Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun listened to the secrets of the Dalu clan recounted by Yuta, and his thoughts began to whirl.

He had once seen detailed information about the "Heart Snatcher" in ancient texts.

This creature is a subterranean being, photophobic, solitary, and usually stays underground.
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Moreover, due to its mythological bloodline, it is born with a bloodline pressure higher than other creatures of the same rank, equivalent to a "Gold-level" monster. It has a high chance of becoming a dominant "Lord Monster" when mature.

For a Magician, the materials produced by these creatures are of a very high quality.

Su Lun, at the third rank, intended to craft "Spiritual Tentacles" implants, and the "Heart Snatcher's brain" was undoubtedly the best option he knew of so far!

Moreover, Su Lun dared to consider it for a very important reason— the monster's means of attack were singular.

In terms of combat power alone, a Heart Snatcher of the same rank was even easier to handle than a Nightmare Spider.

Like the common Puppet Master profession, this subterranean monster also controlled "puppets" in combat. Its own combat power and defense were very weak. At most, it possessed some psychic attack skills, such as "Mind Shock Blast."

But this type of attack, though unperceived and highly troublesome to ordinary people with weak spiritual power, was not of great concern.

For Su Lun, as long as the spiritual power didn't overwhelmingly suppress him, the threat was not considered significant.

And now his spiritual power had mutated, making it not easy to be overwhelmed in terms of strength.

Su Lun estimated that even a fifth-rank Heart Snatcher wasn't lethal to him. At least a sixth-rank, along with rank suppression, would possibly reach the level of "overwhelming."

Furthermore, Su Lun could also control puppets himself.

Both used long-range methods, so it wasn't clear who should be more afraid.

If it was just about mental control, while it could be a big problem for others, for the current Su Lun, there was still considerable room to maneuver. Mechanical armor and wooden puppets were not vulnerable to mental control.

The only thing to consider was whether the "living puppets" it controlled contained any particularly troublesome ones.

....

The bonfire was burning vigorously, and the aroma of the wild boar meat on the grill was extremely rich. Amber-like fat dripped from the meat, falling into the fire and making a sizzling sound.

The two ate and chatted.

The firelight cast Yuta's pretty face into an orange-red glow, and also flickered in Su Lun's contemplative eyes.

Yuta, pure-hearted, spared the complex thoughts common to humans, but she also realized that Su Lun was very interested in the "Heart Snatcher."

She looked at Su Lun for a long while without speaking, then cut him another piece of meat and, after a moment's thought, said, "Mr. Su Lun, if you really want to go, I'll secretly take you there when the time comes."

Secretly?

Hearing this word, Su Lun immediately understood. He looked at her, and smiled slightly.

After all, it was the Dalu clan's forbidden area, and Su Lun naturally knew the risks were certainly not small, and the threats definitely involved more than just the Heart Snatcher.

Yuta's willingness to risk taking him there already represented a great kindness.

He shook his head and said, "No rush. Let me gather enough knowledge first, then I'll consider this. If it's too dangerous, I'll give it up."

"Yes. Going to the Sacred Lake, the clan leaders know more."

Yuta agreed, seeming to recall something else, then added with less confidence, "But, we can't let Wolf Granny know I said I'd take you. Otherwise, I'll be lectured again..."

As she spoke, her pair of furry wolf ears playfully twitched. This demeanor bore no trace of the ferocity she had shown facing the pirates earlier. She looked very much like a timid young girl wanting to misbehave but afraid of being scolded by her parents.

Listening, Su Lun laughed heartily, "Great!"

.....

After nearly finishing the roasted meat, Su Lun continued tinkering with his puppet by the fire.

There was also a military tent pitched next to the fire, but Yuta said she was not accustomed to the delicate human fabrics, preferring instead the soft, fragrant grass.

She rested on the grass not far from Su Lun's side.

After running all day, she was extremely tired.

The warmth of the campfire dispelled the darkness, and the two of them quietly coexisted in peace.

Somehow, Su Lun found an unprecedented sense of tranquility in the heart of the desolate, primeval forest.

He did not know where this feeling came from, looking up at the sky, then at the tall trees, and finally at Yuta, who had already fallen asleep.

It seemed that she sensed his gaze, and her soft, fluffy tail swayed in response. She did not wake up, as if to say she knew.

Watching her, Su Lun gave a faint smile and then continued to carve runes on the Puppet.

By midnight, it was pitch black all around.

The night was beautiful.

But, it could not be enjoyed from the forest floor.

Looking up, he could see a few stars twinkling brightly.

Su Lun's senses were now very sharp; he could clearly hear the sounds of the nocturnal "predators" and noticed several batches of magical beasts lurking in the vicinity of the camp.

They probably feared the firelight and left after a brief observation.

