increasing speed of her descent, the sixteen-year-old girl, who had never faced death directly, finally felt fear.
Was she going to die like this?
*Thud*
—Inanna felt herself land on a bouncy, soft bed, which bounced her high into the air several times before she finally fell to the ground with a thud.
She didn't die! She was indeed favored by fate.
But where was she?
The Puji form had no facial features and couldn't see anything, but she could vaguely sense her surroundings.
What caught her seemed to be a three-meter-wide... giant mushroom?
What were those sounds around her? The figures passing by looked so familiar...
*weren't these the same Puji she had transformed into?*
Why would there be such low-level creatures like Puji in the depths of this dangerous dungeon?
And so many more!
Uh, why are they all crowding around...?
—
Lin Jun, the owner of the mushroom garden, felt that he might have been too distracted lately, causing him to make some silly mistakes.
For example, there was a little creature out of his control in the mushroom garden; he wondered if it had grown up but hadn't had time to connect to the mushroom network before naturally falling to the ground.
It even had a pink mushroom cap, standing out conspicuously among the bunch of bluish-gray mushroom caps.
Had it mutated?
Fortunately, it was easy to fix: just connect it with mycelium and tune it to the channel of the mushroom network.
But why was it resisting so fiercely?
This uncontrollable mushroom started running around wildly when Lin Jun sent it to connect.
It knocked over several mushrooms one minute and trampled all over the mushroom patch the next, making a complete mess of the mushroom garden.
Annoyed, Lin Jun simply commanded a large group of mushrooms to surround it, squeezing it so it couldn't move, before finally connecting the mycelium.
"Ahhh! Get away! Get away!"
*What the hell?*
As soon as the mushroom connected, Lin Jun was bombarded with screams so loud that his mycelium exploded.
"Quiet!"
The irresistible command was transmitted through the mushroom network to every mushroom, and for a moment, the entire mushroom garden came to a standstill.
"Damn it, no—everything's working normally."
After a long while of restoring the mushroom garden to normal operation, Lin Jun finally focused his attention on this peculiar Puji.
He finally realized that this definitely wasn't a Puji from his own farm, but an invasive mushroom.
How strange—how could there be an invasive mushroom in this remote corner of his farm?
"Tell me! Where did you come from?"
"Who are you? How are you talking to me? No, how am I talking right now?"
*Tsk.*
This one was clearly confused and couldn't even speak clearly, so Lin Jun simply brought up his control panel.
[Name: Inanna St. Clair]
[Race: Mushroom-Puji]
[Level: LV28]
[HP: 3280]
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Constitution: 1]
[Intelligence: 33]
[Spirit: 24]
[Racial Trait: Spore Spread (Actively sprays spores around the caster; always triggers upon death)]
[Fixed Effects:
Holy See Blessing (Provides Light Affinity LV4, Light Magic LV4)
Vengeance Mark (Transfers to the killer upon death; the caster can track the killer and deal additional damage)
Tracking Mark (Location Mark)
Fruit of Life (Gains 3000 extra HP and HP Regeneration LV4)
Dragon Crystal Potion (Provides high resistance in all aspects)
Permanent Polymorph (Polymorph effect lasts permanently unless dispelled)
Connecting Fungal Network (A short-range mental network formed through magical resonance between mycelia)]
[Skills: Riding LV4, Elemental Affinity (Water, Light) LV4, Mana Storage LV3, Mana Manipulation LV4, Light Magic LV4, Water Magic LV3, Cloth Armor Mastery LV2, Dagger Mastery LV2, Magic Resistance LV6, Physical Resistance LV6, Mental Resistance LV6, Corrosion Resistance LV6, Paralysis Resistance LV6, High Temperature Resistance LV6, Cold Resistance LV6, Stun Resistance LV6, Underwater Adaptation LV6, Astrology LV1, Ancient Elven Language LV2, Health Regeneration LV4]
Holy crap, a super pink character with over 3000 HP and all resistances at LV6!