Before long, a small black shadow appeared; it was Chifanda.

Then, laughter came from the street as a cartoonish child-sized wooden figure ran over.

Chun was taken aback; a puppet evil spirit, a common theme in horror movies, very chilling indeed!

Old Wall Lamp grumpily said, "What are you doing?"

The puppet's wooden mouth opened and closed, "I repaired a century-old puppet; I want to possess it so I can appear during the day and assist the City Lord!"

Chun was intrigued, "Are you really that loyal?"

The puppet earnestly replied, "If I lie, my nose will grow a centimeter!"

As soon as it finished speaking, with a creak, the nose really grew longer!

Holy shit, it's a waste to use that ability on a nose.

Chun decided to applaud, "The performance was impressive, but I need your woodworking skills. If I give you the shape and size of the parts, can you make them?"

"As long as it's woodworking, there's nothing I can't do!"

Creak, the nose grew even longer!

Holy shit, don't mess around at a critical moment!

So Chun started calling out the measurements, and Pinocchio, with his small wooden body, surprisingly had strength; sawing wood swiftly and neatly, most astonishingly, it seemed like he was using his nose as a ruler!

As several large components were put in place, Chifanda, who had been watching coldly, suddenly realized, "This is the design from my drawings!"

Chun laughed, "Yes, I seem to understand it!"

Chifanda was amazed, "Great! These wooden arms need to be connected with iron screws. The one in the middle is the lifting arm; wood of this size can't withstand a weight of 100. An iron arm must be made immediately!"

Tie did not waste words, "Should I make it according to the size of this wooden arm?"

"Yes!"

"Then let's start!"

Tie immediately began hammering iron, and Chun continued reporting the measurements, Chifanda continued correcting and supplementing, Pinocchio continued sawing, and both Old Wall Lamp and Cui continued adjusting the magnifying lenses.

Chun, engrossed and forgetting himself, marveled at the game, which, according to the player's own designs, could be called a large-scale design software. The developers have great ambitions! If the free, open-source Linux Android was for all the world's technicians to contribute freely, then this game lets all its players beautify it, potentially setting off a massive data explosion to ignite artificial intelligence...

After two or three hours of work, a wood-iron hybrid lifting machine was officially completed!

Simultaneously, Cui and Old Wall Lamp finished adjusting the magnifying lens, and Cui placed the lens on the machine frame to continue testing.

Although Chun was mentally prepared for failure, he hoped this would succeed in one try. If the model machine was unusable and an all-metal frame was necessary, it might take one or two days to complete. But Siren was coming to cause trouble, and there was no time to wait!

Cui took out a set of portable tools, "Let's begin!"

Tie handed over the Divine Format Gemstone and the Forging Ring, which had been guarded for two days.

In this world of deceit and where even Guardian Gods couldn't be trusted, Tie was incredibly reliable and noble!

Chun, filled with emotion, received them, "Thank you, Tie!"

Tie smiled, "I really just did some simple tasks; they're the ones who worked hard."

Chun praised, "Tie, you're too modest! What you find simple is often very difficult for others."

Chifanda scoffed, "If he wasn't so good at fighting..."

Tie snorted, "Fighting is also a simple task."

Cui impatiently said, "Hurry up! Put the gemstone on the lifting arm!"

So Chun, with all his might, carefully placed the 100-weight Divine Format Gemstone in position and then swapped to the Necromancer Ring.

Cui began to operate the machine through the magnifying lens, adjusting the slightest movements with the precision of weighing gold on a scale...

Then Cui's pliers clamped the ring and began exerting force, the pliers immediately displaying expert skill effects.

Chun's palms were sweating with tension, and he felt dizzy, realizing it was already 3 PM. He had forgotten lunch and skipped his nap, and hadn't even had a chance to recover from the lack of sleep last night... It must succeed! Otherwise, with this mental state, he couldn't afford the cost of failure and redoing the work!

But just then, the wooden frame of the machine suddenly creaked!

Cui hurriedly stopped, "What's happening? While verifying the gemstone's performance, the suction suddenly increased!"

Chun's heart tightened, "The gemstone's characteristic is its strong suction!"

Cui was dumbfounded, "Difficult! Not only can the wood of this old hundred-year furniture may not hold up, but the wooden deformation alone is enough to cause the lens focusing to fail—better make an all-metal machine!"

Holy shit, yet another issue at a critical moment?

Pinocchio spoke, "I think I can possess the machine's wooden frame to support it!"

Chun was delighted, "Aren't you only able to possess puppets?"

"As long as this machine is treated like a puppet, it should be fine. If I succeed, the City Lord should reward me!"

Tie angrily shouted, "I'll pound you! It'd take me just a few days to make an all-metal machine!"

Pinocchio immediately backed down, "Then forget it, you take a few days of trouble."

Can't wait for a few more days! The time I told my wife I'd be on a business trip is running out...

Though Chun was anxious, he definitely couldn't show it in front of the Evil Spirit: "So what do you want as a reward? I can't get Magic Gold for now."

Pinocchio said, "I'm only interested in top-grade lumber. I remember when the fifth exploration fleet landed in an Oak Forest, there was top-grade Oak there. I want to use it to make puppets. It's been over a hundred years, so there should be plenty now, right?"

Holy shit! That place is now the Clear Wind Oak Main City, and Oak has always been top military-grade material...

Chun pretended to be relaxed: "It's a bit far, are you in a hurry?"

