Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun had taken down two giants with eerie ease and immediately circumvented the battle area, choosing another route to quickly vacate the battlefield.

The two third-order oddities had given him a vivid lesson, making him aware of the terror of monsters in this cursed space.

Su Lun became even more cautious, not only paying attention to the soul fires within range but also constantly monitoring the fluctuations of those spatial rifts.

He was lucky this time to encounter monsters that could be physically controlled, which could be eliminated with the combination of his armor and black scythe.

Otherwise, if he encountered monsters with special abilities, his luck wouldn't have been as good.

While he feared running into more monsters on one hand, on the other hand, Su Lun was secretly hoping to encounter more.

He had finally come across "Animating Silver," a top-tier puppetry material, and he had no intention of giving up this excellent opportunity.

This unnatural material couldn't be found anywhere in the outside world.

The corpses from earlier didn't contain much silver in their flesh, and he estimated, after refining, they could at most be made into a silver bracelet.

He was still far from his minor goal of crafting a complete alchemical golem.

He needed more.

But he feared encountering a group or even higher-tier oddities.

It was a contradictory state of mind.

....

As Su Lun walked and pondered, the commotion in the distant city center suddenly intensified again. It seemed like the forces of the Royal Army of Luying had encountered some difficult monsters.

Hearing the sounds, Su Lun suddenly had a thought and muttered to himself, "Those guys might have encountered monsters with animating silver, maybe they have some in stock?"

At that thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.

The large troop wasn't like him, alone and able to flee if unable to fight. The people from the Sacred Judgment Army encountering monsters in this cursed space had almost no choice but to confront them head-on.

So, if they weren't annihilated by the monsters, it meant they had annihilated the monsters.

They definitely had gathered quite a bit of "spoils of war."

However, those two legions had sixth-order leaders, and Su Lun dared not entertain any ideas about them.

Thinking of this, he became somewhat disinterested: "Senior sister will arrive in no less than two days. These guys are making quick work of breaking the curse of this space..."

Hey...

An idea suddenly flashed in Su Lun's mind, and he stopped thinking about the spoils of war, contemplating something else instead.

Previously, he had observed the combat strength of this Sacred Judgment Army and thought they could sweep through this cursed space.

But having now witnessed the strength of these oddities firsthand, he felt less confident about that idea.

In another ordinary cursed space, perhaps they could push through.

But here...

It was now almost certain that it was the "God Burial Ground," and Su Lun felt that pushing through wouldn't be so easy for anyone.

Otherwise, so many top-tier warriors from the Dalu tribe wouldn't have died here in the past.

Reflecting on this issue, Su Lun suddenly realized a "highlight."

"Strange... knowing this cursed space is so dangerous, where did those guys get the confidence to charge through with the full army?"

A thought flashed through his mind, and he increasingly felt something was off.

As various thoughts linked together, his expression became slightly bizarre, leading him to a bizarre speculation: "Could it be that they didn't have confidence at all, but were given some kind of death order, a must to break through this space... that's why they came in?"

At that thought, Su Lun suddenly felt not so great.

He had once witnessed in Old Lington the power of authority, where a single command from the nobility compelled countless Scavengers to venture into new territories.

Although the Sacred Judgment Army wasn't a slave group, under this monarchic system, the monarch's authority was supreme.

To say they were the empress's slaves wasn't very nice to hear, but it was the truth.

The intensity of the battle from afar was not of the kind that indicated a sweeping force.

It wasn't hard to guess, the army was also having a tough time.

Su Lun increasingly felt his speculation might just be the truth, mumbling to himself with a bleak heart, "I followed because I saw you entering so decisively..."

Never before had he so strongly hoped that the other party had the strength to sweep through.

At least if they could push through, he could also tag along for the ride.

If they couldn't, he would follow this group of sharks, only to be swallowed whole by even bigger monsters.

Su Lun felt mildly vexed.

But then he thought,

Oh well,

he had come all this way already.

Looking at the black vortex above the distant palace, it seemed he could leave by going there.

Being careful shouldn't be a big issue.

....

The distant battle grew fiercer, and the shockwaves even affected the street where Su Lun was hiding.

He felt things might have gotten really serious.

However, looking on the bright side, those guys had attracted most of the monsters in the relics, so other places naturally became much safer.

With no other choice at the moment, Su Lun didn't stop, continuing cautiously on his way.

