Honestly, Lin Jun felt his level shouldn’t be considered low. Level 44, after all!

So why, ever since coming out, had he been constantly on the run?

Thinking about it, the difficulty of survival seemed much harsher for him than for adventurers.

Not only did monsters want to eat him, humans wanted to kill him too.

And those adventurers clearly had a guide—how else could they navigate the teleport maze so smoothly, while he remained hopelessly lost?

Who knew how many days had passed already? Judging by the pace earlier, Inanna might have long since cleared the maze.

Corridor after corridor, each ending in teleport circles. Beyond them, monsters. After monsters, another split corridor…

Just like now.

One more mushroom cannon shot, and the last of the slavering Rottenfang Hounds, barking furiously but too timid to approach, was blasted to pulp, joining its companions.

Then, pick a corridor.

At the halfway point or the end, pick a teleport circle.

Fortunately, monsters here didn’t exceed Level 40. Most were in the Level 20–30 range.

When surrounded, his high Evasion and Rolling Charge always let him break through.

But he couldn’t keep this up forever.

He’d fought adventurers, gotten lost in this maze, and his mana reserves were running low.

Put simply—he was starving.

Worse, the mana here was strangely thin. Even if he rooted himself, there was little to gather.

Breaking down monster corpses was another way to absorb mana—but unreliable.

Finding monsters wasn’t hard. Step through any circle, and odds were good some lay beyond. But how to drag them back here to eat?

He couldn’t become some nomadic mushroom, consuming wherever he went—the cost of re-rooting would outweigh the gains.

No—he needed an exit. At the very least, a place rich in mana.

Once again, he found a teleport circle.

No gambler loses forever. This time, luck had to turn!

Green light flared.

…Different color?

Drip.

A droplet fell from a stalactite, landing in a small pool.

Lin Jun froze.

This mana concentration!

Even without spreading his mycelium, his puffshroom shell was slowly replenishing itself, just by being here.

It was like swimming in mana!

Stay sharp. Teleports usually meant monsters—

But under the dome of rock, blue-grey stone walls wrapped around a clear pool.

The chamber was small. Empty.

No monsters.

But one thing caught his eye—

A treasure chest.

Stone-carved, smooth-grained.

Of course! A Dungeon wasn’t complete without treasure chests.

After confirming no hidden chambers or lurking monsters, he hurried forward.

【Native monster: Forbidden from touching treasure chest】

The message again. The familiar invisible wall.

The Dungeon’s discrimination and oppression of “native monsters” was relentless.

Lin Jun pressed against it.

Sure enough—

【Hero: Restriction lifted】

He had thought the “Hero” designation ended after giving him the Greedy

title.

But no. It kept proving useful.

How fragrant!

He leapt up, kicked open the stone lid, then hopped back twice just in case.

No traps.

Now then—what loot awaited?

Inside lay a blue-green high-collared cloak.

An equipment piece—unsurprising.

But clearly human-sized. Draped on his half-height puffshroom form, half of it trailed along the floor, while the high collar was squashed flat beneath his mushroom cap.

Checking his stats, his Agility had risen from 42 to 47.

Not bad… useful, but not game-changing.

Any active skill?

He channeled mana into it.

Blur.

Two more puffshrooms appeared at his sides, cloaked identically, both under his control.

Clones?

He had the right one perform Rolling Charge into a wall—

Pop.

Gone like a burst bubble.

So, phantoms.

Still, not bad. Five extra Agility, plus a bonus skill—for free. He wouldn’t complain.

…Though he hoped the cloak wouldn’t get too dirty dragging along the ground.

But the cloak was only a bonus.

The real

treasure was the mana-rich environment.

By mana sense, the densest point was the pool itself. The thick aura in the air was but a fraction leaking from it.

And mana-laden droplets still dripped steadily from the ceiling.

A true treasure trove.

If he drained this place, he could rebuild a force of four hundred puffshrooms!

With such an escort, who could stop him from blasting his way out of the Dungeon?

Adventurers? Buried under hundreds of mushroom cannons!

Of course, this chamber was too small to fit four hundred puffshrooms.

Lin Jun glanced at the stone door, wondering what lay beyond—enough space to house his army?

He pushed.

No movement.

He pushed harder.

Still nothing.

Rolling Charge!

He bounced off, dizzy, without even chipping the door.

What did it mean? Was the door sealed from this side?

If so, what then? Wait for someone else to open it?

He searched around.

This was surely one of the teleport maze’s traps. Others must have fallen here before.

Perhaps some clue remained.

He soon found one—not a clue, but a predecessor.

Half-buried in soil lay a skeleton, its leather armor in tatters.

Staring at it, Lin Jun seemed to glimpse his own future.

But no—he was a mushroom. With those mana-laden droplets, he would never starve.

Best accept it.

He was exhausted anyway.

Here, he had food and drink. Call it a vacation.

Perhaps adventurers would one day stumble on this chamber.

Or, with enough puffshrooms, he might eventually blast the door open.

From beneath his cap, his Super Puffshroom drew forth Lin Jun’s true body—a plain, unremarkable mushroom.

He set it by the pool.

Spores drifted, mycelium spreading rapidly in the dense mana.