Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun and another had taken a merchant ship bound for Gadronte Harbor, exactly where Mr. Jing needed to change to a cruise or buy a ship, as he was heading to Xenodia Province, a neutral area between two great empires.

They asked Mr. Hei about the itinerary of his team; they had also docked and were shifting to land transportation, heading northward.

After all, traveling on the "Wind Chaser," a pirate ship, would involve many troubles.

It would take about two to three more days.

That was roughly when Su Lun and his companions would arrive.

Su Lun himself also planned to visit the northern ice fields; he needed experience and to broaden his knowledge.

The original family of Lei, located in the southern part of the Luying Empire, wasn't a place Su Lun intended to stir trouble in the short term.

The northern ice fields, quite distant, were a great choice.

Moreover, he was also preparing for his advancement to the third tier.

Although spiritual power was sparse on the surface, he possessed Isaac's Alchemical Heart, akin to carrying a source of dark spiritual power with him, fully meeting his cultivation needs. His spiritual power was also steadily increasing, and it was just a matter of time before meeting the advancement requirements of the golden material "Life Usurper's Tricolor Mask".

Furthermore, he needed to gather some rare materials for his third-tier alchemical implant.

Visiting Gadronte, the largest trading territory in the northern part of the Luying Empire, would be a good opportunity to try his luck.

Su Lun had now learned the Secret Technique of Spiritual Power, and his direction for third-tier advancement was "Multi-Heart Multi-Utility," leaning towards spiritual power manipulation.

Thus, he planned to develop a special implant that had high compatibility with his newly awakened abilities—the "Spiritual Tentacles."

This was the same ability that Pestoia used to control him and Bald Ivan's bodies when he first traveled through time and arrived at Storm Manor.

Previously unaware of the method, Su Lun now understood it was a form of mental manipulation.

Using spiritual threads to block the transmission of neural signals and convey his own will to control another's body.

The Puppeteer's methods were deemed eerie not only because of their ability to create various strange rune puppets but more so because of some mysterious spiritual control Secret Techniques.

Using his mentor Sereia's words: Is a puppet merely a clumsy tool? Controlling dead puppets is but the basics; mastering the live ones is advancement, until, in the end, everything within sight becomes a puppet!

These mental manipulation techniques would complement Su Lun's shortcomings in puppet control.

Moreover, since he had stripped away fragments of the forensic doctor Gerald's memories and had studied his "Anatomy Notes" carefully, Su Lun now had an almost intuitive understanding of various human neural transmissions.

Once the implant was complete, he could immediately form combat capabilities.

By then, the power of puppetry techniques like "Puppet Theater" would tremendously increase.

Su Lun would no longer need to physically control everything manually, wrestling with people.

Now directly transmitting spiritual power through threads, achieving both physical and mental control effortlessly, he could manipulate human bodies.

Even in the future,

as long as he had enough understanding of the neural signal transmission of a target, not only humans but even magical beasts, aberrations...

theoretically, anything could be controlled.

This was also, after deep consideration and combining his own circumstances, the implant Su Lun felt was most suitable for his third-tier advancement.

After advancement, his strength would surge significantly!

However, although he had obtained the forging blueprint for the implant from Sereia, the primary materials were extremely rare.

He needed a brain of about third-tier level, complete and fresh, from spiritual power creatures like "Nightmare Spider," "Evil Eye," or "Nightmare Octopus," the higher the quality, the better.

He had found these targets as possible options in the scrolls, but among all the memories he had harvested, no one had ever seen one.

Therefore, trying his luck in a place rich in magical beasts like the northern ice fields was the best option.

A legend says that in the depths of the Silent Forest's primeval forest, some ancient species thought to be extinct in the outer world are discovered every year...

....

Since learning that Su Lun was a "genuine" Rune Master, the fur trader Benson and his son Jake became very hospitable. In the surface world, a teacher is one of the most respected professions among civilians.

Even for meals, they would specially send someone to invite Su Lun.

After all, considering it was a "rescue," it was tough to decline the shipowner's invitation, so Su Lun graciously accepted.

Through casual conversation at the dinner table, Su Lun also learned some situations about the surface world.

