Chapter 126: Gundam and Chainsaw

Chapter 126: Gundam and Chainsaw

"Hey, Mr. Chad, want to ride my bicycle?"

In the early morning, Ge Li wore her favorite outfit, a delicate silk scarf fluttering in the cool spring breeze as she dashingly straddled her bicycle. Turning her head, she playfully mimicked the cultured way of speaking and extended an invitation to Chad.

"Of course, my beautiful Miss Ge Li."

Chad smiled as he sat sideways on the rear seat, holding onto Ge Li.

"Hold tight, let's go!"

With a vigorous push, Ge Li wobbled a few times before finding her balance, then smoothly rode out of the alley.

"Ding-ling! Ding-ling!"

The crisp sound of the mechanical bell was like the most delightful birdsong of spring, drawing the gazes of countless passersby.

Their eyes seemed to burn with warmth, dispelling the lingering chill of early spring.

Blushing, Ge Li reveled in the astonished and envious looks from the crowd as she rode through the familiar streets.

The wind rushed past her ears, like a free-spirited deer roaming through the forest!

...

"You know what? This is the taste of freedom! We no longer have to be confined to one place like our ancestors!"

Yi Wenni, a former member of the Awakening Association, watched as her home was reduced to rubble, yet she smiled brightly at her classmates.

Yi Wenni's house had been demolished.

The Music Goddess had ordered the construction of a wall within Vias, dividing the city into an inner and outer section.

Yi Wenni's home happened to be in the "outer city," and unfortunately, it was torn down.

Though she was compensated with a new house in the inner city, this was still the home where she had been born and raised, so she naturally had some sentimental attachment.

Hearing the news, her classmates had come to help her move while also hoping to console her.

But to their surprise, Yi Wenni's reaction was completely unexpected.

"Would you like to travel across the Azarea Continent with the merchant caravans and spread the Goddess's light?"

With a snap of her fingers, Yi Wenni summoned the internet interface and opened the Music Sanctuary, her face beaming with joy.

"With this, I believe the Goddess's light will surely spread across all of Azarea—and even more worlds!"

At this moment, Yi Wenni's smile was radiant, her eyes gleaming with an unusual fervor—the longing of an idealist for freedom.

Her classmates, however, exchanged bewildered glances.

As they stood in shock, the ruins before them swiftly sank into the earth under the power of magic, replaced by strange new structures rising from the ground.

That was the power of Keville's mages!

This place would become the largest trade city in the southeastern part of the Azarea Continent!

Rumor had it that Keville's merchant caravans had already set out.

At this moment, countless citizens of Vias gathered to witness this magical miracle!

The Music Goddess Aphnora also stood atop a towering Magic Tower, gazing at the distant spectacle—though her vision reached even further.

She knew that a miracle far greater than mere magic was about to unfold here!

When she first established this city, she had envisioned the beginning of a journey and even the possibility of destruction.

But she had never imagined that the Divine Kingdom on Earth, originally founded in the gaps of the map to seek a balance of power, would one day become a commercial hub.

"Where are you?"

Thinking of that man whose mind was always filled with bizarre ideas, she couldn't help but making a voice communication call.

"The Dofi domain."

"Dofi? Why can't I find you?"

"I'm in the Kuld Desert."

As Yu Sheng'an spoke these words, Aphnora distinctly heard the rapid crackle of firearms in the background.

"What are you doing there?"

"Testing some things."

"Can I come take a look?"

"Of course, come on over!"

Suppressing her excitement, Aphnora sent her divine projection to the Dofi domain.

The Kuld Desert lay in the far north of the Dofi domain—a desolate wasteland, nearly a lifeless zone. Even the hardiest beastmen scorned this place.

When Aphnora arrived, the sight before her left her both astonished and bewildered.

A colossal earth puppet, towering over a dozen zhang high, stood at the center of the desert.

But that wasn’t the main point.

The key detail was that the earth puppet had clearly been metallized using Earth Magic. Its surface gleamed with a metallic sheen, and its design was brimming with mechanical aesthetics.

Moreover, it was loaded with massive attached firearms.

No—calling them firearms didn’t quite fit.

They were more like square boxes. Had she not witnessed the volley of high-level magic bullets firing from them, she would never have guessed their purpose.

"Hello, beautiful lady. Care to come inside for a ride?"

A hatch opened on the chest of the giant puppet, revealing a spacious cockpit. Inside sat none other than Yu Sheng'an, the man she had come to find.

As he spoke, earth elements gathered beside him, coalescing into a futuristic-looking space seat.

"Is this another one of your new inventions? What’s it called?"

