Thunder and Flame Hammer! The Truth of the Mystery Box! Dodol III Seeking Credit
"Boom—"
The hemispherical building was violently ripped open from the inside, and a huge, human-shaped hole was smashed into the thick metal wall, from which a large, imposing figure strode out of the darkness.
This is a Metal Puppet that is over ten meters tall. It has no head, and there are signs of rust and breakage on its neck. Its two hands are holding a heavy black hammer that is almost larger than its body.
It was clearly chasing after Dodol III, and after quickly pinpointing his location, it swung its hammer directly at Ronan's head without saying a word.
"Whoosh—crackling!"
The terrifying giant hammer crushed layers of air, producing a series of horrifying, fine crackling sounds.
The moment the giant hammer was swung, numerous runic light paths suddenly appeared on the huge headless golem's body. Before the hammer had even fully fallen, a dim yellow halo emanated from the hammer's surface, instantly enveloping Ronan and Dodol III, who was hovering around his knees.
Ronan suddenly felt his body sink, as if he had sank several inches, and the solid metal floor beneath his feet creaked and groaned under the weight.
"A gravitational field?!"
"Boom! Bang!"
The terrifying giant hammer, with a diameter of nearly eight meters, slammed into the ground. A large section of the metal ground exploded, raising a huge dust wave mixed with countless metal fragments. The street surface was torn apart layer by layer, and the ground shook violently, as if it were experiencing a miniature earthquake.
Ronan, completely clad in armor, appeared in another location not far away, with Dodol III standing at his feet, following closely behind.
Beneath countless silver masks adorned with intricate and mysterious patterns, Ronan's eyes gleamed slightly.
The Metal Puppet summoned by Dodol III, just based on the power of that hammer blow, was already comparable to the magical power released by a typical late-stage level two wizard.
Combined with the gravity field aura inherent in the hammer, and the hammer swing attack that doesn't require much channeling, this move is really difficult for a typical level 2 late-game wizard to deal with.
This was the result of the puppet's body being rusted and damaged, and the power of the Rune Array within it weakening, after a long period of erosion within the Mechanical Heart Ruins. If it were at its peak, this Metal Puppet's strength might be comparable to Third Level Wizard, or even higher.
"No wonder Kosti said that all the metal magical golems in the south came from the legacy of the Mechanical Heart. The dwarves' research on Metal Puppet technology has indeed reached a very high level. Combined with their powerful forging skills, it's like adding wings to a tiger. I wonder if they received guidance from Schubert."
"And such a powerful mechanical civilization has fallen. Is there anything powerful left in the South that could have instilled fear even in the Mechanical Heart?"
Ronan then thought of the Ancient Mirror Garden, which had migrated away, and wondered if the disappearance of these two major forces might be due to the same reason.
These thoughts flashed through Ronan's mind only briefly, because after his first attempt failed, the massive Metal Puppet had already turned around and charged at him again, gripping its giant hammer.
The spot where it had just struck the ground with its hammer was now riddled with cracks, leaving a huge crater.
Ronan had no intention of engaging the rapidly approaching Metal Puppet; he went straight to meet it head-on.
Two metallic figures, one large and one small, silver-white and black, rapidly approached each other. The silver-white figure abruptly disappeared the moment the latter raised its giant hammer once more.
The next instant, it appeared behind the huge black humanoid figure, and then without stopping, it rushed straight into the broken hemispherical metal building.
"Whoosh—"
Ronan rushed into the building and the first thing he saw was an enormous blacksmith's forging table, covered in dust, but one spot was clean. That spot was where the forging hammer should be placed, the same heavy black hammer that the Metal Puppet outside was holding.
A dwarf's house may lack a bathroom, but it absolutely cannot lack a blacksmith's furnace. Ronan's mind raced through information he had once read in a wizarding book. He surveyed the entire room, quickly finding a dark, spherical object among the piles of overturned debris. Then, amidst the sharp, piercing sound of something rapidly approaching from behind, he teleported away.
Ronan, encased in living silver, carried Dodol III in one hand and held the items he had just found in the abandoned buildings in the other, moving swiftly between the buildings like a ghost.
He stopped walking only when the heavy footsteps had completely disappeared.
After setting down Dodol III, Ronan casually tossed the spherical object he was holding onto the ground.
"Clang—"
The black sphere, its surface so corroded that its original shape was almost unrecognizable, should be, if Ronan was not mistaken, the head that had fallen off the headless Metal Puppet.
