Chapter 72: Great Craftsman

The original twelve ranks of Chosen are: Summoning, Transformation, Rebirth, and Transcendence.

The Summoning stage is the growth and evolution of ability. The Transformation stage turns toward the fusion of soul and body, gradually removing the defects of the mortal body. After the Rebirth rank, the Chosen, whose soul, ability, and body are completely combined, can already be called a fantasy creature that surpasses mortals.

Depending on the Supreme Virtue and matrix, some can bathe in fire and soak in magma without changing their expression, some can arbitrarily shrink and enlarge themselves to hide, others are like legendary elves, affinity with plants and trees to borrow their vitality, and others can simply turn into monsters.

And the Invisible’s rebirth transformation is Spirit Body!

Depending on the influence of the matrix, it even has the characteristics of Styx-ification. The soul and spiritual quality complete a thorough transformation, and any wisp of spiritual quality can be regarded as him himself.

Relying on such transformation, he obtained the name Invisible, parasitic everywhere, omnipresent.

Unfortunately, the techniques that were always effective in the past suddenly hit a snag after entering the Rift Realm... it was as if a certain Mr. Ji had been taught a lesson by the local herring cans.

There’s shit!

It’s all fucking shit!

Originally, this kind of soulless and mindless puppet was the best to parasitize and operate, but... now he encountered one crazy one after another, and even he was almost infected, falling into madness!

Filled with so many chaotic and crazy spiritual qualities, if he were to be reckless and swallow them all, even the Invisible would probably alienate on the spot.

The Dragon Festival Society just worships the power of the dragon, approaches the essence of the dragon, and tries to use this doomsday power relative to the origin of the Sage, which doesn't mean everyone wants to alienate.

Well, there are such lunatics, but at least the Invisible is not one of them!

He couldn't understand at all how a dignified Sage could make her Rift Realm like a septic tank... Even the Invisible, who treats spiritual quality and souls as delicacies, could only express that he couldn't take a bite at all!

But the traces left by many Sages undoubtedly confirmed his original guess.

This is Mercury’s final burial place!

The news from Guangwen’s guy is indeed no problem...

In the deep underground, the Invisible greedily looked at the massive Rift Realm before him—this time, maybe he could really find a Sage’s body!

Just thinking of this, he was already hungry and thirsty.

It had never been such a deep temptation.

Ji Jue felt he had gone crazy with hunger.

In the temporary workshop safe house unfolded by the Ghostwork Sphere, Ji Jue was struggling to recover his state, ensuring that his ability, body, and soul were in the best state.

Drooling crazily.

Not because of Xiao An and the little ox-horse next to him, but because of the bits of essence almost close to his ability in his soul...

The ability was in a state of frantic agitation.

It was like a mad dog tied by the neck—no, to be precise, Ji Jue felt that a part of him had gone crazy, wanting to roll on the ground, feeling ants crawling all over his body, constantly begging himself: "Take a bite, brother, just take a bite!"

Ji Jue could only use all his energy to restrain himself.

Telling himself to endure, endure, endure.

But when he was outside, he could still say the location wasn't safe enough and there might be danger. But now, after hiding in Brother Sphere’s workshop, his willpower, which was already fragile, was gradually unable to withstand the hunger filling his lungs.

Until the hunger reached its peak, Ji Jue could no longer resist.

Screw endurance, I can’t take it anymore!

The ability in the shackles broke free in an instant, the light on the Mechanical Descent emblem erupted, rushing toward the fragmented essence remaining in his body, "Woof," one bite!

Cleaned it all up.

And then, there was no then.

Ji Jue, his eyes went black.

It was as if, suddenly, he had been hit hard on the forehead with a hammer, buzzing, while his soul drifted.

It seemed like some sound rang in his ears, but he couldn't hear it clearly, until he finally reacted, oh, it turned out to be the sound of his brain boiling.

He completely lost consciousness.

Endless feelings, memories, and realizations poured into his soul like a waterfall, instantly crashing Ji Jue’s thinking ability, filling it up, but it hadn't stopped.

Still pouring in roughly!

Endless!

It was clearly just a snap of a finger, but it seemed to have experienced thousands of years of time. There was too much, too many chaotic scenes and memories, but more, it was smelting and forging!

Those records and history inscribed in the furnace jumped before his eyes!

No, it was so real that it seemed like something that happened in his own body, now just recalled, so it was so clear.

Sometimes he burned for nine days and nights to melt unknown materials, suppressing the resistance like a living thing with flames time and time again. Sometimes he seemed to be on an assembly line, batch-processing large amounts of steel and blood, creating one mechanical heart after another that turned into flesh and blood.

And most of the time, he was participating in a part of a massive project, exhausting all his efforts to purify the iron light in the furnace over and over again, in anticipation of infinitely approaching the limit of material properties.

That seemed to be a broken sword blade.

No matter how he called or touched it, the only response was silence.

Occasionally, the moment the sword blade seemed to awaken from a long sleep, it would vibrate slightly, and a clanging sword sound that rang through the entire Rift Realm would emerge.

Its name is 【Change】.

Using the flame of the Dragon of End as fire, using the bone of the Sage of the Primordial as the source, it didn't have its form, but the moment the blade was sharpened, it would turn into a glorious light that completely slashed through the Eternal Era!

