Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun listened as Mr. Hei recounted the origin of the "Mirror Library," his heart unable to contain the excitement.

He had never before felt so strongly about becoming a phantom thief.

And then to completely empty that Mirror Library of its contents.

As of now, no one had discovered the existence of the Mirror Library.

However, that might not be the case after some time.

The explosion had disrupted the original stable structure of the storeroom, and only then had Kit discovered the hidden prohibition.

But if he could find it, with the many experts at the royal academy, clearly, someone else would discover it too.

Moreover, the traces of the second explosion were still there, such directional clues left behind would inevitably be noticed.

Fortunately, during the previous operation, in order to facilitate quick reinforcements, Su Lun had given Kit a few items with spatial coordinates.

Just a moment ago, that guy had conveniently placed one inside the Mirror Library.

Su Lun sensed the location of the coordinates and narrowed his eyes slightly, "This folded space is cunningly hidden."

From the banquet hall to the library, it was at most a couple of kilometers. But in his senses, Su Lun found himself hundreds of kilometers away from the spatial marker, and the coordinates were changing erratically and unpredictably.

This meant that even if someone were to dig through the library's underground, they wouldn't find the Mirror Library.

This also made it convenient for Su Lun.

"Folded space" isn't a separate plane like the Minor Void, but more akin to a storage ring, these types of subspaces still exist within the same plane.

It's like a person holding a hydrogen balloon, connected to the main plane through a string.

Su Lun's directed displacement could still reach it, as long as it was in the same plane.

It was just that this distance was a bit far, requiring the consumption of more energy.

The problem was significant, but solvable.

...

Outside the banquet hall, the commotion was loud, as if the whole academy had livened up.

Su Lun knew that was a misleading clue created by Kit.

Outside the door, it was unclear whether it was the mounted police or the royal knights shouting loudly.

"It's Phantom Thief Kit, quick, catch him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"..."

Hearing this news, almost everyone in the banquet hall understood everything.

The royal academy was rich in treasures, but generally, only two kinds of thieves would dare to steal here.

The first type was those whose brains were a bit off, as stealing anything of equal value here carried a penalty ten times that outside.

The second type was those undertaking the thieves guild's "Ultimate Challenge."
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Hearing that it was Phantom Thief Kit, everyone understood it was the second type.

Knowing it was him, the nobles were not panicked at all.

Even the young students and the noblewomen had various expressions of admiration, curiosity, and ambivalent concern in their eyes.

"Wow, it's actually Phantom Thief Kit! I heard he's super handsome! It would be nice to see him in person."

"Hahaha... The storeroom was actually breached by Kit? Gosh, this will probably be tomorrow's front-page news."

"..."

As the lost items were not their own, the nobles weren't overly worried.

Rather, they were all eagerly watching the spectacle.

Su Lun, hearing everyone outside yelling "catch Kit," also felt somewhat speechless.

Because he knew very well that Kit had intentionally exposed his identity to be discovered.

If it were Su Lun himself stealing, it would undoubtedly be stealthy.

But that guy had said, being caught was secondary, looking handsome was a lifetime achievement.

Without showing his face, it's just theft.

He is a phantom thief.

Su Lun still couldn't resonate with this point of view.

However, excited as everyone was, they were genuinely curious about how Kit had managed to bypass the storeroom's prohibitions to steal the items?

Although everyone had heard the two loud explosions just now, no one really believed that someone could break through those invincible defenses with explosives.

...

The noise outside lasted for a while, and it seemed that the chase was still ongoing.

But Su Lun had already received news that Kit had safely escaped from the royal academy.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Though there were a few unexpected minor setbacks, the copy of [Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript] had finally come into their possession.

Now that it was confirmed that the storeroom had been breached and Kit had stolen what was inside, it was unthinkable for Dean Winefred to stay put; the old man was planning to personally go to the crime scene to investigate.

A crowd of nobles and students, citing their concern for the academy's stolen treasures as a reason, followed to watch the excitement.

Since they were all old alumni, the school authorities could not stop them.

Su Lun and Sabina also blended into the crowd and went along.

A throng of people marched majestically out of the banquet hall and arrived in front of the royal library.

The area was already well lit.

Dozens of uniformed mounted police had already sealed off the scene, inspecting all the traces left behind.

Even from outside the police line, everyone could clearly see several large pits where the magic towers had been in front of the library.

Many people thought those magic towers were merely decorative relics of an ancient age, unaware that they were also part of the entire defense prohibition.

