Babbling Nonsense? Tell It to My Stats!

"What did you say?" Berzuna suddenly felt that something was terribly off. Wait a second—why had someone from the Absolute Sentence squad fought his way in, toured his workshop, and then walked right up to offer constructive criticism? And he was Ye Xian's student? Was... was this right? It was, wasn't it? No, wait, something wasn't right... But what he said actually made so much sense! No, it was wrong, but it was right, right... Wrong, wrong... Right or wrong... Boom! Amidst a deafening roar, the old man's expression abruptly twisted. He spat a mouthful of blood as fractures spiderwebbed across his face. A shrill scream tore from his throat. "You old bastard!" "Don't waste any more time, Xiao Bei." To the sound of rhythmic boring and scraping, a dachshund so long its head and tail could never be seen in the same place dropped from the ceiling. It burrowed straight into the floorboards, seemingly splitting—one into two, two into four. Along each segment of its body, distorted, mutated hound heads sprouted scales, opening wide to gnaw at everything in the workshop. From a knotted sphere of flesh, half of the Veterinarian emerged. Inspecting his state, she let out a soft sigh. "Look, for the sake of my friendship with your teacher, if you surrender, I'll guarantee you live out the rest of your days peacefully in the Absolute Prison. If you cooperate, I can even help you find another student to carry on the Haze lineage..." "Still pulling seniority on me? Shut your mouth!" Berzuna bellowed. "You pack of dogs kept by the directors, not only do you covet my workshop, you even dare plot against my legacy? "Keep dreaming! "The rise or fall of Haze rests entirely on my shoulders! I am the fucking future of Haze! Don't you dare even think about it!" At that, the faint trace of a smile on the Veterinarian's face faded into nothingness. "Then... there's no other way." Snap! A crisp snap of her fingers sounded like the undoing of a final shackle. Instantly, the atrociously long dachshund violently came apart. Blood erupted, nerves wriggled, lymph proliferated, and bones surged with rapid growth. Countless claws, eyes, and ears sprouted chaotically from the gore, expanding without limit. In the blink of an eye, segment after segment of the 'Veterinarian' surfaced from the flesh. A colossal mass of blood and meat converged into a surging tide that flooded the entire fortress. It unleashed storms and blazing fire without mercy, eyes firing razor-sharp beams of light, sharp claws tearing and savaging everything in sight... It even turned to parasitize the castle itself, draining its heat and nutrients to fuel its own growth. The sheer familiarity of the breach and the exquisite finesse of the execution left Ji Jue thoroughly refreshed. His horizons had broadened; he had learned something new! Yet someone was even faster than her... It was Ji Jue, who had been waiting for god knows how long! *You spent all that time babbling—I was waiting for my cast bar, but what were you waiting for?* While Ji Jue had been bickering with Berzuna, Isis had maintained his physical body while his mouth rambled on. Meanwhile, Pan Ying, plunged deep into his flesh, had already been steadily devouring life and soul. Legacy Burnt Offering · Blood Wrist, activate! His health bar and mana bar began dropping at a rate visible to the naked eye. Yet after dropping for ages, they hadn't even plummeted to an average artificer's baseline. It couldn't be helped. He had eaten too much and stockpiled far too much. That was just how the White Stag's handpicked wolf rolled! Strength doubled, doubled, and doubled again... A pity they hadn't bickered for a few more sentences; otherwise, it could have doubled one more time! Two hundred and fifty-six times? Fine, barely enough! Boom! Blood-red flames erupted. Ji Jue tore through the air, Pan Ying cleaving downward to bury itself in that aged face set among the countless stone countenances, annihilating it without mercy! Did it work? A little, but not much. Berzuna had long since fused with the workshop. The mask was merely a speaking habit; it made no difference whether it was there or not. Ji Jue was simply sick of looking at that shameless old mug. Wasting so many precious materials only to produce an abomination that resembled nothing, yet he still stood there prattling on, spouting grand nonsense? Just shut up! If you had accomplished anything worthwhile amidst this mess, I might have given you an ounce of respect! Turns out you were just digging into a dead end, totally pointed in the wrong direction... A complete embarrassment! Now, the joyous hour of academic debate was officially over. Next up was the grim reality of cutthroat corporate slaughter! Rip— The blade effortlessly pierced the heart and swept horizontally. Like slicing through tissue paper, it carved a deep fissure through iron, stone, and crucible without the slightest resistance. Blood flames erupted like a tempest. The entire workshop core was drowned in shrill whistles tearing through the air. Gruesome gashes split open across the walls and floor, and everything protruding above ground level was sliced clean in two! Hack! Hack! Hack! Hack! Hack! Amidst a chorus of roars and wails, Ji Jue swung Pan Ying with reckless abandon. Who cared what it was? If he saw it, he hacked it; if he couldn't see it, he dug it out and kept hacking! His artificer brain told him it was time to embrace Swarm mentality! *Cleaver in hand, chopping live wire, sparks and lightning all the way!