ps. Check back in twenty minutes for the draft.

Raphael’s Duchy was in the west of the Ruen Empire, a bustling city that would take about half a month to reach by steam ferry.

Several days' voyage further west, in the vast sea, was a place not marked on any map, called "Black Reef."

On the reef stood a castle, complete with a towering lighthouse.

But inside the castle weren't ordinary residents, but rather a garrison of Duke Raphael's secret elite guard.

It was purely a military fortress.

Little known to outsiders.

Recently, the war between the Ruen Empire and the Mechanical Mafa Empire on the east coast had intensified, and major lords had also mobilized troops to participate.

The great nobles' drafting of troops from their territories also provided opportunities for pirates.

A fleet under Oleg J. Popov, the overlord of the North Sea pirates, known as the "King of the North Sea," was active near Duke Raphael's territory, plundering passing merchant ships.

"Black Reef" was also discovered by a passing pirate scouting squad.

Originally, pirates were most reluctant to touch pure military fortresses like this.

High losses, and no treasure to loot.

But the unusual movements on the reef caught the attention of a great pirate.

That was Team Ashley, a squad captain under the "King of the North Sea," a wanted five-rank professional pirate with a bounty of 160 million Leso.

After days of patient observation, this great pirate discovered that the military strength on the reef was too "high-end," far exceeding the military strength needed to garrison an ordinary military fortress.

Finally, he decided to take a risk and try it out.

One day, a steam warship sailed into the inner bay dock of Black Reef.

Under several extremely strict inspections, the people on board were allowed to enter the castle.

Then they went straight to the lighthouse in the castle, down to the underground, and then into a black tower, heading to the deepest depths...

What they didn't know was that a great pirate was hiding in someone's shadow.

"The 'Super Mechanical Warrior' secretly researched by the Duke has shown great brilliance on the battlefield this time. Even those guys from the Mechanical Cult suffered a great loss..."

"Yes, those clumsy mechanical armors are far behind the Mechanical Warriors. When it comes to mechanical limb modification technology, our territory is the most advanced..."

"With this victory in the 'Norman Naval Battle,' the Empire will probably have a new appreciation for the Duke. Even Her Majesty the Empress should value and reward him..."

"Of course, our Duke will probably be named a 'First-Class Duke' this time."

"Hey~ I heard that the women of Old Lunden are very good. They are underground all year round, their skin is fair and smooth, and they are not the same as those sun-dried women on the surface. Shall we go to the city for a walk later? Hehe, the commander said, the so-called noble ladies and young misses in this city have excellent temperament. We can choose whoever we like and play however we want..."

"To be honest, I really want to try it."

"Let's take care of business first. The Duke asked us to bring so many materials because he wants us to take the latest batch of Mechanical Warriors. Let's go to the research institute first..."

"..."

Before long, the group had arrived in Old Lunden.

After leaving the Duke's mansion, they went straight to the Mechanical Research Institute.

Because it was underground, lighting was needed, and there were shadows everywhere.

What they didn't know was that after leaving the tower, the shadow of one of them connected with the shadow in the corner of the wall, and then that shadow strangely "detached" from the person and merged into the darkness of the corner.

It quickly moved towards the outside of the Duke's mansion.

Far away from the guards, in a small alley in Old Lunden, the shadow suddenly twisted. Then it became three-dimensional and solid, and in a blink of an eye, it turned into a triangular-eyed man dressed in night clothes.

This person was naturally the great pirate, Team Ashley. His talent was [B-021-Shadow Mimic], which allowed him to hide his body in any shadow.

This underground world, full of shadows, was simply his home field.

"Phew...almost got discovered. Fortunately, the boss gave me that treasure, otherwise it wouldn't have been easy to sneak in through so many checkpoints."

Team muttered to himself, greatly relieved.

After all, if a pirate was caught, they would be sent to the gallows.

But in a blink of an eye, looking at the prosperous inner city of Old Lunden, the great pirate's eyes suddenly lit up.

You could tell if a place was rich by looking at the buildings on the street and the clothes of the pedestrians.

My goodness, where was this a mine?

It was simply a bustling metropolis!

These people were dressed so luxuriously, not to mention being a hundred times better than their poor pirates, but they were no worse than those wealthy territories.

Moreover,

From what those guys said, this was also Duke Raphael's secret research base!

Super Mechanical Warriors?

The "fully modified mechanical limb" technology that even the fanatical mechanics of the Mafa Empire hadn't cracked was actually successful here?

A thousand-year-old ancient ruin, the legendary Dawn City?

God, did that legendary ‘Demigod’ Grand Alchemist really exist?

And with so many people, wouldn't it all be ready money if they were captured and sold?

