[Individual Level increased: LV 9 > LV 10. All basic attributes have increased.]
Another level up.
But she really didn’t have the heart to focus on the changes on the System Panel.
The elf she had thought was dead had come back to life.
Most of her thoughts were now focused on this, wondering how she would interact with the other girl from now on.
To be honest, after getting used to using the elf’s body, she couldn’t go back to that immobile state of being a mushroom.
If she were still the one in control, she wouldn’t mind having another consciousness in the body.
However, since she was the outsider, she could only watch from the sidelines now that the rightful owner was back.
‘Isn’t this just a symbiotic relationship, like a hermit crab and a sea anemone?’
‘Ah, symbiosis. So that’s what the “Symbiosis” next to the name on the System Panel meant.’
She had assumed it was a special status caused by her occupying the half-dead body after the elf had died, but it turned out the elf had never died.
Her consciousness had merely fallen into a deep sleep.
But why did she suddenly wake up?
“Where am I? The Screaming Wood… Forest Area?”
“Shouldn’t I be in the Cavern Area? Ah, that wolf-like monster killed Mentor… I should have died, too. But now… wait, my level increased by one? Symbiosis? What on earth is this!”
Lumina crouched down and held her head.
Having just woken up, she was dizzy and overwhelmed by the sheer number of things she couldn’t understand.
“Symbiosis? You can see the System Panel?”
A voice suddenly rang out in her mind.
The elf flinched, startled, and nervously rattled off a long string of words like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.
“Who’s there? Why are you speaking in my head? Are you a wraith, a ghost, or an undead? No matter what kind of evil monster you are, I’m a Priest who believes in the God of Nature and Life! I’ve mastered many Purification Arts for dealing with evil! Are you scared? You’re scared, right? If you don’t want to be purified by me… anyway, please, just leave my body!”
“I’m also cowardly, weak, and a loner with no friends. I have a bad figure, my grades are terrible, and I radiate a gloomy, depressing aura… just like mold growing in a corner during the rainy season…”
‘What is this? Is she complaining? Is she trying to appeal to her enemy’s conscience?’ It sounded pretty miserable; Ning Lan almost couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“As the saying goes, looking at unpleasant things brings bad luck. You wouldn’t want to get a toothache even when drinking cold water, so it’s better to stay far away from me. Really.”
The elf clasped her hands together in prayer, her eyes looking incredibly sincere, as if she were truly worried the mysterious consciousness in her body would be affected by her unlucky constitution.
Of course, it was more likely she just wanted the voice to give up and leave.
“Stop, stop. I know you’re scared, but it’s impossible for us to separate. Instead of being wary of each other, it’s better to get used to it sooner.”
“First of all, I’m nothing like that. I’m just a mushroom. Secondly, that ‘Symbiosis’ you see is because I saved you.”
“You should know the Wolf King — the one that tore a hole in your stomach. That was originally a fatal wound, but by filling it with my mycelium, I managed to change your fate. You can check for yourself; there’s a clear difference between the skin on your abdomen and the surrounding area.”
Lumina reflexively looked down at her slender waist.
Just as the voice claiming to be a mushroom had said, there was a stark line between the milky white and her normal flesh color.
Just by looking at the area covered, she could understand how dangerous the wound had been.
Was that why they couldn’t separate?
But…
“Mushroom Miss, what is with this outfit? It’s so drafty… this is way too embarrassing!”
She pressed her left hand against her top and held the bottom with her right, terrified that the moment she let go, she would be completely naked and return to a primitive, wild state.
Even the earliest elven ancestors had never walked around without clothes.
“Cough, cough. It’s a long story. Anyway, you’d better leave quickly. The bees are coming.”
As the culprit, Ning Lan felt a bit awkward, so he kindly used the bees to change the subject.
He wanted to see how much more knowledge about this world he could extract from the elf’s mouth later.
Furthermore, the way she addressed him caught the mushroom’s attention.
‘Miss? Does my voice have a clear feminine tilt to it?’ Come to think of it, they were communicating through thoughts.
Even if they didn’t speak the same language, they could understand each other’s meaning.
