Mechanical Alchemist

In the following days, Su Lun simply lay in the seawater, drifting with the waves, and he did encounter several groups of people conducting patrols.

Some sailed in ships, some flew in the sky, and some swam in the water...

Su Lun could spot them, but those people couldn't detect him.

Although the North Sea fleet had numerous personnel within the secret realm, the number of high-order professionals was limited. If fourth or fifth-order high-order professionals had come, there might have been a chance to sense his presence, but unfortunately, most were first or second-order pirates.

Finding him in this secret realm of over ten thousand square kilometers was like picking a specific grain of sand from a desert, nearly impossible.

Since they couldn't find him, Su Lun had no interest in how the Frost Moon Princess was fuming with rage. Every day, he would project his will into the little void realm, tinkering with the advanced mechanical equipment in "Royal No. 7".

...

The members of the Dawn group were quite happy staying in the little void realm, with plenty to eat and drink, some cultivating and some conducting research.

As Su Lun had plans to build a "mechanical workshop," he decided to remodel the little void realm.

Everyone got excited when they heard about his idea, offering various suggestions and strategies.

Since most of them had nothing else to do, they all helped out in making the little void realm look better.

Coincidentally, there was a crew member holding a "Royal Lington Architect Designer Certificate" in the group. After that person drafted a blueprint, everyone began to bustle about.

Elemental professionals used Earth System Arts to form a large piece of land and then set up a local "Gravity Barrier" on it. As long as a not too great amount of energy was consumed, it could be maintained indefinitely.

Su Lun's original plan was to casually create a piece of land and construct a simple workshop on it.

However, Barrett and those team members who had taken elective courses in architecture at Royal Lington Academy were perfectionists. With the cooperative efforts of several hundred alchemists, they quickly built a beautiful gothic castle.

The group then figured out a way to stabilize the castle, preventing it from drifting around.

Now, it could not only serve as a workshop but also as a vacation castle.

Then, Su Lun moved all the machinery from the submarine into the castle. The space suddenly opened up considerably, and the various instruments no longer needed to be cramped together. The idea of a mechanical assembly line finally took its first step.

Seeing Su Lun's intention to set up a war workshop here, Dr. Banks couldn't hold back his excitement either.

He had taken a liking to this enclosed space when he first arrived, deeming it the perfect laboratory, quiet, enclosed, undisturbed by the outside world, and free from constant relocation.

Setting up a lab on a ship was really inconvenient, not to mention frequent relocations and limited space. The rocking of the waves and naval battles also greatly affected many experiments.

Dr. Banks eventually moved his biological laboratory into the castle as well.

He even declared that he would stay there from now on, not going out unless necessary.

Su Lun couldn't help but have mixed feelings about this.

However, as he often experimented with Dr. Banks before, he was quite familiar with him, and having a neighbor was pretty good. He could also manage those "captives" well.

Meanwhile, in just a few days, Pandora managed to convert the more than eighty mechanics from the land of Mafa into her followers.

The group easily accepted the reality of their capture, subconsciously harboring no hostility towards the Dawn group.

They began assisting Su Lun in setting up the "Mechanical Octopus Production Line" and started producing the first batch according to the design plans.

These Mafa mechanical engineers brought with them the empire's most advanced mechanical technology. They not only adjusted the equipment but also improved upon the initial design flaws of the mechanical octopus. Every day brought new blueprints and inspiration.

Su Lun was actively involved as well.

The more he understood, the more he was astounded by the technological level of the Mafa empire; it indeed surpassed Lington's by decades and was an area of knowledge Su Lun was blind to. There were even many special techniques of ancient goblins and dwarves, each a potential "treasure trove of knowledge" waiting to be unearthed.

