Leyton glanced at Amon, who was already pouring himself a drink, and sighed helplessly in his heart. He then stopped bothering him. Good thing I only threw some miscellaneous items in there, otherwise, they would have been stolen. No, they have already been stolen.
Amon leaned against the sofa, a slight curve on his lips, and while savoring the Sonia blood wine, he asked, "Why are you in this city? For the Angel's legacy?"
Leyton's hands didn't stop moving, he just tilted his head slightly and glanced at Amon, who was at his leisure, and asked, "Coincidence."
"What's special about this city? And who is that Angel?"
Amon habitually raised his hand to pinch the monocle near his eye, looked at the deep darkness in the distance outside the window, and quickly withdrew his gaze, saying, "Did you use the Convergence effect between Beyonder characteristic? Or was it information revealed to you by that Lunatic? It seems his condition is indeed improving."
"This city is called Sasitan, and it was once known as the Nation of Artisans. Before the Great Cataclysm, it was the birthplace of mechanical engineering across the entire Eastern Continent. Because they excelled at crafting mystical items, they managed to survive amidst numerous races."
"Until my father ended the era of the Ancient Gods, the leader here became a Angel under my father. However, that old fellow was quite unlucky; he followed my father for over a thousand years and still couldn't digest the 'Illuminator' potion. Later, he finally found some clues to digest the potion, but he was done in by Steam at the time."
"Indeed, quite unlucky," Leyton commented inwardly, then asked, "So, his so-called legacy is a fallback for his own resurrection? It seems it didn't succeed, and Steam shouldn't have had the energy to interfere with him, right?"
Amon chuckled disdainfully and said, "He was just simply too unlucky, like that little snake. He held onto the Die of Probability for over a thousand years and couldn't assimilate it, and in the end, you picked it up."
Nodding expressionlessly, Leyton continued to ask, "Why are you telling me this? Me obtaining the Angel's legacy brings you no benefit whatsoever?"
Amon twitched his lips, his tone indifferent, "But it doesn't bring me any harm either, does it?"
"Anyway, it's using someone else's things to do a favor, and it can also win you over. This is very suitable."
"Reasonable, this is very Marauder!" Leyton calmly nodded and commented.
Pouring all the prepared hotpot base into the pot, Leyton casually stirred it a couple of times. He then suddenly turned his head to Amon, who was leaning leisurely on the sofa, and said, "Can you steal time in small, frequent increments to achieve time acceleration? Frying the hotpot base takes some time."
Amon slightly raised his head, a flicker of emotion in his eyes, then twitched his lips and said, "I can."
He curiously glanced at the iron pot filled with dark red stuff, pinching his monocle with his right hand. A faint, imperceptible white glow passed by, and Leyton instantly felt the hotpot base aroma in the air become stronger.
Though many ingredients were substitutes, it still seemed acceptable. As thoughts raced through his mind, Leyton used a ladle to stir the pot repeatedly.
Amon occasionally stole some time, completing several hours of work in less than a minute.
Leyton raised his hand, stopping Amon from continuing to steal time: "That's enough. The Marauder's ability is truly convenient."
As he spoke, he used his water domain spell ability to create clear water and poured it into the iron pot.
Amon slightly raised his nose, the spicy scent in the air making him frown uncomfortably. "Are you sure this is food? While it's certainly not poisonous, it doesn't look appetizing at all."
"Try it before you judge. Although many original ingredients are missing, I've managed to collect enough substitute spices over the years."
As Leyton spoke, he gently rubbed his fingers, creating tiny golden specks of light that, carrying a scorching heat, merged into the iron pot. The hotpot, which had been calm, instantly began to boil.
Leyton then withdrew his hand and poured the prepared beef and fish into the pot.
Then he turned to Amon and said, "Alright, once the meat is cooked, we can eat. The ingredients aren't quite enough, and there's no dipping sauce. I'll treat you to a more complete hotpot once we leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods."
Amon took off his monocle from his right eye and pinched it, a playful smile on his lips. "I think I know why you described Medici and the other two as a hotpot. Next time we meet, I'll share this good news with him—no, with them."
Leyton continued Amon's words, "Do I need to prepare a bottle of Provoker potion in advance?"
Amon paused, then burst out laughing: "Hahaha, you are truly interesting. If you had come to this world earlier, I wouldn't have been so bored."
Leyton nodded noncommittally and said, "Unfortunately, even the Earth Mother cannot entirely determine the birth of a life."
