In an instant, his will spread. Every rock layer and cave wall within a five-hundred-meter radius responded. A tidal wave of Earth Element fluctuations surged forth, sending seismic tremors propagating through the rock.

In less than a breath, massive boulders rained down, and the ground split open with a network of fissures. The interior of the mountain began to collapse with a deafening roar.

‘Let’s start by burying the place.’

The process went so smoothly because the supporting dome structure was already damaged, leaving plenty of exposed rock for him to control.

“The mountain’s collapsing! Run!”

At that, the Olan People, who had been debating whether to enter and hunt him down, scrambled to escape in a panic.

With his work done, Su Chen activated Aurora Flash and vaulted outside the mountain.

He glanced back to see the mountain cliff give way in a deafening collapse.

Dust plumed into the sky as rock formations shattered. The meticulously placed level-five watchtowers and the excavation platforms were all obliterated.

He wasn’t worried about this delaying his own entry into the treasure vault. The Olan People were far more anxious than he was; their archaeological excavation had been brought to a complete standstill.

Less than twenty minutes later, Su Chen and his six companions had cut down dozens of enemies amidst the chaos and made an unhurried retreat.

They had retreated because a growing number of top-tier experts were pouring through a distant Teleportation Gate, and they had even sensed the dreaded aura of a Soul Artifact flaring to life.

Su Chen didn’t act recklessly just because he had the Time Hourglass. For one, he feared being suppressed by some forbidden technique, which would prevent him from activating the hourglass’s effect. He was always on guard against forbidden Demonic knowledge and related Soul Artifacts.

Secondly, the Time Hourglass didn’t work by simply granting him three uses that reset at midnight.

In practice, using its Space-Time reset effect triggered a 24-hour cooldown.

Of course, each charge had its own independent cooldown and didn’t affect the others.

To ensure he always had an escape plan, at least one charge had to be kept in reserve and couldn’t be used carelessly. The other two could be used to reset his personal status at any time, allowing him to both prolong his stamina and maintain a state of high burst power.

Additionally, his new Elemental Furnace trait allowed him to draw Elements from the natural world to rapidly regenerate his Rune Energy.

“You all go on ahead.”

After the rest of his party had safely departed using various town portal methods and Teleportation Skills, Su Chen simply activated the Time Hourglass, returning directly to the Qingye Collection base camp in a single step.

….

HUMMM!

A spatial ripple emanated through the camp. The reset of his personal Space-Time status caused Su Chen’s figure to appear directly outside his personal RV.

Gong Jun, who was busy tinkering with his research, didn’t notice at first. A few seconds later, when he stood up to stretch, he was startled by the figure not far away.

“Damn it, I thought it was an enemy…”

It had been a false alarm for Gong Jun.

Generally speaking, external Spatial Teleportation abilities were incapable of penetrating their Barrier, so it was no wonder he was amazed by the scene before him.

‘Looks like they’re still out exploring.’

Su Chen’s Perception had already told him that besides Gong Jun, the rest of the group had not returned to camp.

He was somewhat curious to know if they had succeeded in prospecting the mineral vein.

“Sister Cheng left some food for you.” Gong Jun scratched his head, just then remembering that the other man hadn’t eaten.

“Good.”

Su Chen emptied the supplies from his Soul Pocket onto the ground, creating a small mound in the center. “These are three types of Magic Guide technological artifacts from the Elemental City ruins. I want you to study them later. These components are more complete, and there are some materials you can use for reference.”

He then attempted to interact with one of them.

It actually worked.

When his consciousness made contact with the dim Runes on the surface of the Synthesis Platform, a wave of information flowed from it.

[Synthetic Alchemy Platform – Elemental Forge Type (Damaged)]

Status: Base structure intact / Core Rune Array damaged / Energy Charge: 0%

Effect One: Elemental Refining (Active)

Description: Input basic materials (ores, bones, Magic Crystals, biological tissues, etc.) and inject corresponding Elemental Energy and Spiritual Energy to forge items according to your will.

(Note: The array is damaged; unable to complete high-quality forging.)

Effect Two: Life Refining (Active)

Description: Cannot be activated due to damaged structural components. Please obtain replacements from the treasure vault of Elemental City.

