End of the Magic Era

Countless spells stacked together, turning into a multi-colored flood that continuously crashed against the gate of the Grey Beastmen's fort.

The metal plates lit up one by one, and soon, the entire wall was lit up, with the blossoming light becoming brighter and brighter.

On the city wall, a large group of Grey Beastmen was frantically casting spells in order to resist, but it didn't have much effect.

Lin Yun floated in the air with a cold expression, and countless runes were flickering in front of him as another Four-Element Bomb rapidly condensed. After three seconds, the Four-Element Bomb instantly vanished from sight, only leaving behind a long white trail in the air.

"Boom…"

A loud explosion echoed as the entire wall started shaking, the metal plates becoming almost blinding.

Cracks started appearing on the ten-meter-tall entrance, and a few seconds later, a huge explosion echoed as the flood of spells broke through it.

Behind the entrance were numerous alchemy puppets, but they weren't even able to rush out of the fort before being swept away by the flood of spells.

The horde of sword puppets was like a tidal wave of steel as they rushed inside the Grey Beastmen's fort. The mage army followed behind them, which was in turn followed by Lin Yun and the others.

The resistance they encountered after going in was very weak. In less than three minutes, the leader of the Grey Beastmen's fort came out.

"Surrender! We are surrendering! Great Human Powerhouse, we've surrendered! Please stop the slaughter and destruction…"

The large group of Grey Beastmen and mechas came out and stood behind the leader, expressing their own surrender.

Lin Yun's puppets were like a disciplined army as they put all the Grey Beastmen under control.

Those who could control mechas were all Alchemists at the very least, and they were all captured and delivered to the Radiant Fort. Even the high-ranked members of the Grey Beastman Race had to sign a soul contract with Shawn before they could be released.

Three days passed before the Grey Beastman Tribe was completely under control. Every Alchemist had signed a contract with Shawn, and all those of the ruling class had signed particularly harsh soul contracts.

Dunas, the leader of the Grey Beastmen, was cautiously following behind Lin Yun as they walked on the streets of the fort.

"Sir Merlin, ahead is our greatest puppet factory. Most of the components can be made there, and the final assembly is also done there.."

In the entire Grey Beastman Fort, none of the rough buildings that other Beastmen typically lived in could be seen. Instead, it was full of sturdy buildings made of some kind of metal, just like the large cities of his previous life.

A railroad was running through the entire fort, connecting major areas, and special machines kept travelling throughout the fort.

A large number of shops could be seen on both sides, with most of them being related to puppeteering. They sold all kinds of materials, components, mana reactors, and control systems, as well as already finished puppets.

And the most remarkable one was the factory before his eyes with three huge smokestacks and all kinds of machines.

These Grey Beastmen's delicate bodies made them incapable of doing any heavy lifting, so they had heavy machinery helping them with everything. Cutting parts, polishing, and manufacturing were all done using the machines.

Only the key steps like carving runes or arrays had to be done directly by the Grey Beastmen.

Dunas was only an ordinary Alchemist, and his leadership position had been inherited from his father according to traditions. But he was only a 2nd Rank Archmage and wasn't considered the strongest among the Grey Beastmen.

This was different from the other Beastmen Tribes, which were always led by the strongest. The Grey Beastmen were simply so enthralled by puppeteering that they didn't want to waste time overcomplicating something like administration.

Dunas cautiously remained behind Lin Yun, introducing everything within the factory to him.

They kept exploring the factory until Lin Yun suddenly stopped, his eyes staring at something in a corner.

There was a small sphere the size of a human fist that was covered with various lines. The lines were perfectly straight, and when they changed direction, it was always at a right angle.

Usually, all alchemy patterns were drawn in arcs. This would allow energy to pass through unobstructed.

Thus, all arrays were circular or elliptical. Triangular arrays were very rare.

This kind of right angle was extremely rare in an array, not to mention an array that only had right angles… None should exist in this era!

Lin Yun walked over and casually grabbed that fist-sized sphere, frowning with an unfathomable expression.

Max Mana Reactor!

How could Lin Yun not know of that thing? That Mana Reactor had been a success spanning an entire era.