The Benson family was considered middle-class among the civilians of the imperial capital of the Luying Empire.

The "Silent Forest" in the north region is abundant with various magical beast furs. These furs are luxury items in the Empire's capital, highly sought after for making alchemical scrolls and clothing. A single trip could garner a gross profit of around thirty-five million rixes, and after taxes and labor costs, the net profit would be around ten million rixes.

One could make two or three trips a year.

However, occasionally encountering pirates could lead to a total loss.

Benson, too, had made a considerable fortune over the years through his own efforts and was a well-known wealthy merchant among the fur traders in the capital.

And Su Lun's extensive knowledge had left a very good impression on Benson and his son.

However, Su Lun didn't know why, but he sometimes felt a subtle hostility emanating from Marian, Benson's quite attractive second wife.

And then there was Raman, the captain of the guard.

....

That day, the port city of Gadronte was in sight from afar.

On the deck, Su Lun was enjoying the sea breeze, gazing into the distance.

His companion, Gerald, was earnestly taking notes, meticulously recording the questions he had just asked.

Every day, Su Lun would enjoy the breeze on the deck.

The fresh sea wind helped him digest the knowledge he had just taken in.

Gerald was very studious, and took this opportunity to politely ask about alchemy knowledge.

Su Lun thought this young boy had good learning potential and explained patiently.

With less than an hour left to reach the port, and without such a great teacher after disembarking, Gerald seemed somewhat melancholic.

He carefully placed his notebook in his vest pocket and mimicked Su Lun by leaning over the edge of the deck, his feet dangling in the air due to his short stature.

Gerald expressed, "Mr. Nicholas, you really know everything. If I could hire you as a private tutor, I would have a great chance of getting into 'The Imperial Royal War Academy.'

Su Lun smiled, but said nothing.

Gerald's eyes twinkled like stars as he continued, "You know, it's my dream to get into the Royal Academy. Every year, the entire Empire has less than five thousand new student slots. After deducting the eighty percent reserved for noble students, we commoners need very high entrance scores to get in. It's truly the highest institution that only the elites can attend..."

"Hmm."

Su Lun listened with interest, occasionally nodding with a smile.

Gerald had brought him up to speed on a lot of common knowledge about the terrestrial world.

The best educational resources in this world belong to the offspring of nobles, yet there are some chances left for commoners.

Nobles are admitted without examinations, whereas commoners need one-in-ten-thousand talent and high tuition fees.

Gerald was accustomed to this class disparity and spoke without a tone of complaint.

He was a boy with dreams, filled with aspirations for that highest institution, saying, "If I could get in, I would have access to the top masters, the best resources. The Royal Academy campus also houses many buildings from a thousand years ago during the era of the 'Atlia Empire', and the library contains the richest collection of books in the world! Various rare and lone editions, manuscripts from masters, and documents unearthed from ancient civilizations... like Roger Bacon, Clemont, Ramon Lure, Theofrast von Hornheim... manuscripts from alchemists of various eras."

Su Lun listened to these widely acclaimed names in the field of alchemy and nodded in agreement.

The Luying Empire had existed for over eight hundred years, and the Bonapartes' royal collection of documents was unimaginably vast.

This discussion really piqued Su Lun's interest.

If we're talking about acquiring alchemical knowledge, there really is no better place than the Royal Academy.

With instruction from Seraya, he now clearly understood the direction for his future advancement, certainly needing a vast amount of knowledge as a stepping-stone to reach the pinnacle of alchemy.

However, the imperial capital is a place brimming with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, gathering the topmost professionals of the entire empire.

The key is that the original owner's Legarde family seemed to have a mansion there…

A thought briefly flashed through Su Lun's mind, planning to visit once he had enough capability to protect himself.

"Oh, right!"

And at that moment, Gerald seemed to suddenly remember something else, and excitedly added, "There's also the thousand-year-old 'Demigod' Sir Isaac's collection room, manuscripts, antiques, and so forth... Last time our preparatory college organized a visit, I even saw them with my own eyes!"

Upon hearing this, Su Lun's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he muttered unconsciously, "Sir Isaac's manuscripts?"

