Mechanical Alchemist

"Captain, we've arrived at Roman!"

"Hahaha... finally, we can unwiind ashore."

"..."

Su Lun and Qian Tiao were still in the captain's cabin testing the alchemic gargoyle when they heard the crew cheering on deck.

Having sailed for so long, the days of docking for supplies were the happiest times for the crew.

Su Lun put away the gargoyle and went up to the deck with Qian Tiao.

As soon as they emerged, they could see the distant coastline clearly.

The azure sky was cloudless, merging seamlessly with the sea.

Due to their proximity to the coast, flocks of seagulls appeared near the ship. Some soared in the sky, some hunted in the sea, and others landed on the deck.

Legend had it that seagulls brought good fortune, so the sailors were very fond of these messengers of the sea. The birds, unafraid of strangers, happily accepted food from the crew.

Su Lun stood at the bow, gazing into the distance. On the coast, there was a gigantic city built against the mountain, its white and blue buildings visible from afar.

On the cliffs by the sea, there was a temple constructed of hundreds of huge columns, majestic and spectacular.

That was the "Temple of Aghaparnon," the most sacred place in all of Roman.

The Romans were warlike, producing a wealth of heroes and gladiators.

They worshipped the War Deity, to whom the temple was dedicated.

Roman had no royal family, just dozens of free city-states, each governed by a Governor who was somewhat like a Town Lord.

In front of them was the largest city-state among Roman's dozens—"Moros".

Since this city-state possessed the highest quality deepwater port and was the heart of Roman's external trade, it naturally became the most economically developed city.

It attracted a large number of pirates, speculative merchants, slavers, and adventurers from various places.

...

"Everyone be careful after disembarking. Try not to draw too much attention. Contact me immediately if there's any situation."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Hahaha, let's go. I heard the gladiator arena in Roman is quite the spectacle. Let's check it out."

..."

The Dawn Group, flying an inconspicuous pirate flag, entered the port.

The deepwater harbor was filled with hundreds of pirate ships of all kinds. With the advent of the Great Pirate Era, a large number of "new" pirate groups had emerged in the North Sea. The addition of one more ship went unnoticed.

The crew disembarked in high spirits, heading into the city in small groups.

Su Lun, Qian Tiao, and the little sword-carrying follower Rorota walked down the ship and strolled along the pier, where they saw the Sea King-class warship "Princess Scatty" accompanied by eight escort ships docked in the harbor.

Both were unsurprised.

After all, Dr. Banks had long since sensed that the marked submarine was near the seabed in this area.

Qian Tiao only glanced over and restrained his gaze, whispering, "That Princess Frost Moon is also in the city now; I wonder what she's doing here."

Su Lun, having peeled away the memories of the former deputy fleet commander of the 18th fleet, knew some classified information. He said, "She's probably waiting for the right time. The waters near those Void Relics are dangerous, after all. They have to wait for the proper wind and current to get there, which might occur only a few times a year."

The Void Relics contained many ancient devices that were beyond the comprehension of pirates, so a collaboration with Mafa's technicians was planned for their development.

The warships held no appeal for them, and even if they did, they were not for the taking.

Now that Princess Twin Moon's people were in the city, they, too, could look for an opportunity to inquire about Kai's whereabouts.

If they were really to rescue someone, this place was far better than Pirate City Hasturin.

The three of them entered the city unhurriedly.

...

Following the stone steps from the dock upward, a beautifully maintained white stone city wall came into view, its battlements and watchtowers adorned with intricate carvings.

This was the most beautiful city wall Su Lun had ever seen.

Not only were the Romans fond of war, but their artistic accomplishments were profound. This land had given rise to many master painters, musicians, and poets. They created many works of art of epoch-making significance...

In every corner of the city's architecture, one could see the pursuit of an aesthetic sense that flowed in their blood.

At the city gate, there stood a squad of guards clad in armor and holding long spears.

Unlike guards from other city-states, they seemed very robust. Their bare arms were muscular, their gazes sharp, exuding an aura of killing intent.

And these were merely the ordinary guards.

Su Lun couldn't help but take an extra look.

There were no inspections, and they entered the city smoothly.

No wonder pirate groups often returned here to recruit crew members; Romans were natural-born warriors.

After entering the city, they realized the rumors were true.

Pure Romans are easily identified by their blond hair and blue eyes. On the streets, one can frequently spot adult males with bare arms. While they may not be particularly tall, every one of them is as strong as a leopard, with wheat-colored skin and well-defined musculature that glistens under the sunlight.

