Mechanical Alchemist

Yekaterina had dinner with the Pierre family, and when she walked out of the apartment, night had already fallen.

The dim gas street lights were lit, casting long shadows of the passersby.

Just as she stepped out the front door, a black car approached from around the corner.

She walked over, and the driver, wearing white gloves, respectfully got out and opened the car door for her.

Before getting into the car, Yekaterina glanced back at the inconspicuous house, a flicker of an unusual color disappearing from the bottom of her eyes.

She had come full of expectation, but now, having received a result even higher than expected, she felt an unparalleled calm.

After all, her mindset had changed.

The Lans family had always wanted the support of this old man. Once they got his approval, they could clear most of the obstacles in the Ruying political situation.

After the Fog Moon coup, the imperial power waned. Though the empress returned to power, and the Bonaparte royal family remained in charge, it was clear that the Ruying political situation was at a critical juncture, especially since the Divine Right Faith Bill, which made it evident that there were major issues within the Ruying royal family.

It wasn't just the Ma'fa Empire; various internal forces within Ruying were stirring, and great changes were certain in the future.

And it wasn't just the Lans family; all sides of the Ruying powers were seeking the old man's support.

But people at that level couldn't be swayed by any interest. In his eyes, there was only his own belief.

Even though the Lans family had a good relationship with the old man and tried to visit him many times, they never got a response.

But why had he suddenly changed his mind?

Yekaterina thought back to today's conversation and still couldn't quite understand.

However, this teacher at the end of his life really did give her too many pointers.

All the puzzles became crystal clear.

She didn't look any longer, turned, and got into the car.

...

Two days later, in a rental room in Franklin District.

The light from the alchemy array had completely dimmed, and all the various materials used to draw the formation had lost their original color, turning to a lifeless ash.

Within the formation, Su Lun was meditating with his eyes closed.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, which were full of vigor.

Mr. Crow, who had been dozing at the window, also opened his eyes, tilted his head to look at Su Lun, seemed to sense something different, and cawed.

Su Lun smiled and responded, "Yes, I've successfully advanced."

He stood up, shook his limbs, and dressed himself in a set of clothes.

He had finally advanced to the sixth rank.

The feeling was fantastic!

This threshold, which was a major barrier for other professions, was effortlessly crossed by Su Lun, posing no difficulty at all.

He already had harvested much knowledge of various sixth-rank laws, having a sufficient understanding of ranks.

The most crucial thing was the comprehension of the Dominance Authority after the advanced, which allowed him to easily grasp the sense of control over everything and thus grasp the enlightenment of advancement.

The only uncertain factor during the advancement was the materials used for fusion,

The quality of "Lilith's Vampire Ring" was very high, and its curse characteristics were incredibly strong. Even though Su Lun had the bloodline of a Fallen Angel to suppress it, he clearly sensed a crazy desire for blood during the fusion process.

He also somewhat understood why Augustus would desperately seek blood food, exposing such a huge trouble for himself because that aberrant feeling simply couldn't be suppressed by willpower.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly.

Using the All-knowing Eye to check his stats, Su Lun's face showed a hint of joy.

Strength, resilience, blood qi, spirit, neural response speed... all such data had improved by three to four tenths across the board. These improvements would continue to grow as his rank stabilized, with another significant leap to follow.

Moreover, he gained a pseudo-talent skill that came with the material's advancement—Blood Devour.

The essence of this ability was alchemy grafting some of the blood clan's vampiric abilities onto the professional.

Although the overall vampiric ability was weaker compared to the blood clan's, the ancient great alchemist who crafted this ring not only used "Ancestor of the Blood Clan's Finger Bone" but also a mythical material called "Hellfire Lizard's Digestive Mucus."

Such a configuration was clever, making the ring more suitable for professionals after advancement to gain more powerful physical growth capability.

This was another late-game capability.

Su Lun felt very satisfied.

With absorption stacking slowly, his physical body would become stronger and stronger.

Reminded of something, he took out a cultivated titan octopus from his storage space.

The spatial technique condensed, the red Hexagram Alchemy Array in his palm lit up, and immediately a vortex black hole appeared.

A massive suction force came, and before the seven or eight meters giant octopus could struggle, it was directly digested by alchemy into energy fragments and then merged into his body.

