Mang Hou
Chapter 224 Gadurant Port
Suren and the Mirror Gentleman were on the same merchant ship heading to Gadolunter Port. It just so happened that the Mirror Gentleman needed to go to the neutral Province of Senodia, located between the two great empires, where she would transfer to a cruise ship or purchase a sea vessel.
After inquiring about the Black Gentleman's team's itinerary, they had also landed and were switching to land transportation heading north.
After all, traveling on the "Gale" pirate ship would cause a lot of trouble.
It would take about two or three more days.
Which was about the time Suren and the others would arrive.
Suren himself planned to visit the Northern Icefield. He needed experience and to broaden his horizons.
The original owner's Regaldi family was in southern Ruin, and he had no plans to stir up trouble there anytime soon.
The Northern Icefield was an excellent choice.
Moreover, he was also preparing to advance to Tier 3.
Although dark spiritual energy was scarce on the surface, he had [Isaac's Alchemic Heart], as if carrying a portable dark spiritual energy spring, which could fully meet his cultivation needs. His mental strength was also steadily increasing. Reaching the advancement requirements for the gold material [Fate Thief's Tri-Color Mask] was only a matter of time.
Also, he needed to gather some "Journey to the West" materials for his Tier 3 alchemic implant.
He could take his chances in Gadolunter, the largest commercial territory in northern Ruin.
Suren had now learned mental power secrets, and the direction of his Tier 3 advancement was "multi-tasking," which was leaning towards mental power control.
Therefore, he planned to create a special implant with a high degree of compatibility with his newly awakened ability—[Mental Tentacles].
It was the same ability that Pestoya used to control his and Baldy Ivan's limbs back in Stormwind Manor when he first transmigrated.
He didn't know what that method was before, but now Suren knew it was a kind of mental manipulation.
Using mental threads to block the transmission of nerve signals in the target and convey his will, controlling the other person's body.
The "Puppet Master" was so strange not only because he could make all kinds of weird rune puppets, but also because of some mysterious mental control secrets.
In the words of his teacher, Sereia: What is a puppet if it is not for convenience? Controlling dead puppets is only the beginning; controlling living puppets is the advancement, so that in the end, everything within sight is a puppet!
Mental control methods would make up for Suren's shortcomings in puppet manipulation.
Moreover, because he had previously peeled off the memory fragments of "Forensic" Gerald and carefully studied his *Anatomy Notes*, Suren was now almost completely familiar with the transmission of various nerve signals in the human body.
Once the implant was completed, it could immediately form combat power.
At that time, the power of puppet techniques like [Puppet Theater] would also increase dramatically.
Suren wouldn't need to control it completely physically, like he did now, and wrestle with people.
Now, he could directly transmit mental power through the threads, achieving dual physical and mental control, making it easy to control people's bodies.
Even in the future,
As long as he had enough understanding of the target's nerve signal transmission, he could control not only humans, but even magical beasts, mutant monsters...
Theoretically, anything could be controlled.
This was also the most suitable implant for Suren's Tier 3 advancement, after careful consideration in light of his own conditions.
After advancing, his strength would increase by a large margin!
However, although he got the implant forging blueprints from Sereia, the main materials were very rare.
He needed a complete and fresh brain of a Tier 3 mental power monster, such as a [Nightmare Spider], [Hundred-Eyed Evil Eye], or [Nightmare Octopus], the higher the quality, the better.
He had read about these alternate targets in the ancient texts, but in all the memories he had harvested, no one had ever seen one.
Therefore, it would be best to try his luck in the Northern Icefield, a place rich in magical beasts.
Legend has it that some extinct ancient species are discovered every year in the depths of the "Silent Forest's" primeval forest...
.......
Ever since he learned that Suren was a "genuine" rune teacher, the fur merchant Benson and his son Jick had become very enthusiastic. In the surface world, teachers were one of the most respected professions among civilians.
Even for meals, they would specifically send someone to invite Suren.
After all, he had been "rescued," and it was hard to refuse the shipowner's invitation, so Suren would gladly accept.
Through chatting at the dinner table, Suren also learned something about the situation in the surface world.
