Chapter 1212
It’s not that Leon can’t create powerful Alchemical Golems—anyone with enough skill can make one or two. But whether you can build a few by hand and whether you can mass-produce them on a factory line in the Alchemical Golem Base are two completely different things.
That’s the gap between lab prototypes and fully commercialized products. The time it takes for something to go from a laboratory invention to a cost-controlled, widely available product could be an entire era.
The best way to upgrade the Alchemical Golem Base is to head to the Golem Plane. Over there, you can find solutions to almost any problem related to Alchemical Golems.
There might be some components that the base just can’t produce cheaply, but on the Golem Plane, you’ll find countless Alchemical Golems with exactly those parts...
At this moment, Leon finally remembered that half-baked Plane Stowaway who’d been captured and locked up earlier.
Byron was nearly losing his mind. Leon had imprisoned him using the power of a demi-plane—forget hiding in the Plane Shadow, he couldn’t even slip into the shadow of ordinary space. It was as if Leon had drawn a circle, and Byron could only watch the outside world, never able to step across.
The skills he once prided himself on were now completely useless. As for brute-forcing his way out with raw strength? Please. He might as well keep dreaming.
The growth of the natural demi-plane now comes with the absolute protection of Eternal Dark Gold, rivaling the total amount found in the entire Northend World. Over time, the Eternal Dark Gold will merge with the demi-plane itself, granting it those same indestructible properties.
Plus, with the Divine Flame Embers acting as the sun at the top of the demi-plane, its light covers everything. Byron’s Plane Stowaway abilities are completely nullified.
Even a Sky Rank mage would be crushed to death in this demi-plane right now!
Leon arrived at Byron’s prison, released the demi-plane’s restraints, and saw Byron staring blankly, hair and beard grown down to his chest, looking like a wild man who’d spent decades in the wilderness. The stench coming off him was atrocious.
Byron just stared at Leon, completely dazed, not even noticing that his prison had vanished.
"Mental breakdown?"
Leon was a bit dumbfounded. This guy was a Title Archmage, and a Plane Stowaway at that—how could he fall apart after being locked up for such a short time?
All Plane Stowaways have more patience than assassins. To cross a plane successfully, these people can even merge into the shadow of the Plane Path, going without food or water, maintaining a slow magic-consuming state for years.
The longest recorded time a Plane Stowaway ever lay in wait for an opportunity in one place was twenty-eight years!
When that Plane Stowaway finally crossed over and stole the coordinates from the plane’s master, the owner couldn’t even get angry. They generously gifted the Stowaway a rare magical artifact he needed.
To steal a single item, he hid as a shadow for twenty-eight years. Even a group of Sky Rank mages couldn’t get mad. There was even a power beyond Sky Rank who admired his perseverance and gave him a whole plane as a reward...
But this guy here? He just got locked up and already had a mental breakdown?
Leon stared at Byron for a long while. Byron’s eyes were vacant, hollow—like his soul had been torn apart. His mind was gone, reduced to an idiot...
Leon sighed. It had taken so much effort to find a Plane Stowaway—even if Byron was just an apprentice. In this era, that was already a rare feat.
Just as Leon turned to leave, Byron’s eyes suddenly regained their light. His whole body melted into shadow and vanished on the spot.
Leon sensed the disturbance behind him and looked back, but Byron was gone. Even magical energy couldn’t pinpoint his location. Only with the help of magitech gear and rule runes could Leon barely catch the faint, intermittent traces of Byron’s movement.
Leon’s lips curled into a faint smile. He glanced into the distance, tossed out a parting remark, and turned to leave.
"If you can escape from here, I’ll let you go."
Byron, now a shadow, was full of fear, clinging to the safety of the shadows. To be safe, he didn’t dare merge into the shadows of trees, plants, or mountains—any visible shadow was off-limits. Instead, he slipped straight into the shadow of space itself, sneaking along.
Feeling that Leon hadn’t noticed him, Byron finally managed a smile.
This terrifying guy is just too much—he actually caught me, and managed to keep me locked up. Good thing I’m clever; it took me ages to think up this trick, waiting for him to drop his guard.