It is rare to see any corpulent individuals with beer bellies.

Even the children chasing each other around in the streets have visible abs.

Lifting weights, wrestling, sword fighting, hurling javelins... these activities are the kids' idea of play.

They take pride in their strength.

Roman society is still agrarian with hardly any industry to speak of. Women in the streets typically wear loose garments made of rough linen, while wealthy ladies and misses might wear long cotton dresses imported from overseas. However, the designs of these dresses are so simple that they barely conceal anything. If you pay attention, you can spot breasts half-exposed beneath the cloth, and long beautiful legs are fully in view. Especially the young maidens, they don't shy away from showing off their attractive figures, strolling through the streets as if it was the most natural thing. They worship heroes and are quite willing to spend a passionate night with the strong.

As legends have it, the local customs here are indeed uninhibited.

Walking on the streets, Su Lun found it quite a sight for sore eyes.

The city's architecture is densely packed, and it is easy to distinguish residential buildings from public ones at a glance.

"Central Gladiator Arena," "Senate," "Moros City-State Town Hall," "Muse Goddess Opera House," "Public Baths," "Trade Market"...

The public buildings are all massive and sport unique architectural styles.

...

The city also has plenty of foreigners, so Su Lun and his two companions did not stand out.

Apart from wandering around to observe the local customs, their priority was to gather some information.

Roman country is now nominally part of the "North Sea Kingdom," with the wolf fang flags of the North Sea fleet flying all over the city.

Naturally, Su Lun and his group had to be cautious, having just destroyed several squadrons of the North Sea fleet.

Fortunately, Su Lun was prepared. Having deliberately gathered intelligence about the city during previous battles, he knew a few safe points for information exchange and reliable informants.

Before long, when they stepped out of a place called "Lavender Tavern," they had more or less gathered the needed intelligence.

"Kai has been sent to the gladiator arena to be a slave gladiator. It seems he is to participate in some 'Trial of Heroes'. There's a match tomorrow..."

"If we can avoid combat, let's not fight. I've spent some money at the arena to have a middleman inquire for us. When the time comes, getting someone to contact Kai should work out a rescue. Moreover, there's a group of Royal Knight slave gladiators from the Luying capital, and I suspect they are the ones Barrett and his group are looking for. Barrett and his group might be lurking in the city right now, so we'll have to pay more attention..."

"..."

Qian Tiao and Su Lun walked along, exchanging the information they had just received.

The current situation was quite ideal for them. Although the area was nominally under Oleg's control, the North Sea fleet didn't have much say in the gladiator arena.

As long as one is willing to spend money, there are many ways to try and rescue people.

Moreover, the current focus is not on them but on "Princess Frost Moon" Scatty.

"The city situation is complicated now. The Luying royal family, Duke Raphael, and several other great lords are all watching Princess Frost Moon's party. There are many outsiders who have infiltrated the city. We can guess they are here for the Void Relics, and naturally, those people can guess too. There might be big movements soon."

"That Princess Frost Moon hasn't appeared much lately either, probably to avoid assassination. But even without going out, there are still scandalous rumors floating around about her and Oleg's second son Onis Popov... tsk tsk, this princess really doesn't keep still."

"Heh heh... it's pretty lively."

"..."

Another piece of good news was that Su Lun hadn't heard of any bounties on their Dawn Group.

On the other hand, bounties from the "Sacred Judgment Fleet" were plastered everywhere in the black market, and the reward amounts were becoming increasingly extravagant.

The three pirate squadrons from the annihilated 18th fleet were currently listed as "missing."

Some were offering rewards for information, but no one knew what had happened.

This was good news for Su Lun and his group because they had left no survivors, which meant the news should be able to stay hidden for a long time.

...

There were some stalls selling fruits, jewelry, and clothes by the streets, but the trio wasn't interested.

They did visit a blacksmith shop, finding the quality of swords and armors to be quite decent, and bought some for the crew on their ship.

Now that they had gathered information, Su Lun had spent money to send local contacts to inquire further; all they had to do was wait for news.

The three of them strolled down the streets.

After all, they had been at sea for over ten days and the sea breeze had left a fishy odor on them.

For Qian Tiao, who liked soaking in hot springs, this was unbearable.

At that moment, she said, "I heard the public baths of Roman are not bad, with large natural hot springs and pools, and I plan to try them out now. Su Lun, would you care to join?"

Su Lun nodded, "Sure."

