allendalepharm Chapter 51 Mushrooms are growing in this rift.
Chapter 51 Mushrooms are growing in this rift.
The first level of this underground city-like rift is an enormous cavern that is astonishingly wide.
The height of the cave's dome and the depth of its ground far exceed the volume that the surrounding mountains can accommodate.
Clearly, even the laws of space have been distorted to some extent within the Rift Ruins.
The cave walls are covered with clusters of hanging fungal carpets, with no bare rocks visible.
The fungal carpet was densely covered with many strange mushrooms that emitted a faint, colorful glow.
The interplay of red, blue, and purple cold light illuminated the entire deep underground cavern in a dazzling and mesmerizing way.
Even the sensation under her feet became strange. Luo Lan looked down and felt a peculiar stickiness when she stepped on the toe of her shoe. When she lifted the sole of her shoe, it brought out fine fungal filaments.
Beneath a large, glowing mushroom, a ragdoll cat crouched, its deep blue eyes observing the wisps of multicolored spores emanating from the mushroom. Only after hearing Luo Lan's heavy, armored footsteps did it reluctantly run back to Luo Lan's side.
Luo Lan glanced around at the strange mushrooms and asked curiously:
"Cat, what were you looking at just now?"
The Ragdoll cat tilted its head back, and a stream of data flashed through its vertical pupils:
"Note: Fungi are fascinating life forms that spread rapidly and are highly resilient. They have flexible energy sources and can decompose almost all organic matter and inorganic salts. Mycorrhizae form interconnected communication structures underground, allowing individuals to share nutrients and stress signals."
Victor paused for a moment, seemingly giving Luo Lan time to process what he was saying, before continuing:
"Additional information: If such life forms evolve collective intelligence, they will be extremely difficult to eradicate. They have no single fatal weakness; the death of an individual does not affect the overall operation; information flows through mycorrhizal networks..."
Are there intelligent mushrooms?
After listening to Victor's analysis, Luo Lan recalled a novel he had read on Earth that featured a mushroom as the main character.
He didn't want to encounter an adversary like the "Fungus Lord" from the novel here.
Fortunately, these colorful little mushrooms here are displayed in [Focus on Reality lv.1], and they do not have any extraordinary rank, nor do they possess intelligence.
Before long, Luo Lan reached the center of the cave, where hundreds and thousands of colorful Walking Mushrooms were gathered.
They were larger than the mushrooms on the cave walls, with short but sturdy legs like radishes growing from their thick stems.
Stimulated by the high concentration of chaotic energy in the air, these giant mushrooms appeared unusually excited.
The enormous, brightly colored caps resemble umbrellas, opening and closing rhythmically. With each opening and closing, a cloud of spore dust shimmering with iridescent light is released in all directions.
These glowing dust particles fell into the crevices of the rock wall, and within seconds they quickly took root and sprouted, expanding into smaller, colorful mushrooms at a visible speed.
The walking mushrooms are taking advantage of the excess energy from this "magic tide" to frantically expand their population.
"Clang—"
Luo Lan instantly drew his broadsword from his waist, the blade pointing diagonally forward, assuming a standard knightly defensive stance.
"Plop, plop"
But those walking mushrooms that made sticky walking sounds seemed to have no senses at all. Despite having beady eyes, they completely ignored Luo Lan, this tin can, as if he were air.
The walking mushrooms were all swaying their chubby bodies haphazardly in the open space, wandering aimlessly.
Despite their seemingly harmless appearance, Luo Lan stared at the [True Sight] panel that appeared before her, not daring to be careless at all—no matter how cute they were, they were still monsters.
【Name: Walking Mushroom】
[Tier: Black Iron]
Specialty: Organic Extraction
[Skills: Spore Spread Lv.3, Spore Parasitism Lv.2, Glare Lv.1]
Maintaining the posture of drawing the sword with his right hand, Luo Lan tentatively swung his left hand.
"Whoosh—Bang!"
A single [Bone Spike Burst] shot blasted a walking mushroom not far away into flying mushroom fragments.
"Buzz—"
Luo Lan slightly opened his mouth, gathering his power for [Sonic Shock], ready to unleash an AOE attack to wipe out the Walking Mushrooms once they were attracted by the commotion of their companion's death.
The walking mushrooms completely ignored the death of their companions, continuing to spray spores in all directions with a "plop, plop" sound, without gathering together.
Seeing this, Luo Lan also canceled the charged [Sonic Shock], walked to the dead Walking Mushroom, and picked up pieces of mushroom fragments one after another with her left hand.
The moment the mushroom fragment touched the heavy armor on the left hand, it was broken down into purplish-black particles, which swirled into the gaps in the armor and were absorbed by the bone claw itself.
[Chaos Essence +1]
[Current Chaotic Essence: 4]
Hearing the notification in his head, Luo Lan couldn't help but complain:
"Why is it only a little?"
It should be noted that even a young armored spider without a transcendent rank could extract four or five points of Chaos Origin Essence in the underground palace's rift.
The massive size of the Black Iron Rank Giant Armored Spider allows it to yield dozens of units of Origin Essence.
[Why are the walking mushrooms in the Iron tier only giving a few points here? And they're not even that small!]
As if sensing Luo Lan's confusion, the plush kitten that had perched on Luo Lan's shoulder meowed a few times.
"Note: The vast majority of the Rift Ruins, containing over 90% of the chaotic matter, are condensed in the [Rift Ruin Core]... Recommendation: Go directly to the bottom layer as quickly as possible to seize the Rift Ruin Core for the highest efficiency."
Thanks to Victor's reminder, Luo Lan understood.
The previous rift in the underground palace was caused by the fragmentation of the [Ripple Core]. The chaotic matter contained within the core spread throughout the entire underground palace, resulting in the monsters within accumulating an excessive amount of chaotic matter.
Normally, the monsters in this rift should have a high content of chaotic matter in their bodies, but the rift palace is an exception.
"I knew it. This so-called Demon Tide Period sounds intimidating, but the level of chaotic energy in the air is even lower than that of the underground palace. So that's why."
"Correct. The level of chaotic energy in this rift is indeed lower than that of the underground rift you previously inhabited. However, besides the increased level of chaotic energy, a more significant characteristic of the demonic tide period is the overflowing chaotic mist..."
Now, Luo Lan had no interest in getting entangled with these walking mushrooms who couldn't yield much profit.
Luo Lan, who was in a hurry, came to quickly clear the Rift Ruins.
These walking mushrooms are scattered in various places, making them troublesome to kill, time-consuming, and yielding little profit.
Following Victor's advice, the most efficient approach was to quickly reach the bottom of this [Dungeon-type Rift] and obtain the [Rift Core], which would give access to over 90% of the chaotic matter within the Rift.
As for the less than 10% of chaotic matter that might remain inside these demonic objects, Luo Lan had no interest in it.
If you really want to farm Chaos Essence, first leave the Holy Kingdom and register as a formal adventurer. The Rift Ruins are everywhere, and you can also earn a bounty from the Adventurers' Guild.
[Time is tight, and the task is urgent. We're in a rush...]
Without further hesitation, Luo Lan strode through the sticky grove of mushrooms.
Occasionally, a few unavoidable bursts of iridescent spore spray would fall on the armor, and Luo Lan would immediately pray to summon pale holy light.
The white light flashed across the surface of the body and disappeared in an instant. Those spores that touched the holy light were like snowflakes thrown into a pot of boiling oil, turning into wisps of black smoke with a "sizzle" and dissipating.
As Luo Lan quickened her pace, she gradually moved away from the area where the walking mushrooms gathered at the entrance of the cave.