The Mist Castle, Vera’s territory, was bathed in the afternoon sunlight.

Thanks to Number Five’s reshaping and organizing of the rampant mushrooms in the domain.

Now, the environment around the entire Mist Castle has greatly improved, and the inhabitants have resumed their work under various incentive plans from Vera.

Although Vera is still somewhat inexperienced in the various administrative duties of a lord, in general, everything in the domain is moving in a positive direction.

Moreover, another matter also delighted him.

At the edge of the shadow of a distant colonnade, Sirean leaned against a stone railing, slightly bending his knees, with his palm facing up.

A strand of mycelium tentacle from Number Five lightly rested on the slender and distinct fingers of the elf, seemingly engaged in communication.

Vera stood with arms crossed, leaning against the open window on the second floor of the main castle, silently taking in the scene.

A hint of a smile appeared in his eyes.

Previously, for some reason, Number Five was always somewhat timid when facing Sirean, instinctively hiding behind him or Fei Ling Fei Yin.

As long-time companions, this used to give Vera a lot of headaches.

The three of them had thought of various solutions, but none seemed effective, leaving them with no choice but to let nature take its course.

Seeing them now, hand in tentacle, looking as if their relationship had improved, Vera felt genuinely relieved.

What he did not know was that it was Lin Jun using Number Five’s mushroom body at that moment.

"You sneaky mastermind, pretending to be an idle predecessor, while secretly plotting to overthrow the world! You’ve really got me fooled!"

"Huh?" Confronted with Puki’s sudden questioning, Sirean appeared confused, "What are you talking about? What world overthrow? What did I plan?"

"Still pretending to be innocent!" Lin Jun was filled with righteous indignation, "I will reveal your true evil nature aiming to destroy the world to all!"

Saying this, Puki ran towards Vera.

However, the next second, it tripped over a protruding tree root and fell to the ground.

Sirean lifted Puki up, letting out a somewhat helpless sigh, feeling that ever since getting involved with this Puki, there hadn’t been a peaceful day, "Alright, stop messing around, first tell me properly what it’s all about?"

Lin Jun briefly described the incident of mist leaking from a space tear that opened after initiating the ritual at the Giant Beast Bone Field, then poked Sirean’s chest with a tentacle, "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"That supplemental space has been merging that much?" Sirean didn’t attempt to argue, readily admitting his mistake, "This... indeed was my oversight."

But he shifted his tone, his voice calming down, "However, you don’t need to be overly concerned. A rift of that magnitude is merely a minor scratch to the entire world. In one or two months, the spatial structure will naturally mend; if this world could not withstand such minor damage, it wouldn’t be up to us to worry about its destruction now."

Puki’s tentacle didn’t withdraw but instead waved in front of him.

Sirean: "?"

"Compensation!"

Sirean was genuinely taken aback, "The issue is within the borders of the Empire; even if compensation is due, the Emperor of the Empire should be the one talking to me... What does this have to do with you, Puki? If anything, you’re the actual culprit!"

"I am the one who is supposed to save the world!" Lin Jun’s thoughts were self-assured, "My world! Because of your mistake, it got a cut, shouldn’t you compensate for that?"

"What kind of logic is that..."

During the ensuing time, what appeared in Vera’s distant view at the window was Sirean and Number Five becoming more harmonious, even beginning to playfully banter.

Lin Jun entangled with the Divine Wood for a long while, and to Vera observing from afar, it seemed like Sirean and Number Five had improved their relationship, even able to joke around now.

After much entanglement, the Divine Wood eventually relented a bit and provided methods for cultivating and evolving Tree Men.

Old Deng was still rich in resources, always able to squeeze something out from time to time.

Having obtained the desired benefits, Lin Jun promptly withdrew.

Number Five came back online.

Sirean almost immediately sensed the change.

