Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1370: Section 1371: Multiple Personalities

The Creation Hall wasn’t actually anything special; it was just a large mechanical house, filled with gears and chains everywhere, along with various functional mechanical structures that made this house reach its highest guarded point.

On either side of the hall’s main entrance, there stood a tall steel pillar.

Angel had just arrived at the main entrance of the hall, and before he even stepped in, he heard a voice: “Welcome, new member, to the Creation Hall. My name is Antonio, the Divine Spirit guarding the hall’s entrance.”

Angel looked up and saw that the speaker was actually a mechanical lion perched on the left steel pillar, wearing a polite brass coat. As its mouth opened and closed, gears within could be seen.

“Oh, Antonio, your valor had me captivated at first sight. If I encounter danger, may I seek you out, dear Antonio?” The speaker this time was a rotating dancer on the right steel pillar, also a mechanical construction, resembling a doll dancing in a music box.

“Of course you can, for I am not only guarding the hall but also protecting you, my Nannysha.”

Their exchange was full of an absurdly comical theatrical tone, but the most important thing was—

Midora listened to this dialogue with a dark face and emotionlessly said, “Please, next time you’re having a split personality moment, consider changing the voice. When you use the same voice, I’ll think it’s not a rotating dancer, but a rotating dancer man.”

Angel found it funny for the same reason: their voices were the exact same, that lazy male voice from earlier.

“It doesn’t matter what voice is used; what’s important is the meaning being conveyed.” The rotating dancer stopped spinning and solemnly lowered her head, locking her icy gaze with Angel’s: “New member, Antonio really does exist as a spirit, oh. When you are within the Alchemy Research Institute, if you feel danger, just call out for Antonio, and it will protect you immediately.”

Angel looked confused; what dangers could he possibly encounter within the Research Institute?

“For instance, if you have a poor relationship with an alchemist and they want to harm you within the Institute; or, say, your experiments encounter some unforeseen risks, Antonio will become your guardian spirit.”

After the rotating dancer spoke, she began to spin again, emitting a yi yi ya ya singing sound.

At this moment, Midora also said to Angel, “He is right, Antonio is the Institute’s spirit. You can call on it for anything, whether it’s dangerous or not. It’s more reliable than a certain someone.”

A chilly breeze blew from behind, and Angel couldn’t shake the feeling that the ‘certain someone’ Midora mentioned was disturbingly watching them right now.

“Let’s go inside, didn’t you ask me why I called you to the Research Institute?” Midora took the lead and walked forward. “Actually, it’s because a certain unreliable person wants to meet you.”

The doors to the Creation Hall were pushed open, and Angel followed Midora inside.

The image Angel had conjured of the Research Institute was one filled with various workbenches and experimental tools. Up until now, however, he had not seen such a scene, until this moment.

Inside the Creation Hall, there wasn’t an empty great hall, but rather a laboratory towering dozens of meters high, divided into no less than six floors.

Each floor bustled with the movement of figures.

Everyone was busy with different tasks, exactly the busy scene Angel had imagined. But when he took a closer look, he realized that the individuals absorbed in the experimental work weren’t actual people at all, but mechanical puppets with their joints exposed.

At a glance, there were at least a thousand mechanical puppets in the six floors of laboratories.

Angel looked on in shock; he knew some alchemists employed Alchemy Golems or other non-living entities as assistants, but to see so many mechanical puppets conducting alchemy experiments was beyond his belief.

“Are all the laboratories in the Research Institute like this?” Angel couldn’t help asking.

Midora shook his head: “Only a certain someone would be such a lazybones.”

“Lazybones? Not at all. After all, with my mediocre talent, can only employ numerous mechanical puppets to enumerate and help me verify conjectures, so that among the many possibilities, I can find the most suitable one.” The leisurely, languid voice came from beside him.

Angel had thought that, like the mechanical birds and lions outside, it was another of Midora’s ‘certain someone’s split personality’ performances, but when he turned around, he saw a young man sitting at a desk.

His desk was filled with various documents and files, while mechanical puppets continuously emerged from the lab, handing him the material.

As Angel looked on, he saw a mechanical puppet flying down from the sixth floor, handing over a document: “Dean, this is the latest test result. The right arm’s pressure endurance has been reduced by 2% after improvements.”

“Only a reduction in wear rate? No other performance improvements?” The young man frowned, looking at the document: “Keep these points, file the rest, and retry the experiment using the approach in improvement suggestion number 1737.”

