Chapter 1 The Heist

Inside the fourth floor of the Void Academy Library, Suren and the Dawnbreaker Legion were working frantically. They meticulously scoured each room, stuffing nearly everything they could carry into their storage spaces.

Countless precious alchemical texts, notes, ancient scrolls, and even the instruments lining the corridors were taken. Even wall paintings, sculptures, and ornaments with special significance were cut down, moved, and crammed into storage spaces.

Suren had the highest clearance, so the ransacking didn't trigger any traps or accidents.

Fortunately, no one came to stop them after they had emptied the entire library floor.

Suren breathed a sigh of relief.

Having obtained this batch of priceless books, the trip was already worth it.

After taking everyone who had helped into the Little Void Realm, his mind became active again.

The battle in the Void Passage was too intense right now; it wasn't suitable to join in.

After thinking for a moment, he opened the spatial staircase leading to the third floor of the library and walked down.

The scenery changed, and he was now in the Academy's teaching district. At this moment, the piercing sound of alarms echoed throughout the academy as instructors organized the students to deal with the monsters that had appeared.

Suren released a black raven, which flew out the window to survey the situation.

The giant mirror-like entrance to the dimensional passage in the distance was already closed, golden runes shining brightly like a woven net, trapping the dimensional exit. But for some reason, countless void monsters were seeping out of the cracks in the passage. It was an untold number of void Zerg. They swept in like a sandstorm, killing anyone they saw. Heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the academy, a scene of purgatory.

Suren wasn't surprised at all. The North Sea Fleet had explored this many times, and he was very familiar with the plot development.

The monsters in the academy campus weren't too strong right now, and they could be killed with a bit of caution. But for low-level cultivators, those bugs were deadly enough. And the tricky thing was that there was an endless number of them.

In the next three days, more and more powerful monsters would seep out of those cracks.

Just as Suren was observing, he heard the sound of shattering glass nearby.

Looking closely, a group of Void Dragonflies crashed through the glass roof of the library like hailstones, buzzing as they flew into the room, wantonly hunting down the terrified young students. These hideous-looking bugs weren't large, but they had mouthparts nearly a meter long that could easily pierce bulletproof vests. They usually liked to pierce people's skulls and suck out their brains.

This information was very detailed in the North Sea Fleet's files.

Seeing this, Suren made a hand seal and opened the passage to the Little Void Realm, and the members of the Dawnbreaker Legion poured out one after another.

Lolota, Kama, Tani, Aberk, and the other members had been impatient to come out and show off their skills for a long time.

As soon as they came out, these guys shouted excitedly.

"Wow... finally, we can stretch our muscles."

"Are these the void Zerg? They look so disgusting..."

"Hahaha, there are so many books here too. We're rich this time. Mr. Suren, can we go?"

"Yes, everyone be careful. Stay in the library, don't wander around."

"Yes, sir!"

Suren didn't say much after hearing that, just cautioned them, and the group scattered.

The first day was the best time to get some low-level void materials. The void invasion had just begun, the monsters weren't too strong, and if you were careful, the threat wasn't too great.

Suren wasn't interested in those materials. He wanted to empty the library.

The members were divided into dozens of tactical squads and began scouring the library. Qiandiao Barrett and some other high-level cultivators also followed as insurance.

Suren had originally planned to target the North Sea Fleet in the future and find a way to get those basic void books. But now it seemed that Major General Tajina and her group of Mafa Royal Mechanical Guards were unlikely to survive. If he didn't snatch everything at once and aroused the enemy's vigilance, it would be hard to say what would happen later.

Besides, he had just obtained a bunch of advanced and top-level void books, and without basic knowledge, it was just a castle in the air.

Since he didn't have anything else to do right now, he would just move as much as he could.

......

Everyone was busy in the library. The NPCs here weren't very intelligent. After the void invasion, the NPCs were busy dealing with the monsters, and no one cared about a few book thieves. Even if they were caught, they could just make an excuse to explain their unusual behavior of hiding books in their storage rings.

Suren stood in a high place, unleashed the Eight-Armed Spider Spear, and the cross of the Puppet Theater floated in the sky.

