Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 598 - 588: Recruiting Talents

Lin Jun’s practice of "Soul Touch" certainly couldn’t just squeeze a D Level personnel to death instantly.

The ten who died before were simply special cases used to thoroughly understand the skill’s effects.

Normal training would definitely involve damaging a small part of the soul, then waiting for it to recover before damaging a small part again, sustainably draining it dry.

Therefore, the more D Level personnel there are, the faster the training progresses!

In the past, adhering to the principle of sourcing locally, only the local villains of Mushroom City were eligible to be recruited as D Level personnel.

Other towns were too far from the Underground City, making them difficult to transport back even if captured.

Apart from the stable talent supply market of Mushroom City, occasionally spies sent by the Empire to the Northern Territory would fall into the net as an extra gain.

However, only a small portion of them would be converted into D Level personnel; most of them, after incurring contribution point debts, would be assigned to labor reform groups.

After all, those who came to scout were often just following orders and didn’t necessarily represent someone heinous in nature.

When it doesn’t affect his fundamental interests, Lin Jun always maintains a considerably high moral standard.

Nowadays, with the increasing demand for D Level personnel, Lin Jun finds it somewhat troublesome.

Expand recruitment from other cities around Mushroom City?

But transportation would then become a problem.

The surface is certainly unsafe; if discovered, the harmless image that Lin Jun has been building for Puki would collapse.

The underground network is safe, but there’s no way to stuff people in there.

Hmm... they could be transformed into Puki and then stuffed in.

Lin Jun can perform the Transformation Technique, but casting requires concentration, and for a long journey, it might require a supplement halfway through.

Lin Jun doesn’t have that much spare time to spend a large amount of time on this every day.

If entrusted to subordinates, the human members under Lin Jun’s command are already few and far between.

Most of those incorporated into the Northern Territory were once slaves of the Empire and are either missing or without registered domicile in the records of the United Kingdom, making free movement within the Kingdom difficult.

After much consideration, the Mushroom Worship Sect might be entrusted with this heavy responsibility.

It’s a pity that the sect is still in its infancy, and real development can only begin after Inanna’s delegation returns and releases the sect hierarch who is still pondering in prison.

At least at the current stage, it can’t be put to use.

And the matter of Lin Jun’s training skills must not be delayed.

After much thought, it seems like the Empire is the only option.

The elves are close to the Divine Wood Dungeon, and the fungal mat is already covering, but truly vile individuals within Elf Society are indeed rare!

The only bad guys that can be considered are Ark members, who have long become D Level personnel or have been captured and imprisoned by the elves themselves.

Furthermore, due to the precious population of the Elf Race, each member is meticulously recorded, and a disappearance would inevitably be investigated.

From any angle, it is unsuitable to seek D Level personnel in the Elf Forest.

As for the dwarves, not only is the fungal mat not spread there, but even capturing them and deciding where to transport them is a problem, so they’re naturally not considered.

The Empire, however...

Although the dukes all pledge allegiance to the Emperor, from Lin Jun’s perspective in Feixi, the Emperor’s control over the Empire is very low.

A regional governor like Feixi, located on the frontier, nearly has unlimited autonomy within their territory as long as they do not contemplate rebellion.

The dukes do not interfere with each other, and their boundaries are distinctly marked.

While there are restrictions on the lower population, their movement cannot be completely stopped.

Coupled with the Empire’s martial brutality culture, malicious incidents are frequent, and many in the Demon Race die daily in private disputes, with numerous lives disappearing quietly in the shadows.

Multiple factors combined have rendered domicile management nearly a mere formality, much more chaotic than on the United Kingdom’s side.

In fact, in Lin Jun’s view, the Empire’s issues are far from just the matter of domiciles, or rather, domicile issues have become the least important among them.

This colossal entity, majestic from afar, reveals cracks and obstructions everywhere upon closer inspection.

