Chapter 157 Uroboros Fragment

In the tower crane's cabin, the two were chatting idly over beers.

"So, you're saying that recently, the black market, Adventurers Guild, and Bounty Hunters Guild in Kabbalah have all posted high-value bounties, looking for that [Uroboros Fragment]?"

"That's right! Just like you described to me, a particularly patterned ouroboros symbol. The bounty is also very high; merely providing effective leads earns over a million crowns. The person behind the bounty doesn't seem afraid of being noticed; they're very high-profile."

"Tsk tsk... This is obviously someone fishing."

"..."

As soon as Suren heard that someone was offering a bounty for this [Uroboros Fragment], he knew it had to be a trap.

He'd considered offering a bounty directly before.

But he later dismissed the idea.

Because it could put him in a very dangerous situation!

The fundamental reason was that the grade of this fragment was extremely high; anyone who could use it must be a top-tier powerhouse.

Even the [Archangel Wings] that Suren had given to Number Nineteen just now, he could more or less see some clues, knowing that they were divine-grade mechanical fragments.

But Suren couldn't understand the ring fragment at all.

Even a professional like Mr. Mirror, with his level of expertise, couldn't comprehend the extraordinary rules it contained.

But the Eye of Omniscience saw a trace of "primordial matter's aura," from which it could be inferred that this fragment was definitely not an ordinary artifact fragment.

The alchemical plane had left behind too many ancient treasures, which was originally normal.

Whoever found it would have a great opportunity.

But now, the problem was huge.

Only two types of people would directly post bounties.

The first was someone like Suren, who had a fragment and wanted to find other fragments;

The second was someone who knew the fragment's purpose.

But regardless of the motive, finding the bounty poster would immediately yield one of the two aforementioned benefits.

That's why Suren didn't dare post a bounty, fearing that someone would trace it back to him.

And because the current situation was even more dangerous.

If it was just some big shot from Mahfa looking for it, that would be one thing, but he feared those "true connoisseurs."

Like, from the Celestial Plane!

According to the currently known intelligence, the primary purpose of those invading the plane was to find treasures.

Moreover, they had received instructions from higher-ups to specifically search for certain special "ultra-grade treasures."

If it was as Suren judged, and this [Uroboros Fragment] wasn't an ordinary artifact...

Then the one paying attention to it might be a god.

Tsk tsk, being watched by a god was no joke.

Even with a slight possibility, Suren didn't want to be involved in this karma.

...

Hearing Suren's explanation, Number Nineteen also realized the danger and murmured, "No wonder you said not to get involved; so that's why. Then, that means no one will take on this bounty."

Suren added, "Not necessarily. After all, this fragment flowed out of Mahfa, likely from some ancient ruins. Some adventurers may accidentally know some information, but they don't understand the importance of this fragment. However, if someone is really lured in by this bounty, they're going to be unlucky..."

Speaking of this, his thoughts also became active.

Three-quarters of the fragment were in his hands, and Suren also wanted to know where the remaining part was.

Before, he was afraid of being targeted, so he didn't dare to search too openly.

But now that someone was doing what he didn't dare to do, the operability was different.

The top echelons of the two great empires almost all knew about the plane invasion, and they were still posting bounties so recklessly, so there was almost only one conclusion.

That the bounty poster behind the scenes was almost certainly an invader from the Celestial Plane!

And coincidentally, Suren had sufficiently accurate information about those invaders.

Judging from the intelligence he had extracted before, it would be at least another half a year before the space channel could withstand the descent of eighth-tier professionals.

In other words, the highest tier currently invading the plane was seventh tier.

As long as he didn't encounter a deity-favored one like "Holy Son" Frank, Suren's current strength could handle it.

Thoughts raced in his mind, and Suren immediately thought of a plan, adding, "I plan to find an opportunity to contact the person who posted the bounty..."

Listening, Number Nineteen also nodded, "Then, shall we go to the gathering tonight?"