Looking at the Metal Puppet head before him, Ronan's eyes flickered slightly. His lips moved, rapidly uttering one strange, awkward syllable after another, accompanied by several specific hand gestures. A surge of mental energy erupted from his mind, releasing intense magical fluctuations, and large swaths of Metal Element- based energy particles converged from all around. "#￥!!@!"
As Ronan uttered the last syllable of the incantation, a large number of Metal Element energy particles that had gathered from all around rushed toward the metallic head on the ground, transforming into a dense black vortex that instantly enveloped it.
A moment later, the vortex dissipated like smoke, revealing a black humanoid figure over ten meters tall.
Almost identical to the Metal Puppet that had previously hunted Ronan, the difference being that this black humanoid had an additional rusty head, making it impossible to discern its facial features, and its body was in a semi-illusory state, without the iconic heavy black hammer in its hand.
[Mirror Soul] Spell! Based on the aura provided by the medium of the spell, it can simulate and replicate the prototype of the medium to a certain extent.
This was the first time the spell had been cast since Ronan emerged from seclusion.
Ronan examined the magical puppet summoned using the [Mirror Soul] spell, thought for a moment, and then made some further modifications to it.
He raised his right hand, and the metal on the surrounding streets and buildings immediately peeled off and converged towards the black humanoid figure, soon forming a realistic puppet body.
Even the giant hammer, the original puppet's weapon, was replicated one-to-one. Although the quality was definitely vastly different, it at least increased its lethality.
"Boom!"
Ronan commanded the puppet to attack, and the puppet smashed a small hole in the ground with a hammer.
He's roughly equivalent to a level two wizard, which Ronan is quite satisfied with.
Within the Mechanical Heart, where metal abounds and the concentration of free Metal Element energy particles is extremely high, summoning a Metal Element magical puppet to control is undoubtedly the most suitable choice.
Although this thing is only so-so in terms of strength, it is easy to summon, and you don't feel bad at all if it gets damaged, since there are metals everywhere that are suitable to be used as a medium.
Spell summons created using the [Mirror Soul] spell are one-time use items, but they will not disappear until the spell medium is completely consumed.
Ronan could even consider temporarily assembling an army of magical golems within the Mechanical Heart.
Of course, this is just an exaggeration. Even if Ronan could do that, he wouldn't have that much energy. At most, he could assemble a puppet squad, which would be enough.
Ronan ordered the metal magic golem to stand guard, and only then did he have a moment to examine the metal box that Dodol III had found.
It looks almost exactly like the magic box that Kosti gave him; it must be Schubert's Marvelous Mystery Box.
Even Ronan hadn't expected it to go so smoothly; he found one with almost no effort, and a slight sense of anticipation arose in his heart.
Pick up the magic box and examine it closely.
Kosti had told him how to open the magic box, saying that he needed to crack the "lock" on top first.
The lock itself isn't complicated; the real challenge lies in obtaining the magic box.
Ronan stared at the countless spinning gears on the magic box for a while, then stretched out his finger and gently turned a few of them.
"Click-clack—"
After a series of turning sounds, all the gears on the black metal magic box stopped turning at the same moment, and a faint white light emanated from it. Then, the entire magic box opened in all directions like a flower bud.
A crystal medicine bottle, about the size of a thumb, lay quietly in the box.
Ronan picked up the bottle, and through the crystal-clear bottle, he could clearly see the fingerprints on his fingertips.
"Empty?"
Ronan frowned slightly, picked up the bottle and shook it gently, only to find that there was a potion inside. However, the potion was too transparent and too clear, so much so that at first glance it looked like an empty bottle.
Ronan hesitated for a moment, but then decided to open the vial.
He pressed his thumb against the bottle opening and slightly turned the crystal bottle upside down, so that a little bit of the medicine inside touched the pad of his thumb.
The moment the liquid touched his fingertip, Ronan's thumb vanished.
"An invisibility potion?!"
Ronan blinked. After repeated attempts, he discovered that this was indeed a special potion that could make objects invisible. However, it was much more powerful than ordinary invisibility potions. Not only could it perfectly hide one's figure, but it could also perfectly hide one's scent, body temperature, Soul Aura, and mental energy fluctuations.
"Nice one."
A hint of joy appeared in Ronan's eyes; this potion might come in handy sometime.
He estimated that this bottle of "invisibility potion" would allow him to use it two to three times. If the requirement for stealth was not so high, it could be diluted and used more than ten times.
