End of the Magic Era

Translator: Shiraishi  Editor: TheAlliance

Lin Yun remained in the barracks for the next few days and finished drawing the remaining blueprint.

The smelting process for the Crimson Flame Gold Essence had finished a few days ago, and it had already been transported back to camp, waiting for Lin Yun to craft the components.

Drawing the blueprints had saved a lot of trouble and effort when it came to the crafting, but it also took a lot of time for Lin Yun.

While he was busy with this, Lin Yun didn’t know that the Watson Family once again showed signs of activity. This was a result of what happened three days ago.

After Arthus manage to escape, Rhett Watson still didn’t dare to believe that there was a Dragon in the Merlin Family’s camp, so he still decided to approach the Merlin Family cautiously. He originally was wary of getting to close, but he gradually relaxed his vigilance. After observing for several days, he came to the conclusion that there was no Dragon in the camp.

After confirming this, Rhett hurriedly looked for Arthus.

“Sir Arthus, last time might have been an accident. I’ve seen no signs of a Frost Dragon in the Merlin Family’s camp. I watched for three days, there is no way I made a mistake.” Rhett smiled at Arthus and suggested, “Perhaps that Dragon was just passing by?”

“Is that true?” Arthus didn’t dare to believe his words. That formidable Dragon had cast a shadow over his heart.

In fact, after thinking about it for a few days, he had started having some doubts of his own…

The appearance of the Frost Dragon was too strange…

It came without a sign.

And more importantly, how could such a formidable Dragon be willing to stay with the Merlin Family?

That might be the only logical explanation…

“Sir Arthus, how about we try again?”

“I’m afraid I can’t for now…” Arthus awkwardly looked at Rhett before softly shaking his head. He still didn’t want to rashly try his luck. That would be too dangerous. If the Frost Dragon appeared once again, he might not have the chance to return alive…

With these thoughts, Arthus solemnly looked at Rhett and bitterly smiled. “Rhett, you probably don’t know, but I’ve yet to completely recover after being seriously injured by the Frost Dragon. It will be roughly ten days before I can use the power of my Demon Shape…”

Although he indeed was affected and his power had weakened, it was definitely not as serious as he was implying.

He just didn’t want to act without being more certain.

He could only probe for the time being. Once he confirmed that the Frost Dragon truly wasn’t there, he would set out against the Merlin Family.

“Alright, you should rest…” Rhett looked sorry. He could naturally tell from Arthus’ words that it was nothing more than a pretext, but he also knew that he had no other choice. He couldn’t force Arthus along.

“Yes…”

After leaving Rhett, instead of heading for his living quarters, Arthus left the Watson Family’s territory to go to the Merlin Family’s camp. He stopped two kilometers away and hid himself in a corner, secretly observing the camp.

Over the next few days, several resource collection teams entered and exited the camp. The Planar Legion’s troops were having practice drills every day on a set schedule. Everything was carried out meticulously, but the commander never showed his face.

Because at that time, Lin Yun was busy with the puppet.

At his command, Lahn had transported all the smelted Crimson Flame Gold Essence back to camp, allowing Lin Yun to finish crafting the three components within five days.

‘Only the assembly is left…’

After testing the 3rd component multiple times and confirming that there were no problems, Lin Yun took a deep breath and placed it back on the table.

Looking at the three thumb-sized components neatly arranged on the alchemy table, Lin Yun couldn’t help smiling bitterly. From planning to crafting, he spent close to twenty days. It even reached the point where some flaws appeared because of carelessness during the crafting process, which made him give up and restart. Thus, he ended up using two fist-sized chunks of Crimson Flame Gold Essence for those three thumb-sized components.

That much Crimson Flame Gold Essence was comparable in value to a Star Gem.

But…

This was worth it in Lin Yun’s eyes.

Despite the size, their effects would be monumental.

And this was most likely the limit of his alchemy skills.

After all, he was working on a Heaven puppet.

It could be said that every component of the Heaven Puppet, every array, every mana circuit, they all came from the hands of a Saint Alchemist. Lin Yun being able to craft a component compatible with a Heaven Puppet as an Artisan could be considered an achievement worth bragging about.

Had it been any other Artisan, they wouldn’t have had the courage to even attempt it.

There was a huge gap between an Artisan and a Saint Alchemist.

