Mechanical Alchemist

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"Thanatos's Substitute Puppet," yet another forbidden artifact..."

Su Lun held the pitch-black eerie puppet, scanning the identified information about the puppet, a trace of contemplation showing in his eyes.

This looked somewhat like a downgraded version of that old nun's death damage transfer technique...

Could it exempt one from transferring a fatal injury?

Thinking this, he dripped a drop of blood on it.

The object, which appeared to be made of wood, absorbed the blood and then a dark light flashed and disappeared.

The identification showed that the contract was successful.

Su Lun felt as though he had signed a contract with some mysterious existence.

Although the high chance of mental instability after resurrection seemed like a serious backlash, it was preferable to losing one's life.

Moreover, Su Lun always felt that "mental instability" might not be such a big deal for him.

"Mr. Hei's friends sure seem easy to get along with..."

Su Lun murmured to himself as he looked at the puppet.

Of course, he knew this was a windfall for him.

If truth be told, the materials produced by the headless nun were actually the spoils of that cloaked figure.

Without that figure's intervention, Su Lun wouldn't dare provoke the ultimate BOSS in this curse space that was currently considered "T-level" difficulty. At most, he would just wander on the first or second floor.

This was a gift left behind by them.

However, Su Lun didn't feel like he had gained much of an advantage.

Without surprises, this incident in the curse space would likely be blamed on him, "S-class wanted criminal Su Lun," again.

But that was just as well.

Su Lun felt that this kind of fair trade relationship was the most reasonable.

....

Forbidden items couldn't be placed into the Storage Ring, so Su Lun had to hang the puppet on his person.

He checked the injuries on the abomination once more.

Its chest had been punched, leaving a bloody hole, and several bones had also been broken...

But it wasn't dead; it was rapidly regenerating.

He was growing increasingly excited about advancing to the second tier and mastering true Spatial Ability.

By then, there would be no need to keep the scythe, the undead, the puppet... always hanging around him.

He was also looking forward to the magical Spatial Techniques that "Magician" Edward had used...

This trip to the "1911 Hotel" had proven to be very productive, for he not only found the materials needed for advancement but also his dark spiritual power was brimming.

He wasn't sure where the "source of the curse" came from, but seeing no signs of mutation in himself, Su Lun kept absorbing the ghostly fog.

And in just a few hours, his dark spiritual power had risen by several hundred points, reaching a point where it could hardly increase anymore.

Upon leaving, he could advance at any time.

....

With the "source of the curse" sealed, this space also began to collapse gradually.

Without a portal appearing, the scene of the thousand-year-old luxury hotel started to disintegrate before his eyes...

There were probably some valuable loots left, but there was no time to search – they would turn into energy and return to nature.

Meanwhile,

outside the curse space, in the temporary camp, the Scavengers were still busy.

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The leaders of the scavenging teams from the five major families had already made a decision to increase the "casualty rate" soon in order to break the seal in advance.

The next group of people entering the space were lining up to register, oblivious solo scavengers listening to the temporary team leader explain the precautions for the ruins.

There was a time discrepancy between the Cursed Space and the outside world. It hadn't been long since the last group entered. Normally, it would still be some time before the light gate exit appeared.

But at that moment, an abrupt anomaly occurred.

On the site of the 1911 restaurant ruins not far from the camp, a mirage-like shimmering phantom abruptly emerged. It looked like the interior of a busy restaurant, but it was a scene of carnage, with bodies strewn everywhere.

This anomaly naturally drew the attention of everyone in the camp.

"Look, what's that over there!"

"Eh... isn't that a scene from inside the Cursed Space?"

"Why are there so many corpses, what happened? Those are people from the Sand Scorpion team, I recognize them."

"No, this is a sign that the Cursed Space is about to collapse!"

"..."

The scavengers paled, watching the restaurant phantom begin to disintegrate, they grasped what was happening.

Hearing the commotion in the camp, the leaders of several scavenging teams also quickly exited their tents.

Looking at the anomaly before them, they were all dumbfounded.

"How can the Cursed Space collapse all of a sudden?!"

"Could it be that someone got their hands on the 'Source of the Curse'? Impossible... The source of the curse in this space should be on the third floor; just the difficulty of the second floor which has already been explored is already at A+ level. How could that team that just went in have the strength for that? Besides, didn't we already arrange for the bizarre creature in room 1021 to be released? They should have been wiped out..."

"..."

At that moment, someone remembered the abnormal number of people entering the space earlier.