The bathhouses in Roman indeed have a good reputation in the North Sea, known for their openness and famous for co-ed nude bathing.

But as soon as he answered, he remembered something and added, "But I want to check out the flea market first. How about you and Lolota go ahead, and I'll come by later?"

Compared to bathing, he was more inclined toward exploring the market.

High-tier magical creature materials were cheap here, and buying materials and Demon Crystals might lead to some unexpected finds.

The more remote the place, the more likely valuable items are to be overlooked and gather dust.

Eager to soak, Qian Tiao didn't say much, "Okay, get in touch if you need anything."

With that, they parted ways.

Qian Tiao and Luo Lo Ta went to the bathhouse, while Su Lun took a stroll in the city, heading towards the market area of North City Shell Street.

...

The winter in the Roman Country was very long, occupying three-quarters of the year.

Summer only lasted for these two or three months, hence the Roman's own produce of grain was minimal, and the demand for grain imports was substantial.

Moros, as the "First City-State of Roman," was able to maintain such a large population because the city had a large number of grain merchants.

The Romans were very belligerent; aside from waging war, they hunted magical beasts and sea monsters, consequently producing a variety of high-grade monster materials and weaponry. Those speculative merchants would trade the imported grain for these monster materials that could be sold at high prices elsewhere, thus making a hefty profit. This business had persisted for centuries.

Grains, slaves, weaponry, monster materials... these were some of the hottest bulk trade commodities in Moros City.

Even before Su Lun entered the market area, he could hear the noisy haggling.

The trading market here wasn't much different from other cities, just more primitive.

Grains were piled up on the ground,

The Romans were belligerent, with a high birth rate. Constant wars between city-states meant a large number of war slaves appeared on the market.

Most men were sent to the gladiator arenas, sold to pirates and nobles as warriors.

Women were stripped of their clothes and placed in chains in rows along the streets at the slave market. Those on display were mostly young and good-looking, and they could fetch a good price.

The buyers could freely touch and squeeze them, and the female slaves had a numb expression, as if they had accepted their tragic fate.

Su Lun had no interest in slaves and walked straight into the depths of the market.

He browsed through several materials shops, where the monster materials were even cheaper than in Pirate City, and he also found many high-grade materials.

For instance, the blood of seventh or eighth grade magical beasts was a necessary item for creating high-level runes.

These were things that Su Lun urgently needed at the moment, so he did not skimp on money and bought a pile.

The situation in Moros City-State was somewhat complex now, and the trading market, a place that attracted many outsiders, was especially mixed.

As Su Lun walked through, he spotted many individuals who seemed like secret agents, and among the harvested memories, he recognized some familiar faces.

He had no interest in spies either and, after browsing through the large shops, he headed towards the flea market.

These stalls were run by small merchants and peddlers who also had many good items.

"Come and see! Fresh from the ruins, ancient secret steles, scrolls, and tomes... all at bargain prices."

"Three-thousand-year-old fragments of the 'Book of the Dead', anyone interested come take a look."

"We specialize in selling all kinds of treasures, 'Blackbeard's Treasure Map', 'Ancient God Stele', 'Akkadian Era Inscriptions', 'Aladdin's Lamp', 'Magic Flying Carpet'..."

"..."

The noise was unceasing, and all manner of odd and peculiar items appeared on the carpets.

The world had a vast population, and many people were lucky.

Who knew if the collapse of a mountain would reveal the tomb of some ancient king? Those burial items could make someone fabulously wealthy overnight and yield many ancient treasures.

As Su Lun made his way through, the All-knowing Eye also identified items along the path.

There were plenty of fakes, but also some "little treasures."

However, for items at the level of "sealed artifacts" emanating curses, even without open eyes, one could feel their exceptionally unusual curse properties.

So the likelihood of stumbling upon a significant oversight in the treasures and materials was extremely low.

Su Lun was mainly interested in tomes, secret scrolls, and documents.

He always remembered Sirea's advice; a high-level alchemist must be learned.

This world was buried with treasures from countless civilizations, and no one knew what could be unearthed beneath the ground or what great secrets were hidden within those documents.

The All-knowing Eye could see at a glance the "Rough Imitations" and "Poor-Quality Antiques"...

And could skip over them directly.

He moved quickly through the stands.

When encountering genuine items, there was no need even to read the content; Su Lun would buy them directly if the price was right.

He simply ignored those who were asking for exorbitant prices.

In the pirate circles, almost nobody was interested in these ancient documents, which were akin to waste paper.