With the crows leading the way, his perception fully extended.

He didn't dare to explore those buildings, prioritizing his safety above all else.

Luckily, his luck wasn't too bad, and he avoided areas where monsters might be lurking. Although he encountered a few ghostly creatures that could pass through walls, they seemed uninterested in Su Lun, possibly because the rotting flesh he consumed made his body emit a corpse-like stench, and they simply drifted away.

Before long, Su Lun had reached the vicinity of the city center.

The city streets, which were not very clear from the city wall, were now distinctly visible.

It was a white stone plaza about the size of ten football fields.

At the end of the plaza, there was a nearly one-meter-high step, exactly one hundred steps in total, leading to the highest point of the city.

A tremendously large palace brutally intruded into Su Lun's view.

The palace was made up of hundreds of giant stone pillars and uniquely styled circular arch doors. There were two giant statues on either side of the door, one holding a giant sword and shield, and the other wielding a long-handled axe.

However, this area had particularly numerous and unstable spatial rifts, appearing intermittently like flashes of lightning.

The path from the plaza to the great hall was marked by signs of battle.

The fierce battle left the streets littered with collapsed, shattered stones.

Su Lun didn't dare to get too close.

The black crow flew a bit closer, silently observing Ru Ying and his people tallying up the battlefield.

...

"Two thousand-man legions, and now only half remain?"

From the black crow's shared vision, Su Lun roughly estimated the number of Ru Ying's troops.

Including the wounded, there were probably just over a thousand alive.

The ferocity of the battle was evident.

The plaza was awash with blood, littered with human bodies and mountains of monster corpses.

There were double-headed giants Su Lun had encountered before, along with all sorts of bizarre, never-before-seen necromantic creatures. There was the skinned humanoid monster of fifth-order lord level, [Coveters], the sixth-order eerie [Corpse Worm Conglomerate] that looked like countless black earthworms clumped together, and the mud-like [Rotten God]...

Seeing these monsters made Su Lun's gaze grow more solemn.

He was also grateful that these people had cleared the way.

Otherwise, he didn't feel he had the capability to clear out these monsters himself.

Or to say, if it weren't for this royal legion, even ten times more pirates or several seventh-order beings might not have been able to achieve this extent.

However, what surprised Su was that their objective seemed very clear, after tidying up the battlefield and dismantling the mechanically equipped strongpoint, they headed straight towards the palace above.

Su Lun waited a moment, and there was no further noise.

He didn't think those people had left, nor were they likely totally annihilated.

It was highly probable that there was some special situation inside the palace.

Naturally, Su Lun wanted to go over and see, but he glanced again at another building not far from the palace, slightly shorter, and a contemplative look crossed his face.

It was the giant God Temple he had seen before.

He thought for a moment and then had the black crow fly inside.

The black crow quickly circled inside, and Su Lun also examined it carefully, "Huh... there are actually no monsters?"

Thinking it was probably because the previous plaza battle had attracted all the monsters, he didn't give it much thought.

Moreover, what delighted Su Lun was that he actually saw the complete relief content through the black crow's vision!

....

"Could this really be the origin of the 'All-knowing Eye'?"

Although the black crow's gaze swept past quickly, Su Lun clearly saw the complete version of the mythological story he had seen earlier in the ruined temple on the giant tree.

A big-bearded man on horseback with a halo behind came to a spring, pointing to the water, wanting to drink.

But the giant guarding the spring did not agree.

Then the big-bearded man pointed to his own arm, probably wanting to exchange it.

The giant still didn't agree.

He brought out gold,

Still, there was no agreement...

In the end, the big-bearded man sacrificed his own eyes and successfully got to drink from the spring.

....

Having seen the previous fragmented reliefs, Su Lun did not know why the big-beard wanted to drink that water.

But looking at the details in the subsequent few reliefs, he roughly guessed that after drinking the water, the big-beard was hanging upside down there, and he had gained "wisdom"!

This was strikingly similar to the awakening ceremony of the "All-knowing Eye".

Moreover, the story even had a continuation!

The more Su Lun watched, the more his heart filled with anticipation.

The big-beard hung from the tree, and from the tree fell some mysterious symbols...

The previously seen reliefs had corroded, and those symbols couldn't be clearly seen.

But now, they were clear.

