Mechanical Alchemist

In the cellar, Su Lun and four other powerhouses from different planes looked at the sudden descent of divine will, each wearing a solemn expression.

They had all once signed contracts with this demon god and traded destinies.

Facing the approach of their creditor, naturally, they all felt a bit uneasy.

But all five had touched the peak of human strength, and even before gods, they were not as lost as ordinary people.

Su Lun, an alchemist, believed only in truth and had no particular reverence. The others clung to their own divine faiths, holding only a reverence of power toward foreign gods.

In the presence of this unfathomable existence, they each used their own methods to probe.

The will had descended into the cellar, appearing like a mysterious figure cloaked in a mantle.

It wasn't the entity itself but a sliver of its will.

Others might not have noticed, but through Su Lun's All-knowing Eye, the ineffable will seemed to be attached to a rat.

His guess was indeed correct—the demon god was in dire straits, and the rat had come by burrowing in such a primitive manner.

However, it was just this one glance that caused Su Lun to immediately recoil his gaze, his hair standing on end.

Because in that instant,

he saw true "great terror,"

and his entire soul shuddered along with it!

Su Lun had witnessed the descent of divine will more than once and had even seen the actual divinity and divine fire of lesser gods. Although he knew the vast gulf between the ninth rank and the divine rank was indescribable, from a cosmic rule perspective, he was no stranger to the divine rank.

It was like a person at the foot of a mountain peering at a peak through the clouds—even shrouded in mist, one could still make out its form somewhat.

Yet, that look had revealed a completely incomprehensible "indescribable."

That glance was like beholding the vast ocean, while he was merely a speck of dust, an indescribable existence.

This was a height that one couldn't even see when looking up.

Even attached to a rat, it had the power to destroy worlds.

If it was beyond comprehension even with Su Lun's current understanding, then there was only one possibility: "A higher god!"

He was deeply terrified.

This was the most horrifying being he had encountered so far.

Su Lun immediately dismissed the naive thoughts he had before coming here.

He had thought that if it were a lesser god, he might entertain some other ideas. Now, those thoughts vanished in an instant.

...

The same held true for the other four in the cellar. After probing with their own means, each was likewise stunned on the spot.

Su Lun knew it was probably the intention of the demon god to intimidate them, but no matter how you looked at it, if this deity decided to kill everyone in the cellar, it would probably be done in the blink of an eye.

The tense atmosphere instead became utterly hollow, and they all found a kind of resignation to face death.

At that moment, the pale-faced youth bowed and said, "Great demon god, we have come as per the contract. May I ask what we need to do?"

He spoke quite straightforwardly.

After all, they were not the demon god's followers or servants; this was a trade.

The demon god glanced at them and didn't beat around the bush, saying directly, "I need you to do something for me."

The words carried an authority that seemed to strike right into one's soul, repeatedly compelling one to kneel and worship.

Upon hearing this, no one was surprised.

At their level, not even death could truly instill fear, and they all remained composed.

However, it was clear that everyone was curious about what task they were to undertake.

No one spoke, and an eerie silence fell upon the cellar.

Su Lun detached himself from any emotional fluctuations, listening quietly.

His face showed an expression that said, 'If you're not panicking, neither am I.'

He knew that someone else would be more anxious than him.

Because... for the others, it was a one-way ticket, and they couldn't return now.

But Su Lun had memorized the route to get here, and although spatial displacement across planes would most likely result in death for him, there was still a glimmer of hope.

The other four had no hope at all.

As expected, the silence didn't last long.

Finally, the centaur Makamul could no longer hold back and spoke, "Forgive my ignorance, but why do you, a mighty high god who could do anything with the flick of a finger, need to summon us, these insignificant lower beings?"

Perhaps the deities from the divine realm have grown accustomed to dealing with gods, so Makamul spoke with a very humble posture.

This kind of sincere awe could not be feigned.

However, Su Lun had no belief in gods, so his expression didn't show the slightest change.

Yet, to the others watching from the side, this scenario raised questions: Even when faced with such a terrifying entity, did this "newcomer" not display a trace of reverence on his face?

The demon god's tone revealed no fluctuation and he didn't intend to explain, stating directly, "Since you have all once used my power, it's good to complete the contract exchange. I will send you out in a moment. All you need to do is to never reveal my existence at any time, then kill Pharaoh Cleopatra, who guards the tomb, to obtain the 'Key to Immortality', and open the gates of the tomb..."

The tomb?

Upon these words, the gazes of the five people in the cellar were filled with different emotions.

Su Lun's mind also began to work at high speed.

This matter of the tomb and killing the Pharaoh, one would know just by listening that it was bound to be deadly; otherwise, it wouldn't have remained unaccomplished for tens of thousands of years.

The key point was, up to now, he had no external intelligence at all, he didn't even know where he was.

