End of the Magic Era

It didn't take long to draw the design, but altering this design filled with reckless patterns wasn't a simple matter.

Unfortunately, if he wanted to draw Crowits' interest, the best way was to transform his prototype into a finished product.

Completing it would be good, but this kind of thing so far ahead of its time would make others feel that Lin Yun was a God's reincarnation. However, an Artisan like Crowits wouldn't be so easy to fool.

After finishing the modifications, Lin Yun took the Max Mana Reactor to meet with Crowits once again.

Crowits was still busy with his own matters and didn't pay attention to Lin Yun when the latter came in.

Lin Yun put that Max Mana Reactor in front of Crowits.

"Sir Crowits, did you make this Mana Reactor?"

A trace of disdain flashed past Crowits' eyes as he glanced at the Mana Reactor. He really didn't feel like bothering with Lin Yun.

Lin Yun didn't wait for Crowits' answer as he casually walked to a Level 15 puppet on the side, put his hand on top of it. Suddenly, mana surged as his hand turned into a shadow.

In less than a second, that alchemy puppet loudly turned into a pile of components scattering on the ground.

Lin Yun looked a bit embarrassed as he said, "Sorry, I accidentally dismantled it…"

Seeing that pile of components, Crowits raised his head to look at Lin Yun.

In one second, he tore open a Level 15 puppet. Just based on that, Crowits could see that Lin Yun definitely was an Artisan, and one proficient in puppeteering.

To dismantle a puppet in one second, one needed to have a complete understanding of the puppet's structure, the position of each part. This would include the mana reactor, control system, operating system, and such. In order to pour mana into the puppet and cause a resonance that could instantly dismantle it, one would need to know everything.

The puppets here were not completely standard types, as they had all been made by Crowits, and even a casually made puppet was much stronger than a normal puppet of the same level. Moreover, they had unique designs.

Lin Yun looked at the puppet on the side and put one hand on the left side of its chest before opening it up and removing the mana reactor within.

Crowits watched attentively. Lin Yun noticed with a glance that this puppet was different and understood that it had been designed to use a heavy weapon in its right hand and a shield in its left hand, making its center of gravity a bit unstable. Thus, the mana reactor was designed to lean towards the left side and increase the mana output in that direction.

But when Crowits saw Lin Yun opening that prototype mana reactor and putting in a Level 10 fire mana crystal and a Level 10 ice mana crystal as mana sources, he frowned and stood up.

'Damn, is that guy planning on putting that prototype mana reactor in the puppet? Such an arrogant guy! That mana reactor's design surpasses this era by a few decades, maybe even centuries. Even I was only able to come up with the design, unable to make it actually work. It can't even be used as a normal mana reactor.

'Does he think I can't see the changes he made? What a mess, those new right-angle patterns were all messed up! Is there still any use in such circumstances?

'I'm afraid it'll explode the moment it's turned on because of the fierce reaction between fire and ice… The power created by such a clash is too powerful, and that's why I designed a right-angle array to limit the flow of speed, but he messed it up. Based on the array now, the speed at which the energy flows will be even faster. It doesn't have any restrictive effect.

'Forget it, Dunas specially came yesterday and asked me not to provoke that human and just let him off.

'In any case, it's only two Level 10 mana crystals. Even if they explode, it won't be that powerful. With his strength, he should be fine.

'So what if this shop explodes? I wasn't planning on staying here anyway. If I did, that human would keep bothering me every day and make me unable to continue my research.'

A twitch could be seen on Crowits' face. The longer he stayed in the Grey Beastmen's fort, the less he paid attention to his tribesmen. He couldn't find a single person he could truly have a proper discussion with.

Even when those Master Alchemists had questions, it felt like children playing with mud. The more time passed, the more he felt like he was surrounded by idiots.

Especially after he reached the peak of the Artisan realm, he became even more antisocial and moved to this remote place and didn't care about anyone.