Aphnora had long grown accustomed to Yu Sheng'an’s eccentric ideas. She flew inside and took a seat beside him, her eyes brimming with curiosity as she surveyed the surroundings.

From inside the cockpit, it felt as though she were suspended high in the air. The surroundings were completely transparent, revealing only the puppet’s metallic exterior.

The sight made her suspect the use of light magic.

She wondered where the magic runes had been inscribed.

"Gundam!"

"A new type of magic puppet?"

"No, just a toy."

Yu Sheng'an shook his head with a hint of regret.

As the hatch closed, he began piloting the so-called "Gundam"—which was essentially an oversized earth puppet—sending it racing across the desert.

The desert was littered with all sorts of makeshift targets: monster carcasses, metal plates, and more.

Yu Sheng'an unleashed the Gundam’s firepower upon them.

"The power seems impressive. Why call it a toy?"

"It’s the attached weapons that are impressive! The production cost for this thing is way too high, and the mana consumption is enormous. On the battlefield, it’d just be a sitting duck—easy for enemies to dismantle limb by limb."

Yu Sheng'an shook his head.

The idea of a mech had first occurred to him when he designed the Fourth Calamity.

But back then, the so-called mech was just an oversized earth puppet—nothing more than a flashy prop.

So he quickly abandoned the notion.

However, after stealing the fruits of industry from the Vilia domain, the idea resurfaced.

This time, he discarded complex industrial designs entirely.

Instead, he used an earth puppet as the base, taking advantage of its adaptability to store an array of attached weapons.

Unfortunately, while the concept was sound, the reality proved too fanciful.

An enlarged earth puppet’s mana consumption skyrocketed.

And though the mech, bristling with attached weapons, looked imposing and majestic—

In reality, even a single Battle Master could easily close the distance and dismantle it into a skeleton.

Against the close-quarters combat of a Battle Master, its massive size would become its greatest hindrance.

In short, it boils down to one sentence: high cost, low practicality.

With those resources, it’d be better to mass-produce drones.

With his Contract Godhood as the link, he had no fear of large-scale "electron suppression" from the enemy.

Still, while the mech’s battlefield utility was poor, it wasn’t bad as a toy to indulge his chuunibyou fantasies from his Blue Star days.

"Oh? That’s a shame."

"Indeed!" Yu Sheng'an nodded, then added, "But while the mech is useless, these attached weapons would be perfect for giants!"

Aphnora instinctively glanced outside the cockpit.

In the mech’s hands was a bizarrely designed greatsword.

The hilt was fitted with a spherical magic steam engine, the tip semicircular, and a jagged chain ran along the blade.

As Yu Sheng'an activated it, the magic steam engine roared, belching white smoke as the chain on the blade spun wildly.

A massive sea monster corpse was reduced to a bloody mess under the greatsword.

The sight made Aphnora’s pupils dilate.

She could already envision the abyssal giants wielding these greatswords, roaring as they slaughtered their kin!

"Relying solely on the Life-Sharing Contract to raise venomous insects is too slow. I plan to deploy a batch of these weapons to speed things up. Does your Undying Demon Army want some?" Yu Sheng'an asked.

"Good!" Aphnora nodded.

Her Undying Demon Army wasn’t large.

Even Phoebus, who had already obtained the virtual Contract Godhood, hadn’t assembled many.

He’d only contracted a small number as backup forces.

Clearly, this power was entirely dependent on Yu Sheng'an. Despite their alliance, neither Aphnora nor Phoebus intended to invest heavily here.

After all, if relations soured, Yu Sheng'an could dissolve their Undying Demon Armies at any time. Pouring massive amounts of Source Essence into them would be unwise.

Though the likelihood of a falling-out was slim, as gods who had lived for centuries—even millennia—they still harbored deep-seated rationality.

Now, watching Yu Sheng'an effortlessly arm his Undying Demon Army with industrial power, Aphnora felt a pang of envy—until a sudden possibility struck her, tightening her expression.

"By the way, that half-production line you traded to the Wisdom Goddess… could it push her in this direction? If her Wisdom Legion were to mass-produce these, they’d pose a significant threat to us."

"Absolutely, once she sees these weapons," Yu Sheng'an confirmed.

"Then… what do we do?" Aphnora was stunned.

"Relax. She won’t reach our level anytime soon." He paused, then grinned. "Honestly, I’d welcome her trying."

"Why?" she asked, surprised.

"Abandoning her own expertise to compete with me in my domain? Isn’t that suicidal? If she really goes down this path, this arms race will drag her straight into the abyss."

"But… she holds the Wisdom Godhood."

"Wisdom Godhood doesn’t equal wisdom."

"Did the Prophecy Godhood tell you that?"

"No, I guessed."