Pillar of Yita

The three Clockwork Fairies are entirely silver-white, and the decorations on their surface are not the flamboyant style of this era—lush flowers and leaves—but rather bas-relief patterns resembling eagle feathers. Even the sphere above is carved with an eagle head ornament that matches it.

Fang Hong immediately understood that it was a Giant Eagle.

One of the sacred beasts of the Numelin Elves.

”That is the Silver Pursuer.”

Miss Tata’s calm voice came once again.

”Silver Pursuer?”

”I don’t quite know what they’re called in this era, but earlier, mortals referred to them as Combat Fairies,” Miss Tata replied, ”It is a blueprint long lost, and during my era, mortals were always dedicated to reenacting this category of Clockwork Fairies.”

”Combat Fairies?” Fang Hong furrowed his brows slightly. He seemed to have heard this name somewhere.

But after thinking for a moment, he remembered, wasn’t this what Elpaxin, the Dwarf Grand Artificer who had once tricked him, was researching? It seems that to this day, people have not given up on reenacting the Combat Fairies.

Speaking of that Dwarf Alchemist, was he called Aquitez or something? Back then, that dwarf said his idea on the α Crystal greatly helped his research on the Combat Fairies, but who knows how his research has progressed until now.

As Fang Hong was pondering, Miss Tata, halfway through her words, suddenly reminded him, ”Be careful, Mr. Knight.”

In fact, there was no need for her to remind him, as Fang Hong had already seen, among the deep black stars hanging high in the dark hall, a part of the central black pillar began to faintly emit red light, roughly counting seven or eight of them.

But he wasn’t in a hurry, although he had never seen such silver Clockwork Fairies, the Combat Artisan only needed to connect with a Resonance Crystal of a Flexible Construct, and he would instantly understand the full capabilities that a Flexible Construct possessed—

Of course, a Combat Artisan might not be able to use related components due to lacking certain professional skills, but at the very least, he would know through the information etched on the Resonance Crystal how many components this Flexible Construct specifically had.

This is the customary design approach of a Flexible Construct.

Thus, Fang Hong raised his hand, and the three silver Clockwork Fairies simultaneously unfolded a pale blue shield—each about the size of a medium Kite Shield. He had the three Silver Pursuers disperse simultaneously, just right to block nearly all the shooting paths aimed at him.

In the dark, red light flashed instantly, but almost all attacks landed on the three shields.

The high temperature of the previous red light could even melt the hall floor, but when it hit the shields now, all it left were a few tiny light spots, fleeting. Only then did Fang Hong realize these shields seemed to have extremely high resistance to elemental attacks.

”That is the Elemental Shield,” Miss Tata explained, ”specifically used to counter elemental attacks. However, be careful about a series, Mr. Knight, be mindful of temperature control.”

Fang Hong nodded.

But the shock in his heart was not revealed on the surface. As mentioned before, contemporary Alchemists have not stopped scheming on Clockwork Fairies, attempting to transform them into constructs that can be used in combat.

Because the speed and agility of Clockwork Fairies are the attributes most coveted by Combat Artisans.

However, such attempts mostly end in failure, for no other reason than the cumbersome and complex cooling system cannot be installed in the compact Flexible Construct. And even if the size of the Clockwork Fairy is expanded further, it ultimately ends up in the same predicament as the ’Annihilator QV700.’

Agility, flight, and attack seem to be barriers that a Flexible Construct cannot surmount, always failing to balance the three.

Fang Hong used to perceive it this way too.

But this little silver Clockwork Fairy completely overturned his understanding.

This ’Silver Pursuer,’ internally, not only has a comprehensive observation device, a Transmission Crystal, but even a self-balancing system, shield, and a set of attack subsystems. Although he hasn’t tested the attack mode of this little thing yet, judging by the shield’s capabilities, it surely isn’t just for show.

What shocked Fang Hong even more was his curiosity and eagerness to understand the internal structure of this Clockwork Fairy, though ultimately he could not.

He found his craftsman ability unable to penetrate inside, at most gaining some understanding of the external structure of this Clockwork Fairy. However, the more intricate parts, and most importantly the Resonance Crystal (the Core Crystal of a Flexible Construct) and the cooling system, as if there were an invisible shield, prevented him from delving deeper.

At first, Fang Hong thought this was some sort of confidentiality measure, but upon further investigation, he found it wasn’t the case. His craftsman ability was repelled simply because he couldn’t understand some fundamental theory composing the Resonance Crystal and cooling system.

The invisible shield, rather than rejecting him, seemed to be protecting him.

Because if the Ether Theory doesn’t match, there are cases where someone would forcibly try to understand, only to suffer magic power backlash and die on the spot.

The ingenious design of this Clockwork Fairy utterly amazed Fang Hong. Fortunately, his calculative power was strong enough, and under the siege of seven or eight dark stars, he still had leisure to explore these things. Fang Hong didn’t realize this himself, but if other craftsmen who participated in this examination knew, they might drop their jaws to the ground.

Historically, those who could truly remain relaxed under the first wave of attacks were indeed few.