"Morning Star City" was essentially the body of the "Mechanical Emperor," and it could actually transform into a humanoid form?

Evans, you really shouldn’t be called the "Mechanical Emperor"—this thing should be called the "Galactic Emperor" instead!

After sensing Lucien Evans’s abilities, Ebner couldn’t help but complain inwardly.

Yes, with the help of the "Unknown Land," even within the Goddess’s divine kingdom, he could still perceive and control the body that was "Morning Star City"... he could even clearly reflect in his mind those residents of the floating city who had undergone "soul modification."

They were like computers connected to a "local area network," completely opening up the permissions of their own "hardware" to him, the "mainframe."

As long as Ebner wished, he could freely manipulate all their data, including memories, emotions, and abilities... he could even influence their "Mind Body" and "Ether Body" through the "Spirit Body" and "Astral Projection," thereby altering the state and attributes of their physical bodies.

"Roselle was right—’soul modification’ technology is indeed extremely evil! Once the person performing the ritual has ill intentions, the fate of the thousands who underwent modification is easy to imagine... yet it just happens to be required for advancing to Knowledge Magister.

"Additionally, it’s fortunate that the ’Mechanical Emperor’ didn’t possess a Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristic and failed to advance to Angel. Otherwise, after becoming a complete mythical creature and turning into a ’law’ or ’rule’-based lifeform, he could have easily dispersed himself and hidden within those who underwent soul modification, making it nearly impossible to completely kill him. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Even so, he still relied on the abilities of a Demon of Knowledge to separate part of his power and hide it within them. Otherwise, those ordinary residents wouldn’t have been able to persist for over two hundred years in the nightmare of Afternoon Town, even with mechanical modification!

"Heh, the two ’knowledge’ pathways are really interesting. One is an ’information lifeform,’ the other a ’law lifeform.’ Although both are knowledge itself, they embody two different aspects of it...

"So one is ’explicit,’ ultimately becoming the Paragon; the other is ’implicit,’ ultimately becoming the Hermit?"

As his thoughts turned, Ebner once again controlled the "Mechanical Emperor statue" before him and experimented with the Beyonder abilities of the "Demon of Knowledge," or rather, the "Arcane Scholar."

—Having the relevant memories was one thing; actual operation was another.

A moment later, he muttered silently:

"There are roughly three categories of abilities:

"First, the ’alchemy’ ability derived from the core skills of Artisan and Appraiser. It allows the creation of mechanical constructs far beyond the current technological level, and can even imbue them with souls... though in terms of souls, it still falls short of the ’Classical Alchemist’ of the Mother pathway.

"Of course, ’far beyond the current era’ refers to what can be achieved within the bounds of existing theory... anything incomprehensible is still impossible.

"For example, before Roselle, the Church of Steam... no, back then it was still called the Church of Artisans, their Beyonders couldn’t create items from the steam age.

"Second, the various ’arcane’ abilities derived from the core skills of the Astronomer.

"This ability is somewhat similar to the ’Mystery Reenactment’ of the Mysticologist, except that instead of accumulating unknown ’hidden stories,’ it transforms observable astronomical phenomena into Beyonder abilities.

"The ’Aurora’ once used by Archbishop Horamick of the Church of Steam is one manifestation of this ability. Its power is extremely formidable—even Mr. A, whose life-preserving methods rival ordinary Demigods, was nearly killed just by being grazed from afar.

"Of course, that ’Aurora’ was already an upgraded ’arcane’ attack. If it were used by a mere Sequence 5 Astronomer, it would only reproduce a low-tier astronomical phenomenon, and its power would be much weaker.

"However, since the Forsaken Land of the Gods cannot see the starry sky and cannot observe astronomical phenomena, the ’Mechanical Emperor’ has no accumulation in this ability...

"In fact, he hadn’t even fully digested his Astronomer potion before hastily advancing to Alchemist. In the end, he relied on the assistance of the ’Unknown’ to forcibly withstand the risk of losing control.

"Finally, the third category of ability is actually transforming into the incomplete mythical creature ’Demon of Knowledge,’ temporarily adding, deleting, or altering the ’labels’ of certain objects!