The system supplying energy to the puppet was the most important part. It was equivalent to the puppet's heart. Only when its heart was powerful enough could the growth of other parts advance.

And if the heart wasn't powerful enough, no matter how powerful the other parts were, they wouldn't be able to display their full power. It would even restrict the puppet's abilities.

And this Max Mana Reactor could provide very powerful energy to the puppet. Any puppet under the Heaven Rank would see their power increased by 30% after using the Max Mana Reactor!

Some casting puppets with fierce mana consumption could get up to a 50% power increase!

And this wasn't the most important part... The most important part was that Lin Yun clearly remembered that the Max Mana Reactor should have appeared 140 years later!

That thing should have been created 140 years later by a female Artisan named Max!

That female Artisan would become known throughout Noscent due to her Max Mana Reactor. Because her Mana Reactor supplied such abundant mana to all the puppets, she ended up being jokingly nicknamed Big-Chested Max.

That interesting anecdote was even recorded in the decaying library. From this, it could be seen how much influence Max Mana Reactor had!

But how could it be appearing now, when it should have been created 140 years later?

Horror could be seen in Lin Yun's eyes. Apart from the things he had made himself, this was the first time he had seen something transcending time. How could he not be horrified?

The Max Mana Reactor… At the end of time, Lin Yun had personally torn apart countless puppets. How could he not recognize the iconic right-angle pattern, how could he be mistaken?

After holding it, Lin Yun was even more certain that this was the Max Mana Reactor!

"Sir Merlin, this Mana Reactor is a whimsical failure. We do many experiments every day. If you are interested, I can show you," Dunas carefully said with a smile as he saw Lin Yun stare at that thing for a long time.

After those words, Lin Yun sighed in relief. He carefully observed it and used mana to probe it before finally concluding that this was a prototype that simply couldn't be used as a Mana Reactor yet.

The Mana Reactor had the same shape as Max Mana Reactor, and its most iconic characteristic was the right-angle pattern, but the Mana Reactor also needed mana crystals of two completely opposite attributes: one fire mana crystal and one ice mana crystal.

The theory was to use the clash between fire power and ice power to create a fierce burst of energy. It wasn't to use the power of the mana crystals directly. That kind of clash would be extraordinarily powerful, and after passing through the Mana Reactor, the energy supplied would far surpass the individual power of the two mana crystals.

The most important part was that the two mana crystals could be used for a very long time. Once loaded into the puppet, not only could they offer even more powerful bursts of mana, but the expected lifetime was over ten times better than simply using mana crystals.

That was something that transcended time!

Although it was only a prototype and couldn't be used as an ordinary Mana Reactor, the idea and the design were available. All that was needed was some time to slowly fix the issues and details.

That process might take several dozen years, up to even a hundred years.

Based on what he knew now, that Mana Reactor should have come out after countless experiments by the Artisan named Max over a century later.

Lin Yun held the prototype Mana Reactor, his eyes slightly glistening. The creator of that Mana Reactor was definitely a genius surpassing this era. Regardless of who it was, this couldn't be erased. The thought process and imagination, and even the level of accomplishment in the field of puppeteering all absolutely surpassed this era by several dozen years, even over a century.

Although the Max Mana Reactor could only be considered the standard Mana Reactor for low-level puppets in the distant future, as stronger Mana Reactors were eventually developed, there were absolutely no better low-cost Mana Reactors in this entire era.

Lin Yun could make stronger and better Mana Reactors, and could even use the Hydra Heart as a Mana Reactor that didn't need a source of energy or mana crystals.

But this was because of the difference in knowledge. If someone in this era could come out with a prototype of the Max Mana Reactor, that person's puppeteering skills would definitely be fierce and bold.

Holding this Mana Reactor, Lin Yun looked at Dunas and asked, "Who made this design?"

Dunas smiled as he replied, "Sir Merlin, there are daring designs made every day. I might not have known if you asked about anything else, but I know about this one. This is a plan made by the only Artisan among our Grey Beastmen, Sir Crowits. But it's only a prototype. It can't be used as a Mana Reactor, and is completely unable to supply mana to a puppet. Moreover, it's too dangerous. If there is something wrong, it could explode."