After Jia Lan's covenant ceremony, the young queen rat seemed to have undergone a strange transformation, perhaps a miracle of atavism, or a mysterious mutation, and it regained the ancient characteristics of the Dark Mocha Rat.

  Looking back on history, this change may be closely related to the earth vein explosion that shook the world 1,700 years ago.

  The environmental imprint left by the disaster has profoundly affected the fate of countless creatures.

  The Dark Mocha Rat, a creature living deep underground, will show unique mutations in the new environment once it leaves its dark habitat.

  In that great destruction, the surge in space element particles forced the survivors such as the Dark Mocha Rat to evolve a physique that adapts to the new environment.

  After countless generations of reproduction and evolution, the title of "Dark Mocha Rat" gradually evolved into "Dark Demon Rat", and possessed the unique elemental characteristics of this era.

  Each generation of rat queens passed down the special ability of the Dark Mocha rat clan, "blood call", through their unique "blood inheritance".

  However, Jia Lan's contract ceremony broke the convention of this inheritance, allowing the new generation of young rat queens to get rid of the original shackles, as if they had regained the fire power of their underground ancestors.

  Now, this young rat queen, who has become Jia Lan's "contracted beast", has both earth and fire elemental talents. Perhaps as it grows, the special abilities of the Dark Mocha rat clan will gradually recover.

  Of course, due to the difference in space environment, this young rat queen is still fundamentally different from the Dark Mocha rat of the pre-civilization era.

  Jia Lan is very clear about this because he himself is an orphan from a previous civilization and is also unable to integrate into the present era.

  Although Jia Lan seems to be able to survive in this era with ease, deep in his heart he knows that he is fundamentally different from those creatures that have undergone thousands of years of blood inheritance and selection.

  Although Jia Lan's physique, which was slowly transformed by time, barely adapted to the elemental environment of the new era, he was still rejected by this era in essence.

  Especially Jia Lan's pure arcane physique, which made him seem out of place in this time and space. Should he insist on himself and seek recognition and acceptance from time and space, or compromise and change his physique to cater to the environment? This is a choice worth pondering.

  The "atavism phenomenon" of the young rat queen gave Jia Lan some inspiration. Since the rat queen can "atavism", can he also find his own "atavism" path in the current elemental environment?

  Just when Jia Lan was confused about his own physique, the expedition team led by the golden thief Hugo returned from the depths of the ruins and brought back worrying news-a large number of dark creatures appeared in the ruins.

  Jia Lan originally planned to develop the ruins of the Dragon Worship Temple into his own secret research institute, and naturally could not tolerate these dangerous creatures to occupy it.

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  Therefore, Jia Lan temporarily put aside his thoughts on his personal physique, hurriedly summoned the silver mercenaries and magicians, and headed deep into the ruins.

  They passed through the wide corridor connected to the Rat Cage Hall. In the corridor, every twenty meters there stood a stone pillar with a dragon relief, supporting the arc-shaped dome.

  Although the murals and reliefs on the walls and ceiling were mottled, they still felt the glory of the past.

  The corridor was scattered with metal debris and broken marble blocks, which were the remains of marble statues and decorative armor, and now they have been destroyed by the big rats.

  Thanks to the cremation fire in the Rat Cage Hall, the high temperature and thick smoke destroyed many underground creatures. Along the way, they did not encounter any other dangers except for the densely packed giant bat corpses and piles of strange big insects on the ground.

  At the end of the Dragon Corridor, a vast underground square quietly spreads out. There, magnificent stone pillars that can be hugged by dozens of people stand like a forest, supporting the 50-meter-high dome, as if telling the glory of ancient times.

  It is hard to imagine that this underground palace covering an area of ??more than 300,000 square meters was actually carved out bit by bit by the hands of dragon worshippers.

  This is not only a miracle in the history of architecture, but also a shocking challenge to the limits of human power!

  On the stone pillars, the dragon reliefs are lifelike. Although the frost of the years makes them slightly mottled, the dragon power from ancient times is still awe-inspiring.

  The Dragon Square is like a huge maze. Ten dragon corridors surround it like the tentacles of a dragon, and they are scattered in the east, west, south and north. Their starting point is the first corridor on the west side.

  These ten functional areas are like huge rat cages, distributed around the square.

  However, after the exploration of Hugo and others, they were empty or covered with dust, bones and debris, as if they had been forgotten in the long river of history.

  Only the two corridors in the north and south are tightly closed by heavy stone doors, mysterious and unpredictable. The appearance of dark creatures is in the hall connected to the fourth corridor on the east side, which echoes the rat cage hall.

  In the center of the square, a peculiar fountain platform attracts attention. The circular fountain is like a small lake, and black wyvern sculptures stand in it in various shapes, as if telling ancient legends.

  These dragons are thin, covered with bone spurs, with hooked wing tips and exposed fangs. Their ruby-encrusted eyes seem to be able to see into people's hearts. They exude a hideous malice that makes people shudder.

  In the center of the platform, a deep well swallows everything like a black hole. The well is filled with thick fog, and even light cannot penetrate. Standing at the mouth of the well, an inexplicable palpitation surges into my heart, as if there are endless secrets hidden in the deep well.

  Jia Lan walked around the well carefully, carefully examining the rune array on the platform.

  The mercenaries stayed cautiously outside the fountain, away from those dangerous traces of magic.

  Although the thieves were greedy for money, they did not touch the ruby ??eyes of the wyvern statues during the advance reconnaissance. Their wise move was praised by Jia Lan.

  "Those flying dragon sculptures are not ordinary flying dragons, but images of 'Abyssal Dragons' living in the abyss underground." Jia Lan explained, "The deep well in the center of the fountain pool exudes a strong 'Underworld' atmosphere, perhaps a passage leading to the depths of the underground."

  Fortunately, the seal array on the platform is intact, and there is no need to worry about the invasion of creatures in the Underworld in the short term.

  However, Jia Lan was puzzled by the intentions of the Dragon Worship Cult: Why did they open this passage to the Underworld? Is it to summon dark creatures, or to plunder the mineral deposits there?

  The corridors in the north and south are sealed by stone doors, and the thieves' lock-picking skills are powerless. They can only choose the "East 4 Corridor" where dark creatures are found.

  This corridor is no different from other corridors, but the connected hall has collapsed, revealing a bottomless hole.

  According to Hugo, they heard human voices and flickering firelight coming from under the cave, which means that there are other tribes underground below.

  While waiting for the mercenaries to connect the ropes, Jia Lan was secretly worried: How deep is this ruin? Will it really lead to the depths of the Underdark?