Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun rode his motorcycle at breakneck speed down Solomon Street before arriving at an inconspicuous rental property in the Franklin District.

After the commotion he had caused today, he had no plans to show his face or contact anyone.

It was best to hide for now, to prevent being found by certain special methods.

As for other matters, he would wait until the dust settled before addressing them.

Moreover, now that he had obtained "Lilith’s Vampire Ring," he intended to take this opportunity to advance to the sixth rank.

Once he ascended a major rank, his combat power would surge significantly, and he would be able to handle any unexpected event with far more ease.

...

In the room, Su Lun placed Crow Grandpa on the bed, catering to his every need with food and drink.

This was the most important "insurance" that could not be neglected.

He also sat on the sofa, exhaling a long breath of foul air.

His nerves had been on edge, and only now could he finally relax a bit.

Replaying all of today’s events in his mind, Su Lun had roughly sorted out the sequence of events, "Now that it’s confirmed that the mastermind is William the Younger, daring to scheme against the old monster Rodriguez, then Duke Raphael must have been involved. Their prediction of my actions was so accurate, it looks like the use of the ’Prism Barrier’ must have been by the remaining priests of the Temple of Aghaparnon..."

With the enemy’s identity confirmed, Su Lun felt more confident in his heart.

That William the Younger had killed him once before, and now he had come again... He must get rid of this guy once and for all to prevent future troubles.

William’s sixth-rank strength had once been daunting, but now he posed less of a threat to Su Lun. However, behind William was the once powerful Regadia family of the Magepha Kingdom, which could not be taken lightly.

To kill him, he needed to find a suitable opportunity.

As for Duke Raphael, that was a bit more troublesome.

This "Sixth Great Councilor" was subtly becoming the dominant force in the Senate, wielding enormous power, and the other longstanding aristocratic councilors could do nothing against him.

Moreover, throughout this incident, Duke Raphael had not left any handle to grab hold of, and there was no rationale to argue against.

However, Su Lun, a person who always took revenge for any grievance, had no interest in talking about reason or evidence.

But assassinating Duke Raphael was nearly impossible.

Even if he could kill him, apart from bringing a host of troubles on himself, there would be no substantial benefit.

Suddenly, Su Lun had an idea, a gleam in his eye, thinking, "I remember from the memories I stripped before, there was information about a secret mechanized war factory belonging to Raphael near ’Gold Digger Island’?"

At that thought, the pirate in him flared up with eagerness.

You scheme against me, and I take compensation—that’s fair, right?

This war factory, hidden in the barren sea, seemed to be a secret base much like "Old Lington," specializing in research on mechanical creatures like mechanical octopuses, and the key point was that its defensive forces were not very stringent!

Coincidentally, Su Lun felt that his own war workshop was lacking in various areas, and Raphael’s secret factory, after decades of research, was rich in materials, technology, and technicians...

Well, after the wedding blessing, he would go and strike at it!

With this plan in mind, Su Lun’s mood lifted considerably after having been outmaneuvered today.

And the fact that he was plotted against this time wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

With all the stir, those in the know probably figured out by now that "Death" was "Feike."

Which also meant that even if they knew he had nerve mechanical technology in his hands, there was no longer any purpose in pursuing him.

Because any rational person would assume that the technology had already fallen into the hands of the Lance family.

This was also one of the benefits Su Lun had gained by agreeing to the alliance through marriage.

Covered by the name of the marriage alliance, the Lance family would also have to shield him from some storms.

Su Lun thought that although Ekaterina was not exactly a friend, she was a very good ally.

...

But at the end of the day, everything rested on strength.

The next time he encountered such a conspiracy, if his strength were truly sufficient, he would make those schemers lose a few teeth.

Just as Su Lun was about to take a breather, suddenly, he sharply inhaled a breath of cold air, his gaze caught by the wound on his arm.

It was a wound inflicted by the "Dragon Slayer’s Dagger of Siegfried."