The process lasted about half a minute, and only some dry powdery octopus tissue remained on the ground.

After devouring, Su Lun clearly felt a sense of fullness in his body.

Looking at his stat panel, the absorption of one octopus increased attributes such as strength and resilience by about 1 point. This was only a temporary boost effect. Ultimately, only about one percent of the attributes would permanently enhance the body.

Though small, Su Lun was very satisfied.

Every little bit adds up.

In the future, he could specifically purchase and hunt high-level magical beasts and deep-sea behemoths for devouring; there was much to look forward to.

...

Testing the new ability and satisfied with the results, Su Lun looked at his hands and chuckled to himself, "Spatial Technique and this Blood Devour really fit together well."

Low-rank vampires could only bite their targets and drink fresh blood through their teeth.

That method was too inefficient.

But just now, Su Lun used the Spatial Technique to create a suction black hole, then alchemy to disassemble the target's energy, controlling it within a certain space, before absorbing it...

A set of three combined techniques, now formed this new skill called Void Blood Devour, which was extremely efficient.

Otherwise, he would have had to insert his hand into the octopus's body to absorb it.

It wasn't Su Lun being so amazing that upon advancing, he could master this new ability so skillfully.

He took a shortcut.

Aside from the Spatial Technique he added himself, the rest of the knowledge came from stripping a century's worth of experience from that old monster Augustus's soul.

That guy had absorbed for a hundred years with the ring; his devouring ability was nothing short of masterful.

Su Lun simply stripped it away, bypassing the need for a skill adaptation period.

Otherwise, if he really had to grope his way through absorbing the octopus on his own, it wouldn't take less than ten to twenty minutes for the first time, and the absorption rate would be low.

After all, removing impurities, selecting usable energy, efficient absorption, energy transfer... these were all highly complex processes.

Su Lun tried out his new abilities and then resumed his meditation, carefully experiencing what it felt like to advance to the sixth tier.

Although he had already harvested enough sixth-tier knowledge, actually advancing revealed many aspects that were somewhat different from what he previously thought.

After all, extraordinary powers are very elusive; some things can't be truly understood until one reaches a certain level.

Like the hormonal surges of puberty; if your body hasn't reached that age, even the sight of an unparalleled beauty won't stir you up.

This meditation session lasted half a day.

Suddenly, while Su Lun was checking in his little void world for materials that could be used at the sixth tier, he found a massive red crystal in the corner — the Thousand-Men Blood Refining Crystal Core.

He had obtained this spoils of war when he happened upon the giant's hermit society's blood-soaked cruise ship conspiracy during his previous visit to Luying.

This thing wasn't much use to Su Lun, so it had been gathering dust in storage.

But now, an idea sparked in his mind, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Since 'Blood Devour' can consume the essence of all life, can it absorb this crystal core as well?"

This thought popped into Su Lun's head, and he instantly became excited.

The thing contained a vast amount of life essence, which, in theory, could be absorbed.

But this was intended for the Evil God; apart from the life essence, it contained a lot of negative spiritual power, dangerous energy, and divinity.

Ordinary professionals would risk insanity and mutation if they dared to absorb it.

A few days ago, Su Lun wouldn't even dare think about touching it.

But after absorbing Augustus, he thought it was possible.

That guy had immersed himself in the power of devouring for more than a hundred years and had thoroughly researched the techniques associated with "turning foreign energy to one's own." All forms of negative energy handling and the solving of after-effects were perfectly managed.

The moment Su Lun saw the crystal core, he already had various processing methods in mind.

Like fugu, once the toxin is properly dealt with, it becomes incredibly delicious.

A moment later, Su Lun made his judgment — it could be absorbed!

In the room, he took out the colossal red crystal and chipped off a small piece, about one percent of it.

As the technique consolidated, the small piece of red crystal in his palm was quickly absorbed.

After stripping away the negative energy, it was smoothly absorbed.

Su Lun stared at the attribute panel data surge and his eyes widened in shock, exclaiming, "Just this small piece of crystal, the enhancement it brought to my physical body, is actually a hundred times more than that octopus just now?"

He was genuinely shocked.

If the entire blood crystal was absorbed, he could estimate that his body's strength would directly increase by ten percent!

