Chapter 265.2: The Leafway Stage Is Yours. If You’ve Got Skills, Bring It On Part 2

After the staggering death toll of the first night, fatalities dropped sharply from the second morning onward. Surprisingly, the number of deaths each day remained in the double digits.

Over the course of an entire week, fewer than two hundred examinees were eliminated. At this point, the adaptability of Ember-types became unmistakably clear. Once they had time to prepare, aberrant creatures became far less of a threat.

At the same time, far too many examinees were no longer content to hide inside their shelters and merely cling to survival. After making extensive preparations, some began venturing out beyond their workshops of their own accord. Others went even further. They did not merely maintain their workshops; they had restored the entire observation station, even installing entirely new defensive structures and equipment.

Adaptation, creation, and evolution were the true essence of the Ember Path. Not only did the Association observers who had initially complained and voiced doubts finally fall silent, even the apprentices taking part could feel their own abilities improving amid the torment and hardship.

“That should do it.”

Inside the newly refurbished workshop, Lou Feng carefully set the final component into place. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a step back to admire the work before him proudly.

It was a giant, four-armed and three-legged crystal composed entirely of spirit matter, recreated through alchemy. Across its face, where emblems and totemic patterns intertwined, six speckles of light flared to life, alternating between brilliant blue and scarlet.

At Lou Feng’s command, it slowly rose to its feet. Then it tightened its grip around an enormous weapon proportionate to its own mass and size, radiating a savage killing intent.

“With this, the workshop should be safe for the time being.” Lou Feng inspected the spirit intelligence sequence and reaction structure within it. Nodding in satisfaction, he ordered, “Seal the workshop. Block all outside interference.”

The crystalline giant agreed, dissolving into drifting mist. It flowed out through the door and vanished from sight.

Only Lou Feng remained in the workshop, along with the furnace blazing fiercely behind him, as well as indistinct phantoms hovering like ghosts around him.

“Adjust the spirit matter output and maintain the temperature. Increase the frequency of catalyst addition.”

Unlike the disheveled state he had been in before, Lou Feng was now dressed in a brand-new set of handmade clothes. He settled into a chair padded with layer upon layer of animal hides, crossed his legs, shifted into a more comfortable position, and sighed contentedly. “And now, I can move on to the next stage.”

The servants constructed from spirit matter remained silent as they faithfully carried out his orders.

Meanwhile, another floating screen outside the examination grounds displayed a scene shrouded entirely in darkness. Beneath a black sky, dense black fog slowly rose from the observation station, engulfing everything within dozens of li. Monsters reduced to shambling corpses wandered tirelessly through the dark fog, ravenously preying on any living creature that dared venture inside.

Other displays showed examinees who had already transformed their observation stations into impregnable fortresses, while some had even erected towering structures, determined to build the tallest stronghold on Leafway.

And then there were those whose homes were still nothing but ruins. Some had abandoned the observation station as early as the second day, leaving even their home base behind! After all, there were no monsters worth hunting, no valuable ore, and nothing useful worth being produced. Was there really any point in staying in a starter village that had nothing but an empty workshop shell?

On the morning of the second day, Ji Jue had already driven off in the dump truck he had repaired overnight. Transporting various pieces of workshop equipment, he followed the mountain roads in search of somewhere better.

By now, not even the slightest trace of him could be found aboveground. Only in the darkness deep beneath the Ninefold Earth did an enormous framework take shape within the dense soil and rock, growing into an increasingly vast and intricate structure with each passing day. Mercury flowed throughout the entire night as it followed the island’s mineral veins, spreading ever farther underground.

Aside from large deposits of relatively rich iron ore, Ji Jue had also discovered plenty of chalcopyrite and malachite, as well as vast quantities of coal after digging more than a thousand meters underground.

Unlike the surface, which was heavily contaminated by aberration, the deeper he went beneath layers of earth and rock, the weaker the corruption became. With an abundant supply of mercury at his disposal as a tool, he also extracted plenty of combustible material from the coal and natural gas. Then, after Ji Jue went so far as to dismantle the water purification equipment to set up a glycerin synthesis process, he finally had all the explosives he could ever want.

As for drinking water, seawater was perfectly drinkable once filtered. After using spirit matter to absorb and purify the contamination, then running it through two rounds of condensation, there was enough clean water not only for drinking, but even to fill a swimming pool.

So he built one.

“Never before had the world seen such an incredible man. In just three months, he built himself a luxurious mansion on a deserted island...” Amid the splashing of water, Ji Jue lounged in the swimming pool he had just dug out, providing his own dramatic narration.

He was having a wonderful time all by himself. By now, there was no trace of darkness left in the depths. Brilliant lights illuminated everything. There was none of the cramped squalor one would expect. Instead, the entire place was spotless and immaculately clean.

Everywhere the eye could see, the floors, ceilings, and walls had been polished to a mirror-like sheen with hardened mercury. Some areas had even been lined with metal panels, making the place look like a scene straight out of a science fiction movie.

The place was clean, advanced, pollution-free, and high-tech. Well, that was if one ignored the mountains of living spirit matter batteries packed into the mines on the lowest level, and not to mention the blood-red mercury flowing through the pipes.

