Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 203 Dark Machine Soul! Demon Forging!
It would have been impossible for him to advance through the ranks within the Cult of Machine God normally.

Duncan might be able to get by in the early stages, but as his strength increases, he will eventually have to go to the temple of the Cult of Machines for further study. Even if he enters the guardian angels' sight, the angel of insight might discover something amiss one day.

His current plan is to secretly strengthen his own team, find a way to infiltrate the Cult of the Machine God, and steal the technological knowledge of this era as a resource reserve.

In that case, even if the third human host dies someday, he won't lose out.

At this stage, Duncan can only steal a limited amount of technological knowledge, enough to barely complete the first industrial revolution. As for subsequent technological iterations and the reserves of groundbreaking technologies, he will have to find a way to acquire them from the technical monks of the Cult of Machines.

Duncan's biggest problem is that he is like an extraterrestrial demon, and any slight exposure of his abnormality will attract the crazy suppression of the Cult of Machine God.

In the eyes of the Mechanicus, Duncan is a Void Demon who has descended into reality.

At this moment, the lich Kangus pondered and said, "Your Majesty."

"It's definitely worth a try."

"However, the artifacts of the Mechanicus are inscribed with mechanical prayers, so they might reject necromancy."

You'll only know the result if you try.

By this time, Duncan had reached the body of the dead mechanical Inquisitor. He drew his weapon and hacked away, flesh flying and sparks flying, severing the Inquisitor's right arm. The body had been highly mechanized; except for the skull, almost the entire skeleton had been replaced with a titanium-like metal structure.

If the earthquake hadn't caused the collapse that pinned him down, it would have been extremely difficult for Duncan to kill this kind of enemy.

He casually pulled out the enemy's spine as well. The Inquisitor had implanted a bionic spine made of adamantite, with mechanical prayers engraved on its surface. There were five different mechanical nerve bundle interfaces on it, each controlling a different modified structure within the body.

"Could you give me the mechanical neural bundle and the exoskeleton?"

At this moment, Tasia suddenly spoke up. Looking at the adamantite spine that Duncan had dug out, her eyes lit up and she said, "I can take many parts off his body and use them as external structures."

She was also a semi-mechanical cleric of the Insight Cult.

If it weren't for her reluctance to give up her human body, Tasia would have already completed her advancement.

Duncan tossed the adamantite bionic spine to the other man, then used his dagger to cut through the bionic nerve structure from the cervical spine to the shoulder, slowly saying, "Can you install mechanical nerve bundles?"

Tasia nodded reluctantly and said, "If it's a simple implant, I can give it a try."

It didn't take long.

The courtroom deacon in front of them was dismembered, all his flesh and biological matter discarded, leaving only the modified parts.

The corpse demon Bert stood silently to one side.

He seemed to slowly come to terms with it, turning to look at his shattered right arm. Even with Duncan's repairs, the structure of the human skeleton was already broken, making it practically useless in terms of strength. The skeletons of undead were only somewhat useful in the Middle Ages; towards the end of the Mystic Age, even pirates used cannons to blast through armies of undead skeletons.

There is a limit to how much enchantment enhancement can be achieved.

Enchanting a bone is not the same as enchanting a piece of steel in terms of hardness. Besides, necromancers don't have much of a habit of enhancing summoned creatures.

At this moment, the corpse demon Bert grabbed a tool axe from the ground and chopped off his right arm.

He felt no pain at all.

However, when the disassembled bionic robotic arm was attached to him, the corpse demon Bert let out a shrill scream, his face contorted in pain as he cried out, "No!..."

"It's burning me!"

With his God-like perspective, Duncan immediately saw the mechanical prayers engraved inside the robotic arm emitting a faint glow.

This thing can also purify the dead?

It seems things aren't as simple as Duncan imagined. The artifacts of the Cult of Mechanics are made through multiple processes. Regular industrial machinery is nothing special, but supernatural mechanical artifacts are first inscribed with prayers by the Mechanicus priests, then activated with blessings, coated with holy oil, and repeatedly chanted sacred words before they are completely completed.

"His Majesty."

“Holy prayers are inscribed inside all items of the Mechanicus.”

The lich Kangus was also somewhat disappointed at this moment, and slowly said, "It will harm undead creatures. Even if it is forcibly installed, he will be burned to death."

Duncan also fell into deep thought at this moment.

He picked up the bionic mechanical arm in front of him, channeling his inner power to sense the machine spirit within. This thing truly existed; the more complex the mechanical structure, the stronger the machine spirit born within. That's why sometimes other people couldn't use the things from the Cult of Machines, because the machine spirit would repel them, preventing them from activating them.

Repression!

Duncan tried to use his power to suppress the mechanical soul inside. The mechanical soul of this thing was not strong and easily submitted to Duncan. In fact, when he had a thought, the mechanical arm in front of him was automatically activated, and a few of its mechanical fingers moved.

He can use it.

However, the Corpse Demon Bert cannot use it.