* That was how the Swarm rolled! In the blink of an eye, Ji Jue smashed the entire crucible heart to dust, digging deeper and deeper until a jet of jet-black liquid erupted forth... He saw it once again. It was a refined solution. Ji Jue tested it and found its spiritus conductivity extraordinary. The only pity was whether he could ever get his hands on the recipe. As for the source, Isis had already completed the analysis: a minor fraction of minerals, repeatedly extracted and processed, while the primary ingredient was... calamity beast blood?! In an instant, Ji Jue vaulted backward in retreat! A rampaging blaze surged from the deepest depths of the workshop. In moments, it engulfed everything, incinerating all flesh to cinders. Amidst an earth-shattering rumble, the castle and workshop collapsed entirely! Or rather, it discarded everything unnecessary, stripping away all dead weight. In that frantic moment, Berzuna forcibly brought the unfinished project online, disregarding all fatal flaws and fully initiating the final transformation... Thus, amidst the billowing dust and surging ocean waves, sharp limbs pierced out from the ruins one after another. Right before everyone's eyes, the remaining framework of the workshop shifted once more. Haze converged, revealing a brand-new form as it came completely to life! Stone faces shrieked at the top of their lungs, cheering and screaming, immersed in a dreamlike bliss while shedding tears of blood. Slowly, an eerie, centipede-like structure crawled out from the debris. After assimilating all the artificers, it had fused master and workshop into one, thoroughly animating it—artificer and workshop brought forth in a brand-new form. Or rather... —A brand-new calamity beast! "I-I'm almost there! Hahahaha, hahahaha..." Berzuna's ecstatic laughter echoed from every stone face. Even as it broke free of its restraints, the colossal body dissolved into the ethereal once more, on the verge of vanishing into an illusion. "Why did it have to come to this, Master Berzuna... Why did it have to come to this..." Maimed and crippled, the artificer collapsed on the sea's surface, unable to hold back his tears any longer. He made his final resolution. "Captain, please kill him." In his grasp, a fracture split across the Light-Anchoring Mirror, followed by another. Blazing radiance burst forth, detonating with a roar. The monster, on the verge of fading into an illusion, was violently knocked back out into reality! Immediately after, a Domain unfolded. Blazing light converged like a mirror, gazing down from above. It laid bare the vast, labyrinthine internal architecture of the calamity beast, illuminating its critical nodes. He provided the final guide. Right on cue, under the Captain's command, iron chains materialized from thin air, coiling around the colossal frame. Heavy anchors dragged down, forcibly pinning it to the frozen sea. A tide of crimson washed outward. Proliferating flesh bound and pulled like ropes, suppressing it further. Amidst the ruins, molten rock flowed. Yellowbeard strode forward, cloaked in rolling smoke. The towering phantom of a giant seemed to loom behind him, gripping a flamberge that mirrored his own. Runes flared along the spine of the blade as he swept it across, sinking it effortlessly deep into the beast's back! Yet the pierced wound actually knit back together. The workshop beast struggled fiercely, its limbs morphing to form a massive blade that swung horizontally! Then, the blade was sliced clean in two! Nothing could be seen clearly except blood-red flame and silver light flashing past. Like a calamity star in flight. In the span of a breath, from head to tail, Ji Jue streaked past dragging Pan Ying behind him. He left a gaping gash in his wake, out of which sprayed yet more black blood. Turning back, he hurled another Zhanlu, detonating it with reckless abandon. Then he raised his blade again, hacking everything in sight to absolute mush! Amidst booming crashes, the workshop beast tried to thrash free again and again, only to be bound once more. Whenever it sought to fade into nothingness, Hu Jian's mirror of the Domain illuminated it anew! The only thing left for it to do was spout deranged curses, pleas, promises, and threats. "You ungrateful dog, Hu Jian, Hu Jian... I... I..." Berzuna's face emerged from the iron and stone, bathed in tears of age. "Can't you just spare me this once?!" "Did I not?!" Hu Jian screamed, his features twisted, the split corners of his eyes staining red with blood—looking even more ferocious than the monster before him. "I served you as a teacher, yet today the teacher is no teacher! I revered you as a father, yet today the father is no father! "What else could I do? "What I owe you, I will repay! From this day forth, I quit the Association and strike my name from the Transmutation lineage! If the Haze lineage still has an inheritance, I will protect it with everything I have so it will never die out. "But you must die!" "You beast!" Berzuna went entirely mad, his eyes crimson as he spewed flames and lightning regardless of the cost. "You ungrateful beast, aaargh!" Amidst the burning flames, the light of the mirror of the Domain burned even brighter! "Those who stand as elders must set an example for the rest! As that example, when it is time to advance, one advances; when it is time to die, one must die! "Isn't that what you taught me?!" Engulfed in flames, Hu Jian took one step forward after another, his voice nearly weeping blood as he pleaded, "Master Berzuna, the survival of the Haze lineage rests in your hands today! You've been muddle-headed for so long, can't you see clearly just this once?!" If you could have lived, how would you have ever fallen to such a state? If you do not die, where in the future Association, where in the future world... will there ever be a place left for Haze?! For a fleeting moment, Berzuna froze. The expression upon the stone face twitched once, then again... Rage and hatred, exhaustion and bewilderment, blending into despair and desolate sorrow. "B-but I... I was almost there. Give me one more chance, A-Jian, I beg of you, just one more... I... What did I... I didn't want to... I... I..." Crack— A fracturing sound rang out. In those turbid pupils, the last shred of hesitation and doubt was swallowed by darkness. It was pure bestiality and madness, the lingering despair and malice of countless artificers erupting together, seeking prey to devour! With a ferocious roar, it lunged forward, snapping its jaws straight toward Hu Jian! "..." Hu Jian stared blankly at that face, seemingly frozen where he stood, or perhaps simply unwilling to turn and flee. Then, a merciless fist struck him square in the face... sending him flying backward! Blood-red flame descended from above! A brutal stomp! It forcibly crushed that massive head into the frozen, solid seawater, while a punch shoved the nuisance out of the way! Then, engulfed in blood-red flames, Pan Ying rose, its blade shrieking through the air! Toward the head beneath his feet, it slashed down!