Sir Isaac's manuscripts left behind were numerous, with pages fetching three to five hundred kroner at auctions in Old Lington.

The Rafael family had been developing Old Lington for a century, and many treasures from the underground city had flowed up to the surface through them.

"Yes!"

Not everyone has the privilege to visit the Royal Academy, and Gerald, wanting to outline the capital's prosperity for this rune teacher from a remote southern county, added, "Sir Isaac is the greatest inventor, philosopher, biologist, and great alchemist of modern civilization history... He created countless brilliant inventions, and the Royal Academy's library management even has a special collection room housing the knight's relics. There are also many original manuscripts, design drawings..."

Su Lun thought of something and asked, "Among those relics... is there a leather notebook emitting black mist, almost like a 'living creature'?"

On hearing this, Jimmy was greatly surprised, "Huh... Mr. Nicholas, have you also seen the 'Divine Manuscript'?"

He thought for a moment, then continued, "There is indeed such a notebook in the collection room! The teachers say it's a research manuscript on a god-tier implant invented by Sir Isaac. Oh, I remember it very clearly, it's a very bizarre notebook... Unfortunately, I've never seen its contents."

"..."

Even though the name 'Divine Manuscript' was somewhat unfamiliar to Su Lun, he immediately guessed that it must be one of the five 'Isaac's Alchemy Manuscripts'!

So, the Royal Academy of Luying also has one?

And, unsurprisingly, another one lies with the Rhea family...

Together with the one in his possession, of the five manuscripts, Su Lun now knew the whereabouts of three.

"It seems like a visit to the Royal Academy of Luying is indeed necessary..."

Hearing this, Su Lun gazed toward the distant sea, his eyes gradually growing deeper.

...

Soon, the sailboat was about to dock.

"Gadronte" is a huge harbor city built on a mountain.

From the air, it resembled a long boot.

The natural deepwater harbor was at the heel of the boot, bordered by cliffs on both sides, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

From afar, one could hear the bustling crowd at the port.

Su Lun stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the city in the distant harbor, and murmured, "The technological level of the surface world's cities doesn't seem very high."

The city in front of him resembled a group of ancient medieval castles with a hint of ancient Greek architectural style, dominantly white and blue. With thick, textured white rock walls, tall columns, and blue spires, the streets were very crowded.

It looked, to him, not much different from the architecture of Dawn City Ruins that were a thousand years old.

However, this castle-like city was interspersed with numerous steel elements.

Steam locomotives could be seen on the bridges between the islands, and there were various steel bridges throughout the city. Above the city floated airships...

What struck the eye most were the various giant cannons built into the mountain. Long and short cannons crowded together, arming the city like a hedgehog... it looked like a fusion of magic and steampunk.

From the architectural point of view, the civilization level of Gadronte was significantly behind the cyberpunk style high-rises of Old Lingdun Inner City.

At that moment, Su Lun suddenly heard a comment from Mr. Jing beside him, "It's been a thousand years, and the city is still like this. The outdated noble oligarchy has long proven to be a stumbling block to the development of social civilization. These nobles, for the sake of power and pleasure, refuse to strive for progress, letting civilization stagnate for a thousand years. They really aren't afraid of a planar gateway breach, having humanity enslaved by beings from another plane..."

Her tone was calm, but Su Lun could hear an underlying fury and lamentation.

Indeed, people standing in different positions see things completely differently.

Mr. Jing, who had been fighting in the frontlines of planar space protection a thousand years ago, saw the entirety of human and alchemical civilization.

From what Su Lun understood, the current oligarchic system of the Luying Empire was indeed quite backward.

The nobility held over ninety percent of the society's resources, and without their drive for advancement, societal progress was difficult.

But clearly, the nobles were the beneficiaries of the existing system, and they were a group of people least wanting change.

Apart from a growing population, there had been little progress in either alchemy or technology compared to a thousand years ago.

No!

It was even worse!

At least, in the field of alchemy, no one nowadays had reached the level of Sir Isaac from a thousand years ago.

In the Mafa Empire, there had been a recent change only after a hundred years of mechanical revolution.

Mr. Jing shook her head and said no more.

