Chapter 1 Suren Departs

It was almost noon when Suren disembarked from the Holy Judgment Legion’s ship.

After chatting for the better part of the morning, Suren could tell that Barrett was very interested in the idea of "New Dawn City."

However, ultimately due to a lack of trust, or perhaps some ingrained ideas from his past as an Imperial General, Barrett did not give a definite answer, only saying that he would consider it.

Suren thought that was normal.

Dr. Pickman was born in Old Londun and had Danny’s connection, so it was naturally easy for him to accept the "Mirror Organization."

But Barrett was different.

He was a native-born Royal Knight of Lu’ing, and the ideological education he received from childhood was all about the supremacy of the nobility. It was not easy to change the worldview he had built, and it took time to think about it.

Moreover, he had to consider the generals on that ship.

Suren was not in a hurry.

He thought that when he really got the [Silver Hand] right, he would ask again.

But the premise was that the Judgment Legion wouldn’t be wiped out in the meantime.

Now that Barrett had lost a rank of combat power due to his amputated arm, it was not safe for him to stay in Pirate City. If he didn't join a large pirate gang, he would be squeezed out by the pirates sooner or later.

But now the situation had improved a bit. With the supplies provided by Suren, Barrett and his men had a chance to catch their breath.

They were also preparing to set sail immediately.

...

The Holy Judgment Legion suddenly left port, and the news quickly spread throughout Pirate City.

While everyone was guessing who had the guts to provide them with supplies, Suren was already in the hotel.

He had obtained the [Neuro-Mechanical Blueprints] and now needed a lot of time and energy to digest the knowledge.

What’s more, he had also obtained a lot of [Animated Silver] in this transaction. He wanted to start studying alchemical golems and overcome the technical problem of reattaching Barrett’s amputated arm.

Wave Hotel, Room 406.

Suren had not left his room for two days.

The bed, the walls, the table, and even the air were covered with drawings.

Looking closely, one could see that the drawings depicted detailed anatomical diagrams of arms, muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels... with dense data parameters.

Suren’s ultra-high brain domain development allowed him to memorize almost all of the contents of the blueprints given by Dr. Pickman in just two days. But the complexity of neuro-mechanical technology far exceeded any alchemical or technological blueprints he had ever seen.

Even with the memory fragments he had peeled off, he felt that he only understood about 20% of it now.

However, understanding could be slowly digested, and he was now preparing to combine some of the techniques of neuro-technology and alchemical golems to create the [Silver Hand].

Creating a bionic arm was not as simple as sculpting a hand mold. It was more like 3D printing, requiring careful creation and splicing of the "silvered tissue" engraved with runes. The process was tedious and complex. Bones, flesh, fingers, joints... only when the replicated silver arm had the same structure as a human arm to the greatest extent could it have enough "bionic" effect.

Animated silver was highly toxic when volatilized. At this moment, Suren was wearing a plague doctor mask, with his eight-armed spider spear spread behind him as he tinkered with the experiment.

On the table,

There were two rows of bottles and jars filled with various alchemical reagents,

And a special glass petri dish filled with green liquid.

These were all laboratory-grade instruments that pirates had snatched from Old Londun and which Suren had previously scavenged from the black market.

This also brought great convenience to Suren's experiments.

The glass vessel contained several arms that looked like they had been skinned, with clear blood vessel and muscle patterns. Upon closer inspection, the arm tissue faintly shimmered with a silvery light. It looked like flesh and blood, yet also like metal.

Suren, wearing gloves, fished out an arm.

He glanced at the blueprints he had designed, turned around, and connected the arm to the living corpse on the operating table. Suturing nerves, blood vessels, and flesh, injecting a nerve fusion serum, and with a pinch of his fingers, the alchemical array began to fuse.

The whole process was completed in one go. The level of skill showed that he had tried it many times.

Suren had the [Mental Tentacles] implant, which also brought great convenience to his experiments. Even though the living corpse could not speak, it was as if he was installing the arm on himself, and he was clearly aware of everything.

