[Peak diamond-tier puppet: the King of Time]
[Ability: retains all of the Eight-arm War God’s abilities.]
[Additional abilities: Time Reversal (can be activated when receiving damage, restoring one’s body to its optimal state before taking any damage, that ability can be used on others), Time Blade (uses a time gap to create a cut, dealing damage to a diamond-tier elite), Absolute Speed (up to the speed of light), Time Gap (the body is hidden in the time gap, preventing the enemy from attacking it).]
After fusing the Clock of Life, the Eight-arm War God immediately evolved. Its original eight arms had become ten. The two additional arms had a smooth surface and were inlaid with silver-white clock plates. The scales were changing at will; the other arms had more or less formed a clock-shaped outer shell.
On the face of the originally feminine puppet, the two pitch-black eyes had turned silver-white. The black needle inside was rotating bit by bit. As the needle moved, time around the puppet distorted, making its body disappear at will, and it was faintly discernible.
“Not bad; that puppet can control time. Compared to ordinary diamond-tier experts, that puppet is even better.”
Watson was delighted with the newly fused outcome. He controlled the King of Time puppet to wave its right hand toward the collapsed mansion.
Along with the King of Time’s actions, the clock-shaped outer shell began to rotate, emitting brilliant colors as it enveloped the mansion before him. It caused the collapsed mansion to stop and gradually turned to an undamaged state as if time had reversed.
The mansion had already collapsed by more than half, but under everyone’s watchful eyes, it returned to its original state in just a few seconds. There was not even a single crack on the wall.
“What on earth is going on? That inexplicable huge puppet and its terrifying power! Who is that youth?”
Among the people who had run out of the mansion, a fat man with a handlebar mustache stared at the sky with an ugly expression. His mustache trembled. His name was McGee Campbell, Armand’s and the Campbell family’s eldest son.
A tall and thin middle-aged man stood near him; the man did not look at the sky. Instead, his eyes stared gloomily at the mansion that was in perfect condition with a worried expression. “McGee, don’t you care about our family’s matters at all? Just over an hour ago, a youth called Watson had beat up my son, Augustus. He’s the young man sitting on the shoulder of the huge puppet in the sky. Who can catch him? D*mn it! Father originally planned to punish that young man here, but how did things turn out like that? Augustus is still in the mansion. Is he alright?”
The tall and thin man ridiculed McGee in an unfriendly tone. It was Newman, the Campbell family’s second son.
“Newman, why should I care about the family’s matters? Haven’t you always been in charge of the family’s various businesses? Furthermore, you have a good son. Father has already decided to hand the Campbell family to him in the future. Now that such a major incident has happened, you can only blame yourself for being negligent in managing Augustus. I’ve heard of Watson. He’s Master Antonio and the Sword Saint’s disciple.”
McGee had no intention of helping Newman. Instead, he mocked and ridiculed him.
Even though he was the family’s eldest son, McGee had always been inferior to his younger brother in terms of ability. It was not only that, but he also could not have children. That caused him to be excluded from the list of candidates to be the family’s successor. McGee frequently went to places of pleasure for that purpose. He even bought a large number of medicinal herbs from the black market in an attempt to cure his illness. Unfortunately, it was all to no avail.
As time passed, he accepted his fate. However, he still felt indignant at Newman for taking everything that should belong to him.
“Eldest Brother, Second Brother, stop arguing for a while. Father is still in the mansion. Who wants to go in and save him?”
The voice of a third person rang out—it was a woman in formal attire. She looked tidy and well-kept. If it were not for her half-black and half-white hair and crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, that woman would have looked like she was in her twenties.
“Freya, don’t talk nonsense. The puppet is so powerful. Who dares to enter the mansion now? Do you dare to go? If you don’t dare to go, then don’t tell us to go. I don’t want to die.”
McGee rolled his eyes. His words made the woman named Freya choke. She quickly looked at Newman. In the end, Newman also turned his head, obviously not intending to rush in to save anyone.
“Well, if you don’t want to go, then I’ll go myself.”
Freya snorted and was about to walk into the mansion. At that very moment, someone kicked the mansion door open. Hoen walked out of the mansion with a dirty face, supporting Armand, who was also dirty. Behind them was Augustus, who looked half-dead and covered in blood. Hoen also dragged the younger man with him.
“Watson, are you crazy? You almost killed us all!”
Hoen raised his head and complained loudly to Watson.