He was like a hunting spider, spreading a giant web, waiting for its prey.

Countless threads spread throughout the library. Those physically weak void Zerg came in droves, crashing into the web, and their corpses and materials fell like rain.

This also ensured the safety of the Dawnbreaker Legion members to the greatest extent.

While everyone was searching for various written books, Suren was also pondering his next plan: whether to enter the dimensional passage again to continue exploring.

Previously, he had made some wrong judgments because of some misleading information.

He didn't want to make the same mistake again.

Suren analyzed everything by connecting all the clues in his mind.

After thinking for a long time, he still came to the same conclusion: if he was going to act, now was the best opportunity.

If this exploration ended here, then the next time they came in, the situation they would face wouldn't be any better than it was now.

They would just have one less step of collecting clues, but they would still need to go to Laboratory Zero and release that Two-Dimensional Worm.

After all, if he didn't release the monster to trigger the "void invasion" main event, the old dean and that monster wouldn't fight.

Without a chaotic situation, all the opportunities in this academy couldn't be taken away.

Moreover, if these Mafa people all died in the cursed space, the North Sea Fleet would definitely be prepared. It would be difficult to sneak in again next time.

Thinking of this, Suren still felt that he should seize this opportunity.

.......

There were more and more void monsters in the academy area. The instructors were blocking the entrances to the void rifts and killing monsters, while the students were killing them in the campus. There were tragic battles everywhere.

In contrast, the library was still relatively harmonious. Some members of the Dawnbreaker Legion were injured, but it wasn't a big problem.

Suren's threads were very effective against those void Zerg, almost like cutting grass, wave after wave.

Occasionally, a few tricky monsters would come, and Qiandiao and the others would be able to kill them immediately.

Several hours later, the members of the Dawnbreaker Legion had almost ransacked the library, and they had also collected a lot of materials. Suren took everyone into the Little Void Realm and then came to the fourth floor of the library to wait.

The void invasion was like a crack in an underwater tunnel, with sea creatures and seawater invading.

Now the space was becoming more and more unstable, which was very dangerous for cultivators who had not mastered the laws of space. This was even more true for high-level cultivators like Qiandiao and Barrett, who possessed powerful energy themselves. If they fought with all their might in the spatial passage, they could be swept into a spatial rift at any time.

Suren, a fourth-tier cultivator who was proficient in the laws of space to about the sixth tier, was naturally the most suitable person.

He wasn't in a hurry to go out. He stayed on the fourth floor of the library for a few more hours. The members of the Dawnbreaker Legion discussed tactics and occasionally went to take a look at the battle situation in the dimensional passage. When they saw that the battle was still fierce, they retreated back to hide.

It had to be said that the combat power of those Mafa mechanical warriors was really extraordinary.

Especially in positional warfare, more than a hundred mechanical warriors found a sturdy laboratory, took out various mechanical equipment, and built a defensive position like an iron barrel. If the enemy wasn't a monster that could move through the void, ordinary enemies might not be able to break through their defenses.

But no matter how brave they were, no matter how strong their firepower was, they were limited by ammunition and manpower, while the number of monsters was endless.

Moreover, as the number of third- and fourth-tier void monsters in the dimensional passage slowly increased, the casualties among the Mafa group also became greater and greater.

Void abilities were inherently effective against mechanical equipment. Combat armor that even fifth- and sixth-tier high-level magical beasts couldn't break through could be easily broken through by second- and third-tier void monsters.

Suren was constantly counting the time.

Ten hours after the void invasion, he entered the dimensional passage again.

Previous intelligence mentioned that another large-scale wave of monsters would appear in about two hours.

He couldn't wait for the void monsters to wipe out the Mafa group before going out.

After all, if they could wipe out those well-equipped mechanical warriors, they could probably wipe out their Dawnbreaker Legion as well. And if the corpses were eaten by the bugs, the information would be gone.

Suren had to go ahead of time and reap the remaining people.

......

The great battle in the dimensional passage became more and more intense, but it no longer had the initial scale of a fireworks display.

