Chapter 152: Assembling the Humanoid Magic Puppets

The howling wind tore at the gray canopy of the sky, sending millions of goose-feather-like snowflakes swirling and crashing against the rock face with a dense rustling sound.

The entire mountain peak was soon enveloped in a chaotic white vortex, and the pine branches groaned under the crushing weight of the accumulated snow.

Occasionally, chunks of snow would plummet from the steep slopes, kicking up brief yet violent waves of snow amidst the silence.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but churning snow and mist.

Clang! Clang!

Bang! Bang!

Click-clack!

Amidst the raging blizzard, a strange array of sounds echoed from the direction of the mountain cliff.

Inside the Magic Tent, Lan Qingyou was currently processing the items she had recovered from beneath the ruins.

Now that Lan Qingyou wanted to track down the whereabouts of those who might have escaped, the first thing she naturally needed to address was her own safety.

Although she had previously collaborated with Chariot to create twenty Beast-Shaped Magic Puppets.

Thinking about her deductions, Lan Qingyou still felt that it was not entirely safe.

Fortunately, she had acquired quite a few good items from beneath the ruins this time, so she planned to take advantage of today to properly organize everything.

From the ruins, she had obtained over a hundred slightly transparent "crystal Crucibles" crafted from gemstones.

Their initial estimated grade was C-rank or above.

Because she lacked a Magic Desk, Lan Qingyou could only see a string of question marks when using her Appraisal Glasses.

But that was not important. What mattered was that she now possessed more than one Crucible, meaning she would no longer produce inferior Potions when brewing in the future.

Aside from the Crucibles, there were some other tools, though they were all rusted.

Lan Qingyou had sent all of these tools to Chariot, asking him to help remove the rust and reassemble them.

As for the equally rusted Humanoid Magic Puppets, Lan Qingyou did not hand them over. Instead, she took it upon herself to personally dismantle and reassemble them.

After all, quite a few were missing arms and legs, and many had Magic Circuits and magic patterns that had already peeled off.

If she tossed these "other people's magic patterns and circuits" to Chariot without figuring them out first, they would likely be completely gone by the time she got them back.

After all, Chariot's rust removal process was basically equivalent to scraping off an entire layer of skin.

Magic patterns attached to the materials like this would have absolutely nothing left after such a scraping.

"Hmm, so a crisscross pattern can be used here?"

"Why would a spiral be used in this section?"

"Can connection points really be replaced with symbols?"

"What does this command mean? Never mind, I'll just copy it down first."

Lan Qingyou examined the magic patterns on the magic puppets while taking notes, letting out occasional gasps of amazement.

Studying the construction of other people's Magic Circuits and the engraving of their magic patterns was a fascinating endeavor. Not only did it broaden her horizons, but it also allowed her to learn their techniques.

The methods she had just murmured about were basically drawing techniques she had never even considered, and they were also completely absent from foundational texts like Basic Magic Circuitry, Basic Drawing, and Basic Symbology.

It was safe to say that the most valuable part of this entire haul was the drawings on these magic puppets.

Compared to this knowledge, the Crucibles and tools were all secondary, perhaps even entirely not worth mentioning.

Just like that, for the half-day since being teleported to the Abandoned Mountains, Lan Qingyou spent all her time studying the Humanoid Magic Puppets.

She did not stop until late at night when Gu Xiaobei began distributing midnight snacks.

During this time, she had not only studied the magic patterns engraved by others but also managed to use spare parts to reassemble some of the slightly more intact magic puppets.

Of course.

She had redrawn the magic patterns and circuits herself.

Or rather, she had added her own touches on top of the existing magic patterns.

After all, the original creator's skills were far more advanced than hers by leaps and bounds.

At most, she was just checking for gaps and filling in the blanks, using Thorium Ink to reconnect the parts that had peeled off.

But even so, upon successful activation, the movements of these repaired Humanoid Magic Puppets were still a bit sluggish.

That could not be helped. Who told her skills to be inferior?

Although she had also tried erasing the magic patterns, circuits, and commands on them to re-engrave her own work.

The result of doing that was making the Humanoid Magic Puppets even more sluggish.

Sure enough, not rushing to craft Humanoid Magic Puppets earlier was the right choice.

Even though Lan Qingyou felt like a complete novice in front of the creator of these Humanoid Magic Puppets, she undoubtedly understood where the errors and difficulties stemmed from.

The biggest difference between humanoid and beast shapes lay in the center of gravity and the construction of the central drive system.

Because beast shapes were relatively low to the ground, their center of gravity remained at the middle or bottom. As a result, the core of the central drive could be constructed exactly at the center point of the entire magic puppet, ensuring that the four limbs, head, and tail could all be accommodated.

Beast shapes relied on front, back, left, and right coordination, whereas humanoids placed much more emphasis on the upper limbs, with joints and other parts requiring extreme precision.

Therefore, the construction of their core drive systems was vastly different.

This was precisely why Lan Qingyou had initially abandoned the idea of Humanoid Magic Puppets during her early design phases.

It was still far too complex for her current skill level.

However, even so, repairing these Humanoid Magic Puppets served as an important "extracurricular internship" for Lan Qingyou.

At the very least, she had learned quite a bit of technique, hadn't she?

As long as she could miniaturize the engraving of magic patterns and other elements, crafting her own Humanoid Magic Puppets would be just around the corner.

"However, these Humanoid Magic Puppets look a bit fragile. Wouldn't it be better to add some armor and weapons?"

Through patching and mending, she had managed to cobble together another twenty-one magic puppets. Adding that to her Beast-Shaped Magic Puppets—which had previously lost one unit—she now had exactly forty machines in total.

But Lan Qingyou muttered to herself as she looked at these Humanoid Magic Puppets, which stood at about 1.6 meters tall with only an inner core and not a single piece of outer armor.

The greatest distinction between the two was that humanoids were far superior when it came to the versatility of equipment.

Whether used as warriors or laborers, they were more than capable of handling the task.

Thus, Lan Qingyou immediately contacted Chariot, hoping to order a batch of outer armor and weapons.

Since quite a few people were currently eating midnight snacks, Chariot's reply came very quickly.

Chariot: "Where are the blueprints?"

Tower: "I don't have any. Time is tight; I only have the dimensions."

Chariot: "You want me to improvise?"

Tower: "Yes."

Chariot: "Send the photos over. I'll take care of the rest."

The moment he heard he was allowed to improvise, Chariot became energized.

And upon seeing the photos Lan Qingyou sent over, Chariot's eyes lit up even more.

Chariot: "What are their specific applications?"

Tower: "Protection. They look way too fragile. Besides that, I also need some weapons."

Chariot: "None of that is a problem, but I'll need to negotiate a different payment for this request."

Tower: "Name your price."