Chapter 22：Blood Striped Hexagon Ring

The dark outpost was not supposed to have any light. But now, moonlight shone down from the sky, bringing a trace of warmth to the dark place.

Two bright yellow lights shone within the huge camp. One was big and the other was small.

The big light was the fire that was still burning in the pond. The small light was the unextinguished flame that was on the mutant demonic corpse.

Sean looked at the body of the mutant demonic corpse. His expression was extremely ugly because the body had essentially turned into ashes. That meant that Sean couldn't get the items dropped from this BOSS.

To completely harvest everything in this "Dark Outpost" dungeon, they had to push through it by force. Only by using that method could they receive the benefits of the entire dungeon. Sean had used an ingenious method earlier to kill the army of demonic corpses, so it was impossible to receive anything from them, especially since demonic corpses had fallen into the pond. However, he did not care too much about the ordinary items they dropped. His real target was this mutant demonic corpse.

However, the flames on the mutant demonic corpse would not stop burning. How could he touch the body now?

Could he ask someone else to help him put out the flames? That seemed like too much.

But what would he even say? Would he say that he was afraid of a forest fire or that there were items on the mutant demonic corpse? Neither made sense.

Sean's head had grown. His ego had doubled in the time he had spent on the Miracle Continent.

Ever since he experienced the "Wandering Darkness" dungeon, Sean had gained knowledge of all the items that would drop from the creatures in the world. The items were the same as what had dropped in the game "Miracle." Equipped items would only drop from humans and human-shaped monsters. Creatures such as magical beasts and wild beasts would only drop items such as fur, bones, and crystal cores, while other materials could only be obtained through gathering them.

Even equipment was not dropped at random. Human-shaped monsters with a sword would never drop a longsword, while those that wore leather armor would never drop armor. Also, the items that dropped depended on the attacking method. For example, attacking the neck of a Wind Striped Black Wolf would make it drop its crystal core. As for human-shaped monsters, the items dropped could become useless because the damages to its equipment were too great.

Among all the items available, jewelry was the rarest thing to drop. It was also the most valuable.

Sean knew that the mutant demonic corpse happened to be a monster that would drop a jewelry item. Back in the game, killing the mutant demonic corpse was also the only way for players in the early stages to obtain jewelry from a monster.

But looking at the human-shaped torch in front of him, Sean burst into tears. "How come the fire is still burning after such a long time?"

"There is a lot of magic here, and it's close to the Magic Tide. You also threw in Burning Elixirs. I'm afraid that this fire will continue to burn for about two to three more days." Cecilia stood next to Sean and commented, "The flame over there will probably burn even longer. It will last for at least a month."

Sean looked at the other side of the pond. He seemed to have 10,000 curses running wildly in his heart. He wanted the jewelry from the mutant demonic corpse!

Seeing that everything was over, it was useless for him to continue to be depressed. Therefore, he had to change his mood as he walked towards Drouin and Halle. Everyone was gathered around the guard on the ground who had just been hit by the mutant demonic corpse. Old Pete was doing his best to save the guard while the others looked on nervously.

"How is he?" Sean walked over and asked Drouin, who was watching Old Pete anxiously.

"His life is saved, but…" Drouin frowned. "The bone in his left arm is broken, his right arm is fractured, and his internal organs are severely damaged." Drouin sighed. "These injuries cannot be taken care of now. Old Pete can only save his life. Since he cannot be treated now, I am afraid he will become crippled."

Drouin had said a lot of things, but Sean did not quite understand him. To compensate for the lack of understanding, Sean simply looked at the data on the guard and the other two guards with his Eye of Truth. His face darkened at what he saw, and he now fully understood the cruelty of the world.

The guard on the ground was not only crippled. His strength and agility attributes had both fallen to one point, which was worse than Cecilia. His endurance value had also dropped from 24 to 10, which was the figure for an average adult. However, his will attribute had slightly improved. But what use was only a high will attribute? The Miracle Continent was a world where only the strong were respected.

Sean's face was a little gloomy, and Drouin, Halle, and the others thought he blamed himself for what happened to the guard. Drouin patted Sean on the shoulder and said, "This is inevitable for a mercenary. You do not need to blame yourself. You just need to know that your current achievements are so great that even the famous mercenaries could not have done better than you. The casualties may have even been worse."