It was rare to get such a customer, so the stall owners were very eager to bring out their treasured wares.

Goods always had a certain regional uniqueness, especially ancient relics.

The ancient artifacts produced by the Roman Country were not easy to find elsewhere.

Su Lun reaped a bountiful harvest.

However, as he wandered, he unexpectedly discovered that the proportion of puppetry materials on the flea market was quite high.

Special wood, silk threads, puppet energy cores... and some related materials.

This made him a little curious.

Puppet Master was a rather niche profession, and materials for it were usually not easy to find on the market.

But here, Su Lun found quite a few things.

Moreover, just then, as Su Lun was walking, he also came across a particularly unusual stall.

He looked at the dolls for sale on the stall and exclaimed in his heart, "Rune puppets?"

Su Lun didn't expect to see finished puppet products for sale here.

...

The stall owner was a young girl with a long coffee-colored braid, her face adorned with light freckles, and her features did not resemble those of the local Roman people.

At that moment, she sat cross-legged on a blanket, the whole person "floating" mid-air.

Su Lun noticed at a glance that she was being suspended by transparent threads.

Many stall owners at the flea market liked to use such bizarre methods to attract the attention of customers.

What caught Su Lun's side-glance was not the person, but what was placed on her stall for sale.

Some were clearly materials needed for puppets, and there were also a few finished rune-carved puppets, which were the most conventional types: "Wailing Dolls" and "Devious Smiling Dolls."

Su Lun was an expert in this field, so he naturally noticed at a glance that the quality of these rune puppets was not high. Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire

Whether it was the level of rune carving or the effectiveness of the finished product, all were far inferior to those he carved himself.

It seemed as if the original design was flawed, and some changes had been made, adding some new functions.

But he couldn't help being surprised.

"Could it be that the 'Puppeteer' lineage has been passed down?"

Su Lun found it very intriguing.

His lineage came directly from the founder of the rune puppet lineage, Seraya, a thousand years ago.

Now that a thousand years had passed, perhaps some skills really had been handed down.

Thinking that she might be from the "same sect," he walked over.

At this time, he noticed a man who was trying to chat up the female stall owner.

"Kama, may I invite you to dinner tonight?"

"No, I'm running my stall, I don't have time!"

"Hey, I'm saying Kama, just stop running this stall. How much can you earn from this? I am now a squad leader of the North Sea fleet, a proper junior lieutenant officer with a salary of thirty thousand a month. If you marry me, you won't have to worry about making a living."

"Abel, I've told you I don't look favorably upon being a pirate. Those despicable pirates killed my parents and robbed our manor, have you forgotten?"

"That was in the past, forget about it. The North Sea fleet is now the royal army. And you know, my father is now the squadron leader of the Third Fleet, with a lot of power. If we form a family, we'll definitely be happy in the future."

"Sorry, please don't interfere with my business."

"How much for these items then? I'll buy them."

"I am not selling to you!"

"..."

Listening to their conversation, the two seemed to be acquaintances.

But from the girl's tone, they didn't seem all that close.

Su Lun roughly understood the situation.

He approached the stall and asked, "Miss, how much for this wooden puppet?"

...

Seeing a newcomer, the man chatting her up left with a chagrined look on his face.

The female stall owner, seeing that there was someone inquiring about the price, hastily introduced her product, "This is not just any wooden puppet; this is a rune puppet. It has a very special effect. This one is a 'Devious Smiling Doll.' Once its energy crystal core is activated, it can cast a visual illusion technique in an area..."

Su Lun naturally had an intimate knowledge of rune puppets and took one look to know what was going on.

But he listened patiently nonetheless.

It appeared that these were crafted by the female stall owner herself.

That is, she was a "Puppeteer."

Su Lun didn't plan to inquire about her lineage right away but tested the waters by asking some other routine questions, "By the way, may I ask a question? I'm new to the city-state of Morolossos, and I've noticed there seem to be many puppet masters here. Why is that?"

Upon hearing this question, a look of surprise clearly appeared on the girl's face as she exclaimed, "Ah... You don't know? Are you not here for the 'Four-Color Elemental Heart'?"

"???"

Su Lun frowned, feeling that she might be referring to some formidable puppet treasure.

Thinking it over, he recognized the name from the records and probed further, "The 'Four-Color Elemental Heart' you mentioned, could it be that powerful energy core from the legend of the ancient goblin civilization?"

The girl responded, "Yes, that's it!"

Upon hearing this, Su Lun's eyes lit up.

Could this place actually possess such a legendary treasure?