Three days later.
Colin Workshop, reception room.
"Duke, this is the first batch of payment. I've converted it into equivalent gems and a check for you!"
Councilor Mel sat on the sofa opposite Duke, took a box containing valuables from her secretary's hand, and placed it on the table. Duke looked at the box, which was made of ebony wood and was twice the size of a regular jewelry box, and nodded.
"Thank you for making the trip, Councilor Mel!"
"It's nothing. I just hope you can release new works again. The applicability of the Clockwork Exoskeleton is very wide, and buyers are not limited to Piltover!"
Mel smiled at Duke meaningfully. Duke took the box, opened it, discreetly absorbed the wealth, and then casually said, "What, is a Councilor of the Council planning to be a broker?"
"I just can't bear to see a brilliant inventor's research stagnate due to insufficient funds!"
"I will make time to create a new work, an upgraded version based on Orianna Generation One. I will give you a reply in a month. I don't care who your buyer is or who you sell it to, but you need to provide the funds in full!"
"Of course, no problem. I will handle everything for you!"
Mel extended her hand, her eyes filled with a smile. Duke gently held her fingertips, which trembled slightly. A barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed in Mel's eyes, but she still smiled as she bid Duke farewell: "Then we'll see each other again!"
"Goodbye, Councilor Mel!"
Duke saw Mel to the door and watched her board the carriage and leave. Then, a sentence suddenly entered his ears.
"I don't like her!"
Jinx, wearing her academy uniform, held her schoolbag and watched Mel's carriage disappear at the end of the street. Duke stepped aside: "Some things aren't decided by whether you like them or not!"
"This is the World of adults!"
"But I'm still a child, and I have the right to say no, right, 260?"
"Of course!"
Duke led Jinx into the workshop, "What did you learn today?"
"Gear linkage of clockwork devices. It's boring. I prefer something more explosive!"
"I guess you'll be disappointed. There are no explosive research projects in the academy!"
As Duke and Jinx chatted and laughed, their voices gradually faded away.
After dinner, Duke returned to his room, closed the door, sat at his desk, and opened his personal panel.
[Host: Duke
Wealth: 55036
Character Slot: Iron Man — Tony Stark (Integration: 5.6%)
Title: The Cursed by Knowledge
Talent - Knowledge's Curse: (Omitted)
Abilities:
Clockwork Master (Ingenious)
Mark Series Blueprints (First Tier)
Anti-Hero Series Blueprints (First Tier unlock requires 10,000 wealth)
Artificial Intelligence (First Tier unlock requires 8,000 wealth)
Energy System (First Tier)
Mechanical Engineering (First Tier)
Mechanical Dynamics (First Tier)
Mechanical Precision Machining (First Tier)
....
Gazing at the more than 50,000 wealth on the panel, Duke took a deep breath: "Sure enough, this is the fastest way to make money! Based on a ten-to-one calculation, the first batch of goods is worth over 500,000 golden sea!"
"This is what I didn't expect!"
Duke looked at his wealth and immediately chose to unlock more modules.
His wealth rapidly decreased like flowing Water, and when only 12,000 remained, Duke stopped unlocking.
For now, he would only unlock this much!
Only with input comes output!
Without unlocking these, he wouldn't be able to successfully create his second work.
"With Clockwork Technology as the skeleton, Alchemy as the bloodline, and the hextech original crystal as the core, what kind of Fire will be sparked when three completely different technological systems merge?"
Duke took out his modified design blueprint.
The original draft of the Mobile Pegasus design blueprint had been modified beyond recognition by him, replaced now by a majestic motorcycle with a dragon's head.
"However, the hextech original crystal requires a risky attempt!"
Putting away the design blueprint, Duke's eyes gleamed with determination.
He made up his mind, "But for the mission reward, it's worth a try!"
"But before that, let's do a ten-draw and see how my luck is!"
Duke clicked the draw button, and 10,000 wealth instantly vanished.
Amidst the fine Water mist swirling in the gacha pool, ten blue question Mark light spheres flew out of the pool, shattering one after another.
You obtained: Mr. Freeze's Freezing Solution Formula
You obtained: ebony and ivory
You obtained: Legacy - Gunblade Tactics
You obtained: Dr. Octopus's Mechanical Arms
You obtained: Arcee's Remains (Autobot)
You obtained: Liquid Metal (Ten Liters)
You obtained: Mechanical Enhancement Nanobots
[You acquired: Vulture War Wings]
[You acquired: Drone - Hive]
[You acquired: Mantis Blade Enhancement Blueprint]
Ten lines of black text drifted across Duke's vision. Looking at the ten prizes in his inventory, he rubbed his hands and first took out the two famous weapons, ebony and ivory.
ebony wood was held in the left hand for long-range target acquisition, while white ivory was held in the right for close-range sweeping.
