When Du Ze and Xiu once again set foot on the street of the Gnome Ruins, it was already the third day of the gnome race's trial. Whenever Du Ze saw any furry object, it was like looking at a landmine. Even when he saw a mechanical puppet that didn't have any fur but smelled like oil, Du Ze would shed tears.
Xiu quickly dispatched the mechanical puppets that tried to attack them. The one to four star mechanical puppets were easily overcome and were reduced into their component parts whenever they fought the Moe Lord.
Du Ze looked at Xiu's back and at the fallen mechanical puppets. He recalled the first time they met a mechanical puppet on the reverse side of the continent. At that time, even a one star mechanical puppet caused them a lot of trouble but now, Xiu can easily take down even the five star mechanical puppets.
They had traveled together for such a long time that he hadn't realized until now that the Moe Lord had become so powerful.
Du Ze's heart jumped a little and he felt a sweet yet bitter pain. This was like watching a child grow up. The child's first stumbling steps have turned into a confident walk. He is proud and happy about it but he is in the same position as all guardians are – when the child is all grown up, it is then time to take their leave.
"These mechanical puppets are so annoying."
Du Ze was abruptly grabbed by Xiu. He hurriedly held on to Xiu's shoulder, only to hear the beastkin with the round lion ears happily say: "Hold on tight, we will go faster."
"...!"
Du Ze didn't have time to reply before a strong kinetic energy made his upper body stick to Xiu's back. Their bodies crashed together with a "pa" sound. Xiu, carrying Du Ze, ran into a shadow. Whenever he saw a mechanical puppet, Xiu would use the terrain to jump and disappear before he was within the mechanical puppets' range of action, making the puppets unable to gather information about them.
All Du Ze could see was Xiu's floating tail as he was jolted. The beastkin's speed and movement was more exciting than a rollercoaster. Just as he was about to faint, Xiu finally arrived at a circular plaza. Once they were at the plaza, the mechanical puppets no longer pursued them. Xiu put the dizzy Du Ze down, who staggered a bit before regaining his balance. Now that the world was no longer spinning, Du Ze recognized that this was the "Foundation" plaza.
Old John once told him that if there was a treasure in the Gnome Ruins that the people outside would covet, he was afraid that it would be the cache of materials in the "Foundation" plaza. The gnome race collected raw materials from the whole continent and put it in the "Foundation" plaza, grading them by their quality.
The gnomes could take materials based on their star rating, including many S quality materials which the outside world coveted.. Du Ze saw the material exchange machine in the middle of the plaza but it was obviously not functional since it was missing a piece. Du Ze stared at the gap in the machine. He ransacked his memories of machine parts and suddenly realized something.
Isn't that the big machine part that you saw in the iron gnome's hand a few days ago?!
In retrospect, Rachel said: "We had to gather mechanical parts to activate a plaza."
The Tower of God's requirement is easy to understand.
Xiu's memory of that day was not clear but after Du Ze told him about it, he immediately went to fetch the machine part from the "Kingdom" plaza. Du Ze, who Xiu always equipped, was honored once again to sit on that roller coaster. Xiu got the missing piece and the dizzy Du Ze watched as Xiu placed it in its proper place in the "Foundation" plaza.
The machine was activated in a flash. It made a humming sound then the whole plaza seemed to come alive as the electric circuit pattern on the ground lit up. Du Ze walked slowly to Xiu's side. He found the Moe Lord staring at the newly activated material exchange machine, deep in thought.
When he saw Du Ze come over to him, Xiu reached out and took his own silly, cute person in his arms, tangling him up with his tail, too. Leaning against Du Ze, he shifted his sight from the machine to the mechanical puppets wandering the streets then, finally, looked around at the entire Gnome Ruins.
"I suddenly had an idea."
As Du Ze watched, Xiu's smiling face changed.1
"Let's try it."
A day later.2
A two-star mechanical puppet wandered aimlessly through the streets of the Gnome Ruins then suddenly encountered two figures that it scanned.
"Beep – lifeforms X2 discovered, analyzing race. Beep – gnome discovered!" The blue lights in the mechanical puppet's eyes did not flicker. "Identifying individual. Beep – Xiu, six-star mechanic. Beep – Number XH33321 is ready to serve you, please give instructions."
Du Ze could not help but praise the Tower of God for its professional behavior. The simulation was this precise – no, he should have expected it. When it comes to Xiu, the Tower of God is completely unprincipled, indulgent, and eccentric. The entire gnome trial is now like a walk in the park for gnome form Xiu!