(Note: Any acts involving human transmutation may only be performed after receiving an official decree of approval from the Life Church.)

“??”

Su Chen was taken aback. This Synthesis Platform, barely as tall as a person, could actually perform Life Refining.

The Life Church mentioned in the information must have been a venerable organization in the old Elemental City, one that had likely been annihilated and lost to the river of time.

He was also able to get some information from the Magical Doll and the Elemental Sentinel.

[Magical Doll – Iron Guard II (Damaged)]

Status: Primary power furnace depleted / Combat protocols partially corrupted / Outer armor 68% integrity / Melee armament module cannot be activated

Effect One: Mimetic Synergy (Information missing)

Effect Two: Execution Protocol (Information missing)

…

The other item, a triangular Elemental Sentinel, had a more complete description.

Status: Mechanical Core structure damaged / Guard protocol requires rewriting / Energy Charge: 0%

Effect One: Gaze of True Sight (Passive)

Description: The externally embedded Eye of the Sentinel possesses a High-tier Detection ability, automatically scanning all targets within a 200-meter radius. It can penetrate invisibility, Illusions, spatial folding, and Spiritual Disguise of Lv10 or lower. It also possesses network-linking capabilities.

Effect Two: Elemental Judgment Beam (Active)

Description: Consumes internal energy to fire an elemental beam with high Penetration Power from its triangular apex. Its attribute can be changed by replacing the energy block. It is effective at piercing both flesh and various types of shields.

‘The energy block can probably be replaced with high-concentration ore crystals.’

Su Chen was drawing from his past experience with the Magic Guide Crystal Pillar.

Gong Jun’s eyes lit up. He immediately went to his small workshop and brought out a fist-sized piece of Nether Sand Ore.

“Try this!”

He came over and tried to insert the Nether Sand Ore into the energy slot at the base of the sentinel’s triangular chassis.

The elemental energy blocks were likely standardized, high-density energy carriers from the ancient Magic Guide civilization. The ore crystal, on the other hand, was unrefined and unsealed, so it wasn’t a standard power unit.

However, its internal energy concentration should be more than enough to power and activate the sentinel; it just wouldn’t be as pure.

CLICK.

A few seconds after the ore crystal was forcibly inserted, the device was indeed activated, albeit crudely.

The Elemental Sentinel shuddered violently as the Runes covering its body shifted from dim to bright.

HUMMM!

It rose into the air, hovering about three feet off the ground. Its triangular chassis began to spin slowly. Powered by the energy supply, its damaged core structure emitted a faint, cicada-like hum, yet miraculously showed no signs of falling apart.

In the next second, the Eye of the Sentinel snapped open.

A blue scanning wave swept outward, analyzing every fluctuation within a two-hundred-meter radius.

‘Please rewrite the guard protocol.’

Following this prompt, Su Chen realized it wanted him to redefine its friend-or-foe identification protocol.

As for the procedure, the sentinel itself guided him step-by-step.

“Try using the Metal Repair Skill on it and see if it works,” Su Chen suggested. This was the very reason he had brought back so many broken components.

‘He hadn’t hauled it all back just to collect scrap, after all.’

Before long, the relatively well-preserved Synthesis Platform was also rendered usable.

The Metal Repair Skill, however, had no effect on the Magical Doll. The preliminary conclusion was that its structure was not purely metallic, or perhaps that his Lv6 skill was too limited to perform such a complex operation.

The good news was…

“The Synthesis Platform can forge components! Let me see how to project a design,” Gong Jun, the materials expert, said. He was like a child who had just gotten a favorite new toy, completely engrossed in studying it.

And indeed, with a mere thought, he managed to instantly synthesize a firearm from a pile of metal scraps.

“The rifling isn’t complete—I probably didn’t visualize it clearly enough. I’ll have to do it again. But this Synthesis Platform is incredibly convenient. Maybe it can create the missing external components for the Magical Doll.”

He was buzzing with excitement; it was the ultimate surreal DIY device.

A fantasy version of a 3D printer.

Su Chen played around with it for a moment but wasn’t very interested. After finishing his meal, he didn’t rest, instead leaving the camp and heading straight for the site of the new Rune Core.

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