[Experience consumed: 40 points... Maga Fighting Skill level has been elevated to LV4! Constitution+0.4, Strength+0.4!]
[Your Maga Fighting Skill has been elevated to LV4 and you've gained a special boost - Power of the Tiger!]
[Power of the Tiger - Strength+0.4! Lasts for 30 seconds. After usage, you enter a weakness state with Strength-0.2 and Constitution-0.2, which lasts for 3 hours!]
...
A hint of surprise appeared on Su Lu's face as he observed the prompts.
"The Maga Fighting Skill has reached LV4, even has a branched boost added? This so-called Power of the Tiger is essentially a Berserk Technique!"
Even though there are some aftermaths, it is very useful for desperate situations.
At this very moment, his strength has astonishingly reached 1.5, which is half higher than the average person!
Fighting mutant rats becomes easier.
Without spending much time, he reached the end of the fork road.
It's a deadlock, the end is blocked by a thick wall, a foul smell pervades, carrying the scent of rot.
Su Lu raised the oil lamp and under the dim yellow light, a silhouette lying on the ground is illuminated, writhing with large groups of darkness, occasionally revealing scarlet eyes.
"A corpse?! A rotting corpse?"
Su Lu frowned, clearly, this is trouble.
Above the corpse, numerous mutant rats were snarling, chirping threateningly.
"Could it be... this corpse is the source of their mutation?"
Su Lu looked around again.
Beneath the corpse, a large, dark brown stain carried a scent that made him uneasy.
"Are the rats defending this place, unwilling to give up, the source of mutation? It shouldn't be the corpse, but the environment they couldn't take with them... could it be this bloodstain?"
Su Lu felt he might have guessed the truth.
The origin of this rotting corpse is definitely not simple, and its death has affected the environment in this area, giving rise to mutant rats.
These mutant rats have simple wisdom, knowing that if they leave this place, they would lose the opportunity to continue evolving and increasing their members. That's why they are refusing to leave, attacking the cleaners multiple times.
"Could it be a Transcendent's remains?!"
Su Lu's eyes lit up, he took a few more steps forward.
"Chirp Chirp!"
In order to protect their most precious property, several large rats immediately pounced forward.
Unfortunately, with the majority of the regular rat population almost completely wiped out and the number of mutant rats drastically reduced, there are only five or six left here at this moment.
Su Lu showed no mercy, using the pickaxe against each one.
Eventually, he threw the pickaxe in his hand and nailed the last semi-mutated rat to the ground.
"There should be more mutant rats, perhaps some of the smarter ones resisted the temptation, taking their followers to fly far away?"
Su Lu made a private guess as he approached the corpse.
Contrary to his expectations, although this body had been dead for a while, it had not shown a highly decayed state, but had dehydrated and shrunk into a mummy, and its skin had turned greenish-black.
Above the corpse, numerous pieces were missing, likely the result of rats gnawing on it.
"All these mutant rats, controlling a rat swarm, it wouldn't be hard to drag away a body... is it because this corpse is peculiar? Or are they reluctant to leave this environment?"
Su Lu didn't know because he didn't speak rat language.
At the moment, he lifted the oil lamp and illuminated the mummy's face.
"Sorry... I really can't identify your gender!"
The corpse was dressed in a black hooded robe, which was very ragged. And just by looking at the skeleton, who could tell what gender it was?
Su Lu held back his disgust, flipping it around with the pickaxe.
Rip!
The ragged black robe was easily torn apart, after a rough search, he only found a few spoils - a few pieces of parchment in an iron tube, and a small money bag.
The money bag was of good quality, when opened, several rays of golden light spilled out.
"Are these... Golden Dragons?!"
Su Lu nodded, picked them up one by one, and counted five.
Golden Dragons were gold coins that were minted with a dragon head pattern on the back and the portrait of the 'Western Conqueror' - William on the front. They were quite heavy, one Golden Dragon could be exchanged for ten standard Silver Hawks, and if it was exchanged for silver paper currency, the price would increase by one or two points in the black market.
"You can say... I worked for several months and didn't make this much money!"
If it had been before, obtaining such a windfall would have made Su Lu very excited.
But now, he was more interested in the transcendental clues he got from the other party.
He took the torn pieces of parchment to the oil lamp, and the weird-looking characters on them immediately caused Su Lu to frown, "This is neither Common Hebrew nor Ancient Hebrew!"
The delicate patterns on the light yellow, thick sheepskin parchment had an indescribable touch, and the black letters were twisted like snakes. Just by looking at it a few more times, Su Lu started to feel a bit dizzy.
"It must be some ancient language, I have to go back and check the reference materials..."
Looking at the corpse, Su Lu fell into thought for a moment.
The other party is very likely a Transcendent. Once it is discovered that they died here and that I was the first to find it, trouble is bound to ensue.
Therefore, the corpse must be destroyed and the secret must be protected!
As for the Creation of the Dead Princess or something?
Let's not mention whether the corpse is male or female, or that the body is incomplete.
Simply put, after experiencing a ghost encounter last time, is Su Lu not afraid of the dark anymore?
He would never dare to attempt that mysterious ritual again even if it cost him his life.
"This is just an abandoned section of the sewer, it won't be too hard to deal with!"
Su Lu looked at the dark brown ground around him. It was the trace created after blood mixed with the mud, and more importantly, it seemed to have a direct relationship with the mutation of the giant rats.
"All of this needs to be removed and dumped into the ditch!"
After calculating, Su Lu immediately returned to the surface, brought in more tools, and began to destroy the corpse.
Ding!
Suddenly a black object was unearthed, making a clear sound.
"Huh?"
Su Lu moved it and found it to be a rhomboid black iron piece, the size of a child's palm, carved with a serpent's tail image in the middle.
"Ring of the Ouroboros... in legend, the Ouroboros continuously swallowed its own tail, symbolizing eternity in the end?"
Remembering some demon hunting knowledge, Su Lu made a brief identification, "In mysticism, it's a very important symbol, but it's not recognized by the Seven Gods!"
At the moment, it seems to be some kind of insignia or badge?
Su Lu thought for a moment, put the iron piece into his pocket, and then swiftly walked out of the fork road.
Not long after he left, a flame rose, gradually covering the entire passage, greedily swallowing everything...