He had thought it would be a calm night, yet suddenly, loud gunfire and explosions rang in his ears.

Su Lun's eyes widened, "Hmm?"

The gunfire was as dense as a storm, and from it, he could tell there was a large-scale battle involving at least hundreds of people.

"Slave capture team?"

Su Lun immediately realized something.

In the Silent Forest, there were no human territories; the only possibility for such commotion was a slave-catching team.

He had learned before that slave capture teams usually operated at night when surrounding the humanoid tribes.

The darkness posed a great danger to the primitive Dalu people due to their limited visibility.

But for a group employing alchemical night vision and various lighting equipment, night and day made little difference.

Even more so, as the tribespeople were usually resting in their villages at night, allowing the teams to capture them all in one fell swoop.

Su Lun's engraving tool stopped, and he frowned: The slave capture team had penetrated this deep into the forest?

At that moment, Yuta also suddenly woke up nearby.

She heard the gunfire in the night and seemed to recall a nightmare-like experience. Her expression turned grave and murderously tense.

She clearly understood what the gunfire meant as well. Her face and hands showed signs of partial animal transformation in a reactive flurry, her eyes filled with sharp hatred. She growled, "Damn it! It's those detestable slave catchers!"

Yuta's claws emerged prominently as she quickly climbed up a nearby towering tree.

Su Lun frowned and followed her up with his octopus spear.

Atop the nearly two hundred meter high canopy of the giant tree, their view widened significantly.

The vista opened to endless dense forests and rolling hills.

With sparse moonlight and stars, visibility was high.

Su Lun immediately spotted flickering lights on a sun-facing hillside dozens of kilometers away.

From a distance, the lights resembled fireworks, but Su Lun discerned they were flare lights.

"That's the direction of the 'White Deer Tribe' village!"

Yuta immediately recognized the location of the flames and her face showed urgency.

Meanwhile, Su Lun was pondering other matters.

To dare encircle a humanoid tribe, it meant that it was a large slave capture squad, and there had to be at least two fourth-tier professionals in the squad.

....

"Mr. Su Lun, wait here for me. I need to go help my tribespeople!"

Yuta let out an urgent shout and immediately transformed into a beastly shape, leaping down from the massive tree.

She didn't give Su Lun a chance to react, swiftly dashing into the dense jungle.

She did this naturally because she was afraid of putting Su Lun in a difficult position.

After all, he had already saved her twice and had taken too many risks for their Dalu clan.

Yuta, who had experienced the calamity that befell her own tribe, knew how cruel the slave-catching teams were. "White Deer Clan" was a medium-sized clan, and those enemies dared to act, meaning they had very strong professionals among them.

She herself wasn't even sure of her own safety in this trip, let alone wanting to drag her savior into this danger.

Moreover, the slavers were also human…

Su Lun watched Yuta dash into the jungle and shook his head with a slight sigh, where could he fail to see that Yuta was worried about putting him in a difficult situation.

But he didn't hesitate and followed her right away.

With his eight-armed spider spear and spatial displacement, he soon caught up with Yuta, who had transformed into a silver wolf.

Seeing that he had followed so quickly, Yuta slightly felt surprised but more so anxious and apologetic, "Mr. Su Lun, you... you didn't need to come."

Su Lun didn't explain much, and with a dismissive smile, he said, "Could you give me a ride? I'm not very good at traveling long distances."

The slave trade was a pillar industry of the Emperor Luying's empire, a grotesque business shaped by the societal environment, which he perhaps couldn't stop. However, he did not wish for his friend Yuta to die. He would be relieved only if he went to see for himself.

Seeing that he had no intention to leave, Yuta's blue eyes flickered, hesitating but eventually nodded.

The silver wolf paused slightly, and Su Lun mounted it.

The intense explosions and flames scattered the various magical beasts in the forest.

The two traveled, encountering a large number of startled animals.

Driven by her anxiety, Yuta sped extremely fast. It took less than half an hour to cover several tens of kilometers, and the fire burning the mountain was already reflecting on their faces.

The two did not rush to approach the fort, but found a tall tree to observe the situation from a height.

...

Meanwhile, in the "White Deer Clan" fort.

The wooden walls of the fort were blasted open, and sentry towers and city walls were draped with the bodies of sub-humans…

The battle was almost over.

The sub-humans using spears and bows ultimately could not withstand the slavers armed with firearms and cannons.

The clan's Druid, the old deer-race elder, resisted to the death but was eventually outnumbered and severely wounded and captured after being surrounded by several of the slavers' leaders.

This was a large slaver group, about two thousand strong.

Their clothing and battle mechas bore the insignia of the "Human Face Sun and Iron Axe", exclusive to the Sun Slave Business slavers equipped well and with high combat capability, undoubtedly one of the most elite groups operating in the Silent Forest.