Now several of the magic towers had been destroyed, leaving behind several charred deep pits.

The air was still permeated with a distinct burnt smell.

Among them, one pit, resembling a robbers' tunnel, led straight to the underground.

This was a very precise directed explosion, which had directly demolished the outer casing of the underground treasury.

Su Lun wasn't at all surprised by this scene, as this current situation was almost exactly like the explosive sketch Jim had drawn previously.

It wasn't for nothing that Su Lun had come to survey the site before.

Using his spatial abilities, he had meticulously described the entire spatial structure of the storeroom, and with Jim's analysis of the precise explosion points, such accurate explosion was possible.

At that moment, the goatee sporting head of the police department, seeing the old dean approaching, hurriedly pointed at the hole and reported, "Dean, this hole leads directly to the storage room. It has been confirmed that the treasures in Sir Isaac's storage room have been completely looted. Judging by the explosives residue at the scene, it was a type of special explosive not seen in the market. It's not excluded that other methods were used to create this hole. It has been confirmed that the thief in action was Kit..."

Not much was actually lost in the storage room, as each treasure's display case had its own individual theft prevention seal, and Kit didn't have the time to break each one.

But, for him who was undertaking the thief's challenge, it didn't matter what he stole.

As long as he stole something, the challenge was considered complete.

And as long as he wasn't caught in the act, the royal family wouldn't even pursue the retrieval of the item.

This "Ultimate Challenge" was backed by a story that happened over a hundred years ago.

Back then, Emperor Luying, Bona VII, overly confident in the royal collection's theft prevention measures, had publicly boasted that stealing from the royal academy and getting caught would lead to execution. However, if you could actually steal something, it was yours, and no charges would be pressed.

Thus, the Thieves' Guild had this "Ultimate Challenge".

Succeed, and you're the King of Thieves.

Fail, and you die.

Over the decades, only one of the "Top Ten Legendary Bounty Hunters," the 'King of Thieves' Carlo Meldis, along with Kit just now, had succeeded.

The rest, without exception, had long grass growing over their graves.

...

Seeing the dark hole, everyone present was shocked, finding it difficult to believe everything before their eyes.

They never expected that anyone would use explosives, a form of alchemy that traditional alchemists look down upon as merely a trifling concoction, to destroy the vault, reputed to have the strongest theft prevention seal in its planes?

The Royal Library had ingenious theft prevention seals, cunningly crafted by countless court alchemist masters over the centuries, layered and nearly flawless.

After the 'King of Thieves' Carlo succeeded in stealing using spatial techniques, that loophole had also been patched.

Theoretically, nobody should now be able to forcefully break into the immensely complex defensive barrier of the Royal Library!

However, someone had crudely blasted open the exterior, perfectly circumventing those intricate seals the Luying royal family took pride in, and went straight into the treasure room.

"Oh, my God, can explosives be that powerful?"

"I think it must have been some special cursed item, right? Even if it were naval artillery shells, high-level professionals could block them; how could it possibly break through the collection's seals?"

"Exactly! If it were really explosives, it couldn't possibly happen without tens of thousands of tons."

"..."

Though this group included Great Alchemists, their understanding of ballistics was indeed very narrow.

The old-fashioned alchemists' perception of explosives was still stuck in the concept of a 'black burning powder that emits thick smoke'.

Their arrogance even made them unwilling to learn about new things.

Su Lun was not here just for the spectacle.

He simply wanted to confirm if that folded space had been exposed.

Sensing outward, he found no unusual spatial fluctuations in the treasure room.

It seemed, as Kit had said, that the mirrored library had only appeared as a breach after the explosion and had now disappeared.

Old Dean Winfred had already gone to the storage room himself, this eighth-tier professional, knowledgeable and well-read, was likely to discover that hidden seal within a short time.

However, since it was a vault even more secure than the storage room, it probably wouldn't be so easy to break open.

Su Lun felt he shouldn't delay and planned to find a place to set up a teleportation method.

There was nothing interesting left to watch, and Su Lun and Sabina turned and left.

...

Su Lun didn't leave with Sabina in the carriage; instead, he arrived at a deserted place and contacted Phantom Thief Kit, who said it was already safe.

Su Lun then sensed his location and formed the sorcerer's seals.

With a flash of spatial fluctuation, he used directed teleportation.

Looking around, the scenery changed, and Su Lun found himself in a luxurious room.

