Chapter 902: Alchemical Golem
Leon walked up to Hubert and casually cast several dispel spells, removing the magical effects on him, then tossed a few more dispels at Wagner.
But Wagner still stood there dumbly, as if the dispel spells had no effect at all.
"Tch, what an idiot. It's just a Petrify spell—did your soul get petrified too?"
Anderson sneered with undisguised contempt. Only then did Wagner shoot Leon a strange look, saying nothing, then glared fiercely at Anderson.
"Just you wait! You actually dared to use me as a shield—damn it! Do you even know I'm the first heir to the George Family? If you get me killed, you won't even qualify as a magical avatar..."
Wagner didn't dare say anything to Leon. The way Leon tore apart the One-Eyed Guardian barehanded just now was simply too shocking, making Wagner feel a strange sense of awe. He didn't dare utter a word, but recalling how Anderson used him as a scapegoat, his anger flared up again.
Anderson shot Wagner a disdainful glance.
"A single Petrify spell scared you like this? I have no idea how you became an eighth-rank Title Archmage. Don't you know you can't block Petrify with a rune shield? Besides, with Lord Anderson here, do you really think you'll die? Do you think Lord Anderson is as brainless as you?"
"Since you took a Petrify spell for Lord Anderson, I'll teach you something useful. When facing Petrify, the best move is to dodge. If you can't, use Flame Elemental Avatar, then disperse it the instant you're hit, or use Ghost Avatar to ignore it, or Mirror Reflection..."
"Aside from those methods, you must never try to block it with a mana shield or rune shield. If you do, you'll be petrified instantly..."
Anderson's three faces and three mouths unleashed a barrage at Wagner, leaving him ashamed and furious, yet unable to retort. After all, every archmage knows that using a rune shield against Petrify is basic common sense.
Anderson glanced smugly at the red-faced Wagner, then steered the Arcane Wheel toward the stone gate.
From a distance, Hubert shot Wagner a look full of sympathy.
Anderson couldn't even be bothered to mock Hubert anymore—there was no challenge in it, the intelligence gap was just too wide. Now that he'd finally caught someone who thought highly of himself, he couldn't pass up the chance for some verbal fun.
Leon ignored the bickering and busied himself with rummaging through the pile of One-Eyed Guardian parts on the ground.
The One-Eyed Guardians were the perfect gatekeepers among alchemical golems—their components were all top-grade materials. These two were both level thirty-nine, and many of their parts could be used for Sky Rank Alchemical Golems. If not for the power system limitation, they might have been level forty Sky Rank Alchemical Golems.
Back then, Leon could never have dismantled them barehanded in such a short window.
After picking through the pile for quite a while, he finally selected some decent parts, summoned the patched-up alchemical golem, and quickly swapped out some of its components.
This alchemical golem was already Sky Rank, and its power system was second to none. What really held it back were a few inferior components, which severely limited its true potential.
The parts salvaged from the One-Eyed Guardians were just right for replacing the old components on the alchemical golem. Leon certainly wasn't going to be polite about it.
After a few minutes of swapping out parts on the patched-up golem, a faint smile appeared on Leon's lips. At this rate, if he could dismantle a few more level thirty-nine One-Eyed Guardians, he might restore the golem's full Sky Rank power.
With the replacements done, Leon didn't waste any leftover parts from the One-Eyed Guardians—he stashed them all away. Later, he could rework their control systems and reassemble them as gatekeepers, which wasn't a bad idea.
The alchemical golem's power surged once more. After reassembly, Leon directed it to the massive stone gate. The golem's arms pushed against the gate, and with a deep rumble, the ancient door—untouched for who knows how long—slowly creaked open.
No danger, no traps—just as Leon expected. Bill George, twisted as he was, would never bother with underhanded traps in his own lair. If you could beat two level thirty-nine One-Eyed Guardians, no trap would matter anyway. Only raw power could stop true intruders here.
As the stone gate opened, an enormous space stretched out for kilometers. Countless massive machines lay dormant, and even more alchemical golems slumbered like corpses within.
In front of each of those giant machines sat clusters of alchemical golems, most of them equipped with multiple arms, each arm fitted with different tools.
It was a vast underground base—absolutely colossal.
An Alchemical Golem Underground Base!
This was a fully operational Alchemical Golem Production Line. Finished components would flow along the machines, and the working golems would assemble them into new alchemical golems.
Besides these tireless labor-type alchemical golems, there were plenty of combat models as well.
But whether they were labor golems or combat and support types, they all lay as still as corpses—completely drained of energy.
A quick glance told Leon that even the lowest labor-type alchemical golems here were at least level thirty-five!
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Most of these golems had simply run out of energy—their power supply systems were dead, but their parts were perfectly intact.
All it would take was a quick recompile of their control systems and a fresh power source, and these golems would be up and running again.
After inspecting a few of the golems, Leon immediately came to this conclusion.
Right now, these alchemical golems were basically free for the taking. Just a few soul mana crystals would get them moving again, and since they were powered down, reprogramming their control systems would be a breeze.
Seeing this massive underground base, Leon knew for sure—this was Bill George's legacy. And not just any relic, but his most valuable one.
Back when Bill George returned to Northend and established a faction in what is now the Kingdom of Ston, the reason the Nather Dynasty never messed with him wasn't just because he was a powerful Sky Rank mage.
More importantly, Bill George's mastery of alchemical golems was truly unprecedented. Even at the peak of Northend's magical era, his expertise stood at the very top.
Back then, Bill George led his endless army of alchemical golems, sweeping across countless planes. He kept a low profile, and almost no one knew the full extent of his story.
Occasionally, someone would witness Bill George's golem army flattening one plane after another, and only then did people realize how terrifying he truly was.
He was a peak Sky Rank powerhouse, with an unknown number of alchemical golems under his command—who would dare provoke him?
Just look at this underground base: even the most basic labor golems are level thirty-five. Judging by that massive production line, thirty-five is probably just the entry-level model—the most ordinary and unimpressive kind.
With subordinates that were basically all golem elites, there were few records of his deeds. Only at Northend's peak did people piece together clues and deduce that Bill George somehow obtained the coordinates to the Furyflame Plane and traveled there.
Unusually, Bill George didn't conquer the Furyflame Plane—he simply stayed there for a long time, even establishing some ties with the Black Iron Orcs. Rumor has it, he visited Radiance Fortress as well.
Bill George's golem expertise was so formidable that, at the height of Northend's magical age, many people coveted his relics.
Yet no one ever found his true legacy. All they uncovered were useless sites, or relics that turned out to be elaborate traps.
It wasn't until the peak of Northend's grand colonization that clues from other planes led people to deduce that Bill George's relic was beneath Radiance Fortress in the Furyflame Plane.
But that news was never confirmed. The expeditionary force had just finished regrouping and was about to set out when the Furyflame Plane's coordinates suddenly stopped working.
After further investigation, it seemed the Furyflame Plane had changed, and the old coordinates were useless. No one could find it anymore, and Bill George's relic became a lingering mystery.
Leon himself never paid much attention to such unconfirmed rumors. If he hadn't heard the name Radiance Fortress this time, and seen a string of familiar names, he wouldn't have recalled the story at all.
Now, it seemed the rumor was true. This vast underground base, run entirely by alchemical golems—and with a full production line—proved it. Even the labor golems were level thirty-five.
Aside from Bill George, Leon couldn't think of anyone else who could have built this.
Leon opened his demi-plane and tossed all the powered-down alchemical golems into it.
Even the weakest of these golems were level thirty-five, but with no energy supply, they were just piles of parts—no different from rocks until recharged.
That was precisely why Leon dared to do it.