Suren nodded, "Alright."

...

To the east of Kabbalah was the endless Demonic Beast Mountain Range.

Hope Gold Outpost was the last human town before entering the Demonic Beast Mountain Range.

It was a paradise for adventurers and speculators, and it was always very lively.

Just as Suren arrived in the Mahfa Empire, an adventure team called the "Old Blacksmith Adventure Team" also returned fully loaded.

The blacksmith team's young master, Booker Ferguson, and the old butler, Claude, had just completed a mission at the Bounty Hunters Guild and walked out.

Walking down the road, Booker, seeing that there was no one around, excitedly shared his discovery, "Oh, Claude, did you see that? The most popular bounty on the bounty board! Heavens, someone is actually offering a million crowns for information? Isn't that pattern exactly the same as the 'ouroboros totem' we saw in the mountain dwarf tribe of Giant God Mountain?"

The old butler earnestly cautioned, "Young Master Booker, I don't think we should get involved in that bounty. The leader has always instructed us not to leak any information about the dwarf tribe. Otherwise, it would cause trouble for the mountain dwarves and affect our future trade routes."

Ordinary adventurers entering the mountain range would hunt demonic beasts and complete some rare material collection missions issued by the Bounty Hunters Guild.

But what others didn't know was that the Old Blacksmith Team had another way to make money.

Because the leader, "Blacksmith" Yale Ferguson, had once accidentally saved an injured dwarf in the Demonic Beast Mountain Range, thus gaining the friendship of the mountain dwarf tribe.

From then on, when their hunting team went to the territory of the mountain dwarf tribe, they could always exchange some daily necessities for the dwarf tribe's precious ores and some well-forged armor and weapons. The profit was very generous.

Because Ferguson was discreet enough and not greedy, this profitable channel had never been cut off.

For more than ten years, the Ferguson team had earned a lot of money from this, which is why they now had the well-known "Old Blacksmith Adventure Team."

Booker didn't care at all; his young face was full of ambition, and he held his head high, "My father is too timid! A few dozen barrels of beer worth less than ten thousand crowns can be exchanged for a pile of ore worth hundreds of thousands. If it were me, I'd bring the stupid dwarves more things and exchange all the good things hidden in their caves. It wouldn't be long before our Blacksmith Team could become rich overnight. Instead of still being a small adventure team after so many years!"

The old butler shook his head, "The dwarf tribe doesn't like contact with humans because they think humans are too greedy. Young Master, I don't think you should have such thoughts. Master said that the dwarves' simplicity is not stupidity; they don't like dealing with humans who are too shrewd. Anyone with malicious intentions will lose the dwarves' friendship..."

"..."

Booker obviously didn't listen to the old butler's words.

At this moment, all that was left in his mind was the million-crown bounty.

Just a piece of information was worth a million; it wasn't like they had to take a risk. Why couldn't they earn this money?

...

In the evening, night fell.

The sky in Kabbalah had very beautiful sunsets.

But for the people living in the lower levels of the city, evening was night.

Because the bottom levels could no longer see the sunlight at all; there was only a dazzling array of red and blue lights.

"Buzz..."

"Buzz..."

The motorcycle steam boilers roared, and the headlights were turned on.

Suren didn't stand on ceremony and sat directly in the back seat. Number Nineteen's modified motorcycle was far superior to his own in performance.

He wasn't familiar with the road anyway, so he simply settled down as a passenger.

Leaning back, the motorcycle sped off into the distance of the alley.

The address of tonight's "illegal modification gathering" was in the wilderness outside the city, and it would take them an hour to get there.

Suren hugged Number Nineteen's slender waist, enjoying the street scenery along the way, quite leisurely. The key was that he could also free up his thoughts to handle the work in the Little Void Realm.

He had extorted six hundred tons of [Activated Silver] from the Moses family before, and he was very busy now.

To turn these materials into combat power as soon as possible, he had to hurry up and turn the materials into gargoyles.

