Chapter 4 Magic Crystals

Chapter 4 Magic Crystals

  The mushroom garden was surrounded by rock walls on both sides, which resembled the bones of a giant beast that had been gnawed on. The dark gray rock layers were covered with honeycomb-like erosion holes.

  In certain recesses, dark purple crystal clusters had formed, scattered sporadically across the entire rock face. Around these purple crystals, the concentration of magic was always higher than in other areas.

  The so-called mining area is where these purple crystals are collected.

  While inserting these purple crystals into the soil does not directly convert them into nutrients, it can attract free-floating magical energy from the surrounding air, enhancing the efficiency of mycelium in collecting magical energy.

  The mining area is home to numerous Puji equipped with chitinous exoskeleton skills. They generate a thick layer of armor on their mushroom caps and use it to chisel crystals from the rock walls.

  To be honest, the level 4 skill's shell hardness is insufficient, resulting in low mining efficiency, and the pujis are prone to being shaken to death by their own vibrations. However, given the limited conditions, being able to mine anything at all is already considered decent.

  Inanna set her sights on a fist-sized piece of amethyst that had been mined and clamped it tightly between her short legs.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Lin, Lin Jun?"

  The pink Puji suddenly trembled and tripped over the purple crystal beneath its feet.

  "Don't suddenly start talking in my head..."

  "Do we have any other way to communicate? Get used to it sooner rather than later."

  Inanna thought about it and realized she was right, but she still felt she couldn't get used to someone being able to talk to her in her mind anytime, anywhere...

"There are so many magic crystals here." Picking up the amethyst again, Inanna couldn't help but sound excited.

"Magic crystals? Do you mean these amethysts used for fertilizing fields?"

  "Fertilize… fertilize fields?"

  A green-hatted creature popped out, using its short legs to lift the cap of a large mushroom nearby, revealing a purple crystal half-buried in the soil beneath.

  "You… you're actually using magic crystals to fertilize fields?"

  "What else?"

  "These are magic crystals! They can be used to craft magical items, serve as bases for magical arrays, and even the small fragments can be used as spellcasting materials! How could you use them for fertilizing fields?"

  Inanna looked utterly dismayed, making Lin Jun feel like she was wasting precious resources.

  "Have you forgotten this is a dungeon? But besides fertilizing fields, it does have other uses."

  A tentacle made of fungal threads extended from beneath the mushroom, activating the skill [Wrap LV3], wrapping around a piece of amethyst half the size of a palm, binding Puji and the magic crystal together.

  Then, an endless stream of magic flowed into the magic crystal, causing it to go from dull to shiny, and then from shiny to sparkling. The excessive magic inside caused the entire magic crystal to overload.

  When the magic crystal cracked and emitted a cry of distress, Puji carried the magic crystal and jumped wildly onto an empty piece of land.

  Bang—

  It exploded.

  The aftermath of the explosion sent Inanna tumbling again.

  "It's quite powerful, isn't it? This thing is great for dealing with monsters."

  Rolling on the ground, Inanna didn't know what to say.

  A C-grade magic crystal, which could be slightly processed to serve as the main material for a silver-grade adventurer's staff, was used as a disposable item in front of her, releasing an explosion equivalent to a Level 4-level fire blast spell.

  Even the most ignorant nouveau riche in the Federation wouldn't waste such precious magical materials like this!

  After all, even the magic crystal embedded in her own custom-made magic staff was only B-grade quality.

"By the way, you haven't said what you need the magic crystal for."

Suddenly returning to the topic at hand, Inanna, who had been silently cursing Lin Jun for being a spendthrift, couldn't process it immediately and blurted out her purpose:

  "I... I want to use it to cast spells."

  After saying that, Inanna felt uneasy again, because she wasn't sure if Lin Jun would view the ability to cast spells as a threat. If Lin Jun thought she was a threat, her life might be in danger...

  "Oh? Didn't you say you couldn't cast spells after turning into a puji?"

  Lin Jun seemed completely unconcerned about the threat, his words filled with nothing but curiosity.