Watson had fused with a diamond-tier puppet, and he had used that puppet to launch an attack, causing the mansion to collapse. Thankfully, he was a platinum-tier warrior who specialized in earth-elemental combat aura. When the house collapsed, he controlled the earth elements to form a protective barrier around his body, protecting Armand and Augustus. Otherwise, that attack would have definitely taken their lives.
Watson shook his head. “I’m sorry, General Hoen. I used too much strength just now, but I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong! After all, you promised to clear my name. In reality, Master Campbell only wanted me here to bully me. Since you can’t help me, I can only help myself.”
Hoen’s expression froze. Just as he was about to say something, Augustus stared fiercely at the sky. “Watson, you dared to destroy our family mansion. Even if there is no grudge between us, the Campbell family can’t let you off so easily now! You have caused so much damage here; just wait for your payback. Our mansion contains a large number of precious magical tools, and they are worth no less than ten million gold coins.”
“What would you do if I won’t compensate you?” Watson sat on the giant puppet’s shoulder and replied with a calm expression.
“If you don’t compensate us, you won’t be able to leave alive today.”
“Take a look at this before you threaten me.”
Watson patted the puppet beneath him—the King of Time. The clock-shaped shell on the King of Time’s body immediately came to life. It squirmed and gathered toward its chest, gradually turning into a clock that was only ten meters tall. The inside of the clock was exquisitely made, and its appearance was almost identical to the Clock of Life that had stood in the courtyard.
“Is that the Clock of Life? Watson, you placed our family’s most precious treasure on a puppet?”
Augustus looked at the clock on the King of Time’s chest, then looked in the direction of the courtyard in the distance—the area now empty. His eyes immediately reddened.
The Clock of Life was essential to the Campbell family. That clock could grant them a longer lifespan, but it was also absolutely accurate time-wise. That clock was responsible for correcting time. The Campbell family’s magical tools were far superior to others. Since they had lost that clock, their magic tools’ quality might drop too.
“Yes, I’ve fused the Clock of Life into the puppet’s body. If you promise to forget what had just happened and swear not to provoke me in the future, I’ll return that clock to you. Otherwise—”
“Watson, stop dreaming. We’ll get it back when we cripple you!”
Before Watson could finish speaking, Augustus had already snorted coldly.
When the Campbell family members saw that Armand and the others had been rescued, they also began to discuss animatedly.
“Watson attacked us, and he dared to steal the Clock of Life. Is there something wrong with his brain?” Freya looked puzzled. Newman’s brows were tightly knitted as he said, “Regardless of what he thinks, regardless of whether he is Master Antonio and the Sword Saint’s disciple, he dared to act atrociously in the Campbell family. He won’t leave here unscathed! After we catch him, we will inform Antonio and Reid to come and take him. We will let them take a good look at what kind of disciple they have groomed.”
McGee chuckled at Newman’s angry look. He had no intention of joining their plan.
While the Campbell family was exchanging words, groups of soldiers with gold-tier armor and weapons appeared from every corner of the courtyard. Thousands of gold-tier warriors surrounded Watson and his puppet.
If the Ptolemy family were famous for building invincible gold-tier ships, then the Campbell family was well-known for producing the most advanced weapons and armor in the kingdom. Even the royal army could not do without their items.
At that moment, the thousands of gold-tier warriors in the courtyard raised their weapons of the same level and attacked Watson. Thousands of combat aura streaked across the air and gathered into an explosion in the sky.
Watson controlled the King of Time puppet to raise its arm, which symbolized the warrior class and used the shield to block the attack. The King of Time was unharmed. It punched the ground several times, and the open fist on its back landed on the ground. The earth trembled, and the ground spread out like water waves. However, the Campbell family guards in gold-tier armor managed to block it.
Even though those guards were shocked when they saw the power contained within the King of Time’s fist, their armor did not crack. One could see that the quality of their equipment was pretty good.
“Everyone, there’s no need to attack! We just need to tie that guy down so that he won’t be able to escape. Let’s get him!”
Newman’s eyes lit up when the guards blocked the puppet’s attack. He gave Freya and McGee a look and quickly walked toward the mansion. Freya followed closely behind him, but McGee had an unwilling look on his face. After hesitating for a while, he also trailed after them.
After a while, Newman and the other two walked out of the mansion. Each of them held a triangular object in their hands. The triangular object was not made of stone or metal but a rarer substance. Each of the triangular objects had a huge eye carved on it.
[Third Generation Holy Relic: Void Whistle (incomplete)]
[Holy relics were artifacts left behind by ancient civilizations. Their quality may surpass modern technology. According to the historical records, holy relics were divided into the first to the twelfth generations, and among them, the first generation was older and more powerful.]
