Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 267 - 259: If the Demon King Can Do It, So Can Puki!

Chapter 267: Chapter 259: If the Demon King Can Do It, So Can Puki!

The array can’t draw enough magic power from underground?

Lin Jun looked at his Fungal Mycelium Network that stretched beneath the Demon Tribe... Ha, this is really strange, couldn’t figure it out at all...

Lin Jun swore at Dylan’s shattered tombstone, he really didn’t do it on purpose!

With his meager array knowledge, even setting up a standalone Tier Three Magic array was a challenge, and he couldn’t make sense of the intricate array set in the cradle, who knew its operation relied so heavily on the earth’s magic power?

But... it was just right.

Upon hearing the voice in his mind, Shou felt a slight heaviness in his heart but still asked, "Do you have a solution?"

The sound of fluttering wings came from the sky, a bat Puki wobbly landed, precisely nested in the natural arc of Shou’s pair of horns—well, due to the curve of the horns, they were just too convenient for the Puki to perch!

"Can you let me in?" Lin Jun asked.

Xing Huo stared blankly at the suddenly appearing Puki, being the new, significant priest, he hadn’t worked in the Mushroom Garden nor had been parasitized by mycelium, this was his first time seeing the legendary mushroom spirit.

But among other members of the Demon Tribe, many noticed the suddenly appearing Puki, still unclear about what was happening.

Shou glanced at Xing Huo and other tribesmen, with brief contemplation, he proceeded towards the stone house with the Puki perched atop.

Entering the door, he deliberately lowered his head to prevent the Puki from hitting above.

Inside the stone house, the newly emerged Demon Race youth lay quietly on the ground, deep blue Demon Pattern spread from the slightly glowing Demon Core on his chest but stopped abruptly only at his arm.

The ceremony obviously halted before completion, the remaining Demon Pattern was dim and nonfunctional, at least on the panel, there was no Cold Resistance.

Lin Jun was slightly surprised at Demon Race emerging in youthful form.

Truly a race capable of asexually reproducing like mushrooms, efficiency is indeed much higher than those requiring slow nurturing of dual-sex organisms!

The youth didn’t awaken, yet his body shivered instinctively in the cold.

The panel started showing a decline in blood volume, soon this newborn Demon Race would die in sleep.

Now wrapping him with a pelt for warmth might let him survive temporarily, but doing so is meaningless, only prolonging his suffering, he wouldn’t even survive escaping from the Far North.

But this dire issue, for Lin Jun, was merely adding a skill to a blank slate.

Although before that...

A commotion arose outside the stone house, soon several more Puki squeezed in.

Unlike the bat Puki, these were Lin Jun’s temporarily generated Drilling Puki for warmth, naturally posing as running in from outside the tribe!

The Puki surrounded the newborn Demon Race youth, yet did not immediately start the heating... the blood volume still had to drop a bit.

Shou stood in the center of the stone house, unobtrusively shielding the cradle behind, calmly watching the actions of the Puki.

After a while, as the blood volume dropped to about one-quarter, four Drilling Puki simultaneously got to work.

With a buzzing sound, the temperature inside the stone house quickly rose, and the fading life of the newborn Demon Race gradually stabilized.

At this moment, the bat Puki perched on Shou’s horn lightly jumped down, landing on the youth’s chest, shaking its mushroom cap, evenly scattering fine spores.

Shou understood what was being done, every tribesman connected to the Fungal Network would be sprinkled with spores.

Though... being sucked by a vampire was not a necessary step... 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Parasitism completed.

Then it had to connect to the Fungal Mat...

A Drilling Puki swiftly ran to a corner of the stone house where no array was drawn, and started drilling down.

Shou subconsciously lifted his hand, seemingly wanting to prevent, but ultimately chose to acquiesce, letting the Puki exert their efforts.

In over ten minutes, mycelium emerged at the pit’s edge.

A few minutes later, a piece of Fungal Mat had grown in the corner of the stone house.

Seeing this scene made Shou’s eyelids twitch.

After working under the Puki for so long, he certainly knew how the Fungal Mat spread; he was also aware of Fungal Mat’s existence outside Underground City.

Yet he hadn’t imagined that the Fungal Mat could spread inside the tribe within less than half an hour, indicating that there likely already existed a large area of Fungal Mat underground!

Everything happening before him reminded him that their tribe, although seeming normal on the surface, had likely been surrounded by the Puki, and even the recent lack of magic power might be...

Lin Jun, however, didn’t care what Shou was thinking, wouldn’t care even if he knew.

After thoroughly understanding the so-called "cradle" and "newborn ceremony," Lin Jun was certain that the Demon Race could not depart from him afterward, as long as he showcased this power of "blessing" to them!

The Puki dragged the newborn Demon Race onto the Fungal Mat, the mycelium autonomously connected, and magic power surged into the Demon Race’s body through the Fungal Mat.

The youth’s surface incomplete icy-blue Demon Pattern suddenly flared briefly, then dimmed again.

Lin Jun knew not what this brief flare signified, but just now, Cold Resistance Level 8 was successfully applied!

The magic power consumed was negligible, even less than creating a Cannon Mushroom, after all, this newborn Demon Race had no other skills yet.

The Drilling Puki ceased heating, the warmth inside the stone house gradually faded, Shou’s anxiety climbed.

Yet, the youth on the ground did not shrink back, rather, in sleep, his brows relaxed, breathing steady, as if nestled in the coziest environment.

"This...?!" Shou’s voice trembling in disbelief.

Lin Jun’s voice, like gentle whispers, with just the right touch of allure, directly echoed in Shou’s mind: "It’s nothing major, just that I... coincidentally mastered some little tricks to imbue ’followers’ with power."

"Followers..." Shou mulled over the word.

"Of course," Lin Jun honestly said, "Despite the easy process, the cost was substantial. Without true intimate relations, how could one be worthy of such aid? But you need not worry, I mean no harm, you have helped me a lot recently, so take this as a small return gift!"

...

Shou embraced the newborn Demon Race, stepped out of the stone house, he gazed around at the gathering tribesmen with concern etched on their faces, deeply inhaled and announced, "The ceremony... succeeded! We have new tribe members again!"

After a brief silence, thunderous cheers exploded!

The Demon Race enthusiastically embraced, jumped, some even spontaneously started performing the sacerdotal dance.

Prepared cauldrons rose, mushroom soup mixed with bug meat and mushrooms along with a small amount of delicious mushrooms began boiling—celebrating the birth of new life, this was Demon Tribe’s only festival.

Only Xing Huo, his face filled with shock and confusion.

The newborn Demon Race returned to the main tent, situated comfortably on a relatively soft bed.

Generally, freshly born Demon Race requires days of sleep to gather their consciousness, just let them sleep.

Xing Huo closely pursued, came in, inspected the still incomplete Demon Pattern on the youth, and puzzled, asked, "How exactly was this done."

"This... is Puki’s ability,"

"Puki’s ability?"

Shou did not continue explaining, instead slowly pulled from his bosom the Demon Core that the elder handed him before passing, silently contemplating.

He thought much, thought of the tribe’s current state, thought of those who were already in symbiosis with mycelium within the tribe, thought of Qiong who loved eating delicious mushrooms, thought of probably existing large Fungal Mats beneath the tribe, and moreover, thought of Puki’s methods rivaling those of the legendary Lord Demon King!

For a long time, he finally raised his head looking at Xing Huo, looking at the sole remaining superior warrior and priest apart from him within the tribe, speaking each word deliberately: "Xing Huo, let’s... submit to mushrooms!"