What terrifying concept was this?

He had only just advanced to the sixth tier and had already increased by thirty to forty percent, and this was ten percent just like that?

No wonder the Evil Gods liked to play this set; this... was a super shortcut to gaining power!

With this method, who would still cultivate in earnest?

As long as there were enough blood essences, Su Lun felt that he could possess the physical strength of top-tier professionals within a short time.

Countless thoughts flashed and disappeared.

He suppressed some crazy ideas within his heart and sarcastically remarked with a strange expression, "These methods of outer gods are indeed very tempting. It's not easy to maintain one's moral compass..."

While Su Lun was focused on advancing to the sixth tier.

Inside the little void world, Amelia was extremely puzzled.

She had been in this enclosed medical room for three days now; the ailment from losing too much blood had long been healed.

It seemed like a hospital here.

But again, not quite.

Amelia knew she had been rescued but waited patiently in the room.

Waiting for her rescuer to let her out.

It was out of sheer boredom that she started her routine training, combat, strength, endurance...

And then, as she trained, she discovered big problems!

Amelia noticed her body had "transformed."

Her strength had increased several times; skin toughness, healing capabilities, nerve reactions... all sorts of physical conditions had multiplied several times!

This hadn't frightened her.

Had she mutated?

Although there was no mirror in the room, Amelia still touched her whole body and found no mutated organs.

But this was strange.

Her tier was still at the second, so why such drastic changes?

Had she been taken by some laboratory to carry out secret experiments? The person who saved her, had sinister intentions?

Wait... that wasn't right.

Amelia remembered being in a haze, as if the client had rescued her?

However, just as she planned to find an opportunity to forcefully break out of the room, a space portal suddenly appeared in the room.

...

Su Lun opened a spatial portal in the room and looked at Amelia in the sickroom, who was still clueless about the situation. He called out, "Come on out."

The girls who had been rescued previously had all been sent away. Knowing that Amelia was the Old Cowboy's assistant and the Old Cowboy's whereabouts were currently unknown, they decided to keep her here.

But to keep outsiders from knowing too much about the secrets of the mini Void World, Su Lun had her stay in this separate room.

However, Su Lun was advancing these past two days and had, indeed... forgotten about her.
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Now that his advancement was complete, he remembered to get her out.

A look of confusion on her face, Amelia heeded the call and stepped out of the sickroom's spatial portal, then appeared in the rented room.

What advanced spatial technique!

She praised inwardly and then turned to look at the man who had saved her life twice, her heart full of gratitude, the slight resentments hidden away deep inside.

As soon as she came out, Amelia's professional curiosity kicked in. Eager to know what had happened during this time, she asked, "Sir, was it you who rescued me? What exactly happened?"

Su Lun didn't feel like talking much and took out the newspapers from the past few days, "There are detailed reports here. Have a look for yourself."

Amelia took the stack of newspapers and read them carefully.

She was immediately shocked.

The newspapers from the past few days had extensively covered the incident that happened on Parrot Street.

Looking at the horrifying scene photos in the "Vampire Scandal" with hundreds of girls embedded in tumorous growths, wasn't she one of them?

Amelia also came to understand what had happened to her after being captured by the gang's high-ranking enforcers while investigating the girls' disappearance.

She almost became vampire feed.

Eh... This headline?

Is the person before her the notorious "Reaper"?

Amelia's eyes flickered to the man across from her and involuntarily swallowed. She now knew why her teacher said this guy was formidable.

So it was him.

No wonder.

After reading a few reports, she had a general understanding of the entire event.

However, when she saw the report titled "S-Rank Wanted Felon 'Hell's Judge' Jerome Offaster," her eyes widened in shock.

Even in his demonic overlord form, she recognized her teacher at a glance.

Without caring for anything else, Amelia urgently asked, "My teacher...?"

Su Lun explained briefly, "During the battle at Parrot Street, your teacher went to save you and happened to encounter me. I later ran into an ambush, and he helped block the legendary Hunter Emo. What happened afterward is what you read in the paper. I'm not sure where he is now, but he probably hasn't been captured."

Hearing he hadn't been captured, Amelia breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, she thought of the abnormal changes in her body and asked, "The thing is... Sir, I've noticed a significant change in my body. It seems like some unknown mutation has occurred?"