Normally such a minor injury would have already healed given his constitution, yet it was still bleeding profusely, swelling and showing signs of inflammation like an infection.

If it hadn’t been for the suturing with thread, he might have bled to death.

Now that he had the time, he finally tended to the wound.

Su Lun removed the thread that sewed the wound and discovered a mystical force inhibiting the healing.

He took out several high-grade cleansing potions and repeatedly washed the wound until that power finally began to dissipate.

It took more than a dozen bottles before the cleansing was complete. The wound then started to heal.

At that moment, Su Lun took another look at the dagger exuding a crimson luster and muttered, "This ’Dragon Dagger’ really is quite cursed."

Though called a dagger, it was more like a short sword.

Upon closer inspection, the glowing scarlet blade was etched with ancient and mystical patterns. Some were alchemical runes; some were the markings of metal forging, and then there were some special patterns that he could not recognize.

What was magical was that these special patterns couldn’t be seen with the right eye, they could only be vaguely seen as shadows with the all-knowing eye of the left.

"Such advanced inscription work, this must be the legendary god-level runes," Su Lun observed carefully, as if admiring a peerless treasure.

The inscriptions on this dagger gave him much inspiration.

It was like gazing at the twinkling stars in the night sky, unreachable but also an experience akin to looking up at the heavens.

He identified it as a "Fallen Magic Weapon."

But currently, it probably qualified as a ’Banned Artifact’ level of alchemical dagger.

Su Lun frowned, pondering with some difficulty, "This dagger needs to absorb the essence blood of higher beings to maintain its sharp effect. Augustus used it for daily killings, slowly achieving such sharpness. Maintaining it is not going to be easy."

Indeed, it was a demonic weapon.

