【King Giant Mushroom】: Also known as the miniature “World Tree” of the underground world, it is the king of all mushrooms and mushroom-type monsters. The activity of mushroom-type monsters nearby increases drastically, while plant-type monsters’ activity rises slightly. It possesses high intelligence and powerful regenerative abilities.
This motionless giant mushroom is the strongest monster Su Yao has summoned so far.
It’s worth mentioning that after summoning this monster, the purchase options in the Shop turned gray.
This was the first time she encountered a monster whose summoning quantity was limited.
Su Yao set the teleportation point to the “Cave Hall” on the second floor of the Dungeon.
She wanted to see if she could communicate with this giant mushroom.
After all, it was not only a landmark but also a monster. If it attacked adventurers without warning, Su Yao would be in trouble.
The blonde loli approached the giant creature and looked up along the ten-story-high mushroom stalk.
Delicate strands of translucent, glowing filaments hung down from the pale blue luminescent folds.
The giant glowing mushroom cap illuminated the entire “Cave Hall” brightly.
Though it was a monster, its roots seemed deeply embedded underground.
It probably wouldn’t attack people like this…
Or so it seemed. The blonde loli jumped back just in time as a large number of vines and white, tentacle-like fungal threads emerged from the spot she had just left.
Without magic sensing, she might have been bound by this thing.
“Hey, stop! Can you understand me?”
Su Yao shouted at the giant mushroom while dodging.
According to the Shop description, it had high intelligence and should be able to communicate.
However, more and more fungal threads kept sprouting from the ground.
Hmm, no wonder it cost an initial 50,000 DP—it definitely wasn’t going to obey her commands easily.
“Bang.”
The fungal threads thickened. At this rate, even if Sophia came, she probably wouldn’t escape.
No choice—Su Yao had to show it a bit of power here.
After gathering magic for a long time, just before being entangled by the tentacles, Su Yao unleashed the strongest fire magic she could use at the moment.
“Now can you understand me?”
“Who are you?”
As expected, this creature could communicate—but the voice…
No, that’s not quite right. The voice appeared directly in her mind, a youthful, sweet, clipped female tone.
“I am the lord of this Dungeon, and I summoned you out. In other words, I am your master.”
The giant mushroom was silent for a moment, then white fungal tentacles started sprouting from the ground again.
It seemed to reject Su Yao’s self-introduction.
“Bang.”
Another explosion, but this time after the blast ended, Su Yao deliberately kept the flames alive, forming a sea of fire.
“Stop! It’s so hot!”
“Will you attack me again?”
“No… I won’t.”
It seemed that in any world, fire magic was extremely effective against wood-type monsters.
Though she didn’t know how many levels higher this giant mushroom was than her, as long as there was an elemental advantage, challenging beyond her level didn’t seem difficult.
“Do you have a name?”
Unsurprisingly, this creature didn’t have a human-like name, so Su Yao simply called it “Maran.”
From then on, communication became much easier.
Simply put, there was abundant magic power in the Dungeon, which it liked very much, but magic alone wasn’t enough to sustain Maran’s daily life.
It needed more “nutrients,” which was also why it attacked Su Yao.
Until now, she had never cared about the monsters’ diet.
On the first floor, it was still fine because most monsters died quickly due to many adventurers.
Gargoyles, Slimes, Minotaurs—all these monsters could survive just on the magic power within the Dungeon.
But normally, monsters needed to eat, like those found in spawn points such as the “Mother Spider,” “Vampire Bat,” and “Mist Scorpion.”
Su Yao promised to solve Maran’s food problem, and in return, it would fulfill certain duties.
Thus, they reached a Gentleman’s Agreement. Of course, Su Yao had complete control over the giant mushroom, leaving it no choice but cooperation.
After solving the problem of whether the “landmark building” would suddenly turn into a Defense Tower, Su Yao began checking other monsters she could summon on the Dungeon’s second floor.
【Stardust Algae】: An algae-type monster growing in damp, dark places. Some animals that accidentally ingest it suffer from magic power disruption. It reproduces rapidly and can survive on just moist air and magic power. In complete darkness, it emits a flowing light like stardust.
【Stalactite Worm】: When motionless, it resembles stalactites in the Cave. It feeds on plants growing on cave walls and reproduces quickly. The water droplets dripping from its tip are actually excretions from digesting food, which produce different effects depending on what it has eaten.
【Will-o’-Wisp Bug】: A flying magical insect emitting a faint glow in dark caves. It self-ignites when attacked or threatened, feeds on excrement and corpses of other creatures, and reproduces quickly.
These three monsters are affordable and practical.
Although they can’t be used in operating the Labyrinth Tavern, they still play important roles as producers and decomposers on the Dungeon’s second floor.
Su Yao directly spent slightly more DP to purchase the nests of the two insect types. Ten nests cost only 1,000 DP, quite cheap.
Each insect nest only spawns fifty bugs at a time, but their “rapid reproduction” means they don’t have to rely on spawn points like Dungeon monsters do.
She spent another 1,000 DP placing the algae on the ceiling of the “Cave Hall.”
This way, when the Stalactite Worms move around, their excretions would become nutrients for Maran.
If that’s insufficient, kitchen scraps from the Labyrinth Tavern would supplement it.
Of course, to prevent these rapidly reproducing bugs from overrunning the place, Su Yao specifically prepared several monsters to control their numbers.
【Water Cannon Scorpion】: Red and white in color, resembling a small lobster scorpion. Unlike regular scorpions, its tail doesn’t have a stinger but has evolved into a unique “cannon” that shoots water jets to knock down prey.
【Membrane-winged Flying Frog】: An amphibious monster resembling a frog but with bat-like wings. It hunts flying or high-perched insects and bug-type monsters with its strong hind legs and membranous wings.
……
Almost the entire day, Su Yao stayed on the Dungeon’s second floor, summoning these strange monsters while constructing the ecosystem inside the cave.
Of course, she also incorporated the spawn points of her target monsters into this ecosystem.
【Land Mushroom Mycelium】: Common residents of the damp cave system, constantly moving to find “nutrients.” Once placed, they spawn Land Mushrooms nearby (limit 0/20).
【Cave Loach’s Nest】: Amphibious fish in the damp cave, omnivorous. Their bodies form pearl-like stones internally to store magic power. Once placed, they spawn Cave Loaches (limit 0/10) and one Loach King (0/1) nearby.
These two monsters are the main ingredients of the Labyrinth Tavern’s signature dish: Fish-Fragrant Mushroom Hotpot.
But lost in curiosity, Su Yao didn’t notice her DP balance. Coral Turtle, Electric Anaconda, Bouncy Mushroom…
Only when the DP hit zero did the silly loli remember that she had spent all of Hilvi’s investment.
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