"This is my century-long obsession, of course I'm in a hurry—"

Tie waved his fist: "I'll knock you out for a hundred years, then let's see if you're in a hurry!"

Pinocchio's nose grew a foot in fright: "Not in a hurry!"

Holy shit!

Tie angrily said: "If you're not in a hurry, then stop babbling and get going!"

Chun also took this chance to comfort: "Once I'm done with my work, I'll go to Oak City to get it done."

Pinocchio said in a muffled voice: "City Lord, as long as you promise, you have to deliver! With a top-grade puppet, I'll be a valuable helper to the City Lord!"

This time his nose didn't grow! Chun suddenly realized that this lie detector-like quality of his was exceptionally excellent and absolutely worth cultivating into a confidant!

"Definitely!"

The next moment, the puppet collapsed in pieces on the ground, and a cloud of black smoke poured into the mechanical wood frame. The frame instantly transformed, emitting a very textured glow.

Cui couldn't wait any longer: "Continue! The suction attribute of this Gemstone and the grudge absorption feature of the ring are very compatible. If inlaid successfully, it can combine into a very strong special skill..."

Chun was so nervous that he simply closed his eyes, only listening with his ears—the creaking sound was still there, but it now sounded more like a screeching howl like being quartered.

Must hold on!

Just as a second felt like a year, Aileen and the crowd's cheers came: "Success!"

——System Alert: Congratulations! You successfully assisted the Advanced Mechanician, Chifanda, in creating precision machinery for processing a Divine Artifact. Your Outstanding Wisdom comprehended Advanced Mechanician skills level 10, enhancing your mechanical application effectiveness by 29%. You gained a passive effect of auto-checking mechanical hazards and faults. Achievement Reward: Load Capacity +29, Physical Strength +29, Life +29, Attack Speed +3, Extra Reward: Spirit +3.

——System Alert: Congratulations! Your Module Combination skill increased to Expert level 10, acquiring the achievement reward: Load Capacity +10, Physical Strength +10, Life +10, Commanding Power +10.

——System Alert: Congratulations! You successfully enabled Jeweler, Tissina, and Mechanician, Chifanda, to surpass their profession bottleneck and obtain advancement. You received praise from Tissina and Chifanda, Commanding Power +10.

...

Holy shit, I directly reached Advanced Mechanician level 10! Module Combination also jumped 5 levels!

Chun suddenly opened his eyes, just in time to see the black aura around Tissina being steadily absorbed by the ring enveloped in a fuzzy field, her whole body radiating the kind of Good Spirit white light that Tie had—she's really transparent now, the second Holy Spirit is born!

Looking at Chifanda, not only did he not turn white, but he was trembling and radiating black light all over!

Holy shit! He's advanced, what's going on?

Aileen couldn't wait: "Don't worry about him, he's jealous of others, that's why he's even darker now! The ring, the ring!"

Huh?

Chun eagerly retrieved the ring from the crane, the name attribute was entirely different:

——Death Black Hole Necromancer Ring: Death Divine Artifact, exclusive for Necromancers. Special Skill 1: Resentment Black Hole. Special Skill 2: Black Hole Ejection. Special Skill 3: Gravity Field. Weight 102. The artifact can be further leveled up, activating new special skills.

Resentment Black Hole: Significantly increases the rate of absorbing resentment, allowing a large reserve of resentment. The more resentment, the stronger the Necromancer's power and it enables the artifact to level up.

Black Hole Ejection: Releases extremely powerful high-pressure Resentment Beam attacks.

Gravity Field: Consumes stored resentment, the host's Physical Strength, Mana, Illusion Skill Value, and temporarily consumes other comprehensive attribute energies to construct a Twisted Space Gravity Field. The larger the resentment reserve, the stronger the Gravity Field.

...

This is a Divine Artifact! Even though the attribute description remains modest, the power surely leaps up a big level! Not to mention, the artifact can be upgraded!

Chun and Aileen laughed excitedly in unison.

Aileen was eager: "Go to the mine, open a hole in the rock blocking that door, and immediately absorb to reserve full resentment for battle preparation!"

Absolutely! Only by preparing for battle can war be stopped.

Chun first encouraged everyone: "Congratulations to Lady Tissina. You and Old Wall Lamp still have the Magic Mirror project, do not slack off! Pinocchio, you worked hard, you've contributed greatly. Chifanda, stick with this City Lord, there are many more opportunities for advancement ahead! Tie, find a long stick, I'm going to the mine..."

Chun's thoughts were awhirl as he looked at the newly comprehended Advanced Mechanician level 10. Being a Mechanician was supposed to be a main profession, but here it's turned into an ordinary skill, what does this imply? If promoted to the profession, is it possible to have both Warrior and Mechanician as dual main professions?

The key is—

Chun immediately switched to a minor character and, sure enough, there was a row of messages from diligently working auto-mode minor character:

——System Alert: Your clone learned Expert-level Swimming 10 thanks to Soul Link...

——System Alert: ...learned Expert-level Module Combination 10...

——System Alert: ...learned Advanced Mechanician level 10...

The minor character learned it too, but professions cannot be learned by the minor character, which means the minor character also has the potential to become a professional Mechanician! Speaking of which, given this real-world talent, becoming a Mechanician may indeed be professionally relevant. Alas, if the big shots on the first floor of the net cafe hadn't all started with Black Iron, I might have followed them back then. Given my interests, I might have chosen to start with Bronze City...

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