I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

The purifying fire of the Church of the Morning Star still burned in the night sky above the slums, illuminating half of the lower city as if it were daytime.

Rhodes stood in the shadow of the history building, took one last look at the distant firelight, and turned to push open the heavy oak door leading to the basement.

As he entered the underground entrance, which was supposed to be guarded only by Professor Isaac and a few assassins, a strange smell, a mixture of expensive perfume and metallic oil, hit him.

The once dimly lit entrance is now brightly lit.

Twelve guards, clad in the elite heavy armor of the Plantagenet Dynasty, stood solemnly like sculptures on either side of the entrance leading to the underground.

Their hands rested on their sword hilts, their eyes cold and wary, and the murderous aura emanating from them was far greater than that of the previous cleaning crew.

Behind the table piled high with blueprints that originally belonged to Professor Isaac, sat a strange man.

He looked to be in his early thirties, with a head of meticulously styled flaxen curly hair, and wore a well-tailored velvet hunting suit with a silver badge on his chest symbolizing his viscount title.

Professor Isaac stood to one side, pale-faced, his forehead covered in cold sweat, clutching the sketch of the underground structure tightly in his hand, like a schoolboy caught doing something wrong by his parents.

Upon seeing Rod enter, the man slowly raised his head.

They were long, narrow, and gloomy eyes, with a few barely noticeable fine lines at the corners.

"You're Rhodes?"

The man put down his quill pen, his voice soft yet carrying an air of authority: "I am Viscount Valerius, His Majesty's newly appointed Special Inspector."

Rhodes' heart sank slightly, but a perfectly timed look of surprise and fear quickly appeared on his face.

"Lord Viscount?"

Rhodes strode forward and gave a standard civilian salute: "I...I thought His Majesty had only sent a cleaning crew..."

"That was before."

Viscount Valerius rose, walked around the table, and his eyes, like those of a viper, scanned Rhodes from head to toe: "It's complete chaos outside. The Church, the military, the necromancers... everyone's going mad. His Majesty is very dissatisfied with the current progress, extremely dissatisfied."

He walked up to Rhodes, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of coldness, "His Majesty is beginning to suspect that someone is deliberately stalling for time, hoping to sell at a higher price?"

This is an extremely dangerous sign.

Rhodes immediately realized that he had made too much noise outside. Although he had successfully restrained Mortimer, he had also made the suspicious king feel very insecure.

The king no longer trusted Rhodes, his sole contact, and sent his own trusted confidant to take over everything.

Moreover, this Viscount Vallejo was by no means the kind of good-for-nothing nobleman who only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun.

Rhodes noticed that Vallejo's right hand had thick calluses on the web of his hand.

Behind him, in the shadows, stood two men in dark blue robes holding standard staffs, and twelve heavily armored guards.

Royal Battle Mage and Knight.

Wizards are elite sorcerers with first-level power. They have undergone rigorous military training and are skilled in combined attacks and exorcism. They are killing machines specifically designed to deal with unorthodox sorcerers.

"Your Majesty has misunderstood!"

Rhodes immediately displayed an anxious expression of being wrongly accused, even trembling slightly: "The underground environment is too complex! There are collapses and mutated creatures everywhere! There are only a few of us, and the professor is old... We are really digging desperately!"

"Whether they're working hard or not, you'll know once you see it."

Valerius was unmoved by Rhodes' performance. He coldly extended his hand: "Hand over all the excavation logs, maps, and information on all the areas you have explored so far."

Professor Isaac, standing nearby, couldn't help but speak up: "But Your Excellency, the data is still being compiled, and the situation underground is constantly changing..."

"Shut up, you old man."

Valerius didn't even turn his head, he just waved his hand lightly.

A royal battle mage immediately stepped forward, a dangerous arcane glow emanating from the tip of his staff, aimed directly at the professor's brow.

"You have no right to speak here. If it weren't for the fact that you can still read those ancient characters, you would be a corpse by now."

The professor turned pale with fright and immediately shut his mouth.

A hint of murderous intent flashed deep in Rhodes' eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

He took a deep breath, as if he had made some difficult decision, and then suddenly relaxed, his shoulders slumped, revealing a relieved expression.

"Here you go, all of it is for you."

Rhodes pulled a parchment map from his pocket, presented it with both hands, and said in a tone that was almost obsequious: "To be honest, Viscount, it's so good that you could come. I haven't been able to sleep well these past few days, afraid that some monster will crawl out from below and eat me. Since you've brought such an elite force... I can rest assured that I'm handing over command to you."

Valerius took the map and looked at Rhodes suspiciously.

He anticipated that Rhodes would resist, conceal the truth, or even try to cover it up with lies.

But he didn't expect that this young man would hand over power so readily, even... a little impatiently?

"You don't want to take responsibility?" Valery narrowed his eyes.

"Sir, I am just a history teaching assistant who happened to be lucky enough to awaken a bit of bloodline power, but I am not a commander."

Rhodes smiled wryly and pointed to his dark circles: "This kind of job, where you risk your life, is too torturous. As long as His Majesty can keep his promise and give me some money to leave this hellhole, I'm willing to cooperate with anything."

These words, half true and half false, perfectly fit the persona of a greedy and life-loving nobody.

The doubt in Valerius's eyes faded somewhat, replaced by a kind of contempt.

Sure enough, ordinary people are just ordinary people; they only want to run away when faced with the slightest pressure.

Such a person is not destined for greatness, nor is he worthy of Your Majesty's apprehension.

"You're smart to know what's good for you."

Valerius opened the map, looked at the dense markings on it, and a greedy glint flashed in his eyes.

His willingness to take on this arduous task was not solely out of loyalty to the king.

He knew very well that any random thing that slipped out of these ancient ruins would be enough for him to squander for several lifetimes.

"What is this red line marked on the map?" Valéry asked, pointing to a winding route on the map.

"That's the safe route we risked our lives to find these past few days."

Rhodes leaned closer and explained earnestly, "The thunderstorm zone on the second underground level is extremely dangerous, and there are mutated blind giant crocodiles. But we've discovered that as long as we follow this route and avoid those purple conductive crystal clusters, we can minimize the risk of being struck by lightning and attacked by monsters. We've already cleared the edge of the underground river on the third level, and we're only a short distance from the core area."

Valerius looked at the two battle mages behind him.

One of the mages took the map, carefully examined the magic markings on it, and then nodded: "My lord, the magic fluctuation markings on the map are real, and the route planning is also reasonable, avoiding high-risk magic gathering points."

With confirmation from the professionals, Valerius finally smiled with satisfaction.

"very good."

He put away the map, straightened his collar, and resumed his haughty arrogance: "Now that the route has been scouted, let's not waste any more time. Everyone, set off immediately!"

"Rhodes, lead the way."

Valerius's hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he looked at Rhodes with a half-smile: "Don't try anything funny, my mage will be watching your every move."

"Yes, sir."

Rhodes lowered his head, concealing the cold smile playing on his lips.

The map he provided was genuine.

The route is also real.

That was indeed a safe passage that avoided most physical traps and monster lairs.

But what he didn't tell Valéry was that in the core area of ​​the third underground level, there was an ancient creature that was sleeping.

That was the next gene I was preparing to extract.