One hundred people were supposed to go in, but only a little over sixty did.

"Damn, high-rank professionals must have infiltrated the scavenging teams before! Someone's going after that thing!"

"We must stop him; if the 'Source of the Curse' is lost, and the Black Tower holds us responsible, we're dead meat!"

"..."

With this reminder, the leaders of the large teams immediately realized the gravity of the situation and their faces turned pale.

.....

The collapse of the Cursed Space happened swiftly.

Less than a minute after the anomaly, the "mirage" suddenly shattered into specks of light and disappeared from everyone's view.

At this time, leaders of the second-order scavenging teams were standing by with their weapons at the ready, waiting for anyone who survived to come out, preparing to ambush them.

Even without the hooded figure's warning, Su Lun would have guessed that he'd be ambushed by a group of people upon exiting.

The collapse of the space had only one or two possible causes, and explanations were futile; it was either fight or flee...

He was also secretly glad that he had observed the retreat route when he first entered the ruins.

The collapse of the Cursed Space, to Su Lun inside, was like the end of a movie; the lights and shadows dispersed, and then he found himself facing a group of menacing big shots opening fire...

However, their target wasn't Su Lun, but a group of hooded figures scattered in different directions.

Crackling and booming, a barrage of gunfire rang out, and various control spells were unleashed upon these hooded figures in unison.

But soon, they realized something wasn't right.

The hooded figures burst open under concentrated fire, not into flesh and blood, but into a flurry of wooden splinters.

Upon closer inspection, under the tattered cloaks were nothing but wooden puppets.

"Damn, these are all puppets!"

"Be careful, take cover, that giant is holding [Xiupunos's Scythe of Night]!"

"That's 'S-Class Wanted Fugitive Su Lun'! Damn it, we must catch him!"

"He still has the 'Wrappings of the Oz Glacierman' on him, watch out for invisible targets!"

"..."

The camp erupted into chaos.

Meanwhile, Su Lun's real body had already quietly climbed over the camp's perimeter wall during the first round of cannon fire.

With the corpse wrappings around him and puppets attracting the gunfire, he managed to escape naturally and smoothly.

As for the abominable zombie, it took some cannon fire, but as long as it wasn't blown to paste, it was all good.

It held a black scythe, with one swing, even second-order professionals had to dodge its edge, and no one dared to face it head-on.

More than ten puppet decoys dispersed the enemy's gunfire, and by the time they realized what was happening, Su Lun with his octopus spear arms had initiated sprint mode. The threads were long enough, with one strong pull, the zombie and the scythe also zipped out of the camp.

Even with puppets in tow, Su Lun's speed was far superior to that of the majority of first-order professionals.

Those second-order team leaders chased after him furiously, but with the black scythe killing one, the others quickly simmered down.

Orders are important, but lives are even more so.

None of these old birds dared to stick their necks out, instead they just shouted and chased among the throng of people.

And just like that, Su Lun dashed into the ruins, easily losing the group of professionals.

....

Su Lun didn't return to the Storm Manor camp,

The materials for his advancement had just arrived and were still warm; he was in perfect condition.

He planned to find a secluded spot outside of the ruins to advance to the second order directly.

To avoid being besieged and interrupted, he ran for half a circle around the outer city of the ruins, took some anti-tracking measures, and finally found a bunker identical to the one he had stayed in before and dived in.

After resting for a moment, Su Lun sealed off the entrance of the bunker, then cleared a space.

He began drawing a Hexagram Array.

The auxiliary materials needed for the second-order advancement formation had been prepared for a while, and he was already proficient in the process of drawing the double-ringed hexagram.

Copper powder mixed with Mithril formed the base, outlining a perfect outer circle; the hexagram pattern inside the circle was drawn using a blend of refined borax and sunflower oil essence, to which he added a couple of drops of Wind Wolf's tears, assembling the four basic elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire; red crystals inscribed with runes were placed at the formation's base, which were quite high-level materials; naturally, there was the alchemical core—mercury, as well as the cursed crystals for energy...

With everything in place, Su Lun took out the 'Magician's Top Hat.'

He stood at the center of the Hexagram Array and began chanting the universal alchemical incantation, "By the law of equivalent exchange, I praise the glory of the original creator, let alchemy bear witness to the miracle of creation..."

During his second professional advancement, Su Lun felt a hint of anticipation, but his heart remained calm.