After the suturing was completed, he connected the living corpse's nervous system on the operating table and manipulated it. The silver arm that had just been reattached was raised, and the fingers moved slightly.

It looked like it was successful, but there was not much joy on Suren’s face. He had already clearly felt some obstacles, and frowned as he muttered, "Finger flexion is stiff, the deep flexor muscles must not have fused perfectly enough. But where does the abnormal nerve connection signal come from... Strange, where is the problem?"

As he tried, he suddenly found that the external mental tentacles had completely lost the nerve signal feedback from the arm, and the arm of the living corpse also drooped down.

It was normal for the experiment to fail, after all, the idea of combining alchemical golems and neuro-mechanics was theoretically possible, but there was still a long way to go to practice.

Now that it had basically confirmed the feasibility of combining the two, it was already a milestone experimental result.

Suren’s expression was as usual, and he recorded the progress of the research in his notebook: "Experiment #006, initial connection successful, living corpse scapula drilled and injected with No. 3 alchemical agent, nerve connection normal. But after trying to manipulate it, the scapula stability was abnormal. Increased the amount of fusion agent injected, feedback signal interrupted... Experiment failed, speculated reason for failure, rune adaptability and modeling accuracy are flawed."

His notebook was already filled with various notes.

Each time an experiment failed, he would carefully sort it out and deduce the problem, so that he could conduct targeted research next time.

Suren put down the notebook, pondered for a moment, and thought to himself: "The [Silver Hand] experiment has been initially successful. But if I want to create a silver hand that can be used by a powerhouse like Barrett, it’s still far from enough. The material hardware is easy to say, but the software defects are too big..."

Thinking of this, his eyes accurately found the relevant records from the thousands of pages of drawings.

After looking at it for a while, he captured a drawing, and a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind.

"At least a sixth-order Rune is needed to support the structural stability of the arm..."

Suren thought of a solution, but frowned slightly, as this was beyond his ability.

"Alchemical Golem" was already a top-level puppet domain, and most of the techniques involved were knowledge domains that high-level Puppet Masters usually got involved in.

As the progress of the experiment was hindered, Suren felt more and more that his attainments in the field of runes were far from enough.

"If I want to refine a high-level silver hand, the need to fuse that [Replica Primordial Rune] is very urgent..."

Suren muttered to himself.

Not only alchemical golems, but advanced mechanical equipment also needed advanced rune support.

He also understood what Mr. Black had once told him: The more you know about alchemy, the more you feel ignorant.

...

Suren looked at the time, stopped trying the experiment, and cut off the silvered arm from the living corpse and put it back into the petri dish.

It was a quarter of an hour before 4:00 PM.

He had received a notice from the Fan Team earlier that they would gather at the dock at four o’clock for an operation.

Suren had come to Pirate City and, although he had gained a lot, he had not investigated any information about the "Void Implants."

Therefore, he planned to continue to maintain his identity as a pirate.

He naturally had to participate in this operation.

With a wave of his hand, the countless drawings were neatly stacked on the table.

Suren formed a sorcerer seal, and a black pit appeared in the air. He casually stuffed everything into the storage space.

He changed into his slovenly pirate clothes, cleaned up the traces, checked that there was nothing missing in the room, and walked out of the hotel.

The stronghold was still bustling.

When Suren arrived at the dock, their Ninth Fleet’s dozens of ships were already piled with people.

The pirates were chatting and bragging in groups of three or five on the deck.

Suren walked to the White-Headed Eagle. Sharp on the deck saw him, leaned on the side of the ship, and joked condescendingly, "Yo, Brother Johnny, you’ve been very depleted these past two days. Tsk tsk, brothels are good, but you have to be restrained..."

"Hahaha..."

Hearing this, a group of pirates on the ship showed expressions that only men would understand.

Because in the past few days, everyone had been living in a world of wine and women.

"Hehe..."

Suren naturally knew his own situation. He had stayed up for two days and two nights, so his mental state was naturally not very good.

He didn’t deny it, smiled, and climbed up the rope net.

When he got on the deck, Suren noticed that there were many more green painted boxes on the deck, neatly arranged in dozens.