The mechanical puppet took the improvement suggestion and returned to the sixth floor. As the facility used transparent glass to separate each floor, Angel could clearly see the puppet immediately sharing the new method with all puppets on that level, which promptly sprung into action.

“All the mechanical dolls on the sixth floor are studying the same thing?” Angel asked.

Midora shook her head, “Not just the sixth floor; every floor here is studying the same thing, albeit different parts of it.”

Midora paused, then looked at Angel, “Speaking of which, the subject of research is actually somewhat related to you.”

“Related to me?”

Midora nodded, “Do you remember the arm you alchemized for your friend?”

Angel was startled for a moment, then immediately recalled something he had discussed years ago while studying with Midora, “Mechanical armament?”

“Exactly, mechanical armament,” Midora said with a smile. “The blueprints for that mechanical arm you designed inspired someone quite significantly.”

What Midora didn’t mention was that it was precisely because someone had personally seen the blueprint of that arm and also witnessed the scene of Angel attaching it to his friend that he was struck by an idea and decided to give Angel the access card to the research facility.

The ‘someone’ Midora talked about just then approached.

“Midora is right, your mechanical arm has greatly inspired me,” the newcomer said with a smile. “I am Muse, welcome to our ranks.”

Muse? Angel was surprised as he looked at the handsome young man before him. Was this Muse?

The Muse who, according to outside rumors, was one of the two City Lords of the Sky Mechanical City and currently the strongest Mechanical Alchemist widely acknowledged as ‘Mediocre Muse’?

Angel, still in shock, was rather wooden even when introducing himself.

After listening, Muse still beamed with a smile, “Actually, I know you better than you might think.”

Muse paused for a moment and changed the subject, “Speaking of which, I’ve been very much looking forward to the ‘mecha’ concept you once mentioned to me. Hopefully, one day, I can witness it with my own eyes.”

Angel was full of question marks, when had he ever discussed the concept of mecha with Muse? He had only spoken to Midora about it, hadn’t he? Was it Midora who had mentioned it to Muse?

As Angel puzzled over this internally, Midora whispered, “Did you think it was my privilege to give you the access card to the research facility? The one present during your friend’s arm installation wasn’t me, but someone who loves pretending to be other people and had transformed into my likeness.”

Midora’s words felt somewhat fantastical to Angel, but on reflection, it seemed true. Including what Sanders had hinted at earlier, that only the head of the research institute had the authority to issue access cards, and currently the head wasn’t Midora, but Muse!

The person who loved pretending to be others turned his head and looked at Midora with a fond glance that almost brimmed with affection, “It seems our Magic Potion Master has not only taken over the qualifications to preside over the research institute ahead of schedule but now plans to extend the time as well? I am touched.”

Midora shook his head vehemently, “I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense.”

Muse’s lips curled up, ignoring Midora’s trembling form, and turned to Angel, “I’ve wanted to discuss the concept of mecha with you before, and since you’re here now, why don’t we sit down and chat?”

Angel was startled for a moment, “Lord Muse, did you call me here just for this reason?”

“I brought you here for another matter, but compared to those trivial things, right now I’m more interested in the mecha concept you’ve once mentioned,” Muse snapped his fingers, and several chairs and tables appeared out of thin air.

After gesturing for Angel to sit down, Muse didn’t engage in any further pleasantries and directly inquired about the matter he cared about.

Angel had once had an in-depth discussion about the concept of the mecha with Midora, and at that time, he had also thoroughly studied the data on the holographic tablet, so now he did not find it unfamiliar to talk about.

The ‘mecha’ concept as explained by Angel was derived from Earth’s military technology, but that was just the basic framework; when it came to the details, Angel still expounded from an alchemist’s perspective.

Muse nodded repeatedly as he listened, and as soon as Angel finished explaining, he immediately asked several questions that had piqued his curiosity.

Many of the questions he posed were very sharp, some of which Angel could answer, and some he could not.

The questions Angel couldn’t answer were mostly due to the differences between the two different civilizations. Angel wanted to replicate an Earth mecha using an alchemist’s methods, which required many improvements—these all needed long-term research, and naturally, Angel couldn’t immediately provide an answer.

Nevertheless, the content Angel had talked about already left Muse very satisfied.

Although some issues Angel raised were still tentative, and some of these ideas were clearly impractical, that was not important; after all, alchemy itself is prone to numerous problems, but as long as problems arise, they can be solved.