In the Eternal Dream, the Yuanling Immortal Emperor cautiously returned to the Immortal Realm.
Now, the Immortal Realm had completely merged into the Immortal Kingdom, so as soon as the Yuanling Immortal Emperor appeared, there was no place left to hide.
Through spatial displacement, the Yuanling Immortal Emperor was transported by Rosen into the hall of the Immortal Castle.
Rosen sat on the magnificent throne, and the Eye of the Creator instantly determined that the Yuanling Immortal Emperor before him was still a clone.
It seemed that the World Will had sent this clone.
"Esteemed Immortal Emperor of the Immortal Empire, I come to convey the request of the World Will," the Yuanling Immortal Emperor said nervously, worried Rosen might take action. He spoke hastily to explain his purpose.
"What request?" Rosen asked.
"The World Will wishes to borrow the Genesis Seed…" The Yuanling Immortal Emperor hesitated briefly before continuing, "If you are willing to lend it, the World Will can provide you with other paths for growth. The rewards you ultimately gain will far surpass the Genesis Seed."
"So, you plan to take advantage of me?" Rosen asked, displeased.
"Of course not," the Yuanling Immortal Emperor replied quickly, pulling out a map that floated toward Rosen. "This map points to a hidden spiritual realm in the New World that is no less valuable than the Eternal Dream. Whether or not you lend the Genesis Seed, this map is a gift from the World Will."
Rosen took the map, and the Eternal Knowledge immediately began to analyze it.
The map itself was a miraculous treasure, so its properties were as they appeared—impossible to forge and unique in the world.
Through this map, one could enter a special spiritual realm called the Eternal Mechanical City.
It was also of eternal life, a city left behind by the universe's most powerful eternal mechanical life forms after their death.
Both cosmic civilizations and the Main God civilization had gained tremendous benefits from the Eternal Mechanical City.
However, the most precious thing— the Eternal Mechanical Origin Seed— remained stored in the Eternal Mechanical City, and no one had been able to take it.
Because the Eternal Mechanical City was not stationary, but constantly moving within the crust, it was very difficult to find. But with the map in hand, it would be very simple.
Rosen understood very well. Although the World Will had said that this map would be a gift regardless of whether the Genesis Seed was lent, if he took the map for free, his recently improved relationship with the World Will would likely deteriorate immediately.
With this map, lending out a Genesis Seed was not a bad deal.
The problem was, the Genesis Seed had already merged with the Serpent Mother Gourd and was being used to repair it. It couldn't be normally split anymore. He couldn't lend the Serpent Mother Gourd to the World Will, or it would be like giving a meat bun to a dog—taking but not returning.
"The Genesis Seed has already merged with an item that cannot be lent. I'll draw one for you to take back," Rosen said after thinking for a moment, pulling out the Creator's Sketchbook and beginning to draw.
The Yuanling Immortal Emperor stood uneasily, not understanding what Rosen meant by drawing a Genesis Seed.
But soon, he understood because Rosen quickly finished drawing a Genesis Seed.
The paint used was composed of the Eternal Genesis Essence, with some Eternal Mimicry Essence and Eternal Dream Essence mixed in, creating a replica of the Genesis Seed. Apart from lacking the ability to communicate with the Cosmic Origin, this imitation could do everything else the original Genesis Seed could do.
Of course, in order to maximize the power of the imitation, its duration would not exceed a hundred years.
The Yuanling Immortal Emperor reluctantly took the scroll with the drawing and left the Eternal Dream, a place that no longer belonged to him.
Half an hour later, the World Will opened the scroll in its hand, slightly startled.
Since it had been mentioned as a loan, the loan was clearly referring to the power of the Genesis Seed.
Although the Genesis Seed had not been borrowed, the power within the drawing of the Genesis Seed was sufficient.
Although the Genesis Seed in the drawing was fake, the amount of Eternal Genesis Essence consumed to create this image was incredibly large.
Rosen was willing to expend such a vast amount, showing a basic level of sincerity.
What intrigued the World Will even more was what Rosen had fused the Genesis Seed into.
An Eternal-grade primal origin seed could only be fused into an artifact of Eternal rank.
"It seems the Serpent Mother Gourd is in Rosen's hands," the World Will thought with a touch of apprehension as it closed the scroll.
....
Deep underground in the New World, Rosen took out the map sent by the Yuanling Immortal Emperor.
[City Map: Miracle Artifact]
[Rank: True God]
[Miracle Properties: The first edition of the map of the Eternal Mechanical City]
[Miracle Characteristics: Teleportation Ritual, Unique in the World, Eternal and Indestructible]
Rosen searched as much as he could for any clues about the Eternal Mechanical City, but there were no direct leads.
However, there were some indirect ones. In history, there had been individuals who encountered the randomly moving Eternal Mechanical City and attempted to enter it for exploration, only to be nearly annihilated by its outermost defense system. The only reason any survived was that one of them was a True God skilled in self-preservation.
Thus, finding the Eternal Mechanical City was not the most difficult part. The real challenge was figuring out how to enter it.