Su Lun, who was currently studying runic script and had a deep understanding of countless varied runic languages, took one look at those symbols falling from the tree and felt an inexplicably familiar feeling, "Is this... Rune script?"

Su Lun's thoughts shifted, and he felt something was not quite right, "Not quite... it seems more complicated. This must be some higher form of script similar to runes."

Unfortunately, the relief only had shapes carved into it, with no aspect of laws.

Su Lun couldn't be sure what the script was.

It turned out to be just an ordinary stone carving.

Then, he looked towards the content of the relief behind.

Big Beard had left an "eye" by the spring.

Then one day, a giant thief came, stole the eye, and installed it on his own head.

The thief turned into a cyclops.

In the last relief, the giant with the big eye jumped down from a cloud-filled palace, landing on an island, and bred a race of cyclopses.

That was where the mural ended.

Looking at that mythical story, Su Lun's thoughts raced.

Clearly, what was carved inside this giant temple, if not fabricated, had really happened in the ancient times.

"So... should I go look for the cyclops race, perhaps to find out if this myth is true?"

thought Su Lun.

He felt that, even if the content of the mural wasn't about the origin of the All-knowing Eye, it was still greatly related.

However, the cyclops race is mentioned in ancient texts to have once existed but is now extinct.

"Perhaps Mr. Jing should know?"

Su Lun raised an eyebrow.

This is the benefit of being mentored by the powerful; having a senior sister who is well-versed in various ancient secrets, one always has someone to ask.

Mr. Jing was due to arrive in two days, so he wasn't in a hurry to ask using a communicator.

.....

Besides the mural, there wasn't much of value in the temple.

Su Lun didn't want to complicate matters further, fearing it might trigger some other danger.

After crow looked around, he prepared to go to the grand hall at the top.

But just then, Su Lun unconsciously performed a habitual action of twirling his finger, murmuring, "When I am in a dream, I look at my finger, then realize I'm dreaming."

He had done it countless times before, and nothing unusual had happened.

But this time, his expression changed drastically!

"Am I under an illusion?"

Seeing his finger, Su Lun was greatly alarmed, and his back broke out in cold sweat.

He had known before entering that this cursed space was home to many necromancy creatures and was always on guard against those mental attacks, always being very careful.
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Yet unexpectedly, he had still been affected.

"When did it happen...?"

Su Lun's thoughts flashed and vanished, but his hands didn't slow down.

He quickly drew his flintlock, aimed at his own head, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger.

Now mastering various mental techniques, he also knew there was a very small chance that he might be misjudging (or that other factors had influenced his decision).

This shot could potentially be a fatal mistake for himself.

But he was clear on this, there was a 95% chance he really was affected.

This was a risk he had to take!

Although he didn't know when it had happened, if he didn't quickly break free from the illusion, the consequences would be unimaginable.

With a "bang" of the gun, everything went black before Su Lun's eyes.

....

As if waking from a dream, his mind went blank for a moment.

Su Lun felt his body's presence again.

The high development of his cerebral region and spiritual power allowed him to react in the shortest time.

His fragmented memory quickly connected.

"I didn't die!"

Su Lun immediately sensed something, his expression turning stern.

His left hand was still making the twirling gesture to check if he was still under the illusion. His right hand already drew the Rune-covered Human Skin Umbrella from his back and, with a "poof", opened it, covering himself and without hesitation activated the umbrella's "Nightfall Domain".

Because Su Lun knew very well that his strongest mental defense was this black umbrella.

The evil spirits sealed within the umbrella surged around his body, suppressed by the surrounding necromantic air, not daring to drift too far.

At the same time, Su Lun looked at the twirling gesture of his left hand, determined, "I've broken out!"

Yet even though he could control his calm, his adrenaline surged violently.

The looming fear of death made his scalp tingle.

Because in front of him appeared a very disgusting and terrifying monster.

[Abbas, the Thousand-eyed Flesh Mountain]

Description: A fifth-order gold-level aberration monster, a mental aberration formed by the aggregation of numerous biological organs; eroded by necromantic air, this aberration's mental power is unusually strong compared to others of its level; adept in visual illusion techniques for preying; incapable of teleportation, and its physical body is extremely frail;

"Fuck!"

Su Lun looked at the monster and cursed in his heart.

It was the most disgusting creature he had ever seen since he had come to this place, with no equals!

