Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 252 - 244: Everyone Loves Red Mushrooms
There were more people near Dumb Wind Town.
Ever since a certain adventurer tested the red mushrooms for toxins and personally tasted them without issue, the diminishing "mushroom picking fever" reignited once more!
But this time, the frenzy shifted from ordinary mushrooms to the red mushrooms with the attribute [Delicious]!
[Delicious]
Plants with this characteristic are almost always difficult to cultivate.
Creating deliciousness requires more magic power, thus they need a certain level of ambient magic concentration while also being unable to withstand the dilution of magic from mass cultivation.
Even if you find a suitable place, it’s easily coveted.
To prevent theft by demons and humans, manpower must be invested for day and night vigilance.
Therefore, places with a stable output of [Delicious] are either private estates guarded by soldiers of a lord, remote desolate places, or deep, perilous dungeons.
Among them, the most famous dungeon delicacy is a demon plant from the Elves’ Esogal Dungeon, which uses [Delicious] fruits with fatal allure to trap greedy adventurers and demons.
As for the Purple Crystal Dungeon, it used to have none.
But now, simply taking a detour around its outer regions, there’s indeed a chance to encounter red mushrooms with [Delicious]?!
Although the chance of occurrence is tiny, and a single mushroom pales in quantity compared to other delicious fruits, this treat acquired with relatively trivial time cost is akin to a windfall from the heavens!
The only danger is the so-called "dungeon collapse," but so many days have passed without incident, many have begun to speculate whether the dungeon might not collapse after all?
Nowadays, commoners search for food in the trampled fungal mats near Dumb Wind Town; cautious adventurers follow the trails of fungal mats deeper into forests inhabited by low-level demons to gather various mushrooms; the boldest are already active in areas not far from the dungeon’s first level entrance, solely targeting the delicious red mushrooms!
It is worth mentioning that this situation wasn’t intentionally guided by Lin Jun.
The delicious mushroom and the hallucinogenic green mushroom both randomly occur within mushroom clusters, but because of their high magic power consumption, natural production is scarce.
Had Lin Jun deliberately produced them, it would look like what’s happening now at the No.3 Mushroom Garden—
Puki came to exchange for delicious mushrooms again. After trying a small bowl last time, the unprecedented scrumptiousness lingered in his mind, and he was eager to share it with Shou, even though the contribution point cost of this delicious mushroom is a full twenty times that of ordinary mushrooms!
Upon confirming the exchange, the delicious mushrooms that adventurers couldn’t find sprang up one by one from the fungal mat beside Puki.
Puki patiently waited for a few minutes until these small caps absorbed sufficient magic power, fully plumped before he reached out, pinching off each mushroom stem, soon filling up half a bag.
Weighing the delicious mushrooms in his hand, Puki was already anticipating Shou’s expression when he tasted them tonight!
...
...
...
On the fungal mat not far from the dungeon gate, a vibrant red delicious mushroom grew there, though still slightly small, seemingly with more room to grow.
A young adventurer carrying a bag walking from the forest direction spotted it keenly, his face instantly bursting with joy: "Ha! Strike it rich!"
He hurried forward in three quick steps, bending over to pick it.
Whoosh—!
A glint of cold light brushed past his fingertip, piercing into the ground in front of him, the hilt still quivering violently!
"Kid, don’t you know the rules?" A rough voice called out as two ill-intentioned adventurers appeared from the shade under the trees not far away.
One of them, arms crossed, chin pointing at the delicious mushroom: "This treasure, we’ve been eyeing it for quite a while, just waiting for it to grow to its plumpest, and now you just waltz in wanting to snatch it?"
The young adventurer, startled, soon burned with anger: "Bullshit! You weren’t squatting there, who knows if you just got here, is your name carved on the mushroom? Besides, whoever picks it first owns it!"
Having a dagger suddenly thrown at him, the young man couldn’t stand it, drawing the short sword at his waist, pointing it straight at the opponent.
The two opposite also revealed their weapons, the atmosphere instantly tense, greed, anger, and killing intent intertwined, as a bloody conflict seemed about to erupt.
"Stop, all of you!"
A loud shout accompanied by the clanging of armor colliding as five shiny-armored guards stepped between the three men.
They moved swiftly, well-trained, their cold spear tips gleaming menacingly.
The lead guard captain, in front of the adventurers, picked the red mushroom.
"Save your strength. What are you fighting for? This mushroom, it doesn’t belong to you, nor does it belong to them," he said, glancing around, his voice hard as iron, "It belongs to Saint Claire!"
"You!"
With these words, the previously confrontational three adventurers were immediately in an uproar, all their fury redirected at the soldiers, eyes practically shooting fire.
The situation suddenly tightened, as the captain was only silver-level, and his four bronze-level soldier cohorts were ordinary troops. However, all three adventurers were silver-level, making it uncertain which side would prevail if it came to blows.
Yet, the guard captain showed no fear, even carrying a hint of aloof superiority.
This confidence didn’t stem from strength, but from the emblem of the Saint Claire Clan on his chest.
"What does this mean?!" An adventurer asked, suppressing his impulse, voice hoarse with rage, "Does the Duke now control even the mushrooms we pick in the wild?!"
The guard captain glanced at him, speaking unemotionally: "In the heart of the forest or dungeons, naturally no one cares about your life or death. But here, you’re still within Dumb Wind Town’s territory! Miss Inanna has officially exercised her territorial rights, if you have questions, go check the notices at the temporary camp."
The three adventurers shook with rage, their eyes glued to the mushroom in the captain’s hand, as if trying to reclaim it with their gaze, yet none dared to truly point their weapons at the guards.
In the end, the three gave a fierce look at the guards, then turned and marched off towards the camp.
They intended to see what this suddenly appeared Duke’s Daughter wanted to achieve.
And when they reached the temporary camp near the Guild, a large crowd of adventurers was already gathered there, many having faced similar situations.
As they squeezed into the outer ring, they heard a loud, booming voice amidst the adventurers protesting:
"With just one word from the Saint Claire Clan, all production of the fungal mats around Dumb Wind Town belongs to the Guild? What’s the basis for that?! There never used to be such a rule! Even the Duke’s family can’t just decide things at whim!"
"Yeah, exactly! This is way too overbearing!"
"You can’t be so unreasonable!"
Such blatant questioning was like adding fuel to the fire, as the crowd erupted into chaos.
Buoyed by strength in numbers, the mingling adventurers raised their voices, venting pent-up frustrations and doubts, with protests rising wave after wave.
For a moment, even the few guards near the announcements seemed unable to contain the turmoil.
Outside the tent, the clamor was deafening, but within the large tent, the atmosphere was vastly different.
Fa’er stood quietly aside, his eyes on the Duke’s Daughter, who was surrounded affectionately by the Pukis, his voice calm and clear: "Miss Inanna, it’s about that time."
