[Zhu Clan] Iron Eating Rat

Lingyun used his badge as a control panel to expand the range of the alarming array inside the formation. It was extended all the way from the tower to a five hundred metre radius. Usually, this should be enough to catch any person sneaking around.

He also extended the trapping array beyond the tower to include the little container for iron.

In the end, he had to add spiritual stones on the control panel in the supervisor tower. After all, the normal situation relied on the consumption of the spiritual veins, anything extra would be harmful, so one usually adds spiritual stones.

The days passed, every day, Lingyun would expend a single spiritual stone. In fact, for others, this might be a lot, but he earned enough not to worry about this expense. Until now, he hasn't used his own spiritual stones for nearly twenty years.

In the end, it took him three more weeks to finally wake up to the alarm going off. Someone had sneaked into the range of the tower. No one should be doing this at this time, so he became alert and quietly looked out the window while also connecting to the trapping array, ready to activate it.

A few minutes passed and he didn't see anything, but he was alarmed once again. This time, it was the alarm of the trapping array – something foreign had entered its range. Lingyun reacted directly and activated the array.

"Squeak!" a sound came from the ground right below the container. Somehow, it travelled through the ground and even Lingyun, who was still in the tower, heard it.

He was confused yet also curious. After making sure the trapping array functioned without an issue, he walked out of the tower and approached the container. Using his object control spell, he was able to pull away the container. This was why perfect level spells are adhered so much – with just a bit more spiritual power, he could move things that were technically impossible with that spell.

Below, he didn't see anything, but the array indeed told him that just half a metre below the container's spot, there was something. He pulled the air upward with his hand and an arm rose from the ground, earthy brown with a bit black, the texture common around black iron mine sites.

Lingyun opened his arm then, only to find something that surprised him – there was a little mouse bound with near invisible shadowy chains. Even when removing the arm, the chained creature was forced to hover in the air.

He looked at it left and right, then up and down, until he was truly sure.

"Is this an iron eating rat?" this golden-brown furred little rat with sharp grey-ish silver teeth that gave one the feeling of being made of iron was a famous creature.

In the world of cultivation, there is a famous creature – the spirit sensing rat. It could sense treasures based on their spiritual power and consume them to advance. The iron eating rat is a mutation that would focus on eating iron and other ores to advance.

It was very good in detecting metal veins, the favourite pets of many sects. Unfortunately, they were quite rare, rarer that even the spirit sensing rat. After all, the spirit sensing rat has to reach a high stage to be able to detect many things, while the iron eating rat could directly find minerals.

Lingyun was delighted – this rat was like a jackpot! Others had to rely on luck to sense ore veins, but this little rat could search effectively for veins!

He looked at the troubled rat that looked somewhat pitiful and snorted "Look at your belly, how fat you are! No wonder you increased the consumption, you clearly just broke through to the late stage of the first stage!

Alright, I know you can understand me, don't try to act stupid, you rat beasts are among the smartest!

I will give you two choices: either you become my companion pet or you pay back all the iron you've eaten up to this point. If you become my pet, I am willing to help you grow as long as you give me the veins you find."

The rat really looked troubled. Beasts usually start gaining intelligence around the mid or late stage, the earlier, the better. At the second stage, they are basically not inferior to humans at all. This is their disadvantage for having innate spells and strong bodies.

The rat made a gesture with its paws, the only thing that was slightly free. It pointed to the ground then to itself.

Lingyun took a second to understand "You found it?"

The rat nodded "What did you find? This mining site was in occupancy of our family for over thirty years!"

The rat shook his head, then it pointed to the ground, itself, then at its mouth, making an eating motion. Then, it pointed at Lingyun, making a gesture with its little paw of walking and approaching him, then it moved its legs to symbolise walking away, then pointed at Lingyun and lastly at the ground.

Lingyun took a moment to understand. 'This rat is so spiritual, it must have really observed the humans for so long that it can make such detailed gestures.'

He understood – the rat meant that this mine site was found by it, then it was chased by a group of people that looked like him, it had to run away from them. Then, it turned out these two-legged beings occupied its mine.

"Well, don't you see the benefit of working together? You lack the strength to even keep your own things. The most important thing is that you didn't lose out at all! You only come every so often because you eat till you are full!

If you alone mined, you would have gotten much less, and it would have taken a longer time.

Alright, I will say it one last time. Will you accept my offer and become my companion pet? Don't worry, I will at least make sure you can eat to your hearts content. I can even try to help you enter the second stage if you find enough resources for me.

Just think of it as a transaction, you help me find resources and I will help you advance. We humans create many such alliances, you should know. If you are willing to work together, I don't know whether we will find many ore veins, but at least you will eat a larger variety of the."

Lingyun had a reason for pitching the idea of a companion pet contract. These contracts in the first place were equal and had the goal of helping each other. In his opinion, this was no different than how a sect or a clan works.

If there are benefits, everyone will work together. If there are no benefits, then you will constantly try to flee.

He didn't think highly of slavery contracts… 'or how they call it, beast master contracts, tsk!'

Beasts are just as conscious and intelligent as other beings, Lingyun still remembered the time he had a cat in his past life. He was questioned why he talked with his pet as if he talked with a human. At that time, he replied that there was no other way than to treat an animal adult. the same way you would treat a human adult.

'Well, maybe one day, I will also reincarnate as a beast… haha, this is even more unlikely. I don't experience all those mortal lives because I only reawaken the memories when I cultivate, the chance that a beast awakens is much lower, simply because there are way too many beasts compared to humans, so their chance is naturally weaker to balance…"