[Wake up, Perry... wake up.] The system's voice echoed in Perry's mind, like the distant chime of a bell, slowly rousing him from unconsciousness.
As Perry's consciousness gradually cleared, he squinted, trying to discern his surroundings. The first thing he saw was the ceiling of the cave, covered in glowing crystals that emitted a soft, bluish glow, illuminating the jagged stones around him. These stones, like the sharp teeth of a monster, seemed to be arranged with an ominous warning. The system's small blue orb hovered above his head, flickering like a lost firefly.
"Stop spinning around; you're making me dizzy." Perry, exhausted, reached out to swat the blue orb away, a hint of irritation in his voice. As his fingers brushed the glowing sphere, it deftly darted away, continuing its dance around him.
"You're awake, huh? I didn't expect you to come around in just half an hour. Usually, people who inhale sleep mist end up sleeping for days. We were even planning to carry you both back to the village." Rufus's voice came from nearby. He was carefully wiping down the blade of his knife, clearly surprised by Perry's quick recovery.
Perry struggled to sit up, rubbing his aching head. He vaguely recalled the strange mushrooms just before losing consciousness, a blurry blue image floating in his mind. Scanning his surroundings, he noticed several oversized blue mushrooms scattered across the cave floor, their caps spreading like large umbrellas. "What happened just now?" he asked.
"You ran into Sleepy Mushrooms. They released their sleep mist and knocked you out," Rufus explained, his knife glinting faintly as he spoke. He sheathed the blade and glanced deeper into the cave. "We destroyed the remaining mushrooms; if we hadn't, they'd keep releasing the sleep mist."
Perry then noticed Toto lying beside him, breathing steadily in deep sleep. "Where's Larkin?" he asked, looking around, but Larkin was nowhere to be seen, only the sliced remains of mushrooms scattered on the ground.
Rufus removed his face mask and stepped outside the cave to breathe in the fresh air. "Seems the sleep mist has mostly dissipated. As for Larkin, she went to find some drinkable water nearby."
"Isn't the river water drinkable?" Perry asked.
"It is, but Larkin said there's a special water source mentioned on the map nearby, so she went to check it out and see if she could find the Mushcat."
"Why did these Sleepy Mushrooms suddenly grow so big?" Perry asked.
Rufus chuckled. "The Sleepy Mushrooms are pretty timid. If someone gets too close, they get scared and enlarge themselves before releasing the mist."
"Oh, I see. These mushrooms aren't poisonous, right?" Perry asked nervously, eyeing the large blue mushrooms. He didn't want to worsen the toxins already in his body.
"Relax. Larkin checked Old Harden's notebook and confirmed these mushrooms are non-toxic."
Relieved, Perry picked up a partially sliced mushroom from the ground. It was as big as an umbrella.
At that moment, the system's small blue orb suddenly flew right in front of Perry, blocking his view. Startled, Perry instinctively waved his hand to shoo it away.
Ding, Ding!
[Host, a new task has just been triggered.]
[Task 3: Cook and eat a Sleepy Mushroom.
Reward: Gain 'Precise Knife Skills Lv1'.
Time Limit: Two hours.
Penalty: Fall asleep for three days.]
Perry muttered under his breath, "Don't just pop up in front of me like that." He kept his voice low to avoid alerting Rufus, who was still keeping an eye on the entrance of the cave, thankfully unaware of Perry's strange behavior.
"Cook the Sleepy Mushroom? Is this mushroom even edible?" Perry inspected the blue mushroom in his hand skeptically; mushrooms of this color were usually toxic.
[It is edible, but be careful. Eating it improperly might have unpleasant consequences,] the system replied calmly.
Perry frowned. The warning seemed to imply he needed to find the edible parts of the mushroom. But he had no idea what those parts were.
"Do I really have to eat it just to figure out which part is safe?" Perry muttered to himself.
[All I can do is provide a basic analysis. You'll have to figure out how to cook it yourself,] the system responded as it finished scanning the blue mushroom.
[Item: Sleepy Mushroom
Grade: D
Attributes: None
Introduction: Dark blue when not frightened, smooth like velvet, plump and cute, with a round and thick mushroom cap. When frightened, the mushroom will expand rapidly, and delicate light blue carvings will gradually emerge on the surface. At this time, it will continue to release smoke with a hypnotic effect, and will gradually shrink and fall into a deep sleep until the surroundings become quiet.
Function: ???
Warning: ???]
Perry scratched his head in frustration, pondering how to handle the blue mushroom. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind—his grandfather Harden's notebook! "Wait, there might be detailed information about this mushroom in Grandpa Harden's notes!" Perry's mood lifted as he turned toward Rufus.
"Hey, Rufus, do we still have Grandpa Harden's notebook?" Perry asked.
"Yeah, it's in Toto's basket. Here you go," Rufus replied, retrieving the somewhat worn notebook from Toto's basket and handing it to him.