The Benson family was considered middle class among the commoners of the Ruin Empire's capital.
The northern "Silent Forest" was rich in magical beast furs. These furs were luxury goods in the capital, used to make alchemic scrolls and clothing, and were very popular. A trip like this would generate a gross profit of about thirty to fifty million Resso, and after deducting taxes and labor costs, there would be a net profit of about ten million.
They could make two or three trips a year.
But occasionally, encountering pirates would mean losing everything.
Benson had also made a considerable fortune over the years through his connections, and was considered a small-time wealthy merchant in the capital's fur merchant circles.
Suren's erudition also left a very good impression on the Benson father and son.
However, Suren didn't know why, but he occasionally sensed a faint hostility from Benson's somewhat attractive second wife, Marianne.
And also from that guard captain named Raman.
.......
One day, the port city of Gadolunter was faintly visible in the distance.
On the deck, Suren was enjoying the sea breeze, gazing at the distance.
Jick next to him was diligently taking notes, carefully recording the questions he had just asked.
Every day, Suren would go to the deck to enjoy the breeze, as the fresh sea air would help him digest the knowledge he had just received.
Jick was very eager to learn, and would also take this opportunity to politely ask some questions about alchemy.
Suren felt that this little boy had a good talent for learning, and patiently explained.
They would be arriving at the port in less than an hour, and after disembarking, he wouldn't have such a good teacher, so Jick seemed a little lost.
He carefully put the notebook in his vest pocket and leaned on the edge of the deck, imitating Suren. Because the railing wasn't high enough, his feet were still dangling in the air.
Jick sighed, "Mr. Nicholas, you really know everything. I wish I could hire you as a private tutor, so I would have a good chance of getting into the 'Imperial Royal War College'."
Suren smiled and said nothing.
Jick's eyes sparkled like stars as he continued, "Do you know, getting into the Royal Academy is my dream. The entire empire only has less than five thousand new student slots each year. And after removing the nobles who get eight percent of the slots, we commoners need a very high entrance score to get in. It's the highest institution that only true elites can get into..."
"Mm."
Suren listened with interest, nodding with a smile from time to time.
This Jick had popularized a lot of common sense about the surface world for him.
The best educational resources in this world belonged to the nobles, but some opportunities were left for the commoners.
Nobles could enter without taking the exam, while commoners needed one-in-a-million talent and high tuition fees.
Jick was used to this class difference, and there was no complaint of injustice in his tone.
He was like a boy with a dream, full of longing for that highest institution, saying, "If I can get in, I can get in touch with the top masters and the best resources. The Royal Academy's campus also has many buildings from the 'Atria Empire' era a thousand years ago, and the Academy's library has the richest collection of books in the world! All kinds of precious ancient books, manuscripts by masters, and documents excavated from various civilization ruins... Manuscripts from alchemists of various eras, such as Roger Bacon, Clement, Ramon Llull, and Theophrastus von Hohenheim, are all there."
Suren listened to the names of these famous figures in the field of alchemy and nodded in agreement.
The Ruin Empire had existed for more than eight hundred years, and the number of documents in the Bonaparte royal collection was definitely unimaginably huge for ordinary people.
This remark also truly piqued Suren's interest.
When it came to acquiring alchemic knowledge, there was no place more suitable than the Royal Academy.
After being taught by Sereia, he now knew very well that the direction of his future advancement would require a lot of knowledge as a stepping stone to touch the top realm of alchemy.
However, the Ruin Imperial capital was a place where dragons and tigers were hidden, gathering the top professionals in the entire empire.
The original owner's Regaldi family also seemed to have a mansion in the capital...
A thought flashed through Suren's mind, and he planned to go and take a look after he had a certain amount of self-protection ability.
"Oh, right!"
At this moment, Jick seemed to have suddenly thought of something and excitedly added, "There's also the relic chamber of Sir Isaac, the 'Demigod' from a thousand years ago. Last time our preparatory academy organized a visit, and I saw it with my own eyes!"
Hearing this, Suren's eyes suddenly froze, and he couldn't help but murmur, "Sir Isaac's relics?"