In just one night, thirty gargoyles in the War Factory had already taken shape.

This was the benefit of having a War Factory.

The mechanics saved Suren too much time.

The gargoyles of the past were purely handmade by him, which was extremely time-consuming and energy-consuming.

But now, with the mechanical assembly line and a set of precision molds, thirty gargoyles could be quickly formed with almost no error. Moreover, most of the basic rune carvings, coatings, and magic energy component installations could be completed by machines.

However, the most important high-level rune inscriptions still had to be done by Suren himself; those complex sixth- and seventh-order runes were currently impossible for machines to complete.

This was a time-consuming and laborious task.

Before long, the motorcycle had driven out of the city.

The land outside was pitch black.

There were no roads at all outside the city; it was a muddy wilderness.

It wasn't that Mahfa didn't have the financial resources to build roads, but because the motorcycle modification in the Imperial Capital was too developed. No road could withstand the torture of those steel monsters.

Paved, then ruined, so it was simply left ruined.

On the contrary, this ruined road was even more favored by those motorcycle modification enthusiasts.

Because it was time to compete in motorcycle performance.

A group of people howled and sped wildly across the wilderness, their speeds flying.

Suren had heard before that it was an hour's drive to the gathering place, and he thought it was several tens of kilometers.

Now he realized that he had judged wrong.

At this speed, an hour's drive was at least two or three hundred kilometers!

Number Nineteen's driving skills were very good, and the motorcycle was modified very well, so Suren hardly felt too much turbulence along the way.

However, there wasn't much turbulence, but the number of times they took off was quite high.

They charged straight across a cliff dozens of meters high, and then the steam boiler puffed air for cushioning, landing smoothly.

Suren also saw the enthusiasm of this group of people in Mahfa for mechanical modification.

Although this speed wasn't dangerous to him, those first- and second-order ordinary mechanics were very miserable.

What was the concept of a motorcycle crash at a speed of three hundred kilometers per hour?

Even if it was a mechanical body, it was a pile of steel and flesh mixed together in a meat pie.

Fortunately, as long as they didn't die on the spot, it wasn't a big problem for this group of mechanical modification fanatics.

This was also one of the most important reasons why mechanical prosthetic modification was so popular in Mahfa.

After speeding for more than half an hour.

Gradually, the lights around them increased.

Various motorcycle gangs and armored vehicle gangs converged.

Wheeled, tracked, insect-like multi-legged, bipedal mechanical giants... all kinds of strange transportation tools appeared.

Suren really saw the level of civilian machinery in Mahfa.

However, the greater shock was yet to come.

In the distance, a "bonfire" seemed to have been lit on a dark wilderness.

But as the motorcycle approached, Suren could see clearly that the bonfire was the gathering place.

Dozens of large steam castles emitting billowing white smoke were pieced together, forming a huge mechanical town.

A mobile marketplace made entirely of mechanical castles!

The town was brightly lit, with shadows of people everywhere, a lively and prosperous scene.

...

Arriving at the destination, Number Nineteen parked the motorcycle in a special parking area.

There were already hundreds of various motorcycles parked here.

Suren looked up at the mechanical castles as tall as city walls, fully thirty to fifty stories high, and his eyes shimmered.

Rust-stained steel plates were spliced together with large rivets, the huge turrets like the steel behemoth's hideous fangs, dense boiler pipes spewing thick smoke, and the roar of giant steam boilers was frenzied. These mechanical castles, on the rough side, still retained the triangular spires of traditional Mahfa Empire architecture, which were very distinctive.

The names sprayed with mottled paint on each mechanical castle: [Nathan's Mobile Castle], [Wanderer's Shelter], [Blackwater Adventure Team GT-003], [Thomson Chamber of Commerce's Mechanical Modification Shop]...

Seeing these names, Suren knew the origins and uses of these mechanical castles.

He thought of his [Sky Fortress] blueprints.

If possible, this time in Mahfa, he also wanted to recruit a group of top mechanics for his War Factory.

