Stimulating the growth of the Intelligence attribute?
Lynn was a bit surprised. He really hadn't expected this.
He had originally thought glowing mushrooms were just a little novelty for mages to pass the time.
Aurora added from the side, “Moon Fungus Cake is extremely delicious, but because its two main ingredients, glowing mushrooms and moon dust fungi, are relatively rare, most elves don't actually eat it often. They only get a small piece during the triennial Three Moons Festival.”
“A jar of glowing mushrooms like yours is worth about three to four continental common gold coins in the elven kingdom. Converted to kingdom gold coins, that would be thirty to forty. Besides, it's almost impossible to buy this kind of mushroom on the surface.”
That expensive?!
Lynn looked at the jar of mushrooms in his hand in surprise.
Although he had a feeling they wouldn't be cheap, he truly hadn't expected a price tag of thirty to forty gold coins.
Didn't that mean the Wererat was sitting on a fortune of hundreds of gold coins?
Should he expect anything less from a “merchant of two worlds” who traveled between the underground and the surface?
When he thought about how he had slaved away at commissions for nearly a month only to have less than five gold coins left in his pocket, while the Wererat sat on a glowing mushroom patch worth hundreds of gold coins or more, Lynn couldn't help but feel a pang of envy.
Should he go back and rob the rest of the glowing mushrooms?
Of course, Lynn was only thinking to himself.
Even if the mushroom patch were given to him, he wouldn't know how to cultivate glowing mushrooms.
It was better off in the Wererat's hands. Once the next batch of mushrooms grew, Lynn could go back and scrape the place clean again.
Lynn had plenty of things the Wererat would be interested in, so he wasn't worried about them refusing to trade.
This was what he called sustainable overfishing.
Underground, the young Wererat, Art, was carefully scattering the rotten wood chips of shadow pearlwood over the mushroom patch when they suddenly felt an inexplicable chill run down their spine.
The mushroom patch they had painstakingly cared for over many years suddenly felt a bit unfamiliar, as if it no longer belonged to them.
Strange...
The Wererat scratched their head.
They didn't feel any fur, only touching a bald spot scorched smooth by a Magic Missile.
However, the Wererat quickly dismissed the unease in their heart and continued their hard work.
The growing conditions for glowing mushrooms were extremely demanding: they required the right low temperature and high humidity, had to be kept at a certain distance from shadow pearlwood—not too far, but not too close either—and needed blue umbrella mushrooms growing nearby, as blue umbrella mushrooms only grew in areas with high concentrations of negative psionic energy...
To cultivate glowing mushrooms, one had to dedicate a vast amount of energy to meticulous care.
“Grow quickly!”
A batch of tiny mushroom buds had already sprouted from the ground. Watching the decaying matter of the shadow pearlwood being enveloped and consumed by the mycelium, the Wererat felt immensely comforted.
The Lord Mage had even said he would bring a collectible the Wererat had never seen before to visit during the new year.
To repay the Lord Mage's kindness, it was best to cultivate the next batch of glowing mushrooms as quickly as possible!
...
Lynn felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of guilt.
Fortunately, he was already used to it, so he pressed Aurora, “Then, Aurora, do you know where moon dust fungus can be obtained?”
Aurora smiled. “Of course I do. What, do you want to try the taste of Moon Fungus Cake too?”
Beside them, Lupa also looked over with eager, pleading eyes.
At the mention of Moon Fungus Cake, the beastkin girl nearly drooled.
Back when they were harvesting the glowing mushrooms, the little beastkin girl had already been eager to try them.
Lynn nodded in acknowledgment. He was indeed very interested in Moon Fungus Cake. Of course, it wasn't for the culinary experience, but primarily to increase his Intelligence attribute.
Still, being able to boost his Intelligence while enjoying delicious food was certainly a wonderful bonus.
“Moon dust fungi generally grow in places where magic is highly abundant, the terrain is elevated, and they can receive ample moonlight, such as near the elven holy land, the Moonwell.”
“So, in the human kingdom of Vallenia, this species of fungus is exceptionally rare. I've been here for quite a few years now, and the only time I've seen moon dust fungus was in the barony southwest of Wingen Town. Back then, the Baron would occasionally use moon dust fungus to entertain guests.”
A barony?
A noble's territory...
This indeed struck Lynn as a bit troublesome.
Although the nobility in this world didn't possess the wildly exaggerated power of those in his past life, and Wingen Town was a free territory free from kingdom control, a baron still wielded significant influence.
At the very least, within his own territory, the baron possessed ownership of virtually all resources.
It was a pity Betty had left for the royal capital; otherwise, he might have been able to leverage her connections to buy some moon dust fungus from the baron.
And now, with Betty gone, Lynn really couldn't think of any other prominent figures he knew in town...
No, wait...
It wasn't that he didn't know anyone.
The faces of Gray and Minari suddenly flashed through Lynn's mind.
These two mages from the Mages' Association should count as prominent figures in town, right?
Perhaps he could leverage Gray's connections to purchase some moon dust fungus.
“What, do you want to eat Moon Fungus Cake?” Aurora asked curiously. “If you gather all the ingredients, I can cook it for you. I'm quite confident in my culinary skills.”
Lynn naturally agreed with pleasure.
After all, he neither knew how to cook nor possessed the recipe. If Aurora was willing to do it for him, it would be for the best.
During their chat, the aroma of dishes being roasted in the kitchen wafted over, triggering Lynn's appetite.
Since things had come to this, he might as well eat first!
...
The Mages' Association, Gray's duty room.
“So, you're here to find Minari?”
For some reason, Lynn felt that Mentor Gray's expression was a bit off when he said this.
It was almost as if... he felt like his home turf was being raided?
On the other side, Gray himself had no idea when this student he had taken a liking to had gotten mixed up with Minari.
They shouldn't have had any opportunity to interact.
Minari...
Thinking of this woman who came to borrow money from him from time to time, and who was now actually trying to steal his chosen student away, Gray clenched his fists.
At this moment, Lynn was still unaware that his action of looking for Minari had caused such a misunderstanding in Gray.
Lynn continued to ask, “Is Mentor Minari not here today?”
Gray managed to calm his expression with some effort. “After Minari took my money, she vanished. She probably went into seclusion to research some new alchemy recipe. She should be back in a few days.”
“So, why are you looking for Minari? Is there something you need?”
“I need a fireproof potion, but it's not sold in the association's shop. So, I wanted to try my luck with Mentor Minari and see if she could help.”
So he was just looking for Minari to brew a potion. Why didn't he say so earlier?
Gray let out a long breath.
However, Gray really wasn't very skilled in alchemy.
Back in the academy, Gray had minored in runes; as for alchemy, he knew absolutely nothing about it.
But even so, was he really going to just let Lynn go to Minari for help?
Rate on N.U.
