Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 558 - 548: Boss’s Teaching Methods

The Fungus Castle soldiers organized into squads of five, gradually commencing their reconnaissance operations.

Compared to the regular squads dragging hundreds of various Puki, creating a dark mass in the water, Norris’s team was much more streamlined.

In the team were Ming, Norris, a Fishman guide responsible for leading the way, and a specially modified "Jida Naval Combat Version" adapted to underwater environments at the rear.

Of course, the indispensable oxygen-supplying Puki was also present.

Unlike the Half-demon soldiers who naturally possess underwater survival skills, Norris and Ming, despite being granted the [Underwater Adaptation Level 7] skill, still needed regular oxygen replenishment.

This skill altered their skin structure, allowing them to extract oxygen directly from water, but during activity, the intake rate couldn’t keep up with consumption.

While stationary, they could remain underwater for long periods, but once swimming, they needed to rely on the oxygen-supplying Puki to replenish about every hour.

If a conflict erupted, this interval would dramatically decrease.

Norris grabbed a soft tendril offered by the oxygen-supplying Puki, took a deep breath of the oxygen-rich, moist air, deflating the round Puki a bit, but it would automatically refill its oxygen from the environment, so it was fine.

Norris then handed the tendril to Ming behind him. Their mission was to cross the winding corridor ahead to check an area marked "Altar Room."

It was a convergence point of several corridors, with a high likelihood of encountering enemies.

This route was specially arranged by Louisa, considering Jida’s physique and the task given by the Boss to Norris, so that they wouldn’t have to crawl through passageways.

The corridor was long and narrow, with stone walls on both sides covered in reliefs and murals blurred by seawater erosion.

Initially, Norris found them novel, but after seeing them multiple times, they lost their mystery, and he didn’t discover anything profound.

So naturally, his attention shifted to his partner for this mission—Ming.

As the first successful creation of the Mushroom Race, thanks to the Boss’s help, Ming was quite well-known in the tribe.

At least, during private chats with Qiong, Norris frequently heard the name of this kin whom he rarely saw, as the Boss personally took him away shortly after his birth.

After Ming, the Mushroom Race held several more birth ceremonies, but none captured Lin Jun’s attention like he did.

On this, the Mushroom Race offered two explanations. Some believed the "first one" held special significance, and the Boss taking Ming away was a gesture of formally accepting the Mushroom Race.

Others speculated the extraordinary strength of the sacrificial offering at that initial ceremony endowed Ming with remarkable potential, worthy of individual nurturing.

However, most of the Mushroom Race leaned towards the former explanation.

As the earliest into the Mushroom Garden and having pledged their loyalty, the Mushroom Race enjoyed a different status compared to the subsequently allied new Fungus Colonies.

New Fungus Colonies and those captives, upon meeting certain conditions, could choose to leave the Northern Territory, which the Boss didn’t restrict.

But for the Mushroom Race, leaving wasn’t an option.

Of course, with their current stable and prosperous life, leaving wasn’t something they considered.

Yet this distinction allowed the Boss to share more of the Mushroom Garden’s secrets with them.

For instance, skill endowment.

Ordinary Fungus Colonie only knew that after Symbioing with the mycelium, they’d naturally acquire [Cold Resistance], which they perceived as just a mycelium feature.

But the Mushroom Race knew that the Boss had the ability to directly add specific skills to them.

As long as they accumulated enough Contribution Points, they could exchange them for desired abilities, making them true elites within the Fungus Castle, rarely challenged by peers of the same level.

Given this understanding, they didn’t believe the demon pattern legacy from the birth ceremony provided Ming with much of an advantage.

In the face of the Boss’s creator-like abilities, the once-proud demon patterns of the Mushroom Race seemed insignificant.

Therefore, everyone preferred to believe this was a special gesture of acceptance and recognition by the Boss to the Mushroom Race as "his own people."

Whenever Qiong talked about this, he’d always marvel at the Boss’s attentiveness and thoughtfulness, specifically to reassure them.

"A considerate Boss," this description always struck Norris as somewhat complex whenever he heard it, but he couldn’t refute it.

However, his curiosity about Ming gradually increased amid these intermittent chats.

Unfortunately, though both were core members, they didn’t have much interaction.

Norris only learned from the Mushroom Garden’s Alchemy Supervisor, the Little Elf Riel, that Ming seemed to have a dedicated training ground with a sparring partner, indeed a sign of the Boss’s special regard.

This was a rare opportunity.

"Ming, what do you usually do?" Norris smiled, sparking a conversation.

Ming, holding the tendril, didn’t think much, frankly replied, "Gladiatorial combat to the death!"

Norris felt like he heard something noteworthy.

"To the death?"

"Yeah, it means I beat all those enemies to death."

If they weren’t underwater, Norris would probably start sweating.

"I see, a very... special training method. What about when you’re not training?"

"Eating, drinking potions, sleeping."

Isn’t there something missing from your life?

Looking at Ming, who didn’t seem to find anything wrong, Norris quietly decided that if he had offspring, he definitely wouldn’t let the Boss raise them.

"So... what kind of enemies can you handle now? I’ll allocate suitable opponents for you then," Norris tried maintaining the image of a reliable senior.

"Three or four ordinary Gold Level, or dozens of silver ones. Before we set off, I wanted to challenge an entire Gold Level squad, but didn’t have time, so I signed up for this mission instead."

Norris’s brain took two seconds to process this—what is this not even a one-year-old child talking about?

What does he mean by wanting to challenge an entire Gold Level squad?

Mind you, he’s currently only at Level 43, just Gold Level.

Without relying on Jida, he might manage a few peers with his skill combination advantage, but facing a well-coordinated, fully-professioned Gold Level squad would still be extremely dangerous.

If Ming wasn’t exaggerating... doesn’t that mean his combat capability is now on par with, or possibly even stronger than, Norris’s independent of Jida?!

Wait a moment, Jida!

Norris suddenly grasped a crucial point.

Ah, that’s it!

"Ming, so you can also control Jida!" Norris’s voice was suddenly filled with confidence, "Why didn’t you bring your Jida with you? I can teach you some practical techniques I’ve developed. Once learned, you can easily handle a Gold Level squad!"

"Brother Norris," Ming’s expression turned somewhat dejected, "I don’t have the talent to control Jida. I can only control up to twenty-three Puki at the same time, and... can’t issue different detailed commands to different Puki simultaneously."

"Then how do you fight against the Gold Squad? What level are you now?" Norris was even more puzzled.

"Level 36. As for fighting... just like this." Ming said, casually waving his not particularly strong-looking fist.

Norris instinctively leaned back slightly.

In other words, this kid isn’t even one year old, his level is already close to mine, and his combat capability might be even higher?

How did he achieve it?!

For a moment, Norris didn’t know whether to comfort Ming for his disappointment over not being able to control Jida, or to salvage his somewhat shattered dignity as a senior.

"Glug!"

The Fishman guide suddenly issued a warning sound.

Norris immediately collected his thoughts, suppressing all distracting thoughts.

[Vibration Perception]

The feedback came, revealing that the destination "Altar Room" was indeed occupied by enemies and... there were quite a few of them!