Seeing Suren's interest in the mechanical castles, Number Nineteen also explained, "These mechanical castles belong to various adventure teams, civilian organizations, and chambers of commerce. Because there are many wanted criminals, wanderers, exiles, free mechanics, etc., they aren't convenient to enter the city, so they like to hang out at these gatherings..."

Speaking of this, she paused for a moment, adding, "Don't underestimate these civilian mechanics; there are many experts among them. There are also top mechanics in the Empire."

"Oh?"

Hearing the first half, Suren thought it was normal, but the second half was unexpected.

This kind of civilian gathering was lively, but the standards were not high. How could top mechanics patronize it?

Number Nineteen, seeing his puzzled look, explained, "These gatherings often feature many good things that adventurers bring out from ancient ruins. So, high-level mechanics from the Mechanical Guild often come to hunt for treasures."

Suren: "People from the Mechanical Guild come here?"

Number Nineteen: "Yes, not everyone likes to fight. The Mechanical Alchemy Guild is a union of free mechanics. This gathering is actually organized behind the scenes by the guild. Those top mechanics in the guild are research fanatics who are no less skilled than military mechanics; many are professors and mentors at the Royal Academy..."

Although Suren knew some information, he was still surprised to hear this: "The Mechanical Guild is that powerful?"

"Yes. The Mechanical Guild has a very high status in Mahfa."

Number Nineteen smiled and introduced the historical origins of this phenomenon, saying, "The overthrow of the old Mahfa Empire was actually led by two mechanical grandmasters. One, Quinton J. Harris, was the founding emperor of the Mahfa Mechanical Empire; the other was Grandmaster Lucien Pepys, the first president of the 'Mechanical Alchemy Guild.' The two were like brothers. Later, after the empire was established, one went to govern the country, and the other devoted himself to pure academic pursuits. As a result, the Alchemy Guild has a very special status in the Empire and has a lot of say."

"Oh."

Listening, Suren suddenly understood.

Before, he had mostly been in contact with news from the Mahfa military. Now, he realized that there were so many interesting things in the civilian world as well.

Number Nineteen added, "Let's go, let's go in and take a look. If you want to trade for some very confidential information, this is a better place than the black market in the city... And if you have good luck and discernment, you can also find good things."

Suren nodded.

...

Although it was an illegal gathering, it was actually an officially recognized civilian mechanic exchange activity.

Not because of anything else, but because some free mechanics were too dangerous.

With the existence of the Mechanical Alchemy Guild, civilian mechanical technology was not necessarily worse than the military's; it was just that the research directions were different.

Simply put, there were many "civilian experts."

Some crazy scientists would modify their mechanical bodies with some very dangerous functions, and they often liked to conduct dangerous experiments that would blow up several blocks. They also often engaged in firefights over transactions, making so much noise that it was like a large-scale war.

Countless accidents had occurred in the Imperial Capital, and the lessons were painful.

So, the officials drove those dangerous elements to the suburbs.

But they also had the need to trade goods, exchange knowledge, and exchange information.

And gradually, there was this kind of gathering.

Number Nineteen led Suren onto a mechanical basket, entering the interior of the mechanical town.

What came into view was a scene of liveliness and noise.

The interior of the mechanical castle was completely a lively town, except that the streets were a bit narrow.

In the Imperial Capital, one could occasionally see two or three out of ten normal people. But here, almost 100% were enthusiastic fans of mechanical prosthetic modification!

These people had a very strong punk style, with colorful mohawks, lip rings and nose rings, smoky makeup, studded leather jackets, mechanical prosthetics...

Many women dressed very boldly; wearing a completely transparent raincoat was considered clothing.

As rumored, Mahfa's views on sexuality were also very open.

Suren sensed that there were at least tens of thousands of people at this gathering.

The two strolled along.

Stalls were not prohibited in the mechanical town. Various small vendors simply spread a piece of cloth on the ground and displayed their goods.