However, with this city map, things were different. By utilizing the miracle properties, Rosen could set up a teleportation ritual and enter the Eternal Mechanical City.
Rosen activated the teleportation ritual, and immediately, a massive amount of mechanical origin energy poured out from the map.
Once materialized, these mechanical energies formed an incredibly complex metal altar made up of countless mechanical parts.
Rosen first took out a variety of mechanical creations—some were finished products made by the fantasy fairy, Amy, and others were technological artifacts from the mechanical race purchased through the Main God Network. However, none of the mechanical creations caused any changes in the teleportation ritual.
The ritual required a mechanical creation to be offered to the Eternal Mechanical City through the altar.
Ordinary creations wouldn't work; the artifact had to be intricate and unique enough, something the Eternal Mechanical City didn't have.
Only then could one obtain the chance to enter the Eternal Mechanical City.
Rosen summoned Amy, who was only at Sequence 1.
She had not yet become a deity, partly because of the difficulty in completing her Sequence as a Fantasist, but also because Amy aimed to create the strongest and most evolvable mechanical divine kingdom. Mechanical creations rarely had the potential for powerful upgrades, and it was more efficient to simply build new ones rather than upgrade the old ones.
Thus, when it came to upgrading a mechanical god kingdom to a mechanical true god kingdom, it usually involved dismantling the original divine kingdom and rebuilding it from scratch.
Amy was unsatisfied with this type of god kingdom. She wanted to create a living, self-evolving mechanical god kingdom.
"We need a sufficiently unique, novel, and powerful mechanical creation," Rosen said, pointing to the metal altar formed by the teleportation ritual.
"I'll try," Amy said.
Amy opened her mechanical domain, continuously pulling out various mechanical creations from her collection.
However, none of the mechanical creations could activate the teleportation ritual.
Amy hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly took out a mechanical doll.
Rosen was slightly stunned. The palm-sized mechanical doll looked exactly like him, dressed in the same attire he wore when he first met Amy. And this was a high-level Sequence 1 miracle artifact.
Amy was about to place it on the altar when Rosen stopped her and took it into his hands.
This was a replica of him as a mechanical doll, with both Sequence 1 Painter and Hunter extraordinary powers. It had never been activated since its creation. It was clear that Amy had put a lot of thought into making this doll, but it was obvious that the doll could never replace him.
Rosen suddenly felt a pang of guilt. The one he had neglected the most by his side was Amy.
Because Amy spent most of her time in the mechanical laboratory, whenever Rosen had free time, Amy was busy with her research, and when Amy was done with her work, Rosen was usually caught up in his own tasks. As a result, he spent the least amount of time with her. In fact, the last time he was with Amy was a memory from thousands of years ago.
Although ordinary humans live only for a few decades, each day is filled with busy and fulfilling moments.
However, once someone steps into the realm of extraordinary power and reaches his current level, even after a long period of closing off for refining divine essence, it takes hundreds or even thousands of years to see any progress. As time passed, he gradually became less and less like a human.
No wonder, from the True God rank onward, people would start referring to him as "It" rather than "He."
After such long years of cultivation, one's humanity inevitably fades and becomes less and less human.
Had this been in the past, it would have been difficult for him to endure even ten days or half a month of solitude. No wonder so many eternal beings became weary of life and perished.
Rosen carefully put away the doll. Amy didn't need it to remember him.
However, the doll did serve as a reminder—mechanical creations turned into miracle artifacts would definitely satisfy the Eternal Mechanical City.
All mechanical creations that became miracle artifacts inherently possessed the unique characteristic of being one-of-a-kind in the world.
The main trait of mechanical creations was mass production and their extremely complex structures.
Yet miracle artifacts stemmed from miracles, and mass production itself would greatly lower the chance of a miracle being born. The complexity of the structures also diminished the chance of the creation becoming a miracle artifact. The combination of both factors made the chance of a miracle artifact's creation almost zero.
But as long as it wasn't zero, Rosen could still obtain it.
Soon, he collected relevant information through the Main God Network and purchased a mechanical bat of Sequence 7.
Once the mechanical bat was placed on the metal altar, the teleportation ritual activated almost instantly.
The mechanical bat disappeared, and the metal altar decomposed and reassembled into a mechanical portal.
Rosen took Amy's hand and walked through the portal, arriving at the highest point of the Eternal Mechanical City.
Beneath their feet was a platform resembling a rooftop, and below was a mechanical skyscraper made entirely of various metals. From this vantage point, they could overlook the entire Eternal Mechanical City, which, despite enduring countless ages, showed no signs of aging.
The entire city was three-dimensional, with countless metallic skyscrapers standing in an orderly fashion.
Between the buildings, numerous metal bridges connected them.
There were no roads on the ground; all the pathways were in the air.
Trains traveling along aerial tracks seemed to never stop, and the factories on the city's outskirts never ceased operation. The automated machines produced mechanical creations, which were scattered across the farthest edges of the Eternal Mechanical City.
The entire Eternal Mechanical City was enormous, and Rosen estimated its size to be about thirty thousand miles in diameter.