Phantom Thief Kit was leisurely lying on a plush, luxurious bed.

Seeing that the room clearly belonged to a lady of high stature, Su Lun asked with a puzzled expression, "Is this place... safe?"

Kit, noticing Su Lun had arrived, sat up and explained, "This is Viscountess Sabina's mansion. No one will come here for now."

Hearing this, the corner of Su Lun's eye twitched, clearly indicating that this woman was another of that guy's affairs.

At that moment, he noticed a bloodstain on Kit's chest and asked, "Are you injured?"

"A minor issue."

Kit didn't elaborate further; instead, he took out a storage ring and a notebook emanating dark energy, saying, "I brought the items out for you."

The storage ring contained royal relics from the royal treasure room, while the notebook was Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript.

Su Lun didn't hesitate; he immediately stored the items in his small void realm and said, "Thank you."

Having long desired these items, he inexplicably felt a sigh of relief.

Even if there were tracking marks, they would now be useless.

Throughout, Kit wore his dashing smile, unconcerned, then said, "This time it was smooth because of the void materials you helped me retrieve. Otherwise, the royal academy is not easily accessible."

Pausing, he smiled again, "Next time you come across materials I can use, remember to keep an eye out for me."

"Sure."

Su Lun was not overly sentimental.

This was the essence of the Dawn Organization.

Knowing the situation was urgent, Su Lun cut to the chase, "The 'Mirror Library' you mentioned, did you find any dangers? I plan to go and take a look later."

Kit shook his head and said, "No. The folding space's constraints are very ingenious. I only detected a slight anomaly and probed a little to reveal a minor gap. Moreover, I suspect there won't be any danger."

He paused, then with a slight smile, added, "Because there's no need."

Su Lun immediately understood and felt it made sense.

"The Mirror Library" was a secret treasure trove of the Bona royal family and was hidden within the royal library's collection room. Normally, unless the Empire of Luying was toppled, it was not possible for outsiders to forcefully enter.

Without using explosives, even top professionals attempting a forceful entrance would cause a huge disturbance.

Neither the academy nor the Bona royal family would ignore this.

Therefore, there was no need to set any dangerous prohibitions.

Whether entering through normal means or abnormal means, there was no need.

The former didn't require guarding against, and the latter couldn't be stopped.

Confirmed in this belief, Su Lun finally felt completely at ease.

At this point, Kit added, "Alright, be careful yourself. I've booked a ticket to leave London, and I'll lay low for a while."

He stayed here just to hand over the notebook personally.

Knowing the gravity of the matter, Su Lun didn't ask where he was going but simply said, "Take care! Contact me if anything arises."

Kit nodded, "Hmm."

Originally, Kit didn't need to run away just for stealing one notebook.

After all, it was the royal family's tacitly approved "ultimate challenge."

If something was lost, the royal family would not seek its recovery, to save face.

Just like the previous 'Thief Emperor' Carlo.

But now that the legendary mirror library had been discovered, the problem had intensified.

Without a doubt, Su Lun was about to empty it of its contents.

By now, the academy had likely discovered some traces; they knew more about the mirror library than outsiders did. The royal family was bound to intervene as well.

Although the authority restrictions might stall them for a while, they would definitely gain entry eventually.

By then, when the royal family discovered the missing items, they would inevitably seek out Kit to "inquire about the situation."

Running away now was also a way to preemptively avoid trouble.

...

Kit had escaped by boat.

Su Lun contacted Mr. Hei to inform him about some contingency plans in case anything happened to him.

Then he teleported again and had already arrived at a secret hideout in the southern city.

This was a basement warehouse hidden in the slums. Nearby was an industrial area with no high-level professionals; it was rarely frequented by anyone.

This was also an emergency refuge Su Lun had prepared for himself in the past.

He didn't delay further, pulling out a massive amount of energy baryte to start setting up the formation.

For long-distance teleportation his current level was not sufficient to rely solely on sorcerer's seals; this required a large-scale formation.

Energy crystal core, flawless crystals, spatial crystals...

Before long, Su Lun had set up an Octagram Spatial Array.

However, gaining access to that folded space was not easy; even those versed in Space Law could not enter.

First, you had to confirm its precise coordinates;

Second, you needed a higher understanding of laws than the defense layers of the folded space to teleport through.

Su Lun figured that not even a ninth-tier space professional could penetrate it, and he certainly couldn't.

Fortunately, he had external enhancements.

