Pheron, Am.

The towering clock tower is like a sword piercing into the night, glowing with a cold silver light in the moonlight.

There was not a single pedestrian on the blue-and-white stone-paved road in the bridge area, and even the two-story buildings on both sides were turned off, and the narrow alleys covered in white moonlight looked like roads to the other world.

This is Ascalla, the capital of Am, and one of the most prosperous cities in the world.

Just last night, it was so noisy that it seemed as if the world had gathered vendors, waving and shouting out from the second-floor windows of the alley, beckoning customers because the crowded road could not accommodate the wooden shelves for their goods.

However, none of this will exist tonight.

Because, tonight is the full moon!

"Squeak!"

It's all out!

"Squeak!"

I'm going to eat cheese bread!

"Squeak!"

Go together, go together!

“......”

A strange rhythmic creak echoed through the streets, and then pairs of tiny pairs of fiery red dots of light popped up from the sewers, corners, rooftops, jumped, and finally converged into a wave, raging on the stone pavement illuminated by the bright moonlight.

These are the Moonlight Rats, the native little beasts of the continent of Faerun, and the reason for the silence in Ascatra tonight.

"Squeak!"

Quiet!

Like the Red Sea, which had been parted by Moses, the rat tide parted abruptly after a high-pitched and distant chirp, and a band of extraordinarily strong moonlight rats surged forward around a brown and yellow-fured kind, and finally came to an oak barrel shrouded in an extraordinarily bright pillar of moonlight on the side of the street.

"Squeak!"

Jumping out of the crowded queue, the brown-haired moonlight rat easily jumped onto the oak barrel, bathed in the bright moonlight, it squatted up, slowly raised its right front paw, pointed forward, and immediately the rat tide cracked two thin slits again, and the two moonlight rats each ran out of it with an object on their backs.

A roll of papyrus, a quill pen.

"Boom!"

The oak barrel vibrated and became much clumsier than the first moonlight rat, and the two moonlight rats jumped onto the oak barrel, put down the pen and paper on their backs, and then bowed deeply to the brown-haired leader before returning to the rat tide.

"Squeak!"

Lowering its front paws, the leader of the Moonlight Rat on the barrel picked up the papyrus roll and slowly spread it out, and immediately a strip of paper with various unknown symbols slid down from its claws and smoothed all the way to the bottom of the barrel.

The fiery red eyes swept the rat tide below with majesty, and everywhere they went, the rats immediately fell silent, satisfied with this effect, and the moonlight rat leader bathed in the moonlight let out a series of rhythmic squeaks.

"Squeak!"

The rats in the east of the city go to the slaughterhouse! Hunt the pigs according to the plan last month!

"Squeak!"

The rats in the west of the city went to the granary to carry grain, and they had to move enough!

"Squeak!"

The rats in the north of the city are attacking the cake shop!

"Squeak!"

The rats in the south of the city go to the leather store, it is almost winter, and the rats need warm leather!

"Squeak!"

As for a few group owners to stay, discuss and formulate a plan of action for next month!

After the task was arranged, the rat tide immediately split into four streams, surging towards the direction of the leader's guidance like the sea water surging up the tidal flats, and under the bright light of the full moon, these small beasts of the Feron world not only increased their intelligence, but also became stronger and more ferocious!

"Scream ——!"

Amid the terrible howl of the slaughterhouse pig in the west of the city, four moonlight rats with their own characteristics jumped onto the oak barrel and bathed in the bright moonlight with the leader, in fact, the oak barrel was located in the same place where the moonlight was strongest in the whole of Ascatra during the full moon, which is why it became the council chamber of the moonlight leader and several lieutenants.

Underneath the oak barrel, the strong Moonlight Rats who had gathered the Moonlight Rat Leader and the guards of the four Moonlight Rat Leaders wrapped the oak barrel tightly within a three-meter radius.

............

"Squeak!"

Chief, winter is coming, and the next full moon will be cold and windy, so there's no need to plan, right?

"Squeak!"

Yes, yes, yes, I agree with Scarface!

"Squeak!"

Seconded!

"Squeak squeak!"

Iron Fang, fat man, you are really a rat-eyed man! If you think so, the moonlight rats of Askatla would be dead long ago!

"Squeak!"

Don't even say it!

"Squeak squeak!"

It is true that the next Full Moon may get cold, but we still need to plan for it! Even if we don't need it, we can use it for the next Full Moon, or even the next Full Moon!