The boxes were also sprayed with white paint with the words "pg411", "kL125"...

Suren recognized them at a glance as ammunition boxes.

Moreover, looking at the serial numbers on them, he guessed that they were products from several major military factories of the Mafa Empire.

Not surprisingly, this was the ammunition that the Mafa Empire secretly supported the King of the North Sea with.

Looking at the ships next to him, it seemed that each Fan Team of the Ninth Fleet had been issued some.

Suren pretended not to know and asked, "Sharp, what are these things?"

"Hey... you don't know, do you? These are good stuff."

Sharp seemed to know something, and said, "Because our Ninth Fleet is reorganized, Lord Oleg has allocated a lot of resources to us. This batch of ammunition is genuine first-hand ammunition from Mafa, even the Lu’ing military only has this level."

Suren was not surprised at all when he heard this, but he asked again, "Why are we suddenly being issued equipment? Do we have any mission?"

Sharp shrugged, indicating that he didn’t know very well, and didn’t care. "I heard that we seem to be going to the Four Kingdoms, I don’t know if it’s Hidden Mountain or Roman..."

When Suren heard this, he didn't say anything more and watched a group of people play cards.

Before long, the acting Fan Team Captain of their ship returned.

As soon as he jumped on the deck, that guy yelled loudly, "Hey, brothers, good news!"

This big bearded man was called "Tea Beard" Hanz Schmidt, the former captain of the "Blacksmith Pirate Group." With a bounty of 45 million, he was greedy and lecherous, and could be considered a somewhat famous pirate. Although he was only at the Fourth Rank, he had managed to get a position as an acting Fan Team Captain because of the previous fleet reorganization.

"Oh, the captain is back!"

"Haha, Captain just went to the meeting, did he bring back any good news?"

"..."

Looking at the excited smile on Hanz's face, everyone gathered around.

Hanz pointed to the ammunition boxes on the deck and said, "These ammunition from Mafa will be distributed to everyone later. Fleet Leader Peon has won us a very lucrative mission..."

Saying this, he deliberately paused to whet their appetites.

Hearing "lucrative," the eyes of the pirates next to him immediately glowed green like a pack of hungry wolves. Someone eagerly asked, "Captain, what kind of good job is it?"

"Hehe... our Ninth Fleet is going to collect taxes in Hidden Mountain Kingdom this time!"

As he said this, Hanz patted his chest and boasted, "Your captain even went to fight for it, our Fifteenth Fan Team will be the vanguard to go first..."

Hearing that they were not going to rob, but to collect taxes, the expressions of the pirates became very strange.

Someone questioned, "Captain, I heard that Hidden Mountain Kingdom is very poor, with not many people in total, not even as many as some earl territories in Lu’ing. How much money can we collect by going there to collect taxes?"

"You don’t know this..."

Hanz had a smug expression, as if he had already thought of some wonderful things, "Although Hidden Mountain Kingdom is poor, the capital city of Edo is very prosperous. Moreover, that place is rich in beautiful women, and the legend is that ‘The Most Beautiful Princess in the World’ is in Edo. We are representing Lord Oleg this time, won’t they have to entertain us well?"

After a pause, he said again, "What’s more, we are the vanguard this time, and if the mission is completed, everyone will receive at least ten million Lisos as a reward!"

"Ten million?"

Hearing this, the pirates were all excited.

They had just spent the tens of thousands of settlement fees they had received, and now here it came again?

The treatment of the North Sea Fleet was indeed excellent.

...

Everyone was very excited, but hearing this, a trace of thought flashed across Suren’s eyes in the crowd.

"Collect taxes? It seems that Oleg plans to extend his reach into the Four Kingdoms of North Continent. But will those descendants of gods who have been autonomous for countless years willingly let outsiders rule?"

Suren had learned a lot about the Four Kingdoms of North Continent these days. Although Hidden Mountain Kingdom was poor, it was, after all, a place where the descendants of gods lived. They had their own set of ecosystems, with many evil things, but they were not so easy to control.

Was the tax collection vanguard a good job?

Suren didn't think so.

