I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Lu Yuan looked at the roots that had penetrated the bronze pillar.

He didn't stop talking at all during the entire conversation.

"While I'm speaking, your roots are constantly growing upwards."

silence.

A very short silence.

Then the voice changed.

No longer gentle.

"...You're not smart enough."

When dozens of mouths say this sentence at the same time, the synchronization rate reaches its highest level.

Every syllable fits perfectly.

A consciousness that has just been born but is learning very quickly.

Based on his assessment, Lu Yuan had confirmed that the thing in front of him was nothing more than a useless "fish" with low intelligence and insufficient combat power.

The thought sank into the chest.

Click.

[Time synchronization acceleration (enabled)]

[Rationality: -1...-1...]

The world has slowed down.

Lu Yuan uncorked the bottle of the Potion of Devouring Terror and rushed out.

Twenty meters.

It only takes a few seconds in accelerated mode.

The sphere made its final reaction.

The arms of the suspended hosts all stretched out.

Hundreds of vines simultaneously reached out towards Lu Yuan.

In accelerated vision, the vines moved far too slowly.

Lu Yuan's body passed between two vines, and he even used the vines for leverage to jump again.

Five meters away from the sphere.

The bottle of the addictive potion was thrown out.

The glass bottle tumbled in the air and landed precisely at the junction of the sphere's surface and the copper pillar's base.

Shattered.

The effect was more intense than expected the moment the drug came into contact with living tissue.

The veins on the surface of the sphere contracted wildly around the contact point, and the mycelial tissue began to rot from the contact surface. The gray-green color turned black, and the black color turned into a paste-like liquid that flowed down the surface of the sphere.

Within three seconds, large areas of the outer wall tissue completely died, revealing the suspended brain tissue fragments inside.

The sphere convulsed violently.

The corpses screamed simultaneously, letting out meaningless howls.

[Sanity: -3...53/120]

Lu Yuan took the last two exorcism grenades from his waist.

The first one was inserted into the festering pit created by the poison.

The outer protective layer had been completely corroded away, and the grenade was now pressed directly against the exposed deep structure.

The second one was thrown at the point where all the main vines converged at the bottom of the sphere.

The moment the grenade landed, Lu Yuan took off running.

He leaped and bounded among the vines, taking three steps back to the edge of the cave.

Time synchronization is turned off.

[Time synchronization acceleration (off)]

[Sanity: -3...50/120]

Lie down.

Cover your ears with both hands.

First word.

The sphere explodes inside.

The exorcising gunpowder ignited inside the sphere, and a blinding light burst forth from the festering wound, like a sun igniting inside the sphere.

The silver powder and exorcism powder were mostly contained by the outer wall of the sphere and did not diffuse outwards much.

But the interior was completely destroyed.

The brain tissue fragments suspended in the grayish-green liquid were instantly charred by the combined ablation of silver powder and intense light.

The neural network woven by mycelium was burned off as if uprooted.

A large portion of the light went out.

The sphere's pulsation almost stopped.

After trembling violently a few times.

Then the entire sphere splits open from the middle.

A grayish-green liquid gushed from the crack, mixed with charred brain tissue residue and white silver powder fragments.

Then came the second sound.

The explosion at the bottom of the sphere was even more violent.

The three main vines were directly severed at the epicenter of the explosion, and the grayish-green tissue at the break point carbonized and withered in the embers of the flames.

The upper part of the sphere collapsed.

The lower half, the area that had long been corroded into a dark brown by copper, was directly shattered into dozens of charred fragments.

The entire cave was shaking.

The giant, upside-down tree was shaking violently.

The roots on the ceiling trembled violently, and the host hanging from the main trunk swayed back and forth like a wind chime.

The remaining parts of the main vine were convulsing violently, and the tissue at the break point was trying to stretch back towards the fragments, trying to piece the shattered pieces back together.

Lu Yuan got up from the ground.

He took the last can of mithril from his waist and unscrewed it.

The silvery-white liquid was splashed at the junction between the main vine and the fragments of the sphere.

Silver flames exploded.

The tissue at the fracture site carbonized and withered in the silver flame, and the attempt to reconnect was completely terminated.

The flames spread downwards along the roots, burning the vine roots that were reaching towards the bronze pillar.

The roots, already half-dead from being scorched by the copper, were burned off one by one by the silver flame.

Lu Yuan saw that some of the runes at the base of the bronze pillar, which had been covered and corroded, lit up again the moment the root system broke.

A faint, ethereal blue, slowly solidifying.

The seal is being restored.

Even if it's very slow.

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +1.5...21.8/100]

The sphere emitted a final low-frequency tremor.

It emanated from within the damaged shell and traveled far along the copper structure.

But it was far weaker than the one at the water collection room.

[Sanity: -2...48/120]

Dozens of mouths opened again.

But this time there was no synchronized language.

Some were screaming, some were sobbing.

Only a few mouths were still uttering words intermittently.

"...pain..."

It was said repeatedly by different mouths.

Like a child who has just learned to speak, the only word that comes to mind in excruciating pain.

Lu Yuan tore open a scroll of holy light and threw it towards the center of the cave.

Golden light exploded, illuminating the entire space.

The sphere's remains disintegrated further in the holy light.