But since reaching that peak, Crowits felt that his alchemy hadn't progressed at all.

Throughout his life, his greatest wish and his only desire was to become a Saint Alchemist, but he couldn't see any hope of reaching that realm.

He designed many new things, and there were even some designs that were beyond his times, but none of them were successful.

That spherical mana reactor was the design he had been the most optimistic about, and the array he had used had been a shocking right-angle array, with an extremely innovative core principle behind the mana reactor.

If the design was successful, it would have been the first step towards the path of becoming a Saint Alchemist, the first step to surpass the Artisan realm!

But it didn't succeed.

Crowits thought of many things as he saw the scene in front of him. His heart felt very complicated, and ultimately, he didn't stop Lin Yun's movements. He only silently raised a Mana Shield in order to resist the mana reactor's explosion...

Lin Yun quickly installed the mana reactor and closed the puppet's chest.

After a second, the puppet's crystal eyes shone brightly. It slowly lifted a leg and took a step forward.

Seeing this, Crowits' eyes instantly widened. His jaw slackened, and mana fluctuations leaked from his body.

He looked at that Level 15 puppet as if he was looking at a living God.

"It actually moved… It didn't explode… It's actually working…" Crowits kept mumbling to himself, his eyes firmly glued to that slowly walking puppet.

A second later, Crowits seemed to suddenly realize something, and his small body seemed to burst with power comparable to a Sword Saint as he knocked over the table in front of him and jumped out as if his butt had been stabbed.

That petite body carried unstoppable momentum as he rushed over while grinding his teeth as if he had seen the person that had killed his own father.

He felt the puppet with one hand, sending frantic mana surging out to dismantle the puppet. Then, he used a large amount of mana to protect the spherical mana reactor.

Two Mana Hands appeared out of nowhere and swept the components aside as if they were garbage. The surrounding shelves were also swept away by the ethereal hands, clearing up a lot of space. He then grabbed a new low-level puppet with the Mana Hands and sent it flying over.

Crowits seemed possessed. He quickly took out that puppet's mana reactor and casually threw it aside without even looking at it. Then, as if he was taking care of a baby, he cautiously put that heavily protected mana reactor into the puppet's chest.

After installing it, he inspected it three times in detail before starting the puppet up with a hopeful expression.

After a second, the puppet's eyes shone, and the runes on the surface of its body lit up one after another.

Everything showed that this puppet was working normally. It couldn't be even more normal.

Crowits turned around, the expression on his face continuously changing between bitterness and joy.

"How did you do it? This… How did you do this..." Crowits mumbled under his breath as his eyes shined with a dreadful light, like a starving person that had just seen a piece of bread.

Lin Yun's heart skipped a beat. He had been startled by Crowits' fanatical expression.

"Didn't I tell you before? As long as you join my team of alchemists, there will be many new things to learn. There will be new ideas and a wide breadth of knowledge that you can access.

"Just like this mana reactor. If you join my team of alchemists, you'll be able to know the details…"

Before Lin Yun even finished his words, Crowits rapidly rushed towards the depths of his store and packed up several kinds of tools before walking out.

After reaching the doorway, Crowits reacted, realizing that Lin Yun was still inside the store.

"Why aren't you going?"

Lin Yun froze, unable to keep up with Crowits' rhythm.

"Going where?"

Crowits' eyes looked fanatical.

"To your team of alchemists!"

Lin Yun turned to glance around at the shop and the many components and designs left within.

"You don't want to bring the things within your shop?"

Crowits didn't even look at it as he casually answered, "Throw it all away! Whoever wants those can take them…"

Lin Yun bitterly smiled. Crowits' fanaticism towards puppeteering had reached a desperate stage. He could discard anything for puppeteering.

Lin Yun brought Crowits to the Radiant Fort's base. After the latter learnt that this entire underground base was a huge puppet, Crowits walked within the passage like someone on a pilgrimage.