But clearly, that wasn't the most important thing.

The important thing was, if by some luck they do survive and complete the task, what then?

Upon this thought, silence fell over the cellar once again.

Su Lun could remain calm, but the other few were more eager to grasp at a sliver of survival.

Then, the barbarian Ralph mustered his courage and said in a deep voice, "May I ask the great demon god, once this is done, will our contract be over? Can we return to our original realm?"

They were here to fulfill a contract indeed, but they weren't to be enslaved to a heretical demon god for eternity.

Even if raising this question risked offending and enraging the god, it had to be asked clearly first.

Su Lun felt the same way.

Before doing anything, it was essential to eliminate potential problems.

All five originally thought something untoward might happen, yet to their surprise, the demon god agreed very decisively: "Yes."

Saying so, as if to alleviate their worries, a contract appeared in front of each of them, with an additional clause added: Upon completion of the task, the contract would be terminated.

Seeing this, the five of them simultaneously relaxed.

With no worries left behind, they could give their all to fulfilling the contract.

At that moment, the demon god reminded them, "After you go out, you will assume the identity of slaves building the tomb; no one can help you. Find a way to get close to the Sun Temple, then kill Pharaoh Cleopatra. From your perspective, the Pharaoh is a 'Demigod.' It won't be difficult for the five of you to kill her if you work together."

Listening to this plan,

They inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

Was it only to kill a Demigod?

Although they didn't understand why the demon god wouldn't take action himself, the five of them clearly had some confidence.

...

After the demon god gave a few more admonitions, the surroundings suddenly darkened into complete blackness.

Then, as if through Spatial Displacement, the gloomy cellar transformed into a wooden prison cell?

"An airship?"

Su Lun sensed the surrounding space and discovered that he had appeared in a room resembling a prison cell.

And the entire cell was actually within the cabin of a large ship?

Putting aside how this ship could fly in the sky, he was more astonished that the Spatial Coordinates he left in the cellar were now incredibly remote, estimating... tens of thousands of miles underground?

Before he could figure out what was going on, his attention was immediately drawn to a feeling of "weakness."

Looking down, he saw that his hands and neck were locked with chains that were like gold but not gold.

"A slave collar? Anti-Magic Runes?"

Su Lun understood at a glance what the runes on the collar were for, and his mind, blessed by the God Profaner, quickly started to work: "Ninth-tier light binding Anti-Magic Rune, solidifying the 'Solar Burst' spell, will explode immediately if forcefully opened... Three million six hundred thousand methods of breaking it, not too difficult."

This slave collar wasn't a complete magic seal, but rather a sort of limiter valve, preventing the slaves from unleashing too much power.

With this thing, Su Lun estimated that he could at most use one-tenth of his original combat strength.

It restricted combat strength, yet not the strength for labor.

The demon god had mentioned before that someone would deliver the key to them at the right time.

Telling them to wait for the opportunity.

But this level of rune encryption was hardly a challenge for Su Lun at this point.

For an alchemist, all systems of runes were essentially variations of cosmic rules and laws; as long as one could see through the patterns, a solution could be found.

Although this was definitely a divine plane, setting a mousetrap did not require a bear trap.

To an alchemist's eyes, the encryption of this slave collar was equivalent to a challenge for a ninth-rank alchemist.

For Su Lun, it was even easier.

The slave collar posed no threat, so he didn't give it much thought.

While decrypting and figuring out how to unlock it in his head, he also turned his gaze to the other prisoners in the jail.

The battlesaint Jay, the centaur Makamul, the barbarian Ralph, the Dragon Maiden Masia... the four he had met before were now also caged, wearing collars.

Su Lun also realized that this was a slave ship.

The few of them who were ninth-rank had separate cells, while the rest, ranging from fourth to seventh rank, crammed the hold like sweet potatoes in a cellar. There were no ordinary people among the slaves.

A wooden ship that holds several hundred thousand people?

How is that possible?

Su Lun noticed that not only was the ship astonishingly large, but it was also packed with an extreme number of people.

He raised his hand and summoned a crow, which silently appeared in the hold and then stealthily flew out.

The few next to him saw his movement but said nothing.

Through the eyes of the crow, Su Lun saw the world outside, and he was utterly astonished.

Their ship was indeed in the sky, with several other massive ships nearby.

But what surprised him was not this, but the world of endless desert sands before his eyes.

An infinite expanse of desert.

Yet more astonishing were the countless pyramids of various sizes erected in the sands.

The smaller pyramids were several kilometers tall, with the largest in view towering tens of thousands of meters high, still under construction!

If he weren't flying in the sky, the view would have been blocked by a wall reaching up to the heavens.

And in the sky, there were three suns!

Even within the ship's hold, they could feel the rolling waves of hot air assailing them.

...

