Chapter 501: Successive Promotion Prompts

Chapter 501: Successive Promotion Prompts

Reginald, having sensed the danger in advance, quickly took flight and retreated. Thanks to the protection of his Steel Armor, although he was also blown away by the shockwave, he didn't suffer any significant injuries.

However, as he was being thrown back, he heard the distant explosion mixed with the furious roar of Swordsaint Tyrion and the curses of Hernandez.

Clearly, the three of them had been affected much more severely by the explosion than he was.

As the smoke and dust gradually settled, Reginald's figure flashed, and he quickly moved toward the position of Tyrion and the others.

Soon, Reginald saw Tyrion struggling to get up from the ground. A palm-sized metal fragment was embedded in his abdomen, and he was clutching his wound.

Not far away, Dawn Wizard Hernandez had several metal fragments embedded in his left calf, indicating that the explosion's power had overwhelmed his magical defenses.

As for Helm, being the weakest among the crystalline wizards, his condition was the most pitiful. Apart from his head, his body was almost entirely punctured by irregular metal fragments, and he was groaning in pain on the ground.

"Lord Reginald, did you succeed?" Tyrion, who was holding his abdomen, sensed the movement and immediately stood up on guard. Upon recognizing Reginald, his expression changed, and he exclaimed in shock.

Tyrion's words naturally drew Hernandez's attention.

"By a stroke of luck," Reginald nodded.

After that, he quickly approached and began examining their injuries. Since Tyrion had failed once before, it was best not to say too much, lest he unintentionally hurt their feelings.

But the more Reginald did so, the more Tyrion and Hernandez felt that he was unfathomable!

Especially Tyrion, who had thought for a long time but couldn't figure out how Reginald had managed to break through the blockade of the three gigantic automatons and kill the white-coated dryad goblin.

However, this question wasn't suitable to ask right now, so he only looked at Reginald with even greater respect.

"It's fine, just a minor injury." After treating his abdominal wound and taking a healing potion, Tyrion indicated to Reginald that he was fine.

"It's Helm who is in a bad state. His injuries won't be fatal, but they won't heal quickly," Tyrion glanced at Helm, who was groaning on the ground, and shook his head, helpless.

The explosion had been so intense that it had killed the wandering dryad goblins in the vicinity, creating a temporary safe zone in the area.

After spending some time helping to treat Hernandez and Helm's injuries, Reginald pointed in the direction of where the white-coated dryad goblin had been and said, "You two should rest and recover. I'll go check it out."

"Maybe there are some clues about this ruin over there."

Tyrion and Hernandez followed Reginald's gaze and saw that the explosion had blown away the chains and parts hanging in the air, revealing a corner with several brown wooden workbenches.

During the battle with the white-coated dryad goblin, Reginald had noticed this workbench.

What caught his attention was a stack of documents on one of the workbenches.

Some of the documents were neatly stacked, but many were scattered and disorganized on the table.

Even more intriguing, Reginald saw a few memory crystals reflecting light under the lamp.

Tyrion and Hernandez exchanged glances and nodded, saying, "All right, Lord Reginald, be careful."

In fact, before coming here, they knew the Union Council's decision, which included a directive to prevent Reginald from obtaining any ancient goblin technology from the ruins.

However, their lives had been saved by Reginald.

Asking them to stop him now would be a challenge to their moral integrity and an insult to an epic-level powerhouse.

Therefore, Tyrion and Hernandez chose not to say anything to obstruct him and instead watched as Reginald walked toward the distant workbench.

Soon, Reginald arrived at the workbench in the corner.

Indeed, a large number of paper documents were scattered and stacked, indicating that the situation at the time had been sudden and hurried, and the documents hadn't been properly organized.

Reginald casually flipped through a few, but unfortunately, even in the dry environment of the second underground level, the paper from thousands of years ago, without any preservation methods, crumbled at the slightest touch.

This was the natural aging of paper fibers, which was unavoidable.

Only with special treatment or magical protection could they have been preserved intact.

However, from the faded and yellowed design drawings on the paper, it was clear that these were blueprints or designs for important mechanical devices, not the diary or items Reginald had hoped might reveal the secrets of the ruins.

So, Reginald wasn't disappointed.

What attracted his attention more was the three memory crystals still shining on the workbench.

Generally, memory crystals have a much longer lifespan than ordinary paper or parchment.