These "ten million" reward money wasn’t so easy to get.

This kind of action of declaring sovereignty might cause conflicts with the locals.

Moreover, it hadn’t been triggered yet, and Suren was looking at this ship of pirates and thinking about what kind of benefits they could get from this trip.

He also felt that things might have twists and turns.

Suren didn’t think about it carefully, he didn’t understand politics very well.

But thinking that going to Hidden Mountain Kingdom was also a good thing.

Chiyo was there, and the rune old man was also there, it would be good to go and deal with things.

...

A ship of pirates were enthusiastically discussing this "tax collection mission" that made them daydream, and at this time, Hanz suddenly took out a large box and showed it off, "Look what this is!"

As he said that, he opened the box, revealing a pair of biological wing-shaped implants shimmering with purple light.

Suren, upon seeing this thing, immediately identified it as a fifth-order Black Iron grade alchemical implant, [Void Wings]!

Where had ordinary pirates seen such high-level things, let alone void implants?

"Captain, is this an alchemical implant?"

"Strange, the law patterns look so strange, they’re not of the earth, wind, water, or fire attributes..."

"Tch, you don’t understand, this is obviously a super rare special implant. Am I right, Captain?"

"..."

The lackeys praised and guessed for a while, but no one could see the origin of the wings.

After waiting for a moment, Hanz proudly introduced, "This is a fifth-order implant personally bestowed upon me by Lord Oleg! Moreover, it is not made of ordinary materials, but of void materials!"

"Void implant?"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Looking at the implant in the box again, their faces changed, with expectation, envy, and fanaticism...

Implants containing the "Spatial Law," this supreme law, were truly rare, and not something that ordinary professionals could come into contact with. These things were only rumored to occasionally appear in some top auctions in Lu’ing, and where had these bottom-level pirates ever seen them?

Now their own captain actually had a pair?

Hanz continued, "Hehe, let me tell you, as long as you work hard for Lord Oleg, there will be no shortage of benefits in the future. Not only implants, Lord Oleg has also bestowed upon me a special potion to break through ranks. It is just around the corner for me to advance to the Fifth Rank!"

Advancing to the Fifth Rank meant that he had truly entered the realm of high-level professionals, and the acting captain could be promoted to a regular captain.

What’s more, now he also had void implants, and his combat power would be even higher than ordinary Fifth Ranks!

Hanz could already imagine his glorious days in the future.

"Captain is mighty!"

"Hahaha, when the captain advances to the Fifth Rank and fuses with the void implants, our Fifteenth Fan Team will become famous!"

"Hehe... everyone doesn't need to envy your captain. Work hard and follow Lord Oleg, and there will be no shortage of benefits for everyone in the future!"

"...."

The deck fell into a frenzy again.

Suren cheered and jumped with a group of lackeys, but his heart was as clear as a mirror.

Oleg’s move was indeed not bad, drawing a big cake and giving some sweets, so that these newly recruited pirates would be willing to work for him.

There was nothing to say about the means of controlling subordinates by those in power.

However, now that the void implants had been publicly revealed, Suren had the opportunity to find the source.

It seemed that Oleg did not plan to continue hiding the fact that he had mastered void implants after becoming king, but wanted to show his strength.

...

After the frenzy, the fleet prepared to set sail.

With the ammunition on the deck distributed, a group of lackeys replaced their shotguns with cannons, and their combat power visibly increased by a large margin.

Not only did they replace the ship with several ultra-long-range, large-caliber main guns and whaling alchemical crossbows, but also with many guns and ammunition, and even a multi-barreled missile launcher.

Even Suren, as a gunner, was assigned an [mf422 Individual Artillery] with an attached exoskeleton support, with a large caliber, heavy firepower, and explosive lethality.

The quality of Mafa’s military products was indeed extraordinary. Whether it was the craftsmanship or various technical parameters, they felt decades more advanced than their previous equipment.

Suren was also interested in studying the detailed structure of this batch of mechanical equipment.

With the supplies on board, the several Fan Teams of the Ninth Fleet set sail early the next morning, heading to the Hidden Mountain Kingdom.