The lich Kangus seemed to have discovered something, and exclaimed excitedly, "Your Majesty!"

"You continue to suppress the mechanical soul."

“I tried to transform it using blasphemous rituals.”

A wisp of unclean, undead aura spread out, and the lich skull on Duncan's shoulder emitted a plume of black smoke. As some kind of necromancy ritual was initiated, a dark, magical wind instantly filled the surroundings.

—A blasphemous ritual has been detected!

—It is corrupting the soul of machinery!
Under Duncan's astonished gaze, the lich Kangus's magic seeped into the bionic mechanical arm bit by bit. The mechanical inscriptions engraved inside seemed to rust, quickly showing signs of corrosion. The aura of the steel-cast inscriptions completely lost its power, and finally, the mechanical soul within underwent a spiritual transformation. Success?
The lich Kangus's voice rang out: "Your Majesty."

"I'm afraid I can't desecrate or transform such a complex mechanical artifact."

"The Sacred Word of Soul Casting is a mechanical mantra."

"If you really intend to transform undead creatures into machines, I'm afraid we'll have to forge these mechanical artifacts ourselves in the future."

These materials all belong to the Mechanicus cult.

From the moment they are finished, they undergo a series of processes, with the inscription of steel-cast prayers being of paramount importance.

This makes it difficult for either esoteric or heretical cultists, except for monks of the Mechanicus, to use mechanical artifacts.

—Dark Mechanical Soul (Magic Forging Soul) (Magic Tomb Branch)!
In the projection page of the dimensional space, the label of the mechanical bionic arm has changed, and the mechanical soul inside it has changed. Although it still has a certain spirituality, it is completely different from the steel-cast prayer inscribed by the Mechanical God Cult.

Furthermore, the power it draws upon is no longer faith, but rather magic.

"His Majesty!"

"We made it!"

The lich Kangus appeared extremely excited, muttering, "I understand!..."

"The Cult of Machines actually stole the power of many wizarding factions! ... The so-called Mechanical Soul! ... is actually another kind of soul power!..."

At this point, it seemed to sense a hint of doubt in Duncan's eyes.

So the lich explained, "Your Majesty."

"Before the mystical age, spellcasters often created all sorts of golems."

"We use soul stones to activate them."

"A golem construct can move, follow commands, and even have thoughts because we infuse it with the souls of humanoid beings. These souls retain some of their original thoughts, thus giving the golem a certain level of intelligence."

The lich Kangus paused for a moment before continuing, "And the Machine Soul of the Mechanicus is, in fact, derived from the use of soul power."

"They just modified it using some means."

"When the God of Machines was born, he gave all the mechanical structures in the world a trace of spirituality. This spirituality is the soul of the machines, which was eventually changed by the faith of the Cult of the God of Machines."

"They use this method to control mechanical constructs that have the potential to develop self-awareness."

Before the Mystic Age.

If a wizard creates a golem that awakens self-awareness and possesses a soul and thoughts, it would be a surprising thing and would attract the wizard's research, but in the end, it would most likely still be used as an assistant or servant.

However, if any machine within the Mechanicus were to develop a soul or consciousness, a major purge would likely ensue.

Within the Cult of the Machine God, only cult members are permitted to become conscious mechanical beings.

Duncan seemed to understand something at this moment. He had a strong feeling that someone in this world might have created a very powerful AI, or even a mechanical god.

Because in the mythological description of the descent of the mechanical god, a very important sentence is 'The great god of machines has taken on an incarnation on earth'!
Under what circumstances would one need an incarnation of humanity?

Seven guardian angels betrayed the God of Machines, and the remains of the God of Machines were sealed within numerous black spires.

Many clues point to one problem.

So what kind of being is the God of Myriad Machines?
He is clearly completely different from the traditional Tantric deities. In fact, after His birth, He immediately attracted an attack from many traditional deities.

AI.

In Duncan's understanding, it exists within the network; it is more like a data stream and has no real form. It can exist in this data storage or in other data storage.

For it to truly become a reality, it must first have a physical form, such as creating a robot for implantation, and it must also possess strong basic computing power.

The legendary mechanical god's descent is a big problem!

That was the first time the God of Machines appeared in the real world, and He became the object of worship for countless cultists of machine incarnation.

This time, the modification will be fine.

After Duncan suppressed the mechanical soul and the lich Kangus used a blasphemous ritual to transform the corruption, the mechanical arm that had been removed from the Inquisition's deacon was easily installed on the ghoul Bert, though it wasn't as flexible to control.

To achieve complete control, an assistive device needs to be implanted in the brain. The simpler the robotic arm, the easier it is to control.

Duncan fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, he stared at the lich skull on his shoulder and slowly said, "The Cult of Mechanism holds the secrets of consciousness uploading."

"How do you liches upload souls into the phylactery?"

Upon hearing Duncan's words, the lich Congos's expression gradually froze.

………………

(End of this chapter)