"You… why do you have such a high-quality magic crystal?"
"How long do you think I've been here…"
Lin Jun wasn't exactly sure how long he had been in this world. Deep inside the dungeon, there were no days or nights, 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 had already been quite a while. The entire rock wall was his personal mining site. After mining for so long, it was natural that he would have some high-quality magic crystals.
However, Lin Jun hadn't collected them because he knew their value. He simply thought the clean purple crystals looked nicer. Placing them around his main body helped attract mana and also served as decoration.
"Using this, can you cast other spells faster?"
"You're giving this to me? Really?"
Even though she wasn't very familiar with Lin Jun yet, it was obvious that this person truly loved magic crystals—or anything related to magic.
"Of course. I also want to see more spells. By the way, Inanna, I haven't asked you yet—what kind of spells can you use?"
Lin Jun could indeed see things like [Light Magic LV4] on her status panel, but that only indicated the highest tier of light magic she could cast was 4th rank. It didn't tell him the specific spells she knew.
Every magic school had a wide variety of spells at each rank, and many spells even had numerous variants. For example, the biological transformation spell could be divided into turning into an eagle, a dog, a puffji…
Inanna stood still for a moment, seemingly trying to recall the spells she knew.
Lin Jun felt that if she were still in human form, she would definitely be counting them one by one on her fingers.
"Let me see… Water Serpent Spell, Water Mirror Refraction, Ice Blade, Purification, Healing Light, Invisibility, Illumination Spell, Create Water, Energy Protection, Mud Swamp Spell… Hmm… that's all."
Quite a lot, actually.
"Then try using Mud Swamp Spell on this puffji."
A mining puffji that was busy smashing rocks with its mushroom-cap shell was moved by Lin Jun to the empty ground where the previous one had self-destructed. At the same time, a tentacle extended from under the mushroom and carefully tied the A-rank magic crystal to the puffji's cap for Inanna.
"Be careful not to break it again. This is the last one I have here."
"I'll be careful."
Mana surged from Inanna's body into the magic crystal. Unlike the previous attempt, as soon as she began casting this time, the surrounding mana rushed toward her. The A-rank magic crystal floating above Inanna's head acted like a small vortex devouring mana.
No wonder they could be made into magic staves. With such a massive mana boost, no matter what spell was cast, its power would undoubtedly increase several times over.
"It's coming out!"
The mining puffji sank slightly. The originally solid ground turned into a pool of sticky mud. The puffji tried to lift its foot but was stuck firmly in place.
In reality, the Mud Swamp Spell should only slow down movement. Even with the enhancement from the A-rank magic crystal, the effect should mainly be an increase in range.
The reason the mining puffji couldn't break free was simply because its shell was too heavy, and the puffji itself didn't have enough strength, so it was pinned down.
"Try using Ice Blade on it next."
"Eh? Is that okay? It might…"
"It's fine. Go ahead."
It was just a puffji. If it died in the mushroom garden, it would just turn into fertilizer and be recycled. The loss was negligible.
"Then… I'm casting it."
Soon, an ice blade formed in front of Inanna. This time, even she was startled by the result.
Unlike the Mud Swamp Spell, the change to the Ice Blade Spell after enhancement was very obvious. The originally less-than-one-meter-long ice blade had grown to over two meters under the boost.
The deep chill emanating from it also made Inanna realize that its power had increased significantly.
"Go!"
The moment the shell met the ice blade, there was a crisp cracking sound. The blade sliced in, cutting nearly three-quarters of the way through before stopping.
Even Lin Jun was impressed by this power. That was an LV4 chitinous shell—Lin Jun himself needed two shots from his LV6 Mushroom Cannon to break through its defense, yet this same-rank Ice Blade had sliced most of the way through in one hit.
He wasn't sure whether it was the spell itself that was powerful or the A-rank magic crystal's enhancement, but it was probably a combination of both.
Magic really is amazing. If he had been able to use magic in the early days, he wouldn't have suffered so much.
But it wasn't too late now. Although he couldn't use magic himself yet, having a spellcasting helper meant he could start trying some of his plans to reach the upper layers.
Of course, he didn't mean taking on the Flame Demon guarding the passage. Lin Jun had seen that thing through a sacrificed scouting puffji. Although the level gap was too large for him to see any detailed information, just the extremely high LV64 was enough to tell it wasn't something he could challenge right now.
But who said they had to go up through the passage?
"Inanna, do you want this magic crystal?"
"You're giving it to me?"
Huh?
Is this mushroom being so nice to me some kind of trap?
Having just experienced betrayal, Inanna was extremely cautious now—especially since the other party was a mysterious monster like Lin Jun.
"Of course it's not free. Help me hunt some monsters, and it's yours."
"Okay!"
Hearing that there was a condition, Inanna actually felt relieved. She really wanted the magic crystal, but if Lin Jun had just given it to her for nothing, she wouldn't have dared to accept it.
But… monsters?
Come to think of it, this was the deep layer of the dungeon. There were so many strange things in the mushroom garden that she had almost forgotten.
Still… a mushroom wanting to hunt monsters…
How exactly were they going to hunt them? With puffjis?
"By the way, what kind of monsters are we hunting?"
"Groundworms. Do you know them?"
Groundworms?
That name sounds familiar… where have I heard it before?
Ah, I remember…
"Sorry, are you talking about those enormous creatures with rock-like skin that love digging deep underground and eat minerals every day?"
Lin Jun thought for a moment. "That's right."
"Are we going to hunt the juvenile ones?"
"The adult."
"Aren't adult groundworms at least LV45? They're large monsters that require a full gold-rank adventurer party to safely subjugate! Lin Jun, I'm only LV28!"
Right now, Inanna's mind was filled with one thought: Me? Fight a groundworm?
Even without being transformed, she would still be swallowed in one bite in front of a groundworm.
Has this mushroom lost its mind? A mushroom wants to hunt a groundworm?
"You seem to have a bit of a misunderstanding about my strength…"
Seeing the pink puffji's incredulous expression, Lin Jun realized he hadn't yet taken her to the edge of the mushroom garden.
No wonder she had so little confidence in his abilities.
Hunting a groundworm was something he had wanted to do for a long time. These creatures possessed a skill called [High-Temperature Drilling].
It allowed them to generate high heat to brittle the rock, then use their rotating mouthparts to crush the stone and swallow it, before expelling the unwanted components from their side gills to reinforce the tunnel walls.
If he could obtain this skill, he would be able to dig a straight passage straight to the upper layers inside the rock wall, without having to sneak past the Flame Demon.
The problem was that these worms were extremely good at digging. If they couldn't win, they would simply burrow into the ground and escape. On top of that, they had massive bodies and thick health. Even when low on health, killing them took forever.
He had tried once before, and the result was heavy losses with nothing to show for it.
But after seeing Inanna's Mud Swamp Spell earlier, Lin Jun felt there was hope again. A groundworm probably wouldn't be able to move quickly in mud.
Before that, though, it was indeed time to train and coordinate with the new member.
"It's not like we're going to hunt the groundworm right now. You still need practice getting used to casting spells with this magic crystal anyway. This is a good chance to go out with the expedition team and get some practice."
"Expedition team?"