Mechanical Alchemist

"Pablo, Gene, it's time to switch guard! Where did you two run off to?"

"Heh heh, stop yelling, those two guys are probably enjoying themselves in the cabin with some captives..."

"...."

As Su Lun listened to the footsteps coming from the staircase, his face was expressionless.

In his "Soul Perception," the two human-shaped fires of the soul were not strong.

Although he hadn't seen the people himself, based on the ratio of professionals on the pirate ship, these should be two first-tier professionals.

Shortly after the footsteps began, he watched a pirate dressed in brown hemp clothing climb down the stairs from the middle deck.

The moment the man touched the ground, he sensed something was wrong.

A thick stench of blood pervaded the hold, along with a discomforting smell that unsettled both body and mind.

The pirates were familiar with this scent.

It was the aroma of hormones in disarray, emitted after someone dies of fright...

The storage was cluttered with various goods and debris, significantly limiting their line of sight. Focusing his gaze, he then saw Su Lun soaked in the light of the alchemy formation.

Just as the man was about to yell something out, at that moment, a pale blue thread silently appeared around his neck.

The thread encountered no resistance, lightly slicing through and smoothly decapitating him.

Above this man, another pirate was about to come down the stairs when suddenly he felt his trouser leg wet, as if soaked by some warm liquid.

Looking down, he saw a headless corpse and the fresh blood pouring out.

The pirate on the stairs, frightened, tried to climb up, but it was already too late. A strand of hair, like a python, silently coiled around his leg and with a pull, the man plummeted into the hold, making a "thud" and then lying still.

....

The Reaper wielded the thread to kill two pirates, but Su Lun paid them no further attention.

As expected, the commotion had already caught the attention of the pirates in the upper cabin.

He controlled the dark spiritual power to assault the stage barriers, focusing intently on merging the advancement materials. The supernatural power from the "Life Usurper's Tricolor Mask" was being decoded by the formation and slowly integrating into his body.

It would take some more time.

Indeed, hearing the noise, a loud shouting immediately came from above, "Hey! Rodolf, Philho, what's going on down there?"

A few moments of silence.

"Send some people to check!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"..."

Not hearing a response immediately alerted the pirates, sending a barrage of footsteps clattering down from above.
Explore more stories with empire

Listening to this commotion, not only did Su Lun's face show no signs of panic, but his eyes also glinted with a dangerous red gleam, "Heh heh..."

That restless, frenzied emotion, eagerly anticipating the slaughter and bloodshed.

For others, advancement could not be disturbed or distracted, but for him, who could multitask, it posed no big problem.

While advancing, he formed a sorcerer's seal in his hands, and instantly a cross appeared above his head.

The sharp enchanted thread sliced through the prison bars, and dozens of sinister dolls "clack, clack" walked out, lurking around, their faces grinning maliciously at the nearby staircase.

The fully armed pirates had just jumped down when, without any chance for them to probe, the puppets surged forward in a frenzied attack.

Blood sprayed wildly in an instant.

"Damn it, something's wrong!"

"Pointy hazard, quickly notify the deputy leader!"

"..."

The pirates swarmed in, and the bodies piled higher and higher.

After all, this was on a ship, the pirates dared not set the ship on fire or unleash any powerful techniques.

For a time, the whole pirate ship's hold resembled a hell on earth, with limbs and severed arms scattered everywhere.

The copious flowing blood accumulated in the base of the hold, quickly congealing into a thick dark red plasma, making a sticky "splat, splat" sound when trodden upon by leather boots.

The entire ship was in chaos.

Su Lun truly became a blood-red eyed killer, the dense scent of blood rushing into his nostrils brought him a spine-tingling pleasure similar to drawing threads.

The raging emotions in his sea of consciousness boiled over, completely suppressing his rationality, dominating his body to release its instinctual desires.

Kill!

A frenzy of slaughter!

His vision was filled with red.

As his gaze turned towards those pirates again, Su Lun's face bore a sickly sinister smirk, and the next moment, a tingling willpower abruptly descended upon the cabin!

Behind him, the shadow of Death appeared once again.

The previous time, Su Lun's consciousness wasn't clear and he was unaware of what had happened.

But now, he understood.

From the reflections in the pirates' eyes, he saw a terrifying shadow looming over himself.

