Path of Engraving

Seeing Lia raise her hand and stare intently at him with murderous eyes, the advisor suddenly glanced at Grape beside him and had a flash of inspiration.

"I have one last question," he said rapidly, "Is I the only person you want to kill?"

Lia did not answer, but silence itself was the answer.

... Sure enough, nothing happened to the grapes.

Did I trigger some fatal condition...?

A thousand thoughts raced through the consultant's mind in an instant. Although he didn't know what he had done to force her to kill him... in the end, he decisively gave up any hope of survival.

He had witnessed the power of this phantom demon firsthand and knew that if it wanted to kill him, he would have absolutely no chance of survival.

If his true form were here, he might still have a chance to escape.

However, Sherlock was merely Third Level mage, and didn't even have a weapon. Facing a demigod possessing divinity, he had virtually no hope of victory.

Since that's the case, there's no point in struggling anymore, and it might even drag the grapes down with it.

In an instant, the advisor had already made such a plan.

Listen carefully!

He moved sideways away from "Mycroft," shouting rapidly, "Don't make an enemy of Iver, he is the blessed one of the Twin Mirrors— "

He tried his best to convey the final information to Grape in words that did not reveal their identities as promoted individuals.

After saying this crucial sentence, the consultant breathed a sigh of relief.

He might not actually die this time. But even if he survives, he will likely lose all his memories.

The advisor's relentless efforts were not due to excessive loyalty to Valentine VII. He was not that concerned with the star antimony.

Those who follow the Path of Twilight are like this; very few things can truly capture their hearts.

But at the same time, he loathed "meaningless death" even more.

Because that means nothingness, the burying of value, and oblivion.

Dusk is the path to inscription and eternity.

If one must die, then dying during the Promotion Ritual is the best choice. Not because of meaningless grudges, not because of political struggles, not because of assassination or framing... but because of the pursuit of truth, because of the desire to ascend to a higher level.

That would be the most meaningful thing. When you die, you won't leave behind a chain of hatred.

Especially during the Full Moon Ritual, there was no one to hate; even the New Moon Ritual was a fair competition witnessed by the Pillar God.

The only thing to blame is that I am not strong enough or cautious enough... Before I die, all I will leave behind are the information and secrets to pass on to others.

... The only regret is that I did not die during the ritual of advancing from the fifth to the sixth stage of the Path of Twilight.

That was the legendary "final Promotion Ritual," which, if passed, would make one the strongest in the Material Realm.

The mortality rate of that ritual was extremely high; even those who survived were not guaranteed a successful advancement. In its nearly thousand-year history, only a handful of people have succeeded. Reaching the pinnacle of the Fifth Level is already rare, and he himself has not yet fully developed the power of the Fifth Level to its limit.

"If only I could witness that spectacle," the advisor thought.

Competing against the world's strongest individuals, success would make one the world's greatest, while failure would mean a glorious death—becoming fuel for miracles, and one's existence would be forever etched in history.

Over the centuries, countless individuals have emerged at the Fifth Level, yet few have remembered their names. But if one could become nourishment for the Sixth Level, future generations would likely remember their name...

However, his death was not without significance.

He has already given the most important intelligence to Grape.

Grape is a very smart girl and the consultant's favorite student. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made a special trip to accompany her for her promotion.

Hopefully, she can analyze what she really wants to express from this sentence and realize her own intentions.

—Iver can use the blessing of the Twin Mirrors to copy the other person's path and abilities!

The consultant stared intently at Grape, as if hoping she could understand his thoughts.

As he uttered those words, he continued to move his feet, trying to get away from the grapes, so that the attack from the Paradox Flame Butterfly that killed him wouldn't affect her—and his words, on the surface, seemed like a gesture of goodwill towards Iver, Paradox Flame Butterfly had even less reason to kill "Mycroft".

Just as the consultant finished speaking, he had already taken three steps to the side.

Before the fourth step could land, a scorching stream of flames roared out!

Sherlock's body was instantly engulfed by flames.

On the other hand, prior to this.

Stranger slowly awoke amidst the sounds of fierce fighting.

He covered his forehead, his expression complicated.

... Now he finally understands why his mission included the clause "not to be brought back to Star Antimony".

It turns out that if I do nothing, the Stibnite Person will take me away...

That's true.

As someone born into the Star Antimony Noble family, Mo Ke was very familiar with the Stibium Kingdom's style of doing things.

