Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 323 Green Mushrooms
As dusk fell and the Well of Light in the sky dipped westward, the radiant magical energy it emitted could no longer suppress the radiation from the void. A dark purple curtain of night surged in from the eastern horizon, and the stars twinkled in vain in the despairing night. The suddenly intensified radiation swept across the magnetic field, triggering a magnificent aurora that spread to the tropics.

The Mechanic rode his roaring flying motorcycle and sped back to the Fungus Forest.

The woodland at dusk was bathed in a deep blue glow, and the tropical vapors swirled among the trees, shimmering like a beautiful hazy sunset. Animals and insects that had fled during the day gradually returned, their courage roused, and the sounds of birds and beasts filled the air.

The young deer nibbled on the mycelium, its ears twitching. Upon hearing the noise of the motorcycle, it immediately turned its head and jumped away.

The mechanics followed the wireless signal to the gathering place, where two houses stood in a spacious forest plaza. Scattered mushroom-shaped streetlights converted the radiant magic energy stored during the day into soft white light, spreading it out, making the air bright and spacious, without any lingering fog.

The Mud Gold family was having dinner in the open space. A checkered tablecloth was spread on the ground, and each member had a plate of various magical metal blocks that fit their body size in front of them.

The giant slime monster picked up the plate with its chubby little hands, stretched its face into a flat slit, and opened its mouth wide like an open trash can, with the back of its head almost touching its back. It poured the metal in the plate into its mouth and gulped it down, then casually ate the metal plate as well. It rubbed its belly with both hands, and its gem-like eyes squinted happily.

The little slime monsters followed suit, but the plates were bigger than their bodies. They tried to open their mouths wide and stuff the plates and food into their bodies, stretching their bodies into a disc shape. They blinked their eyes and kept burping.

"Brother Mage! Someone's starving to death!" The Mechanic jumped off his motorcycle and shouted.

The area in front of the female orc's houseboat was covered in snow, and the lanterns under the eaves emitted a warm orange light. The Iron Guard, wearing an apron, pushed open the door and shook the rope under the wind chime, making the jingling sound to summon the Mechanist.

She patted the elite mechanical guard and followed Iron Guard into the spacious main room. On the glowing charcoal of the rectangular hearth sat a grill pan and three stew pots. The pan contained dozens of grilled cod garnished with bright red and green peppers, one pot held a thick mushroom soup, another contained stewed meat, and the third contained cooked white rice.

The house was empty, and the dining table was bare. The mechanic was wondering why his mage brother liked to live in a northern-style houseboat when the wind chimes rang again, and Lin Bo and the female orc pushed open the door together and entered.

"Oh! A new friend!" [Picking up trash makes me happy] came up and shook hands warmly. The female orc was surprised, and then gave the little girl a good bear hug.

Without Lin Bo needing to introduce them, they quickly became acquainted.

The Mechanist spent a whole day building her territory. She had already occupied a mine twenty miles northwest of the Fungus Forest. It was a branch of the volcanic mountain range, and the iron ore produced there had a high sulfur content, but the total amount was quite considerable.

She took out her leader's badge and pinned it to her chest, where it resonated with Lin Bo's badge.

[Network notification: Faction synchronization detected. The [Scrap Tycoon] faction proposes to form an alliance and become allies of [Sanctuary]. Do you agree?]

[Network notification: The [Scrap Tycoon] faction and the [Sanctuary] faction have officially formed an alliance. The allied option is now unlocked. Click to view details.]

Please draft a treaty on the kill experience distribution rate.

Players who become allies can share the kill experience gained in battle, or they can choose to settle the experience separately.

Lin Bo suggested, "How about we split it in half?"

“I can handle logistics,” the mechanic agreed. She was capable of producing powerful mechanical units, but preferred to provide weaponry.

Lin Bo checked the information about the allies' factions. The territory of the mechanics was only one hectare, but the population was already over a thousand. They were all small robots, working day and night to mine and build an industrial system. The magnetic field they generated when they were in operation could be clearly seen by mages from a great distance.

The mechanic, however, was startled. "Brother mage, your population is decreasing! Have you been attacked?"

"Normal wear and tear".

"Huh? How did it suddenly surge again! It was 1200 a moment ago, and now it's 2700!"

"Normal growth."

They sat down at the table, and the usually quick-tempered mechanic fell silent after taking a bite of his food, no longer caring about the mystery of the population fluctuations in the mage's territory.

Fifteen minutes later, the female orc scraped the soup pot dry and let out a burp. The mechanic leaned back in his chair with a silly grin on his face, squinting and pouting, gently rubbing his belly with his palm.