Moreover, the city was continuously expanding. The factories kept producing mechanical creations, which continually contributed to the ongoing construction of the Eternal Mechanical City. Most of the mechanical creations seen within the city appeared to be civilian-use artifacts.
A city that even immortal godfiends could not forcibly invade—how could all the mechanical creations be civilian?
Rosen took out the city map. Before entering, the surface of the map had been blank.
But now, things were different. A dynamic, three-dimensional map had appeared.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that the surface area of the Eternal Mechanical City was mainly composed of civilian districts. However, the city no longer had any residents, only countless mechanical creations still maintaining the city's operation. There were almost no dangerous places inside the city.
All the military mechanical creations were concentrated in the outer city.
The city was divided into an inner city and an outer city. The inner city was for living and contained some research institutions.
The entire inner city was compressed and protected by the outer city's multiple layers of defense.
After entering through the teleportation ritual, only official institutions, such as city halls, were allowed free movement. Outside of official areas, one could only walk in public zones. Any unauthorized intrusion into private zones would result in being expelled from the Eternal Mechanical City.
Rosen entered the elevator of the city hall with Amy and began to explore the entire building.
The results were sparse, as most of the valuable items had already been looted by previous visitors.
The most valuable things in front of him were the various research institutions in the inner city, as many technological advancements and the glorious growth of civilizations originated from here.
However, after several days, all he had gained was disappointment.
The reason was simple: the mechanical technology of the Eternal Mechanical City was extremely advanced, even the civilian models were remarkably powerful.
But the Eternal Mechanical City had lost its master, and there were no intelligent life forms born here.
Thus, the Eternal Mechanical City lacked creativity, and its mechanical technology had almost stagnated without any significant growth or change.
The people who had come here before him had already taken all the technologies that could be taken away.
These technologies had developed for countless years in the Ancient God World and had long surpassed their origins.
The only aspect where the Eternal Mechanical City was more advanced than the outside world was in the countless military mechanical creations in the outer city.
However, forcing one's way into the outer city could lead to death, even for immortal godfiends.
Therefore, to obtain the military technology of the outer city, one would need to fully take control of the Eternal Mechanical City.
The core of the Eternal Mechanical City was the Mechanical Source Seed, and the urgent task was to locate it.
Rosen quickly found it: the Mechanical Source Seed was located within the artificial sun in the sky.
Upon careful identification by Eternal Omniscience, it turned out that this mechanical sun was a creation at the level of an immortal godfiend.
Attempting to seize the Mechanical Source Seed from within was almost an impossible task.
The main god's computer analyzed all available clues and soon reached some conclusions.
First, the private areas of the Eternal Mechanical City were sacred and inviolable. Even the mechanical puppets maintained by the city's officials would never enter any private areas. At most, they would only perform surface repairs, but they would never intrude into private spaces.
Rosen immediately released an extraordinary prisoner to test what would happen if someone entered without using the teleportation ritual. The result was that the prisoner was killed by a mechanical guard, and the body was thrown into a furnace to be burned into ashes.
Next, Rosen released several more extraordinary prisoners, some of whom had god-like powers that surpassed those of the mechanical guards.
The mechanical guards were dismantled, and several mechanical skyscrapers sustained significant damage.
Immediately, military mechanical creations from the outer city appeared. They not only eliminated the prisoners but also continued to attack Rosen, clearly indicating that his previous actions had caused the Eternal Mechanical City to revoke his stay in the city.
Rosen could only retreat to the Mysterious Study Room, though fortunately, Amy was not implicated and could still stay in the city.
Although he had lost his ability to move freely, his previous tests were not without gains.
While the extraordinary prisoners caused damage to the mechanical skyscrapers, Rosen took the opportunity to retrieve some corpses from the private areas inside the buildings.
These corpses were made of mechanical components and were very similar to the mechanical race from the Ancient God World.
Rosen even suspected that the mechanical race had originated from these corpses.
The ancestors of the mechanical race were undoubtedly human, but over time, they abandoned their flesh and blood bodies to create purely mechanical forms. This must have been what the ancestors of the mechanical race did when they, like him, obtained the mysterious mechanical corpses from the private areas of the Eternal Mechanical City.
After countless years, even metal-based mechanical bodies had mostly decayed to the point of being unrecognizable.
Rosen and Amy worked together to piece together and repair one of the bodies. The mechanical object that resembled a brain was the most damaged and could not be fixed, so no memories could be retrieved. The only certainty was that these mechanical bodies had been instantly destroyed at the brain-like part during their lifetime.
Unable to obtain any memories, Rosen began attempting to assimilate the mechanical body.
If he could assimilate it perfectly, he might be able to disguise himself as a native of the Eternal Mechanical City.
However, even with the use of Eternal Compatibility Source, the fusion failed.
This was because there was a highly repellent force inside the body from the Eternal Mechanical Source.
With no other choice, Rosen resorted to using the Root Mother Worm to combine and breed the Source Seed to parasitize the mechanical bodies. He hoped to draw nutrients from them and possibly grow something from within. If successful, it might lead to the birth of a living, mysterious mechanical life form.
(End of chapter)