If this timeline holds true, given the Stibnite Person's thirst for research and development talent, they would undoubtedly snatch the Master Nobel back. For the Stibnite Person, robbing talent is far more important than robbing resources and treasures.

A nation that can simultaneously accommodate Child of the Moon, Necromancers, Demon Scholar, Witches, Alchemists, Mages, Priests, Astrologers, Hunter, and Assassins is one that welcomes all.

They even have a small number of native Path of Authority and Path of Beauty practitioners... As long as they are talented, Xingti will definitely want them.

Whether your heart is here or not, as long as you're physically present, that's enough. As long as you're given the money, resources, status, and respect, you'll have to work.

Even if you refuse to cooperate—wouldn't it be better to kill you and extract your soul to become a ghost scholar? That would be better than leaving you in other countries to invent things for them.

Because Xingti has always considered itself the "successor to the Herasul Empire," and the empire was once known for its inclusiveness and tolerance of all paths, Xingti cannot openly express its opposition to any extraordinary individual from any path.

Since we're going to have both, let's go for the good stuff. It's always better to give the same resources to talented people than to useless ones.

—In his teens, Moke was proud of the powerful inclusiveness of Xingti's "talent-oriented" philosophy.

Regardless of the path one takes, becoming a strong person or a renowned scholar will earn people's respect and trust. This will bring wealth, status, and social recognition.

For the young Stranger, his talent was something he was proud of.

He didn't see anything wrong with necromancy. In this world, once a person dies, their soul returns to the Dream Realm... If left unattended, the corpse will naturally become an undead. Rather, a corpse that has been given a funeral by a priest and then laid to rest is "unnatural."

In that case, studying corpses is no different from studying Magic Creature. After death, people become undead, just as flies lay eggs in rotting flesh—studying the undead is like studying these flies.

He became a powerful superhuman and a brilliant scholar at a young age. In his teens, he was already chatting and eating with superhumans at the Fourth Level and even Fifth Level... He always appeared very humble and gentle because he had always been in contact with the top experts in the country, any one of whom was much stronger than him.

In this environment, he had no reason to be proud.

Similarly, he also yearned... yearned to reach that position.

To be able to truly befriend them as equals, based on one's own inventions and talents—not on one's background or gifts.

One's birth is not something one can choose; nor can one fully realize one's talents. How much truly belongs to oneself? In this situation, the stranger desperately craves recognition.

If there's one advantage he has, it's his youth. He's been exposed to many new things, and his perspective differs from that of established leaders and scholars—based on this difference in understanding, he's able to come up with some "ideas."

But if you just give someone your idea to study, all you'll get in return is a thank you.

—You have to complete a full study on your own.

The stranger thought to himself.

Therefore, he immediately became interested when he heard that "the Department of the Army is troubled by the fact that the Gargoyle troops lose their ability to move when entering the sanctuary of the bishop."

In one of his previous experiments, a chance error resulted in the creation of mindless flesh and blood. This flesh and blood could only be used as a skin for piecing together corpses, and had little value... but what if it were used as a skin for gargoyles? — Thus, before graduating from Stranger University, his published paper was published in a top-level academic journal and even attracted the attention of several generals.

He immediately became interested.

Although the initial goal has been achieved, and the gargoyle, as an aerial scout, now has the ability to infiltrate the Sanctuary without being immediately paralyzed... could he do even better?

Flesh and skin are easily broken and may detach during high-speed flight. Therefore, a metal outer shell is used for fixation and protection.

However, this would make the nimble gargoyles clumsy. They would lose their purpose as silent scouts, but as close-combat units, they would lack offensive power.

—Then let's just throw explosives.

Previously, gargoyles couldn't do this because the explosives would shift their center of gravity, making them unstable in flight and difficult to throw at the designated area. Now, with the gargoyles' weight significantly increased, they can actually be thrown effectively.

As a result, the stranger received praise from the Minister of the Army, and was even awarded the Lieutenant's Medal despite never having been on the battlefield or trained for a single day.

That was "an early recognition of his current inventions and future military achievements."

He received praise, became a celebrity, and even spoke eloquently at banquets of important figures. He was no longer just a "highly anticipated future star" or "the future Fifth Level," but a genuine "genius necromancer."

He was no longer someone's son or someone's student, but "Albert Lore," the strongest genius of the younger generation! So he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the research and optimization of "Armored Gargoyle."

