Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

Before the will of the Bamboo Forest dissipates, it is enough for Bell to stop worrying about the survival of the Bamboo Forest and to lead the Fire-Chewing Hyenas to survive.

But what if Bell really blocked the deathly aura of this city of bones and saved the bamboo forest?

Chapter 124: A Major Upgrade for Edu

"Stand up! Sit down! Lie down!"

With three thoughts arising in succession, the fire-chewing hyena in front of Bell suddenly began to perform various actions, much like a police dog that had been trained for many years.

This is the power of Bell's "King" at work. As the king of the bamboo forest, all kinds of creatures living in the bamboo forest will obey his commands.

"For the foreseeable future, I will have to lead you to survive."

Scratching his head, Bell realized that the first thing he had to do after becoming the king of the Bamboo Forest was to help the fire-chewing hyenas in front of him clear the death energy from their bodies.

This death energy is constantly devouring the life force of monsters and small animals. Without the external help from Bell, monsters are basically unable to expel the death energy on their own.

"The magical beasts rely entirely on their physical instincts to use magic. In this situation, besides waiting to die, all the magical beasts can do is search for rare and precious materials that can dispel the death aura."

Removing the death energy from the Fire-Chewing Hyena was not difficult for Bell. After becoming an intermediate bard, he was able to gather enough life force within the time it took to sing a song to remove the death energy from the Fire-Chewing Hyena.

But after becoming the king of the bamboo forest, Bell clearly didn't want to save just these fire-chewing hyenas.

Just like his initial thought, if he could really stop the deathly aura of the City of Bones from eroding the Bamboo Forest, wouldn't the entire Bamboo Forest be saved?

"I need to find a way to stop the deathly aura of the City of Bones from corroding it. Although these purple bamboo shoots can absorb the deathly aura, their range of influence is too small. I need to find a way to expand it..."

Sitting atop a fire-chewing hyena, Bell directed them toward the outer edge of the bamboo forest.

Although there are many human adventurers in the outer area of ​​the bamboo forest, staying in the outside world, which has not yet been corrupted by death energy, is better than the inner bamboo forest, which is full of living remains and death energy.

"My knowledge about the workings of magic has increased a lot, especially regarding fire-related magic symbols and formulas, but this knowledge is still not enough to stop the erosion of death energy."

Bell recalled the magic circle in the music academy, the kind of magic circle that blocked out the outside world and allowed magic to circulate internally, which could be used to block the erosion of death energy with a slight modification.

He had to return to Azure Star City to gather knowledge about magic circles.

At the same time, it's also about finding a new home for these fire-chewing hyenas under his command.

The Bamboo Forest's main mission for Bell is to find a way to keep these fire-chewing hyenas alive. For Bell, the best way to keep these little fire-chewing hyenas alive is not to let them fend for themselves in the bamboo forest, but to bring them into human society.

Within the hunter class's advancement path, there is a unique profession called Beast Tamer.

A trainer's skills are all related to the pets he trains. They develop very deep relationships with the pets they raise, and many trainers' pets are even as important as family members.

Rather than letting these little fire hyenas drift aimlessly through the bamboo forest, it's better to make them the apple of the trainers' eyes.

The trainers will teach them better combat skills and are more willing to invest in them with various precious materials. If they are lucky, these little fire hyenas may have the opportunity to advance in their lifetime.

.

Moreover, as a powerful magical beast, the Fire-Chewing Hyena is an absolute top-tier sought-after commodity in the beast tamer's breeding market.

Regardless of whether they are a good match or not, these fire-chewing hyenas can make a fortune with a single act as long as the mating season arrives.

"Once I widen the tunnel by a factor of two, it will be time for you little guys to enter Cangxing City."

After leading the Fire-Chewing Hyena to the outskirts of the bamboo forest, Bell instructed the old hyena to stay near the entrance to his tunnel and to avoid human adventurers. Then, he boarded the minecart back to Azure Star City alone.

Bell needs more minecarts and wider passageways to get the eleven little fire hyenas here to Azure Star City.

At the same time, he also needs knowledge about magic circles, as well as assistance in various other aspects.

Stopping the expansion of the deathly aura of the City of Bones is no easy task.

"How much help can Edu, kid, really give me?"

The thought that the knowledge and help he needed were becoming increasingly sophisticated made that dull-witted Edu realize that he was growing up far too slowly.

If Edu were a high-ranking bard, he might be able to offer enough help, but he is just a bard apprentice, and there are many things that Edu cannot access.

"Even if I were to use Edu as my stand-in, he would be too young and too weak."

Sitting on the mine cart, Bell had a long face. He needed someone of high enough status and secrecy to help him gather intelligence and make contact with people of higher social standing and influence.

Edu wasn't that kind of person, but Bell suddenly realized that he could put another layer of disguise on Edu, making him appear as someone with extremely high social status.

Just like how Bell was hidden inside Edu and remained active in human society, wouldn't it be better to hide Edu and turn him into another person active in the market?

Bell realized the key point: while burning the adventurer's zombies, he learned a lot of information that only mid-to-high-level adventurers possessed. This information was enough to support Edu in his activities as a seasoned high-level adventurer.

While burning the equipment on those zombie adventurers, Bell also gained a lot of equipment-forging skills. With his current control and understanding of magic, creating a robe to conceal his aura would not be a problem.

“Give Edu a robe to cover his aura, and an inner lining to change his appearance and voice, and Edu can transform from a naive boy into a strange middle-aged man.”