They sold all kinds of things.

Mechanical limbs, blueprints, treasure maps, ores, fuels, demonic beast materials, firearms...

Suren walked along and indeed found many interesting things.

[tL-767 Six-Cylinder Steam Boiler], [Vulcan Type 4 Catapult Mechanical Arm], [Max Fourth-Generation Laser Cutting Prosthetic Eye]...

Some second-hand military surplus goods were high-tech that crushed Luying.

And this was also the most popular commodity in the market.

Because military quality was high and stable, it was more suitable for modification.

Moreover, traditional professionals in Mahfa had declined, so many treasures needed for traditional alchemy were unpopular here.

Suren walked along and, at a very good price, found many good things.

The market town pieced together by mechanical castles was not large, but it was more than ten stories high, intricate, and could not be fully explored in a few hours.

In the steel mesh cage in the center of the town, boxers with modified mechanical arms were competing, attracting shouts from all around.

In the midst of the noise, Number Nineteen and Suren, mixed in with the crowd, went upstairs to visit an intelligence merchant.

Sure enough, they saw the million-crown bounty.

And the pattern on the bounty was the [Uroboros Fragment]!

...

The two strolled around at the intelligence merchant's place, revealing nothing, and walked down.

Walking on the iron stairs, a playful look appeared in Suren's eyes, and he mused, "So that's what the complete pattern looks like after the fragments are pieced together..."

Seeing the million-crown bounty, he was even more certain that the backer was from the Celestial Plane.

Because if he hadn't seen the bounty pattern, even he wouldn't have known what the complete form of the fragment in his hand was like.

Suren didn't want to actively expose himself, so he and Number Nineteen just wandered around the market, buying things.

He wasn't in a hurry.

Because he guessed that since the people from the Celestial Plane had posted a bounty, there must be someone waiting nearby for news.

And there was no shortage of busybodies for such a good thing as a "million-crown bounty."

Whether the news was true or false, someone would definitely try it.

Those people from the Celestial Plane would definitely come to handle it.

Just wait.

Sure enough!

Before long, two people wearing cloaks quietly entered the market and went straight to the intelligence merchant.

Almost at the instant the two approached his perception range, Suren, who was digging for things at a stall, keenly sensed them. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought, "Sure enough, they're here!"

Mechanical warriors generally had very low tiers, and their soul fluctuations were generally at the level of first- or second-tier professionals. But mages had to cultivate mental power, so the soul fluctuation of a seventh-tier mage was like a lighthouse in the night in this mechanical market, and it could be identified immediately.

Number Nineteen caught Suren's momentary strangeness and guessed that she had waited for useful news.

The two said nothing and continued to wander around.

Half an hour later, Suren sensed that the two had left the market.

He thought about it and said to Number Nineteen beside him, "They're gone. I'm going for a bit."

This was a good opportunity.

Suren also wanted to know what intelligence those celestials had and why they were looking for this [Uroboros Fragment].

Hearing his tone, Number Nineteen seemed to want to go alone, so she frowned and asked, "Are the enemies strong?"

Suren said, "Two seventh-tier mages."

"Seventh tier?"

Number Nineteen frowned, these were very strong enemies.

At least, she didn't think she had much chance of winning.

Especially since there were two of them.

This made her even more puzzled, and she asked cautiously, "Are you confident?"

Suren said calmly, "If the enemies don't have any special abilities, it's not a big problem."

Hearing this, Number Nineteen looked at Suren, a strange look flashing across her eyes.

Although she saw the news in the newspaper and knew that her partners had become very strong, this casual "not a big problem" made her feel like something was wrong.

The enemies were two "seventh tiers"!

She asked, "What tier are you now?"

Suren casually said, "Sixth tier."

Hearing this, Number Nineteen glanced at him, her gaze becoming even stranger.

--- Extra ---

Thanks to 'Flame Red Snow' and 'Happy Bad Guy' for their support.