Sean nodded and did not talk any more on this subject. After being in that world for a month, he had seen situations similar to that one many times. However, he still felt a little sad every time he saw it. After all, he had never seen such cruelty before arriving in this world. Even when he was in the game, the NPCs were just pieces of data. They would just be deleted if he did not want to use them.

Seeing that Old Pete was still providing emergency aid to the guard, Sean retreated and looked around. He did not want to get in the way, and there was no reason for him to keep watching.

The darkness that hung over the dark outpost had disappeared, but the chaos in this Land of Black Earth would not change. In a few years, a new group of monsters would probably be born here. When that time arrived, it would not be creatures such as demonic corpses. Instead, it would be actual dark creatures created by other magical beasts from the Starfall Forest.

"Don't be upset. You didn't want this either." Cecilia tugged at Sean's sleeve and sighed. "Let me tell you a piece of good news."

Sean looked at Cecilia's smile, then reached out and rubbed Cecilia's head. He had already made a decision. Maybe the world was cruel, but he had no way out. Even if he did not think about himself, he had to think about Cecilia. He might even need to think about more people in the future.

"What good news?" With this decision, Sean would not become perplexed anymore. He was a man with a firm mind.

Hearing Sean's question, Cecilia took out a ring and swung it in front of Sean.

It was a ring made from black stone mixed with strange gold. The ring was in the shape of a hexagon. It had a circle of runes drawn on it with an unknown red liquid. The runes were hardly legible, but it was clear that they were connected from the start to the end. They were not just words. There were no other decorations on the ring.

The moment Sean saw the ring, his eyes straightened. He was surprised. "This ring…Where did you get it?"

"It dropped out of that mutant demonic corpse's hand when it was assassinated by Drouin and Old Pete." When Cecilia saw Sean's face, she understood. "You know where this thing came from…There seems to be nothing in this world that you don't know."

"I don't know anything about the things that came from ancient times." Sean smiled. "Can I have a look at the ring?"

"Of course." Cecilia threw the ring to Sean. She did not care about what it was.

When the ring fell into Sean's hand, he felt a strange power surge. He could not help but sigh. It was indeed the Blood Striped Hexagon Ring.

[Blood Striped Hexagon Ring, strong magical effect (bronze): Intelligence +12, will +15, all undead spirit magic level +1, undead spirit control +1. Equipment requirements: Intelligence 20, Will 20. Curse (weak): A test for the will attribute is carried out late every night. If your will is greater than 20, then you pass the test. If you fail the test, then you become a demonic corpse on the spot.]

[Item description: The mysterious ring is of unknown origin. You can feel the blood and the dead force surrounding it. If you do not have a firm resolution when you wear this, then your body will soon be invaded by its force, and it will turn you into a demonic corpse.]

Four types of jewelry could drop from a mutant demonic corpse: three rings and a necklace. Among them, the best item was the Blood Striped Hexagon Ring. However, the better an item was, the lower its burst rate would be. Sean had only heard of a total of 11 of the rings during the seven years he played the game. The ring was precious. Even though it was a rank-six class, it could still be regarded as one of the main items.

But Sean was not able to be happy at all.

The item he had wanted was not the ring.

"This is the Blood Striped Hexagon Ring." Sean threw the ring back to Cecilia. "It's a piece of magical equipment. Although it has lost a lot of its magical powers, it is still a very good item. It would be better to give it to an undead spirit mage. However, you are also a mage, so it is suitable for you to use. At the very least, it can hone your will attribute. Maybe it can make you smarter as well."

Cecilia giggled. "There is no such thing as a person getting smarter when wearing a piece of jewelry."

Sean pouted but did not explain himself. How could he explain what personal attributes were to Cecilia? Even if he could explain it, he was afraid that she would not understand him. It was better if she learned and understood it on her own. However, there were some things that he still needed to explain to Cecilia.

"This ring is not an ordinary item. If you wear it, the dark force around it will continuously erode your will. Therefore, if you feel any sort of discomfort, you have to take the ring off."

Cecilia had never seen Sean show such a serious side. She could not help but say, "I understand."

Sean saw that Cecilia had taken his words to heart. He nodded and said with a smile, "There are other things in the camp. Let's go and look. I have nothing to do now anyway…When they have taken care of the matters over there, we can get out of here."

While he spoke, Sean looked towards the path that led to the exit and muttered to himself, "I wonder if that thing is available right now…"