Previously, the elf trial came to an abrupt halt when the Tree of Life revolted. This time, the Moe Lord just has to open his mouth and the mechanical puppets will carry out his every wish – the entire Gnome Ruins has completely become his domain!
Du Ze looked at the little Xiu who was giving orders to the giant mechanical puppets to help him carry things. He wanted to cover his face to hide his expression.
Although they have been separated from Rachel and the others, Du Ze thought it wouldn't be a problem for Xiu to finish this trial even though the Moe Lord had to carry a noob with him. Right now they had reached the "Splendour" plaza where there was a star-level authentication machine. This was where gnomes go to get their star certifications. They simply had to bring their work with them and their star rating will be upgraded. As before, the machine lacked an important part.
The other tower climbers will have to find a six-star mechanical puppet and defeat it to get the needed part. However, for a gnome – do they even need to look for the part? They can just make it.
Xiu almost emptied the "Foundation" plaza of all its usable materials. A long line of mechanical puppets followed him, carrying the materials. He was like a queen who went shopping with his faithful housekeeper and servants carrying his shopping bags. In fact, Xiu can even order those six-star mechanical puppets to kill themselves so he can get the parts he needs but Xiu turned into his gnome form to make the parts to prepare for the Final BOSS fight.
Rachel said, "The whole city, the place where we stood... was an eight-star mechanical puppet."
Du Ze looked at Xiu. The flaxen-haired gnome was holding a screwdriver in his slender and weak-looking hands, but those were hands that could overcome the eight-star mechanical puppet – with just a few small tricks, everything will be just right.
In less than half a day's time, Xiu fixed the star-level authentication machine. After that, he was in no hurry to leave but instead made a small machine and raised his certification to seven stars.
A seven-star rating is the highest level. With it, a gnome can not only command any public mechanical puppets seven stars and below, but can also get any material he wants from the "Foundation" plaza. Du Ze and Xiu returned to the "Foundation" plaza and borrowed the most advanced materials. Xiu spent five days to make a seven-star, human-type mechanical puppet.
"The next time we see Old John," said Xiu as he was debugging the mechanical puppet, "I can give him a new body."
Du Ze nodded his head. During the beastkin trial, they were accidentally separated and Old John's body had been halved. They did not know where Old John was now. Each checkpoint will close after the leader passes through so generally Xiu was the last to enter the portal or went together with everyone. At that time, they did not leave together so it's possible that Old John and the others were trapped in the beastkin simulation and can only wait for the next group that passes the trial and that would be willing to take them along through the exit portal.
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With the seven-star mechanical puppet, Xiu's level went up. Witnessing the Moe Lord installing various anti-human, anti-social equipment, the silly, cute reader earnestly prayed that no one would touch Xiu's berserk button – the mechanical puppet that the Moe Lord made is basically an incredibly powerful walking arsenal!
Perhaps the silly, cute reader's prayers were effective. Seeing Xiu accompanied by his retinue of mechanical puppets, the other tower climbers did not dare to provoke them. There were no unpleasant encounters. Xiu and Du Ze advanced very smoothly. They quickly activated the "Might" plaza then came to the "Understanding" plaza. At the sight of the flower-like building, Xiu's pupils constricted somewhat as though he was recalling some dreadful memories.
"Don't get close." Xiu's little hand tugged at the hem of Du Ze's shirt, his face upturned and his beautiful amber eyes bright and unusually urgent. "I'll finish making the part soon and get out of here right away."
It was said in a tone almost of command, revealing the restlessness of the speaker. Du Ze was startled and promised to do so with a nod.
Xiu approached the metal building and finished repairing it, as he promised, within an hour. The metal building opened its outer shell like a flower opening its petals, to reveal a huge, round wheel.
Du Ze looked at the clock-like wheel of time. It looked so real that it felt as though he had returned to the original Gnome Ruins – regarding his experience being swallowed by the wheel of time, Du Ze was still confused and didn't know what to think about it; all he did was jump on it, then jump out immediately, how did that become four years outside of the wheel of time?
That matter seemed to still be on Xiu's mind. After activating the "Understanding" plaza, he pulled Du Ze hurriedly away. It was not until they reached the "Crown" plaza that he seemed to feel at ease again, loosening his grip on Du Ze's numb hand slightly.