Ji Jue was immersed in it.

Forgot everything.

Devoted himself to the sharpening as if using his own soul as a whetstone, until that day, the blade was re-sharpened, and the first rust spot fell from the sword.

He seemed to hear the sound of the world collapsing.

And it was so distant.

Until after a long, long time, he seemed to wake up from his slumber and heard strange words.

In that bell tower, outside the window was already a ruin.

The Tower of Heavenly Origin was nowhere to be seen.

And in the broken bell tower, the conversation was still continuing.

"Such a conception is indeed ingenious, but it’s too exaggerated." The gaunt man sighed, "Besides, the history anchored by the Supreme Virtues is already part of the tapestry. What you are doing is mostly futile."

"If I don't do it, who knows?"

Mercury still stood by the window, staring at the ruins outside, "Is the Great Craftsman here to stop me?"

"The Ink are all gone, so don't mention those messy names. Besides, even when I was the Great Craftsman, I never forcibly ordered you to do anything, right?"

The man known as the Great Craftsman sighed and waved his hand: "You must know what the consequences of doing this will be. I’m just curious... Mercury, will you regret the choice you made?"

Mercury answered decisively: "Never."

"You will in the future." The Great Craftsman said.

"Future things, we’ll talk about them in the future." Mercury finally turned her head and told him: "Great Craftsman, you should go."

But the Great Craftsman still sat in place, not moving, just looking at her for a long time.

"...I have regretted it."

He said: "I have regretted many things I did, more than once. But when I regretted it, it was already too late, and no matter how much I repented, it would be useless."

The Great Craftsman sighed and pleaded solemnly: "Don't repeat my mistakes."

Mercury didn't speak again.

Looking at him silently.

For a long time, she withdrew her gaze and finally said goodbye: "Great Craftsman, you should go."

The Great Craftsman didn't speak again, sighed silently, and got up to leave.

Since then, no one has visited.

Inside the workshop, only silence remained.

Except for occasional alchemical work, Mercury spent more and more time standing by the window, staring at everything outside.

Just watching.

As if waiting, waiting, and waiting again.

When she was alone, she would occasionally sing, her lonely voice echoing in the silent workshop.

"Missing my hometown, missing my hometown, my hometown is so cute... the sky is clear, the wind is cool, homesickness comes in waves... how are the people in my hometown today, I miss them constantly..."

In the singing, everything outside the window turned from ruins to a town, and then from a town to ruins.

Repeated again and again, an endless cycle.

But neither the hometown nor the old friends could be seen.

Until one day, the figure who had been standing by the window from beginning to end also disappeared without a trace.

Since then, in the four hundred years of time, what rang outside the window was no longer fake laughter, but real... wailing cries!

This is the ending of the long dream.

In the workshop, Ji Jue opened his eyes, sweating profusely, breathing heavily.

An Ran handed over water.

"How long did I sleep?" Ji Jue felt his throat was about to crack with thirst.

"Three hours, a little more." Xiao An answered.

Only three hours, but it seemed like hundreds of years had passed.

The records and marks left in the furnace were too deep, so much so that Ji Jue almost lost himself, but at this moment when he tried to recall, he found that everything was rapidly becoming blurred, the coherent memories became fragmented and rapidly dissipated.

Even when trying to summarize and describe, he was at a loss.

The only thing that left an impression was the scene seen in the dream, the conversation between the man called the Great Craftsman and Mercury.

If Ji Jue’s brain wasn't burned out, then the Great Craftsman he saw should be the leader of the resistance organization 【Ink】 of the Eternal Empire.

When he woke up from the dream, he couldn't even recall the man’s face, and even the voice characteristics had been completely forgotten.

But the only thing he couldn't forget even if he were burned to ashes was the emblem he wore on his chest.

So familiar.

He stared blankly at his wrist and looked at his watch.

On the dial, the logo like a silhouette of a mechanism was shining silently.

The two were exactly the same!

"Heavenly Track?"

Ji Jue whispered.

According to the Ten Thousand Phenomena General Knowledge, the existence of T5 appeared as early as the Eternal Empire period, and Heavenly Track should have occupied a vital position at that time, and continued for more than a hundred years after the Cataclysm Era began.

The Great Craftsman wore an emblem related to Heavenly Track, so what was the relationship between the two?

He fell into deep thought.

And then... naturally, he couldn't think of anything.

There were too many missing clues, and there were too many blanks in the middle. What Ji Jue knew was just some tracing of past events in history, and even some fleeting fragments brought by the essence.

If he could deduce the mystery of the destruction of the Eternal Empire by relying on this, then what kind of Craftsman was he? Wouldn't it be more reliable to sit on the Supreme Virtue seat of Aether and be a prophet?

He couldn't figure it out at all.

But there was no need to think about things he couldn't figure out. More importantly, focus on the present.

For example—

Ji Jue looked down at his hands,

——The harvest brought from the essence!

Sorry, I’m taking a day off tomorrow.

I’ve been out and about recently, and there are many things in my hometown. My wife also has a high fever due to overwork, so I really don't have time to code.

I have to take a day off, I’m very sorry.