Who knew this damned guy would take so long to visit me? Was he planning to keep me locked up until I died? At least I fooled him—no way I’m getting caught again.
Let me find the entrance to the Plane Path... Damn, the entrance is actually floating in midair. What a sly bastard. But it doesn’t matter—I’m already merged with the shadow of space. Even midair can’t block me.
Heh, you sly and terrifying bastard—I’m out. Hopefully, we never meet again...
Hmm, should I grab this plane’s coordinates? Nah, better not mess with that terrifying guy. Who knows, if I take the coordinates, he might hunt me down...
Byron crept along, flowing with every spatial ripple, slowly drifting toward the mark Leon left when he first entered—the signpost for the Plane Path.
It took three whole days to drift to the spot where Leon had come in. That was the gateway linked to the coordinates Leon left when he entered from the Blazeforge Plane.
Leon had long since stopped worrying about Byron. By now, he controlled most of the natural demi-plane—only one step remained: mastering the rules here. But that process was agonizingly slow, and Leon would need to fully comprehend them before he could take control.
But spotting Byron, merged with the shadow of space, was laughably easy. Leon watched him drift like a thief for three days just to reach the entrance.
Leon, busy in the Alchemical Golem Base, just grinned and turned to Lord Shaun, who’d been bored out of his mind lately and munching on magic crystals all day.
"Lord Shaun, haven’t you been bored lately? I found you some entertainment. Just don’t kill him—I’ve got plans for that guy."
With that, Leon told Lord Shaun where the entrance was. Instantly energized, Shaun grinned and floated off toward the entrance.
Lord Shaun floated near the entrance, spotting nothing unusual. With a sly glance, he hovered in midair and pretended to fall asleep.
A dozen meters away, Byron crept toward the entrance, wary, but saw that the strange ghost wolf didn’t react at all. Only then did he finally relax.
Even as Byron reached the very threshold—one step away from escaping—he still noticed nothing odd about the ghost wolf.
He finally grinned, so excited he nearly slipped out of his shadow state.
Damn it, I can finally leave this godforsaken place. Just look at these people—a guy who can spot me, even capture and imprison me, and that massive base, churning out Alchemical Golems nonstop, with even the weakest ones above Level Thirty...
And then there’s the Sandtower and Shadow Tower people, all stuck here as the lowest-level grunt labor. None of them even dare resist...
I need to get out of here, back to Northend World—or better yet, to a plane where I’ll never see that terrifying guy again...
With his heart full of joy, Byron melted into the shadows, rushing toward the entrance.
Just as he was about to slip into the Plane Path’s shadow—a spot no ordinary mage could sense—a dark gold wall of light suddenly appeared. Byron slammed right into it...
"Ow! Damn it, what was that...?"
Byron’s figure suddenly appeared in midair, a clear bump on his head, his magical energy all thrown out of whack.
Suddenly, Byron jolted and spotted the ghost wolf grinning at him with wide eyes. Looking around, he realized he’d been knocked out of his shadow state...
Before he could slip back into shadow, the ghost wolf’s eyes flashed. Byron screamed, his face pale as a corpse, and plummeted from midair to the ground.
Lord Shaun cackled, as if he’d just found the world’s most entertaining toy. He chased Byron, dove straight into his body, then popped out again, scratching his chin, hesitant.
Merlin said not to kill this guy—he’s got plans. If I go in and accidentally shred his soul, then what? Better be careful, just take a look... yeah, just a look...
Lord Shaun dove into Byron’s head again. A second later, Byron let out a bone-chilling scream, his pupils blown wide, his body twitching on the ground, looking like he was about to die...
Lord Shaun carefully pulled himself out of Byron’s head, glanced around, then jumped out and smacked Byron hard.
"Idiot, get up! Quit playing dead! The great Lord Shaun knows what he’s doing—I’m sure you’re fine. Damn it, if you don’t get up, don’t blame me..."
With that, Lord Shaun blew on Byron’s head. Instantly, Byron sprang back to life, trembling as he looked at Lord Shaun like he’d seen a devil who specialized in tormenting souls...
"Devil! Damn it, you’re a devil from hell—the most twisted soul-tormentor..."