Sir Isaac left behind many manuscripts, and a single page could sell for three to five hundred gold crowns at the auction house in Old Lundon.
The Raphael family had been developing Old Lundon for a hundred years, and many treasures from the underground city had flowed to the surface through them.
"That's right!"
Not everyone was qualified to visit the Royal Academy, so Jick wanted to tell this rune teacher from the remote southern county about the prosperity of the capital, and said, "Sir Isaac was the greatest inventor, philosopher, biologist, and grand alchemist in modern civilization... He created countless ingenious inventions, and the Royal Academy's library has a special library dedicated to collecting his relics. There are also many handwritten manuscripts and design drawings..."
Suren thought of something and asked, "Among those relics... is there a leather notebook that emits black energy, like a 'living thing'?"
Hearing this, Jick was very surprised, "Huh... Mr. Nicholas, have you also seen the [Manuscript of Divine Connection]?"
He frowned and recalled for a moment, then continued, "There is indeed such a notebook in the collection room! The teachers said that it was a research manuscript for a god-tier implant invented by Sir Isaac. Oh, I remember it very clearly now, it was a very strange notebook... Unfortunately, I didn't see the contents."
"..."
Although Suren was a little unfamiliar with the name [Manuscript of Divine Connection], he immediately guessed that it was most likely one of the five [Isaac's Alchemy Manuscripts]!
So, there was also one in the Ruin Royal Academy?
And there was probably one in the Regaldi family...
Adding the one in his hand, Suren now knew the whereabouts of three of the five manuscripts.
"It seems that I really have to take a trip to the Ruin Royal Academy..."
Hearing this, Suren looked at the sea in the distance, his eyes gradually turning deep.
......
Not long after, the sailboat was about to dock.
"Gadolunter" was a huge port city built on a mountain.
Looking down from the air, it looked like a long boot.
The natural deep-water port was at the heel of the boot, with cliffs on both sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
From a distance, they could hear the clamor of the docks.
Suren stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the city in the distance in the bay, and murmured in his heart, "The technological level of the cities in the surface world doesn't seem to be too high."
The city in front of him looked like a medieval castle complex, with a touch of ancient Greek architectural style, with large areas of white and blue as the main colors. Thick and textured white rock walls, tall pillars and blue spires, and crowded streets.
It looked no different from the architectural style of those thousand-year-old buildings in the Dawn City ruins.
However, there were also many steel elements in this castle-style city.
Steam locomotives could be seen on the bridges between the islands, and there were also various steel bridges in the city, and floating airships were floating in the sky above the city...
The most eye-catching thing was the various giant turrets built on the mountains. Long and short cannons were densely packed, arming the city like a hedgehog... It looked like a hybrid of magic and industrial society.
Judging from the city's architecture alone, Gadolunter's civilization was far behind the cyberpunk-style skyscrapers in Old Lundon's inner city.
At this time, Suren suddenly heard the Mirror Gentleman's comment next to him, "It's been a thousand years, and the city is still like this. The backward aristocratic centralization system has long been proven to be a stumbling block to the development of social civilization. These nobles are only interested in enjoying power and making no progress, actually allowing civilization to stagnate for a thousand years. Are they really not afraid of the plane channel breaking and humans being enslaved by strong people from other planes..."
Her tone was very calm, but Suren heard a sense of anger and lamentation.
Sure enough, people standing in different positions saw completely different things.
The Mirror Gentleman, who had been fighting on the front lines of plane defense a thousand years ago, saw the entire human race and alchemic civilization.
From what Suren knew, the aristocratic centralization system of the Ruin Empire was indeed quite backward.
The nobles concentrated more than ninety percent of the society's resources.
Apart from the population expanding, neither alchemy nor technology had made much progress compared to a thousand years ago.
No!
It was even worse!
At least, in the field of alchemy, no one had reached the level of Sir Isaac a thousand years ago.
The Mafa Empire had only changed after the mechanical revolution in the last hundred years.
The Mirror Gentleman shook her head and didn't say much.
Just then, the sailboat passed a reef with a lighthouse built on it, and Suren took another look.