Now it was very obvious that everyone in this passage was concentrated in dozens of laboratories with some top cultivators, and the defensive circle was shrinking.

Someone once said that the void was like a broader ocean, giving birth to countless strange creatures.

Suren's eyes were really opened when he looked at the monsters he had identified.

The species in the North Sea Fleet's intelligence might not even be one percent of what was in front of him. The variety of species in this void passage was dazzling.

Probably because there was no gravitational field, those monsters all looked strange, with tentacles, giant mouths, dense fleshy tumors, and jagged teeth... almost standard features of void monsters.

Suren saw hundreds of species of void Zerg alone.

Fortunately, he had seen some introductions in the notes of that "Herbert Hillborrow" before, and with the Omniscient Eye, Suren also knew the habits and attack methods of many monsters, so the threat was immediately much smaller.

Suren followed the sound of gunfire and found that the Mafa mechanical warriors were shrinking back into their position.

Of the more than a hundred mechanical warriors, only twenty or so were still struggling to survive. There were corpses everywhere on the ground, and the living were also scarred.

After several hours of continuous high-intensity combat, both the equipment and the people were operating beyond their limits.

Tons of shell casings were scattered throughout the position, and broken guns and cannons were also scattered on the ground.

The void monsters currently besieging them were a group of Gold-Eating Dragon Lice. These giant bugs with thick shells could ignore alchemical bullets. It usually took several shots to the eyes and other vital points to kill one with a gun. But the monsters' attacks were very sharp. Their teeth could easily gnaw open steel plates and use them as food. Once they got close, even mechanical armor couldn't withstand much gnawing.

Major General Tajina, wearing a fiery red Major General Magic Blade X1 mechanical armor, was becoming more and more cautious when she wielded the Mana Lava Serpent Blade. If she injected too much energy, she could easily create spiderweb-like spatial rifts with one whip. Restricted everywhere, these people were at the end of their rope.

This was the opportunity Suren had been waiting for.

He looked around at the bugs in the area and breathed a sigh of relief. Luck wasn't on Mafa's side.

He took out the Rune Black Umbrella, and thousands of wraiths surrounded his body.

These Gold-Eating Dragon Lice had strong physical and magical defenses, but their weakness was in their mental defenses. The Black Umbrella's penetrating attack effect was very good. Even if it didn't kill many bugs, it would at least prevent those bugs, which acted almost entirely on instinct, from approaching.

Suren rushed over quickly, and it hardly took any effort.

The Mafa group also saw him.

Enemies were extremely jealous when they met, and a barrage of fire came at him.

Suren didn't dodge or avoid, summoning gargoyles to block him.

The space was now very unstable, and the gargoyles could only be used as shields, trying not to fight as much as possible to avoid causing spatial rifts.

Even the Black Scythe Suren didn't dare to use. That kind of high-intensity law of death could cut out spatial rifts outside, and here it might be a suicide effect with one strike.

Without these two trump cards, it would have been almost impossible for him to kill the Mafa group.

But now he had a better tactic.

The gargoyles blocked a round of fire, and Suren teleported several meters, making a hand seal. Almost instantly, a black hole condensed in his palm.

The moment the black hole formed, a domineering thunderous sword aura burst out from his palm.

It was originally a sword aura, but it produced an effect similar to the Nyx of Hypnos!

When this black hole appeared, the purple lightning sword aura suddenly turned into a spatial rift, rushing towards Mafa's mechanical shield position.

Suren quickly teleported and retreated, avoiding the powerful suction force of the sword aura breaking through space.

Almost instantly, the sword aura directly cut through the previously indestructible mechanical shield and even cut off two mechanical warriors in the front row wearing heavy armor.

"Haha... it's done!"

Suren was overjoyed.

This strike was naturally made by Qiandiao. If she used this power sword aura herself, she would 100% put herself in danger. But that wasn't possible in this dimensional passage. Suren's Little Void Realm could do it. It had a very stable space.

On the contrary, because it cut through space, this strike had even greater power than in the original plane. With the spatial rift, the armor-breaking effect was maxed out!