  Relieved, Yinan hurriedly explained, "I just want to try it. Maybe I can bypass the puji's physical limitations by casting spells through the magic crystal."

  "Then give it a try."

  Another tentacle emerged from beneath the mushroom, wrapping around the magic crystal next to Inanna and reaching toward her.

Facing the suddenly approaching tentacle, Inanna instinctively took two steps back, but was still entangled.

  The tentacle wrapped around her twice before securing the magic crystal to the top of her mushroom cap.

"Be careful, these tentacles are fragile. Don't break them."

After all, it was a stolen skill, and using it forcefully with mycelium, she couldn't expect it to hold securely.

  Upon hearing this, Inanna dared not move and concentrated her energy on casting the spell—the Glow spell, a spell that even an apprentice could easily cast.

  An orange-yellow light appeared above Inanna's head, flickering as if its magic power was unstable.

  After flickering for a moment, Inanna seemed to have figured it out, and the brightness finally stabilized.

"It worked! It really works!"

Inanna was so excited that she hopped up and down on her short legs.

Snap—

  The bound tentacles snapped instantly, the magic crystal fell to the ground, and the Glow Spell extinguished along with it—the fungal tentacles were truly fragile.

"I'm sorry…"

Lin Jun paid no attention to the damaged fungal tentacles; his entire focus was on Inanna's spellcasting.

  "Try casting it again now."

  "I can't cast it without a magic crystal."

  "It doesn't matter if you fail, just try it. I want to see what's different."

  See what?

  Yinana didn't quite understand what Lin Jun meant, but she still tried casting the Glow spell on her own.

  As expected, she failed, just like the countless times she had tried before.

  However, Lin Jun, who had been observing her the entire time, noticed something more.

  [Magic Perception LV4]

  This was obtained from a type of magic vine called Noctis's Whiskers that originally lived in the mushroom garden area. They use magic perception to detect prey and then strangle them with their vines. It's worth noting that the缠绕 skill was also obtained from them.

  Though these magical plants were of a high level, they couldn't move, so in Lin Jun's eyes, they were no different from food on a plate. Now, they're extinct in this area.

  Lin Jun feels a bit regretful about this. Both of the Noctis's Beard's skills are quite practical. However, at the time, he was too focused on securing a territory and didn't think too far ahead. Otherwise, he could have left some seeds behind, like the rolling beetles and slimes in the breeding zone, and raised them regularly to slaughter and extract skill proficiency.

  In the Magic Vision, Lin Jun observed that the flow of magic energy during Inanna's spellcasting was indeed smooth in the initial stage. However, the energy flow stalled at each node, failing to form a complete closed loop, as if her spellcasting method were incorrect.

  Inanna had just cast the Glow spell using a magic crystal, so it was naturally impossible that her spellcasting method was wrong.

  In Lin Jun's view, this was more likely due to the differences in the physical structures of humans and Puji—in simple terms, the hardware and system were incompatible and couldn't function properly.

  The magic crystal, however, was an independent environment that could better accommodate the operational requirements of these spells.

  It felt somewhat similar to how he had to modify the Puji before they could use the corresponding skills.

  "Can you use other spells now?"

  Lin Jun knew she was a dual-element 4th-level mage, and he wanted to see more spells.

"Well, I'll need more practice. I'm not yet familiar with channeling magic through a Puji body, and this magic crystal hasn't been polished, so the cloudy areas inside can interfere with spellcasting. I need to get used to it."

  "Cloudy? Isn't a magic crystal supposed to be as pure as possible?"

Lin Jun had no concept of this. He only knew that inserting it into the ground could gather magic, and he thought the different effects were due to size. As for using it for self-destruction... purity seemed to have no effect.

  "Of course. It's said that the great mage Zolya's staff is embedded with a completely pure S-grade magic crystal, and any spell cast through that staff will have three times the power!"

"S-grade? There are grades too... Wait a moment."

  Soon, amid Inanna's confusion, the two puffballs arrived before her, each carrying a large, crystal-clear magic crystal.

"A… A-grade magic crystal? And it's as big as an arm!?"

(End of this chapter)