As for the duration of the drug's effects, at least after Ronan had completed the initial analysis of the drug's effects, his missing thumb had not yet reappeared.
"For you."
Ronan tossed the first golden gear to Dodol III, who let out a cheerful "baa" and then devoured it in a few bites, like eating a cookie.
Ronan had examined the material of the golden gear. The material was quite ordinary, even inferior to the Nightmare Tungsten Steel and Neiman Alloy in his possession, but it possessed a strange magical power that made it extraordinary.
It's similar to the effect of [Silverization].
It has some research value, but the metal itself is not very valuable. Now that he has a magic box, he doesn't care about giving the gear to Dodol III to satisfy his craving.
Ronan then fed Dodol III some other metals.
"Let's continue."
Ronan no longer needs to use the inter-sensing function of the Magic Box, relying entirely on the native Dodol III to drive it like a "search dog".
Dodol III was also happy to be driven by Ronan, and his four short legs took off running very fast.
Two days later.
"Snap—"
The metal magic box opened layer by layer in front of Ronan like a flower. The white light emanating from inside dissipated, and a dark green, foul-smelling gas quickly rushed out.
"Bang!"
Ronan spread his mental energy, compressing the air and instantly dispersing the gas that had just been released. A gust of wind swept through, sweeping away the scent in an instant.
After doing all this, look at the magic box again. It's completely empty. It seems that the box originally contained that nauseating, foul-smelling gas.
Ronan remained calm, casually tossing a golden gear and several pieces of metal to Dodol III, neither expressing disappointment nor not.
In the past two days, through Dodol III, he found a total of seven magic boxes, and thus gained a deeper understanding of the meaning of the word "surprise" in the Magic Box.
Besides the magic box in front of him that contained an unknown foul odor, he also found dried excrement of unknown creatures, specimens of unknown insects and magical beasts, and even a completely empty magic box inside the opened magic box.
In comparison, the "invisibility potion" in the first magic box was actually the most valuable find.
Then there were a few runes of relatively low rank, and a low-level divination spell called—[[Arcane Divination]].
Ronan spent a day and a half successfully mastering the basics of the spell. The effect of casting it was to condense free energy particles in the air into abstract symbols of unknown meaning.
I haven't noticed any effect yet, but perhaps it will change once I become more proficient.
"These magic boxes... are they actually divided into different grades?"
Ronan didn't rush to have Dodol III continue the search. Instead, he lined up all the opened Pandora's Boxes in front of him.
A close look at the appearance of these magic boxes reveals some subtle differences.
For example, the number of gears, the arrangement of the gears, and even the size of the magic box. However, if we want to classify the magic box into different grades based on these subtle differences, the sample size is still too small.
Ronan thought for a moment, then turned to have an in-depth "communication" with Dodol III.
"Large... appearance design should be as luxurious and exquisite as possible."
Ronan didn't know if Dodol III's little goat brain could understand his meaning, and the target he set for Dodol III was just a very subjective and rough judgment of the Magic Box's grade.
After eating Ronan's "metal feed" for several days, Dodol III had become quite familiar with him.
After receiving the command, it bleated and quickly rushed out.
Ronan exhaled a breath of stale air and patiently followed behind.
His communication with Dodol III seemed to be effective; this time Dodol III ran for a long time without showing any sign of stopping.
The thick, reddish-brown metallic fog that lingered above the ruined city gradually dissipated, and soon Ronan saw the outline of an enormous building appear in the distance.
——
It was a metal statue that was probably over a thousand meters tall.
The statue depicts a dwarf with strong limbs and a majestic appearance, holding an axe in one hand and a hammer in the other, with a thick beard that hangs down to his feet.
The entire statue is made of gold. Although its luster has dimmed somewhat over time, it is still awe-inspiring and visually striking.
Ronan stared intently at the statue, so much so that he forgot to search for Dodol III.
So he simply gave up on looking for it, figuring that guy would come back for him once he found the magic box anyway.
Ronan's gaze shifted downwards, revealing a vast metal plaza beneath the statue, dotted with numerous metal Stele Tower. He had been wandering with Dodol III through the abandoned city-state of the Mechanical Heart for two days. The Mechanical Heart was truly enormous, but now he seemed to be approaching the very heart of this magnificent city-state.
This area is teeming with wandering metallic Elemental Lifeform, and dense, reddish-brown clouds that gather but do not disperse are visible everywhere.
However, after a few days, Ronan also figured out the habits of these metallic Elemental Lifeform. Generally speaking, they do not roam a large area, and as long as you do not enter their "territory", you will not be attacked by them.
