【Stealth Rat】

Quality: Rare Treasure

Owner: Yu Yuan

Form Switch: Stealth Rat / Rat Tail Whip

——Stealth Rat: A creature of legend, possessing incredible power.

Traits:

①【Stealth! Don't Even Think About Knowing My Secrets!】: Information regarding the Stealth Rat and its owner (including the shelter) is absolutely protected by concealment and cannot be detected.

②【Squeak! I Love Secrets and Food the Most!】: The Stealth Rat can continuously grow and evolve by consuming hidden knowledge. The degree of evolution is determined by the quality of the food.

③【Big or Small, It's All Me】: The Stealth Rat can freely change its current body size and possesses extremely strong recovery and regeneration characteristics.

① Shadow Dimension: Can freely travel through shadow dimensional space, because it *is* shadow.

② Rat's Call: Can summon and control rodent-type creatures and has a leadership aura over them.

③ Shadow Spirit Infusion: Can imbue shadows with spirituality, animating them and gaining control over them.

④ Stealth Screech: Can unleash a sonic wave attack with spiritual effects on the surroundings, capable of causing significant mental damage to targets.

⑤ Plague Rat!: The Stealth Rat can release a highly contagious plague virus - Stealth Plague, which has spiritual effects.

——Rat Tail Whip

Abilities

① Can freely extend and retract in length (currently up to 20 meters maximum).

② Generates a Rat Gnawing attack effect when striking.

③ When whipping a living creature, directly affects the mental plane, increasing pain perception by +150%, significantly weakening the target's willpower defense, with a high probability of causing a Stiffness attack, and an extremely small chance of planting a Seed of Enslavement in the target's mind (enslavement effect cooldown three days).

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The horse bit in Yu Yuan's hand had transformed into a jet-black long whip.

Upon closer inspection, one would find that the patterns on the whip were almost identical to the tail of the previous Giant Mutant Rat, like layers upon layers of scales stacked together.

Yu Yuan gripped the whip and lashed it forward with force.

With a fierce whistling sound, it seemed as if space itself was being torn.

The whip struck the wall of the evacuation tunnel, only tearing a long gash in the brick and stone structure.

Looking closely, it appeared as if some creature had raked it with sharp claws.

On the wall, one could also see a faint layer of black mist, slowly dissipating.

"Interesting!"

Looking at the mark on the wall, Yu Yuan shifted his gaze to the other side of the pit and swung the whip again with force.

The whip actually rapidly lengthened.

It directly crossed the ten-meter-wide pit, lashing towards the ground.

Yu Yuan saw clearly that the tip of the whip actually materialized a rat's head, opening its mouth wide and biting down hard on the ground.

That spot on the ground was directly gnawed out into a groove.

"Whoa!"

Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly; he hadn't expected such an effect either.

And he also felt that controlling this Rat Tail Whip was as natural and effortless as moving his own arm, smooth and completely under his command.

He swung the whip again towards a broken spike at the bottom of the pit.

He saw the whip truly behave like a flexible and agile rat's tail, directly wrapping around that spike and bringing it back before Yu Yuan.

"This is great!"

A flash of joy passed through Yu Yuan's eyes.

He then threw the whip onto the ground, switching the Rat Tail Whip's form—Stealth Rat.

The next moment, the whip transformed into a rat composed of thick black mist. This rat seemed both real and illusory, like a genuine living creature, yet also like a phantom that would pop if poked.

The Stealth Rat appeared not very large, only about a meter long, and unlike the previous Giant Mutant Rat's ferocious appearance, it instead had a mysterious quality.

But Yu Yuan sensed a threatening aura from the Stealth Rat far exceeding that of the Giant Mutant Rat.

It was the suppression a higher-level life form exerts on a lower-level one. Only because Yu Yuan was now the Stealth Rat's master could he ignore this intimidation.

Just as Yu Yuan was pondering whether this Stealth Rat was actually a living creature, two red dots lit up within that mass of black mist, like searchlights, looking in Yu Yuan's direction.

"Squeak—"

A crisp rat cry sounded from the Stealth Rat's mouth.

Under Yu Yuan's astonished gaze, this Stealth Rat composed of black mist stood upright on its hind legs, stretched out its two cute paws, and made a cupped-fist gesture towards Yu Yuan, constantly shaking them up and down, as if bowing in greeting.

And the rat head was also continuously nodding up and down.

For a moment, it was quite comical, completely opposite to the mysterious aura it had when it first appeared.

Perhaps seeing Yu Yuan had no reaction, this Stealth Rat, like a dog seeing its owner, came before Yu Yuan and began constantly rubbing its head against his pant leg, while continuously emitting "squeak" sounds.

But these rat cries were completely devoid of the previous Giant Mutant Rat's sinister coldness, sounding very pleasant instead.

Yu Yuan placed his hand on the Stealth Rat's head. He could feel he was touching a soft mass of mist, but this mass had substance and texture.

This was probably what a shadow creature was like.

Watching the Stealth Rat before him constantly nuzzling his pant leg, Yu Yuan couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Yu Yuan asked softly.

"Squeak—"

Hearing this, the Stealth Rat stopped rubbing his pant leg and again assumed the upright, half-crouched posture with paws cupped together.

Its two red eyes on its head looked at Yu Yuan and nodded slightly.

"Show me your abilities!"

Upon hearing this, the Stealth Rat paused briefly, then disappeared from before Yu Yuan, appearing on the other side of the pit.

Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

"This is the shadow travel ability?"

The Stealth Rat began rapidly darting through the tunnel, able to jump seven or eight times consecutively in one second. Yu Yuan's eyes could barely keep up.

If the Stealth Rat's shadow travel was a Ferrari, then Yu Yuan's 【Shadow Stride】 was practically a jalopy.

The Stealth Rat then returned to Yu Yuan's side. Its tail drew a circle in front of it, and a hazy, gray space appeared within the circle.

This circle rapidly enlarged to the height of a person.

Just as Yu Yuan was still pondering what this was, the Stealth Rat had already burrowed into Yu Yuan's shadow.

The next moment, a voice carrying a hint of childishness sounded in Yu Yuan's mind.

"Mas... Master, you can enter the shadow dimension now!"

Huh?

Who's speaking?

Yu Yuan was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized the source of this voice.

"You are... the Stealth Rat?"

"It's me, it's me, Master!"

Getting confirmation from the Stealth Rat, Yu Yuan looked at the person-high circle before him and the gray, hazy space behind it.

"You're saying this space is the shadow dimension?"

"That's right, Master! I am now merged with your shadow. You can go in and explore."

Only then did Yu Yuan understand what was happening. Without further hesitation, he stepped into the shadow dimension, and the entrance closed behind him.

Everything was hazy and gray. It was like he was separated from the real world by a layer of glass.

He could see and hear the situation outside, yet it seemed like parallel lines that could never touch, unable to interfere.

Simultaneously, some information about the shadow dimension appeared in his mind.

"Overlapping with reality?"

Yu Yuan gained some understanding. He moved to just outside the shelter's security gate, blocked by the walls.

"Master, my abilities aren't very strong yet. I cannot traverse objects that provide isolation."

The Stealth Rat's explanation echoed in his mind.

"You mean, once you become stronger in the future, you'll be able to directly pass through this wall?"

"Yes. I can already sense several shadow locations behind the wall right now. I'm just still too weak to complete the jump."

Hearing this, Yu Yuan admitted his previous evaluation of the Stealth Rat had been somewhat too low.

It was at this moment that Fang sent an inquiry.

"King, where did you go? We can't see you anymore!"

(There's still more to come!)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com