She said slowly, as if in a dream, "The ingredients in this world are so delicious."

“Mushrooms,” the female orc explained. “You’ve been eating mushrooms.”

"Huh?" The mechanic was startled by the words and tried to sit up, but failed after struggling for a while.

"You should rest first. The new home is next door, get familiar with it. If there's anything you're not happy with, just let me know." Lin Bo put down his bowl, thanked the Iron Guard, and then went out with the barbarian. They crossed the forest clearing, then through the dense forest at night, and arrived at the primeval rainforest area, which was already crowded with the ghostly blue mushroom people fighting each other.

Since the host plant cuts off the nutrient supply to them, mushroom humans need to find their own way to obtain food, mainly by relying on the mycelium in their bodies to take root in other plants and cultivate various easily digestible mushrooms.

Rainforest areas are never short of vegetation, but not every mushroom person can have a full meal, because limited food always leads to competition.

This race has a very short growth cycle, maturing in just four hours.

The third generation of mushroom people already showed a clear hierarchy.

The powerful mushroom people can obtain enough food and grow into mature, becoming aggressive, while the weak mushroom people remain in their juvenile stage, timid and cowardly, and can only watch helplessly as their strong companions plunder their crops.

Due to their unique characteristics, even in the absence of food, mushroom people can still synthesize nutrients by taking root in the soil and absorbing organic matter from the earth. These mushroom people will eventually experience a decline in intelligence, reverting to mindless mushrooms, and are then collected by their owner.

The upper limit of the fungus population is determined by the magical energy reserves within the territory, as these are the raw materials that constitute their souls, and only ocean magical energy meets the requirements. This prevents the fungus population from growing uncontrollably.

The female orcs witnessed firsthand how this new race had become increasingly obsessed with killing.

Even though they were not born with sharp teeth and claws, the mushroom people developed strong muscles, expanded their bodies, and lengthened their limbs due to their strong desire for combat, and began to evolve into a form more suitable for fighting.

The gene pool from the fungus master already stores a large amount of species information. For fungus humans, they only need to tap into this potential to actively evolve.

“I think it’s time,” the barbarian whispered.

"Let's give it a try." Lin Bo fired a few iron pellets from his ammunition pouch and used them to bind the strongest three-headed mushroom man.

These super mushrooms are simple-minded; the torment of pain and death actually brings them pleasure. They show no reverence for their creator, staring at Lin Bo with their coal-black eyes.

“Very well, keep your anger going, prove you’re more like a beast than a plant.” The female orc’s eyes blazed with even brighter fury as she whispered her love and hatred into the mage’s ear. Then, thunderous roars like glaciers shattering filled the air as a surge of violent psionic energy flooded the simple mind of the three-headed fungus-man.

Before the barbarians tamed the berserk power, it was first fire, and fire is destined to burn, spreading once it finds fuel.

蕈人简单头脑中容不下什么爱恨情仇，生活就是吃、揍。

Having experienced the pleasure of wounds, they actively sought out this terror, like moths to a flame. Now, the flames have burned in, igniting the fungus-men's souls. They have never felt such pain, such pleasure, such rage.

“Well done, well done. Now, stop thinking about anger and let anger be your master.” The barbarian murmured softly, empathizing with the three mushroom people as a master guides her apprentices on their path.

As naturally magical beings, mushroom people are deeply bound to miracles from the moment of their birth; they possess a natural talent for psychic abilities. Almost immediately after being ignited by the raging waves, the rudiments of their psychic powers began to sprout, though they remained completely unaware of them.

Psychic power is closely related to belief. This belief can be a cosmic philosophy, a devotion to divine power, or a simple way of life. By following the tenets of the path, one can continuously increase their psychic power.

Even the most fanatical person needs to establish a fundamental driving force in life in order to unleash their passion.

"Where is your path? What do you want?!" the female orc demanded in a low voice.

The rage could not last. The three-headed mushroom man's soul withered as it burned, yet he received no answer. His body's vitality began to dissipate.

Moments later, one of them degenerated into a pure plant, unable to reproduce, and was only recycled as nutrients by the fungal carpet.

The remaining two mushroom-men stared intently at the female orc's face in their rage.

The camouflage bacteria within them are activated, their forms distort and change, and the hyphae on their skin surge like silk threads from a silkworm cocoon.

The cap of the mushroom shrinks, the stipe expands, the limbs extend further, the eyes differentiate into sclera, iris and pupil, the skin turns a fluorescent gray-green, a short and wide nose grows, sharp teeth and fangs emerge, and most importantly, a throat and vocal cords appear, along with a ferocious mouth.

They let out their first cry of their lives.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

(End of this chapter)