Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 662: Chapter 651: Hidden Agendas

After Lin Jun made the decision to seek help, she immediately wrote a letter and handed it to the communication station newly established by the dwarves at the border, taking no more than ten minutes.

...

"...Fungus Castle will provide the best logistics and medical support for all assisting dwarves. Lastly," the dwarf messenger who was reading the letter paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the clan leaders present, "to show sincerity, we’ve brought a small gift symbolizing the friendship between both parties."

After speaking, he placed the sealed box he was holding onto the long table.

The Deep Furnace Clan Leader was the first to sneer, stroking his beard with a tone full of sarcasm: "It’s only been a few days since establishing diplomatic relations? Using the craftsmen we sent over, not seeing a single bit of return, yet daring to ask for military assistance. Quite thick-skinned, I’d say."

The Fire Beard Clan Leader waved it off with a tone of appreciation: "That’s not how you should put it. That Fungus Castle could single-handedly repel the Empire’s advance troops, forcing two Dukes to retreat. Even if it’s by cutting down generals, such an achievement in a grim place like the Northern Territory is notable. I think it’s worth investing more."

The Zafa Clan Leader’s gaze fell onto the box. She leaned on her magic staff, showing some curiosity: "I actually want to see what their small gift really is first."

Deep Furnace snorted: "That desolate place in the Northern Territory, what good things could it have? Probably just a few pieces of animal hide."

Zafa stepped forward and, after just unlocking the magic lock on the box and pulling it slightly apart, without being able to see inside, both she and Deep Furnace’s breaths hitched.

The two veteran mages sharply sensed the magic power around them start to stir, converging toward the box.

Demon Crystal!

This phenomenon was not unusual, but the speed at which it converged...

The box lid was completely opened.

Deep Furnace was not wrong; there indeed was a piece of animal hide inside, but it was just used as padding.

Three fist-sized crystals lay quietly on the simply processed animal hide, sparkling and flawless.

The entire council hall fell into brief silence.

"S... Level?" Deep Furnace’s voice was dry to the point where it didn’t sound like him.

He rushed forward, bowed down, and leaned in for a closer look.

"Truly S-Level! Those savages actually use such low-quality animal hide to hold such precious Demon Crystals!"

At this, even the Black Steel Clan Leader who had remained silent couldn’t help but stand up and move closer to the Demon Crystals.

S-Level Demon Crystals are not absent in the various clans, but finding three cut to a consistent fist size is really rare.

After all, truly excavated S-Level Demon Crystals are not deliberately cut down small.

When making equipment, adjustments are made to other components to fit the Demon Crystal, not vice versa.

And now, Fungus Castle can readily present three consistently sized Demon Crystals, which only means one thing.

"Marco’s speculation is correct, the Northern Territory truly has a previously unknown high-quality Demon Crystal vein!" Zafa murmured, and she thought further, "And now, they also possess those blueprints for the combat puppets. If all these fall into the hands of the Empire..."

Zafa didn’t continue, but all the dwarves present envisioned that scene — the Empire, relying on the dwarf ancestors’ blueprint technology, using high-quality Demon Crystals mined from the Northern Territory vein, would build formidable Magic Crystal Combat Puppets to launch a grand assault on the Mountains.

Fire Beard slammed the table: "What’s there left to say? Aren’t we already obliged to help?"

No one opposed anymore, though some were contemplating further.

Like the Deep Furnace Clan Leader, he was already considering using the assistance to leverage Fungus Castle, relocating the research and construction factories for combat puppets to the Mountains, and figuring out how to secure rights to exploit part of the Northern Territory Demon Crystal vein.

The dwarves quickly began organizing aid, bringing soldiers and craftsmen, yet also presenting them with corresponding conditions.

This aid, within it, harbored a greed.

Fortunately, so was Lin Jun.

On Fungus Castle’s side, the finest logistics and medical services were already prepared, striving to ensure that the assisting dwarves could eventually return alive to the Mountains!

It’s unclear if they noticed the humans now deeply bonded with the Mycelium, but the dwarves maintained a significant wariness toward the Fungal Mat.

Regular cleanups made it difficult for the Fungal Mat to openly spread in, even the underground web, placed in the dwarf domain skilled in excavation, wasn’t as convenient.

Ultimately, the Mountains lacked their "own mushroom."

Producing and sending more Mycelium back with the dwarves, if they don’t want to drink Magic Potion for life, they must strive to drive the expansion of Fungal Mat within the Mountains, becoming natural supporters of the Fungal Mat.

By then, linking all clans through the Fungal Mat, it would be the Empire surrounded that should be panicking!

...

The situation in the Northern Territory was becoming increasingly tense. Both armies’ maneuvering and deployments had taken shape, large in scale, finally reaching the deepest ears in Muling Castle.

But Mortis merely glanced at the report and set it aside.

He was already heartless about these border conflicts.

All of his attention, energy, and power were directed toward that existence keeping him awake at night — the Demon King!

Having cleaned for so long, scoured every corner of the Empire, he found only some insignificant results.

Mortis finally realized, no matter how wide the net was cast, it couldn’t catch what’s hidden in deep waters.

So he pulled the net back.

Not giving up, but waiting.

Waiting for that inevitable moment, a node where the Demon King couldn’t avoid showing himself.

He wants to gather all his power for a final understanding with that relic of the old era at that node.

In this operation, he doesn’t have many he can trust.

Eugene, an old blood race, and Dean of demon race identity, are not on the trusted list.

At this critical moment, diverting their attention north, to Mortis, isn’t such a bad thing.

Even if they were originally unengaged, Mortis would find a way to busy them, and, to some extent, Fungus Castle gave Mortis a little help.

Of course, this wouldn’t make the Emperor grateful to Fungus Castle, and he still wouldn’t tolerate another threat to the Empire’s north.

Once the Demon King is dealt with, if Fungus Castle remains standing, he’ll naturally step in to crush it.

Now, he’s going to gather those loyal subordinates he personally elevated...

Feixi received an order to mobilize some elite forces.

However, at this time, neither Feixi himself nor Lin Jun deemed this anything but an ordinary command, unaware the Emperor was up to something.

Therefore, Lin Jun didn’t pay much attention to it.

Besides focusing on the imminent war in the Northern Territory, Lin Jun directed some attention to the United Kingdom city of Novid — where Number Ten, having been immersed in the "Super Magic Library" for half a year, seems about to emerge!