Overall, the Mechanical Heart Ruins are not very dangerous. Of all the opponents he encountered along the way, the headless Metal Puppet wielding a hammer that he met first was the most "dangerous" one.
Ronan's eyes flickered slightly, and the several metal magic puppets summoned by the [Mirror Soul] spell behind him scattered in all directions.
Encased in his [Living Steel] armor, he used the [[Space Silvering]] effect to blink and move swiftly towards the golden dwarf statue and the plaza.
In the past two days, apart from a few amazing boxes, Ronan's biggest gain was a large amount of rare metal media.
For a Metal Element wizard, the Mechanical Heart is a treasure trove of resources, with far too many metal forgings left behind by the dwarves.
Although the vast majority of them have been corroded by time, and even Dodol III would not bother to take a bite, with a little effort, it is still possible to extract some alloys and metals of decent quality from the rusted waste.
Ronan collected a lot of materials, selecting some to mix into the original Nightmare Tungsten Steel and Neiman Alloy. This made the metal knight armor, now activated, two sizes larger, increasing its height to nearly three meters, making it even more majestic and extraordinary. Its style blended quite well with the surrounding environment.
Before this, Ronan had already felt that the quality of the two metallic materials, Nightmare Tungsten Steel and Neiman Alloy, was not keeping up with his current combat needs.
With the advancement to Third Level Wizard imminent, upgrading the medium for Metal Element magic is also an urgent matter, both in terms of quality and quantity.
For now, we can only make do with it for the time being.
Soon, Ronan entered the metal plaza beneath the golden dwarf statue without incident.
As soon as they landed, they saw Dodol III with his rear end sticking out, seemingly buried in the ground under the golden dwarf statue.
Ronan didn't bother with it and, while it was searching for the magic box, he took a closer look at the metal Stele Tower standing in the square.
The Stele Tower is engraved with some rough-lined pictures, the contents of which seem to record something.
Ronan saw a picture on a Stele Tower depicting a group of bearded dwarves surrounding a dwarf wearing a crown and holding a scepter.
The inscription on the next Stele Tower changed; it was still the same group of dwarves, but they were kneeling on the ground, including the dwarf wearing a crown, who seemed to be worshipping some being.
"Is it some kind of sacrificial ceremony? So this is a square used for sacrifices?"
Ronan looked up thoughtfully at the huge golden dwarf statue beside him, searching his mind for information about the dwarf god.
Dodol III has disappeared, leaving only a large hole where the burial mound once stood.
Ronan withdrew his gaze and continued watching.
The images displayed on this Stele Tower suggest that the ritual has ended—no, Ronan looked at the next Stele Tower and realized that the ritual should only just begin.
In the scene, each dwarf is sweating profusely in front of their own blacksmith's forge, seemingly working hard to forge something.
Following that, the group forging activity concluded.
Each dwarf involved in the forging raised his hands, holding up a staff, a longsword, a crown, or similar items.
Everything glowed, seemingly magical artifacts imbued with the power of runes.
Then these pieces of equipment began to collide with each other. Some shattered and fell to the ground, while others remained shining brightly. The process of these magical artifacts colliding with each other was extremely tedious and lengthy. Ronan quickly browsed through the Stele Tower one by one, and after walking through most of the square, he finally saw a hammer-shaped weapon shatter all the forgings and achieve final victory.
The dwarves described the power of this equipment as an entire Stele Tower, a huge square short hammer, with lightning and fire patterns engraved around it, as well as countless ripples representing the shattering of space.
"Goodness, Thor's hammer?"
Ronan reached out and touched the texture of the hammer pattern, muttering a complaint.
The next Stele Tower depicts a dwarf who won the hammer forging and was rewarded by the crown dwarf, while countless other dwarves below raised their hands in cheers.
Ronan understood; this seemed to be an ancient and unique tradition of the dwarves, who used forging ceremonies to worship their god of craftsmen and forging.
Looking at the next picture, Ronan's eyes flashed with a strong light, and he instantly rushed to the front of the Stele Tower.
"The Magic Box!"
Ronan stared intently at the image on the Stele Tower, where he saw a crowned dwarf carefully placing a hammer, crackling with lightning and fire and surrounded by countless ripples, into a square metal box.
And that box looked exactly like "Schubert's Marvelous Mystery Box"! "A powerful hammer artifact was contained within the box."
