Ever since gaining the attribute panel, Su Lu had been trying to gain experience points.
As it turns out, ordinary reading or physical training are practically worthless.
Unless... reading books with special abilities or defeating red-named monsters, like the three trainers at the Fight Club, reward experience points.
However, there are prerequisites. Firstly, the power levels need to be similar, and secondly, only two rounds can be reaped, and the experience for the second round is halved.
The last way to gain experience is through killing.
This method was rather unorthodox; Su Lu had been testing it on ordinary rats these past few days.
The reality proves that if the power gap is too large, no experience is gained.
But just now, the death of a mutated rat finally rewarded him 10 experience points!
"How difficult it is, really difficult!"
In his heart, Su Lu was almost moved to tears.
After the Fight Club, he finally found a second source of experience points!
"Su Lu, you're awesome!"
Sean laughed heartily, holding his pickaxe tightly, and swung it at the rat swarm: "Come on, you filthy vermin!"
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The next moment, a large number of mutant rats let out piercing screams, and from the depths of the sewer, a shadowy mass wriggled forward.
Upon a closer look, those were just ordinary rats, at least hundreds of them. Manipulated by the mutant rats, they formed a rat tide!
"Run!"
On seeing this, Su Lu instantly threw his pickaxe and ran without looking back.
In his heart, he even considered Sean's bad luck, probably a transcendent side power, aptly called 'Disaster star incarnate'.
"Squeak!"
The pair ran for their lives, pursued by a massive rat swarm.
Luckily, they didn't have to run far before reaching a sewer exit, and they clambered out.
"Phew!"
By the sewer cover, both men looked at the rat swarm that had stopped chasing them and heaved a sigh of relief.
"It seems... that the sanitation worker was bit by a mutant rat!" said Su Lu. "If we continue to clean this up, we need to purchase a lot of rat traps and rat poison! The workload will increase exponentially, the 10 silver coins will definitely be a loss!"
"That damn swindler!"
At this point Sean was determined: "I will complain to the Student Council about him, he's suspected of contract fraud! Anyway, I won't continue with this!"
He looked at Su Lu apologetically: "Sorry... for dragging you into this, but I promise, this is the end!"
In reality, filing a complaint does not necessarily result in a good outcome. Rats in the sewer, no matter how big, are still expected, right?
Since he is a swindler, there would surely be a convincing argument.
The best outcome would be to void the contract, if unlucky, compensation might be owed.
But Sean had decided to shoulder all this himself.
"I think... we can still continue this job!"
However, Su Lu didn't agree.
For him, this was a treasure trove of experience. It couldn't be wasted readily: "After all, we are humans, with wisdom. With the combination of water and fire, along with rat poison, it's still possible to exterminate a swarm of rats. We just have to control costs within a reasonable range!"
"Brother!"
Sean felt touched to the point of tears: "I appreciate all you've done for me, but you really don't have to..."
"No! I insist!"
At this point, no matter the losses, Su Lu was determined to continue.
The two men discussed further, and eventually, Su Lu convinced Sean to rest for the day while he went to buy a batch of rat poison to exterminate the vermin in the sewer.
Su Lu was to go and update their equipment, especially the protective gear.
Considering the sharpness of the teeth of the mutant rats, normal leather wouldn't suffice.
...
Seven days later, in the sewer.
Su Lu, decked out in thick protective gear, with a pickaxe in hand, left a mess in his wake.
Over the past few days, he and Sean had racked their brains, using everything from flooding to fire, traps to poison, killing most of the regular rat population in the sewers.
The mutant rats?
They seemed to have a certain intelligence. After falling for the trick once, they resisted taking the bait again.
Through all this, Su Lu learned one thing.
"Earning kill experience can only be achieved by personally killing? Regarding deceit and traps, if one doesn't personally take action, nothing is gained!"
Through this method, he gained a good understanding of the attributes panel.
Now was the time to seize the opportunity for the final harvest.
"Come on, my little darlings, there is only one of me here!"
Upon reaching the place of the first ambush, Su Lu taunted enthusiastically.
Perhaps those mutant rats did have a degree of wisdom, because after encountering considerable rat casualties, they wouldn't stick around and would instead change locations.
Su Lu walked for half a day without any abnormalities and began to miss Sean.
Having Sean's bad luck by his side, by now something would have definitely happened, right?
"Squeak!"
While thinking this, from the darkness, a massive mutant rat lunged forward.
"Kill!"
Su Lu swung his pickaxe, hitting the rat's revealed belly. Blood splattered everywhere.
"If there were achievements for killing rats, at this point, I've probably completed tasks like [Rat Vanquisher] and [Rat Killing Pro]…"
He shook the pickaxe, letting the corpse of the mutant rat slide off, and peered at the [XP+10]reflected on the attribute panel. A hint of a smile appeared on his face: "They still don't leave? Something is wrong!"
To avoid danger is an animal's basic instinct. It had reached this point, yet they still have the nerve to resist, there must be something fishy!
"Just now...around the time I reached this fork in the road, that's when the attacks started!"
Su Lu took a few steps back, reaching a fork in the road: "They're attacking me, yet they don't realize they're leading me directly to them!"
With this thought, his spirits lifted, and he followed this path down.
Splash! Splash!
Around him, the sound of the sewer flowed.
The oil lamp he held in his hand cast a dull glow, illuminating the area.
Su Lu held the lamp in one hand, the pickaxe in the other. His ears twitched, and he turned around: "Crane form, kill!"
His right hand moved so fast that only an afterimage remained, swinging the pickaxe deftly, two large mutated rats lay twitching on the grounds, their bodies smeared with blood.
At this moment, the experience points on his attribute panel had impressively changed to 40!
Behind 'Maga fighting Skills,' a long-awaited '+' had appeared.
"Do you want to spend 40 experience points to level up 'Maga fighting Skills?' Yes/No?"
"The first upgrade cost 10 experience points, the second 20, the third 40... But it's still cheaper than 'Creation of Dead Princess.' Yes!"
Without hesitation, Su Lu chose 'Yes.'