This anomaly he had previously seen on Thousand's body—the second awakening of the "Rakshasa Woman" also exhibited a similar manifest shadow.

Clearly, this was the anomaly of the "Reaper"!

As soon as the deathly shadow appeared, Su Lun felt his momentum surge to new heights. He watched as the pirates opposite him displayed looks of horror. Those of lower professions even collapsed on the spot, either fainting or dropping dead...

Some kind of "intimidation" ability?

Seeing this, he understood why the two pirates had died instantly upon his glance earlier.

The laws of death contained within this deathly shadow attacked their souls directly!

Su Lun thought of something and remembered the feeling he experienced at the moment the deathly shadow first appeared.

Moreover, what was more astonishing was that, under this state, the "gray mist" emerging from the corpses looked entirely different than before!

Previously, it was merely an irregular, thin mist, but now he could clearly see a distinct, complete humanoid soul.

Su Lun guessed that this was a new ability emerging after the second awakening of the "Reaper".

But there was no time to confirm it, as those wild, instinctive emotions had already taken over control of his body.

All they wanted was to kill everyone in sight.

With great struggle, Su Lun's rationale barely clung to one last thought, his hands trembling violently as he pinched the sorcerer's seals.

He had to succeed in advancing!

Before long, several third-tier pirates from the ship also charged down. Each of them was not weak. One had a crab claw prosthesis that could easily snap steel; another had a crocodile head with a powerful biting force capable of exploding a doll with a single bite; and another had the talent of a catfish that could spout adhesive saliva all over the cabin...

These three, leading a large group of pirates, immediately clashed into battle with the puppet army.

Although Su Lun was in the midst of advancing and couldn't dodge, the "Puppet Theater" known to be unrivaled among its tier was not undeservingly named. In this narrow cabin, the formations could fully cover, preventing anyone from approaching the prison where he was.

The battle caused intense shockwaves that surged one higher than the other, like being hit by cannon fire, sending wood chips flying everywhere, and the whole pirate cabin in disarray.

Su Lun had completely gone mad with killing!

Threads continuously spread, enveloping the entire ship into a thick cocoon.

He didn't just want to protect himself but to kill everyone here.

Finally, the battle ended.

Except for a few pirates on the deck who saw the bad situation and jumped into the sea early, the cabin floor was littered with corpses.

The group of pirates could neither kill nor outlast the undying puppets, and they were all worn to death within the Puppet Theater.

Su Lun also merged with the advancement materials, successfully ascending to the third tier.

....

After releasing that burst of insane negative emotions, Su Lun finally got a chance to breathe.

He also discovered that releasing some pressure appropriately actually greatly alleviated the agitation.

And with the successful advancement to the third tier, his control over the amplified spiritual power helped him subdue those restless negative emotions and let his rationality take back control of his body.

"I guess it won't erupt again anytime soon..."

Su Lun took a deep breath, his expression still tense.

This was much worse than his previous situations.

Previously it was just some simple negative emotions, but now, these things in his consciousness were not just his own, but also the whispers of some indescribable existence. Mixed in were countless insights he couldn't understand at his current stage. It was like sealing a massive database that could drive one insane if it surged in all at once.

This was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment.

With the pressing crisis temporarily relieved, Su Lun turned his attention back to the "gray mist" on the bodies of the distant pirates.

Just before, clear humanoid souls were visible, but now they had reverted to ordinary gray mist?

He casually stripped a soul shard from a second-tier pirate, not much different from before, gaining only some scattered information.

"Was it because of that shadow of death?"

Su Lun thought of something and immediately decided to give it a try.

He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the feeling when the shadow had appeared before.

After a moment,

he abruptly opened his eyes.

Just then, that cold, mysterious feeling descended upon the cabin once more.

This time, Su Lun clearly felt that elusive sensation, whispering, "So it's true... the legendary 'Law of Death', one of the supreme laws!"

He couldn't precisely describe the feeling.

Not dwelling on this law understanding that required extensive contemplation, Su Lun looked around the cabin.

At this moment, his view of the world was once again shrouded in a bloody hue.

Looking again, the gray mist on the bodies indeed showed complete humanoid forms once more.

He saw "Death," saw complete souls!

"It is indeed so."

Su Lun walked over, trying to test what was different about harvesting with this new ability.

This trial sent a shock through him.

At this moment, the mist was not directly absorbed, and at the instant of contact, Su Lun "saw" countless pieces of information within that soul.

