’To think they can mass-produce this kind of thing.

Mechanicians really are something else.’

Lorren’s Imperial Palace was spacious, filled with one magnificent palace after another, forming a sprawling complex.

There was even a small forest within the Imperial Palace grounds.

Tengge, on the other hand...

Lu Cang felt it was less an imperial palace and more a final boss’s lair...

A colossal, 999-story, unbelievably massive structure.

The outermost layer was a black perimeter wall, and you had to pass an identity check to get inside.

Once inside, there were gates of light everywhere.

The gates of light would scan a person’s identity.

If an identity check failed, an alarm would sound, and robot guards would appear instantly to arrest the person.

’This is nothing like an Imperial Palace,’ Lu Cang thought. ’It’s more like the final lair you reach after fighting your way to a boss...’

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH—

Lu Cang flashed through, level by level. Some of the more unusual floors had novelties that made him pause.

A massive, black containment area.

It was one of the few places in the entire lair with a Restriction, and jet-black guards patrolled outside.

’They look like mini-bosses.’

’Am I in the Demon King City or something?’

SWISH—

Lu Cang appeared directly inside the black containment area.

It was, of all things, a server room.

Lu Cang reached out and touched it...

[Tengge Main Information Server]

[Manages data entry for all Tengge members and robot identity registration. Protected by an extremely high level of encryption.]

"They even have a server."

"But I don’t see any computers or phones..."

Then again, the technology tree in this world was bizarre.

For example, the concept of things like radio waves simply didn’t seem to exist.

[Creator: Qi Loba—Tengge’s Chief Mechanician]

’This person must be a Level 6 Mechanician, too.’

Lu Cang had already examined all the mechanical creations inside the Storage Bag left by Mokri, whom he’d just killed.

Some of them traced back to Qi Loba, while others pointed to the King—Teng Gai.

Lu Cang touched the server.

At the same time, he began to crack it.

’Energy signals, mechanical structure... The decryption was Level 7 and required proficiency in mechanics, information science, energy science, signal science...’

’All of which was knowledge Lorren lacked.’

’No wonder Lorren didn’t have any Mechanicians. Without this knowledge base, it was indeed impossible to change one’s class to Mechanician.’

’With the knowledge he currently possessed, he probably couldn’t crack it directly.’

’Oh well...’

SWISH—

With another flicker of movement, Lu Cang arrived in a room filled with culture vats.

"Mechanical hearts, scanning eyes, alloy-powered jaws."

"Is this some kind of cyberpunk world?"

The room was filled with things that resembled cyberware.

’It really was quite an eye-opener.’

’If this were the first episode, I’d have a hard time guessing where I’d been transported to. I might even think I was in Night City.’

Lu Cang casually broke open a culture vat.

He plucked out the mechanical heart inside. The moment he made contact, he learned its function and how to install it.

Then, he swallowed a pain-dampening pill.

SQUELCH—

He reached into his chest and tore out his own heart.

Then he carefully worked to connect the mechanical heart’s vessels to his own.

Soon, the flesh healed over, but his original heart did not regenerate.

The mechanical heart had replaced his own.

BOOM!

WHIRRR—

Lu Cang felt his blood begin to pump with accelerating force.

Oh!

’I can feel the power welling up!’

’But... it’s not much of an increase.’

’Besides, because he’d replaced his heart, some of his Combat Skills were now unusable...’

SQUELCH—

Lu Cang tore open his chest again, ripped out the mechanical heart, and tossed it on the floor.

’Just so-so... A piece of junk.’

His flesh healed almost instantly, and a new heart grew back inside his body. Lu Cang no longer cared at all about localized physical damage.

He could recover in an instant from anything, as long as his brain remained.

Missing a heart, a kidney, or whatever—it was nothing to worry about.

SWISH!

He arrived on the 666th floor.

"They actually have Gundams?"

"Then again, it’s more reasonable for a Mechanician to have a mech than it is for them to have servers."

’Come to think of it, shouldn’t a Mechanician’s High Level Form be a fully mechanical body? Isn’t that the same as fighting in a mech?’

"Who’s there!"

BOOM!

Hearing his exclamation, several pilots operating massive mechs, each about ten stories tall, turned around.

Only to see a small child.

"A child?"

"This is a restricted test site! How did you get in?"

"This is too suspicious! Even if he’s a child, we can’t let him leave here alive!"

The pilot in the leading black mech roared!

BOOM!

In an instant, it accelerated right in front of Lu Cang!

Its black Giant Blade came cleaving straight down at Lu Cang!

’"Killing even a child... How brutal."’

’Then again, if a mysterious child suddenly appeared in my own heavily guarded, restricted area...’

’...I’d probably find them incredibly suspicious, too.’

’I definitely wouldn’t treat them like a normal kid.’

BOOM!

The Giant Blade fell, unleashing a wave of scorching heat, but Lu Cang appeared behind the mech at an even greater speed.

[Space Penetration Shock (Tier Five) x Demon Quenching Form - Fifth Form·Extreme Continuous Strike·]

BANG!

In the instant they clashed.

The black mech before him disintegrated, and its pilot was reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.

Lu Cang glanced back!

BOOM!

A spatial shockwave erupted, tearing through the air like a fault line!

In an instant, the dozen or so mechs all shattered, not a single one left intact.

’"Is that all..."’

’They look cool, but their actual combat power is pretty average.’

Lu Cang’s hands remained in his pockets; he hadn’t taken them out the entire time.

SWISH!

His figure flashed again.

Lu Cang arrived on the top floor, the 999th level.

’Why do kings always have to live on the top floor? Doesn’t he get tired climbing so high? Even taking an elevator would take a while.’

With his hands in his pockets, Lu Cang appeared directly inside the King’s spacious chambers.

He stood casually before the King.

The external Restrictions, the gates of light, and the energy barrier blanketing the entire room had not been triggered, nor had any alarm sounded.

"Who are you!"

Lu Cang said flatly, "If everyone I meet asks me that, I’m going to die of exhaustion just from answering."

"I just want to know about you making Mokri prophesize Lorren’s doomsday."