First, the mycelium tentacle that had been tightly coiled around his hand loosened its grip bit by bit, becoming soft and hesitant, as if its owner wanted to retract it but dared not make a big move, showing caution.

Then Puki in front of his eyes began to tremble, the intensity increasing, with spores shaking loose from its mushroom cap.

Once Sirean released his hand, it seemed to melt into the air, instantly disappearing from sight, then the "puki-puki" sounds, from near to far, frantically headed towards the main castle.

It trotted around, bypassing the sculptures and flowerbeds in the courtyard, then with a "puff", clinging onto the back of Vera who had just picked up his Curved Saber for a bit of practice.

Leaving the latter utterly puzzled, not understanding why Number Five, who had just been playing with Sirean, came over so quickly?

...

Northern Territory.

[Boss!]

"The Holy Scripture! You worked hard on this journey!"

[To serve the Mushroom Garden, plunge into boiling water and go through fire, even if crushed to pieces it’s worth it!] The Yellow-covered Book vibrated its pages with excitement, eager to demonstrate its loyalty.

Marshal Puki cautiously held the Yellow-covered Book, noticeably thicker than when it left, with mycelium tentacles, not letting go for a long time.

Unfortunately, neither the book nor the mushroom had eyes; otherwise, at this moment, sincerity would overflow, eyes brimming with tears.

Ultimately, it was the Yellow-covered Book that couldn’t hold back first.

[Boss, I was wondering about that...]

"I understand, I remember." Lin Jun brushed a tentacle over the pages, communicating with the Yellow-covered Book, "But this matter concerns your safety, we must be fully prepared, no room for any mishap. You have a good rest first, as soon as I’m ready, I’ll arrange it for you without delay."

With Lin Jun having said this, the Yellow-covered Book, albeit anxious as a raging fire, could only forcibly suppress that agitation and patiently wait for a time.

Subsequently, Lin Jun tucked the Yellow-covered Book into the baffled arms of Norris: "Take good care of your senior Holy Scripture, and take it out for a good meal."

It wasn’t that Lin Jun planned to break his promise, but some preparations were indeed necessary.

However, these preparations were not for ensuring the successful soul experiment on the Yellow-covered Book, but to ensure that even if unsuccessful, the Yellow-covered Book could not cause trouble.

After all, involving the Sunstone, caution must be exercised again and again.

Before being fully prepared, periodically picking a few D Level individuals to feed the book and pacify it would be fine.

Having arranged for the meritorious Yellow-covered Book, Lin Jun turned his attention to this time’s acquisition - a subsidiary space with half the world merged with it.

In the area where the reception ritual was located, piles of dirt, rocks, and twisted giant beast bones formed a bizarre and rugged little mountain.

To explore and utilize the transferred supplementary space, these accompanying materials must be cleaned up first.

But Lin Jun discovered anomalies, amongst these layers of soil and rubble clearly originating from the Giant Beast Bone Field were things that were definitely not naturally made.

There were metal frameworks that were twisted but still retained structure, arced panels embedded with dim crystals, and fragments with nearly illegible magic runes.

Buried among the rocks and bones as if they had been stirred into the mix alongside the space fusion.

These items likely came from that supplemental space; not knowing whether they held research value, Lin Jun decided against having the Drilling Puki use brute force to dig blindly to avoid damaging them.

He summoned a team of Fungus Castle soldiers to attempt a protective excavation.

However, Fungus Castle lacked experience in this type of protective mining, resulting in slow progress.

Fortunately, this issue didn’t trouble Lin Jun for long.

The dwarves sent out earlier to recruit people started returning one after another, bringing not only more blacksmith apprentices but some even brought family and friends.

Among these new immigrants were many seasoned veterans who had spent half a lifetime crawling through mine tunnels, well-versed in digging.

More unexpectedly, it seemed there was someone of real stature in the team — a master of some renown even within the Dwarf Blacksmith Guild!

Yet, among this master’s entourage appeared to tag along a group of fellows with other motives...