Why Did You Summon Me?

Sometimes, epic showdowns inevitably left lots of loose ends to tie, but Baiyi did not let them dampen his surging morale. He strutted to the remains of the giant eyeball, which had been incinerated to black residue by the green flames. The black residue had formed a small hill taller than an adult man, resembling a dumpster pile waiting to be burned.

With a casual wave of his hand, Baiyi got rid of the flames. Then, he stuck his arm into the black hill and began to dig, and soon, he pulled out a very hard object. It was… a huge rock.

He chanted the incantation for a wind spell, and a light breeze blew away all the ashes on the rock. He realized that the black rock was larger than his own head. Its shape was irregular, and its surface was riddled with bumps; in short, it was a really ugly chunk of rock.

“I went toe-to-toe with a Lord of the Abyss — whose divine body contained most of its consciousness and power — and this is all it drops? Even if you can’t drop divine weapons, you should, at least, drop some rare materials, right?” Baiyi grumbled unhappily to other Voidwalkers.

Suddenly, he added, “You didn’t touch the reward before I did, right, Master?”

“Oh, heavens, no! I mean, yes, I would love to dig a nice orange bow out of that pile, but… I’m not exactly filled with G lately ¹ ,” said the Archmage, hurriedly claiming innocence, albeit with a nonsensical alibi.

“What is wrong with the two of you? You think this is another one of your games?” The Devil Walker snapped. “Molocchus came here with a clone! It’s only natural that the clone would not possess the Abyss Lord’s best equipment. However, if you’re looking for a rare material, then may I suggest you take a proper look at what you’re holding?”

“Ah?! This is a rare material?” Baiyi rapped the rock a little and listened to the piercing ‘ding’ sound that echoed from it. “This thing has the least marketable appearance ever, and it emits the odor of a demon! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before.”

The Devil Walker sighed. “Why don’t you wash it with a water spell, then purify it with theurgy?”

Baiyi quickly did as told. He used a water spell to wash the outermost layer, which had been covered in dirt and ash, revealing a crystalline structure underneath. Then, he covered the rock with his palm and cast a small theurgical spell, which dispelled impurities from the rock.

Afterward, the rock’s real color was unveiled: bright vermillion. It was as though there was blood coursing within the rock.

“Holy… Is that a Blood Tearstone ² ?” The Alchemist Walker was the first to exclaim. “And, this one has only been tainted a smidge — really a Blood Tearstone of apex quality! Look at how lurid and jaunty its red color is, despite being in a raw, unprocessed state. It currently surpasses many materials that have been manually refined! In all my life, I have dealt with so many kinds of materials, but never had I ever witnessed material this brilliant in its raw state!”

Baiyi knew what a Blood Tearstone was; someone once gifted him two of them He melted one for the hammerhead shark plushie, and he had used the other Blood Tearstone for the magical defense system back home, as well as for his students’ equipment.

“And, by the gods, can we talk about how large it is? If we can completely refine it, you’ll have the best Blood Tearstone in the history of mankind — in your hands! Now that’s an item only an Abyss Lord can offer. The Blood Tearstone is so large that you can trade it for a crap ton of rare materials; even if you choose to liquidate it, you will gain enough money to establish your own little kingdom!” The Alchemist Walker rambled on, his voice getting progressively louder, and soon, he was contemplating potential experiments that could be conducted with this ‘apex-quality’ Blood Tearstone.

“I know it’s rare, but you wanna know the best thing you can do? Create formations using liquified Blood Tearstone!” The Archmage chimed in. “With its size, you can craft an empire-level complex!”

“Nah; from where I stand, we should, at least, liquidate it and place the proceeds into our fund. To bring our plans to fruition, we require a lot of money, and now that we have this… We will not need to worry about money anymore,” the Thane Walker suggested.

The reasoning was not flawed. One could sell a Blood Tearstone the size of a nail for a few hundred gold coins in the market. The Blood Tearstone that Baiyi had received back then was large enough to fit in his hand; it could fetch much more than most could imagine.

Now that there was a Blood Tearstone here so large that it required a few men to pick it up, one could only imagine the astronomical amount it would sell for.

“Short-sighted, all of you!!” The Alchemist Walker was visibly irritated. “The only way to treat this babe right is to use it to invent a brand-new alchemical product, which will continuously generate revenue. In time, it will generate much more than the amount you can sell it for now!”