The most common "higher beings" happen to be humans.

```

To maintain such almost sinister sharpness, one needed to kill every day.

The Rodriguez family would take it to execute prisoners in the various prisons of Lyndon, some of whom were high-rank prisoners who had been nurtured for decades to achieve the current level of sharpness.

Su Lun didn’t have such conditions.

He had already tried it just now, and even pouring blood bags over it was useless. It had to pierce living beings to get a faint BUFF enhancement.

He wasn’t a homicidal maniac, killing people every day just to maintain a weapon.

That meant, with the dagger in his possession, its blade would gradually become dull.

It really was a pity.

After all, setting aside dragon-slaying for the moment, it was a top-tier weapon that could harm seventh-rank professionals.

"I wonder if undead count as living beings?"

Su Lun thought of something.

If the undead could also maintain the dagger, that would be great.

Although the cost was a bit higher, it was still acceptable.

He planned to slowly try it out in the future.

Moreover, the dagger had a special effect, the higher the level of the being it killed, the greater the temporary enhancement to its sharpness.

When Su Danglun looked at the dagger’s identification, there was also a description that read, "Imbibe Divine Blood, restore the light of the artifact," his thoughts became lively.

A look of anticipation appeared in Su Lun’s eyes as he thought, "Does this mean that using ’Divine Blood’ to temporarily enchant it will have miraculous effects on the dagger?"

"Active Divine Blood" is something others certainly don’t have, and it might not even exist in the entire realm.

Because this is a realm with shattered laws, it is impossible for truly divine creatures to exist.

But Su Lun had some!

Each member of the Mirror Organization had a piece of a Fallen Angel’s limb, a true artifact of a True God.

Although his own heart had been crafted into a prosthesis, Mr. Jing still had some "Divine Blood" in stock.

And the Divine Fire of this Fallen Angel had been merged by Pestoya; theoretically, this Fallen Angel wasn’t dead yet!

Its blood, might just have miraculous effects on the dagger.

Thinking this, Su Lun also felt the dagger in his hands would definitely be of great use in the future.

...

The next morning was clear and sunny.

The rumble of the first steam intercity train passing through the streets outside woke Su Lun from his meditation.

He opened his eyes and looked at the azure-tinted sky outside the window, his eyes shining with vigor.

One night’s meditation not only had healed his wounds from yesterday’s battle, but had also assimilated the knowledge he had reaped.

"Phew~ the haul this time is truly no small affair..."

Su Lun felt a satisfaction with his knowledge intake that he had never experienced before.

The battle yesterday had reaped the likes of Augustus and those one or two hundred Golden Knights, a volume of knowledge so vast he felt he had only just finished digesting it.

The old monster need not be mentioned; this old creature, who had lived for more than a century, was incomparable in terms of both experience and alchemy knowledge.

However, after being stuck at the threshold of the seventh rank and knowing he couldn’t break through, the old monster had delved more into power and strategy.

Still, for alchemy below the seventh rank, he had thoroughly researched almost every field he could touch.

While he didn’t understand knowledge above the seventh rank, he had some contact with it.

This gave Su Lun an enormous advantage, immediately feeling as though his knowledge had doubled.

Especially in some high-level secret areas, it was an eye-opening experience.

He also had a clearer understanding of the various corrupt behaviors in Luying’s upper-class society.

And those one or two hundred Golden Knights also made Su Lun feel that the harvest was immense.

[Golden Spear Legion Battle Array], [Golden Shield Legion Battle Array], [Dragon-Slaying Battle Array], [The Essentials of Seventy-Two Transformations], [Potion Bath Secret Recipe], [Golden Armor Forging Blueprints]... and so on.

This "Golden Shield Heavy Armored Knight Legion" is one of Luying’s top legions and a noble legion passed down by the Rodriguez family for centuries.

Stay updated with NovelBin.Côm

It is said to have evolved from the training methods of some ancient Dragon Knight legion.

Su Lun digested some of those memories and it indeed was the case.

This kind of group charge was indeed effective against single large-scale magical beasts and top-level professionals. All sorts of formation tactics were also centered around charging and filling gaps: changing breath, disrupting, replenishing upon exhaustion, nearly every tactic considered aspects of combat.

Normally, the combat power of those three hundred knights was completely sufficient to stand against one or two seventh-rank professionals without losing, there was even a possibility of killing them.

Theoretically, as long as the average rank of the force was high enough, slaying dragons was feasible.

Su Lun broke out in cold sweat just thinking about it.

The fighting power of these elite knights couldn’t be compared to a ragtag bunch of pirates; three hundred knights were enough to charge through tens of thousands of pirates and come out unscathed.

If it weren’t for the [Storm Hammer], he really wouldn’t have been able to win!

The "Battle Array Techniques" are the closely guarded secrets of Luying’s great legions, these are intangible assets accumulated by the great families through centuries of actual combat.

All of these could be directly applied to the puppet legion.

Legion battle arrays truly are the most effective means of turning numerical advantage into quality combat power!

Having reaped this knowledge, Su Lun immediately had the idea of creating a Golden Heavy Armored Puppet Legion.

He had a large quantity of third and fourth-rank puppets, as well as fifth and sixth-rank mechanical armor. If he could rely on these low-rank forces to surround and kill top-tier professionals, the puppet legion’s combat power would be truly terrifying!

And then there was that knowledge.

The conditions Rodriguez family set for recruiting family knights were extremely strict, all were elites among their peers.

These noble knights mostly had experiences studying at various Alchemy Academies. After a thorough reaping, a large amount of diverse knowledge was collected.

This was the most satisfying reaping for Su Lun to date.

....

As Su Lun pondered, the cries of newsboys selling newspapers rang out from downstairs.

