Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 290 - 282: Opening a Blind Box

The Drilling Puki had already fallen into the basement, and two more Pukis bounced out of the hole it dug through.

One was a Scout Puki, responsible for detecting any possible magic arrays or underground demons, and the other was a Self-Destruct Puki just in case.

This was a perfect excavation team.

The three Pukis surrounded the box, pawing at it with their short legs for a long while, but it didn’t budge. It seemed to be locked.

They couldn’t figure out why it was locked. It was just an unattended wooden box, wouldn’t it be easier to just force it open?

With a sweep of [Magic Perception], there was no magic array inside.

The Drilling Puki lay on the ground, its top pointing at the box, while the other two Pukis pushed it up with their feet.

The vibrating and rotating sharp blade easily broke through the wood around the keyhole. The Pukis controlled their strength to avoid damaging any possible items inside.

Crack!

A very faint sound of breaking came from inside the keyhole, followed by three thin needles shooting out from the lock hole.

The Drilling Puki, which was still pressing against the ground with its two feet, suddenly went limp — dead.

There was a trap?!

The three needles seemed to be coated with poison, but aside from corrosive damage, Pukis were almost immune to toxins.

However, the three hits were too much for a Puki with only ten health to withstand.

A few minutes later, the mycelium squirmed, and the Drilling Puki "resurrected" on the spot, but with three obstructive needles in its body, each movement causing additional damage, taking away some health...

The trap inside the box was a one-off. After the Drilling Puki resurrected, it smoothly drilled a hole in the wooden box.

With a kick, the wooden box was opened.

Inside were some packaged dry food, two water skins, a pendant with a balance motif, and a thin booklet.

The cover of the booklet depicted a peculiar tree, lush on one side and withered on the other.

Flipping through, the pages were densely covered with Elf Language text.

Though they couldn’t understand the content, the orderly layout clearly suggested it was some type of book, rather than a personal note or letter.

This meant it probably didn’t contain any shady secret plans.

As for the pendant, it was just an ordinary piece of jewelry, with no magic fluctuations, and even made of copper.

For a hidden chamber, the loot was rather mediocre.

The Pukis explored the basement again, leaving circular footprints everywhere, but found nothing more.

There was an exit in the basement, with very rough, primitive stairs, even unaligned.

The Pukis hopped up step by step and eventually crawled out through a gap in the roots of a giant tree, with no one around, obviously a secluded area.

Returning to the basement, a few more Pukis emerged, taking the booklet and pendant from the box.

They then built a mushroom ladder and crawled back into the hole, leaving only a few Self-Destruct Pukis in the basement.

Once they were a safe distance away, with a loud explosion, the basement and part of the tunnel collapsed completely under the blast, erasing all traces of the Pukis’ activity.

Then they took a detour, spending an extra day to finally reach the cemetery.

Following their memory, they found the grave of the Old Elf that had been previously buried.

Sure enough, only "scraps and leftovers" remained.

The body was incomplete, which would directly affect the [Greed] plundering effect.

Before gaining [Inspiration], Lin Jun never questioned this, always thinking that the more complete the body, the more proficiency obtained from its skills.

But after understanding that the skills were being stripped from the soul, Lin Jun was confused instead.

Through observation, the soul is a whole and doesn’t dissipate when the body rots a bit, so why does an incomplete body affect the plundering effect?

Fortunately, even if this problem couldn’t be solved, it didn’t affect Lin Jun much.

The mycelium spread out from its network and slowly attached to the corpse...

[Seven Sins of Greed Triggered]

[Plunder Skill: Elf Language Level 1]

[Plunder Skill: Natural Magic Level 1]

[Plunder Skill: Pseudo Sound Level 1]

Elf Language needed no explanation, and Natural Magic was expected.

Elves with Natural Affinity easily acquire the talent for Natural Magic, even if they are not Mages, they are likely to have this skill.

Just like Elarwen, who, despite being a Ranger Hunter, also has Level 4 in [Natural Magic].

But... what is this [Pseudo Sound]?

When first seeing this Old Elf, it was already a corpse, so it wasn’t possible to see the panel.

Now it was like opening a blind box and unexpectedly obtaining a skill!

Since it’s called "Pseudo Sound," it should mimic others’ speech, right?

Can it create a Puki that can speak?

Couldn’t wait to generate a Pseudo Sound Puki, but it looked just like an ordinary Puki.

It didn’t even have a sound hole, so there was no way it could speak.

Apparently, it’s a skill that doesn’t match with Pukis.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Jun tried to create a Voice Puki.

...

"Boss! I think the drill is the strongest!"

After half an hour of research, the Voice Puki finally emitted a sound that was about one-fourth similar to Norris.

Lin Jun figured it out, the skill itself doesn’t produce sound, it just adjusts the emitted sound to mimic the timbre of others.

But the problem is, it didn’t make the Voice Puki’s sound pleasant, instead it created a hoarse, sticky Norris voice with an unpleasant echo...

So... what use does this thing have?

-----------------

On the woodland above the underground chamber entrance.

Two Elf Rangers were carefully searching the ground for traces.

Suddenly, one Ranger crouched down, pressed against the gnarled root of a giant tree, and blew a short whistle to signal his companion: "Here!"

The other Ranger quickly approached, his palm radiating a soft and lively glow of Natural Magic.

Under the control of magic, the roots of the giant tree moved aside, revealing the passage below.

"Another hidden chamber like this?!" The Ranger who found the entrance frowned, "Who on earth is behind this?"

"Who knows," his companion vigilantly scanned the tranquil surroundings of the forest, "The few we found before, weren’t they also empty, leaving no clues?"

The two Elves exchanged a look, one of them nimbly crawled inside, while the other took down the short bow from his back, arrows loosely drawn ready, keeping guard.

A few minutes later, the Ranger who entered clambered out looking slightly disheveled, brushing the dust off his body.

"It’s collapsed below, the passage is completely blocked. The magic waves detected earlier were probably caused by the explosion."

"Collapsed?" The other Elf looked puzzled.

Two months ago, by chance, an Elf discovered the first of these hidden chambers, and after reporting it, the Captain of the Guard was immediately alerted.

A targeted search was then launched, uncovering several similar chambers.

Unfortunately, they were all just empty shells, with no valuable clues left inside.

However, those chamber owners quietly withdrew, but this one... destroyed everything with an explosion!

This is the first time such intense signs of destruction have appeared.

"Let’s go back and report it, see if they want to send an Earth Mage to dig around. But I guess, even if it’s dug open there won’t be much to find."

"Sigh..." The companion put away the bow and arrow, looking toward the direction of the Royal City, "How long will it take for the Captain to fully recover? Did that human Sword Saint really strike so heavily? What a bastard!"