Amon pursued with interest, "It seems you don't entirely agree with the Earth Mother's teachings. What is your view then?"
Leyton picked a slice of cooked beef from the re-boiling soup pot, tasted it, and after confirming it was fine, he lightly nodded towards Amon, simultaneously answering the previous question: "The body is merely a shell; the soul is the essence."
"I rather approve of the Moses Ascetic Order's long-standing pursuit: to enrich oneself with knowledge and seek the freedom and liberation of the soul."
Amon, mimicking Leyton's actions, picked up a slice of meat and tasted it. His previously slightly furrowed brows relaxed somewhat, and he quickly chewed and swallowed the meat.
"Not bad," he commented, then scooped out a few more slices of meat from the pot.
After tasting every type of meat placed in the pot, he continued the previous topic, saying, "An interesting interpretation: 'The body is merely a shell; the soul is the essence.'"
Pausing for a second, he changed the subject, saying, "So, you've changed bodies and returned as Leyton?"
"Who were you before? Al Tines?"
Leyton was momentarily stunned; Amon's topic shift was completely unexpected.
He paused, then chuckled, "Of course not. Why would you think that? I'm not a Spectator."
Amon, without raising his head, said, "But you have an identity that was separated using the ability of a High-Sequence Spectator, don't you?"
Leyton, while collecting his thoughts to prevent Amon from stealing too many ideas and important information, argued, "Do I really look like an old man?"
"That clone's existence also relies on the special nature of the 'White Tower' pathway. He can 'imitate' to possess some characteristics of the Spectator pathway, which is why he can exist indefinitely."
Amon stopped talking and focused on eating the hotpot, occasionally putting some of his favorite dishes into the pot himself.
The rest of the hotpot meal was exceptionally silent between them. Leyton's mind occasionally flashed with evaluations of various ingredients and ideas for improving the hotpot, constantly distracting himself to avoid inadvertently having his thoughts stolen by Amon.
Only when all the dishes on the table had been consumed by the two of them did they put down their chopsticks. Leyton leaned back against the chair, extending his right hand forward. Instantly, starlight descended around them, and countless stars emerged, dense and dazzling.
These stars cast bright, clear rays of light, enveloping the entire hall. Under the starlight, the hotpot aroma in the air completely vanished, and the leftover soup base in the iron pot also disintegrated and disappeared under the starlight.
As the starlight dissipated, the shadows in the unlit areas of the floor instantly came alive, flowing and surging like water, instantly engulfing the table, chairs, and the iron pot in the middle.
Then, as if dissolved, they dripped onto the floor, vanishing into thin air.
Amon, who had been sitting on the wooden chair, suddenly disappeared. The next moment, he appeared directly on the adjacent sofa, leaning back, his right leg crossed, a sense of post-meal drowsiness emanating from him.
Glancing at the leisurely Amon, Leyton walked directly to the sofa next to him and sat down, suddenly asking, "Do you know what happened in this city?"
Amon maintained his posture, his voice flat as he said, "I do. Is this your payment for inviting me to hotpot?"
After a moment of silence, Leyton still nodded and said, "It is."
Amon organized his thoughts and began, "After the Great Cataclysm, the Western Continent was enveloped by dangerous darkness. The humans left behind here made many attempts to survive."
"Some tried to escape this continent, while others tried to change themselves, to adapt to the environment here."
"As the former Nation of Artisans, the people here had extremely high attainments in various technologies. They wanted to abandon their human flesh and blood bodies, transforming themselves into mechanical puppets, and turn this city into a composite mystical item, their 'City of Puppets'."
"But unfortunately, the impact of that Great Cataclysm was multifaceted, and this naturally included the materials they used to create the puppets. Unsurprisingly, they all went mad. The puppets slaughtered all the living creatures in this city, then returned to their posts as if nothing had happened, entering an eternal, repetitive daily routine in a false world."
Leyton listened calmly; Amon's account was largely consistent with his previous conjectures.
Once Amon finished speaking, he further inquired, "The materials for crafting the puppets were corrupted; couldn't they have discovered that? And what is this 'false world'?"
"Of course they discovered it, but what good was it? The entire continent was affected. The small amount of materials they stored was simply not enough. They could only use the corrupted materials in small, frequent amounts, accumulating madness little by little, trying to find a solution before the problem erupted."
"As for the false world, they used the Angel's legacy to create a world composed of pure information, throwing their consciousness into it and establishing a new Sasitan."
"Unfortunately, when the puppets had problems, that information world also had problems."
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