The black sun hangs high

Chapter 17 Rats, Rats
Aside from the three large bottles of shapeshifter slime that Hugh had collected, the next thing Hugh would need to verify were the other three materials he had bought from Boss Gerald.

Following his own expectations, Hugh first brought the three tough, long tails of the plains rat to a floor-to-ceiling cabinet against the wall.

As Hugh's gaze moved, the strange writing that had been locked on one of the drawers became visible.

"A complete three-piece, tough, long tail of a hamster."

After confirming that there were no problems, Hugh casually found a deity of Vaan and prayed a few words. Then, he held the three long tails of the belly rat, which were coiled into a ring, and slowly moved forward.

Soon, changes began to occur.

Hugh was the first to feel the three long tails of the belly rat that he was supporting trembling very irregularly, as if these three tough tails had been re-injected with life.

Within two seconds, Hugh's premonition came true. He saw the three long tails begin to slowly writhe in his palm. The feeling was rather unpleasant; Hugh felt as if he were holding three unusual snakes.

He suppressed his discomfort and continued to observe the changes before him.

The strange text that had been sealed on the drawer finally reacted. It began to sink towards the surface of the drawer and, in an instant, merged with the drawer itself. The drawer handle disappeared, replaced by a black hole the size of a fist.

Hugh was curious, so he bent down and tried to look into it, but the hole was pitch black and he couldn't see anything.

Left with no other choice, he had to pull his head back, knowing that this was probably another bizarre ritual that he couldn't understand.

The three rat tails reacted to the hole more strongly than Hugh himself. They writhed like real snakes, clinging to the surface of the cabinet and cautiously approaching the black hole that had appeared.

To avoid unnecessary fright, Hugh took his office chair back a little and began to quietly wait for the next development.

Time began to pass little by little.

The ritual was extremely long. Although the three revived belly rat tails kept moving, they remained very "cautious" and did not immediately burrow into the black hole connecting the inside of the drawer, which made Hugh somewhat impatient.

Just as Hugh was about to deal with the other two things, he suddenly heard a very faint sound.

It sounded like something made a soft call from somewhere far away.

"squeak!"

Hughes looked up in surprise, and then he saw that the three long tails of the belly rats he had brought seemed to sense some kind of summons and rushed toward the black hole.

"Squeak!"

This time, Hugh heard clearly.

It was the sound of some kind of rodent, but before Hugh could make any further judgment, the three long tails of the belly rats had already disappeared into the darkness.

This time, Hugh dared not think of leaving again. He bent down and looked intently into the depths of the hole, quietly waiting for the next development of the situation. Then he heard a series of sounds coming from the darkness, as if something was tearing and fighting wildly inside. Hugh even heard a few sharp, indistinct hissing sounds.

The sound lasted for quite some time before it gradually subsided. Just then, two tiny green eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness.

"Is this... a rat?"

Hugh stared at the two tiny, green eyes with some surprise. Then he saw the two green eyes begin to move closer to him. Soon, the owner of the two eyes arrived at the exit of the hole.

This really is a mouse.

A rat much larger than an ordinary rat, with fluffy gray-black fur covering its body and three long tails trailing behind it—Shug recognized that the three tails were clearly the long tails of the belly rat he had brought, only now they were "grafted" onto the rat in front of him in some way he could not understand!
The peculiar three-tailed rat jumped to the ground, raised its body, looked at Hugh with its green eyes, and then made a strange gesture.

It lay down, its three tails stretching naturally behind it, while its head awkwardly pressed against the ground.

"Is it worshiping?"

This outrageous idea popped into Hugh's mind, and at the same moment, he felt a distinct magical fluctuation. His metal disc, which he used to inscribe magic, began to rotate spontaneously, and countless gears hidden in the disc made orderly sounds. Under the operation of those structures that Hugh could not understand, the two metal slots closest to the center of the disc emitted a faint white glow, as if they were eager to welcome their new inhabitants.

Intuition and instinct took over Hugh's body at this moment. He unconsciously knelt down on one knee in front of the strange rat and then stretched out his right hand.

"squeak!"

As if it had finally received a blessing, the rat that had been lying on the ground suddenly jumped up. At that moment, it revealed its huge teeth, and the sharp claws hidden in its paws came out. It pounced on Hugh's palm with great hunger and bit down hard on his index finger.

The moment the bite came, the rat exploded into an invisible cloud of mist before Hugh's eyes. At the same time, an indescribable pain crawled up Hugh's fingers and spread throughout his body, as if countless rats were gnawing at his flesh. This pain was not as intense as when he first received the magical inscription, but it was still unbearable.

Fortunately, it didn't last long. As the magic disc in the mental world continued to rotate, another groove in the innermost circle changed. Next to the tentacle groove, a rat pattern drawn with black lines slowly emerged.

Just as Hugh had seen with his own eyes, this rat motif, symbolizing the new magic, had three extremely long tails that coiled around its body, as if they were three long snakes trying to strangle it...

The pain subsided.

Hughes scrambled to his feet, exhausted. The experience had almost made him hallucinate. He could really feel rats crawling on his body.

"The magic on the metal disc seems to have become more concentrated... From this point of view, it seems that completing other magical inscriptions can also bring some benefit to my total magic power."