Wasn't this the perfect place to plunder?

"Tsk tsk, so this is where Duke Raphael's secret of being rich beyond measure lies... It has always been rumored that the Raphael family has a 'mine' with endless treasures. So that's what it is!"

Team was ecstatic. He didn't expect that this risky trip would actually bring such a huge surprise.

"The highest rank of the mine slaves in this city is only Rank 3, hahaha...rich and weak, I'm going to get rich this time. I have to quickly figure out the information and send it out, so the boss can send a fleet over!"

Thinking of something, the great pirate's figure merged into the darkness again.

.......

At the same time, underground.

In the tower near the city's core area of the Dawn Ruins.

Suren and Mr. Mirror were still patiently meditating and waiting.

Because he had extracted some of the memory fragments of "Forensic Doctor" Gerald, it wasn't too difficult for Suren to understand the contents of the research diary.

He quickly flipped through the contents of the notebook.

But this was just a research notebook, and the human body was one of the most complex life forms, so he was still far from understanding it thoroughly.

Even Gerald himself often lamented in his notes that he had only touched the "surface," and he also left one research topic after another in the notes.

Suren closed the last notebook, let out a breath of stale air, and sighed in his heart: "The field of bio-alchemy is really complex..."

He finally understood the saying that the more you know, the more doubts you have.

After reading the notes, Suren finally knew why Gerald wore the [Three-Colored Mask of the Fate Thief].

This guy had once found an ancient abyssal creature's corpse, and then found that piece of living flesh on the corpse.

After experiments and research, Gerald discovered that the flesh could fuse with human flesh and blood, giving the experimental subject super activity and the ability to withstand the Rank 3 state of [Hormone Overload].

Then he used ancient alchemy to solve the not-so-strong rejection reaction of the alien creatures and sewed the flesh onto his body.

But he didn't realize that this thing not only affected the flesh and blood, but also the spirit.

Then, his spirit mutated.

As the leader of the Umbrella organization, he naturally had no shortage of suitable cursed objects.

He found this mask that could suppress spiritual mutation.

[Three-Colored Mask of the Fate Thief]

Description: Once you put on the mask, you won't love anyone.

Cursed Characteristics: Wearing the mask can maintain absolute rationality, suppress other abnormal spiritual fluctuations, and resist mental spell attacks no higher than Rank 5; if your mental power does not exceed 500, you will be affected by the cursed characteristics, and once the mask is put on, you can no longer take it off; it will also make you schizophrenic, eventually becoming crazy; it can absorb the negative emotions of others and enhance the cursed characteristics.

Detailed explanation: An ancient Fate Thief was backlashed in divination and often heard whispers from demons. In order to avoid mental disorder, he refined this mask to suppress it; the mask absorbed too many negative emotions and became an item with extremely strong cursed characteristics; it can be used as a professional advancement material. If your mental power reaches 300, your dark spiritual power value is no less than 120,000, and the probability of fusion distortion does not exceed 5%; fuse and comprehend 'Split Soul Technique.' Multi-tasking? No, try 'Multi-Minding.' This is not schizophrenia, but a very high-end 'Split Soul' ability in the field of spiritual spells;

Suren also discovered that as his knowledge increased, the detailed explanations of the items he identified became more detailed.

The essence of using cursed materials to change professions was to allow alchemists to use this kind of "external" means to comprehend abilities that they could not normally comprehend through normal means.

This "Multi-Minding" ability was indeed very compatible with Puppet Masters.

In the spiritual field, it was probably as rare as spatial abilities.

Suren could precisely control more than a dozen puppets with multi-tasking; and with multi-minding, the number would be multiplied.

This ability would also increase with mental power.

However, this was indeed an advancement material that others would need to be at least Rank 4 to fuse.

The 120,000 dark spiritual power requirement would probably be met when Suren reached Rank 3 perfection. If his body hadn't been modified by "X-serum," his tolerance would have been much higher than others at every rank. Under normal circumstances, Rank 4 might only have tens of thousands of dark spiritual power.

This tolerance advantage would snowball, and the higher the rank, the greater the advantage.

And then there was mental power.

He had absorbed so many spiritual fragments, but the mental power value on his panel was only 192, far from the 300 fusion threshold.

Fortunately, now he had the [Starry Sky Contemplation Technique], and contemplation could also increase mental power.

But even with this top-level mental power secret method, it would probably take a year and a half to reach that level.

Well...and there's the [Death Harvester]. If there are enough enemies, it should shorten the time considerably.

.......

Suren was still taking stock of the spoils of war from the two elite family regiments before, identifying and classifying them, keeping some materials and equipment that he found useful, and then packing up the rest that he couldn't use, preparing to sell them later.

