In Cave No. 3, Lin Jun was testing a newly acquired skill.

An oddly shaped Puki stood by the rock wall.

It was slightly taller than its kind, roughly 1.4 meters, standing like a lanky figure among regular Pukis.

Its overly tall body made it wobble while attempting to stand upright, but fortunately, it had four legs at the bottom, desperately supporting it to keep from collapsing.

The Puki's mushroom cap was replaced by a giant mouth with three layers of sharp teeth.

Though called a giant mouth, it's only large relative to the Puki's body size, completely incomparable to an Earth Worm.

Beside this Puki lay an elder emitting a roasted mushroom aroma, proving that [High-Temperature Drilling] must be used with [High Temperature Resistance], or it would merely be a self-heating mushroom.

Attempting to activate the Drilling Puki No. 2 skill, its three rows of sharp teeth gradually turned red, emitting high heat.

Under Lin Jun's command, the heated and brittle rock wall was soon worn down by the spinning Puki, creating an opening.

Drilling Puki's four feet spun, causing its body to rotate continuously. In this way, the Puki drilled into the rock wall like a drill.

The speed wasn't fast, but that's just because the skill was Level 1.

Moreover, even at Level 1, the advancement speed was much faster than Lin Jun's previous methods of [Rock Eating] or directly using [Chitin Shell] to smash rocks.

However, as the Puki got halfway into the rock wall, with only its rear end outside, it suddenly collapsed dead!

How did it die again?

There wasn't any attack though...

A few ordinary Pukis worked together to pull Drilling No. 2 out, and the extracted Drilling Puki was all tattered and covered in scratches.

And within the small hole drilled out, the walls were hung with remaining mycelium...

Could it actually scratch itself to death while drilling?

The [High-Temperature Drilling] skill ejects the eaten rocks to fortify the walls around, but it seems now that due to the Puki's insufficient body strength, it was crushed by the stone walls instead.

Thinking about it, Earth Worms indeed do not traverse the walls with their soft bodies but are wrapped in a layer of Rock Armor.

Thus, [Rock Eating] turned out to be a necessary skill!

When Drilling Puki No. 3 appeared, it was already half a day later, as Lin Jun had it consume rocks to form a layer of Rock Armor before coming over.

Indeed, with the rock shell protection made with [Rock Eating Level 8], Puki smoothly drilled its entire body into the rock wall without getting hurt.

With the short four legs rotating its body from behind, although not as rapid or convenient as an Earth Worm twisting its body, it could advance steadily.

After all, Pukis do not naturally have body structures suitable for drilling like worms do; as long as it works, it's good.

As for efficiency, Lin Jun could accept it being a bit slower.

In the Underground City, the layers cannot be drilled through; this skill mainly serves to dig tunnels and conceal the fungal strands within the layers.

Even in the stone maze on the first layer, it's possible to dig holes within the walls.

Besides these, Lin Jun actually wanted to try digging holes in the rift on the sixth layer.

The sixth layer directly connects to the Deep Area, where Thousand Core Mayflies inhabit.

Although Lin Jun managed to snatch a piece of territory connecting up and down from them, eliminating them is still a long way off.

Every day, Mayflies come to harass, but hundreds of Pukis stationed at the breach fend them off.

But any day, a Level 60 Great Worm could come and reclaim this spot.

A broken Fungal Network would be fatal to the expedition team, but the spot doesn't allow Lin Jun to maintain a large troop as a regular defense.

Surely, you can't station several hundred Pukis there all the time to defend against potential Great Worms?

If it were possible to open one or even several fungal mycelium tunnels buried deep within the stone walls to connect the upper and lower parts of the rift, that would be truly secure.

Even considering using the fungal mycelium networks from the Deep Area...

Hmm?

Lin Jun suddenly sensed that Drilling Puki No. 3 stopped moving.

Not due to malfunction, but because there was suddenly no rock around!

In the void, Drilling No. 3 drifted further away, ultimately losing connection like all other Pukis that fell into the void.

Looking at this rift in the rock wall, Lin Jun was somewhat speechless.

Who could have imagined digging into a rift?

Finding the first one certainly means there will be a second or third…

Fortunately, Lin Jun was already accustomed to the chaotic nature of his crumbling Underground City.

…

After the Drilling Puki test was completed, all layers began production, then started quiet excavation work.

Due to the slight vibration and "crack" sounds when Drilling Pukis cut through rock, they only operate when it's confirmed no Adventurers are nearby.

After all, an exposed fungal mycelium network would lose its most crucial concealment function.

The project wasn't smooth sailing either.

For example, on the third layer's trap zone, many passages relied on giant rocks suspended by chains, making them disjointed and very inconvenient for digging fungal mycelium networks.

And the sixth layer was another issue, with severe subterranean water infiltration. Digging shallow would suffer from plant root intrusion, and digging deep would likely be flooded, making finding a suitable position quite troublesome.

Despite this, the fungal mycelium network project continued steadily, showing more reliability than previously hopeful skills.

[Cocoon]

In the Swamp Area, several Pukis wrapped in mycelium into ball shapes made no movement inside.

Through the Fungal Network, Lin Jun could feel that those Pukis inside neither changed form nor gained new skills.

Initially, a lot of Magic Power was absorbed, but nothing followed; they maintained just the Puki's daily Magic Power for maintenance.

Lin Jun started suspecting if this skill was merely for weaving beds for Great Worms to sleep on?

Not knowing if it's missing something for the next step, perhaps observing the cocooning process of other Mayflies would help?

Of course, it could also be a question of insufficient time, though Lin Jun considered this unlikely, given there was hardly any change inside.

In the end, this matter could only hope for secret observations of other Great Worms to gain insights once the fungal mycelium networks were dug properly.

…

During Lin Jun's diligent construction of an ideal Underground City, a small matter caught his attention.

A guard-looking fellow rented a Lighting Puki, suddenly killed the unsuspecting poor Puki, and fled the Underground City hugging the Puki's corpse.

Through Dumb Wind Town's viewpoint, Lin Jun watched him run to the Adventurer's Guild with the Puki in tow.

What does this mean?

Could there be a task issued to get a Lighting Technique Puki?

No matter what, daring to backstab a service-type Puki is unacceptable, and Lin Jun added this person to the Underground City blacklist.

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