In a world without extraordinary abilities, such an empire should have collapsed long ago.

It is only in this world where strength is revered that it can be unified under the Emperor’s suppression and even become the strongest power on the continent.

The chaos in internal management, undoubtedly, provides Lin Jun with the opportunity to absorb talents.

Feixi’s territory is the easiest to operate, but located inland, its geographical location is not suitable.

If goods are to be brought in from the Empire, the final destination must be the Northern Territory, unrelated to Feixi.

The only choice is to transport from the Empire’s border cities or by sea route.

Coincidentally, Eleanor’s territory is by the sea, and Thirteen has been sent under her command.

That female Vampire isn’t considered smart, so operating under her nose probably won’t be too difficult.

After Thirteen was sent over, she spared no expense to use a High-tier Contract Item to take Thirteen as a magic pet and immediately began laying out the fungal mat and cultivating Puki Masters behind the Emperor’s back!

Unfortunately, these items attempting to control others mentally are as effective as paper shackles to Lin Jun and the Mushroom Race.

They look worn but can be shrugged off with just a thought when really trying to break free.

But with the sea route, there’s no avoiding Chis.

Leaving out directly eradicating Chis, at least a self-sufficient transport fleet must be formed first.

It feels like it will also take some time over here before any output is seen....

After all, relying on others for leveling is ineffective; even hundreds or thousands of D Level personnel are not as useful as one’s own soul, which recovers quickly.

The issue of D Level personnel is temporarily unresolved, while another kind of talent has already been delivered to the doorstep.

...

Cold winds swept across the desolate border of the northwest mountains.

The figures of two young dwarves appeared exceedingly small on the barren land, with a thin layer of frost on their heavy leather jackets, each carrying a dining set on their back—a forging hammer and long tongs.

Gading, at the forefront, tightened his collar and spoke in a muffled voice, "This damn weather is even colder than I heard!"

"It’s cold indeed, but still bearable," Pollock said, glancing around. "I just want to know, wasn’t someone supposed to meet us here? Where are they?"

They were two of the blacksmith apprentices selected by Lin Jun from Ash City, while other dwarves had split the money from selling the A Level Demon Crystal left by Knight Puki, either buying ore to practice with or securing a shop for a steady livelihood.

Only the two of them exchanged all the money they got for dry food and travel expenses, heading north all the way.

Just because they had a glimmer of hope in their hearts.

Hoping that the Puki didn’t lie to them, that there truly would be a Blacksmith’s Paradise up north where they could practice freely!

"It’s a scam! You’ll be captured by the Demon Race as slaves when you get there, and once you’re a slave, you’ll be swinging your hammer until you die!" More than one fellow race had said this to them on the way.

But thinking of the casually discarded A Level Demon Crystal by Puki, Pollock and Gading, already on the road, kept encouraging each other, concocting various reasons to make the existence of the "Blacksmith’s Paradise" plausible.

And then, here they stood.

No mineral veins, no earthfire, not even the shadow of a hut, so naturally there was no one to greet them.

Just boundless land covered in thin snow and those frozen dead branches.

"We might... really have been deceived." Pollock’s voice dropped.

A stronger gust of wind swept through, lifting snow foam.

Gading suddenly shivered, but not from the cold.

"This doesn’t make sense! Without anyone to meet us, there should at least be some Demons waiting to trap us! Otherwise, for what reason did that Puki leave us such a precious A Level Demon Crystal? Was it really just to mock us?"

Just as Gading finished his sentence,

Roll——

The faint sound immediately made the two dwarves tense up.

Back to back, they gripped their hammers tightly.

These can be used to forge but also to smash an enemy’s head.

Although Gading spoke like that earlier, he certainly didn’t actually want to be captured by the Demon Race as a slave.

Pop——

This time, they clearly heard from where the sound came, and both looked toward it.

A Puki, its cap covered with white snow, was struggling to wriggle out from the cave entrance....