"For example, Sealed Artifacts of the Sun pathway are extremely effective against evil, undead, and shadow-type creatures. However, a Demon of Knowledge can temporarily delete the ’undead’ label, rendering the artifact incapable of affecting undead enemies for a short period of time.

"And the ’Holy Sword Bernadette’ that the ’Mystery Queen’ gave me also has ’labels’ added by her brother, Bonova... but as an Angel, the ’labels’ he adds are far more powerful and longer-lasting."

Thinking this, Ebner put away the more than three-meter-tall "mecha statue." Then, after waiting a little while longer and confirming that the Goddess had no intention of receiving him, he gave a respectful salute toward the depths of darkness before withdrawing from the "Deep Dark Heaven."

At that moment, "Sun" Derrick had just completed his advancement and was thrown out by a certain force.

...

Monday morning, Northern District, Backlund University of Technology.

Audrey was walking through the campus with several staff members of the "Film and Television Charity Fund."

She wore a simple light green dress, with a plain white belt tied around her waist. Her golden hair framed a slightly playful gauze hat adorned with ribbon flowers. She wore almost no jewelry, only a silver bracelet on her left wrist, making her appear no different from a female student of merely average family background.

—During this period, she had visited public primary schools on the edge of the Eastern District and technical schools in the Backlund Bridge area. She already understood what kind of clothing suited what kind of occasion, unlike many nobles who treated charity events as social gatherings.

Her clear green eyes shifted slightly as Audrey observed the passing students with a faint smile.

These days marked the time when Backlund University of Technology issued admission notices and new students arrived to register.

Originally, registration should have taken place in late August or early September. However, since Backlund University of Technology was a newly established school, its entrance exams were held later than those of other universities, and the results were also released later. This meant that many applicants had likely also taken exams at other universities and might have already been admitted. Therefore, they advanced the registration process to verify numbers and determine how many additional students needed to be admitted.

For this reason, Audrey and the disguised Demoness of Affliction Margaret, had come here to assist the first batch of approved applicants with their enrollment procedures.

From what she saw, the students on this campus all radiated vitality. Their behavior exuded clear confidence, and their words and actions carried an indescribable vigor, as if they were full of hope for the future and could see a light ahead.

This was completely different from Audrey’s experiences at several public primary schools. The students there were either rude and noisy or silent and gloomy. Their common trait was frequent confusion and unease. When encountering outsiders of status, they would shrink back timidly, their eyes dim, lacking the spirited energy that young people should have.

I truly hope those children can all have the opportunity to receive higher education, to strive for a better future like the students here... Audrey sighed inwardly as her gaze swept over a pair of young men and women nearby, who appeared to be siblings.

The older brother had clearly already entered society and begun working. He wore a silk top hat and a relatively thin black formal suit, looking about thirty years old, with the demeanor of a government employee.

He had somehow borrowed a rather old camera, setting it up on a stand. As he gestured for his sister to adjust her position, he searched for the best angle.

The sister looked about seventeen or eighteen. Her black hair hung simply, and her brown eyes revealed a hint of helplessness, yet she said nothing and obediently followed her brother’s instructions.

Audrey found them somewhat familiar. After a brief recollection, she remembered seeing them helping backstage at the premiere ceremony of Bryan Film Company.

—These two were naturally Benson and Melissa. After spending two days sightseeing in Berdan, they returned to Backlund by airship last night.

They should be acquaintances of Mr. Tower... Audrey thoughtfully withdrew her gaze. Just as she was about to go take a look at the retired steam locomotive displayed in the central square, she suddenly saw Mr. Tower—whom she had just been thinking about—walking toward her with a boy nearly two meters tall.

And the staff around her, as well as the hidden bodyguards, all turned a blind eye to their arrival.

Mr. Tower seemed to have constructed a large-scale "dream" in an instant? That’s truly impressive... even that annoying Mr. Arrogance from the Psychological Alchemists probably couldn’t achieve this.

On the other side, Ebner stepped forward, exchanged greetings, and pointed to Derrick beside him. "Miss Justice, this is Mr. Sun. As previously agreed, I’ll leave the task of showing him around Backlund to you.

"During this time, Margaret will transform into your appearance and continue the ’inspection’ here..."

Audrey glanced at the identical version of herself that had already appeared beside her. She then put on the "Lie" mask and replied with a smile, "It would be my honor!"

(End of Chapter)