With one strike, Mafa's position was broken, and Suren raised his hand forward, and this time a shockwave fist force came out of the black hole in his palm.

This was Barrett's famous killing move - Ape Sky Strike!

From a distance of a hundred meters, this full-force punch from a quasi-seventh-tier cultivator suddenly landed in the Mafa group, like a bomb falling, and a violent spatial fluctuation exploded with a bang. More than twenty mechanical warriors, including Major General Tajina, were sent flying.

The scene looked very terrifying, as if a mirror had been shattered. The fist force, which was mixed with spatial shocks, actually created cracks in the mechanical armor on the Mafa people. Many armors instantly crashed.

......

Suren didn't really have any deep hatred for these people, but because they were on different sides, they were destined to be enemies.

Seeing that this move had an unexpected effect, he didn't show any mercy and continued to release sword auras and fist forces from the black hole in his hand.

The Mafa group was immediately scattered.

But once the battle formation was broken, they had to face all kinds of monsters, and casualties immediately occurred. In just a few exchanges, only a few of the twenty or so people were still alive.

And with the fifth punch, the face mask of the fiery red Major General armor was shattered, revealing Major General Tajina's beautiful face, which was now filled with despair.

Not to mention the armor, this Mafa Major General probably didn't even have the combat power of a fifth-tier cultivator.

Seeing the determination in this woman's eyes, Suren didn't give her a chance to self-destruct. A mental shockwave appeared instantly.

The moment Tajina's eyes went blank, Suren had already appeared beside her, and with a flick of his finger, a sharp thread cut off her head.

You have stripped Tajina Lynn's soul.

You have obtained a large amount of Mechanical Armor-related knowledge, Mechanical Experience +6665

You have obtained the incomplete blueprints Major General Magic Blade X1 Mechanical Armor, Captain-level Shark Hunter Armor, Lieutenant Commander Vulcan B Armor...

You have learned some information: I was under secret orders from the military to monitor and report on the transactions between the North Sea Fleet and Mafa at all times. Princess Stika seems to have noticed and intends to get rid of me...

You have obtained detailed information about the Mafa Royal Mechanical War Academy.

You have obtained detailed information about the Mafa Seventh Military Factory and the Royal Shipyard.

You have obtained the intelligence The Investigation Team's Archives: I have put all the research results and secrets in the TII experimental area of Laboratory Zero. Go and see for yourselves. Be careful, the people from the academy will definitely try to stop you...

...

This was the first Mafa high-ranking general that Suren had stripped, and as soon as he touched that gray fog, he knew that this was definitely an unexpected windfall!

After digesting those memories, Suren's face was filled with brilliance.

He had originally thought that this woman was just a professional soldier, and he would at most strip some unsystematic mechanical knowledge. He didn't expect that she had also been a military instructor and senior mechanical lecturer at the Mafa Royal Mechanical Academy, and she had too much top-secret mechanical knowledge and blueprints for warships and mechanical armor in her mind.

It was precisely because she was a versatile talent in technology and combat that she was chosen by the Mafa Emperor to follow Princess Frost Moon and was responsible for the defense of the submarine.

"I've made a fortune!"

Suren really felt that it was a complete accident.

Mechanical armor blueprints were Mafa's top-secret strategic resources and couldn't be found anywhere. He didn't expect to harvest so many at once.

The Mafa military had done an excellent job in keeping this secret. Even the nearly a hundred mechanical engineers captured in the submarine before were only proficient in their own fields, such as weapons, skeletons, armor, kinetic energy boilers... Each person only specialized in one or two of them. Almost no one could master the complete blueprints for high-level armor.

Few people inside Mafa knew about it, let alone outsiders.

But he didn't expect that Mafa wasn't a monolith either. There seemed to be gaps and factional disputes between the military and the royal family, which was why Princess Frost Moon sent such a talented person to explore the cursed space.

This was a bargain for Suren, an outsider.

.......

Now that the Investigation Team's Archives was also in hand, Suren quickly cleaned up the battlefield and rushed towards Laboratory Zero.