In front of him was a massive clump of crimson rotten flesh, its edges crowded with red tentacles resembling earthworms.

However, what made one's scalp tingle the most were the dense, numerous eyes on the clump of rotten flesh.

The eyes were irregular in size; the largest were as big as washbasins, the smallest like the compound eyes of a fly, thousands of them, crowded like tumors on the meat, appearing as though pieced together from the eye organs of countless different creatures.

It was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

It was the moment Su Lun snapped out of the illusion when the monster also seemed stunned for a moment, its thousand eyes all looking over simultaneously.

Su Lun didn't hesitate to close his eyes and "Flash" backward explosively.

At the same time, with a sweep of one hand, more than a dozen puppet weapons appeared, hacking the monster into an exploding mess.

As the intelligence had identified, the creature's main body defense was extremely weak.

With that chaotic slashing, mixed with the stench of dark green blood gushing out, sounds akin to numerous evil spirits screaming in agony at death resounded by his ear. Listening to those cries was even more hair-raising than nails scraping a chalkboard.

In that instant, Su Lun had already retreated several hundred meters. Releasing his gear, dozens more puppets appeared, unleashing a barrage of firepower on that clump of rotten meat.

Finally, the world quieted down.

The tsunami-like surge of spiritual power ceased.

Su Lun knew, the monster was dead.

Only then did he walk over, looking at the rotten flesh that now glowed with the distinct sheen of cursed material, and he finally took a deep breath of relief.

....

"Huff..."

Su Lun felt lucky to have survived the ordeal.

He hadn't expected that while he was still on the street outside the square, waking from the illusion would suddenly land him inside this temple.

"Visual Illusion Technique... It must have been when the crow saw this monster that it was enchanted."

Su Lun guessed what had happened and felt a chill.

This monster had managed to enchant him without him noticing, indicating how potent the illusion was.

Within the mound of mangled flesh, countless eyes, as if refusing to close in death, were still staring at him.

Not far from the pile of corpses, there were twenty or thirty human bodies not yet completely devoured.

These bodies were all clad in uniform armor, naturally belonging to the people of the Sacred Judgment Legion.

Su Lun's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

It was almost a close call.

If he hadn't reacted in time to kill this monster, his own eyes might have ended up adding to that pile of flesh.

But fortunately, he had managed to kill it.

The bodies were now emanating a grey mist, and Su Lun calmed his emotions and harvested the souls.

'Gained "Abbas's Thousand-Eye Meat Mountain" Soul Shard, you have understood a great deal of the mysteries of the "Visual Illusion Technique," and received an enhancement in "Understanding of Necromancy Laws"...'

'You received some chaotic and furious information: "labyrinth, seal, bodies, danger..."'

'Spiritual Power +15.5'

"Is there a dangerous labyrinth beneath that palace up there?"

Su Lun separated the monster's soul, frowning.

He then realized that those people from Old Lington were probably heading for the labyrinth.

But since it was a distorted monster, the information was very unclear, only some fragmented scenes like thermal images.

Su Lun's gaze grew heavy, and he pondered for a moment.

At that time, a fist-sized crystal stone also appeared on the monster's corpse.

He also gathered his thoughts and picked up the stone.

[Thousand Illusion Demon Crystal]

Detailed information: An extremely rare cursed material, containing a special mental matrix; wearing it can shield against spiritual illusion techniques not higher than the item's rule level; can be used as the primary material for advanced illusion technique professions, to create some alchemical potions that unlock mental resistance;

Su Lun looked at the material and collected it.

Then, from the rotting meat, he found a batch of stones similar to cat's eyes.

Upon identifying them, they could replenish spiritual power, a decent material.

....

Su Lun looked at the materials he had collected, without any joy from his gains, and murmured complexly, "Indeed, there are deadly dangers everywhere..."

He had thought that having Black Crow meant everything was fine, only to encounter such a monster he had never seen before and being taught a lesson.

He didn't dwell on it any longer, lingering was too risky.

Su Lun wasn't prepared to explore the great hall.

His gaze swept casually, the relief he had seen in the illusion was there in the temple.

The content of the carving was exactly the same as what he had seen before.

He hadn't intended to look any further, but the next instant, he identified the mural with the All-knowing Eye and let out a soft exclamation.

This mural was not as simple as it seemed.