At this moment, he produced a large chunk of spatial treasure — a "Fragmented Planar Crystal Source."

This was as precious to Su Lun as the "Sands of Time," not something he'd normally use.

Now was the perfect opportunity to use it.

The magician pinched, and a continuous stream of dark spiritual power flowed into the formation.

Black light flourished magnificently, and the space in the warehouse began to shake violently.

Su Lun watched the coordinates become clearer and clearer; without hesitation, he stepped forward.

His surroundings changed instantly, and he found himself in a very special isolated space.

...

"I made it in!"

A hint of joy appeared in Su Lun's eyes.

But he did not let his guard down, and he fully extended his perception, the All-knowing Eye inspecting all around.

Initially, he didn't detect any spiritual body fluctuations or see any danger signals, which slightly relaxed Su Lun.

The air was also breathable and contained no identified toxins.

Looking around, shelves filled with books floated all around him.

Yes!

They were floating!

This folded space, just like his own little void realm, was devoid of gravity.

Su Lun, staring at the scene before him, was profoundly shocked.

Lamps of enduring magic emitted an orange glow, illuminating the entire space brightly.

The shelves, made of the same precious redwood as those in the royal library, were carved with the "Golden Lion and Unicorn Saint Cross Coat of Arms" emblematic of the Ruying royal family.

The shelves were custom-designed, each with twenty rows, each row holding about one hundred books, totaling two thousand per shelf.

And the shelves in view numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

They floated in this void like countless stars, so numerous that Su Lun was dizzy.

This was a collection of hundreds of millions of books.

And probably because no one had sorted them for hundreds of years, the subsequently copied books hadn't been organized on the shelves, floating freely in the space.

"Zabir Anthology," "Philosophers' Assembly," "Supernatural and Mysterious Objects," "On the Essence of All Things," "Book of Creation Secrets"...

A quick glance by Su Lun revealed many familiar Great Alchemist books.

Many of which he had previously seen and remembered from his visit to the royal library.

Scrolls, notes, manuscripts... All were present!

Just then, a gold-embossed book titled "Book of Secrets" drifted by; he casually took it to look, and it was densely filled with complete text.

"It really did completely copy all the books from the Royal Academy's library; no wonder it's called a 'mirror library'..."

Watching the freely floating bookshelves, Su Lun hadn't felt this excited in a long time.

Although he didn't know how this "automatic copying" worked, a simple "awesome" was enough!

However, he soon thought of a problem, "With so many bookshelves, how long will it take to fit them into the little void realm one by one?"

Thinking of what Mr. Hei had said, this mirror library not only stored books but was also the royal treasure house.

Here were the "sacred forbiddens" collected by the royal family.

Under the aristocratic centralized system of the great empire, the capability to amass treasure was terrifying.

Almost all sought-after items eventually ended up in the hands of the feudal lords.

And most of all in the royal family.

Noble families were like magnets, gathering treasures in their hands; the royal family, not lacking money and not selling, just kept piling up more and more.

Especially those high-level, rare, top-tier alchemical materials that lower-tier professionals couldn't use, were almost all in the hands of the royal family and top nobility!

With this thought, Su Lun was no longer in a hurry to deal with the books but cautiously observed as he floated toward the piles of bookshelves.

This folded space wasn't too large, similar in size to Su Lun's current small void realm.

Bypassing a pile of bookshelves, Su Lun indeed found at the center of the space a platform surrounded by a golden fence.

On the platform were some odd items.

Only six remained.

Some space was freed up, appearing as if items had been taken away.

But apart from something resembling a blueprint, the others were all sealed.

These weren't seals intended to prevent theft.

Rather, they were there to prevent the curse characteristics of the unknown information Su Lun saw everywhere from leaking out.

"This... this is a real find!"

Su Lun stared at the spot, shocked, his eyes not ceasing their amazed gaze for quite some time.

He possessed the All-knowing Eye, and could instantly recognize the level of the treasures there.

If the joy he felt earlier upon seeing the bookshelves was like a flood breaching a dam,

then the treasures before him were like a sky-high tsunami, completely overwhelming all emotions.

Su Lun did not suppress the surging joy in his heart.

For the treasures before him were truly worthy.

On that platform was an enneagram formation, and on the formation were two items.

It was these two items that created this specific space.