After observing his own mental world, Hugh became invigorated again: "Although the total increase is still limited, given the current situation, this is the only effective way for me to quickly increase my magical power when I have no way to systematically learn magic..."

With this in mind, Hugh dragged his tired body and gritted his teeth as he walked toward the two unprocessed items.

For him, this night was destined to be incredibly long.

……

At nine o'clock in the morning, Hugh opened his eyes to the chiming of the magic clock.

He felt his drowsiness had merged with the bedroom ceiling, and once he closed his eyes, the ceiling would press down on him with a heavy sense of sleepiness.

Anyone who spends the entire night in a lucid dream state where they can maintain self-awareness will find it impossible to stay mentally alert.

If he could, Hugh really wanted to sleep in and make up for the energy he had lost during the night, but the passing of the night meant that he was one day closer to the truce celebration.

After gulping down two mouthfuls of cold water, Hugh leaned against the bed and let out a long sigh.

On the night that had just passed, Hugh's mind had been subjected to an extremely severe test. He did not know if anyone else in the world, besides himself, would undergo multiple magical inscription rituals in one night. He only knew that this terrifying process had put a great deal of mental pressure on him. All night long, his dreams were filled with all sorts of bizarre and grotesque images.

Giant rats crawling everywhere, long black snakes peeking out from the walls, broken sewer pipes emitting a strange smell, and a graceful woman walking towards him, her face hidden behind a fan...

These chaotic and fragmented shadows seemed to form a whole in the shadows, which, while making Hugh uneasy, also revealed an indescribable charm that he couldn't resist.

Beside him, all the magical creature materials that had been prepared earlier had vanished, leaving only the containers that held them. These materials had now brought Hugh considerable benefits.

He fumbled around for a moment, then carefully picked up two metal spheres, each about half the size of his palm. Their surfaces were covered with intricate green patterns, and on one side was something that looked like a button.

This was what Hugh had obtained in exchange for a whole basket of swamp witch hair. From their appearance, they looked like some kind of disposable alchemical bomb, and their structure was somewhat similar to the "hand grenade" in Hugh's memory. Considering the highly toxic properties of the swamp witches, Hugh quickly and carefully placed the two alchemical creations aside to avoid accidentally triggering them.

Besides these two "alchemical bombs," astonishing changes have also occurred in the magic disc within Shug's mental world.

Now, at the very center of that metal disc, a dark green crystal embedded in the disc itself has appeared. It is hexagonal in shape and is constantly flashing with a dull and gloomy light, radiating its mysterious and gloomy magic in all directions.

This was the result of Hugh "offering" that set of women's jewelry from the Kingdom of Walter.

When the magic crystal formed, Hugh felt as if his consciousness was being dragged into a bizarre and erotic illusion. However, all the naked and genderless figures in the illusion concealed their faces, as if they did not want others to see their true appearance.

"Its existence has increased my mana reserves by more than one level, and it seems that it can directly affect the two spells embedded in the innermost grooves of my magic... I still need to conduct further testing. In any case, the increase in total mana is a good thing. At least now I don't have to worry about falling asleep on the spot as soon as I use magic."

As Hugh thought about it, he shifted his gaze to another pattern near the tentacle magic symbol.

Like the black tentacles, the rat pattern engraved in the groove suddenly came to life the moment it sensed Hugh's "gaze." It raised its head and shook its head in Hugh's direction, looking rather adorable.

"Try it?"

Hugh glanced at his still-plenty of magic power reserves, then jumped off the bed. This time, he was very careful to choose the empty hallway as the location for his magic experiment.

Just like when he cast spells before, Hugh raised his palm, and his mind began to converge on the groove on the disc inscribed with the image of a rat.

As his mind focused, a completely different spellcasting process emerged in Hugh's mind, accompanied by a strange and unfamiliar script. As magic flowed, the meaning of this strange script gradually became clear, so Hugh, following the power of magic, slowly recited it.

"Your fur will become my armor, your sharp teeth will become my weapons... Your claws are an extension of my limbs, your breath is an extension of my vision... Praise be to Mother Goddess, praise be to Mother Goddess... Praise be to Mother Earth Goddess."

As Hugh chanted, a visible mass of dark magic slowly condensed in his palm. Then, the pitch-black hole that had appeared in his dream suddenly opened in the center of Hugh's hand, and in the next instant, a strange rat with three tails darted out and leaped onto the ground.

It circled in place, then stopped, raised its head, and began to quietly await the command of its summoner.

Hugh felt a connection between himself and this magical creature.

"This seems to be some kind of familiar that is close to the legends... Hmm, every second it exists is constantly consuming my magic power. Although the amount consumed is very limited, at my current level, it will eventually drain me dry."

Hugh assessed the rate at which the magic was draining and then tentatively began issuing commands to the three-tailed rat.

Soon, Hugh had tried out commands such as running, jumping, biting, and even more detailed commands. Hugh was pleasantly surprised to find that its flexibility was better than he had imagined, and it seemed that he did not need to give verbal commands. He only needed to convey some vague ideas, and it could understand and execute them quickly.

After discovering that this special mouse could even tie a beautiful bow with its claws and teeth, Hughes couldn't help but feel a little curious.

He asked, "Do you have any other work to do? Show me?"

(End of this chapter)