Because the lighthouse looked like it was hanging hundreds of different pirate flags, like it was hanging the flags of all nations. Some were new, and some were faded after being exposed to wind and sun... It looked like they had been hanging for a long time.
There were also a few dried corpses!
Judging from the corpses' attire, were these people pirates?
Because the ship was about to dock, Captain Benson also went to the deck.
Seeing the confusion on Suren's face, he explained, "That's the captain of the 'Blood Skull Pirates,' 'Bloody Hand' Stuart, a Tier 5 professional. He was once a very active pirate in this sea area, and committed many bloody crimes..."
Merchants naturally hated these pirates who burned, killed, and looted the most.
After a pause, his tone was also impolite, and he added, "These damned pirates should have been sent to the gallows!"
Suren also understood that this "landmark" was full of warnings, was this warning people of the consequences of being a pirate?
A Tier 5 big pirate, his corpse was hung up to dry like this?
He suddenly thought of Chidori.
After that gambling addict left the ship, she didn't follow the Black Gentleman and the others, saying that she was going to form her own pirate group.
Although she wanted to be a "righteous thief," a righteous thief was still a thief, and if caught, they would be sent to the gallows.
.......
The ship entered the port and stopped in a dense cluster of sea vessels.
Suren and the Mirror Gentleman said goodbye to the Benson family and walked into the city first.
There was a thick high wall past the pier, and entering the city required identity registration and verification.
A long queue was lined up outside the city gate, and soldiers in silver-gray armor were checking the identities of the people entering the city.
The process was not complicated. They took out their ID and showed it, then put their hands on a crystal ball.
It was a bit like going through passport control in a previous life. The soldiers guarding the city would casually ask a few questions, and after passing the inspection, they would stamp the document.
Suren was also prepared.
It was not difficult for him to forge documents.
Moreover, the Ruin Empire, except for the cities near the capital that had unified ID cards, all other territories had their own proof of origin, which were strange and varied... Most of them were backward paper documents. The only anti-counterfeiting measure was the gold-stamped coat of arms representing the lord.
But looking at the crystal ball, Suren raised his eyebrows slightly and appraised it.
[Inferior Energy Measuring Crystal]
Details: An elemental crystal that can only roughly determine the tier.
It looked like it was to prevent high-level pirates from mixing into the city, or for other purposes...
But if it was just to detect tiers, it was not a big problem.
Suren's Tier 2 was not eye-catching among professionals.
After checking out, he glanced at the Mirror Gentleman, who was hooking his arm. If they detected a Tier 7 or Tier 8, it would probably cause a sensation immediately.
The Mirror Gentleman was very calm and responded with a faint smile.
Obviously, she didn't care about this kind of energy measuring crystal.
The two of them queued up and slowly entered the city.
While queuing, Suren also specially observed the crowd of adventurers passing by.
Most of them were dressed in traditional professions. There were a lot of firearms, but not many mechanical arms.
Even if there were, looking at the mechanical devices, they were about the same technological level as the outer city of Old Lundon.
This was the first city that Suren had come into contact with in the surface world, and it gave him the feeling that this Ruin Empire was the kind of ancient empire with a "dying breath," like an old and drowsy lion.
Before long, it was Suren's turn to be checked.
The soldiers guarding the city had to check tens of thousands of people entering and leaving the city every day, and their expressions had long been numb: "Show your ID, take off your hat, and put your hand on the crystal ball!"
Getting closer, Suren then saw that there were wanted posters hanging on the bulletin board on the city wall.
In the vast Northern Sea, in addition to the infamous "King of the Northern Sea" fleet, there were as many large and small pirates as hairs on a cow.
Most of the people on this bounty list were pirates.
Suren took off his hat, and then he put his hand on the crystal ball, and the crystal ball emitted a faint blue light.
He was wearing a plain white suit, probably because of this outfit, the guards guarding the city were still polite.
The guard on the side looked at Suren's face, didn't match any wanted criminals, didn't ask any more questions, and stamped his household registration certificate: Tier 2, Passed.
Suren passed smoothly, but when the Mirror Gentleman on the side took off the wide-brimmed hat that covered half of her face, the eyes of those guards immediately straightened.