"You… you… why do you have such a high-quality magic crystal?"
"How long do you think I've stayed here…"
Lin Huan himself wasn't sure exactly how long he had been in this world. Deep in the dungeon there was no day or night, no seasons, but he felt it had been at least two or three years.
Even if he only counted from the time he started building the mushroom garden, it still hadn't been a short period. This entire rock wall was his personal mine. After mining for so long, it was only natural that some high-quality magic crystals would appear.
However, Lin Huan collected them not because he understood their value, but simply because clean purple crystals looked nicer. Placing them around his main body could both attract mana and serve as decoration.
"Can you cast other spells faster using this?"
"You're letting me use this? Really?"
Even without knowing Inanna well, it was easy to tell that she genuinely loved magic crystals—or rather, anything related to magic.
"Of course. I also want to see more spells. Speaking of which, Inanna, I haven't asked you yet—what spells can you use?"
Lin Huan could indeed see things like [Light Magic LV4] on her status panel, but that only meant the highest-tier light magic she could cast was Tier 4. It didn't show which specific spells she knew.
Each magic element had a wide variety of spells at different tiers, and many spells also had multiple variants. For example, Polymorph could be subdivided into turning into an eagle, a dog, a Puuji, and so on.
Inanna stood there for a moment, as if recalling the spells she knew.
Lin Huan felt that if she were still in human form, she would probably be counting them on her fingers right now.
"Let me see… Water Serpent Spell, Water Mirror Refraction, Ice Blade, Purification, Healing Light, Reveal Concealment, Illumination, Water Creation, Energy Protection, Swamp Spell… that's all."
Quite a lot.
"Then try casting Swamp Spell on that Puuji."
A mining Puuji that was smashing rocks with its shelled mushroom cap was moved by Lin Huan to the empty area where a self-destruction had occurred earlier. At the same time, a tentacle extended from beneath a mushroom and helped Inanna tie the A-rank magic crystal onto the mushroom cap.
"Be careful not to pull it off again. This is the last one here."
"I'll be careful."
Mana surged from Inanna's body into the magic crystal. Unlike last time, the moment the spell began casting, surrounding mana swarmed in. The A-rank magic crystal above Inanna's head was like a small vortex devouring mana.
No wonder people said it could be used to make a staff. With such a massive amount of mana enhancement, the power of any spell would definitely multiply.
"It's out!"
The mining Puuji sank slightly. The originally solid ground turned into a pool of mud. The Puuji tried to lift its foot but was stuck fast, unable to move.
In fact, Swamp Spell was only supposed to slow movement. Even if enhanced by an A-rank magic crystal, the improvement should have been in range, not effect.
The mining Puuji was unable to break free purely because its shell was too heavy and its own strength was insufficient, leaving it pinned in place.
"Now try Ice Blade on it."
"Huh? Is that okay? It might—"
"It's fine. Go ahead."
It was just a Puuji. Even if it died in the mushroom garden, it would simply turn into fertilizer and be recycled. The loss was negligible.
"Then I'm casting it."
Soon, an ice blade formed in front of Inanna, and this time even she was startled.
Unlike Swamp Spell, the change in Ice Blade after enhancement was very obvious. The original ice blade, which was less than one meter long, exceeded two meters under enhancement.
The deep cold aura emanating from it also made Inanna clearly feel that its power had increased significantly.
"Go!"
The chitin shell collided with the ice blade. After a crisp sound, it was cut through, slicing all the way to three-quarters before stopping.
Even Lin Huan thought the power was impressive. That was a LV4 chitin shell. Even with his own LV6 Mushroom Cannon, it would take two hits to break through. Yet a same-tier Ice Blade had cut through most of it in one strike.
It was hard to say whether the spell itself was strong or the A-rank magic crystal's enhancement was powerful—probably both.
Magic really was amazing. If he had known spells himself, the early stages wouldn't have been so painful.
But it wasn't too late now. Even if he couldn't use magic himself for the time being, having a helper who could cast spells meant that some plans to reach the upper layers could be tried.
Of course, this didn't mean killing the Flame Demon guarding the passage. Lin Huan had seen that thing through sacrificed scouting Puuji. The level gap was so large that no detailed information even appeared on the panel. Just the terrifying LV64 alone made it obvious that it wasn't something he could deal with right now.
But who said going up had to be through the passage?
"Inanna, do you want this magic crystal?"
"You're giving it to me?"
Huh?
Why is this mushroom being so nice to me? Is this some kind of trap?
Having just experienced betrayal, Inanna was extremely cautious now—especially when the other party was a mysterious monster like Lin Huan whose true form was unknown.
"Of course it's not free. Cooperate with me to hunt some monsters, and it's yours."
"Okay!"
Hearing that there were conditions actually put Inanna at ease. She really wanted this magic crystal, but if Lin Huan had simply given it to her, she wouldn't have dared to accept it.
But monsters?
Come to think of it, this was the deep layers of the dungeon. The mushroom garden had so many strange things that she had almost forgotten about that.
But a mushroom going to hunt monsters…
How would that work? Using Puuji?
"What kind of monster are we hunting?"
"Earth worms. Do you know them?"
Earth worms?
That sounded familiar. Where had she heard of them before?
Ah, right…
"Sorry, do you mean the kind of earth worm that's huge in size, has skin like rock, likes to dig deep underground, and eats ore every day?"
Lin Huan thought for a moment. "That's right."
"Are we hunting the larvae?"
"The adult."
"Adults are at least LV45. They're large monsters that require a full gold-ranked adventurer team to hunt safely. Mr. Lin Huan, I'm only LV28!"
Inanna's mind was filled with one thought: Me, fighting earth worms?
Even if she wasn't polymorphed, she'd be swallowed in one bite.
Is this mushroom out of its mind? A mushroom going to hunt earth worms?
"You seem to have a misunderstanding about my position…"
Looking at the pink Puuji's incredulous expression, Lin Huan suddenly realized that he hadn't taken her to the edge of the mushroom garden yet.
No wonder she had so little confidence in his strength.
Hunting earth worms was something he had wanted to do for a long time. These worms had a skill called [High-Temperature Drilling]. They could generate high heat to make rock brittle, then use their rotating mouthparts to grind the stone and swallow it, expelling unwanted material from their sides to reinforce tunnel walls.
If he could obtain this skill, he could dig a tunnel directly through the rock wall to the upper layers, without risking sneaking past the Flame Demon.
However, these worms were extremely good at digging. If they couldn't win, they would burrow underground and escape. Combined with their huge size and massive health pool, even killing them when they were low on health would take a long time.
He had tried once before. The result was heavy losses and nothing gained.
But after seeing Inanna's Swamp Spell, Lin Huan felt hopeful again. Earth worms probably wouldn't move very fast in mud.
Still, before that, it really was necessary to build some coordination with the new member.
"It's not like we're hunting earth worms right away. You still need practice to get used to casting spells with this crystal. Perfect timing—go out with the expedition team and get some hands-on training."
"Expedition team?"