Su Lun had a faintly odd expression upon hearing this question.

This 'mutation' was something other people would die for.

He didn't answer directly but instead asked, "What's your talent?"

"Ah, talent?"

Hearing this, Amelia's eyes flashed with surprise, not understanding why he would suddenly ask such a question.

But thinking there was nothing to hide from the man who saved her twice, she replied, "I'm not sure myself. But my teacher said it might be a very rare talent."

Su Lun listened with an impassive face, clearly having already guessed something.

Amelia then said with uncertainty, "It's supposedly... 'Angel of Justice'—A-028. But my teacher said I haven't fully awakened yet."

Hearing this, Su Lun raised an eyebrow and murmured, "No wonder."

...

Amelia was a second-order professional and was one of Augustus's primary targets for blood consumption for healing purposes.

Her vital essence severely depleted, when Su Lun rescued her, she was at death's door.

Even Dr. Banks found her condition problematic and feared that, even if she was saved, her body would suffer irreparable side effects.

However, during the treatment process, an unexpected event occurred.

Dr. Banks noticed something unusual about Amelia's body. Upon closer examination, he was amazed to find her genetic sequence had a very high degree of alignment with the bloodline of a Fallen Angel!

After consulting with Su Lun, they decided to inject her with a dose of "X Serum."

That led to the significant improvement in her body's condition now.

It was an outcome that even Su Lun envied.

He remembered that when he first injected the serum, not only was there a risk of sudden death, but his skin had also turned blue for quite some time due to the serum's bloodline modification and the body's rejection response.

Yet now, Amelia's skin hadn't turned blue at all, signifying an extremely high compatibility rate with the X Serum.

That meant her bodily enhancement would be remarkably exaggerated.

After hearing her talent was "Angel of Justice," Su Lun wasn't surprised.

Her overwhelming sense of justice was not just a matter of thought but also related to her talent.

While it was an A-class talent, it was indeed very, very rare.

She hadn't fully awakened before, but now with the potion, not only had her talent fully awakened, but her bloodline was also perfectly remodeled.

Her potential for the future was enormous.

Moreover, Su Lun now realized that this mentor-student pair weren't just a random grouping.

Instead, there was some special connection.

He had previously inquired to Mr. Hei about the photo in the newspaper.

Mr. Hei had speculated that Old Cowboy's talent was a second-stage "A-029 - Hell's Messenger," which allowed him to communicate with the demons of hell.

An angel and a demon—a rather bizarre combination.

...

"Your injury was too severe before, so my doctor partner injected you with a special Bloodline Potion. But the source of that Bloodline Potion is very special; it's best if you don't mention it to anyone other than your teacher, otherwise it could bring unnecessary trouble."

Su Lun didn't want to elaborate on the matter of the X Serum, simply giving a brief explanation.

"Oh."

Hearing this explanation, Amelia also sighed with relief and nodded her head.

As long as it wasn't a mutation, that's good.

A hint of embarrassment crossed her face as she asked, "Ah... Sir, may I ask how much I need to pay for this potion?"

In the eyes of an alchemist, everything has its value.

Although she didn't know what potion she had been injected with, she knew that something that could dramatically boost a second-tier professional like herself must be incredibly precious.

Su Lun shook his head, declining to discuss the matter of payment, saying, "No need for compensation. Your teacher also saved my life."

To save someone, he must have felt the woman was worth saving.

Besides, consider it the Old Cowboy's form of payment for assistance rendered.

Listening to Amelia still unsure of how to address him, he introduced himself, "My name is Su Lun."

Amelia knew that he had saved her out of respect for her teacher, so she didn't say anything more.

Besides, she was quite poor herself.

She felt she could not afford the hefty cost, so she quickly bowed deeply and sincerely expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, Mr. Su Lun, for saving my life."

"..."

Su Lun could tell that Amelia seemed in a hurry to leave, probably knowing where to find the Old Cowboy.

She didn't elaborate, and Su Lun had no intention of keeping her any longer.

But seeing her in her patient's clothes, Su Lun took some clothes, essential defensive firearms, and a communicator from his storage space, saying, "Your teacher used divine power, so the situation could be very bad. If you need my help, just contact me. And don't be so reckless in the future."