“Alright, alright. Cut it out. We’ll have plenty of time to debate back home,” Baiyi said in resignation. He couldn’t believe that these adults were fighting over something this trivial, forgetting the fact that the battle had left him with a lot of things to deal with!

Processing such a huge Blood Tearstone would not take a day or two, or even a month or two. With the current processing speed of an average alchemical refinery, as well as the time taken for alchemy experiments to synthesize significant products, Baiyi knew it would take, at least, a year to process a Blood Tearstone this large. Simply put, at this moment, it was just not something worth worrying about.

After obtaining the Blood Tearstone from the remains of Molocchus’ eyeball, Baiyi trudged towards the Abyss Lord’s decapitated corpse. Unfortunately, the gigantic corpse had decomposed into a small hill of ashen grey material. A small wind blowing around the hill carried tons of shrapnel with it.

Baiyi arrived at the small hill of grey material and placed a wind barrier around it, blowing away all the dust. Afterward, he pierced through the hill with his psychic energy, and a few seconds later, he lamented, “I don’t think there’s anything to be salvaged from this dump.”

Theoretically, the best reward he could reap from this heap of garbage was the Law Privilege of the God of Power, which allowed its user to ban the usage of powers. Unfortunately, Baiyi could not sense a whiff of Laws in this scrap heap. As Laws did not possess an actual form, so it stood to reason that the Law he was looking for would have decomposed along with the huge corpse. What a waste!

The Fifth Walker was not interested in probing this hill of grey matter any longer. It was larger than the remnants of Molocchus’ large eyeball, so if a person should stick their hand into it, they would probably find materials just as gross as what they would find in a used toilet! Too gross!

At this moment, another gentleman of the Void, who had yet to make any useful contribution, finally said, “There might be a powerful energy core buried here, you know.”

“Oh?” Baiyi’s curiosity was instantly stirred.

“Although that monster was strong and really disgusting, it was built on the foundation of engineering. I watched the fight between you all and that thing, and at the times that you were able to injure it with your sword, I could see inside the wounds; its internal mechanism looked similar to the wooden magical marionette we are all too familiar with. I was a bit taken aback by their decision to use wood to construct such a magnificent creation, seeing as how only novices use that material,” the Engineer Walker explained.

Unlike the other Gentlemen Voidwalkers, the Engineer Walker had not had a chance to showcase his knowledge and expertise, so he had closely monitored the situation, looking for a chance to prove himself. This was why he had been able to see what was hidden within the internal structure of the marionette, however briefly the wounds were open.

“You… are not asking me to dive into this dump to search for junk, as you did back then, are you? Just because it might be a magical marionette?” Baiyi said, a little warily.

In engineering, recycling parts of a marionette was valuable knowledge. Even marionettes that had undergone wear and tear could still offer lots of value, if one knew which parts to single out. If one recycled a marionette correctly, they could reclaim sixty percent of the amount invested into it, while an exceptionally meticulous engineer could reclaim up to eighty percent of the investment! Even a cursory search through the parts would yield, at least, thirty or forty percent of the original value.

The downside to recycling marionettes was the daunting amount of effort required to do so. It required a person to have a firm grip on the theoretical foundation of engineering, a willingness to sacrifice much of their time and energy, and enough mettle to brace for hazards — such as the epiphenomenal explosions of scrap, spontaneous combustions, or poisonous chemical leakage. This job involved a lot of dirt, pain, and exhaustion. The risk it posed to one’s health made most engineers refer to it as a job for ‘junk haulers’, and many of them tend to shun it as soon as their prestige becomes high.

The Engineer Walker was once a nondescript apprentice, whose potential had yet to be uncovered. Even his moniker, ‘Top Genius’, was nonexistent at the time. Furthermore, he was boring to interact with, and many were turned off by how stiff his personality was. He was soon sent to a recycling unit, to pick up scrap with other engineers that were also being looked down on.

Just like that, he became a junk hauler for fifteen years, diving into piles of garbage and living in abject poverty.

However, this life helped create his indisposable will and unparalleled skill. After the period of suffering, he was salvaged ninety percent of a broken marionette he had been recycling and shot to fame. This was something that had never been done before! Even if a discarded marionette had been reduced to shards, the Engineer Walker would still be able to breath new life into it by utilizing spare parts from other dumps.

