Chapter 230: No Path Forward

'But why did the Dark Sage leave such a question behind? "Is there still someone alive?" The Dark Sage's question was too broad... If you had fallen for ten thousand years, would it matter to you if people were still alive?

'That question is too brainless. Why would it matter if someone was still alive? What is the point of asking repeatedly...'

"Is there still someone alive?" The puppet had repeated the same question for an unknown number of times.

"You are still not done..." Lin Yun softly cursed. He planned on severing the supply of mana, but just as he reached out, he froze...

'Is there still someone alive... Is there still someone alive...'

Lin Yun suddenly paled.

"Merlin... Merlin..." Solomon had been watching awkwardly for a long time. He didn't want to interfere earlier, but after Lin Yun's face turned deathly pale, he anxiously called his name a few times. After a while, he still hadn't received a response, so he raised his voice. "Merlin, what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing..." Lin Yun was roused by Solomon's voice and subconsciously shook his head. But he could feel that his robe was soaked with cold sweat.

Lin Yun had suddenly become aware that the meaning of the puppet's sentence wasn't too broad, and neither was it brainless.... it was just that the question was asked in the wrong time period...

What if that question was asked 30,000 years later?

Gales, raging flames, deserts, meteorites, the destruction of Noscent, the despair of Heiss City. Everything he had forgotten once again appeared in his mind. Lin Yun subconsciously shook his head, trying put everything to the back of his mind, but he found out that he was unable to.

"Is there..."

"Shut up!" Lin Yun cruelly cut off the mana supply as the puppet was about to repeat its question again.

But that sentence kept echoing in Lin Yun's mind...

'"Is there still someone alive? Is there still someone alive?'

'Is there still someone alive in Noscent in 30,000 years?'

"Merlin..." Solomon looked strangely at Lin Yun and commented, "You don't seem to be in a good state..."

"It's nothing, I just recalled something."

"...Oh right, what about that puppet? Why would it keep asking 'Is there still someone alive?' over and over again?"

"That sentence should have been asked by the creator..."

"Is there something wrong with the creator? What would knowing if anyone was still alive have to do with him...?"

"Haha..." Hearing Solomon's complaints finally let Lin Yun put aside the shadows within his heart, allowing him to focus on how to bring the puppet back.

That was a Heaven Rank puppet... just the Ember Magic Iron frame itself was invaluable. The entire framework was worth over a hundred spirit mana crystals. This would be the most wealth Lin Yun had obtained after entering Vaughn's laboratory, and that was without mentioning the partly damaged array.

Although less than half remained, it was still a Heaven Rank array. The value of the research couldn't be estimated.

And even though the current Lin Yun was completely unable to restore it, that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to in the future. Perhaps when Lin Yun became a Saint Alchemist, he would be able to reproduce those seven arrays. At that time, he would be like the Ruler of the Night, walking with a Sword Saint bodyguard.

'But... How should I bring it back...'

The spatial ring Lin Yun held came from the High Mage in the Bone Plane. It was only an Inheritance Spatial Ring. There was no problem using it to store various kind of ores and books, but it definitely wouldn't be able to store a Heaven Rank puppet.

That was something of the Extraordinary Realm. Even if less than half of one of the seven Heaven Rank arrays remained, it still wasn't something an Inheritance Spatial Ring could handle. Just a bit of power leaking would be enough to explode the ring!

"Do I have to carry it back myself?" Lin Yun got a headache. This was the first time he ran into such circumstances. The wealth was there, but he was having trouble figuring out how to bring it back.

It seemed that he should get a better spatial item after this expedition.

Returning was definitely going to be a pain.

Although the Ember Magic Iron wasn't one of the heaviest metals, a complete frame, along with various components, made the puppet far heavier than an adult. It would take a while if he had to carry it back to the carriage.

'Right, if I can't carry it, I have to be creative...' As Lin Yun was getting a bit annoyed, he suddenly noticed the various parts on the ground. 'Right, it doesn't matter if I can't fix it, I can still assemble it. Shouldn't it be able to move if I reassemble it?

'In any case, that Heaven Rank puppet had already been damaged beyond recognition. If I add a few arms and then rebuild the control center and mechanical system, it will become a completely new puppet once a mana source is plugged in. Whether in terms of functions or power, they'll both be far inferior to the Heaven Rank puppet, but that doesn't matter. I only need to get it to work so that I can get it back to Thousand Sails City... This is the best way.'

Lin Yun might have still been worried about the parts if he'd found it anywhere else, but this warehouse had so many discarded puppets. The components available here were enough to assemble ten puppets, so he'd just have to put in the time.

Having made his decision, Lin Yun started working on it.

He had a deep understanding of assembling puppets, so it only took him a few minutes to install two arms with the parts on hand. He kept a human shape for the puppet, and he now had to deal with the arrays.

Normally, Lin Yun would re-draw the arrays and build a new control center for it.

But when Lin Yun saw the remains of the array, he had another idea in mind.

There were plenty of connectors remaining on that part of the Heaven Rank Array... Why not he use these connectors?

That would be a lot easier than rebuilding the control center.

Thus, Lin Yun altered his plan and started studying the array. He was researching how to exploit these completely intact connectors, yet his hand didn't stop moving as he drew one array after the other and connected them to the remains of the Heaven Rank array, gradually forming a complete control center.

In the end, it was still the level 20 mana crystal.

The level 20 mana crystal was embedded in the mana source, and following Lin Yun's control rune, a completely new puppet smoothly became operational.

"There is no path forward, no future, no hope..."

But.

Just as the puppet became functional, it started talking.

"Ah?" Lin Yun was startled. "So... Solomon, did you hear that?"

"I heard... What no path forward? Trying to scare us..."

"Eh..." Lin Yun couldn't be as calm and collected as Solomon, because Lin Yun knew who the true creator of the puppet was. It was the greatest puppet master in history, Charles The Emperor's teacher, the Grave Digger of the Silver Era, Dark Sage Igor. If that person wanted to scare others, they would have no choice but to value his words.

Moreover, these words made Lin Yun realize that the Dark Sage didn't only leave the one sentence behind. Because of the excessive damage suffered by the Heaven Rank puppet, he had only been able to hear the first sentence, and due to him using the Heaven Rank array's connector, he now managed to hear the second sentence.

Was there more?

What did the Dark Sage want to say?

Lin Yun couldn't figure it out...

He only felt that the Dark Sage wanted to convey something very important...

But unfortunately, now wasn't the time to research this. After thinking about it, Lin Yun cut off the mana supply again and severed the connection to the Heaven Rank array. He spent another ten minutes building the control center and mechanical system, guaranteeing that the puppet was completely not dependant on the Heaven Rank array.

After he finished, Lin Yun rebooted the puppet.

Sure enough, the puppet remained silent this time.

It only followed Lin Yun and Solomon through Lin Yun's control runes. They headed back towards the Magic Iron Furnace and soon grouped back up with Suyass and Fran.

When they saw the two people, Lin Yun noticed that Fran was brimming with confidence. He wasn't avoiding his gaze like before, and Lin Yun knew that this was due to the Crystal Scales.

After obtaining the Crystal Scales, Fran was already confident that he could crush the two of them, and the confidence made him look like a completely different person.

'Smile while you can...' Lin Yun pretended to not notice his attitude as he inwardly mused, 'Fran naively signed the contract without even checking how evil the Crystal Scales are...'