Chapter 641: Secret Code
Leon walked up to the Hand of Destruction, gently stroking it for a while, regret etched across his face.
What a pity. This thing can't be dismantled. As the main cannon of the Dauntless, it's practically fused with the ship itself. Unless you destroy the Dauntless, the Hand of Destruction can only remain here.
Andefa snapped out of his thoughts, his three faces equally regretful as he gazed at the Hand of Destruction. Even seeing Leon caress the weapon with a disturbingly intense look, he didn't find it amusing at all.
Suddenly, Leon's brows furrowed as if he remembered something. He quickly pulled out a crystal pen and started writing in a corner beneath the Hand of Destruction's control console.
After a moment, Leon pressed lightly with his hand, and a small drawer, about the size of a palm, slid out.
Inside was a folded blueprint. Leon unfolded it and, upon glancing at it, his hands began to tremble.
"Just as I thought... it really was hidden here. The blueprint for the Hand of Destruction—hidden right here..."
The blueprint for the Hand of Destruction...
Even in the apocalypse, such a thing didn't exist. This blueprint had long been lost to the river of history, never to reappear before the eyes of the world—even up to the destruction of Northend itself...
That’s why, at the peak of magical civilization, there were only thirteen Hands of Destruction in existence. It wasn’t due to a lack of technology—their tech was unparalleled in history. Nor was it a shortage of materials; countless colonized planes supplied every magical resource imaginable!
It was all because the blueprint was missing. Later generations managed to design Mana Crystal Cannons, but none ever matched the power of the Hand of Destruction.
After the thirteen Hands of Destruction were built, the blueprint vanished. Even the Titan Dwarves who created the weapons had no idea where it went...
Leon never imagined he’d find the long-lost Hand of Destruction Blueprint aboard this ghost ship...
This is a real windfall...
With the complete blueprint, plus all these annotations, once I get back to Inferno Fortress, building one will be easy. Just one—and even Heaven-tier experts won’t scare me anymore...
As for anyone below Heaven-tier, they’ll get blown to bits, no matter how many show up!
Leon was grinning as he read on, but his expression quickly changed.
"What the hell!"
Andefa saw Leon’s face darken and hurriedly asked, "What’s wrong? Is there a problem? Is the blueprint a fake?"
Leon held back for a long moment before muttering, looking thoroughly frustrated.
"The blueprint is real—complete, even. But we still can’t build the Hand of Destruction. The most critical parts can only be forged by those damned Titan Dwarves!"
Andefa instantly lost interest at those words.
Titan Dwarves?
The whole clan vanished ages ago. Since the end of the Third Dynasty, the Titan Dwarves have been missing—who knows if they’re hiding in some corner of Northend, or if they’ve gone to another plane.
No one knows this better than Leon. The Titan Dwarves are the ancestors of all dwarves, inheritors of Titan forging arts—the pinnacle of every race’s craftsmanship. Many techniques are unique to their bloodline.
The process of building the Hand of Destruction requires core components that only the Titan Dwarves can forge. Without those, there’s no Hand of Destruction.
Leon remembered clearly: the Titan Dwarves wouldn’t come out of hiding for another five thousand years, returning at last to the lands of Northend.
Before that, don’t even think about finding them. The Titan Dwarves have been in seclusion since the end of the Third Dynasty. It’s not that people haven’t searched—it’s that no one’s ever found them!
Five thousand years later, the Titan Dwarves reappeared, bringing the blueprint and forging thirteen Hands of Destruction. But after that, the blueprint vanished again. The Mana Crystal Cannons built from memory never matched the Hand of Destruction’s power.
When the Sanctuary Tower was being designed and built, the Titan Dwarves were key participants. The thirteen Hands of Destruction mounted on the tower were all installed by them.
So, seeing that, Leon immediately gave up hope of forging a Hand of Destruction himself.
But then, looking at the Sky Rank Golem, Leon had another idea.
If I can’t build a Hand of Destruction, can’t I at least make a knockoff?
Just skip the parts that need the Titan Dwarves. I don’t need the kind of apocalyptic power the real Hand of Destruction has.
Shrink it down, weaken the power—ideally, I could make something that fits onto a Sky Rank Golem.