Each plaza was used for a different function by the gnomes. The "Crown" plaza was an exhibition area and all kinds of fancy machinery were placed there for other people to view and evaluate.
Du Ze was attracted at one glance. The neat display of mechanical work made him think back to the 21st century – he saw refrigerators, electronic calendar clocks, camera prototypes, and other modern devices that were still working.
While Xiu was making the missing part, Du Ze began to explore the "Crown" plaza. By reading the plaque next to each work, Du Ze could guess what most of those machines were for. He even saw a solar bulb, which was highly rated, but Du Ze felt embarrassed when he saw it – when there is a sun, why would you need a light bulb?
There were some really interesting gadgets, like the one Du Ze had in his hands. It was a time detector that could be used to find the age of things. Du Ze toyed with it for a time. The gadget told him the year that some of the display items were made but he was unable to confirm whether the given time was reliable. Du Ze got bored of it after playing with it for a while and when he put it down, he accidentally pressed the device's button while it was pointed directly at himself.
It can even take pictures of people?
Du Ze converted the time between this world and earth and found that the time detector was unexpectedly accurate. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind and his heartbeat began to speed up. He looked up at Xiu who was manufacturing the missing machine part.
"Snap."
The gnome's ears twitched and he stopped working on the mechanical parts in his hands. He looked at Du Ze who was not far away. The black-haired youth was staring at a machine with a complex expression on his face.
Xiu dropped the mechanical parts and walked towards Du Ze. He walked so fast that he looked like he was running.
"What's the matter?"
Du Ze glanced at Xiu beside him. He was silent for a moment then said: "Today is your birthday."
Some silly, cute person can't help but praise his own wit. Incredibly, he uncovered a huge secret. Because the Moe Lord grew up in an orphanage, Du Ze was afraid that even he didn't know the day he was born.
But Xiu's reaction poured cold water on Du Ze.
"Birthday?" said Xiu with some confusion. The uncertainty in his voice made Du Ze feel uncomfortable because the gnome seemed to be talking about a concept he knew nothing about, not knowing why Du Ze was so moved.
... Moe Lord, you can't do this! Don't you know how important today is! This is the day that a miracle eight-race hybrid was born! It's also the future Supreme God's birthday!
Even Du Ze's ears went red. He had no way to express his inner excitement and he stuttered almost incoherently: "It's important, today – to celebrate it."
Xiu blinked his amber eyes when Du Ze spoke. He didn't think this was something good that he needed to celebrate but he would never refuse Du Ze's requests.
"What do you want to do?'
Du Ze was stumped. He had no real friends and had no experience when it came to birthday parties. However, based on what he knew, generally people will light a candle on top of a cake and make a wish as they blow it out. Now, because of the limited conditions here, then if the cake related steps are omitted ...?
A silly, cute person suggested: "Make a wish? What you wish for today will come true."
"Who's going to make it come true?" The corners of Xiu's lips turned up slightly in a mocking expression. "God?"
"I'll make it come true!" Du Ze impulsively shouted. Xiu's smile that seemed to mock himself stung Du Ze's eyes – that was the smile of a person thinking: "I have tried countless times in the past but no God will fulfill my wishes so I will never wish for anything ever again."
So even though he might be biting off more than he could chew, Du Ze said as Xiu looked at him blankly: "Whatever it is you want, I will do everything I can to try to satisfy your wishes."
Xiu raised his hand. He seemed to want to touch Du Ze's neck, but he could only pull at Du Ze's collar then stand on tiptoe to bite at the tip of Du Ze's nose.
" ... Can I ask for anything?" Xiu's voice was soft, tender, and sweet.
Du Ze covered his bitten nose with his hand and instinctively flinched. He felt like he was caught in a trap of his own making but he really did want to satisfy all of the Moe Lord's desires. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next, yet a silly, cute person thought that, at most, the Moe Lord might ask "to ravage."
... At most, after the Moe Lord got his fill of this and that, this heroic young man will just have to lie in bed for a day to recover!
Du Ze pushed down the constant warnings of danger from his sixth sense and steadfastly declared his intentions (courting his own death) towards his family's Moe Lord.
Under Du Ze's impassioned gaze, Xiu looked to the street on the right side of the "Crown" plaza which lead to the "Wisdom" plaza. Before Du Ze could react, the corners of Xiu's eyes and lips turned up.
"I want to read your book." A pair of very lovely dimples appeared on the little face as Xiu said: "Last time, I saw only eight pages. I have always wanted to finish reading it."