Chapter 86: Mechanical Godmaking?

As the twin souls continually merged into his soul, scenes unfamiliar to Su Hao appeared in his mind like a 3D movie being played.

The protagonist of this movie was a scholar named Lars.

Lars was born into an ordinary family and displayed extraordinary wisdom from a young age.

At the age of six, he earned the praise of his parents and teachers, becoming the other people's child in the town.

At twelve, he was exceptionally admitted to the empire's most famous Morris Academy, becoming its youngest student in history.

At fifteen, he graduated from Morris Academy with outstanding grades and became an instructor there, focusing on mechanical research.

At thirty, he founded the Aurora Mechanical Guild, which held a pivotal position in the field of machinery.

At sixty, his Aurora Mechanical Guild was the largest and only holy land in the machinery field, making him the recognized foremost authority in machinery.

But good fortune did not last; at sixty-two, after Lars announced a research project called 【Godmaking】, he attracted the attention of corrupt church members, who secretly abducted him on the charge of desecrating the divine.

Their purpose in capturing Lars was simple: to obtain that 【Godmaking】 research so they could add a mechanical angel to the church!

However, having named his research 【Godmaking】, how could Lars cooperate with the church? Moreover, his scholarly spirit would not allow his research to be desecrated.

After failed negotiations, the corrupt church extracted Lars's soul, hoping to directly obtain the relevant memories of his mechanical research from it.

But how could Lars have achieved his current accomplishments without protecting his own soul?

In the end, the church obtained none of the relevant memories; furious, they locked his soul inside a Soul‑Nurturing Skull.

After enduring 500 years of solitude, the will within Lars's soul completely dissipated, turning it into a pure extraordinary item.

……

「Holy shit? I never expected Lars to be this badass?! 」

After viewing Lars's life, Su Hao couldn't help but sigh.

Unfortunately, Lars's relevant memories in the mechanical field are like a mosaic, completely blurred.

All we know is that his research is scattered among various institutes, encrypted and preserved with special methods.

However, after the Strange Descent, Lars's world merged with many others, including Earth; now those institutes are nowhere to be found, and even if Lars were resurrected, he likely could not locate them.

As Lars's memories finished playing, the twin souls fully merged into Su Hao's soul, increasing his soul strength by more than double.

The next moment.

Deep in Su Hao's mind came a strong tearing sensation, as if his soul were about to be ripped apart.

The sudden intense pain made Su Hao involuntarily suck in a breath of cold air; bead‑sized cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

He braced his hands on the bed, clenched his teeth, and tried to stay conscious, lest the pain cause him to faint.

Thus, over a minute and a half passed, Su Hao's whole body drenched in sweat, and that soul‑deep tearing feeling finally vanished.

In its place came an experience he had never had before.

He felt as if he had two brains, able to think about two completely different things simultaneously.

Now, even if Su Hao solved a quadratic equation on one side and did reading comprehension on the other, there would be no problem at all; he could even spare a moment to envision the future.

「Hahaha, is this what it feels like to have one body with two souls, one mind for two uses? It's simply awesome—dual cultivation of law and martial arts poses no problem at all! 」

Feeling the change in his soul, Su Hao laughed heartily.

From now on, whenever Su Hao wishes, he can swing the Gravity Rock Axe to strike people while simultaneously controlling a spellbook to force magic into others' mouths.

Moreover, with an extra soul, the upper limit of his mental power will also be higher, especially since for most undead beings, their core is mental power and soul.

If nothing unexpected happens, after his advancement Su Hao will likewise possess some traits of the undead.

「Hmm… right, I think I can gather the materials needed to craft a Stitching Monster in advance! 」

Thinking of the undead, Su Hao recalled the set of Stitching Monster‑making devices he had 'picked up' at Old Man Andrew's house.

Such a fine thing, in his possession for so many days, yet unusable because he lacks the relevant life‑alteration skills; each time he thinks of it, Su Hao feels a pang of regret.

Thinking this through, Su Hao opened the God Summer Doomsday Investigation Group's chat again and posted the materials listed in his experimental notes needed to craft first‑ and second‑rank Stitching Monsters.

Although Su Hao currently cannot craft Stitching Monsters, he believes he will eventually acquire the corresponding skills, perhaps automatically learning them after his advancement.

Now, by gathering materials in advance, once he learns the life‑alteration skills, he can begin mass‑producing Stitching Monsters and create an army of them!

After posting the news about the Stitching Monster materials, Su Hao sent a message to Hua Yao, telling her to get ready because he will visit them tomorrow.

Afterward, Su Hao lay down to sleep, resting his spirit, preparing to go find the Bloody Butcher tomorrow and speak some heartfelt words.

……

「Get up, you're coming with me today! 」

Morning of the second day, which is the tenth day after the Strange Descent.

Su Hao woke early, went to Da Xiong Mao's room, and ruffled his head twice to wake him up.

「Roar! 」

Da Xiong Mao let out a low growl, blinked his sleepy eyes open, pulled off the blanket covering his navel, and slid off the bed.

After breakfast, Su Hao glanced at the still‑sleeping Xiao Anni, grabbed some bread, canned peanuts and such, and left the shelter with Da Xiong Mao.

Today Su Hao plans to first go to the Flower Spirit Elf tribe to bring them back, then head to the goblin tribe and the dark dungeon.

This journey is not short; it will likely take one or two days to return, so bringing extra food is essential.

Just as he was about to leave, Su Hao suddenly paused his steps.

「How did I forget this? 」

Afterward, Su Hao linked his mental power with the shelter and, using the shelter's contract function after its upgrade, sent a contract invitation to Da Xiong Mao.

「【Lord Su Hao has sent you a contract invitation. Do you accept?】」

「【After accepting the contract invitation, you will become a member of Lord Su Hao's shelter and enjoy its construction bonuses.】」

「【At the same time, you will lose some freedom; should you harbor rebellious thoughts, Lord Su Hao will sense them, and if you act against the shelter's interests, you will suffer the contract's backlash.】」

「【The intensity of the backlash depends on Lord Su Hao's strength and the shelter's special constructions.】」

「Roar! (Accept, accept—only an idiot would refuse!)」

When Da Xiong Mao saw the words 'become a member of the sanctuary,' it naturally chose to agree, rubbing its big head against Su Hao's face.

Hmph hmph hmph! From now on I am the big boss's bear, so I don't have to worry about being driven away; I'm really clever!

At the same time, a message popped up before Su Hao's eyes.

【Iron-eating Beast Bibilala Bulu Dalala Dili Guwu Gulu Gulu Qi, accepted your contract invitation, becoming a member of the sanctuary; you can now view its personal information.】

【Furthermore, you can forcibly command it to do things that are harmless to itself; if it harbors rebellious thoughts, the contract will also feed back to you immediately.】

"Excellent!"

Su Hao grinned, pushed Da Xiong Mao's head aside, and opened its information panel.