```

```

He opened the window and tossed out a few coins, exchanging them for several newspapers.

As expected, upon flipping through them, he found himself on the front page once again.

The headline in the Queen’s Metropolitan Daily read: Notorious Criminal ’Death’ terrorizes Lyndon, murders high-ranking nobles, with grievous and heinous crimes.

The headline in the Lyndon Daily News read: ’Death’ appears in Queen’s District, battles Lyndon’s major gangs, and exposes noble consuming young girl’s blood on site;

The newspapers backed by different patrons framed the stories in various tones.

The Rodriguez family’s newspaper naturally condemned him, but conveniently omitted any mention of Augustus’s affairs.

Whereas, the Lyndon Daily News, backed by the Lances family, published in detail the photographs Su Lun had taken of Augustus in his deformed state drinking the blood of the young girls in that other-dimensional space.

Augustus, in his desperate bid for life extension, had gangs kidnap a large number of young female professionals, which caused an uproar.

Yesterday, Su Lun had all the surviving girls he rescued handed over to the Lances family by Sabina’s people.

Now with photographs and survivors as evidence, one can imagine how troubled the Rodriguez family must be.

Political opponents would not miss such an opportunity; surely, Lyndon’s political landscape is bound to undergo considerable upheaval.

Su Lun didn’t concern himself with those matters beyond his influence; he quickly skimmed through all the newspapers and found a piece of news that was of interest to him: Class S wanted criminal ’Hell’s Judge’ Jerome Offaster, brutally murdered thousands, now wanted citywide!

Although the black and white photograph was somewhat blurry, Su Lun immediately recognized the figure in the form of a flame demon as the Old Cowboy.

However, it appeared not to be in the same state of secondary death he was in when Su Lun left the day before but rather in a more exaggerated form of a demon overlord.

It was unknown how many deaths it took to become like that.

Su Lun also breathed a sigh of relief: "The old man’s not dead yet."

After reading the content on the newspaper carefully, he learned that the Old Cowboy, after holding off the ’Punishment Lawyer’ Emo for him yesterday, had returned to Parrot Street and nearly wiped out those gang members.

And before the newspaper went to print last night, he also staged bloody raids on the headquarters of ’Sun Slave Trading Company,’ ’Narwhal Corporation,’ and several other major slave trading firms.

Su Lun looked at the death list, seeing several major slave traders and arms dealers killed, which is why the commotion was so great.

Only then did Su Lun understand why the Old Cowboy said, "Many people will die."

Such slaughter was probably related to his abilities.

...

Having read the newspapers, Su Lun had now a general idea of yesterday’s aftermath.

Sabina hadn’t reached out to him, indicating there were no particularly important matters.

At that point, he took out the [Lilith’s Vampire] ring.

There had just been a big commotion; it was definitely time to lay low for a few days, so he might as well advance to the next stage.

This rental apartment was secure enough.

Three blocks away was the National Library, where Mr. Hei resided.

If someone did come knocking, there would be immediate support available.

It was also the place Su Lun had specifically chosen as his hideout.

```

After a night of recovery, and in fine form, Su Lun assessed the success rate of fusing curse materials, which was 1.5 percentage points higher than yesterday.

This increase in probability was probably due to the digestion of that knowledge and a deeper understanding of the laws.

With Dr. Banks’ potion as back-up, the chance of mutation was less than 8%, certainly worth a try.

Su Lun placed Grandfather Crow on the balcony, cleared the bed, made some space, and began to set up the advancement alchemy formation.

The alchemy formation needed for advancement to the sixth rank was extremely complex, and professional fifth rankers at this stage would usually need to enlist some master-level Array Masters for assistance in setting it up.

But for Su Lun, this was not a difficult task, and he had prepared all the materials well in advance.

Ultrapure crystals obtained from the Hai Xu, top-quality red copper, mithril, and agate powder purchased from the Lyndon alchemy market, and seventh-rank magical beast blood as a blending agent...

Everything was the best available material, virtually eliminating the possibility of failure due to materials.

Before long, he had finished setting up the Seven-Pointed Star Formation for occupational advancement.

Then, standing naked in the center of the formation, Su Lun put on the Vampire Ring and murmured the ritualistic universal alchemy incantation: "Abiding by the law of equivalent exchange, praise the glory of the original creator, and witness the miracle of creation through alchemy..."

