Spiritual Materials

Sergeant William's heartfelt acknowledgment dispelled the last shred of tension in Lin Jie's heart.

"I think the commotion we just caused is enough to alert that Artisan Leader." Lin Jie lowered his breathing, which had become rapid from excitement, and calmly analyzed the situation at hand. "It must view us as its primary threat now and won't easily send out small squads for a while."

"This means we have a window of time without interference." William immediately picked up on his thought, the two tactical minds showing surprising synergy in this moment. "We can use this time to examine our 'spoils of war'."

Their gazes turned in unison toward the corpses of the Gremlins.

Although these little things were not strong in individual combat, they were UMA after all, and every part of their bodies had the potential to become precious materials for crafting Grotesque Armament.

The two carefully returned to the side path that had served as their "hunting ground."

Lin Jie put on his leather gloves and began the meticulous "dissection" and "looting" of the mechanical monkeys' corpses alongside William.

Lin Jie soon discovered that the Gremlins' physical structure was far more peculiar than he had imagined.

They were not purely biological creatures, nor were they entirely mechanical constructs; they were a bizarre hybrid between the two, filled with the characteristics of bioengineering and alchemy.

Their bones possessed a metallic texture, hard yet lightweight.

Their muscles appeared to be composed of countless rubber fibers intertwined together.

And what flowed through their bodies was not blood, but a dark liquid that emitted the smell of machine oil.

"Their claws are the most valuable part." William explained to Lin Jie while skillfully dismantling the entire arm of a Gremlin with his short blade.

"These micro-limbs made of unknown metal possess extremely high hardness and flexibility. That madman Arthur loved using them to craft micro-surgical tools that could penetrate deep into an enemy's body, or... certain malicious trap components."

Lin Jie followed William's example and tried to collect these materials.

He also discovered that the crystal lens inside the Gremlins' skulls, while having lost its glow after their death, still contained faint energy fluctuations capable of resonating with one another.

He guessed this might be used to craft some kind of simple, short-range communication device.

However, after they had looted several Gremlin corpses, Lin Jie keenly sensed that something was off.

These materials were certainly peculiar, but they seemed to be missing some kind of core element.

He had learned from the diary of the Cartographer Karl that the highest-quality raw materials for Grotesque Armament were often the parts of a UMA that were most spiritual and best embodied its core characteristics.

While these claws and crystals were useful, they felt more like ordinary "parts" to him rather than "cores" containing powerful energy.

"What about the things they stole?" Lin Jie's gaze suddenly shifted to the music box that had been completely dismantled into fragments by the Gremlin pack.

He walked over and discovered some peculiar phenomena among the pile of parts that no longer resembled their original form.

The music box had originally been made of silver and brass, but at this moment, the surfaces of the scattered brass gears and springs were covered in a layer of oily, shimmering light.

Their color was deeper than ordinary brass, and one could feel a slight "vibrating" texture when holding them.

"Sergeant William, come look at this." Lin Jie called out.

William walked over, picked up a mutated gear, and carefully felt it in his hand.

His stoic face once again revealed an expression of surprise. "This is... spiritual infiltration?"

"What does that mean?" Lin Jie immediately asked.

"Certain specific UMA, especially spirits like Gremlins that have a paranoid obsession with certain items, will cause the places they occupy for long periods or the items they frequently touch to undergo a gradual, fundamental mutation due to the influence of their own powerful 'collective will' or 'spiritual field'."

William explained, "We call this process 'spiritual infiltration.' Mundane items that have undergone infiltration gradually transform from ordinary matter into 'spiritual materials' containing supernatural power."

"This type of material is often more stable and easier to shape than biological tissue obtained directly from a UMA."

He held up the gear in his hand, his eyes gleaming: "Because of the sound of order it emitted, this music box became the number one public enemy of this group of Gremlins. In the process of dismantling it, they poured all of their 'hatred' and 'desire for destruction' into these parts."

"So, these gears and springs are no longer ordinary metal. They are now cursed objects bearing the Gremlins' will of 'chaos' and 'destruction'."

Lin Jie's heart pounded wildly at this massive discovery.

He finally understood: for a special UMA like the Gremlin, the materials on their bodies were merely "seconds," while the industrial artifacts they had stolen, occupied, modified, and hated were the true treasures!

A brand-new line of thought illuminated his mind.

"Quick!" Lin Jie's tone became urgent. "We must go check the alarm clocks they were dismantling earlier, and everything else they used to build their nest that they stole from the surface world!"

The two immediately returned to the "work area" where the Gremlin squad had been.

Sure enough, among the wreckage of the alarm clocks that had been torn to pieces, they discovered a large amount of mutated material that had undergone "spiritual infiltration," just like the music box parts.

Some had become exceptionally tough, while others emitted a faint interference field.

Following that, they turned their gaze toward the "Mechanical Shrine" that looked like a mountain of trash.

What they had found just now were merely appetizers; the shrine before them, built from countless "spiritual materials," was a massive treasure trove whose value could not be measured in money!

"My god..." Even the usually composed William couldn't help but let out a sigh when he saw this sight. "These little things... they are using a mountain of gold to build their doghouse."

Lin Jie suppressed the wild joy in his heart and forced himself to calm down.

They couldn't possibly move the entire shrine.

They had to "steal" a few pieces of the highest value and best quality without alerting the Artisan Leader.

He cautiously approached the outermost perimeter of the shrine and then activated his [Touch of Afterimage].

Lin Jie did not dare to perform a deep reading, fearing that doing so would immediately attract the attention of the Artisan Leader.

He merely "tasted" the complex and chaotic spiritual aura emanating from the tens of thousands of components on the shrine, much like an experienced sommelier taking a shallow sip.

In his perception, the aura of most materials was heterogeneous and faint.

However, among them, the spiritual aura emitted by a few items was like a lighthouse in the dark night, bright and pure.

"Over there!" Lin Jie pointed precisely to an extremely inconspicuous corner in the middle-lower section of the shrine. "I can feel it. There are a few things there... their spirituality is far more powerful than the other materials!"

William believed his guidance without the slightest hesitation.

The two of them once again crept silently toward the target.

In that pile of trash composed of scrap metal and pipes, they pushed aside layers of obstacles and finally found the things Lin Jie had "sensed."

It was a coil of high-purity rubber tubing that the Gremlin had used as a rope, but which had mutated into a deep black color.

It not only retained the toughness of rubber, but its surface was also covered in a peculiar matte material capable of absorbing light.

There were also a few brass ingots that the Gremlin had used as "cornerstones" to pad the base.

The surfaces of these brass ingots were no longer smooth; instead, they were covered in several tiny runes unconsciously carved by the Gremlin's claws.

When Lin Jie held them in his hands, he could clearly feel a peculiar power capable of interfering with the surrounding magnetic field.

This was exactly what they wanted.

Spiritual materials that had undergone perfect mutation after being long-term saturated by the collective will of the Gremlin!