Chapter 229: Mushrooms

Alex smiled inwardly. This was actually a useful item, especially for a Mage like him, because mental fatigue could affect his spellcasting and make it harder to control his mana properly.

So far, Alex had discovered three ways to reduce his mental fatigue. The first was leveling up, which refreshed his mind along with the rest of his body, while the second was switching bodies, because whenever he took control of his other body, it felt as though that body had been sleeping.

However, that method was not perfect. His other body probably needed to remain asleep for several hours before it could properly recover, which meant he could not simply switch bodies repeatedly to refresh his mind.

The third method was the simplest one: resting and sleeping. Unfortunately, that was also the least convenient method when fighting monsters because he could not exactly stop in the middle of a battle and take a nap.

Alex stored the potion inside his inventory. It was only an E-rank item, but its effect was exactly what he needed, so he had no intention of wasting it.

"Let’s move," Alex said.

The group slowly began moving deeper into the cavern. Their pace was not particularly fast because everyone was still exhausted from the battle outside, but at least they would no longer be surrounded by monsters from the flooded forest.

After walking for roughly a minute, small glowing mushrooms began appearing along the walls. Their faint light gradually spread through the cavern, illuminating the path ahead well enough that Alex no longer needed to maintain the fire sphere he had created.

Joseph looked at the mushrooms as they passed them and nodded thoughtfully. "It makes sense that there are glowing items here. The badgers probably aren’t nocturnal, but no sunlight will reach this deep into the cave."

The ex-navy SEAL continued analyzing the glowing mushrooms as they moved through the cavern. He broke a few of them from the wall, and the moment they came loose, they disappeared into thin air, likely being transferred into his inventory.

"Collecting them for research?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. There is so much Origin Energy here, and these mushrooms have been absorbing it for who knows how long. We might be able to figure out how to harness the Origin Energy from them later, so we won’t need to clear dungeons every time we need more Origin Energy," Joseph replied.

Alex nodded. He had heard about similar items from people who had entered Easy Difficulty, as they had purchased potions and pills filled with Origin Energy from the natives and used them to return without clearing a dungeon. In Normal Difficulty, many people had obtained such items from Reward Boxes instead.

Only those in Hard and Hell Difficulty had been forced to clear dungeons to return. Hell Difficulty¹ was especially troublesome because the concentration of Origin Energy was so high that there was a good chance the boss of a dungeon would be a Mid-rank Species.

Alex continued walking at the front with Frank, who was holding his shield. The man’s expression remained serious and grim, but Alex did not say anything to him for now because there were more important things to focus on.

Alex kept creating mana pulses from his shin and waist as he walked. There was a possibility that the badgers were not tall enough for the mana pulse from his waist to reach them, which was why he had started releasing another pulse from his shin as well.

He continued releasing the pulse from his waist because it was also useful for training. Even now, he was training his magic. His Minor Heal Spell was being trained by using condensed mana to create very small injuries on his palm before healing them, allowing him to practice without causing serious damage to himself.

Another mana pulse spread through the cavern and soon reached a group of badgers. Most of them were below Alex’s waist, but one of them was almost tall enough to reach his chest, and they seemed to be surrounding something just after the turn in the tunnel.

Alex released another mana pulse to get a clearer idea of what they were doing. However, before he could investigate further, the badgers suddenly rushed toward him.

It seemed that they had sensed his mana pulses. That was understandable because they were Mid-rank Species, so their senses were naturally much stronger than those of the monsters Alex had encountered earlier.

The group immediately became tense when the badgers appeared from around the corner. The largest one rushed forward like a blur, crossing the distance between them at a speed that surprised even Alex.

’Level 15?’

Alex remained calm and created three Mana Bullets before firing them toward the incoming monsters. He could not use Fire Bullets in the narrow tunnel because their power was too destructive, and weakening them enough to avoid damaging the surroundings would make them practically useless against these Mid-rank Species’ monsters.

The Mana Bullets shot forward, but the largest badger suddenly moved. Its appearance was completely different from the others, with black fur covered by dark red lines that made its body look more dangerous, while its sharp claws were long and slightly curved like blades.

The badger swung its claws and sliced through all three Mana Bullets with shocking speed. Alex remained calm because even if the projectiles were cut apart, the pieces should have continued forward and hit the monster.

Instead, the pieces of his Mana Bullets simply disintegrated.

’What did that monster do to my Mana Bullets?’ Alex thought, surprised by what he had just witnessed. He did not have time to think about it any further because, while the largest badger had stopped after destroying the projectiles, the other four had already reached the group.

Two badgers attacked Alex, while the remaining two charged toward Frank. Frank shouted as he raised his shield, and a red glow spread across its surface when the two monsters slammed into it.

His feet slid backward from the force of the impact, but surprisingly, he managed to remain standing. Alex glanced toward the others and confirmed that Sarah and Frank could hold their own against the two badgers for the moment, so he focused on his own opponents.

The first badger rushed toward Alex’s shin and swung its claw. Alex pulled his leg back, causing the attack to miss and the monster to lose its balance.

Before it could recover, Alex swung the same foot forward and kicked it directly in the chest. The force sent the badger flying backward and crashing into the second badger, throwing both monsters against the tunnel wall.

"Emma, Joseph, attack!" Alex commanded.

A Mana Arrow and a Kinetic Mana Bullet immediately flew toward the two badgers that had crashed into the wall. Alex had only looked at them for a split second when intense warnings suddenly buzzed inside his head.

The largest badger was already in front of him, swinging its claws toward his body. Alex was stunned by its speed because there was no way it should have covered the distance between them so quickly. Even a Level 15 badger should not have been capable of moving this fast.

’It used slower speed in the beginning to catch me off guard,’ Alex realized.

Fortunately, his Advanced Battle Instinct Spell warned him in time.

..

Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, consider leaving a vote. It helps the novel a lot. Thank you!