This is why ancient and long-established schools of wizardry generally use memory crystals to preserve important information.

Without hesitation, Ren picked up one of the crystals and gently probed it with his mental energy.

As his mental energy delved in, a large amount of knowledge about the creation of various mechanical devices flooded Ren’s mind, including things like flamethrowers and synchronized gyroscopes.

Ren could sense that this knowledge was organized from the basic to the advanced, forming a relatively systematic body of goblin engineering knowledge.

Any wizard who obtained such a complete and systematic body of goblin engineering knowledge could benefit greatly if they put in the time and effort.

"Goblin Engineering? This is..."

Ren looked at the memory crystal in front of him with surprise.

He hadn’t expected that the crystal would contain this information.

After a moment’s thought, Ren decided to memorize it, as this precious information would be highly beneficial to both himself and the Bishu Construction School he belonged to.

It didn’t take long for Ren, with his mental energy as a Dawn Wizard, to forcibly memorize the content.

Of course, this was just memorization, not complete mastery.

It’s like being familiar with the steps and precautions of a chemical experiment, but to truly master it, one would need to practice it several times.

Ren’s current situation was similar.

Especially in goblin engineering, a lot of the content required practical application.

"Hmm? What is this?" Ren’s expression changed slightly.

This was because, as soon as he memorized the relevant knowledge, a system prompt suddenly appeared:

[Ding! Detected host’s contact with goblin engineering, triggering class change—Goblin Engineer (Legendary)!]



[To advance to Goblin Engineer (Legendary), the following conditions must be met: 1. Level 5 or higher in a forging or mechanical Extraordinary Profession (Master Armor Smith meets this requirement); 2. Strength 18 or higher, Endurance 18, Mind 20 or higher; 3. Mastery of goblin engineering knowledge; 4. Independently create three qualified goblin engineering constructs. Current conditions not met! Advancement to Goblin Engineer (Legendary) failed!]



After carefully reviewing the system prompt, Ren was elated.

"I didn’t expect that my search for the subsequent stages of my meditation technique would lead me to the advanced class change for Master Armor Smith."

"What a pleasant surprise!"

What Ren was most lacking in was skill points, followed by attribute points. He was not short of Golden Skill Points due to the continuous battles.

If he could change his class to Goblin Engineer, combined with his Elf Leatherworker profession, he wouldn’t have to worry about skill points and attribute points for a considerable period.

The content of the first memory crystal had already brought him a significant surprise, which made Ren focus his attention on the remaining two memory crystals on the workbench.

"I wonder what these two contain?"

Ren couldn’t help but think this as he immediately picked up the second memory crystal and quickly probed it with his mental energy.

A larger amount of even more advanced knowledge about the creation of various mechanical devices flooded Ren’s mind, including the design plans of the prototype machines he had just encountered and the method to create gravity influence devices.

This time, even with his mental energy as a Dawn Wizard, it took him several minutes to forcibly memorize this advanced goblin engineering knowledge.

"Helm would probably be overjoyed to see these materials!" Ren thought, glancing at Helm, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy in the distance.

However, although he hadn’t checked the third crystal yet, Ren had a vague feeling that it was unlikely to contain the fifth level of the meditation technique.

His original purpose for coming to the second underground level was not to find goblin engineering knowledge but to find the fifth level of the Advanced Meditation Technique of the Steel Heart. Now, he hadn’t found the subsequent stages of the meditation technique but had found this.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Ren’s eyes narrowed as the system prompt sounded again:

[Ding! Detected host’s contact with advanced goblin engineering knowledge, triggering special advanced class change—Goblin Engineering Expert (Epic)!]



[To advance to Goblin Engineering Expert (Epic), the following conditions must be met: 1. Goblin Engineer level 5. Current conditions not met, advancement to Goblin Engineering Expert (Epic) failed!]



"Goblin Engineering Expert? Epic level?"

This sudden, even greater surprise was truly unexpected for Ren!

"Even without finding the fifth level of the meditation technique, the value of this discovery is immeasurable." Ren couldn’t help but smile.

He was well aware of the power represented by an Epic-level profession in the system’s evaluation. For reference, his Epic-level profession, the King of a Thousand Blades, was a clear example.

After calming his excitement, Ren picked up the third and final memory crystal on the workbench.

"What does this one contain?"

"Is it possible that it could unravel the secrets of this ruin?"

With these thoughts in mind, Ren slowly infused his mental energy into the crystal.

