Chapter 563：Magic Weapon

Inside the pitch-black building, several Bone Biter Mice were gnawing a corpse of a three or four meters long python. Their sharp claws had pried the python's scales off, and they scooped out the half rotten flesh inside and ate it with relish.

Dean, who was lying flat, suddenly rushed out.

Whoosh!

Hearing the movement, the mice immediately turned their heads vigilantly and screeched.

Puff! Puff!

Dean stopped, holding a few mice whose skulls he had crushed, and glanced at the python corpse next to him. It had a claw-shaped fatal wound in its head, deep enough that the skull was exposed. Presumably, the python was hurt by another monster, but after fleeing here, it, unfortunately, became the food of its usual prey.

He packed the mice corpses into his backpack and continued to look for other mice.

After a while, his backpack was full of the mice corpses. He came out of the ruined building and gathered some withered branches for fuel on his way back to the plaza pool.

As soon as he approached the pool, his nostrils were assaulted by a wafting stench, which was the stench of the underwater monster corpse that was now surrounded by strange insects.

Dean took a quick look and went in the other direction, then quickly swam down the drainage channel and returned to the ice cave. He climbed out of the water and threw the backpack and the withered branches on the ground. Then, standing on the edge of the water, he shook the water off his body. There was a somewhat cold feeling rushed forth.

"Are you all right?" Haisha noticed Dean's return and asked with concern when she saw his pale face.

Dean shook his head slightly and smiled at her. He bent over, opened the backpack, and dumped all the mice corpses onto the ground.

"I haven't eaten for a few days. I'll first fill my stomach with these little guys and find something else later."

He put the mice aside and picked up the wet branches. After shaking the water off the branches, he shaved the branches into thin slices.

In this cold ice cave, the moisture on the branches quickly evaporated. After shaving the branches, he cut off two branches and sharpened one of them with Haisha's dagger, making one thick branch and one cone-tipped branch.

He put the shavings onto the thick branch and spun the cone-tipped branch on top of it quickly. It was the oldest method of fire making, friction. A few minutes later, a faint smoke rose slowly, and the heat generated would further evaporate the moisture on the damp shavings. Seven or eight minutes later, the faint smoke was getting larger and larger, and suddenly, fire rose from the shavings.

Dean's eyes were bright. He immediately took care of the fire with his hands and piled all the dry shavings he had prepared on top of the fire. Soon, the fire grew larger.

Haisha was staring at Dean from the side. When the fire popped out, her eyes lit up, showing some happiness, and there was joy in her heart when she felt the fire's warmth. She had never thought that a simple cluster of fires would make her so happy.

After the fire had stabilized, Dean said to Haisha, "Come over and warm yourself. At the same time, take care of the fire and add some branches."

"Okay." Haisha nodded and sat in the front of the fire, adding branches to the fire from time to time. She turned her head to look at what Dean was doing and saw him picking up the mice from the ground. He used the dagger to cut the mice, skinning and gutting them skillfully.

Dean stripped off the fur of these mice and took out their guts. He then dug a deep pit in the ground and buried all the guts inside. This was his habit when hunting in the wilderness to prevent the bloody smell of the guts from attracting other monsters. Moreover, it could greatly reduce the rotting rate of the guts and prevent the parasites from growing in the rotten guts.

These mice were as big as the rabbits from the old era. After skinning and gutting them, only bloody skeletons were left.

Dean used the branches to skewer the mice meat and came close to the fire. He gave two to Haisha and said, "If you roast it, you should be able to eat it."

Haisha looked at the bloody mice meat without any nasty feelings. She took the mice and roasted it over the fire. With her physique, there would be no problem even if she ate the meat raw. Her body's immune system could resist the bacteria hidden inside the mice blood. After all, on strength alone, she was also considered a monster among the monsters.

Blood dripped down the mice meat into the fire. After a dozen minutes of roasting, the blood completely dried up and became a thin layer of blood that stuck on the meat surface, and a faint fragrance mixed with blood smell floated out of the roasted meat.

Dean was craving for it because he was so hungry.

Half an hour later, the mice were all cooked. Without modesty, Dean quickly cut the meat with a dagger to check if it was completely cooked and immediately took a big bite.

After eating two roasted meat, he felt a hint of warmth in his abdomen, and his stiff body seemed to regain some flexibility.

Haisha also ate heartily without paying attention to table manners. Despite the absence of seasoning, she felt that it was very delicious because she was so hungry.

"How does it taste?" Dean said with a smile while watching Haisha gorging herself.

"Delicious," Haisha swallowed the meat and said with satisfaction.

Dean smiled. He looked around and found several small bottles, which were filled with crawling tiny worms, among the emergency supplies such as potassium nitrate and bandages. It was the Parasitic Soul Worms he had collected before. Previously, he had no chance to absorb it, but now this ice cave was a relatively safe place, so he did not need to worry about monster attacks during the absorbing process.

"What are you going to do?" Haisha asked when she saw Dean holding the bottles.

Dean took out a syringe from a box, which he brought specially, and replied, "I want to absorb these little things and see if my strength can achieve a breakthrough."

Various experiences in the Wasteland made him understand that every bit of strength enhancement would increase his chance to keep on living. No one knew what was going to happen next. Maybe the next time he was looking for food, he would meet a monster he could not escape from.

Haisha was startled and said, "Do you want to use these advanced Parasitic Soul Worms as nourishments?"

Dean nodded.

Haisha looked at Dean and nodded slightly, saying, "Although somewhat extravagant and wasteful, it's also an option. To live is the most important thing. If I'm not mistaken, your magic mark is not a rare magic mark, but a legendary magic mark from the Splitter?"

Dean had expected that she might be able to recognize his magic mark. He said with a nod, "Yes."

Haisha took a deep look at Dean and said, "Is it the magic mark from the Splitter's child?"

Dean did not expect her to guess it correctly at once. He looked at her and nodded. "Yes. After you killed the Splitter, I followed its trail and found a young Splitter it gave birth to."

"So that's how it is." Haisha nodded slightly. "No wonder you don't have much heat in your body, but you were able to hold on under Parna's chase for so long. The resources that the Dragon Family gave you should only be enough to let you barely achieve the early-level of Frontiersman, right?"

Dean's eyes flashed, and he nodded. "About the same."

"It seems that I underestimated you," Haisha said softly, "If I had known this, I would have taken you straight back to Dragon Family. At that time, I was still a Saint, so I could give you the best cultivation resources. If that were the case, you should already be a Pioneer by this time, and with a legendary magic mark, you could definitely be independent."

Dean smiled and said, "If that were the case, I wouldn't be able to get this legendary magic mark."

Haisha was slightly stumped for words and sighed. She suddenly thought of something and said, "But it's not too late. After I recover, I'll go back to the family and apply to the patriarch to make a Splitter Magic Weapon for you. Only with Magic Weapon can you really play the power of your legendary magic mark."

Old era is the era before the catastrophe (300 hundred years ago).