The giant tree hanging upside down, its trunk broken, its roots withered, and its host detached.

Under the golden light, everything looked like a collapsing building, crumbling piece by piece.

Lu Yuan saw it the instant the holy light illuminated the dome.

At the crack in the sphere.

Amidst the shattered remains of brain tissue, the light of something was not suppressed by the holy light.

It actually became brighter.

The faint glow, a blend of gray-green and dark gold, was exceptionally clear under the golden holy light.

Thumb-sized.

It is the core of the sphere, where the mycelium is most densely woven and the area with the highest information density of brain tissue fluid.

A product that was accidentally crystallized under the high temperature of exorcising silver powder.

Like firing pottery.

Extreme high temperatures burned the densest mycelial tissue into a crystal, with faint traces of residual patterns still visible inside.

The dark gold color comes from the marks left by the scorching of the bronze pillar runes.

It is still beating.

Under the cover of holy light, Lu Yuan ran back. When he passed the crystal, he bent down, scooped it up, stuffed it into the sampling bottle in his bag, and tightened the cap.

They did not stop.

Dozens of mouths gradually closed.

One after another.

Finally, only one large ghoul remained, its keratinized body trembling slightly, its three-layered mouth opening and closing slightly.

"...Will...come back..."

A consciousness that was about to die at birth uttered its last words.

However, mycelium reproduces primarily through spores.

As long as one spore survives, given enough time and nutrients, it can regrow, re-accumulate its brain, and relearn to think.

It does not understand death.

All it knew was that it would come back.

Then the mouth closed.

[Detection target: ? (Mycelial core... Consciousness matrix has been destroyed... but deep root system is still alive...)]

[Note: The core consciousness has been lost... The remaining root system still retains the most primitive biological instincts... Under the dual pressure of copper corrosion and resource depletion... the root system will enter a very long period of dormancy...]

The time required for regeneration is unknown...it could be several years...it could be decades...it could be even longer...

But it won't be forever.

Lu Yuan ran back into the passage he had come from.

As he ran, he glanced down at the sampling bottle in his bag.

The crystal, seen through the glass, shimmered with a faint glow of gray-green and dark gold.

The pulse continues.

At the edge of my field of vision, grayish-white text emerged.

[Target detected: ? (Consciousness crystal...extremely dangerous...dormant...)]

[...an unprecedented crystal...containing within it a large amount of...compressed...spiritual echoes and inscription traces...]

[...It seems to be some kind of...being that has not yet fully been born...the last remaining fragment...insufficient knowledge...unable to analyze further...]

[Warning: This crystal still retains extremely weak activity... Long-term holding may have unknown effects...]

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +1.5...23.3/100]

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

The figure became blurry in the darkness.

The mycelium throughout the tunnel was paralyzed after losing its central command.

There were no waves, no obstacles.

Only the quiet, no longer undulating mycelial layer and the gradually fading sweetness remain.

I ran for about three minutes.

A dark golden light appeared ahead.

The entrance to the passage is sealed by inscriptions.

Lu Yuan reached out his hand and passed through the light barrier.

Warmth flowed through my palms.

Water collection chamber.

The ground beneath Lu Yuan's feet began to tremble the moment he passed through the light curtain.

This attack was even more intense than the ghoul attack.

Behind the inscribed, sealed passage, the light curtain trembled violently, the dark golden light flickering as if some immense pressure was impacting the seal from the other side.

Boer was the first to rush over and grab Lu Yuan's arm.

"How-"

He hadn't finished speaking.

The remaining mycelial layer on the ceiling of the collection chamber suddenly convulsed violently.

All the gray-green tissues still attached to the walls, the ground, and the dome simultaneously began to shrink wildly, collapsing like skin sacks stripped of their skeletons, before suddenly expanding.

An intense, almost tangible sweetness wafted in from all directions.

[Environmental Awareness: Warning... Pollution levels are rising rapidly... Evacuate immediately...]

[Rationality: -2...-2...46/120]

Lu Yuan caught Bo'er.

"Go! Now! Everyone, evacuate!"

Wolf reacted the fastest.

"Iron Guard Battalion, retreat!"

The second sentence is not needed.

The twelve people completed the turn in three seconds, the front row became the back row and the back row became the vanguard, and moved in the direction they came from.

Heinrich's armored army followed closely behind, all the holy light runes turned up to their brightest, the golden light forcing the surrounding mycelium back several inches.

Buren was being supported by Kel, and the old man's legs were still trembling, but no one stopped to wait for him.

Lu Yuan ran in the middle of the group, glancing back as he ran.

Behind the sealed passageway, a dark golden light curtain trembled continuously.

On the other side of the light screen, something is making its last struggle.

The sweetness was intensifying.

A visible gray-green mist began to appear in the air, seeping out from every pore of the mycelium layer and permeating the entire channel.

[Environmental Awareness: Pollution concentrations exceed standards... Prolonged exposure will lead to irreversible pollution...]

"Cover your mouth and nose tightly, reduce your breathing!" Lu Yuan's voice came out muffledly from behind the scarf.

The team withdrew at full speed.

The path that the Iron Guard Camp had cleared along the way was still there, with carbonized mycelial remains scattered all over the ground, crunching underfoot.