"Why are you looking at that all of a sudden?" Rufus asked casually, peeling a purple banana and lazily sitting by the cave entrance.
"I want to research this mushroom a bit. I'll step outside for a moment," Perry replied, grabbing the notebook and heading out of the cave to sit by the riverbank, where the light was better for reading.
Rufus was curious but didn't press Perry any further.
For safety, Perry carefully scanned the surroundings to make sure there were no wild animals nearby. Once he confirmed it was safe, he opened the notebook and began flipping through the pages, searching for any mention of the sleepy mushroom.
"Sleepy mushroom... sleepy mushroom..." he murmured to himself as his fingers quickly scanned over the yellowing pages.
"Ah, found it!" Perry's eyes lit up, and the system's little blue orb floated beside him, peeking at the page.
"Sleepy Mushroom: A blue mushroom that lives in caves. When stimulated, it enlarges and releases sleep-inducing smoke, causing creatures to fall asleep. The length of unconsciousness depends on how much smoke is inhaled. In some cases, affected creatures may briefly wake up before falling back into a deeper sleep. Creatures that inhale too much smoke are slowly digested by enzymes secreted by the mushroom. It's a carnivorous plant, though it usually only attacks small creatures. It doesn't eat humans."
Perry nodded thoughtfully after reading. "So I was just temporarily awake. I didn't expect this mushroom to be carnivorous—lucky it doesn't eat people."
Continuing through the worn notebook, Perry finally came across a page detailing how to prepare the sleepy mushroom for consumption. Though the faded writing was hard to read, it provided crucial information. He was surprised to discover that parts of the mysterious mushroom were indeed edible, but they required very careful handling.
"The cap of the sleepy mushroom are the safe, edible parts. They contain a unique substance that can quickly stimulate the central nervous system, helping to wake the unconscious. However, the stalk and mycelium are filled with concentrated sleep-inducing agents. Otherwise, eating them could cause deep unconsciousness or even temporary paralysis. The mushroom texture is sponge-like, not tasty" he read aloud, picturing the texture of the mushroom in his mouth.
"Got it," Perry murmured, glancing at the large blue mushrooms scattered around the cave. He was relieved that he hadn't foolishly tried a bite earlier.
"The caps are safe to eat. Glad I didn't just take a bite without thinking," he sighed in relief, shooting a glance at the system's little blue orb, which was now flashing as if to urge him on. The task reminder chimed again.
[Host, time is ticking. You have 1 hour and 45 minutes left to complete the task.]
Perry looked at the time countdown. Although there was still a lot of time, he knew he couldn't hesitate any longer. If he failed to complete the task, the three-day sleeping punishment would definitely make his situation very bad. Taking a deep breath, Perry stood up and calmed down.
"Okay, it's time to get to work." He originally wanted to put the book away but accidentally dropped it. When he flipped to the back of the notes, he was surprised to find that the details of this mushroom were more complicated and delicate than he had imagined.
"New research on Sleepy mushrooms, the dark blue part is edible." He read the contents of the notes in a low voice, his brows slightly relaxed, and his heart was a little relaxed. But the next paragraph made his expression solemn again. "However, it must be noted that any part with light blue carvings is not edible. The light blue carving area contains concentrated coma components. If these parts are eaten by mistake, you will feel dizzy at the least, and will cause a long coma at the worst, and may even endanger your life."
He put down the notes and looked up at the blue mushrooms scattered in the cave. Fine fluorescence slowly floated in the air. In the dim light, these mushrooms looked unusually beautiful and strange.
"Indeed, there are few traces of light blue on the mushroom heads."
Perry knew that he had to find those mushrooms with only a few light blue carvings, so as to minimize the risk.
"It seems that I can't just pick them casually," he thought to himself, and at the same time put aside his previous laziness, he knelt gently on the ground and carefully observed the patterns of each mushroom. The weak light in the cave made it more difficult, but he knew he had no time to hesitate. The diagrams in the notes had marked the safe and dangerous areas, but there was still some difference between the actual objects and the patterns in the notes. Perry carefully distinguished those areas from the stems and caps with light blue carvings.
He started to check from the root of the mushroom, and gently pushed aside the head of the mushroom with one hand, taking care not to touch the parts with light blue carvings. The light blue carvings on the dark blue skin were like strange symbols, flashing a faint light, as if warning him not to approach rashly.
"These pale blue carvings... are really troublesome." He frowned, silently praying to find a mushroom without too many dangerous markings. Every time he saw a mushroom with too many carvings, he would hesitate for a moment, and then carefully exclude it from the edible list.
To confirm, Perry opened the notebook and checked it again to make sure he didn't miss any important information. The illustration on the notebook showed a cross-section of a mushroom, with detailed markings of which areas were safe and which areas needed to be avoided.