[Eleventh Essence of the Universe · All Creations]

Detailed Description: Contains the crystallization of "***" laws, one of the ultimate products of the alchemy law of equivalent exchange; it is the core of the pattern for copying books in the mirror library; with sufficient energy, it can copy any item that does not exceed the material itself;

[A Fragmented Plane Manifestation Body]

Detailed Description: A shattered plane space; material maintaining the mirror library space; can be integrated into the small void realm;

"So the books from the Royal Library were copied using these..."

Su Lun, realizing this upon seeing the two treasures on the alchemy formation, suddenly understood.

The spatial fragment was understandable, but that something called the [Essence of the Universe] turned into a string of asterisks, he only knew it acted like a photocopier.

Su Lun then turned his gaze to the other items.

[A Sealed Black Iron Coffin]

Detailed Description: The coffin is engraved with ninth-order sealing runes; emanating a terrifying and incomprehensible energy, highly dangerous;

[Dwarven Race's Battle Angel Golden Wings (Damaged)]

Detailed Description: A part of the 'Battle Angel' forged for the ancient mechanical god race by a Dwarf Divine General; although shattered, it still has extraordinary uses; damaged condition, requires repair;

[Goblin Sky Battle Fortress Energy Core]

Detailed Description: A complete energy core from a sky steel battle fortress; ancient goblins sealed a small geocore within, capable of providing energy for billions of years;

Su Lun slightly frowned at these three items.

Because they were too advanced, they seemed impractical for use.

The coffin had a large human face engraved on it with three eyes, where the vertical pupil in the forehead looked particularly sinister.

"Seems like an extraplanar race?"

When Su Lun looked over, it was as if the human eyes on it were staring back at him.

Just by observing the patterns, he guessed it wasn't an object from this plane of existence.

During the Dawn Era, alchemists ventured into various extraplanar realms and left many artifacts in the alchemy plane that modern people couldn't comprehend.

This black coffin was likely left behind from that time.

"Forbidden Godly Items" was a concept only a few could comprehend.

It pertained to things involving gods.

Su Lun vaguely suspected that the coffin might be sealing a deity's corpse.

The seal was very tight, so it posed no great issue if not disturbed.

Su Lun didn't want to deal with it.

The other two items, a pair of golden wings and a red glass bead resembling the sun, were self-explanatory just by the sound of it.

Su Lun identified the other five items, then finally turned his attention to the last item that resembled a blueprint.

Approaching it, his gaze focused, and he immediately saw a dense pattern of mechanical designs on the blueprint.

[Amphibious Steel War Fortress Blueprint]

Detailed Description: A technological product from the high civilization of ancient goblins, a mechanical city that can float in water and in the sky;

"Is it really the blueprint for that airship?!"

The moment Su Lun saw the content of the blueprint, he immediately realized what it was!

The airship he and Sabina had attended the Full Moon Ball on, "Gusmao Airship," was produced according to this blueprint.

However, upon closer inspection, Su Lun found that the design on the blueprint was thousands of times more complex than the airship.

Being an expert in mechanics himself, the intimidating design immediately led him to guess: "It must be that only a portion of it can be manufactured with Luying's current technology, which is why they managed to build the 'Gusmao Airship'..."

Since technology was not advanced enough hundreds of years ago, it was archived.

Now after secretly developing it for many years, they managed to build a greatly simplified version of the "Gusmao Airship." But such a massive device was already considered a mechanical marvel of modern civilization.

Since this blueprint was the only item without a seal, Su Lun carefully examined it.

This examination left him in awe of the technological level of the ancient high goblin civilization.

Indeed, in a plane with an endless history, development equates to archeology.

After a brief look, Su Lun determined that Luying Empire's current technology was absolutely incapable of fully constructing such a mechanical city.

Perhaps Mafa could?

Su Lun then glanced at the red little ball, the [Goblin Sky Battle Fortress's Energy Core], his eyes narrowing slightly.

To launch such a massive mechanical city, the level of mechanics involved was one thing, but the energy consumption required was truly terrifying.

At the current stage, both great empires' steam machinery was enormous because the power supply required huge steam boilers to drive those behemoths.

The technology and principles needed to provide massive energy from an extremely compact source were unimaginably complex.

Su Lun didn't believe that an alchemist below god-tier could create something so intricate.

But now, here was a complete example.

This also filled Su Lun with a peculiar anticipation, thinking to himself: "The Bona royal family should have a copy of this blueprint by now. But this energy core, there might only be this single one in the entire plane. If it could be made, it would be quite nice to use it as a base for the Dawn organization..."