Lin Jun felt like his eyes were about to be blinded—if he even had eyes.

Sure, his Mushroom Garden had plenty of Pujis, but the basic model Pujis only had 1 point in each of the five stats, with a measly 10 HP. Since when could a Pujis reach 3000 HP?

Of course, it was still easy for him to control her. But that long list of fixed effects… truly envy-inducing.

Envying her so much he almost wanted to eat her and steal her abilities…

Just kidding. It wasn’t every day he found someone he could talk to.

Besides, judging from her panel, this Pujis was most likely originally human. Killing living people for sport—that was a line Lin Jun hadn’t crossed yet.

“Calmed down now?” Lin Jun ordered the Pujis pinning her to loosen their hold, easing the pressure on her.

Hearing the sudden voice in her head, Inanna panicked even more. She still didn’t know if the other side was human or monster—just that all the surrounding Pujis obeyed him.

Was this part of the conspiracy too? The one meant to finish her off here?

“If… if you want to kill me, then do it!”

“Why would I want to kill you? Can you calm down already?”

“Eh?”

Foreign mushrooms really had no manners—causing chaos in his Mushroom Garden without even apologizing.

“I am the lord of all the mushrooms on this floor. You can call me Lin Jun. And you are?”

“Mushroom… lord…”

Inanna couldn’t understand how those two words could even fit together.

In her knowledge, mushrooms were weaklings with a level cap of 10—bottom-feeders eaten by even the lowest-level beasts.

But what she saw here… no level 10 creature should be able to control a place like this, let alone communicate in a way similar to Fifth-Tier telepathy.

And it wasn’t just telepathy.

Since connecting to him, her perception had expanded far beyond a few meters—now she could feel what every mushroom in range sensed.

She couldn’t even begin to guess this Mushroom Lord’s true strength.

Best to pretend she was just another Pujis and bluff her way through.

“I-I’m also a Pujis. I don’t… have a name.”

“Then I’ll name you. Inanna.”

“……”

Huh?

How did he know?

Could this mind-talk ability also read thoughts?

The Pujis around her began to crowd closer again. Was it because she had lied? Were they going to kill her for it?

No!

Just before they completely crushed her, they stopped. Lin Jun’s voice rang in her head again.

“I’m a friendly guy—so long as you don’t try any tricks. Otherwise, I don’t mind a little more fertilizer for the soil. Understand?”

Inanna bobbed her pink cap furiously.

“Let’s try again. Name.”

“In… Inanna St. Clair…”

“Identity?”

“Daughter of Duke… Arama…”

A duke’s daughter?

So the outside world really was like a medieval feudal system.

No wonder she had Holy Blessing, Fruit of Life, and enough resources to give her a Pujis body with 3000 HP.

Whatever the world, having a powerful father was always the shortcut to success.

“So tell me, Duke’s daughter—how’d you end up falling into my garden?”

Since she’d already been exposed, Inanna saw no point in hiding anymore.

She told him everything: how she was betrayed, cursed, and thrown into the depths. Afterward, Lin Jun asked a few more questions, and she answered honestly.

From her, he learned quite a lot.

For example, this place was part of the Amethyst Dungeon, located under her family’s territory—and they were in the deep layers, crawling with monsters.

The outside world had many races, with humans and vampire clans on the brink of war. Most likely, the traitors who betrayed Inanna were colluding with vampires.

More importantly, Lin Jun realized something: Inanna, a native, couldn’t see the panel. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have tried to hide her name.

Maybe the status panel was a special perk—something like a “Hero’s hidden privilege”?

Either way, Lin Jun now found this pink Pujis much more agreeable.

“Inanna, now that you’ve become a Pujis, what’s your plan?”

“My plan… You really won’t turn me into fertilizer, right?” The earlier show of force had left her wary of him.

“I promise.”

“…I want to return to the surface.”

Not only return to the surface—she wanted to find her father, break the Transformation spell, and take revenge on those traitors!

“Back to the surface, huh?”

Lin Jun chuckled.

“I’d like that too.

But as you see—you’re a mushroom, I’m a mushroom. How do we fight our way through a dungeon crawling with monsters to reach the surface?

Not to mention—the passage up from this floor runs straight through a Flame Demon’s lair.”

A Flame Demon—that was at least level 55!

Even at her full human strength, Inanna wouldn’t stand a chance. Meeting such a monster meant certain death.

“By the way, won’t your duke father come save you?”

“…He should…”

But recalling the traitors’ words—that her father was doomed—Inanna’s heart wavered.

Her pink cap drooped visibly.

Yes, even if her father wanted to save her, what good would it do? She couldn’t even use magic in this body. How could she return to the surface?

“Enough gloom. Since you’re here, make the best of it. You must be hungry after all this chaos. Come, eat something.”

A new and interesting find like her—he wouldn’t let her starve.

A green-capped Pujis hopped out of the mushroom field, gesturing for her to follow. Inanna realized she really was hungry.

“Is that… you?”

“Yes and no. Every mushroom here is me.”

He did have a true body, but he wasn’t about to reveal that.

Inanna only half-understood, but followed anyway. Soon, they reached a carpet of woven mycelium.

Lin Jun demonstrated how Pujis ate.

The Pujis lay flat, letting the mycelium threads pierce into it, pumping in nutrients. Within five minutes, it was fully restored.

Inanna’s cap twitched in horror.

What was this?

Letting countless tendrils burrow into her body and inject who-knows-what?

For someone who had eaten with her mouth for sixteen years, this was… a lot to accept.

But Lin Jun didn’t rush her. A child who won’t eat is just not hungry enough—once starving, they’ll eat on their own.

And sure enough, as her body weakened, she finally lay on the mycelium carpet.

That sensation!

Nutrients flooding in from countless points below, the warmth of being fed and filled—

So satisfying.

By the time the flow stopped, Inanna reluctantly got up, wishing it hadn’t ended.

Being a mushroom… wasn’t so bad?

No, no, what was she thinking!

Inanna, are you really letting your brain turn into a mushroom?

Well… her brain was now a pink cap…

Lin Jun, unaware of her inner turmoil, began showing her around the Mushroom Garden.

“You’ve seen the canteen, and the Pujis farming fields—where you knocked some over earlier.”

“See that rock wall? Below it is the mining zone.”

“Over there’s the breeding zone, with Rolling Beetles and slimes. They’re aggressive, don’t go poking around.”

“See that giant mushroom to the right? That’s the division zone. Complicated to explain—check it out yourself later.”

“And that way? Don’t go. Beyond that is outside the garden—dangerous territory.”

Lin Jun spoke freely, but from the first word, Inanna was dumbstruck.

Planting fields? Breeding pens?

It wasn’t like he was describing a dungeon—more like a fully functioning little town.

She was still inside the Amethyst Dungeon, right?

Where were the other monsters?

And how could mushrooms claim such a vast territory in the deadly deep layers?

Her mind spun with questions, unable to reconcile what she saw with the common sense she once knew.