I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

The faint morning light, like a thin layer of gray gauze, barely shone onto the cold metal floor through the narrow vents high up in the basement.

Rhodes opened his eyes.

There was no initial confusion upon waking, nor a hangover-like headache.

The moment his eyelids lifted, his world had changed completely.

The once dimly lit and chaotic alchemy workshop now seemed to have been stripped of its appearance in his view.

The dust particles floating in the air, the geometric angles of the spider's web in the corner, the slight differences in the thickness of the beaker glass on the lab bench... everything was fed back into his mind in the form of extremely precise data.

It was a sense of absolute rational order.

Rhodes slowly sat up and raised his right hand.

To the average person, it was just a slightly pale hand with long, slender fingers.

But in Rhodes' eyes, he could clearly see the contraction of every muscle fiber under the skin, the flow rate of blood in every blood vessel, and the silver magic flowing in the meridians, which had already taken on a viscous liquid texture.

"Is this... the world as seen through the eyes of the Titans?"

Rhodes murmured to himself, his voice lacking any human emotion and possessing a metallic quality.

This state is dangerous. If one becomes addicted to it, his humanity will be gradually devoured by his divinity, and he will eventually become a flesh-and-blood machine that can only calculate.

Rhodes took a deep breath, deliberately suppressing the urge to analyze everything, and let the golden light in his eyes slowly fade, returning to his normal black pupils.

"You're finally awake."

Benjamin's voice came from the stairwell.

He was holding two steaming cups of coffee, his eyes were dark-rimmed, clearly he hadn't slept all night. "If you don't make a sound in another hour, I'm going to bury you and run away with your money."

"You can't escape." Rod took the coffee, took a sip, and the bitter taste warmed his humanity slightly. "The church's hounds have a better nose than you think."

“Speaking of hounds…” Benjamin pulled a black letter from his pocket and tossed it on the table. “Half an hour ago, a real hound slipped this under the door. I recognize the wax seal; it’s the Black Rose emblem of the Royal Intelligence Bureau.”

Rod put down his coffee and picked up the letter.

The envelope was unsealed, which clearly showed that the sender was not worried about the contents being leaked; or rather, it was a blatant display of arrogance.

He pulled out a letter; it contained only a single line of text, the handwriting delicate yet chilling: "Three days from now, a court banquet. I hope to see toys that will bring peace of mind."

It was unsigned, but Rod knew whose handiwork it was.

The eldest princess, the venomous snake who runs the intelligence network behind the scenes for the old king.

"Three days." Benjamin leaned over for a look, whistled, and said, "These royals really treat people like animals. In three days, let alone building a weapon, they'd be lucky to even fix a broken steam engine."

"That's enough."

Rhodes crumpled the letter into a ball, a glint of light flashed in his palm, and the paper instantly turned to ashes. "They want to see toys, so I'll show them a toy that will give them nightmares."

He stood up, stretched his stiff joints, and heard a crisp sound like gears meshing inside his body.

"Let's go, Benjamin."

"Where to?"

"The sewers." Rhodes walked to the coat rack, took down the oil-stained black trench coat and draped it over his shoulders, his eyes sharp as knives. "Go to Rust Alley. Since we're building an army, we need a lot of skeletons and flesh."