The clan's Druid and several other surviving robust deer-race warriors were tied next to the altar. Other sub-humans were herded beside the open space under the altar, each shackled with anti-magic iron chains and explosive collars.

There were still occasional gunshots in the village, as the slavers' team members were searching house-to-house for sub-humans hiding inside.

The high-level combat had ended, and the stubborn resistance forces had all been killed.

Tallying the battleground was the busy work for the lower-ranking members.

The slavers' leaders also gathered together, tallying this operation's gains.

On the ground, items like dog-head gold, ore, demon cores, and medicinal herbs piled up into mountains.

The slavers, stained with blood, looked somewhat fierce. But now, their faces held the joy of their harvest.

"Hahaha... these natives are so damn extravagant, using such valuable gems and dog-head gold just to worship some statue."

"Directly raiding the fort really reaps the biggest rewards. These materials sold back in Luying will be worth at least a billion..."

"Yes, this batch of slaves is enough for us to make a fortune. A high price of two hundred thousand, that's comparable to the prices at the Luying auction house. We don't even have to transport them ourselves. Tsk tsk... the military folks really are lavish in their spending!"

"Hey, I didn't expect the military to come to the Silent Forest too. Leader, what do you think the military wants with so many slaves?"

"They probably discovered some 'cursed space' or another dangerous area and need the slaves to probe it. Who cares, as long as we deliver the people to the designated spot as agreed."

"There are many treasures in this forest, and I've heard frequently about people discovering ancient artifacts. Could it be there are some ancient ruins appearing?"

"Even if it is ancient ruins, what does it matter? The Empire's military is involved, what can we possibly think of? I heard that this time it's a general from the capital, no small figure. Seems like they are here to hunt the giants, or something like that..."

"..."

....

The bloody plundering in the stronghold was ongoing.

Meanwhile, several hundred meters away, on a gigantic tree, two figures, a man and a wolf, silently watched the scene.

Su Lun used a telescope to closely observe those people, and through lip reading, he could roughly make out the content of a few people's conversations.

The slave trade was destined to be bloody and brutal.

Of ten subhumans, maybe only one or two could survive and appear at the auction house.

Su Lun looked at the corpses scattered around the stronghold, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and a flash of red light flickered in the depths of his eyes.

Though called a legal trade, this act of burning, killing, and plundering was no different from that of pirates, and perhaps even worse.

What puzzled him more was the mention of "ancient ruins" by those people?

Were the people from the Luying military also here?

In an instant, many thoughts flashed through his mind.

By his side, Yuta, who had transformed into a white wolf, had her fur slightly bristled and was suppressing a low growl in her throat, her eyes filled with a fierce light of hatred.

But she also knew, with nearly two thousand enemies inside the stronghold, she couldn't change anything.

Su Lun patted her body to soothe her.

He carefully observed a few leaders among the slave capturing group from the "C position," even though he didn't recognize them, they didn't seem like they were fifth-tier.

Thinking over it, he asked, "What tier is that druid of the deer tribe?"

Yuta suppressed her grief and said, "That's Elder Tagu, a very strong fourth-tier."

Relieved by this, Su Lun loosened a breath.

Looking again at the signs of battle in the stronghold, he felt his deductions were likely correct. Without a fifth tier, there seemed to be no one in the slave capturing group who posed a lethal threat to him.

Yuta felt utterly helpless, the number of enemies was enough to annihilate a medium-sized tribe, more numerous than those who had destroyed her "White Wolf Tribe" the last time, she couldn't change anything all by herself!

But she couldn't just watch her fellow tribespeople suffer.

In the forest, perhaps there were still some opportunities.

If they took the captives away, it would be too late for anything.

After thinking it over, Yuta spoke very decisively, "Mr. Su Lun, I need to follow them and see if there's any chance to rescue my tribespeople... even if it's just one!"

She paused for an instant, then urgently added, "This is a grudge between our Dalu tribe and those despicable slave catchers. Please, you must not get involved! Before you left, I mentioned the 'Eagle's Beak Pass,' there will be my tribespeople to meet you there..."

But before she could finish, Su Lun shook his head, his eyes slightly narrowing, "It seems we can't leave now, they've already spotted us."

He looked at the flying bees around them and realized that there was an [Insect Controller] among them.

Yuta was shocked upon hearing this, a look of urgency immediately appearing on her face.

With the enemy so powerful and numerous, if they were surrounded, escape would be difficult.

She could die for her tribespeople but didn't want to drag anyone else into this, without thinking, she prepared to fight to the death, "I'll hold them off! Mr. Su Lun, you go first!"

Su Lun didn't respond to her but just slightly tilted his head, narrowly avoiding a sniper bullet grazing his scalp. He raised his eyebrows and scoffed, "Those guys don't seem very friendly..."