Chapter 117: Chapter 116: Punishment

“It’s all my fault…”

In the clearing in front of the Mushroom House, Norris knelt in the center of a group of Puki, even Xiao Hai was squatting in the corner watching him.

He hung his head, the scale armor made a faint scraping sound against the ground, and his intermittent confession floated in the air mixed with a faint scent of blood.

At this moment, Norris’s right foot had already been reattached, and the wound on his chest had healed, yet he still looked utterly disheveled.

The flesh at the junction of the reattached limb had an obvious demarcation, and the scales on his body were missing patches here and there, with cracks in those that remained, losing their former luster.

Norris couldn’t even understand why he lost control of his emotions; after being bullied for so many years, he should have gotten used to it by now.

Now that he had committed the crime of murder, he could only honestly confess the whole process and then wait anxiously for his fate.

With the dual effects of the Fungal Network and parasitism, if Norris lied, he wouldn’t be able to fool Lin Jun.

In Lin Jun’s view, the fault wasn’t entirely Norris’s, after all, the humans made the first move.

But it was true that Norris had handled it poorly.

When entangled by human adventurers, whether to fight or flee wouldn’t have mattered to Lin Jun, but he should have used the Fungal Network to notify her immediately instead of acting independently, which was not promising.

As for the death of three humans, it was not a big deal in the Underground City.

So Lin Jun quickly gave her punishment to Norris:

“Norris, for acting on your own and violating Mushroom Garden discipline, you are now sentenced to wash the floor for a month for the Slime.”

“Wash the floor for the Slime?”

Norris’s mind couldn’t quite wrap around it, still subconsciously feeling that his crime was murder, but now, according to Lin Jun, his problem was failing to report?

“What, any objections?” Lin Jun thought Norris might not be willing.

Washing the floor for the Slime wasn’t an easy job.

That two-colored Slime was quite capable of splitting, and washing the floor meant collecting the cores after defeating the split Slime sides and flushing all the remaining slime into the underground sewer with water.

Living and eating during this work were confined to the mountain cavity, also functioning as a form of solitary confinement, needing work from morning till night.

Not to mention, the hanging cage would occasionally be lifted and curses would be released to train the Puki, and Norris would certainly have to suffer along with them.

But for Norris, this punishment was already lighter than his best expectations.

So, he quickly lowered his head in acceptance: “No, no, I have no objections.”

Two Puki made a proper facade of escorting Norris to serve his sentence.

Xiao Hai completely didn’t understand what happened and waved at the departing Norris.

Lin Jun then went to check in with Xiao Lv about the adventurer’s capabilities.

Three Silver Level adventurers operating on the sixth layer; Norris achieved a 1-for-2 in his direct confrontation with them.

The last one was handled by Xiao Lv who arrived in time; without Xiao Lv, Norris might have been dead by now.

In this incident, compared to Norris’s mistake, Lin Jun saw more of the strength he displayed.

After all, Norris was only at Level 24 now!

Previously, he also challenged demons above his level, but demons are somewhat lacking in intelligence compared to Norris, so it’s not surprising he could kill them.

But this time it was three actual human adventurers a full step above him, and he could still achieve such results, proving the addition of skills by Lin Jun was very effective.

A higher skill level combined with sensible arrangements compensated for the attribute gap brought by Norris’s lower level.

Lin Jun also understood that this compensation had its limits; at Gold or even Diamond Levels, people’s skill levels would also be high and well-matched, and then Lin Jun’s granted skills wouldn’t stand out so much.

Yet, undoubtedly, with this ability, as long as there are sufficient and suitable materials, Lin Jun could mass-produce a batch capable of quickly reaching silver or even gold level of core strength.

But… it seems she lacks the materials?

After so long in the Underground City, she’s only encountered a blank slate like Norris; anyone else entering the Underground City is not without skills.

Maybe among human civilians and children, there are those who are close to a blank slate, but snatching people would obviously draw attention, in the end gaining nothing.

Temporarily setting the plan aside.

When Norris finishes his solitary confinement, Lin Jun plans to give him a second round of transformation.

The originally planned Mimicry seems temporarily unsuitable, as Norris’s strength is inadequate, and his character not yet steady; wandering around with Mimicry might expose him due to impulsiveness.

It’s better to train him more.

Comparatively, Xiao Lv’s performance this time was excellent.

In the Tree Demon Forest, Xiao Lv knelt on the moist soil, extending its roots into the soil, meticulously sorting out the crisscrossing roots of newly sprouted trees.

With abundant magic power, every now and then, a tender azure branch would condense within the Tree Demon.

Leaving the tender branch and a part of the roots in the ground would allow it to grow into a Demon Wood, which upon maturing would develop sentience to become a new Tree Demon.

Thanks to Lin Jun’s reward, the Tree Demons obtained many Demon Crystals, increasing the efficiency of absorbing magic power significantly.

Naturally, the recently planted tender branches have also increased, with some like the one before Xiao Lv growing well and having become healthy Demon Wood.

The Tree Demons occasionally help the Demon Woods organize the tangled roots — the space beneath the Tree Demon Forest is much more crowded than it looks on the surface…

“Xiao Lv.”

The sudden communication made Xiao Lv pause its current work.

“What’s the matter, boss, whatever you instruct.”

“It’s not an instruction, just a proposal and I wanted to see your opinion.

After clearing the land near the small mountain, it’s been vacant, rather than letting other demons take it, I might as well plant some mushrooms.

It would also prevent adventurers from mistakenly entering the mountain.

So I’m wondering if you plan on planting some trees there too?

With bases on both sides, one east, one west, it won’t always be such a long trek.”

“Expanding the territory…” Lin Jun’s proposal got Xiao Lv thinking.

Indeed, although the Tree Demon Forest’s land is still sufficient now, given the current trend, expansion is almost inevitable.

Originally Xiao Lv’s idea was to slowly expand from the forest entrance.

Now the boss’s intention seems to let them nest directly on the other end.

It appears feasible?

The Tree Demons have long settled in one corner, partly due to their limited numbers, the Tree Demon Forest has been adequate for survival.

Secondly, not wanting to draw too much human adventurer attention, residing remote and clustered, making adventurer attacks less likely.

Now the situation is different, Tree Demons headed out, followed by a group of Puki, improving combat strength and adventurers seem wary of Puki, reducing conflicts considerably.

So opening a new home far from the forest isn’t impossible.

“Boss, do you intend for the Puki and Tree Demons to cohabit?”

“Cohabit?”

In Lin Jun’s eyes, Puki are tools, while Tree Demons count as subordinates; using “cohabit” to describe subordinates and tools together felt somewhat odd to Lin Jun, but Xiao Lv’s understanding made sense.

“Sort of, I plan to grow a Mushroom Forest there.

You’ve never seen the Mushroom Forests on the fifth layer as you can’t reach them yet; I think you’d like it.”

In Lin Jun’s concept, Tree Demons are quite suited for living with Mushroom Forests.

Mushrooms mainly gather magic from the air, while Tree Demons primarily absorb magic from the ground, so they don’t interfere with each other.

Then the Mushroom Forest can provide environmental effects like spores, and Tree Demons can lead Puki in guarding the Mushroom Forest without Lin Jun having to bother.

The ultimate goal essentially is to conceal the rift and two-colored Slime in the mountain cavity, side benefits.

“Boss, I have no objections, when do we start?”

Xiao Lv, reassured about cohabiting with Puki, had no fear of adventurers with Puki present.

“Then you can start now, my Puki have already gone down!”

“Then I’ll rally our kin!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep