Chapter 1 Calm Sea

On the calm sea, Suren and Pandora, having shaken off Mafa's pursuers, slowed down.

After rushing this far, several high-grade magic cores in their hands had been drained to powder. The paleness on Suren's face finally subsided.

Having just stored the submarine into the small void realm, he had exhausted his dark spiritual power. Now, having recovered one or two layers, he felt the exhaustion lessen.

Suren exhaled deeply, looked at Pandora, who had carried him all the way, and said, "Thank you."

Pandora was as taciturn as ever, only nodding, "Mmm."

However, now was not the time for pleasantries.

Previously, he had only wanted to try his luck and verify the existence of the "secret mechanical research base".

Unexpectedly, his luck had exploded, hitting the jackpot in one go.

Suren had just gleaned some memories from the mechanical warriors on the submarine, and learned that this submarine was the "Royal No. 7." It was truly part of Emperor Mafa's dowry for Princess Stika, and also technical support for Oleg, the King of the North Sea. The submarine contained Mafa's top mechanical equipment and onboard mechanical engineers, its value immeasurable.

Now that the goods were in hand, both the Mafa princess and the North Sea Fleet would surely go mad and search with all their might.

This void secret realm was not a place one could exit at any time. Exiting would also require waiting for specific ocean currents and wind directions.

Taking advantage of the fact that his dark spiritual power had just recovered, Suren took out a space scroll and lightly chanted, "Release!"

A small assault boat fell into the water.

The two boarded the boat. As the steam boiler started, the small boat cut a white wave on the sea and sped away.

After circling around and picking up Dr. Banks, who had evacuated in advance, Suren steered the small boat northwest.

...

This void secret realm was very large, estimated to be the size of a duchy.

Even with more people, the North Sea Fleet could not possibly deploy defenses everywhere.

Moreover, Suren knew their deployment almost like the back of his hand.

Suren steered the assault boat towards the blind spot of the sentry posts. A quarter of an hour later, he saw the "Eternal Night Emperor" slowly approaching in the darkness.

This was the rendezvous point planned in advance.

The battle had occurred in the southeast, the rendezvous was in the northwest, perfectly avoiding the pursuers.

As Suren and the others jumped onto the ship, the Dawnbreaker's members greeted them.

They had also experienced a major battle intercepting the pursuers, and the Eternal Night appeared to have been shelled.

Suren looked at Chihiro and asked with concern, "Chihiro, did you encounter any unexpected situations on your side?"

Chihiro had a lot of blood on her clothes, but she didn't care, responding, "No, we sank two ships that came after us and killed some people, not a big problem. The Eternal Night is faster than their ships and quickly shook them off."

Then, she asked, "What about your side?"

Suren said, "Very smooth."

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Sounds like you really struck it rich this time."

"Yes, a big harvest."

Suren nodded and said briefly, "Just as Dr. Banks predicted, there's a 'secret laboratory' in that submarine. It took some effort, but we managed to capture it."

Hearing this, joy appeared on the faces of everyone on the Dawnbreaker.

They all knew the value of the Mafa Mechanical Research Institute, and they began to talk excitedly.

"Really succeeded? Gosh, that's incredible."

"Mr. Suren is ridiculously strong, actually forcibly capturing a Mafa submarine? You know, it has a major general-level mechanical warrior guard corps. Even a full-fledged fleet might not be able to win..."

"After all, it's Mr. Suren!"

"Hahaha, having such a valuable thing snatched away, Oleg and that Princess Stika must be having a headache. Maybe the alliance will even break down..."

"Mafa's mechanical technology is decades ahead of Lu Ying's. When Mr. Suren cracks it, our Dawnbreaker will also have top-notch technology... Oh, being hit by a few rounds of artillery just now didn't feel good. Now it's balanced."

"..."

Everyone spoke with laughter and joy.

But clearly, this was not the time, because the observer on the watchtower had already discovered the enemy pursuing them.

Suren also said, "The current situation is that the research institute is of great significance to the North Sea Fleet, and the North Sea Fleet will definitely send heavy troops to encircle us. And we can't get out now..."

They weren't thinking about leaving now anyway. The Void Academy was right in front of them, and they had to take a look.

Hearing this, Chihiro shrugged. "Then let's proceed according to plan. We need to 'disappear' for a while."

"Mmm."

Suren also nodded.

Since they dared to act, they were naturally prepared.

He said to everyone, "All space ability users, get ready to execute 'Project Stealth'."

"Got it!"

Everyone obeyed and began to act.

...

The last time they intercepted three squadrons of the North Sea Void Fleet, they obtained a large number of space materials and implants. Now, more than a hundred people in the Dawnbreaker had successfully fused with the materials and obtained preliminary space abilities.

Now, these people began to set up alchemy arrays in the various cabins of the Eternal Night. Each person was responsible for a small part, but when connected, it was a super-large alchemy array connected as one.

Suren had observed the structure of the Eternal Night long ago and drawn it in advance.

Others didn't need too much profound understanding of space laws, as long as they knew a little introductory technique, they could operate it in a fool-proof way.

The casting speed of any alchemy could be increased with external objects, such as pre-engraved alchemy arrays and the use of a large number of energy crystals.

Suren's [Void Gluttony] technique was the same.

The plan was to bring everyone in the Dawnbreaker and the "Eternal Night" into the small void realm together.

At that time, his target would be much smaller.

It would be almost impossible for the enemy to find them to encircle them.

It had taken him nearly twenty minutes to swallow the more than one-hundred-meter "Royal No. 7" before.

Now, swallowing the "Eternal Night Emperor", which was several times larger, would take several times longer.

But with more than a hundred people helping now, it could be resolved in a few minutes.

"Alchemy array on the deck is complete!"

"Cabin layout is complete!"

"Outer hull layout is complete!"

"Everyone, prepare to activate the alchemy array."

"..."

In less than two minutes, more than a hundred people on the huge sea ship simultaneously formed mage seals to activate the alchemy array.

The arranged energy crystals also lit up one by one, and energy poured into the array.

In an instant, a special black light of space laws covered the entire warship.

The entire casting process would probably cost energy crystals worth several hundred million riso, but it was not a pity.

In any case, this time there would be a big profit.

Suren stood alone on top of the main mast, the black hole in his hand growing larger and larger. Soon it was as large as a black whale with a gaping mouth, and with a gurgle, it swallowed the huge sea ship.

The entire sea surface immediately became calm.

Suren looked at the pursuers chasing from afar, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he conjured a [Substitute Doll] like a magic trick.

He cut his finger and drew a bloodstain on the puppet. As a faint light flashed, a handful of phosphorus fire ignited, and the doll was burned to ashes in an instant.

The karma was cut off,

Now,

Mysterious methods would no longer be able to find him.

Suren ignored the pursuers, found a deserted direction, and disappeared into the dark blue sea.

...

Not long after, dozens of sailing battleships bearing the flags of the North Sea Fleet arrived one after another near the sea area where the Dawnbreaker had last appeared.

Among them, the Neptune-class "Princess Stika" was very eye-catching among a group of pirate ships.

Like a hunting dog that suddenly lost the scent of its prey and lost its direction, this group of pirate ships also circled aimlessly on the sea, looking for clues.

But no matter what method they used, they found that they could no longer find any traces.

"Your Highness, the scent and biological marker signals ended completely here, and the reconnaissance team lost the target information."

"Your Highness, the mechanical tracking instrument also shows that it is beyond the sensing range, and the signal is lost..."

"Your Highness, Master Cruz's pendulum divination did not divine any results. Those people should have used anti-divination methods."

"..."

Bad news came one after another. On the "Princess," Princess Stika, wearing a water-blue dress, had a gloomy face that looked as if she could kill someone.

She said in disbelief, "How could they disappear! How could such a large ship of people disappear without a trace?!"

Thwarted again and again, this Mafa princess was really furious.

The marks and blood stains left behind earlier... had disappeared mysteriously.

Whether it was a tracking signal or a mysterious method, it had completely lost its response.

Those people seemed to have disappeared from this world out of thin air.

On dozens of pirate ships, everyone dared not speak at this time, and the atmosphere was very solemn.

The killing intent on Princess Stika's face was like a volcanic eruption, and she could no longer maintain the upbringing of a royal daughter. She roared, "What are you doing, why don't you go after them?! Those people can't leave the secret realm now and must be hiding in some corner. Even if you turn this sea upside down, you must find them for me!"

"Yes!"

Hearing this, the royal guards and pirates scattered in panic.

Princess Stika was furious and couldn't help but scold, "Hmph, a bunch of trash!"

Until now, she still couldn't figure out why she would be attacked by an external force in this void secret realm, which was said to be the top secret of the North Sea Kingdom?

How did the other party accurately find the submarine hidden in the sea?

Also, the attack hadn't happened long ago, and not to mention not knowing who the enemy was, now even their shadows couldn't be found?

All kinds of strange coincidences were connected together, making people have to suspect that there was a shocking conspiracy in it.

Could it be that there was an internal spy among her own high-level officials?

Princess Stika's face became more unsightly than ever.

If she really lost the "Royal No. 7," then she would lose the biggest trump card in her hand. This would be an absolutely disastrous consequence for the Mafa Empire and for the North Sea Kingdom!

No one could afford it!

Now the North Sea Fleet had mobilized all the manpower that could be drawn from the entire secret realm and began a carpet search.

She only hoped that she could find the people before those guys escaped.

...

And at this moment, a detailed battle report also came from the submarine unit that had been robbed earlier.

Mechanical octopus, black sickle, space ability...

Hearing these clues, Princess Stika immediately thought of the group of people who had assassinated her at sea more than half a month ago.

"Did those guys come out of the Sea Ruins alive?"

"Your Highness, I'm afraid so. The Neptune-class warship that blocked our reinforcements before seems to be the 'Eternal Night Emperor' of the 'Pirate Emperor' Francis Drake more than two hundred years ago. It is said to be in the Sea Ruins..."

"Damn it, didn't those priests of the Agapēnon Temple say that no one could come out of the Sea Ruins alive? So what is going on now?!"

"..."

Princess Stika was frantic.

She never expected that the people who robbed the submarine this time were actually the same group of people who had assassinated her before.

The Lu Ying royal family?

Archduke Raphael?

The Regarthy family?

Or even, the hostile parties within the empire...

Which side's people were they?!

After analyzing the battle report, the staff also came to an incredible conclusion.

Although they thought it was impossible for anyone to be able to use space ability to rob a "Hurricane-class submarine."

But the fact had already happened before their eyes.

Moreover, now it could be completely inferred that the reason why the Neptune-class warship suddenly disappeared was also using the same method. That guy hid the entire ship in another space.

Therefore, all the sensing signals were cut off.

But how did that person do it?

Under normal circumstances, even a seventh or eighth-level space professional would never be able to do this to this extent.

Even if the "Royal No. 7" was sealed in a storage space, whether it was an instrument or a divination method, it should be able to sense clues.

But what was going on with this situation of not leaving any traces at all?

Unless... it was another plane?

How is that possible!!!

Princess Stika connected the encounters before and after several times, and she was 100% sure that this was a long-planned conspiracy.

"Damn it, immediately notify the Imperial Intelligence Agency, start all the dormant intelligence personnel in Lu Ying, and be sure to find out the forces who did it, intercept all suspicious people and suspicious ships leaving the North Sea in advance. Especially the movements of Duke Raphael! Otherwise, the leakage of those key technologies will definitely be a disaster for the empire..."

"Yes!"

...

Just as the North Sea Fleet mobilized tens of thousands of people in the secret realm to start a carpet search.

Dozens of nautical miles away, Suren took the [Underwater Breathing Potion] and casually floated in the deserted sea.

The sea here was like the backyard pool of the Secret Realm Academy, and there were no dangerous marine creatures, and even few fish. A body bag was also prepared at any time. If anyone came, he would wrap it up. He didn't believe that anyone could drain the sea and find him.

Although it was also possible to encounter a special talent like Tanya who could "listen to the voices of sea beasts", the probability was extremely low.

At least Suren learned from the information he peeled off earlier that there was no such professional in the Mafa Royal Guard.

He had not heard of any in the North Sea Fleet either.

"That Princess Stika should want to go find Archduke Raphael's trouble at this moment..."

Suren thought in his heart, with a gloating expression on his face.

Only Archduke Raphael had mechanical octopuses.

As long as they couldn't catch their Dawnbreaker, it was destined to be an unsolved case.

If Archduke Raphael said they didn't do it, Mafa would definitely not believe it. Would it eventually trigger a spy war between various forces?

Suren raised his eyebrows and didn't think so much.

He calmly lay in the sea, and his spiritual will also descended into the "small void realm."

...

The small void realm was the space of his implant, but Suren's body could not descend, because he was the "connection point" between the two planes.

Once he entered, that point would no longer be there, and the two planes would be separated forever.

At this moment, a huge black sailboat and a mechanical submarine were floating in the void.

Even if these two behemoths were stuffed in, they would only occupy 1% of the space.

There was no concept of "gravity field" in the void realm. It was originally empty, and even the air was brought in by Suren later.

So everything here was floating in mid-air.

Supplies, equipment, puppets, materials...

And the treasures he had obtained in the Sea Ruins before were all here.

Except for Pandora and Barrett, none of the Dawnbreaker had been to Suren's "small void realm."

When Suren's will descended, he was watching them wandering around curiously, enjoying the novelty of being unconstrained by gravity.

"Hahaha... It's so magical, I didn't expect I could fly!"

"Oh, Mr. Suren, this space is really magical. If I knew it was so fun, I would have come here long ago."

"Wow... Karma, your teacher is so rich, there are so many treasures, my eyes are dazzled."

"Ah, sister, no wonder the teacher said that high-level puppet masters need financial support. I think, to become an excellent puppet master, I must first become a rich man."

"..."

Karma, Lolita, Tanya, and Aberk were wandering everywhere in the space, looking at the treasures in Suren's space, and each was full of amazement.

Even Chihiro saw Suren's family wealth for the first time, and she marveled.

This gambling addict was always empty-pocketed and had no concept of saving money. She was talking and laughing with several high-level members of the Dawnbreaker, being extremely black-bellied.

Chihiro would not be polite with Suren. She picked up treasures that others did not dare to touch.

Not only did she take them, but she also complained: "Heh, Suren is really rich enough. Not to mention the treasures he got in the Sea Ruins, just his previous collection, he is richer than some great nobles."

Barrett also looked happy and smiled, "That's natural, I was never as rich as him before. No, at least I have seen many great lords who have inherited for hundreds of years, and they are probably like this. Tsk tsk... After we go out, we must slaughter him."

Hearing this, the Dawnbreaker members responded in unison: "Hahaha, that's right, that's right! Next time we dock, we must let Mr. Suren treat our entire group!"

Even Dr. Banks, who had always been serious, responded with a smile, "That's how it should be."

As soon as Suren's will came in, he heard everyone paying attention to his treasures, and said in a pretended resentful tone, "Hey, hey, hey... I said everyone, isn't it not good for you to be like this?"

.....

Suren's voice suddenly echoed in the void, but there was no figure to be seen, and everyone looked up at the space in confusion.

Everyone was joking and would not take it seriously.

When Suren said this, everyone laughed again.

Karma blinked her big eyes curiously and asked, "Eh... Teacher, have you come in?"

Suren said, "Yes. I can see everything in the space, but my body can't come in."

He hadn't felt anything when there was no one inside before, and he just regarded it as a larger storage space.

Now it felt very magical.

It was as if he was the god of this world.

He also said: "Those people from the North Sea Fleet have started a large-scale search, so I may have to wrong you to stay in this space for a few days. There are supplies over there, which should be able to support for a month or two."

"Okay."

Hearing this, everyone naturally had no objection.

Everyone in the Dawnbreaker had absolute trust in Suren.

After explaining a few words, Suren didn't say much. The most concerned thing about his will coming in was naturally the "Royal No. 7" mechanical submarine.

Here, his perception could easily cover everything.

He quickly probed into the submarine and found that there were still more than eighty living people inside.

Except for a few wearing Lu Ying Royal Navy uniforms, the vast majority were scientific researchers wearing white coats.

These were all first-class Mafa mechanics, truly top experts in the field of mechanics.

Suren looked at the captured living people and could hardly hide his joy.

The value of these people was not much lower than that of this submarine full of top equipment.

Just stuff them into the Lu Ying Royal Academy and they could support a top-level "Mechanical Research Academy"!

They were not only labor and research power, but also teaching staff.

Originally, under normal circumstances, it would be very troublesome for anyone to capture these living people.

They were Mafa scientists and could be brought by that Frost Moon Princess, so they naturally had absolute loyalty.

It was absolutely impossible for Suren to want them to help him do things. Or rather, it might take a long time and cost a lot to get them to surrender. Forcibly enslaving them would only destroy these valuable scientific talents. In the end, probably not many of them would survive.

But now, with Pandora, this special ally, everything became very simple.

As the "Tsukuyomi God", she was best at using spiritual methods to influence believers.

This was the basic ability of a god.

Probably in a few days, the object of these people's loyalty would change, and they would wholeheartedly obey Pandora.

Suren didn't care about their beliefs, as long as they could help with things.

He didn't look at those people anymore.

Instead, he turned his attention to the precision instruments stuffed into the more than one-hundred-meter submarine.

...

"My goodness, this time I'm really rich!"

Looking at the precision instruments in front of him, Suren felt an excitement that he hadn't had for a long time.

In the cabin, a complete mechanical armor production line was stuffed in.

[MT667 Stamping Machine], [Haier 6 Super High Precision Optical Cutting Laser], [Gudgoblin Rune Engraving Machine], [Void Particle Stability Research Instrument], [Micro Energy Core Manufacturing Boiler], [Dwarf's Golden Armor Machine Tool], [Kii Special Steel Refining Alchemy Furnace]...

Suren had once imagined having such a batch of instruments that could help him forge mechanical equipment.

But unexpectedly, his dream came true.

It made him feel a bit like when he got the first sealed object [Hypnos' Night Black Sickle], the feeling of having a new world.

These were all high-end instruments that couldn't be seen on the market at all.

Even in Mafa, they could only appear in the most advanced equipment in the military laboratory.

There were also more than a dozen complete combat mechs without cabins in the cabin, one [Colonel-level], four [Lieutenant Colonel-level], and eight third-order [Soldier-level].

In the mechanical password box, there were also some basic models of mechanical armor forging drawings, mechanical firearms blueprints, special ammunition drawings, mechanical equipment drawings...

Presumably, they wanted to build a production line in the North Sea and then mass-produce those mechanical armors.

Although these drawings were mostly first, second, and third-order basic soldier armors, once they were mass-produced, the increase in the combat power of the North Sea Fleet would definitely be terrifying.

The impact on the Lu Ying North would also be very huge.

But now Suren had intercepted them.

Seeing these instruments, the first thing Suren thought of was not mechanical armors, but a mature "production line" that could produce mechanical octopuses!

That [Gudgoblin Rune Engraving Machine] could automatically engrave runes of all types below the seventh order!

(Note: Most of the seventh-order and above runes need to be integrated with the understanding of the laws, and there is currently no machine that can replace them)

Although it could not engrave some too complex Ruen runes, it was completely enough to satisfy the manufacture of general mechanical octopuses.

This was much more efficient than Suren drawing runes by hand.

And that [MT667 Stamping Machine], as long as suitable molds were made, it could mass-produce mechanical parts with very small errors.

This was perfect for the forging task of mechanical octopuses, which required thousands of mechanical armor plates.

Suren could only knock them one by one before, but now he could enter data, and the machine could forge tens of thousands of metal armor plates overnight!

There were also boilers, cutting machines, laser quality inspection instruments...

They could satisfy the forging of mechanical armor, and could satisfy almost all mechanical parts of the mechanical octopus.

Suren only needed to solve some small steps in the "biological nerve" aspect to produce them.

Suren's breathing was a little heavy.

Although he estimated that the quality of the mass-produced mechanical octopuses would be a little worse than the ones he made by hand, it didn't matter at all!

Absolute numerical suppression could make up for all the lack of quality.

No,

It might be a little worse now, but it will never be worse in the future!

The quality will only be higher!

In addition to the equipment, Suren realized that he had also captured this group of Mafa senior mechanics this time!

The mechanical technology they mastered was much higher than the mechanics under Archduke Raphael, and they definitely had the ability to transform the mechanical shortcomings of mechanical octopuses and create completely new mechanical octopuses!

There were talents, and there was equipment.

Theoretically speaking, as long as he could find enough materials, this production line could continuously produce mechanical octopuses.

Moreover, Mafa did not have neuromachinery technology, and Archduke Raphael did not have top mechanical technology either.

This also meant that Suren's mechanical octopus army in the future would be unique!

The most advanced!

Moreover, the Mafa people put the mechanical production line in the submarine for safety.

But Suren didn't have this concern at all.

His small void realm had enough space and was safe enough.

He could even deploy some super-large mechanical tools in the space in the future and directly set up a "mechanical war workshop" here, and the output would be greatly increased!

One thousand mechanical octopuses was not enough,

Then how about ten thousand?

Or even one hundred thousand! (Too much to think about, can't control it at present.)

Thinking of this, Suren had already seen the invincible posture of his mechanical puppeteer.

He murmured in his heart, "Everything is ready, now the question to consider is, where to get so many materials..."