Pillar of Yita

Regarding his parents, he had actually thought about asking his uncle and aunt, but then suddenly remembered what Su Changfeng had told him to keep secret. After thinking it over, he decided to put this matter aside for now and wait for further investigation from the military.

As for Tang Xin, he could only put things on hold there as well.

On the deck of the Seven Seas Traveler, Bakins and Luo Yu were investigating the nearby biological communities. Life was not lacking beneath the Abyssal Sea; they had realized that the moment they descended.

But whether these creatures posed any threat to the Seven Seas Traveler still needed further investigation. Since it concerned safety, they could not afford the slightest carelessness.

Fang Hong would occasionally join them, but mainly he was focused on the homework and graduation project he had been dragging out for a long time.

Yet compared to the Sky Sea above, the depths of the Abyssal Sea were indeed much quieter. Those bizarrely shaped creatures looked vicious and terrifying, but they often did not come into contact with them, slipping into the darkness from afar.

Once the initial sense of novelty wore off, the voyage soon became dull and tedious.

Apart from occasionally going out to enjoy the scenery, Fang Hong spent a large amount of time in the Alchemy Laboratory.

A strange Construct he had found on that sunken Pirate Ship was standing right in front of him.

All of its Shells were currently open, exposing the intricate mechanical components inside: countless gears and escapement devices. On Earth it would be impossible to drive such a bulky and inefficient structure, but only the Strength of Alchemy could set them in motion, allowing one to ignore factors such as weight and mechanical loss.

The core of Magic Guided Engineering, the Alchemy Array, because of the mystery of the Ether Theory behind it, was still a blind spot that Scholars from Earth had yet to break through. People could not figure out why the properties of Ether would change according to different human perceptions.

It was not that people had never thought about establishing contact with the gods. Their chosen target was Angina, the god of Knowledge, but what they obtained from the latter was not much.

As for Fang Hong, he had even less need to clarify these essential questions. He only needed to know how Ether operated.

On one of the opened Shells there was a nameplate. He had never paid attention to it before; today was the first time he discovered the meaning of the words on it:

Dragon Hunters

3Grd, E. R, Jed Ham.

Tatd, 031 STU BK, 1, 7

Fang Hong had seen many similar manufacturing nameplates, so he almost instantly understood their meaning.

Dragon Hunters should be the name of this Construct. Below that were abbreviations in Imperial script: third batch, from a place called the E. R Workshop, and the maker was Jed Ham—this was also a typical Imperial name.

The production date was the thirty-first year of Stuka IV’s reign, on the first day of the seventh month.

The Empire’s way of dating differed from any region of Eteliria. They used the regnal years of the Emperor currently on the throne as their chronology, and Stuka IV was already the previous Emperor of the Empire.

In fact, the Arabic numerals on this nameplate already showed that its origin was not that ancient; at the very least it was made after the Invokers arrived, or after Arabic numerals spread through Eteliria—no more than thirty years ago.

”Dragon Hunters, that’s quite a bold name.”

Fang Hong searched through the information in his memory but had never heard of a place called the E. R Workshop. Among the well-known workshops of the Empire, almost none began with those two letters.

However, going back thirty years, he was no longer so clear. He woke Miss Tata up to ask, and learned that there had once been a workshop in Imperial history called Flame Blade.

Elame’tal Rad, coincidentally abbreviated as E. R, but the eras did not quite match. It had been a renowned workshop three hundred years ago, but had long since vanished into the river of history.

The maker was named Jed Ham, and the date it rolled off the line was quite recent, barely more than ten years ago. This rekindled Fang Hong’s hope. Perhaps he still had a chance to meet this Artisan Master again in the Empire and ask clearly about the origins of these Constructs.

He had been studying these strange Constructs recently and had gained some results, but as for that Crystal inside the Construct’s ”hat,” he still had absolutely no clue.

Today he had come to try another line of thought. Fang Hong strapped the gamma-form Magic Guided Reactor to his back, buckled the straps, put on the heavy Pride of the Lonely King gloves, and pointed at this precision machine whose internal structure was completely exposed—he hesitated for a moment before giving the command. This attempt was somewhat bold, because if it failed, this precious sample might be scrapped along with it.

But how could there be no risks when exploring an unknown Domain? To quickly enhance his Strength, everything was worth it.

In response to his command, the Construct moved.

Although it was only a tiny motion, a trace of joy still flashed in Fang Hong’s eyes. At least it meant his idea was correct. He swiped his right hand, opening a page of the menu in the darkness. It floated not far in front of him.

The Calculative Power usage displayed on it had already reached half of Energy Angel’s capacity, and the Magic Power Output was also at half. But with a new Magic Guided Reactor, plus the bonus from his ring, this level of output was nothing but drizzle. Fang Hong further increased the Calculative Power output.

This time, the Construct raised its right arm. Its movements were a bit sluggish as the mechanical fingers gripped the hilt, pulling it segment by segment from that massive storage rack. A streak of ghostly blue lightning flashed where the blade met the scabbard, and it raised the blade, holding it upright in its hand.

By the time it accomplished this step, the Calculative Power usage had already reached twice that of Energy Angel. The Dragon Knight System was no longer able to bear it alone, and Fang Hong had no choice but to divert some of his own attention to control it. But the concept was almost a full success, and he could not help but reveal a faint smile on his face.