Before long, the massive floating ship suddenly descended and landed with a thunderous impact.

Millions of slaves from several ships were herded out of the hold.

Observing the bustling Pyramid construction in the distance, Su Lun knew what the job of these war slaves would be.

However, what he hadn't expected was, "This is not a high-tier plane?"

Su Lun carefully sensed the constraints on the laws between heaven and earth and found them to be almost as limited as the broken plane of Alchemy.

Which meant this plane could not accommodate god-rank beings.

Further identified through the All-knowing Eye, the entire world was under a "prohibition of the gods" he couldn't understand.

Su Lun also realized why the god-demon hadn't taken action personally.

He couldn't come here.

But things were not so simple.

The constraints on the world's laws were not high, but the pyramids, identified by the second-layer All-knowing Eye, were marked with "***".

Meaning there were secrets beyond god-rank hidden within!

"What kind of place is this..."

Su Lun's mind was full of doubts.

Graves?

Could they be tombs for burying gods?

Though Su Lun didn't understand the purpose of those pyramids, seeing them spread out like stars across a chessboard, he had a vague hunch that they might conform to some kind of outrageously high-standard formation.

As he thought this, he followed the long line of slaves towards the construction area of the pyramids.

On the side of the road, there were overseers with brown skin who, probably finding the slaves walking too slowly, lashed out with "crackling" whips.

The whips struck the slaves, instantly activating the runes on their collars. The whips turned into flames the moment they made contact, scorching the slaves entirely.

Higher-grade slaves might just get left with a charred mark from a lash, but those of the fourth or fifth grade would practically ignite with a single strike, turning to ash in the blink of an eye.

Scenes like this played out continuously, with the overseers showing no concern for the lives of the slaves.

After all, this time around, a million new slaves had been brought in, and within this area alone, there were hundreds of millions of slaves!

As Su Lun walked with the slave column, he mused to himself, "Just how powerful must a civilization be to gather so many slaves for constructing tombs?"

It wasn't long before he saw a figure with the head of a crocodile and the body of a man among the exalted group of builders.

It looked like a minor leader of sorts, around the eighth rank.

With a glance, he identified the name that came up: [Tares Divine Race].

All at once, some scattered information came to Su Lun's mind.

In the knowledge he had harvested in the divine plane, he had heard of this race, which seemed to be a powerful clan that worshipped the sun god.

But that was the extent of the information he had.

Looking at the three suns in the sky, Su Lun was pensive.

....

Slaves were here to work, not to take a vacation.

No sooner had Su Lun arrived with the million slaves than they were driven to an area piled high with stone bars resembling a dock.

These were stones for constructing the pyramids.

The world here was all desert; where these stones came from was anyone's guess.

But Su Lun was slightly taken aback upon seeing these stones.

Because these were no ordinary stones, they were identified as the legendary [Asgardian God Stones]!

These stones had numerous excellent properties, such as absorbing energy, durability, wear-resistance, and immortality... Normally, even divine ranks would struggle to destroy them.

Su Lun was surprised because the "Black Tower" in Old Lington had been constructed from these very stones!

"Good stuff..."

Looking over the countless stones scattered around, Su Lun began to ponder, how strong would a city built from these stones be?

The stones themselves were packed with ultra-dense earth elements; if stuffed into a mini-void, couldn't entire continents be created from scratch?

The stones in front of him seemed endless, and now being used to build pyramids, they clearly had other wonderful uses as well.

The slaves were hurried into starting their work.

The [Asgardian God Stones] weighed about a hundred times more than ordinary stones, with a small piece weighing several hundred tons.

The lower-rank slaves would pool their efforts in the hundreds to transport a single stone bar, while the higher-grade slaves, alone or in small groups, handled one each.

Su Lun, being ninth-rank, was assigned a massive stone bar weighing tens of thousands of tons by the overseer which he carried alone, joining the seemingly endless line of workers transporting stones.

Jey the Battle Saint, the centaur Makamul, the barbarian Ralph, and the Dragon Maiden Masia were also thus employed as stone transports.

However, it wasn't long before Su Lun noticed changes in his attribute panel and identified a problem: "As I suspected, a mystical force is absorbing life span..."

He had noticed this when disembarking from the ship but thought it was due to environmental factors.

But now, after getting closer to the pyramids while hauling the stones, he was certain that his life was accelerating towards its end.

Even doing nothing, life span was draining at twice the rate, and after physical labor, life span depleted several times faster.

Su Lun had been puzzled as to why so many slaves were needed to construct the pyramids, fearing it would take tens of thousands of years to complete at such a rate.

Now, it seemed that it wasn't just labor they needed but the slaves' life spans.

Once Su Lun realized this, with the All-knowing Eye, he observed wisps of special filaments evaporating from each slave before converging into each of the pyramids...