The halo of flames on Bell's forehead shone brightly. He quickly filtered out the magical characteristics of the chameleon and the transparent bat from the magical power he knew about magical beasts, and directly created the structural sketch of the equipment in his mind.

Given the materials, Bell believed he could create the equipment he wanted after a few attempts.

"So, how can we give Edu's pseudonym enough social status so that he can successfully enter and leave various high-end occasions?"

Bell thought of the treasures in his inventory: the trunk and shoots of the Magic Purple Bamboo could fetch high prices at the Agricultural Association, while the bone powder from the ancient corpses would make the senior farmers of the Agricultural Association fight tooth and nail for it.

Let's find a way to get Edu to gain a very high social status quickly by starting with the agricultural association and getting those high-level life skills professionals to endorse him.

After all, there is an information gap between life skills professionals and combat skills professionals. The appearance of a new high-level adventurer in the life skills professional circle will not immediately arouse suspicion.

"We need to come up with a suitable way to enter the stage, and a decent way to exit..."

Bell muttered to himself, increasingly convinced that his idea was feasible.

Chapter 125 I'm not pretending anymore, I'm the King of the Bamboo Sea, I'm coming clean.

When Bell returned to Azure Star City, Edu was not home. Judging by the time, he should be taking classes at the music academy.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bell spread the various materials he brought out from the underground warehouse all over the ground, gradually piecing together the idea in his mind.

"First, there's the magic that blocks detection and alters appearance, which isn't too difficult for me."

Taking out a piece of paper, Bell began to draw the magical formula for shielding perception. This was information about magical beasts obtained from the will of the Bamboo Sea, a magical formula that Bell combined from three magical beasts: the Great Chameleon, the Transparent Bat, and the Shadow Mole.

After numerous attempts, Bell achieved the magical effect he desired through re-editing.

"A magic formula that combines the effects of appearance alteration and aura concealment can be kept effective for a long time as long as magic is injected."

Bell slapped the completed magic paper onto his face, feeling the effect of his aura completely subsiding, while turning his head to look at the shadow that had appeared to the side.

The appearance concealment effect had taken effect, and Bell's entire figure blurred, turning into a human head standing on the ground.

The shadow gave Bell a thumbs-up, indicating that the thing had achieved its intended effect.

In doing so, Bell also cut off the magical supply to the paper, causing the trembling paper to turn to ashes.

While paper can hold magical formulas, it cannot preserve them for long. In Bell's plan, he intends to further refine these magical formulas, bind them into books using a workbench, and then enchant them onto equipment using an anvil.

"Besides changing his appearance, I also need to use this equipment to improve Edu's individual strength. If his individual strength is not enough, even if he can bring out good things, he will not be able to exchange them for the resources he wants. He will only become someone else's piggy bank."

Bell knew the principle that if his neighbor stored grain, he would store guns; his neighbor was his granary.

Therefore, his main focus was on how to improve Edu's strength through equipment.

Bell came up with a great idea, but it required a very complex magic formula and a high-quality material to carry and conduct magic.

The bard's notes mention mithril, a near-perfect magical conductivity material. According to records, magical musical instruments infused with mithril are all top-quality items.

The reason why iron is not a conventional magic-conducting material in the other world is mainly because a large number of impurities in the metal affect the magic-conducting efficiency, but this problem is not a problem for Bell at all.

Bell didn't have mithril, a precious material, but he did have iron ingots forged in a furnace, iron ingots with 100% purity.

While these iron ingots cannot compare to mithril in their ability to conduct magic, they are not too bad either, with a conduction efficiency of about fifty percent that of mithril described in the notes.

"Oh well, I'll just have to make do. As long as I use my mental energy to control it, the disadvantages in the materials are not insurmountable."

Bell shook his head slightly, expressing his regret at not having access to high-grade materials.

But what Bell didn't know was that if those blacksmiths had a piece of Bell's iron ingot, they would faint from happiness on the spot.

Let alone raw materials with half the conductivity of mithril, even those with only one-fifth the conductivity of mithril...

When a casting material with high conductivity appears on the market, it can cause a frenzy among foundry workers.

"I will forge the iron ingots into a framework suitable for the human body and outline the silken structure, so that I can simultaneously fill Edu's body with my magic, allowing his magic to resonate with mine and form a powerful aura."

Simply concealing one's aura is not enough; it only prevents others from probing. If one cannot unleash one's aura to intimidate others when necessary, one is merely a tortoise.

A tortoise might scare someone once or twice, but it won't work the third or fourth time.

"My individual stats are not much different from those of a high-level adventurer. With the help of the magic formula and Edu's magic, I should be able to fake an even stronger aura."

Fiddled with his magical formulas, Bell quickly forged the iron ingots into a human-shaped metal frame.

But that's not all. Synergy of auras is just the beginning. More importantly, it's about enhancing Edu's strength.

Bell considered many methods, such as crafting a staff engraved with numerous magical effects and giving it to Edu to impersonate a mage, but this plan, along with many others, was rejected.

Although Bell himself has spellcasting abilities and knowledge of magical beasts, these are not part of the systematic human mage system. Bell himself doesn't understand these things, so if he tries to pretend, he'll easily be exposed.

On the contrary, in the realm of hand-to-hand combat, Bell possessed a wealth of theoretical knowledge.

Although he hasn't had much hand-to-hand combat experience, Bell is a genuine [Intermediate Spearman], and he also briefly became a [Spear Master]. When it comes to spearmanship theory, Bell could talk about it for a whole day without stopping.

"Therefore, the key design point is that this conduction suit allows me to control Edu's body."

By constantly coming up with new ideas, Bell is refining his development plan.