Chapter 4：A Lock Glyph

Xiao Ling stared obsessively at the patterns on the mechanical imp. After reading them, he confirmed that the imp was a level-3 puppet. 'Only an expert-rank Mechanical Alchemist can inscribe level-3 glyphs...' He studied the young man once again. If this guy were not too weak, his overall strength should at least put him in the top 100 in the whole server.

The young man glanced at Xiao Ling. When he saw the newbie robe inscribed with mechanical alchemy glyphs Xiao Ling was wearing, he showed a look of disdain. A Mechanical Alchemist who did not even have a mechanical imp was a disgrace to all Mechanical Alchemists.

His expression made Xiao Ling have a sense of disgust toward him. Too lazy to pay any more attention to him, he walked to the repair counter. An ancient wall clock waiting to be repaired on the counter caught his attention.

The glyphs on this wall clock turned out to be all level-5 mechanical alchemy glyphs. Xiao Ling had only read such high-level glyphs in books, so he began to study them in silence while dismantling the clock.

"Did he repair all the clocks and watches in this shop?" The young man asked the bald old man.

"Yes, he repaired all the clocks and watches here. He is quite skilled at that. Look, how wonderful it is, these aged clocks and watches are brought back to life a second time by his hands." The bald man patted an old clock beside him.

Xiao Ling wanted to stop him, but it was too late. The table clock was two thousand years old, and almost all the parts inside had already been damaged. How could it withstand the old man's slap?

Under his torture, the ancient clock creaked and stopped working, and then a clanking noise rang out of it, telling everyone that all its internal components were falling apart. The bald guy's face, almost cramped with excitement, turned purple in an instant.

The young man said mockingly, "I really can't imagine what kind of clock a man in newbie robe and without a mechanical imp can repair."

The bald man stood there embarrassingly, but Xiao Ling did not seem to hear that because he was attracted by the wall clock in front of him. It was really a strange artifact; its surface was covered with level-5 Reinforced Glyphs, but there was not even a Power Glyph in it. What was its core power source then?

According to the principle of mechanical deterioration described in 'Specialization of Mechanical Alchemists', the material, the damage degree of the clock, and the glyphs on its surface showed that it was at least ten thousand years old. Could it be something from the Goblin Age? Only goblins could create core power sources other than Power Glyphs. Every goblin was a wise man; their thin heads were always filled with all kinds of strange ideas, and they had created a great technological civilization ten thousand years ago.

Xiao Ling carefully removed the outer case of the wall clock, and the internal structure slowly revealed in front of his eyes. Every part inside fit perfectly and rotated rhythmically. Such a fine structure made him more convinced that the clock must be the masterpiece of goblins, because only goblins with sharp heads and dexterous fingers could create such perfect machines.

There were two hidden compartments inside the clock, among which the core power source must be hidden.

He opened the compartment under the clock and saw two rolls of pale-gray, slightly chipped parchment inside. Seeing that, his heart raced instantly. They were no ordinary things, he knew, and were probably blueprints of goblin's machines. 'Such things must not be given to that stingy bald man...' Without examining the two parchments, he quietly put them into his pouch.

System: You received a Mechanical Alchemy Blueprint.

System: You received a Goblin's Treasure Map.

Looking at the system prompts, Xiao Ling was momentarily stunned, but he quickly repressed his ecstasy and continued to study the wall clock. Soon, he found blue lines flowing out of another compartment, which kept the clock working. Inside this compartment should be the core power source.

'Besides Power Glyphs, what could become the core power source of the wall clock and keep it running?' Xiao Ling's obsession with mechanical alchemy was beyond ordinary people's understanding. For him, unlocking an ancient secret of mechanical alchemy was as exciting as finding ancient treasures.

The young man felt bored when he saw Xiao Ling ignore him.

Just then, the wooden door of the shop creaked open. In the dim yellow light, a female priest in a white priest robe and a female mage in a fiery red magical robe came walking in from the outside. The female priest was beautiful and gorgeous, gentle and quiet. Her black hair hung behind her and her bangs were tied into two braids, falling on both sides of her face and giving her a graceful air. Her white priest robe looked holy and solemn, making her look like a saint.

If she were water, then the female mage beside her was fire. The fiery red magical robe could hardly conceal her hot figure, and her pretty appearance seemed to be carved out of the finest jade. She had a pair of beautiful eyebrows, a tiny nose, and slightly pouted lips. And she was charming, with the slightly frowned eyebrows and the playful look in her eyes.

They were simply the masterpieces of God.

"Oh, my God, are they angels?" Looking at the two girls, the bald shop owner exclaimed exaggeratedly.

When the young man saw the two beautiful girls, he paused for a moment with a fascination in his eyes. "Huawu, Huowu, why are you here?" He walked over to them and said fawningly, "Aren't you with Boss?"

The young man's look made the female priest, Huawu, frowned slightly. With an indifferent expression, she said, "We will set out in half an hour. The target is the Blood Unicorn in Zanga Marsh. Boss asked me to inform you."

If Xiao Ling knew that the female priest was Huawu, who was ranked second in the server, he might not be stingy with his gaze. But at this moment, he was already attracted by an ancient glyph inscribed outside of the hidden compartment.

It was a level-5 Lock Glyph. Familiarity with various glyphs was a compulsory course in engineering, but Xiao Ling's understanding of the Lock Glyph was limited to its structure. After all, the rank of his engineering was not even journeyman, so he only knew it and was not familiar with it. Moreover, Lock Glyphs had tens of millions of variations, making them extremely difficult to unlock, let alone the fact that a level-5 Lock Glyph had exceeded his skill to crack.

Still, Xiao Ling calculated according to various basic theories of engineering, guessing the ways to crack this Lock Glyph.