"They're perfect for my Gun Kata! I was just worrying that Deathstroke's sidearms couldn't keep up with my improving speed, and now I have new weapons!"
After playing with the two legendary weapons for a moment, Duke looked through the remaining nine prizes one by one, his eyes gleaming brightly. "Many of these things can be applied to my designs, whether it's liquid metal, Arcee's remains, or even nanobots!"
"Then it's time to act!"
Duke took a deep breath, looking at the deep night outside the window. Tonight, he was going to burn paper offerings for Camille's ancestor, Alicia Ferros.
...
Blue Lavender Manor, Cemetery.
Under the bright moonlight, there was no one around.
In the darkness, a figure silently glided across the night sky like a bat, landing within the Ferros Family's ancestral cemetery. A faint red glow flashed in the night.
"Am I constantly hovering on the brink of death?"
Glancing at the four-to-five-meter-high wall behind him, Duke self-mocked, but he hadn't forgotten his objective for coming here: the hextech original crystal in the coffin of Camille's ancestor.
This was also the clue Duke received when he accidentally activated a fragment of the Loom of Destiny during his first draw, a slip of the tongue.
Who would have thought that a treasure like the hextech original crystal would be buried as a funerary object in Alicia Ferros's tomb?
"Vali, activate night vision and also help detect life activity within a one-kilometer radius centered on me. If anyone approaches, notify me immediately!"
"Yes, Father!"
A faint red glow filled Duke's vision, and everything in the darkness instantly became clear to him. Walking past tomb after tomb, Duke observed the deceased buried by the Ferros Family over the years.
The cemetery was serene, and the flowers and plants were evenly grown, indicating frequent pruning by gardeners.
Besides the direct descendants of the Ferros Family, some individuals who had made significant contributions to the Ferros Family were also buried here.
Among them were artisans, butlers, and guards.
"It seems the Ferros are more humane than I imagined!"
As Duke sighed, he also stopped before a tombstone. "But considering what I'm about to do, they probably won't be so merciful towards me!"
"But for the sake of research, this risk is worth taking!"
"Move quickly, take the crystal, and quickly restore the tomb. Just do it all without anyone knowing!"
Continuously encouraging himself, Duke raised his hand, pulled out a shovel, apologized to the tombstone in front of him, and began digging.
The shovel moved swiftly, turf flew, and damp soil was exposed to the air. To prevent his plan from being exposed, Duke's movements were decisive and clean.
When he saw Alicia's coffin, Duke stopped shoveling, then got into the pit and lifted Alicia's coffin out.
Feeling guilty, Duke cautiously surveyed his surroundings before looking at Alicia's coffin.
The coffin's color was the deep gray beloved by Ferros, and its lid was carved with the Master's life story: venturing alone into the desert, investigating, and then returning the way he came.
On her second expedition, Alicia, leading a camel train, discovered a giant crystal scorpion in a valley in Shurima.
Alicia extracted a crystal from within the giant crystal scorpion, inadvertently startling it. Ultimately, the group defeated the crystal scorpion, and Alicia returned with the original crystal, though she lost an arm in the process.
This depiction was the most prominent part of the coffin lid; the rest detailed how Alicia led her people to innovate and prosper, solidified the Ferros Family's position, and decided to retreat behind the scenes. There were also some trivial daily life scenes.
The bas-relief was incredibly lifelike and thoroughly documented the Ferros Family's rise, as well as the reason for their inconspicuous reputation.
After obtaining the hextech original crystal, the Ferros Family chose to operate behind the scenes, not overtly controlling all of Piltover. They knew that such control would stifle Piltover's future and creativity.
What they needed was a vibrant Piltover with a long-term future, not a stagnant city.
On both sides of the coffin, there were mechanical locks, requiring both sides to cooperate to open the first lock, and there were internal mechanical locks that required inside and outside cooperation to open the second lock.
For most people, this would be an almost impossible task, but for Duke, it was incredibly simple.
Flipping up his face mask, Duke exhaled a breath containing blue light particles, which floated into the coffin's mechanical locks.
The mechanical locks, imbued with life by Duke, opened automatically.
Click, click!
After two soft clicks, Duke gently opened the coffin and saw what was inside.
A lady dressed in luxurious robes lay peacefully within, a fist-sized crystal resting on her chest. The crystal emitted a faint blue glow, illuminating Duke's face.
The moment the crystal entered Duke's vision, an invisible ripple emanated, sweeping across the entire Ferros Estate.
"This is it!"
At the same time, in a room within the Ferros Family residence.
A pair of eyes, glowing with a deep blue light, suddenly opened and looked towards the direction of the cemetery.
....Exploding tonight, seeking first subscriptions....
....For every hundred additional first subscriptions, an extra chapter will be updated...
-------------------------------
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