Gargoyles are a useless unit; their previous role was simply to silently land on buildings at night, providing ceremonialists with a long-range view.

The mindless rotting flesh he researched was utterly meaningless. Even the most ordinary dagger could cut through it, making any cobbled-together corpses made from it incredibly fragile.

As for armor, the same is true—Star Antimony is rich in metals but doesn't use them much. The core materials of the Golem are stone and gems, and only the physical professions of Black Eagle Territory need to use large amounts of metal.

They also developed a large number of advanced firearms and bullets, but they could only be sold to goblins—because the alchemists' inventions were much more useful, and these machine guns were only for Hunter who could move freely even when wearing heavy armor.

In the eyes of the stranger, he was simply turning trash into treasure. He combined worthless items, unwanted things, and useless troop types, making them the main force of the army. He even got the army to base its tactics on his research—those Fifth Level big shots had to change their habits to cater to him.

He kept writing various papers, and later he didn't even need to do experiments himself; he only needed to make prototypes by hand.

The Army's laboratories have a large number of researchers who are far more professional than him. He only needs to write down the theoretical possibilities and provide a prototype, and they will complete various tests with greater efficiency than he does, and the test data will be returned to him directly after he wakes up.

The incredibly comfortable research environment gave Mo Ke a strong sense of satisfaction.

Like drinking fine wine, his brain swelled and tingled. He was incredibly excited, and even working day and night didn't tire him out. He didn't have to do any of the troublesome parts; he only needed to conceive! Only needed to imagine! He could truly unleash his talents—not just in Armored Gargoyle, but he even wrote down every idea he came up with and provided it to the laboratory for further verification.

Even though Star Antimony was still in the midst of war, it continued to pour a lot of resources into him.

Stranger believed that in just two more months... the Armored Gargoyle would be completely completed. During this time, he also refurbished and optimized many older weapons—he hadn't done his usual corpse-assembling work for three months because he was overwhelmed with tasks. His research projects alone were booked for the next two months.

Now, Stranger can finally accept all the praise he receives. He no longer worries about his background or his talents, and people no longer expect him to be the future, but have begun to admire the present "Albert Lore".

His teacher had taught him that the Path of Twilight is a path of inscription and eternity.

In his view, the Path of Twilight signifies "the present moment".

—The present is eternity!

But when the old woman who saved him was blown to pieces right in front of him.

The blood, like droplets yet slightly granular, splattered out, evenly covering his face. His face had turned dark red, his skin covered with dense, scattered bloodstains, like a windowpane on a rainy day.

It's no longer praise, no longer flattery. It's no longer the approval of elders or the recognition of seniors.

He had come into contact with a lot of blood and a lot of corpses. But he had never gotten himself so dirty—to prevent infection and contamination of the materials, he always followed procedures and wore gloves and protective gear when handling corpses.

He had indeed seen people executed. But on Star Antimony, death row inmates were extremely valuable resources... Besides necromancers, Child of the Moon and Demon Scholar also needed them. To ensure the integrity of the corpses, electrocution and injection were the only methods used; even hanging was rare.

He seemed to be awakened by the sound of the explosion the moment the bomb fell.

The past few months have felt like a dream...

In that instant, he seemed to awaken from a dream.

The stranger even had a fleeting illusion—as if he had accidentally pushed his child off a building while drunk. His mind cleared instantly, and the noisy world fell silent.

Now, when he thinks back on his research... he only feels nauseous.

"... What genius?"

The stranger looked at his hands with a self-deprecating smile, "A genius at killing, huh...?"

After he fell into a coma, the blood on his hands had already been wiped clean, but now he could repeatedly see a trace of crimson on them.

Meanwhile, the sounds of battle outside gradually subsided.

—It seems that Xingti won the battle.

The stranger thought calmly.

He's been arrested... nominally an escort, but actually a detention. He's completely incapable of completing the mission, and it'll probably be difficult for him to advance smoothly.

This attempt to advance has failed.

He simply couldn't imagine that an army of Golem and gargoyles was "escorting" him. How could he possibly escape?

... There are still several days to go, and I don't know how I'll get through them.

Just then, the curtain of the carriage he was in was lifted.

The person who lifted the curtain startled the stranger.

Because he knows this person.

"The... Grand Guardian of Avalon?"

"Master Nobel".

The blond middle-aged man, his eyes filled with weariness, asked calmly, "Are you... going back to Xingti?"