Just then, suddenly, Mr. Mirror next to him suddenly opened his eyes, "He's coming!"

Hearing this, Suren also looked solemn and asked, "Then...should I go?"

Mr. Mirror nodded, "Yes."

As he said this, he pinched a warlock seal with both hands, and a layer of light emerged from Suren's body.

Looking again, he found that his entire person had instantly teleported outside the tower.

"What an amazing warlock..."

Suren looked at the light fading from his body, then turned back to look at the tower, and shrugged.

Originally, sending a Rank 2 noob like him to meet that fallen angel seemed like a death wish. Not to mention that person's combat power, the guards around her would definitely not be someone he could handle.

But with Mr. Mirror's spell, Suren didn't panic at all.

In order to avoid being killed by the stealth guards around Princess Teresa as an assassin with unclear intentions, he didn't wear a mask and walked directly towards the depths of the mist.

Now, Suren had roughly figured out the ins and outs of the matter.

The brooch he found in Stormwind Manor was made of a special material that could carry a soul.

Now Suren had determined that the hidden information that couldn't be identified was a wisp of the fallen angel's soul hidden in the brooch.

In this way, it was the right choice to bury it in the ground out of caution back then.

But for some reason, the butterfly brooch fell into the hands of Princess Teresa of the Duke's mansion through some channel.

Then, probably being possessed and bewitched by the fallen angel's soul, Teresa was very enthusiastic about this ruin hunting and development in Dawn City.

She even came in person.

Calling it ruin hunting, but in reality, she was trying to find the sealed limbs of that god.

Suren walked along, and before long, he saw a floating little girl in the mist.

Naturally, it was the little ghost, Pestoa, who he had met not long ago.

She saw Suren and greeted him enthusiastically, "Hi, Mr. Suren, we meet again..."

Suren also smiled. Although he had known why she would appear here for a long time, he deliberately asked, "Pestoa, why are you here?"

Pestoa tilted her head and thought for a while, "Ah?? I don't know... I felt you were nearby, so I came to see you."

The fallen angel knew the whole truth, but Pestoa had no idea that there was a "god's" soul hidden in her soul.

Suren didn't continue to ask this question.

He took the initiative to extend his hand, signaling Pestoa to hold him.

Pestoa didn't mind and happily reached out and grabbed Suren's hand.

At this moment, she seemed to have discovered something, floated in front of Suren, and sniffed with her delicate nose, "Wow, you seem to have a very nice smell on you~"

"What smell?"

Suren naturally knew it was the smell of the [Isaac Alchemy Heart], which the fallen angel had come for, but he deliberately pretended to be stupid.

After all, in a normal script, he shouldn't know anything.

He shouldn't know about the existence of that fallen angel, or what a god's body was. He should only think of Pestoa as a ghost "good friend."

That fallen angel was very cunning. He was defeated by Sir Isaac back then, and his body was cut and sealed. Although he was just a lowly human, He would never underestimate such an enemy.

He also suspected that there was another conspiracy hidden in that "execution by fire."

Although a thousand years had passed and this once prosperous Dawn City had become a ruin.

But before He figured it out, He would never easily give up Pestoa as a shield.

.......

Suren went straight to the point, holding Pestoa's hand and saying, "Didn't you ask me to do something last time? I met Ms. Serea."

"Ah..."

Hearing this, Pestoa's eyes were full of complex emotions, including nervousness, resentment, and expectation...

Suren took out the ring that Serea gave him, gestured, and said in a domineering scumbag tone, "Give me your hand."

This trick always worked on young girls.

Not giving the ghost lady any time to think, Suren held her tender little hand and put the ring on her index finger.

The ring didn't look special.

That fallen angel still thought that Suren didn't know about His existence and was still pretending...

And our ghost lady really had no defense at all.

As Suren put on the ring, he said, "I asked about your question, and Ms. Serea told me to bring you a message. She said..."

Hearing this, Pestoa looked expectant and had completely forgotten to pull her hand back.

After a pause, Suren looked at her and slowly said three words, "She loves you."

"..."

Hearing this, Pestoa was stunned. Her big, sparkling eyes were full of confusion.

She never thought that she would hear such words.

A thousand years of endless resentment seemed to have nowhere to vent.

Suddenly it turned into...

But before Pestoa could think about it,

At this moment, the ring suddenly emitted a scorching light.

Pestoa didn't feel anything, but the being hidden deep in her soul let out a furious shriek.

At the same time, a violent commotion suddenly erupted in Teresa's team about a kilometer or two away!

An indescribable terrifying will suddenly descended on the entire ruin.