It was like flipping open the table of contents of a book; he saw densely packed, categorized memory fragments.

The immense volume of information would overwhelm an ordinary person.

But Su Lun swiftly scanned through it.

Previously mastering ten lines at a glance, now he mastered a hundred!

Perhaps it was an ability gained from advancing three levels?

A thought flashed through Su Lun's mind.

Then he looked towards that information.

'Within the soul, there is a segment of "Jack Davis's" daily information today, completeness 99%.'

'Within the soul, there is a segment of profound memory information, completeness 85%.'

'Within the soul, there is a segment about musket skills information, completeness 81%.'

'Within the soul, there is an information segment: "..."'

The memory fragments with higher completeness were placed further up.

But the majority were useless daily information.

Su Lun, still somewhat puzzled by these listings, changed his mind and randomly clicked the first one to see what it was all about.

Then a series of images flashed through his mind like glimpses: 'Ate a piece of bread this morning, then played cards, losing five hundred lira; ate pickled vegetables stew with sea fish for lunch, played cards, lost another seven hundred; heard some noise, big fight, Ah Wei died...'

Su Lun immediately processed the information he obtained, which were this body's activities today.

This was almost entirely useless garbage information.

However, Su Lun was extremely overjoyed!

Because...

The stripped data were not like glass shard-like memory fragments!

These were complete pieces of information!

Once this information was stripped, the soul mist on this corpse noticeably dimmed a lot.

Su Lun thought of something and immediately tried to strip a few other skill-based entries, and immediately acquired: 'Gained "Rough Musketeer Arts of Ten Years Experience", gunmanship experience +13.'

With this stripping, the soul shard completely vanished.

"So that's how it is!"

With this trial, Su Lun finally confirmed what uses a Reaper had after a second awakening.

If previously the soul stripping was like a blind box lottery, randomly drawing a pile of fragments,

now it was like having the prizes fully listed out, each one complete, for you to choose at will (subject to soul completeness and energy impact)!

This ability... was simply heaven-defying!

Countless images flashed through Su Lun's mind in an instant.

Suppose he encountered that fifth-tier professional again who had stripped the "Diamond" skill, he could completely ignore all other trash information and directly strip the complete "Golden Element Law Comprehension".

Then, what he'd control would not be any incomplete laws but a fifth-tier professional's complete law comprehension (theoretically, though actually some would be lost due to death and soul collapse).

This also meant that if he planned to pursue the golden element advancement path in the future, as long as the materials and dark spiritual power were sufficient, he could advance to the fifth tier almost without any bottlenecks!

And any other skills.

For example:

The sixth-tier Wind-element professional who had tried to kill him before, stripping his Wind Law, assuming he could be killed...

Those mechanics who died unjustly at Black Reef that he encountered, he could solely strip their mechanical techniques, no need for trash fragments, could instantly become a Grandmaster of Mechanics...

If someday he encountered "King of the North Sea" Oleg, stripping his eighth-tier abilities, he would skyrocket in a moment!

Although it's highly unlikely, theoretically, it's completely feasible!

....

"This is really a blessing in disguise..."

Su Lun tested out the new abilities of the [Death Reaper], his eyes barely concealing his joy.

Dying once was already picking up a new lease on life, but he'd never expected such a huge pleasant surprise.

From what he now knew, a talent's second awakening included [Soul Perception], [Death's Gaze], [Directional Stripping], [Law of Death]... four areas of ability enhancement.

He even felt that after digesting it, there might be more.

With this thought, the side effect of mental aberration suddenly seemed not so unacceptable.

Su Lun's heart immediately felt much lighter.

And now was clearly not the time to be lost in thought, as the soul on the corpse continued to dissipate with time.

Su Lun hurriedly went on to strip a few pirate leaders.

If it had been before, with so many dozens of pirates, excluding repetitive and garbage information, the useful data that could be stripped would have been very limited.

But now, it was a huge harvest!

"You stripped the Soul Shard from 'Yinmo Bolton' and obtained the mechanical blueprint [Deep Sea Diving Scuba Design]."

"You stripped the Soul Shard from 'Tom Nix' and learned 'the coordinates of Pirate City'."

"You stripped the Soul Shard from 'XXX' and mastered a part of the 'twenty years of sailing experience'."