Just then, as the sailboat passed a reef where a lighthouse had been built, Su Lun took another look.

Because the lighthouse was adorned like it was flying the flags of all nations, displaying hundreds of various pirate flags, some new, others faded from sun and wind exposure... It looked like they had been hung over a long span of time.

There were even a few dried up corpses!

Judging by the attire of the bodies, these men were pirates?

Since the ship was about to dock, Captain Benson also came up on deck.

Looking at the confusion on Su Lun's face, he explained, "That's 'Bloodhand' Stuart, captain of the 'Blood Skull Pirates,' a fifth-tier professional and once a notorious pirate in these waters who committed numerous bloody crimes..."

Merchants naturally despised these marauding pirates.

Pausing, his tone was blunt as he added, "These damned pirates should all be sent to the gallows!"

Su Lun now understood the blood-drenched "landmark" better, Was this warning about the fate of becoming a pirate?

A fifth-tier pirate, and his body was just hung up to dry like this?

It suddenly reminded him of Qian Tiao.

After disembarking, that gambler lady didn't follow Mr. Hei; she said she was going to form her own pirate crew.

Though she wanted to be a "chivalrous thief," a thief was still a thief, and caught, she would be sent to the gallows.

....

The ship entered the harbor and stopped amidst a dense cluster of sea vessels.

Su Lun and his companion bid farewell to the Benson family and proceeded to walk into the city.

Past the dock was a solid high wall, and entering the city required identity registration and verification.

A long queue had formed outside the city gate, with soldiers in silver-gray armor verifying the identities of those entering one by one.

The process was not complicated; one simply had to show their identity document, then place their hand on a crystal ball.
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It was somewhat similar to passport inspection at immigration in his previous life, where the city guards would casually ask a few questions, approve the review, and then stamp the document.

Su Lun was well-prepared.

Forging documents was not difficult for him.

Moreover, except for the cities near the imperial capital of the Luying Empire, each territory had its own proof of nativity, which were oddly varied... mostly backward paper-based proofs, the only anti-forgery measure being gold-stamped emblems representing the lord.

But looking at that crystal ball, Su Lun's eyebrows slightly raised as he assessed it.

[Inferior Energy Detection Crystal]

Details: A crystal that can only roughly determine the tier of the holder.

It seemed aimed at preventing high-tier pirates from infiltrating the city, among other purposes...

But if it only detected the tier, that wasn't much of an issue.

Su Lun, being a second-tier, was inconspicuous among professionals.

After this, he glanced at Mr. Jing, who was hooking his arm, If it detected a seventh or eighth tier, it would certainly cause a sensation.

Mr. Jing was calm, responding with a faint smile.

He clearly wasn't concerned about such an energy detection crystal.

The two of them joined the queue and slowly entered the city.

While queuing, Su Lun took the opportunity to observe the largely adventurous crowd passing by.

Most were dressed in traditional professional attire, firearms were not uncommon, but mechanical arms were scarce.

Even those that were present had machinery that was about on par with the technology level of Old Spiriton Outer City.

This was the first city Su Lun had encountered in the surface world, and his impression was that the Luying Empire was an ancient empire with an "aura of decay," like an aged lion drowsy with sleep.

Soon, it was Su Lun and his companion's turn to be reviewed.

The city guards, dealing with tens of thousands of people daily, had an expression of numbness: "Show your documents, take off your hat, place your hand on the crystal ball!"

Approaching, Su Lun noticed that the city wall's bulletin board was covered with wanted posters.

In the vast North Sea, aside from the infamous 'King of the North Sea' fleet, there were countless other pirates, large and small.

The bounty list was mostly filled with pirates.

Su Lun removed his hat, then placed his hand on the crystal ball, which emitted a faint blue light.

Dressed in a plain white suit, perhaps because of his attire, the city guards spoke somewhat politely.

The guard glanced at Su Lun's face, didn't match it with any wanted criminal, asked no further questions, and stamped his identity proof: Second-tier, approved.

Su Lun passed through smoothly, but when Mr. Jing removed the wide-brimmed hat that covered half of his face, the guards' gaze immediately stiffened.