Even if it only has one percent of the Hand of Destruction’s power, mounted on a Sky Rank Golem, it could sweep away anything below Heaven-tier.
Yes, this is the best solution Leon could come up with for now.
Only an alchemical construct that once reached Heaven-tier has the capacity to bear a weapon this terrifying...
Even for a knockoff, the requirements for carrying it are insane. Only a Heaven-tier alchemical golem could handle the load. Most of this golem is damaged, but its power system, weapon system, core frame, and mana reactor are all Heaven-tier. Using those to mount a knockoff Hand of Destruction is the perfect choice...
As for the other alchemical golems...
Those would only be able to handle an even more watered-down knockoff. The output would have to be cut by at least half, or else even the strongest golem would probably fall apart after firing just once.
No choice—if the Titan Dwarves won’t help, this is the only way...
Leon decided that once he got back, he’d call Faro to Auckland and let him study the blueprint. It’s not a real Hand of Destruction anyway—no need to waste too much energy on it.
Thinking as he worked, Leon stuffed the Hand of Destruction Blueprint into his dimensional ring.
Hubert, standing nearby, saw Leon finishing up and nervously asked, "Lord Merlin, shouldn’t we get out of here? I’m worried..."
Leon hadn’t replied yet when Andefa started cursing: "What’s there to be afraid of? That monster took a direct hit from the Hand of Destruction. Who knows where it’s hiding and licking its wounds now—no way it’ll come looking for trouble!"
"Forget it, we shouldn’t linger here. The Dauntless is full of weird stuff. Let’s search for anything worth taking and get out fast..." With that, Leon began dismantling the Mana Crystal Cannon, grabbing every part he could—even down to the last screw. After all, these pieces would be the best materials for building a knockoff Hand of Destruction later...
It took them a full hour to clear out the gun deck. After tallying up their haul, Leon cast one last regretful glance at the Hand of Destruction before leading everyone away...
"Merlin, did we take a wrong turn?" Andefa asked in confusion after they’d walked a short distance.
Leon shook his head. "No, we’re on the right track."
"But the place we’re heading to... doesn’t seem to require passing through here, does it?"
Leon didn’t say much. He silently pulled out a blueprint of the Dauntless, laid it in front of Andefa, and pointed to a string of numbers. "See this? These numbers were obviously added later—the ink is totally different from the rest. And..."
"And what?"
"And this string of numbers is completely independent—it’s got nothing to do with the alchemical array or the blueprint itself. In fact, I already ran the calculations and they’re utterly meaningless, like someone just added them as a prank..."
"That’s impossible..." Andefa scoffed immediately.
"Of course it’s impossible. This is the Dauntless blueprint, and it’s drawn with a Sky Rank alchemical array. Put it anywhere and people would go crazy for it—no one would just randomly add meaningless numbers. Besides, the box made of Star Essence Mithril and the weird password—no ordinary person could open it. So, the prank theory doesn’t hold up..."
"So... what are you saying?"
"I’m saying these numbers must have a special meaning, or they wouldn’t be added so deliberately..." Leon paused for a moment. "So, I just ran an experiment..."
"What experiment?"
"I matched each number to the Sea Tribe script above, and ended up with something interesting..."
"Huh?"
"Look..." Leon pointed out the Sea Tribe characters he’d decoded, following the order of the numbers. "Here’s the message I got..."
"If I die, give the things in my room to the captain..." Andefa read out loud, following Leon’s guidance. As soon as he finished, he cried out in surprise, "This... this is a secret code!"
"Exactly. A secret code hidden in the Dauntless blueprint. Now we finally know why the annotation was written in Sea Tribe script..." Leon said, then pointed to the last number. "This one took me a while—half an hour, actually. It refers to the location of the cabin. See here..."
"The first mate’s quarters? So the box was left by the Dauntless’s first mate?"
"That’s right. The Dauntless’s first mate left the box and hid a secret code in the blueprint. If he died, someone was supposed to go to his room, find something, and give it to the captain..."
"So you’re trying to find that thing?" Andefa finally understood, nodding in realization. But then he grew worried again. "Still, that monster may have been badly wounded by the Hand of Destruction, but its recovery is insane. If we head to the first mate’s quarters now, could something go wrong...?"