At the stairway of the sixth floor.

With the infusion of magic power, the mycelium gradually grew out from within the steps.

A green Slime was sticking to the wall, eating the straggling mycelium along the edge of the exit.

Bang—

A few blasts of Mushroom Cannon hit, scattering a large amount of Slime mucus all around.

Despite losing a significant amount of its fluid, the green Slime, now reduced in size by two circles, was still stuck to the wall, intending to continue eating the mycelium.

The Pukis had to launch two more rounds of Mushroom Cannon before the core of this mucus Slime was destroyed.

However, soon enough, new Slimes appeared again...

Some Slimes were so tiny that one mushroom shell could kill them, but the mycelium growing around them was also blown into pieces by their own attack.

It was certain that the botanical environment of the sixth floor was indeed more suitable for Slime survival, with numbers far more than the previous floors.

Among them, there were some mutated varieties, such as multinucleated Slimes formed by the fusion of multiple Slimes.

After Puki attacked it, it exploded into a ground full of individual Slimes, which then swarmed from all directions, surrounding Puki in the middle. By the time the other Pukis rescued it, it had already been half-digested.

Although the Slimes caused some attrition, for Lin Jun it was merely a slight waste of magic power, and the spread of mycelium on the stone walls was steadily continuing.

Once it spread to the dome, as in the previous floors, it would eat all the Firefly Grass above and replace it with Glowing Mushrooms.

The ground, however, was a headache for Lin Jun.

Unlike the previous floors, the territorial divisions on the ground of the sixth-floor garden were much finer and more cramped.

A Flower Demon would circle about ten meters around it as its territory; any other demons intruding or growing into it either got killed or driven away.

Pseudo Flower Vine would strangle animals attracted by honey scent, and passing Pukis would also fall victim.

Phantom Orchid sent out charming blue light to creatures around, luring prey into its trap. But this was not much of a threat to Pukis, who were controlled by Lin Jun and unaffected by charm.

In short, various types of plant-based monsters, along with a few animal types, divided the sixth floor into many small territories.

Unless Lin Jun employs a fifth-floor-style extermination sweep, the Pukis would struggle to progress far on the ground.

Without the Pukis' protection on the ground, mycelium far from the staircase would become Slimes' free meal.

The reason for the extermination action on the fifth floor was because Lin Jun needed a stable base, while he required the skills of the ecosystem's monsters on other floors, rather than the floor itself.

On the subsequent floors one through four, Lin Jun chose to occupy space not needed by local organisms, supplemented with Slime elimination to achieve fungal mat coverage.

But the native plants of the sixth floor... had no unneeded space on the ground.

Even if Lin Jun forcibly opened a safe passage in the botanical garden at the cost of damaging part of the ecosystem, one could foresee an endless tug-of-war with the local plants to maintain the safe passage.

It's a lot of trouble for little benefit, which Lin Jun didn't want.

Lin Jun had thought of some solutions for this.

If there wasn't room on the ground for Pukis, then let them climb the rock wall with the mycelium!

There were three skill options.

[Suction Cup Level 3]

Acquired from a small lizard during the Demon Tide, it could adhere to walls.

However, as Pukis had no hands, for movement, the suction cups would probably need to be combined with mycelium tentacles.

Honestly, just imagining the scene of Puki climbing the wall with tentacles made Lin Jun feel it was a bit grotesque.

The other would be just like these green Slimes.

[Digestive Mucus Level 6]

The way these green Slimes climbed walls was essentially no different from a snail.

Their mucus functioned both as digestive fluid and adhered their bodies to walls.

In theory, Puki with added [Corrosion Resistance] could also use this to climb walls.

However, the problem was, Pukis not only needed to climb but also attack Slimes on the wall.

The recoil from the Mushroom Cannon likely couldn't be stabilized by the mucus alone, as it would fall off the rock wall after one shot.

As for the last option.

[Rock Eating Level 4]

Obtained from the now-extinct Rock Lizard on the fifth floor, its effect was eating surrounding rocks and covering itself with a layer of Rock Armor.

No footholds on the rock wall? Just create them!

Produce Pukis directly on the rock wall, and after being born, each Puki would begin eating the stone beneath them, fusing the Rock Armor with the stone wall, and eventually turning into something like a fixed gun turret.

This looked nice and was practical, but the drawback was clear—it wasn't cost-effective.

The same consumption could summon Pukis that could move and be much more useful.

Luckily, at the moment, the solar-powered Magic Machine made a temporary abundance of magic power.

If dissatisfied with the first two solutions, choose this one as a backup.

...

As Lin Jun was molding the new design of Puki, a Big Black Mushroom came down from the fifth floor to the sixth floor.

"Xiao Hai? What are you going to play today? Fighting turtles on the seventh floor?"

"Fight green men!"

"Xiao Hai, those are Tree Men, you can't random hit green men, you know?"

"Hmm!"

Darn it!

Seeing her agree so quickly, Lin Jun knew she absolutely didn't understand!

Whenever Xiao Hai couldn't comprehend, Lin Jun would explain it to her repeatedly.

Over time, this girl learned to pretend to understand, brushing off with "yeah, yeah, yeah."

What a headache!

But speaking of it, last time Lin Jun also scattered some spores on the Tree People area, wanting to see if mushrooms could seize the ecological niche of moss.

Now that Xiao Hai cleared the path, I might as well take a look.

Skillfully diverting four Pukis to follow Xiao Hai, the majority of Lin Jun's focus submerged back into shaping the Puki.

This was a meticulous task, and without sculpting the corresponding form well, installing skills was pointless.

Yet not able to delve for long, an unfamiliar voice from the Fungal Network interrupted Lin Jun.

"Mushroom, Master, you have appeared again!"

???

Searching for the signal source—it was... the Tree Demon Forest?

Huh?

Following Xiao Hai, the Pukis violently crossed several plant-type monster territories, reaching the forest entrance.

Lin Jun then saw the owner of the signal—a Tree Demon with mushrooms growing on him!

The sight was somewhat familiar; after some recollection, it seemed to be the Tree Demon whose limbs had been torn off by Xiao Hai back then?

Looks like they've regrown now!

Plant-type monsters indeed have better regenerative abilities.

Wait, that's the wrong focus...

So these Tree Demons had high intelligence originally!?

Look at how that was said before, at least smoother than Xiao Hai!

Speaking of Xiao Hai, she had already spread her arms ready to fight.

"Wait, Xiao Hai! Wait a bit, let's not play for now, okay?"

"Want to fight green men!"

Indeed, still thinking of green men!

But now wasn't the time to argue with her.

Unhesitatingly, I used the most effective trick against Xiao Hai recently!

"Be good, and I'll give you glass beads in a bit!"

Sure enough, upon hearing about the glass beads, Xiao Hai instantly turned into a well-behaved child.

She ran to the side to play with roots pulled from the ground.

Meanwhile, a Puki from the fifth floor ran to Xiao Hai's Mushroom House, dug out two intact glass beads from a room full of shattered glass, to give to Xiao Hai later.

With the kid sorted out, Lin Jun finally had the opportunity to deal with the Tree Demon who had been set aside, having faced another life-and-death crisis.

"Um... hmm..."

Opening the panel, no name, confirmed as a savage.

"Tree Demon sir, connecting to my home's local network, what important business do you have?"

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