They all call me Great Master

Arthur's left index finger trembled slightly as the "Crown of the Rat King" emitted a clear and pleasant sound.

The young 'Spirit Medium' looked down, most of the description on the "Crown of the Rat King" remained unchanged, but there were alterations in the "Remarks" and attribute "Natural Enemy" —

[Remarks: One of the twenty-seven props of Hercules, Isidore accidentally discovered it in a relic near South Los. At that time, the box containing the 'Crown of the Rat King' was marked with the number 27, and it also had a picture of a cat playing with a mouse - this was before the end of the Holy Empire, when the 'Black Plague' was rampant, and rats were a catastrophe. Hercules, who had encountered an 'attack' by the rats, woke up from a nap in his camp in the wilderness one morning to find that his breakfast including but not limited to cheese, sausages, and bread had been stolen by the rats. This master of alchemy and potions decided to teach these little creatures a lesson, so he crafted this ring, and added the 'Natural Enemy' attribute - one natural enemy frightens, two scare the soul away, meow~ hiss~, and hehe...]

...

[Natural Enemy: When facing 'Cat Hole', 'Cat Faction', 'Serpent Sect', and using any attribute of the 'Crown of the Rat King', physical strength will be doubled in consumption, but when 'Cat Hole', 'Cat Faction', 'Serpent Sect' possess the 'Crown of the Rat King', the requirement is reduced by half, exhaustion is halved, the 'Rat Swarm' effect does not require food, and the occupancy rate of Spirituality is also halved; When both 'Cat' and 'Snake' appear at the same time, the holder of the 'Crown of the Rat King' will feel terrified, the attributes of the 'Crown of the Rat King' will be significantly weakened, but when both 'Cat' and 'Snake' who appear hold the 'Crown of the Rat King', the 'Rat Swarm' trait will be significantly enhanced, no longer need to provide food, also doesn't occupy Spirituality, and the obedience of the rat swarm will be higher!]

...

Arthur looked at the new changes and immediately began trying to command the rats of Cork Street.

The rats complied with Arthur's relatively simple commands, but when the commands became complex, the rats became somewhat bewildered.

'Must the commands be straightforward?'

Arthur was not surprised by this.

They were just a group of ordinary rats, and achieving control like Pendragon, Fujin, Wuni, and Kuliqi was impossible.

The latter are arcane creatures, inherently several levels above the former.

Of course, if used properly, the former could be far more powerful than the latter.

Change in quantity always leads to change in quality.

The 'Black Plague' is the best proof of that.

The young 'Spirit Medium' thought to himself, and his gaze swept over the "Remarks" of the "Crown of the Rat King" again.

Emmm...

How should I put it?

It very much fits the style of the master Hercules.

If it were anyone else who created the "Crown of the Rat King" because their breakfast was stolen, Arthur would find it ridiculous, but when it comes to the master Hercules.

Arthur found it perfectly reasonable.

After all, this was a master who invented the "Hand of Void" to lazily free up his hands, the "Stone Bullet Technique" to win marble games against children, and inspired by ice skating on the lake, sought to save more energy, thus inventing the "Gliding Technique".

In a way, there have been too many accidents in the life of this master.

Or perhaps...

They are miracles!

'Truly deserving of the title of 'Master of Alchemy and God of Potions'!'

Arthur marveled inwardly, and after dispersing the rat swarm, he took out 'Cat Claw', one of the core mystical arts of 'Cat Hole', from "Atos's Box".

Master Hercules deserves respect and consideration.

But still, strength needs to be increased.

Life, after all, is one's own.

And to live well, one must be strong.

Learning 'Cat Claw' lv1 requires 100 XP, and Arthur's XP, after accumulating for so many days, had reached 220 again—with many events' aftermath, Arthur passively accumulated a decent amount of XP daily, and he believed that after the news of 'guiding souls to The Eternal Resting Land' spread by dawn, his XP would surge dramatically.

This time even without a newspaper, it would spread quickly.

Arthur trusted the capability of the residents, servants of White Bird Street, and those Peeping Toms—seemingly secret matters tend to spread easily.

Because curiosity is human nature.

When one person passed the message to another and said, "We are good friends, I'm telling only you, you must keep it a secret," it meant that in just half an hour, at least ten people would know about it, and as time went by, the number would grow from ten to a thousand, and from a thousand to tens of thousands.

This rate of spread would be faster than the plague.

'How exciting!'

As Arthur thought about the reactions of more people from the Mystic Side upon learning about this, a sense of joy from a successful prank surged in his heart—judging by Marinda's reaction, most people would associate it with "Cat Faction. Black," setting the stage for the "reveal" of his true identity.

When his real identity was revealed, everyone would be taken aback.

Even if Garcia was smart enough, he would definitely capitalize on this incident.

Was Garcia smart?

Very smart!

Smarter than most people Arthur had ever met!

So, all he needed to do was wait—

Whew!

Arthur took several deep breaths to fully suppress his thoughts and then began to choose to learn "Cat Claw"—

[Cat Claw Lv1: A cat's best weapon is its own claws. As one of the core mystic techniques of "Cat Hole," "Cat Claw" is essential for all official members of "Cat Hole." It not only trains the fingers but also the toes, making them more beneficial and sharp. However, it must be preceded by the "Cat Hole" ritual, otherwise irreversible mutations will occur.]

[Effect: Sharpness Lv1]

[Sharpness Lv1: Under powerful pinching force, your fingers and toes are as sharp as ordinary knife blades.]

…

As Arthur's familiar knowledge and body began to synchronize, he squinted his eyes and distinctly felt a clear pain coming from the muscles and bones of both his palms and soles.

Then, the muscles in his palms and soles began to tear, and his bones went into a state of micro-fractures.

Next, the blood's extreme speed washed over the muscles to reduce inflammation and speed up recovery, while bone cells repaired the micro-fractures by adding calcium to the outer layer of the bones.

After repeating this cycle for three years, the muscles and bones became tighter, harder, and sharper.

Arthur could almost see himself in a completely sealed chamber, endlessly clawing at the throat and joints of a wooden dummy with both hands and feet.

Each strike made wood shavings fly everywhere.

By the time he stopped, the wooden dummy had already been smashed into pieces of rotting wood.

But this did not satisfy Arthur.

The next moment, Arthur abruptly opened his eyes, his body sprang up, and his hands and feet shot out like snakes, grabbing at the air in front of him at unimaginable angles.

Hisss, hisss, hisss!

Even while wearing gloves and boots, the sound of tearing through the air still gave a sharp sensation.

Especially with the enhancement of "Black Cat Boots" to "Cat Claw," Arthur's feet left shallow traces on the stone ceiling as if they had been slashed by a sword.

This time, Arthur felt satisfied.

The young 'Spirit Medium' murmured to himself—

"Snake-shaped Cat Claw?

No!

Snake-shaped Cunning Hand is more like it!"

Chuckling at a joke known only to him, the young 'Spirit Medium' looked at the remaining secret techniques with a smile.