Lin Yun was able to breach that gap because of his alchemy knowledge as well as his experience in dismantling puppets at the end of the Magic Era, allowing him to become familiar with the theory and the structure behind the puppets.

This was a domain he was an expert in…

Shortly after, the exhausted Lin Yun entered a meditative state and only opened his eyes five hours later. With a bright silver light, he took the Heaven Puppet out of his right pocket, the one that had been improved with a spatial array. Lin Yun severed the mana source and the Heaven Puppet stopped operating. It stood there, motionless…

‘Mechanical system…’ Lin Yun frowned with a solemn expression as he fumbled his way in the puppet’s body and quickly found the mechanical system.

To be more accurate, the three parts he had crafted belonged to the mechanical system category.

In fact, in the Merlin Family Manor, he had already found out that among the core systems of this Heaven Rank Puppet, the mechanical system had suffered the most damage. This was the reason that the Heaven Puppet’s performance had greatly weakened and could only display the power of a level 35 until now.

If there was a problem with a puppet’s mechanical system, then no matter how formidable its combat system, it would be of no use. In a way, the mechanical system’s importance was far above that of the combat system. It was just as important as a mage’s Mana Whirlpool, and the mana source was equivalent to a mage’s mana. After going through the mechanical system’s processing, it would supply mana to the Heaven Puppet.

Before Lin Yun became an Artisan, he even wondered whether he should replace it with a mechanical system crafted from Lava Crystal, a rare material from the Abyss. But he soon gave up on that plan, because it was a Heaven Puppet crafted by the best alchemist, the Dark Sage. Even if he crafted a top-notch mechanical system out of Lava Crystal, it would be very difficult for it to move the Heaven Puppet.

But that problem was easily solved after Lin Yun became an Artisan. The three components he’d just crafted could be assembled on the mechanical system and improve its performance by three whole levels. Although the puppet still couldn’t display its peak performance, it almost completely recovered.

He even had some expectations of how it would go.

He was looking forward to the Heaven Puppet’s power reaching a whole new realm.

At that time, the Heaven Puppet would no longer be stuck in his pocket… It would play a great role.

‘Eh? What is this…’

Just as Lin Yun finished disassembling the mechanical system, a refined component appeared in his line of sight. In a hidden corner, he found a fingernail-sized metal piece and gently used his fingers to take it out.

This piece of metal was clearly unnecessary in this mechanical system. It had no effect, but… After some observation, Lin Yun was able to see that this piece of metal was covered with an odd, decorative design…

‘What is it…?’

Lin Yun was filled with doubt, why was this superfluous piece of metal in the mechanical system? It was completely meaningless.

But as he thought of the fact that this Heaven Puppet came from the hands of the Dark Sage, Lin Yun became even more doubtful, ‘Is it that I’m still unable to understand the intentions of the Dark Sage with my knowledge of alchemy?’

But it didn’t feel right…

With Lin Yun’s insight as an Artisan, he could naturally see that this piece of metal had only gone through simple alchemical processing and that the fluctuations it was emitting were very weak. It didn’t seem like a part that played an important role.

The key was probably in those patterns…

Lin Yun then straightforwardly put aside the assembly for now and focused on researching that thin piece of metal. At first, he used reagents to analyze it, wanting to see if that piece of Gold Essence was special. But he soon gave up on that because the conclusion was the same after using a few dozen reagents: The piece of metal was just common Gold Essence.

This left Lin Yun at a loss…

Ordinary Gold Essence was regarded as a pretty good magic metal to an ordinary mage, but for the Master Alchemists and Artisans, whether it was for Magic Tools or Puppets, they wouldn’t use ordinary Gold Essence because the endurance of that metal wouldn’t satisfy their needs. To create a powerful alchemy item, they would have to use special gold essence, just like the Crimson Flame Gold Essence that Lin Yun had found.

But, Crimson Flame Gold Essence was already classified as first-rate among Gold Essences…

Carnage was a special case. Although Lin Yun used ordinary Gold Essence, he used a technique that didn’t belong to this era that suited Xiuban well to make Carnage reach the peak of the Spiritual realm under impossible circumstances…

But Lin Yun was puzzled as to why a piece of metal crafted from ordinary Gold Essence appeared in this mechanical system…