Lin Jun had said he wanted to find a proper acceleration skill on this floor.

But for that, he needed monsters that reliably provided fixed skills. That was why he’d dispatched scout puffshrooms to investigate the Gnoll Forest.

He hadn’t expected to run into this first—

A dead human.

More accurately, a freshly dead one. The blood hadn’t even clotted yet.

Though Lin Jun couldn’t see corpses’ status panels, the robes made it obvious: a mage.

The man had staggered from the forest, leaving a long trail of blood, only to collapse here, breathless, drained of life.

Human adventurers usually moved in parties. Either he’d been separated—or his team had been wiped out.

Such was the life of low-level adventurers: heads tied to their belts, gambling everything for survival.

According to Inanna, this world did have “resurrection.”

But Lin Jun considered it little more than necromancy.

First you had to repair the body to perfection. Then you’d burn through resources so costly they could bankrupt a nation. Finally, through ritual, you’d summon the hero’s soul back into the vessel.

In practice? Impossible. Nobody organized such a thing. Nobody had succeeded in over a hundred years.

To commoners, it was legend. Only someone like Inanna—backed by a duke—would even know details.

Meaning: death here was true death. Unlike games or anime in his past life.

He searched the unlucky mage’s bag:

* A small metal plate etched with his portrait and details—an ID?

* A notebook, filled with scribbles Lin Jun couldn’t read.

* A half-full vial of yellow potion.

* A few coins, some gathered plants.

His staff lay nearby, socketed with a C-grade magic crystal—probably his most valuable possession.

The mage’s robe might once have been fine, but it was half-burned, the rest in tatters. Worthless.

Rustling.

Gnolls emerged from the trees, hunched and armed with bows or sword-and-shield.

One shield in particular gleamed—well-kept, stained with fresh blood. Clearly looted from the mage’s companions.

So they had let this man stagger away, bleeding, until he fell. Cruel… and clever.

The Gnolls spotted the scout puffshroom by the body.

They snickered.

The one with the shield swaggered forward, reaching with bloodied claws—

Only to lose the entire paw in a blink.

“Gyaaaaaooo!”

The howl ended with a mushroom shell bursting its skull.

The others froze, weapons raised, scanning.

Seven strange puffshrooms were advancing.

The Gnolls ducked behind trees, loosing arrows.

Lin Jun had already sent reinforcements as soon as he found the body. He hadn’t planned a fight, but this worked—time to test the new puffshrooms.

Two rolled into balls, barreling into the forest.

【Self-Destruct Lv.3】

The explosion hurled two Gnolls out, limbs shattered.

The last one fled in terror, dropping its weapon. Lin Jun didn’t bother chasing.

The new puffshrooms had done well.

Self-destruct was always a suicide skill. But even at Lv.3, its power was excellent.

Better still—it now synced with 【Rolling Charge】. Previously, self-detonation required manually overloading a magic crystal—not feasible mid-charge.

Now it was smooth, seamless.

The two injured Gnolls whimpered on the ground, crawling, keening.

Begging?

Pathetic. Even if they lived, their tribe would abandon or devour them.

Lin Jun wasn’t cruel, but he wasn’t sentimental either. He gave them mercy—swift deaths.

The puffshrooms gathered the corpses and loot, hauling everything back to the swamp.

———

System Notification

【Seven Deadly Sins – Greed Triggered】

* Skill Plundered: Precision Lv.4 → Lv.5

* Skill Plundered: Archery Mastery Lv.1

* Skill Plundered: Wind Magic Lv.1

* Skill Plundered: Human Common Tongue Lv.1

The first two came from the Gnolls. The latter two from the mage.

No acceleration skill… but gains nonetheless.

Archery was useless to him. Precision, though—excellent. Perfect with mushroom cannons.

Wind Magic looked promising, but he lacked 【Mana Control】, without which spells were impossible to shape. It would have to wait.

But the real surprise—language.

So languages could be acquired as skills?

He had never seen “Human Common Tongue” on adventurers’ panels before. Inanna, though, had displayed “Ancient Elvish Lv.2.”

Perhaps mother tongues didn’t show.

Gnolls clearly communicated, but yielded no language skills. Was their speech incomplete? Or had he simply missed the draw?

In any case—he should now be able to read human writing.

He flipped open the notebook.

…and felt illiterate.

A wall of text. He recognized maybe two or three characters.

Seriously?

So at Lv.1 it was useless. Would he need Lv.10 to be fully literate?

At present, his highest skill was only Lv.7.

No helping it. It was still an unexpected windfall.

He’d keep hunting. Maybe one day, he’d max out “literacy” by scavenging corpses.

His real goal—finding acceleration—remained unfinished. Tomorrow, he’d scout the forest’s far side.