With a wave of his front paws, the quarrel between the four Moonlight Rat Bosses, Iron Fang, Scarface, Fat Man, and Longtail, the Moonlight Rat Leader spread the papyrus on the oak barrel and picked up the quill pen.

Watching the leader's movements, the four group leaders closed their mouths of mockery to each other, and then began to express their opinions and discuss with the leader the plan of action for the next full moon.

In the time that followed, the different tones of the moonlight rat chirp on the oak barrel came and went, and finally turned into a strange symbol written by the leader of the moonlight rat, written on a papyrus scroll.

............

"Squeak!"

Very good!

Then the tentative plan for the next Full Moon is to continue collecting furs, water sources, and race reproduction activities!

I hope that you will continue to work hard for the reproduction of the population!

Writing down the results of today's deliberations on the papyrus rolls, the leader of the moonlight rats chirped in satisfaction, and immediately jumped from under the oak barrel two moonlight rats, the same two that had carried the papyrus and the quill in the first place.

One of them, the moonlight rat, who had only half an ear, skillfully rolled the papyrus into a roll and carried it on his back, and together with the other one missing an eye, the moonlight rat who picked up the quill bowed silently again, then turned and jumped off the oak barrel.

As for the moonlight rats who had finished their deliberations, they squatted on the oak barrels, closed their eyes, clasped their paws together in front of their chests, and began to enjoy the gift of the full moon in the sky: a bright moonlight like a pillar of silver-white light.

And this is also the origin of the name of the moonlight rat, their intelligence and strength will change drastically with the moon's roundness. During the day and night without the moon, the Moonlight Rat is no different from a normal mouse, but once it is illuminated by the moonlight, the Moonlight Rat will gain the effect of increasing intelligence and strength, and when the moon is full, this effect will also reach its peak.

The Moonlight Rats under the Full Moon will have the ability to organize and talk, and the leader of the Moonlight Rats, just like the current one and his four lieutenants, can even remember what they did and what they learned a few days or even months ago, and record them at the same time for the next Full Moon to implement or continue to improve.

"Squeak!"

The rat tide began to return from afar, and the pig howls in the slaughterhouse were no longer audible, replaced by flocks of moonglow rats carrying bloody raw meat the size of sparrows, their fur wet and fishy, and the raw meat on their backs still had obvious tooth marks.

As for the moonlight rat group returning from several other directions, they carried soft fur, fragrant bread, and rice that could be stored for a long time, and the finely chopped rice was wrapped in a small cloth bag, which was carried by the strongest moonlight rats.

"Squeak!"

Return home!

Awakened by the cacophony of screams, the Moonlight Rat leader stood up from the oak barrel and looked at the rat tide that had gathered again below, it chirped and gave the order to return, but instead of obeying the order and acting immediately, the Moonlight Rat swarm raised its head in unison and looked at the sky.

Following the gaze of the rat group that suddenly fell silent, the five moonlight rat leaders on the oak barrel also raised their heads, and immediately a silver-white ball of light shot into their fiery little eyes, and then the silver-white ball of light grew bigger and bigger in their eyes, and it actually shot down in a straight line along the bright moonlight pillar shining on the oak barrel!

"Poof——!

In an instant, with a soft sound, the silver-white ball of light smashed into a circle of white light on the oak barrel that continued to spread outward, streaking through the entire rat tide.

However, this white aura is obviously not harmful, because after the white aura dissipates, whether it is the moonlight rat on the oak barrel, the moonlight rat guard on the side of the oak barrel, or even the rat tide members who were swept by the white aura, there are no wounds on their bodies, but they are a little frightened and a little dazzled by the sudden blooming light.

However, none of the moonlight rats saw that at the moment when the white aura exploded, a little bit of bright and condensed water droplets like silver had rapidly shot into the brains of the moonlight rat leader, turning into a spiral mark hidden under the brown and yellow fur.

"Squeak!"

Return home!

Calm down and gather their minds, the Moonlight Rat leader let out a loud chirp again, and this time the rat colony immediately sprang into action, carrying the survival materials collected tonight and disappearing like water into all the corners and channels where they emerged, returning to the colony of the Moonlight Rat population located deep in the sewers of the lower layers of Askatra.

Then, surrounded by the guards, the leader of the Moonlight Rats and the four Moonlight Rats also entered the entrance of the sewer one after another and disappeared.