Instantly, the alchemy formation lit up.

...

The real turmoil caused by Su Lun’s killing of Augustus was far more tumultuous than what was reported in the newspapers.

From last night until now, Lyndon was seething with secret commotions amongst the royal family, intelligence agencies, police departments, and various other major and minor powers.

In the Lokwarren River, countless corpses were submerged overnight.

Rodriguez was still in disarray from his ancestor’s assassination; William from the Régadie family was investigating who the "Big Shot" that had obstructed the official action was; Duke Raphael was busy taking advantage of the vacated parliamentary seats, drafting a new armament bill; intelligence agencies and Lyndon police departments were busy chasing down murderers...

While Lyndon’s factions were in a chaotic mess, Yekaterina had already arrived by motorcycle in front of an unassuming villa in the south of the city.

After she got off the motorcycle, she adjusted her black long skirt, making sure nothing was out of place, before heading toward the house.

Without any attendants, Yekaterina climbed the steps and rang the doorbell.

"Ding dong~"

The doorbell rang out, and a middle-aged woman with the appearance of a housekeeper opened the door, making a welcoming gesture, and said, "Oh, Miss Yekaterina, you’ve arrived~ please, come in. The master is waiting for you on the second floor for a game of chess."

"Mhm."

Yekaterina nodded politely to the housekeeper before entering the house.

There were no other servants inside, and the decoration was plain. However, the piles of books gave the impression that the owner of the house was a very learned individual.

Perhaps due to the old man’s aversion to the cold, even during the day, wood crackled and burned in the fireplace.

Walking further in, the very moment Yekaterina stepped onto the staircase leading up, she noticed an unusual fluctuation in her state of mind.

Since entering the Saint Realm, she had never before experienced such uncertain, wandering thoughts.

The flicker of strangeness quickly subdued, she composedly continued up the stairs.

Upon reaching the top, she saw an old man with white whiskers beside a small table, by the bed, completely engrossed in the endgame on the chessboard.

A trace of unusual color flashed and disappeared in the depths of Yekaterina’s eyes.

She hadn’t expected that the old man, who had refused visitors for several years, would agree to her request for a personal meeting.

At the same time, the old man also looked over, the wise turbidity in his eyes kindling with a gentle smile as he called out, "Katya, come, play a game with this old man."

Hearing this call, Yekaterina felt as though she had returned to ten years ago, that naive little girl who followed her father on a visit, only to turn the old man’s study upside down.

She responded with a beaming smile, "Alright, Grandpa Pierre."

....

The housekeeper brought in some tea,

Katya sat across from the old man, and the two of them set up the chess pieces and began to play.

On the black and white board, the individually crafted crystal chess pieces fell one by one with a crisp sound.

Time was leisurely and tranquil.

The young and the old, taking turns in their moves.

Yekaterina was playing with utmost seriousness.

Her pretty face sometimes furrowed in deep thought, sometimes lit with joy, sometimes pursing her lips at a bad move she made... looking every bit the carefree young girl.

In the presence of this old man, she had no pretenses.

After one game, another followed.

Yekaterina showed no impatience, she carefully watched and chatted with the old man about some trivial matters.

But most of the time, she listened quietly, while the elder spoke at a measured pace.

"The girl’s chess skills have been getting better... not bad, not bad, concealing her sharpness, planning for the long term. Although a woman, her skill in chess is unrivaled."

"You flatter me, Grandpa."

"I saw that young man yesterday, Girl, your judgment is indeed not bad."

"Katya didn’t expect that you would help him, either."

"Ha-ha, it’s rare to encounter a decent young man. Besides, even if I didn’t help, it wouldn’t matter to him. It was just lending a hand when it flows with the current."

"≧◠◡◠≦."

"By the way, Katya, how’s your great-grandmother doing lately?"