That was just how alchemy worked. Alchemists were compassionate and kindhearted people who simply couldn’t bear to watch anything inhumane happen before their eyes. So Ji Jue always did it with his eyes closed.

After all, the island lacked almost every resource, but it certainly had no shortage of aberrant creatures and all manner of sinister monstrosities. What they needed most was a compassionate craftsman willing to deliver them from their suffering and send them to eternal bliss.

Besides, what was so bad about aberrants, anyway? They were practically treasure troves from head to toe! Their blood could be used as a consumable, replacing certain materials as a temporary carrier for spirit matter sequences. Their bones could be purified and turned into containers or raw materials. Their souls could be preserved, and as long as they were fed some leftovers or scraps of meat every now and then, they could keep generating power for ages.

Ji Jue could not even bear to waste the contamination produced by their corruption. He collected all of it and used it as a special little additive for his combustible explosives.

There was no such thing as trash in this world, only treasure that had ended up in the wrong place!

All Ji Jue had to do was put those treasures back where they belonged and let them make an invaluable contribution to the advancement of alchemy. Every last one of them was precious material! Wasting even the slightest bit would have pained him so much he would have lost sleep over it. Surely their departed souls would have been delighted to know that they had been put to such good use.

After taking a bath, getting a rare full night’s sleep, and extravagantly polishing two cans of meat, Ji Jue rode his bicycle over to inspect the newly established mushroom cultivation center and mouse breeding base.

Only after confirming that everything was running normally did he head for the newly built workshop that stood at the very heart of the interconnected underground chambers. Beyond two massive sealed doors, flames burned without end. The once battered and hole-riddled furnace had been transformed beyond recognition.

After confirming that many of its original modules had deteriorated beyond use, Ji Jue had simply dismantled the entire furnace. He’d then spent a full day transplanting every spirit circuit, gradually modifying the structure and adding new functions along the way.

By now, it had become the true backbone of the base and the heart of the workshop. The furnace alone stretched more than twenty meters in length and measured six meters in diameter. It ran through all three levels of the underground complex, supplying energy to the entire facility while serving as its central control hub.

Countless cables and pipes extended from it. The entire structure was pure white with a jade-like sheen, forged entirely from the purified remains of aberrant creatures that had been reshaped. It was, quite literally, a furnace made of corpses and bones.

By now, no screams or wails could be heard from within. Only the slow, drawn-out breathing of some monstrous thing that seemed to have crawled straight out of hell could be heard from the depths of the furnace.

When a low metallic growl rose from the flames, streaks of silver light descended from the flowing mercury overhead, connecting to countless mechanical arms that manipulated everything around them as though they were alive. As the furnace doors opened, the rhythmic thrum that resembled a heartbeat grew clearer still.

A wave of scorching air rushed outward, revealing a massive steel frame glowing red-hot within, like the skeleton of a seated giant. When Ji Jue beckoned, the dormant mass of blazing steel shuddered. Intricate spirit circuits lit across its surface as it stepped through molten iron and ash. It took one step, then another.

Slowly, it entered the cooling pool where countless streams of crimson mercury converged, as though bathing in blood. Even with the ventilation system running at overload levels, it could not possibly clear away such an enormous volume of vapor in a short time.

Through the lenses of his gas mask, Ji Jue watched as the red-hot glow faded from the steel frame, revealing a pitch-black surface beneath. The blood of many aberrants flowed across it, spreading and entwining around the frame until it formed elaborate, savage patterns resembling flames.

After the lengthy Elevation process, the spirit matter steel and aberrant blood completed their Transformation. Welding arcs flashed while the grinding of metal rang out without end.

Under the ceaseless work of the mercury hands, a metal engine that throbbed like a living heart gradually took shape, along with an intricate transmission system and a control frame built precisely to Ji Jue’s specifications. Hundreds of electromagnetic tendons were attached throughout the structure. Organs were implanted, and flesh was packed into place. And finally, it was covered in crimson armor forged from the bones of aberrants.

Unlike the hastily cobbled-together scrap exoskeleton from before, what now stood before Ji Jue was a true suit of powered armor, one worthy of a knight. All he had to do was beckon, and with ringing, metallic clangs, the scarlet giant, standing more than three meters tall, strode toward him and dropped to one knee. The armor and mechanisms across its chest unfolded layer by layer, revealing the cockpit within. Then it closed around Ji Jue, enveloping him completely.

A moment later, brilliant light flared within the eyes of its beast-like, metal face. There was no lag or awkwardness whatsoever. The enormous creation moved as naturally as Ji Jue, so responsive that he could clearly feel even a speck of dust landing on its fingertip. The spirit matter fluid neural structure was functioning normally.

Ji Jue reached down and drew the absurdly oversized greatsword at his waist. The blood-red blade, seemingly forged from crimson jade, rose into the air. With a casual swing, it unleashed a deafening sonic blast. The kinetic-assist and transmission systems were operating flawlessly.

Finally, Ji Jue raised the blade and stared at his ferocious reflection in its mirror-smooth spine. The mouth of the beast-like face curled into a hungry grin.

“Now I can have some real fun...”