[Ability: Void Whistle is suspected to be a weapon left behind by the third generation of the Void civilization 8000 years ago. It can banish objects or creatures into the endless void and build high-energy particle cannons to crush enemies into ashes.]
Watson’s gaze was subconsciously attracted to the three triangular objects, and he used the system to retrieve their information automatically. He sighed. “Are they not only a family that makes the kingdom’s magical tools? They have diamond-tier tools.”
There were no more than ten platinum-tier tools in the kingdom. That was the truth because the kingdom could only produce platinum-tier magical tools.
However, that did not mean that the kingdom only had platinum-tier tools. They had some from ruins of previous civilizations, and some surpassed the platinum tier. For example, the diamond-tier World Transformation Mirror from the City of Steel’s underground maze. It was a sacred relic.
Those sacred relics contributed to the kingdom’s civilization and power. One could say that the kingdom’s true power was much stronger than it appeared on the surface.
Newman and the other two took the Void Whistle and began to fuse it. Their family had studied the relic for a long time and knew its true usage.
However, before they began to fuse it, Armand waved his hand. “Wait! Don’t use the holy relic first.”
Armand, supported by Hoen, limped toward Watson and looked at the massive puppet above his head. He said, “Watson, you hit Augustus and destroyed many of our magic tools! According to the law between noblemen, violent acts that cause injuries and those who recklessly violate the noblemen’s etiquette will be sentenced to death. Even though you are the Astrologer and the Sword Saint’s disciple, you still have to follow the law because they were set by His Majesty, well, unless you are prepared to go against the entire country.”
Armand’s words were full of force, but Watson was unmoved. He waited for the other party’s next words. He thought Armand would start threatening him again, asking him to surrender. Unexpectedly, Armand did not say that. Instead, he smiled at him.
“You wreaked havoc here by yourself, and I haven’t seen such a thing in decades. I have to say that I quite admire your courage! I’ll give you a chance. If you agree to one of my requests, I will let all these go.”
“Father, did your head suffer any injuries from the tremor just now?”
Watson had yet to respond to Armand’s question. All three of Armand’s children looked shocked. Newman even tightened his grip on the sacred relic in his hand. Watson had hit his son, but the young man had refused their family’s punishment and even caused a huge commotion. He also almost destroyed their mansion—they could have died! Under such circumstances, Armand would be a fool to let Watson go.
“Shut up, Newman! Is it your turn to speak when I am speaking?”
Armand glanced in Newman’s direction. Newman immediately revealed a scared expression and did not dare to speak.
After that, Armand looked at Watson, his smile filled with amiability. “Watson, one more friend might lead to another path. You don’t intend to continue this stalemate with us, right? This is not beneficial to anyone.”
“Master Armand, you sound reasonable. May I know your requests please?”
“First, hand over the mysterious technique that can fuse puppets. We will not make a move against you, and we will treat you as our most honorable guest. What do you think?”
Armand’s eyes flickered. Watson laughed. It looked like the older man coveted his system. That man was a shrewd character; he could see the value of a commodity. However, Wayson could not impart that knowledge to others.
“I’m sorry, Master Armand. Only I can master the ability to fuse the puppets. That is a special magic, so I can’t impart it to you!”
“It’s alright. I know it’s not easy to impart such a technique. Since that’s the case, you can opt to give us the puppet you fused. That puppet can erase the grudge between us.”
“That’s fine. However, that puppet is already at the peak of the diamond tier. I feel like it’s a loss to just give it to you.”
Watson’s eyes narrowed as he stroked his chin.
“What a coward! The things you used to create that puppet belong to our family. You even fused our family’s treasure, the Clock of Life, with the puppet. Isn’t it right to ask you to hand over the puppet? We’re kind enough not to pursue other things with you. How dare you bargain with us?” Newman was the first to speak; his brows were filled with dissatisfaction.
“The price of a magical tool doesn’t lie in the materials, but the quality of the final product. It can turn low-tier materials into higher-quality items. That is the value of a blacksmith! As a magical tool forger, you should understand that principle, right? If you think there’s a problem with my price, then we can cancel the deal. Anyway, I’m not afraid of fighting the Campbell family to the end. As for that puppet, you’ll never get it.”
“Kid! You—”
Newman was about to say something else, but Armand waved his hand to silence him.
“Kid, let’s not beat around the bush. Just say it. If you want to keep that puppet, what price do we need to pay for you to part with it?”
“I don’t want much. I’ll give you the puppet. I want to exchange it for ten high-quality holy relics from your family’s inventory.”