He learned as he participated in the creation process, gaining a great deal of benefit.

```

Eighty people plus a host of the most advanced mechanical instruments. Work efficiency was something Su Lun could never match on his own.

The several dozen mechanical octopuses lost in the previous battle were quickly replenished.

Now with large machine tools at his disposal, he could even manufacture and design new mechanical warriors according to his own needs, compensating for the "Mechanical Puppet Legion's" shortcomings in ground combat.

Su Lun watched as his mechanical workshop gradually took shape.

But a new problem emerged: material shortages.

The mechanical engineers had the knowledge and the instruments, but not enough materials.

Both research and production required a large amount of raw materials.

Su Lun already had a large pile of "material purchase lists" that made his head hurt just looking at them.

He thought he could only replenish his supplies at the black market when they made landfall.

However, many of the materials needed for manufacturing mechanical battle suits were strictly regulated by Luying officials and were not circulated by trading companies, meaning there was naturally not much stock in the black market of Pirate City. The possibility of making large purchases was not high.

Luckily, Su Lun asked Mr. Jing for advice and received some good news.

He said that the bloodline Count Antonio, who had been operating in Luying for several hundred years, had established a fairly large noble trading company with channels to obtain regulated materials.

A trip to Luying in the future meant that there would be a solution for the bulk materials as well.

Now, from material supply to mechanical workshop, a complete "war workshop assembly line" was truly in full swing.

....

Su Lun spent his days tinkering in his small virtual realm, and time flew by quickly.

After several days of intensive search without finding anyone, the patrols from the Northern Sea Fleet quieted down.

Those guys probably realized that the likelihood of catching the attackers was slim to none. Even the people who did come, they just came to casually stroll around to fulfill the search task.

Knowing that the danger had passed, Su Lun gradually made his way to the core of the secret realm without rush.

This virtual secret realm was a site of an Alchemy Academy from the Dawn Era, containing thousands of islands, large and small.

Almost all of these islands have ruins of ancient buildings, but since the Northern Sea Fleet had been developing here for several years, most of the treasures had been unearthed.

The main structure of the academy was located on the largest island in the center of the secret realm. It housed a spatial passageway to the virtual plane, which was the constant source of virtual materials for the Northern Sea Fleet.

Su Lun's primary goal in visiting this virtual secret realm was to try his luck in finding suitable fifth-order spatial inauguration materials and to gather some resources for the members of Dawn Group.

If he didn't luck out, he would have to go and fleece the Northern Sea Void Fleet once more.

From the memories stripped from the deputy fleet captain, he found that the materials fused by the fleet captain and several squadron leaders in the void fleet were quite good...

Ever since the grand harvest from robbing Mafa's submarine, Su Lun really felt that being a pirate was quite good.

Venturing out for treasure hunting couldn't match this efficiency.

Because he was very familiar with the map of the secret realm and had the black raven circling in the sky, Su Lun could sense the movements of the nearby patrol guards in advance, so he didn't encounter any accidents.

He sailed through the water all the way.

Finally, from a great distance, he saw the main complex of the "Tokster Void Alchemy Academy."

It was a vast expanse of ruins built upon a hill. From the scale, one could see that this had been a bustling city thousands of years ago.

Although most of the buildings within the city were destroyed, one could still discern the very distinctive architectural style: white as the base color with various exquisite towers, domed roofs adorned with golden rings, extensive arch bridges, and elaborate reliefs...

It somewhat resembled the sight of Dawn City beneath Old Lington, a scene of decay after a period of prosperity.

```

However, at this moment, the city is filled with encampments and bustling with voices.

This is the secret base of the Northern Sea Fleet, hosting hundreds of thousands of people.

Even after several years of development, there are still many twisted vortexes near the building complex.

Upon assessment, nearly all of them are high-risk curse spaces of A or S rank.

Su Lun was not unfamiliar; in the stripped fragments of memory, he knew that these curse spaces had brought massive casualties to the Northern Sea Fleet, while also yielding many ancient relics.

But the most eye-catching curse space was the terrifying virtual void fracture at the mountaintop, hundreds of meters in diameter.

It was like a huge and eerie vertical pupil, staring down at the entire academy.

[Unstable Dimensional Passage]

Description: The endless void is, to human understanding, an indescribable monster.

Detailed Explanation: This is an extremely large curse space where strength and luck coexist, with difficulty ranging from B to T rank; during the most splendid era of Dawn Era Alchemy, the alchemists of the Tarkolu Empire intended to merge with the void, but a laboratory accident led to a backlash from the void; this curse space preserves the final seventy-two hours of brutal combat at the Void Academy, where students and teachers fought with their flesh and blood against the invasion of the void, preventing a planar disaster; you need to survive the omnipresent attacks of void monsters, and hiding is the best option, as it will allow you to survive with ease; deeper into the passage are complex spatial fractures, but also hidden are the most energetically fluctuating void treasures, though these places are also connected to the void dimension, inhabited by extremely powerful monsters;

...

Su Lun, looking at the information identified, showed a touch of solemnness in his gaze.

Read latest chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

It was almost the same as the intelligence he had obtained in advance.

This largest curse space lay above a spatial passage to the "Void Dimension," and was the only curse space the Northern Sea Fleet had not managed to explore more than 20% of thus far.

Even so, having explored only a small part, it had already yielded the highest-quality void materials.

For example, the legendary Void Ghost Hand that Su Lun and his group had intercepted, along with some very high-level ancient alchemy apparatuses.

It was because the Northern Sea Fleet's pirates couldn't figure out those ancient devices that they invited experts from Mafa to dig together.

And the difficulty with this space lay in its many unstable spatial fractures.