‘My own mental voice… I don’t even know what it sounds like to others.’
‘Should I correct her? Nah, forget it.’ Compared to having a single middle-aged man living inside her body, a gentle older sister was clearly more approachable.
There was no need to explain such a beautiful misunderstanding.
“Seriously! How am I supposed to run like this?”
The elf began to run awkwardly.
Clearly, she couldn’t have both modesty and efficient movement.
As the sound of buzzing wings grew closer behind her, Lumina finally steeled her heart and broke into a full sprint.
‘It doesn’t matter anymore.’
Compared to Ning Lan, who was an outsider, Lumina was a natural-born elf who knew better how to utilize her racial advantages to boost her speed.
Her pace through the forest was comparable to the bees in the air.
The bees’ pursuit lasted for a long time.
These vengeful monsters didn’t give up until they reached the edge between the woodland and the Swamp Area.
Only then did they turn around and fly back to their nest.
Having momentarily escaped the danger, the broken elf curled into a ball under a tree again, hugging her knees.
She looked more like a mushroom than the actual mushroom did.
‘Well, I suppose an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to accept turning into a human-monster hybrid all at once.’
Ning Lan knew he should give her some time to process the information, but the “Symbiosis” mentioned by the elf was truly intriguing.
“Can we talk now? About the ‘Symbiosis’ thing.”
“Ah, you mean this? Everyone who registers as an adventurer has one. You can see your level, skills, attributes, and other detailed information.”
She swiped her hand across her own panel, but a moment later, she remembered that others couldn’t see it and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I forgot that only I can see this.”
‘No, I can see it.’
What was displayed on the elf’s screen was similar to what Ning Lan saw, though his own view was even more detailed.
It made sense.
If people could see others’ information, the adventurer party wouldn’t have been caught off guard and slaughtered by the Wolf King.
After all, that would be like having x-ray vision or a cheat that made stealth skills useless.
Being successfully ambushed would be impossible unless the person with the “cheat” was distracted — like that slime that had fallen from the sky.
Ning Lan wanted to confirm if this was a game world.
The fact that every adventurer had a System Panel further confirmed the accuracy of that guess.
After all, a normal world wouldn’t naturally have something so convenient.
Of course, even if it were confirmed, it didn’t really matter to a mushroom.
A tiny mushroom couldn’t possibly affect the world.
“Then, can you go out? I mean, can you leave the Mendelair Great Labyrinth?”
“I’m sorry!”
The answer he received was an even louder apology.
‘Why did I have a feeling it would be like this?’
“This is my first time coming to the Great Labyrinth. Although I’ve studied the general areas of the different floors, actual exploration still requires a map.”
“Um, the map was in the bag I was carrying…”
‘Hey, what’s with that look? The map is long gone. It’s probably back at the camp. It’s not like it was destroyed by an Acid Slime along with your Priest Robe.’
“You forgot to take it when you were looking for something to put the mushrooms in.”
Ning Lan was talking pure nonsense.
While it was true he had been watching the elf, he hadn’t noticed such minor details.
However, it was clear the elf’s memory wasn’t that precise either.
She only vaguely remembered having the intention of using the bag to carry mushrooms, but she had abandoned it.
Was it because she put it down or forgot it?
It was like that feeling when you leave the house and suddenly wonder if you locked the door.
You probably did, but you just can’t be sure.
Lumina wasn’t sure either, and the more she tried to remember, the more embarrassed she felt.
To be honest, she was a little resentful toward Mushroom Miss for turning her clothes into this state.
Perhaps being naked meant nothing to a mushroom since mushrooms didn’t wear clothes anyway, but for a young girl, it was absolutely mortifying.
As for why she was certain the owner of the voice was a mushroom?
She had secretly tried an evil-purifying spell, but it didn’t work at all.
Therefore, the voice had to be a mushroom!
‘A mushroom, just a mushroom…’ She could only hypnotize herself this way.
‘Wait, a mushroom?!’
She had just cooked a pot of mushroom soup earlier!
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
This time, it was two even quieter apologies.
Ning Lan: ?
‘What, are you some kind of “I’m sorry” repeating machine?’