At that point, his fame was skyrocketing faster than most could keep track of, and even the moniker he was later given, ‘Top Genius’, did not seem to do his skill justice. Afterward, he was recruited by an elite squad consisting of the best minds in the business. His prowess was praised again during the battle against Abyss Lord Thaas, for he battled with his personal marionette. He was said to have inflicted heavy damage on the Abyss Lord in that battle. Now, that was a more accurate testament to his prowess.

No one knew how he ended up becoming one of the Void’s Gentlemen. It may have been because — due to the nature of his profession, which left him forever alone — he had never once touched the fingers of the opposite sex.

Even though dumpster diving was what had shot the Engineer Walker to prominence, Baiyi was still unwilling to follow in his footsteps. To him, it really was not a good job.

The Engineer Walker could tell that Baiyi was hesitant, so he said, “The structure of a wooden marionette is not too complicated; in fact, it has always been an elementary-level material to work with. The only part of it that is of significance is its energy core. To me, the other parts I saw — like the joints, hinges and such — did not seem to be worth much, so I think you can just blast them clear with magic. Don’t worry about damaging the core; it’s the sturdiest part of the construction, so it wouldn’t be so easily destroyed. I advise you to use your senses to check for energy pulses before doing anything, though. I wouldn’t want you to be caught in an explosion.”

‘Now that’s the level of professionalism a Voidwalker should show! What did you guys insist you were good at before? The comedy business?’

“It’s chaotic in here. There are traces of Holy Power, Sinister Force, and my Void Energy; it’s a mess,” Baiyi reported as he sent his psychic energy into the pile.

“You really need to be careful, then,” the Engineer Walker replied.

Baiyi had no choice but to follow the Engineer Walker’s instruction, slowly chipping away at the junk with weak magic spells. It was quite akin to carefully peeling an apple. This meticulous method of disposal took Baiyi’s time, but he tried to convince himself that, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to salvage some sort of Law from this dump.

In the end, he did not get what he wanted. Sifting through the remains had been time-consuming, seeing as he took him an entire evening to reach the part that the Engineer Walker had guessed would contain the energy core. Alas, no Law was found in the heap. Either it had decomposed with the corpse, or its owner, the God of Power, had reclaimed it.

Baiyi had been prepared for this outcome, so he was not too disappointed. He was quite amused, however, because, in the time he was sifting through the pile, a crowd of about a thousand had quietly surrounded him. However, they were keeping their distance.

They had hidden within the craters that had formed during the battle, seemingly afraid to do anything more than wait quietly.

‘Why would anyone come forward to me after seeing this state of destruction?’ Baiyi thought, perplexed. ‘Even the Church should not be able to recruit these many people for an investigation on such short notice, right? I mean, they don’t even have enough manpower in this realm.’

Baiyi stopped what he was doing, and the Book of Servitude instantly appeared above his hand. He seemed ready to cast a forbidden spell when he saw a pair of hands shoot into the air. “S-stop! We come in peace!”

A fairy with a longbow slung over his back leaped out a crater closeby. Unlike other fairies, who were known for their beauty, this fairy had a face that resembled a horse’s — a level of ugliness only humans should possess. As soon as the fairy emerged from the crater, he hurried over to Baiyi.

Despite his horse-like face, which other fairies would find unappealing, this fairy’s aura was formidable. He was at least an Immortal-level fighter, so he could last a little longer than most if he clashed with Baiyi.

“I’m Gru,” the male fairy said, as soon as he reached Baiyi.

Baiyi cocked his head as if saying ‘So… what?’

Gru had not expected the man to be oblivious to his identity, so he added, “I’m the highest-commanding general of the Fairy Kingdom, here on orders to do damage control .”

“And you dared show up before me?” Baiyi chuckled.

“Because there is no need to fight,” Gru replied with a gloomy expression. He explained the ties he had with the Wise Mad King, making sure to explain that he was not a member of Godsfall. He also went on to explain what had happened to him earlier to himself.

Even though the Wise Mad King had ordered Gru to kill the Marionette, he did not interfere in the fight between it and Baiyi because of the devastation caused. Instead, he and his men went on to tear down the hotspots Godsfall cult had within the Kingdom…