Arcane: Twin Cities Mechanic

Li Lin found himself back on the familiar shores of the Conqueror's Sea.

Glancing at the time, he saw it was just past three in the morning.

He didn't need sleep, and returning to Demacia now would be premature. Besides, he wouldn't be able to get out for a while once he went back.

"It's been a while since I've seen Cait," he murmured.

Zoe overheard him muttering to himself and let out an indignant huff. "You're with Caitlyn every day! Can't you spend more time with me?"

"What do you mean, every day? Have I been back at all since we headed west toward Demacia?"

Li Lin shot her a look and pulled her into his arms, giving her a quick kiss. "Besides, we haven't figured out how to tell her about us yet."

Zoe scratched her cheek, looking a bit uneasy. "Well… uh…"

"I'm planning to stop by Piltover before heading back to Demacia at dawn."

"What? You're actually going to see Caitlyn?" Zoe's tone grew long and drawn.

Truth be told, until she figured out how to come clean with the Kiramman heiress, she wasn't exactly looking forward to facing Caitlyn.

"She's probably resting now, and I don't…"

Before Li Lin could finish, he suddenly felt his arms empty as Zoe slipped through the portal she'd just summoned.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Uh, well, you called for me earlier, and it reminded me that I still haven't delivered the message from the Celestials…" She popped halfway back out of the portal, gave Li Lin a peck on the corner of his mouth, and handed him a magic orb he could use to summon her. 

"Call me if you need anything, alright?"

Before Li Lin could respond, Zoe closed the portal.

The golden light vanished, leaving him slightly bewildered, with a hint of helplessness on his face.

"Geez, when it comes to Cait, you get more flustered than I do... I wasn't even planning to disturb her rest."

Zoe's need to deliver messages for the Celestials was legitimate; she'd been gone for ages last time doing just that. It was part of her duty as the Twilight Aspect.

Still, Li Lin recalled her earlier comparison, calling him a "sneaky cat."

Yes, that term suited her personality well…

Since she didn't want to go back, he wouldn't push it; he figured she might be feeling a bit guilty about Caitlyn.

However, this time, Li Lin's trip wasn't simply about seeing Caitlyn.

He currently had 252 skill points and a massive stash of Blue and Orange Essences, 87,000 and 7,500, respectively. Letting them sit around felt like a waste.

Unfortunately, he was still only Level 74, just a step away from unlocking new tech and skills, which was a bit of a shame.

"At least I can use what I have now—like the Battle Mech Urgot, Battle Mech Cho'Gath, Mini Floating Mechanized Assistant, and the Unmanned Hover Carrier. If I construct the Hover Carrier, which can deploy drones, I'll reach Level 75, then…"

In his mind, the designs for "Orbital Laser Satellite" and "Orbital Kinetic Projection Satellite" appeared.

If he could launch these two orbital weapons as trump cards, then on Runeterra, even facing Ascended like Xerath, Darkin, demigods, or ancient gods wouldn't be out of reach.

"Hmm… the Mech Giant Gaboga belongs to the Academy, so I can't summon it freely. Looks like I'll have to prioritize building the Colossal Behemoth."

"Once that's done, I'll apply for remote support permissions from the Academy for Gaboga. Then it'll be time to find Xerath.

"And as for Aatrox… at the very least, I'll need him to take out Pantheon. Otherwise, with his overzealous nature, that Star Aspect could easily end up against me in the future."

Taking a deep breath, Li Lin activated his nanomaterial. His Infinity Armor covered him from head to toe almost instantly.

The holographic 3D map of Valoran Continent displayed on the screen before him.

Confirming the coordinates of the Zaun Armory, a circular rune appeared at his feet, covering his whole body in blue and white arcane symbols.

After a four-second charge, he vanished into glimmers of light and, in the blink of an eye, reappeared thousands of miles away in Zaun.

[Welcome back, Master.]

"Mm."

Li Lin gave a curt reply, scanning the dimly lit, empty armory, taking in all the automated production equipment.

Originally, he had appointed Mundo to oversee this first armory he'd built.

But after upgrading all the facilities and introducing mechanical labor, Mundo's presence was no longer necessary here.

Li Lin had already assigned him to an office in Central Square, letting him try managing part of the factory, preparing him for his eventual oversight of one-third of Zaun.

"Get the materials ready for the Hover Carrier construction... and, oh yes, for the Orbital Laser Satellite too."

Although these creations were rather large, they could be assembled modularly by constructing each part separately and then piecing them together.