A moment later, Ren’s eyes widened as he murmured, "It’s actually the design and construction plans for a Sky City."

Instantly, a flash of insight crossed his mind!

"Of course! I should have thought of this earlier!"

"This goblin city uses so much metal and has multiple layers. This is clearly the pinnacle of ancient goblin technology—a Sky City!"

Although it involved a lot of advanced goblin engineering knowledge that Ren couldn’t fully understand, he could naturally grasp the basic structure of the Sky City.

"We are currently on the second sublevel, the mechanical construction area."

"Below us is the third sublevel, the supply storage area."

"The fourth sublevel is the power and transmission area."

"The fifth sublevel, which is the bottom level, is the control room."

"Three more levels?" Ren's brows furrowed.

"The control room is at the very bottom? That's a strange design."

He didn't know which level the problem with this Sky City was located, but it definitely wasn't in the supply storage area on the next level down.

This meant that if they wanted to uncover the truth about this Sky City or repair it, they would need to delve at least two more levels, possibly even three!

However, from the current situation, the deeper they went, the greater the danger.

So far, their four-person team had already suffered one severe injury and two minor injuries on the second sublevel. It was worth noting that their team included three epic-level powerhouses.

"No wonder the elite exploration team of the ancient wizard school, the Valzigg School, led by its head, got stuck here."

Ren remembered clearly that during their exploration of the Valzigg School ruins, he had seen related records in the black leather diary. At the time, he was very puzzled, as the head of an ancient wizard school was likely at the peak of the Dawn Wizard stage, yet had vanished without a trace during the exploration of the New Continent.

He had initially thought that the head might have encountered an opposing wizard school and died in the conflict.

But now, it seemed increasingly likely that he was trapped here.

Ren's eyes flickered as he quickly pondered. He had already found the way out from the design and construction plans of the Sky City, meaning he could leave at any time.

"Should I continue exploring downward or return?"

The reason to continue exploring was simple: he hadn't found the subsequent stages of the meditation technique. Of course, there was no guarantee that the lower levels would have the subsequent stages of the meditation technique. For example, the head might have lost his belongings during intense combat.

There were many such possibilities.

The reason to return, of course, was for safety.

For a moment, Ren was hesitant.

However, when he looked at the injured Tyrion and the others, he suppressed the urge to continue exploring.

"The risk of continuing downward is too high!"

Not to mention, the influence of the whispering sounds would only intensify. Ren had a feeling that the black grubs were a harbinger of something more bizarre below.

"Perhaps, I should ask Prince Menya and these veteran Dawn Wizards for more information."

Having made his decision, Ren suddenly thought of something. He looked at the three memory crystals on the table, his eyes flickering as he pondered.

The importance and value of these three crystals were beyond doubt. If given to the Federation, they would significantly advance the creation of automatons and mechanical devices.

"Should I destroy them?"

"Keep them to myself?"

"No! The main issue for the Federation, the Empire, and even all of humanity is not something else, but the resurgence of powerful beings like behemoths and deities!"

The content recorded in these crystals could, to some extent, enhance people's ability to deal with these entities.

Ren picked up the three crystals and quickly walked to where Tyrion and the others were.

"Lord Ren, have you figured out what happened to this ancient goblin capital?" Swordsaint Tyrion asked with a hopeful look when he saw Ren return.

Ren shook his head and said, "Not yet. There are no records. However, it seems the incident that occurred was quite sudden."

"Perhaps some documents have records, but after so many years, they have become stuck together and dried out, making them impossible to read."

"However, we did make some discoveries."

"Hmm?" Ren's words immediately caught the attention of Tyrion and Hernandez. Even Helm, who was lying on the ground groaning, glanced over.

"The ancient goblin capital we are in is a Sky City!" Ren looked around and smiled.

"What!" The three of them exclaimed in unison.

Ren's words were like a bomb, exploding in their minds! Especially Helm, who, despite the intense pain, sat up abruptly.

Seeing the wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock on their faces, Ren handed the three crystals to Tyrion and Hernandez, saying, "Your Excellencies, take a look at these, and you'll understand."

"Whoosh!"

A hand wrapped in white bandages quickly reached out and grabbed one of the crystals.

"Me too~ ouch~" The hand belonged to Helm.

However, this movement seemed to reopen his wounds, causing him to wince in pain despite his advanced age.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end