Ronan continued browsing intently, and the next scene showed a conversation between the Crown Dwarf and several other dwarves, with a magic box containing hammer weapons placed beside them.
Ronan looked at several pictures and found that the crowned dwarf and several other dwarves were always present in the pictures, but the images of legendary creatures such as goblins, winged dragons, and one-eyed giants kept appearing around them.
"Is this because they're worried that goblins, dragons, and cyclops will come to steal or rob the box?"
Ronan's eyes flickered as he guessed from the content presented on the screen.
Upon closer examination, these legendary creatures do seem to have a penchant for collecting treasures.
It seems that even after the hammer was sealed in the Pandora's Box, the Crown Dwarf still felt it was not safe, so he discussed with a few trusted confidants a better way to preserve it.
"What solution did you finally come up with?"
"Buzzing—"
Just as Ronan was about to move on to the next Stele Tower, he suddenly felt the ground shaking beneath his feet.
He instinctively turned to look in the direction of the golden dwarf statue behind him, but the vibration stopped at that moment.
After waiting for a while, no further sounds came out.
Ronan shook his head and continued his exploration.
Human figures began to appear on the next Stele Tower.
He was a human wizard wearing a robe, whose face was obscured.
Under his guidance, the entire dwarf race began to collectively forge the same type of box.
"This is Schubert?!"
Ronan stood before several Stele Tower, and his expression instantly became incredibly interesting.
"So, the dwarves created countless Wonder Boxes under Schubert's guidance? Their purpose was to conceal the real Wonder Box containing the Thunder and Flame Hammer?!"
Ronan felt he had found the truth.
Because this kind of deceptive "bad idea" really does seem to have come from Schubert.
"So where exactly was the last Pandora's box containing the hammer hidden?"
"Yes, how could such a top-secret matter be directly engraved on the Stele Tower?"
However, it cannot be denied that the pictures engraved on these Stele Tower are very valuable, and they may contain important clues to the only magic box.
Ronan glanced at the many remaining Stele Tower in the square, thought for a moment, and then decided to start storing them into his Stele Tower Space Ring.
He didn't know why the truth about the Amazing Box on the Stele Tower hadn't been spread. Perhaps no one noticed, or perhaps the wizards who came to explore before simply didn't find this central area.
This is actually quite reasonable, because if it weren't for Dodol III leading the way, he would probably be wandering around in some corner of the abandoned city-state right now.
The Mechanical Heart is just too big.
Ronan stepped forward and tried to move the Stele Tower. He exerted the terrifying [Great Strength] brought by his [Immaculate Body] and the Ancient Frost Hydra Bloodline to a certain extreme, but the Stele Tower remained rooted to the spot and did not budge.
There appears to be Rune Array inside, and it is also connected to the base of the plaza.
Using [Living Steel] should be able to partially activate the Stele Tower and take it away, but that might erase any clues contained in the inscriptions. Just as Ronan was considering whether to do this, "Boom!"
The vibration that had occurred before rang out again, and this time it was more than a hundred times louder.
The entire metal plaza was shaking violently, cracking, and large sections of the ground were collapsing. Ronan, filled with surprise and uncertainty, took to the air and casually picked up several Stele Tower had collapsed due to the plaza's collapse, storing them in his Space Ring.
Before he could continue, he sensed a gray shadow darting into his arms with incredible speed.
Before Ronan could even check if Dodol III was carrying the magic box he desired, he witnessed a shocking scene he would never forget—
On the violently collapsing plaza, the thousand-meter-tall golden dwarf statue in the center of the plaza was also rapidly collapsing.
As the golden statue collapsed, a giant metal box, almost the size of a small mountain, was quickly revealed inside.
The box was attached to the two thick legs of the golden dwarf statue at the bottom, and amidst the enormous rumbling sound of the collapse, this huge metal box seemed almost alive.
"Snap—"
He stood up from the ground by pushing off with his two thick, golden legs.
A strange creature with a black metal box-shaped body but two golden dwarf legs.
Their appearance was indescribably comical and bizarre.
Ronan, however, couldn't laugh at all.
He stared blankly at the giant magic box that strode toward him with two huge, short, golden legs.
Subconsciously looking down, I met Dodol III's bright, sparkling sheep eyes in my arms.
"Meow~~"
Dodol III let out a joyful bleat at Ronan, his goat-like face now filled with a smug, self-satisfied expression.
It was as if he was speaking to Ronan—
"Is this box big? Is it big?!"
"Praise me! Praise me!!"