The Dawn of the New World

"It broke down??"

Hao Xuan was more shocked by that than by the news of a functioning construct being found.

"Yes, from what I could tell," the ape pointed at the spine of the construct, "There was an important piece here that has deteriorated over the course of countless years. You can see the damage done to it."

Hao Xuan walked around to get a better look and like the ape said, there was a nest of broken glass tubes sitting at the base of where the spine would be in a human being. There were countless tiny holes along the length of the tubes and something that looked like sand.

'That's not supposed to happen,' he thought to himself but chose not to say anything to the ape.

"I cannot quite figure out what kind of exotic material it is made of but the rest is relatively simple. I have narrowed the crafting recipes to 87, so a combination of two of those recipes should be enough."

Suffice it to say Hao Xuan was impressed. Just the sheer willpower one would need to keep trying thousands of different combinations would burn most individuals out, not to mention the countless resources wasted during the process would be enough to bankrupt entire kingdoms a dozen times over.

But then again, this ape was a God-level entity within the Inner Sanctum and a servant of one of the Nine. It operated on a completely different level than what he was used to.

*Cough*

The ape cleared his throat and finally made proper introductions after having calmed down somewhat.

"Forgive my impudence, Lord Champion. I am called Jyothi. I am an attendant of the 'Great Mother', " he said giving a royal bow.

"Lord Jyothi please, you do not need to stand on ceremony with me," Hao Xuan earnestly replied while gesturing for him to stop, "You can call me...Jin. Yes, just Jin will be fine."

If possible he wanted to make friends rather than enemies in this place. And even though there was quite a difference in their status Hao Xuan did not want to start off on a bad foot, especially with someone of such high esteem.

If even the Old Witch valued his skills to this degree then there was absolutely no harm in being cordial with him.

Lord Jyothi looked deep into his eyes and a hint of sorrow took root in his heart.

"You are far too considerate for this place, Lord Jin. Humility is considered a sign of great weakness within these walls that will only bring you more grief. That wench...I do not how you came to know such a creature but she-" he let out a deep sigh while raising the chains and metal blocks that she had thrown to him earlier.

"-No good can ever come from dealing with that vile beast."

Hao Xuan looked at the chains in confusion, "How do you mean?"

They looked quite ordinary to him.

Lord Jyothi walked over to one of the wooden tables and cleared it by pushing all the shining armaments onto the floor. He laid out the chains and three metal blocks and only then did Hao Xuan realize what they were for.

The two blocks on either end of the chains had 4-inch wide holes in them while the third block was in the middle with a much wider gap. That one was supposed to go around the neck while the other two would be clasped around the wrists and two iron chains were connecting them all together.

"I am much too familiar with these," Lord Jyothi somberly explained, "They were extensively used by slave masters in and around the abyss until just a few centuries ago. There is only one key to open the neck brace and forcing the mechanism in any way would strangle the victim within seconds. A simple but ruthlessly effective method of controlling someone."

Hao Xuan nodded somewhat absentmindedly.

'Did the old witch want me to use this as a prop to fit into the past? That should be a part of it but...'

He hated to admit it but that was a very smart move in his opinion, albeit quite archaic. Slaves were always the lowest of the low in any society which would make moving around much easier since not many people would pay attention to them.

But he couldn't very well explain this to Lord Jyothi without revealing to him their plan of traveling back to the past. It was better to let him believe that he was being taken advantage of by Baba Jezda since their relationship was already beyond repair.

Hao Xuan put on his most innocent expression, "Can you check if...maybe there is another hidden function of these chains?"

Lord Jyothi naturally assumed that Hao Xuan had too much trust in Baba Jezda and believed that she would not do such a thing without a valid reason.

"I will check now, please sit," with a wave of his hand a rather comfortable-looking chair flew in from behind one of the ore piles and swooped Hao Xuan up.