As the lights of the alchemical formation slowly brightened, the top hat also gradually fused into the formation. Within the golden Hexagram Array, strands of black light representing the "spatial attribute" appeared.

After the top hat melted, a mysterious force started to merge into Su Lun's body.

The fusion of Spatial Power was a magical experience, making Su Lun feel as if he were traveling through the cosmos, beholding the vast expanse of the void world...

It made him feel as if he had been nothing more than a graffito character on the "canvas" of space previously.

At that moment, he sensed the feeling of breaking free from the "canvas" and touching the world beyond the painting.

That world was still blurry, and he couldn't see it clearly yet.

But he truly felt it.

....

Half an hour later, the dazzling light of the Hexagram slowly faded away.

The initial fusion of the materials was complete.

Su Lun sat down cross-legged and began meditation to absorb and stabilize the special force that had merged into his body.

Advancing to the second order was different from the first; the greater the energy fused, the more time it took to digest the materials.

The 'Magician's Top Hat' was an unconventional material with a vast amount of energy.

Even if Su Lun succeeded in the fusion, completing the digestion process would take a long time.

Just like the food that you eat, you must digest it to transform it into nutrition that nourishes the body, otherwise it will all go to waste.

Time flashed by, and it was half a month.

Su Lun had been meditating and absorbing the nutrients from the advancement materials, hardly ever leaving the fortress.

Fortunately, there were no deformed monsters or Scavenger group disturbances, and the digestion went smoothly.

That day, when he finally felt that the energy forcibly infused into his body and the dreamy murmurings by his ear had completely vanished, Su Lun realized that he had successfully stepped into the realm of a second-tier professional.

The data on the panel was the most intuitive; the previously explosive daily increases had settled down, and the increments started to become moderate and gradually imperceptible.

"Phew... No wonder there's such a big gap between first-tier professionals and second-tier ones. Not to mention the awakened abilities, just the data increase alone is a multiple fold growth. The physical strength isn't even on the same level..."

Su Lun opened his eyes from the meditation and exhaled a long breath of turbid air. His eyes sparkled with excitement, "But having said that, the boost from the rare Gold advancement materials is truly exaggerated."

Looking at his data panel again, the changes were earth-shattering.

It was an increase in almost all attributes.

Strength and resilience, these melee-type attributes, had a slight increase,

but attributes like "Agility," "Skill," and "Perception"... such Magician-type attributes had an enormous increase.

"Perception" went from 13 to 24;

"Agility" went from 36 to 95;

"Skill" had the most exaggerated increase, jumping from an initial 51 points directly to a three-figure sum of 145.

Even though the changes in data were visible, they seemed pale in comparison.

It was the actual feeling that was truly tangible.

Agility didn't just mean running fast; it also involved changes in nerve reactions and muscle responses.

At this moment, Su Lun could finally comprehend what kind of physical quality was needed to "chop a bullet" with a knife. He felt that his current nerve reaction speed and muscle reflex speed had reached that level.

Techniques that once astonished a novice in his eyes, he now truly possessed.

The moment a bullet came, his nerves and muscles could completely react and predict the bullet's location, avoiding it with ease.

Within a certain distance, the bullet's muzzle velocity couldn't outpace his perception and reaction!

And the nearly threefold increase in skill was even more exaggerated.

Su Lun's fingers clawed the air, controlling a rune puppet single-handedly.

In the past, his manipulation consisted of simple, crude movements like running, slashing, straight punches, and kicks...

So, in regular combat, he relied more on the rune puppet's abilities, rather than its physical capabilities.

The reason being that his skill wasn't adequate.

Despite the will, the control didn't reach the "nuanced" level.

But now, the puppet under Su Lun's finger manipulation performed complex movements, leaping, rolling, scratching its head, pulling its cheeks, lifting a gun to pull the trigger, throwing darts...

It even exhibited a complete set of vigorous grappling and fighting techniques under precise control...

It appeared nearly indistinguishable from a real person.

Moreover, with such high skill level, Su Lun finally understood why previously, both Mr. Hei and that "Magician" Edward could produce spells instantly with just a snap of their fingers.

Before advancing, it took him about a second to release the eight sorcerer's seals of the Spider Lance Armor.

Now, forming such first-tier seals was almost instant, with a single clap of the hands.

It wasn't that there was no forming of seals, but rather an instantaneous eight seals.

The super high skill level gave him a terrifying degree of bodily control.

Of course...

What was most anticipated was that magical "Spatial Ability."