Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 559 - 512 SS

The tall figure stood at the street corner, covered in silvery-white metal, making it impossible to determine the race of the newcomer. The outer armor leaned towards that of a human knight, with exceptional sealing properties; joint parts were covered by a light blue rubber-like material. His head resembled a racing driver’s helmet, half of the spherical cranium was obscured by black goggles, with material similar to one-way glass, preventing any glimpse from the outside.

Lyle could only hear the electronic sound emanating from the metal puppet, as he took steps towards the trio.

He appeared to be a member of the Mechanical Devine Sect, like Mr. Delusion, but his body was much bulkier than those of the Mechanical Liches, and he maintained a relatively reasonable humanoid form.

"Our technology is constrained by this era, otherwise, everything here would surely amaze you, gentlemen of Andrey."

"Who are you?"

The tall Mechanical Man patted his breastplate and stopped in front of Lyle, who was clearly on guard.

"A member of the Mechanical Devine Sect, model SS type one. Since I’m the only one of my model, you may as well call me SS."

The Mechanical Man SS expressed his friendliness. Although his appearance differed from the Liches, Lyle still accepted the abrupt interruption from this gentleman. His voice carried the faint sound of electricity, but Lyle deduced that this humanoid creature was relatively young. Like a young man, or perhaps an apprentice.

"SS?"

"Sun of the South. It is said that when my creator was making me, the Mechanical Devine Sect was carrying out an explosive experiment in the south. The light it produced was like another sun rising. Welcome to my home, guests from Andrey. Do you plan to keep standing there, or shall we find a suitable place to rest and have a good talk?"

Lyle shrugged, "Why not?"

The tall SS led the way; they passed through the commercial and industrial districts and arrived at the most vibrant entertainment area. On Lyle’s left was a warm-colored restaurant, but SS brought the four into the blue-grey building on the right that resembled a pile of metal scraps. Upon opening the door, SS walked up to the entrance of the restaurant and placed his order with the welcoming robot.

"Five servings of Killer Crab Egg Fried Rice, swap all drinks for Centrifugal Moonlight Juice, delivered to my house, and tell number 527 to deduct the bill from my labor credits."

SS entered the blue-grey building and after passing through three pneumatic cleaning chambers, sat down on the only work chair. Before him, four metal chairs and a square meeting table were slowly printing upwards from the ground.

The interior of the house was not as rudimentary and dirty as it appeared from the outside, catching Andrey’s group off guard, though they didn’t particularly care about the environment, as half of the Liches’ labs were submerged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"I designed the exterior, the interior decoration and furniture all come from Executors 2629 and 4957. Thankfully, I didn’t insist on doing everything myself. This is my living space, what I consider the most comfortable place."

The delivery of the food was swift; five steaming portions were laid on the table, as Lyle and the Liches stared each other down with the Mechanical Man SS.

"Let’s dine first, we can talk while we eat," SS gestured with his hand, holding his portion and starting to eat.

"It’s not as delicious as the food from the Culinary Society, but it’s not too bad either," he commented impartially after tasting a bite.

Shiny watched as SS crammed the cooked food into an opening in his helmet, a straw was drawn out from the lower side of his head, inserted into the cup. "Don’t you Mechanical Men only recharge? When did Metal Demon Dolls start eating food?"

SS retorted.

"If you Liches can grow flesh and eat, why can’t we Mechanicals do it? Inside me is a reactor that can break down food, I can eat and recharge."

The adaptable metal fork stirred within the rice ball, as if he were pondering something.

"If we’re naming things by initials, why are you called SS instead of SOS?"

Lyle’s grains of rice sprayed out as he realized that SS’s body also shuddered at the adaptable query.

"SOS... doesn’t quite suit as a name."

SS was an energetic Mechanical Man who quickly became friends with Shiny and others through a battle of wits and words.

"You despicable stick, next time I’ll shove my gun barrel down your dead mouth!"

"Old rust bucket, better use my magic wand to recharge first!"

Shiny was quickly defeated as two or three mechanical arms sprouted from the wall and hung him up, but Shiny also launched a counterattack with an angry headbutt, his skull latching onto SS’s arm and refusing to let go.

Until Lyle reluctantly put a stop to the fight.

"SS, why aren’t you the same model as Mr. Delusion? Why is there only one of the SS model?"

"Because I am the first prototype machine created in this world, a compromise between the technology of the Mechanical Divine Sect and this era." SS propped up on his arms on the table, "The Mechanical Divine Sect, including the Executors series bodies that control it, all descended here from another world. Just like demons come from hell, many races have migrated and evolved to this world; my race is no exception. But there’s a nasty reality that the rules of this world are not compatible with the technology of our Mechanical race. We are full of knowledge, yet we can’t quickly transform that knowledge into our power."

"Why not?"

"Because this world contains magic power, a force once unheard of and unimaginable to us." SS slapped the wall, and some symbols and patterns appeared on it. "According to the experiments and calculations of our race’s God of Machinery, this substance carrying magical powers is the pillar supporting the basic laws of the world. This strange substance almost turned all our technology into waste paper."

"According to our research, the basic unit of magic power, which we named mana particles, is a complex variable particle from subspace. It moves freely among all materials in this world, and no high-order element can reach the complex structure and reactivity of mana particles. We have also given it another name, Omnipotent Monad. As the name implies, this magical substance can do anything—as long as one understands and learns its unique rules. Space-time travel, elemental control, mind shaping... and even mastery over death."

"Mana particles are constantly breaking down into various known elements, and we can’t estimate their total volume. Just when we were about to label it as an irreversible rare substance, we discovered something called Magic Network Nodes. The principle of mana particles’ generation remains a mystery, but it is the chaos and power of these nodes that have made the research and design of the Mechanical Divine Sect exceedingly difficult. Almost all experiments must consider the presence of magic power, and yet our understanding of it is not fully comprehensive. However, its radiation is undeniably powerful."

"Wait, the radioactivity of magic power? Are you talking about radiation?" Lyle seemed to catch a troubling word.

"You actually know about radiation; that’s impressive. Indeed, as you said, the radioactivity of magic power is very strong, surpassing any radioactive element we know of."

Lyle still couldn’t associate magic power with radiation.

"But isn’t radiation that harmful thing that can cause bodily mutations? If magic power radiates, how did it become the lifeblood for us Spellcasters?"

SS cocked his head.

"What do you think, how were magical creatures created? By divine newbie gift packs from the gods?"

In lands rich in magic power, magical creatures more adept at using magic evolved from primitive species and were born.