Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 12: Bountiful spoils of war

The bald man died, and Su'en began to collect his spoils.

The mechanical arm on his right arm was damaged in the previous battle. The barrel, valve, and high-pressure pipes were all cut open.

However, this did not hinder Su'en's research on this steampunk technology.

He had just extracted the memories from the bald man and gained some basic "steam mechanical knowledge". With a glance, he roughly understood the structure of this mechanical arm.

"It seems like the technology tree in this world is a bit crooked, a combination of alchemy and steam power..."

Su'en looked at the runes engraved on the mechanical arm and fell into deep thought.

Pure metal materials alone could not support such a complex structure, especially the ultra-high-pressure steam cannon. These mysterious alchemical runes played a very important role in maintaining the stability of the structure.

However, his knowledge of mechanics was still limited, and he temporarily couldn't understand the principles behind these inscriptions and enchantments.

......

Without looking further, Su'en began to scavenge the other equipment on the bald man's body.

Unfortunately, except for the dagger he just found, almost all the items on the body were damaged. The shotgun was also cut into several pieces, with only half of the barrel left in the holster.

Su'en couldn't help but feel disappointed. He didn't find the supplies he wanted and wondered, "Is this it? Don't these guys bring any food with them when they go out?"

Just as he was wondering in his mind, he suddenly noticed three black gemstone rings that the bald man was wearing.

If Su'en remembered correctly, one of them was peeled off from the finger of the cock's comb-headed man who died.

He focused his attention and immediately received a response from the "All-Seeing Eye".

[Damaged spatial ring]

Explanation: Inferior spatial equipment engraved with identity recognition runes (damaged).

"Spatial equipment?"

Su'en looked at it and revealed an expression of "just as expected".

In this desolate underground world, water and food should be more important than weapons. These guys didn't even have a water bottle, which was abnormal.

He took off one of the storage rings and put it on his finger. With a thought, he suddenly saw that the "black gemstone" on the storage ring was a folding space.

Approximately half a cubic space, densely packed with various bottles and jars.

Red, green, arranged in rows, they looked like potions.

Su'en randomly took out a red test tube of potion and identified it with the "All-Seeing Eye".

[Inferior healing potion (oral)]

Explanation: Quickly stops bleeding and accelerates wound healing; although there are impurities, there are no significant side effects.

Then he looked at a blue one, which was for restoring dark spiritual power.

There were also some high-level potions with inscriptions on the test tubes, but there were only a few of them.

"It seems that emergency medicine is essential for adventurers. Now I probably won't die..."

Su'en felt delighted.

Just a moment ago, he was worried about the lack of essential potions. The wounds on his body could become infected and inflamed, posing an unpredictable and fatal threat.

Now that he saw these potions, he immediately opened a medium-level healing potion and drank it. He then used an external disinfectant to clean his wounds.

If it weren't for the "All-Seeing Eye," Su'en felt that even if he saw these potions, he wouldn't know that they were life-saving potions stored in these test tubes.

Of course, there were also poisons.

Now it seemed that this talent ability was really a perfect match for him as a transmigrator.

What was amazing was that after Su'en took the potions, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation in the palms of his hands. He knew very well that it was the accelerated division of cells, a sign that the wound tissue was healing.

However, under normal circumstances, this healing sensation would only become apparent several days after the appearance of the wound.

"What amazing potions. If they were available in my previous life, they would be life-saving miracles in surgery..."

Su'en's current vision allowed him to clearly see his wounds healing at a visible speed.

It seemed that it would be completely healed in less than half an hour.

However, he couldn't help but mutter, "It seems a bit wasteful to use 'medium-level healing potions' for this kind of injury..."

The "medium-level healing potion" seemed to have such a powerful effect that it should be used to treat more severe injuries. The wounds on his palms seemed to be enough with the inferior potions.

But Su'en didn't feel regretful about using them on himself.

......

In the second storage ring, Su'en found the food and water he wanted, but they looked very unappetizing.

The food was hard, like bricks of black bread, and the water was murky.

If it weren't for identifying it as "inferior drinking water," Su'en wouldn't have thought that this turbid liquid, which seemed to be directly pumped from a swamp, could be drinking water.

Not in a hurry to eat, Su'en checked the last storage ring, and inside were weapons.

There were two punk-style pistols and a short-barreled shotgun.

There were also numerous bullets and replacement parts for the mechanical arm.

The guns were of good quality, and the bullets were not ordinary gunpowder bullets.

After identifying them, Su'en found that among the ordinary bullets, there were some special alchemical bullets with engraved magic patterns, such as [Alchemical Bullet (High Explosive)], [Alchemical Bullet (Armor-Piercing)], [Alchemical Bullet (Demon-Breaking)]...