The deeper one ventured, the weaker the space became, rendering it increasingly unfriendly to high-level professionals.

It was like thinner and thinner ice sheets; the high-level professionals' fights could easily tear through space and draw them inside.

For example, there were sixth-order void monsters at the depths of this curse space, which could exist there without any harm. But if sixth-order professionals went, they would find it almost impossible to avoid the omnipresent spatial fractures during combat, let alone battling the creatures.

As a result, the Northern Sea Fleet had lost far too many high-level professionals. This even included a sixth-order senior and several sixth-order war slaves bought from Luying.

That's why this curse space remained unexplored to this day.

...

It was almost a checkmate situation, as sixth-order professionals couldn't go, yet there were sixth-order void monsters present.

Even the numerous top-level experts of the Northern Sea Fleet were unable to do anything about it.

But as Su Lun looked at the identified information for the curse space, his eyes revealed contemplation, and a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.

The current situation was that their Dawn Group had robbed the Frost Moon Princess's submarine and exposed their whereabouts. Trying to rob the "curse material warehouse" from the original plan now would likely result in being closely watched. Those people were probably already prepared for them to fall right into their hands.

The plan, naturally, had to be changed.

At the very least, if they were to make a move, it would have to be postponed.

"Or else, shall we take a look inside that curse space?"

Su Lun pondered the feasibility in his mind.

Based on the intelligence they had gathered, as long as one didn't venture too deep and court death, the difficulty of the cursed space wasn't high.

Moreover, just because others couldn't reach the deeper areas didn't mean he couldn't.

After all, he was only a fourth-order, theoretically, the probability of triggering spatial rifts was even less than that of a normal fifth-order professional.

And with his nearly sixth-order comprehension of space law and the All-knowing Eye, he had a great chance of avoiding areas where space was weak.

Facing such a cursed space, for the first time, Su Lun felt that having a lower rank was actually advantageous.

As for those high-order void monsters that had already been identified, they could pose a great threat to fifth or sixth-order pirates, but that didn't necessarily mean they could kill him.

He was still a Puppet Master, with countless puppets to detect for mines...

Being cautious, he might be able to explore further and find treasures yet undiscovered.

The current intelligence suggested that there were definitely high-stakes treasures in this cursed space, and it was absolutely worth taking a gamble on.

What's more, he wasn't alone; he had the entire Dawn Group behind him.

Thinking this, Su Lun asked Qian and the others inside the little void realm.

Everyone naturally had no objections, and they were even looking forward to it.

They knew very well that when it came to survival capabilities, no one in the Dawn Group was stronger than Su Lun. With him leading the way into the depths, it was obviously safer.

This secret realm had already proven to be highly productive in various void materials, so they had to grab a share when they had the chance.@@novelbin@@

...

With the support of the Dawn Group members, Su Lun began to wait patiently.

The Academy ruins were currently full of people from the North Sea Fleet, most of whom were spatial ability users.

Even if he teleported there, there was almost a hundred percent chance he would be discovered.

So, he needed to wait for an opportunity.

Su Lun was very clear that almost every time a secret realm opened, the North Sea Fleet would bring in large supplies and slaves from outside.

That was when a large number of outsiders would come in, and it was the best opportunity to blend in.

Su Lun knew that the North Sea Fleet's supply runs almost always followed a fixed route, and even if they had been attacked before, they probably wouldn't change it.

Sure enough, after waiting another three days, eight pirate ships laden with supplies entered the secret realm.

It was also at midnight, as Su Lun watched the Milky Way fall from the sky, eight sailing ships descended from the sky into the sea.

Carrying a black umbrella, Su Lun quietly approached, and sensing inside, he found three of the ships' cabins were packed tightly with people. They were crammed into less than one-meter-high interlayers of the cabins, stuffed like barrels of wine.

This was a slave ship.

Taking advantage of the violent shaking as the ships hit the water, Su Lun teleported into a cabin in an instant and, without alarming anyone, absorbed a slave into his little void realm and took the person's place.

All the slaves wore slave collars and foul-smelling hessian hoods, meant to prevent them from memorizing the route of the secret realm.

This provided an excellent cover for Su Lun's actions. With a quick change of disguise, he donned the same outfit. The skin tone and whip marks he had prepared in advance made him indistinguishable from the slaves around him.

Perhaps sensing the subtle spatial fluctuations, a pirate came down to check the cabin but, finding nothing amiss, returned above deck.

After all, in this secret realm, some weak void creatures would occasionally run amok, so some spatial fluctuations weren't strange.

Su Lun curled up in a corner and kept silent.

This pirate fleet sailed directly into the main base on Ruins Island.