Amelia listened intently and nodded, "Mm."

...

After sending Amelia off, Su Lun didn't stay in the rental room.

A hiding place known by another person was no longer safe.

Besides, now that he had advanced to the sixth tier, it was time to go out for a stroll.

Mounting his beloved little motorcycle, he roamed the city.

After several days without going out, Su Lun first inquired about the recent situation of Sabina Lyndon.

There was nothing in particular to note.

The aftermath of Augustus's murder had indeed created quite a stir, but it didn't affect the lower classes much; the upper-crust nobility was taking advantage of the turmoil to struggle for power and profit.

A few threatening enemies were currently preoccupied with their own matters.

The Rodriguez family, because of the "vampire scandal," had been caught up in many old debts, showing signs of collapsing amid a general push. With the family patriarch murdered, they were everywhere looking for 'Death', and the bounty hunters' guild had hung a high reward. However, following the incident on Parrot Street, those slightly informed could see that there was more to this affair, so much so that the military and police departments had also taken no real action;

And that young Master William hadn't stirred any trouble. Ambushing Su Lun would not have served the interests of the Regadia family, so it was probably a rogue operation. Having failed, he naturally had to go into hiding.

Duke Raphael was busy pushing a new arms legislation in the council, gaining strong momentum and showing signs of becoming the "First Warlord." His calculation of Su Lun was purely for profit. Although he didn't get the Lance family involved, the chaos within the Rodriguez family was enough for him to reap a lot of benefits. With the loss of his 'tool', he showed no further intention to target.

The only surprise for Su Lun was that the Lance family had suddenly invested in shares of the Crimson Potion and then, spending a large sum of money, hoarded a big batch of potions.

Su Lun knew that the threat of the "Giant Hermit Society" was imminent, and Ekaterina's actions were probably also out of necessity.

Unable to suppress it, they decided to stockpile the potions themselves to prevent them from flowing into the market.

The resources of the Lance family were sufficient to halt a large batch of potions from hitting the market.

But this was not a long-term solution.

On the other hand, the situation with the Red Death was getting worse, with more and more of the commoners becoming infected.

At the same time, Su Lun was somewhat surprised that, with the Red Death causing such havoc in Lyndon, the royal family had not made a single move.

Even if they were not certain of the conspiracy of an outer god, even a common infectious disease would make the royal family intervene for the safety of its citizens, right?

But peculiarly, Her Majesty hadn't done anything.

She was simply allowing those nobles to hoard medicine, letting disease ravage the lower classes for exorbitant profits.

Su Lun felt that the royal family had significant issues.

That member of the Giant Hermit Society hidden within the royal family was the real problem.

But the feedback from the Lance family was that it had been confirmed that the empress was not a follower of the Evil God.

This left Su Lun somewhat puzzled.

Moreover, all the great families had their intelligence networks; how could they possibly be completely unaware of the Giant Hermit Society?

But they all tacitly stood by.

It seemed they were gathering strength for the inevitable turmoil that would erupt.

The whole of Lyndon was now in a strange and delicate balance.

...

Su Lun had no intention of intervening in the decisions of those great nobles, nor did he plan to.

But after he extracted Augustus's memories, he realized that the source of the Red Death pointed directly at the 'Curator'.

The Curator was responsible for the spread of the Red Death, while the Rodriguez family handled the Crimson Potion.

Now that Su Lun had advanced to the sixth tier, he planned to include the assassination of the 'Curator' in his schedule.

And he had received some favorable news that Mr. Jing was about to arrive in Lyndon.

Su Lun planned to wait for his mentor's sister to come before he took action, ensuring fail-safe success.

Regarding the identity of 'Judge', Sabina also had a rough guess.

After all, last time's incident was such a big deal that not many in the whole of Ruling could suffocate it.

Although it wasn't certain which one it was for sure, there was a Full Moon Ball happening in a few days, and Su Lun planned to go personally to express his thanks.

Before that, he intended to head to Lyndon Royal Bank and take out the treasure that Augustus had stored away.

PS. Thanks to 'Kindergarten Senior Graduate' for the 10,000 coin reward. Ah... very, very much appreciated, I am flattered. As for the added chapter... I will try my best to write it in the next few days.