"You learned about 'Pirate Slang,' 'famous pirates of the North Sea,' 'the legend of the Pirate King's treasure,' 'covert sailing routes,' 'Devil's Sea,' 'the identification of three thousand marine species'..."

"..."

Su Lun chose skills and content that interested him.

Even a low-ranking henchman could fill some of his gaps in knowledge.

....

Just when he was joyfully stripping away, a small accident occurred.

Su Lun suddenly felt a moment of palpitations, and before he understood what was happening, he immediately heard that low, chant-like whisper near his ear, which made one's mind wander as if the soul was drifting away from the body.

Su Lun's expression changed in an instant, and he quickly sat down in meditation.

After panting for quite a while, he managed to suppress the surging emotions and guessed something, "Is this what happens when I activate the second stage of the Reaper state, hearing whispers?"

Without completely solving the problem of psychological distortion, using the second stage of Reaper must be done with caution.

Thinking this, Su Lun muttered to himself, "It's a pity the communication ring was also taken by the pirates; otherwise, I could ask my senior sister how to handle this issue..."

He wasn't too worried about fixing the psychological distortions.

His senior sister, being Isaac's daughter, was experienced, knowledgeable, and well-learned.

She might not be able to solve it, but she most likely knew the method.

If she didn't know, there was no use in Su Lun worrying about it all day by himself.

However, the communication ring was not available, so he couldn't contact her for now.

He had just learned from the stripped information that the leader of a group called "Red Shark Pirates", along with a few elites, had gone to "Blizzard City" to extort a ransom.

Su Lun's storage ring, communicator, and the [Blessings of Cereia] were all on that guy.

"I need to find him first and get my things back as soon as possible."

The thought flashed through Su Lun's mind.

....

Aside from a few who jumped into the sea, all the pirates on board were killed.

Su Lun left the cabin strewn with corpses and walked onto the deck.

The fresh sea breeze blew over, dispersing the thick smell of blood from his body.

Seeing the blue sky and the sea, Su Lun felt a sense of release in body and mind.

The land was at the edge of his vision, about half a day's journey away.

The sunlight shone on his body, warm and comforting. It felt as though it dispelled bad luck and reached into his soul. At that moment, Su Lun truly felt alive.

Only those who have experienced death can appreciate the comfort in his heart at this moment.

But suddenly—

"Bang" "Bang", two gunshots unexpectedly rang out from the cabin.

Su Lun's gaze slightly narrowed.

When he had come out earlier, he had casually opened the cargo hold's prison door, but those three hadn't come out.

Sensing the two extinguished soul fires, Su Lun knew that the mother and daughter who had been abused by the pirates had taken their own lives.

Without waiting much longer, a third gunshot also sounded.

The middle-aged man's soul fire extinguished as well.

In that instant, a wave of negative emotions surged to his mind, a red gleam flashed in Su Lun's eyes, and it felt like there was a stifled rage in his heart, "Deserving death..."

A moment later, clarity returned to his eyes.

He didn't rush to set sail.

He planned to make an alchemical item similar to a [Life Usurper Tri-Color Mask] to help suppress the distorted spiritual power.

He checked his storage space and, not finding suitable materials, settled on a piece of Mithril alloy. This metal could bear spiritual power and various energies, especially important was that if thick enough, it could withstand complex rune engravings.

"Alchemy · Smelting!"

With a Suren Sorcerer's Seal made, he added a few curse crystals, and a red glow intensely shone. The large piece of Mithril alloy in the alchemy formation rapidly melted under high temperature and, after adding a few auxiliary materials and a bit of tinkering, it took on the rough outline of a mask.

Soon the metal cooled, and Su Lun was holding a silver mask.

With an eight-arm spear spread out, several carving knives operated simultaneously, and he began to attempt engraving "spirit-type" runes onto the material.

Before starting, he figured that to suppress the volatile distorted spiritual power inside him, he would need at least a fifth-level rune.

But he was only barely proficient with fourth-level rune scripts; engraving a fifth-level rune was out of the question. He thought of copying a fourth-level rune script from a book, testing if it would achieve the same effect.

He was very aware of himself and had already prepared mentally for a very low success rate and multiple failures.

Unexpectedly, the control he felt as the knife went down surprised him.

With this attempt, Su Lun discovered that the "multi-mind multi-tasking" ability he had gained from advancing to tier three was also a super big surprise!