"She... has passed away."

"How come you never mentioned it? Oh, I should have paid my respects when such an old friend of this decrepit old man departed."

"I’m sorry, Grandpa. Great-grandma took a trip to Mountain Hermit, she said it was to meet an old friend. The family didn’t want outsiders to know, so we didn’t tell anyone."

"Oh, I see. Then I know who it is... I almost forgot, back in her Academy days, she was quite close to a boy from a commoner family. Back then, she made many of us in the Academy quite envious. Never thought that after so many years, she still remembered."

"Before great-grandma went to Mountain Hermit, she said what she couldn’t bear to part with were a few old friends in Lyndon. She did mention wanting to see you, but the thought that it might be for the last time made her hesitant, so she decided not to and left simply."

"Hmm, that’s in line with her character."

"Ah... Great-grandma also told me some secrets. She said that, in your youth, Grandpa Pierre, you dueled for her honor. And then, you got beaten up."

"Ha-ha-ha, she told you all these embarrassing stories? Oh, I remember that was over eighty years ago, in the summer of the Luying Calendar 915..."

"Alas, with her departure, there’s even less in this world for this old man to reminisce about. Friends have gradually left, one after another, like someone pulling threads of attachment from your life until, at the end, there seems to be nothing left to hold on to."

"Girl, you won’t find this old man’s ramblings bothersome, will you?"

"Not at all. Grandpa Pierre, do you want to know a secret?"

"Oh, do tell?"

"When I was little, I secretly read Great-grandma’s diary. She wrote in her diary that you were handsome."

"Really? Oh, if only I had known earlier, I would’ve been reckless."

"But, she also said she didn’t like you, too. Because you didn’t understand poetry. And she said that the world in your eyes was too lofty, out of everyone’s reach."

"Ha-ha-ha..."

"..."

As he laughed, the elder’s eyes glistened with moisture.

Unconsciously, amidst their conversation, he looked back on his entire life.

Now that he thought about it, the memories that remained clear were only those of a few old friends.

As they talked, the old man abruptly changed the subject, casually asking, "Girl, I remember, ten years ago, right here in this study, you said you wanted to become a great poet. What about now, do you still wish to be a poet?"

Hearing this, Yekaterina thought for a moment before responding seriously, "Of course, dreams don’t change. But... before that, I think I will become a great Empress."

The old man, upon hearing a declaration that would certainly shock outsiders, wasn’t surprised, he raised his white eyebrows with interest and said, "Oh?"

Yekaterina tilted her head in thought, then continued, "Because only strong power can create an even stronger empire."

The old man saw something in her, and with another laugh, said, "But why have you wavered again?"

Yekaterina didn’t hide the momentary surge in her heart, and said, "It seems that in a sudden instant, I realized that even the most powerful empires would crumble, and only the continuity of civilization truly holds meaning. Even if countless years later, the dust of history has covered it, it cannot erase the brilliant shine of civilization."

Wisdom flickered in the elder’s eyes, and he gave a slight smile.

Before entering the room, Yekaterina had been somewhat apprehensive.

But now, her mind was as still as water.

She didn’t know why her thoughts had changed.

The goal hadn’t changed, but her state of mind had.

But it seemed that, hearing the elder speak of the past, she envisioned herself many years from now, sitting here with white hair, playing chess and discussing her life with a young person whose identity she didn’t know.

At that time, when she looked back on a lifetime, what would she remember?

The old man just said, "The only memories that still come clearly are those of a few old friends."

Listening to this, Pierre’s face also showed a kind and satisfied smile. After pondering for a moment, he finally spoke, "Girl, before I die, I would like to take on a disciple."

He paused for a moment, then, looking at Yekaterina, asked, "Would you like to be my disciple?"

Yekaterina, as if she had anticipated something, stood up solemnly and performed a bow as a student to a teacher, "Teacher."

With that bow, the landscape of Luying was forever altered.