Even in Zaun, where the ceiling loomed low above, large machinery could be built despite the vertical limitations.

After careful thought, Li Lin had chosen the Orbital Laser Satellite.

Though it had a longer cooldown time, it was homing-capable and could adapt to various situations as an energy-based weapon.

The Orbital Kinetic Projection Satellite, in comparison, dealt only physical damage, took a long time to charge, and could only launch at fixed coordinates, which limited its usefulness for Li Lin's current needs.

[Your command, Master.]

While waiting for the AI to mobilize the robotic engineers and gather materials, Li Lin stepped into the monitoring room, which doubled as his workspace. He sat down, his attention focusing on the system panel.

Before starting the manufacturing process, he needed to upgrade a few skills to maximize his mechanical craftsmanship and earn higher-quality initial production rewards.

With enough skill points at his disposal, he no longer had to make hard choices and could max out all skills at once.

He allocated 33 skill points, upgrading his Inventor abilities—[Mechanics Mastery] at Lv13, [Creator] at Lv13, and [Precision Crafting] at Lv20—all to their current max level, Lv24.

Meanwhile, [Rapid Assembly], which unlocked at Lv15 and could be leveled with one point starting from Lv5, was now upgraded to Lv12.

With [Mechanics Mastery] enhancing his knowledge absorption rate by 840%, Li Lin could now master any mechanical knowledge at a glance. Additionally, the skill increased the chance of obtaining epic-quality mechanical blueprints by 24% with every upgrade.

The [Creator] skill heightened his affinity with mechanical constructs, boosting his crafting speed by 790%.

[Precision Crafting] now allowed him to upgrade mechanical creations using less mana and fewer materials, and even raised the likelihood of achieving epic-quality relics to 72%.

This skill also influenced the quality of items his floating mechanical assistant could 3D-print.

[Rapid Assembly], which initially required thousands of mana to assemble a single aerial unit—the Storm Bot—at Lv12 now allowed him to build dozens of them at once using the same mana expenditure.

However, for larger mechs, like the combat-class Skarner mech, he could only assemble a few at a time, and their quality wasn't optimal.

With the help of the floating mechanical assistant, this skill had somewhat become redundant. Had it not been for his principle to avoid relying solely on external tools—and the fact that each Inventor skill level only required one skill point—he wouldn't have spent extra points on this ability.

After upgrading his Inventor skills, Li Lin shifted his focus to the Combat skill panel.

In Combat, three skills needed upgrading: [Automated Assembly]at Lv20, [Artisan's Craft] at Lv5, and [Battlefield Dominance] at Lv1.

Of these, [Artisan's Craft] unlocked at Lv15, while [Battlefield Dominance] unlocked at Lv20.

He spent 42 skill points without hesitation, bringing them up to Lv24, Lv12, and Lv11, respectively.

[Automated Assembly] increased production-line assembly speed by 625%, requiring only a machine upgrade to activate.

[Artisan's Craft] raised the chance of producing relic-quality items on the assembly line to 65%, guaranteeing at least rare-quality gear.

[Battlefield Dominance] extended its control radius based on its base skill level. Though the range was currently limited to 340 meters, it still significantly boosted his mechanical creations' performance.

After upgrading both the Inventor and Combat skill trees, he had 177 skill points left.

There wasn't much left to upgrade in the [Personal Enhancement] branch; most skills were tied to the [Mechanical Ascendancy] path, in which he'd only invested one point in [Unity of Man and Machine].

This skill allowed him to fuse his life force with mechanical creations by expending mana, diverting any damage he sustained to his mechanical creations first. 

He immediately invested 27 points, maxing [Unity of Man and Machine] to Lv10, which allowed him to transfer 100% of the damage to his creations.

Watching his skill points drop swiftly to 150, Li Lin realized he had no further skills to acquire for now and could only wait to accumulate more.

He then returned his attention to the present.

By the time the AI had gathered all the materials to construct the orbital weapon satellite, it was already 4 a.m.

"If I return to Dawnkeep by seven, I'll have three hours. One hour to build the unmanned floating carrier and raise my level to 75 to unlock new technologies.

"After that, I'll need to get the orbital weapon satellite built… two hours should be enough, and the AI can handle the launch details."

Thinking this over, Li Lin donned his protective suit and entered the factory space the AI had prepared for him, reflecting, "Who would've thought, I'm now capable of handcrafting an orbital weapon satellite…"

(End of Chapter)

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