There weren't many of them, but they seemed to be very powerful.

There were no other food items in the last storage ring. Su'en had no choice but to eat. Low blood sugar had already made him feel dizzy. He took a few bites of the black bread and drank some water that had a rotten taste.

While eating, Su'en couldn't help but wonder.

Judging from the equipment carried by the bald man, the production of firearms and bullets seemed to be very sophisticated in this world. However, the food was quite miserable.

"Do these guys really not have access to clean drinking water and food?"

It was hard for Su'en, who had transmigrated, to understand why these guys could have such sophisticated equipment but couldn't guarantee a pot of clean drinking water and food.

He vaguely guessed that it might be because the living environment in this world was extremely harsh.

......

Su'en sat next to the bald man's corpse, eating while watching the physiological features of a living person gradually disappear from the body, the skin turning pale, and the body temperature gradually fading away...

While he was still counting the items in the storage ring, he suddenly noticed two glowing objects on the bald man's body.

A palm-sized blue scale slowly condensed on the skin of the corpse, and there was also a dark red fibrous bundle that looked like muscle fibers.

After identifying them, they turned out to be two special items.

[Adamantite Scale (Damaged)]

Explanation: Damaged alchemical plant equipment. Perhaps you can extract some useful transcendent materials from it.

[Cursed Item: Resilient Demon Muscle (Damaged)]

Explanation: Material for the warlock's strength-based 'Iron Goliath' job. It is missing some of its cursed properties and needs to have the curse runes redrawn to be used.

"So this is the scale that made the bald man invulnerable before? It turns out to be something similar to equipment..."

Su'en suddenly felt amazed. What kind of existence was this? It could turn into a tattoo and cover the body, and with a magic array, it could be activated to become a physical object. Now that the bald man was dead, it was peeled off.

The "alchemy" that frequently appeared in the "All-Seeing Eye" was becoming more and more intriguing to him.

After the "demon muscle" was removed from the corpse, the visible size of the bald man's body decreased significantly.

Su'en also understood what was happening. He realized, "So this is how 'job materials' are used... directly fused into the body to enhance physical attributes?"

He immediately thought of the "job material" of the "Puppeteer" that he had in his hands. After becoming a puppeteer, it could greatly increase agility and skill.

Now it seemed that this "demon muscle" of the bald man was the root cause of his exaggerated strength!

However...

Even if he knew the principle, Su'en found that he still didn't know how to "become a job."

......

After filling his stomach reluctantly, Su'en had also sorted out most of the items in the bald man's storage ring.

It wasn't that he didn't want to figure everything out, but identifying items with the "All-Seeing Eye" was not without cost.

Identifying consumed dark spiritual power.

The higher the level of the item, the more it consumed.

He now had only a few dozen points of dark spiritual power left in his body, and even if he drank a restorative potion, it would take several hours to fully recover.

Since he had already found the remaining potions and water, there was no rush to find out what the rest of the items were for.

Su'en loaded the two pistols with bullets.

One was loaded with regular bullets, and the other was loaded with special alchemical bullets. He then holstered them at his waist.

He planned to leave this place first and find a human city to learn about the situation in this world.

As he was about to leave, looking at the bald man's corpse and the desolate manor, Su'en suddenly had another doubt.

"According to reason, the original host came to search for this ruin. Why did the bald man kidnap the original host? Did he specifically track him down, or did a fellow companion suddenly turn malicious?"

Su'en felt that the former possibility was more likely.

Even if the original host was foolish, he probably wouldn't share such an important "Baron Isaac's treasure" with others. Moreover, even if he were looking for companions, he wouldn't choose someone like the bald man, who was capable of plotting for wealth and life at any time.

From the information left on the retina, the original host's identity seemed to be very sensitive, like an exiled scion of a certain big family.

When these conditions were put together, it became intriguing.

"First of all, in such a remote place, the chances of a chance encounter are very low. Judging from the previous interrogation by the bald man, they didn't know about the treasure or the true identity of the original host. So, their purpose in following him was very simple, to kill and silence him!"

"And the reason they didn't act immediately might be because the bald man was greedy for the secrets on the original host, so he followed him all the way here..."

"If they didn't know each other, there wouldn't be any old grudges. So, the most likely scenario is 'hiring a killer'."

Su'en connected the limited information in his mind and roughly reconstructed the truth of the matter.

He speculated in his mind, "It also means that there are people who want to kill the original host wherever he came from. If I go back, I might be assassinated as well?"

Thinking of this, he frowned. This was not good news.

It also meant that even if he returned to the city where the original host came from, he couldn't expose his identity.

Otherwise, it might bring fatal trouble.

"This is a bit troublesome..."

Su'en thought of something and muttered to himself, "With such a handsome face, it's highly recognizable."