Chapter Seventy-Nine: Sentinel 1.0

“Sentinel?” Otto gazed at the towering metal golem before him, three meters tall and seemingly forged from a single block of steel, yet he couldn't immediately discern what made it special.

“Hehe, Mentor, let’s test it in combat!” Lando declared with confidence.

“Oh? Very well,” Otto raised an eyebrow, agreeing to his apprentice’s request.

The two made their way to the laboratory designed for live combat trials. After Lando directed the Sentinel inside, he began configuring its opponents.

The laboratory environment abruptly transformed, expanding into a battlefield. A hundred knights, all simulated with peak first-stage prowess, appeared nearby, wielding various weapons. Though they were projections, within the lab they were indistinguishable from reality.

“Take them down!” Lando commanded the Sentinel, simultaneously activating the simulated soldiers.

Both sides seemed to come alive at once.

A red gleam flashed in the Sentinel’s eyes. White mist began to swirl around it, and tendrils of wind encircled its form, accelerating its movements and carrying the mist rapidly toward the knights.

Seeing the fog approach, five knights simultaneously marshaled their life force, dispersing the encroaching mist—a feat requiring years of practiced coordination.

Knights bearing swords and shields charged forward, while dozens of sharp arrows whistled through the air toward the fast-moving Sentinel.

With a blink, the Sentinel appeared behind the charging knights. Its arms morphed into blades, cutting down several knights before they could react.

Blinking and advancing, the knights were wary but still lost one or two with each exchange.

Occasionally, a weapon struck the Sentinel’s body, producing a metallic ring without leaving so much as a scratch. Observing closely, one would notice that the Sentinel’s form shifted at the moment of impact, transforming into an even tougher alloy.

The Sentinel suddenly whipped its arm like a long lash toward a distant archer knight, who was gathering all his life force for a brilliant strike. The blow cleaved the knight in two, causing his attack to miss, grazing the Sentinel’s cheek and shaving off a small piece of its face.

A knight slashed off the Sentinel’s whip-like arm, but the severed limb didn’t fall. Instead, it liquefied into droplets, then quickly solidified into icy spikes that sped back toward the Sentinel.

Knights along the path were pierced through, their wounds bearing clear signs of corrosion.

The icy spikes reformed into a spiked mace on the Sentinel’s arm, smashing a nearby knight holding a massive tower shield to pieces, shield and all. Closer inspection revealed that the shield was enveloped in cold before the strike, losing its defensive potency.

The battle quickly devolved into a one-sided slaughter. The Sentinel golem fought while gathering data, and though its abilities were slightly uncoordinated at the outset, by the end they worked together seamlessly.

When the fighting ceased, the Sentinel stood in the center of the devastated field, gradually returning to its original form—not to show off, but because slow transformation consumed less energy than rapid change. Judging there were no enemies left, it conserved every bit of power.

Otto, watching the Sentinel display at least dozens of abilities, was taken aback. He hadn’t expected his apprentice to achieve such a breakthrough.

“Materials?” Though posed as a question, Otto was already certain he’d found the key. He silently admitted he’d underestimated his apprentice.

“That’s right, Mentor, the secret lies in the materials!”

In the beginning, Lando experimented with many substances, but none allowed the Sentinel to possess multiple abilities simultaneously. Creating a golem with a single power was easy, but that fell short of his vision, and so the research quickly stagnated.

That was until one day, during his studies, Lando discovered that his conceptual space could be condensed into physical matter. This inspired a new idea: to forge the Sentinel golem using material condensed from his mindscape. This was precisely when the lab’s AI detected a sharp decline in Lando’s health.

Ultimately, with mindspace-condensed material as the core and other substances as support, Sentinel Golem 1.0 was born.

It perfectly inherited the mutable nature of the conceptual space, and all abilities parsed from Lando’s previous world could be employed flawlessly.

Its initial form emitted no aura, and even Otto was fooled at first. Of course, Otto’s assumptions played a role—he hadn’t expected Lando to make any remarkable breakthroughs and thus paid little attention.

“What about production?” Otto asked.

Lando replied awkwardly, “Due to certain limitations, I can only make one per month.”

Condensing his mindspace into physical material drained Lando considerably. To avoid harming his health, the material gathered in a month was just enough for one unit.

Otto wasn’t surprised by the answer; his experience told him that such unique material couldn’t be mass-produced.

“I’ll take this Sentinel golem and some of the material. I’ll apply for a patent, report to the Silver Tower, and hopefully—convince them to send a wave of resources.”

Lando blinked and handed over all the leftover scraps to Otto.

Otto signaled Lando to rest, copied the Sentinel’s combat footage, and set off for the Silver Tower.

With his work finally complete, Lando felt his mind relax and an overwhelming fatigue washed over him, making him long for sleep.

……

Arriving at the Silver Tower, Otto played with the Sentinel in his palm. It was now no larger than a toy model, fitting perfectly in his hand.

As he approached Simon’s laboratory, the door opened automatically; clearly, someone inside had noticed his arrival.

Thanks to the “Grotesque” incident, the elusive Master Simon was much easier to find these days.

Inside, Simon was leisurely sipping tea, while a young woman of about twenty tidied up the lab equipment.

Though never confirmed aloud, Otto knew this girl, Leia, was Simon’s protégé, so he paid her little mind.

He handed the Sentinel to Simon. With his vast experience, Simon immediately recognized its uniqueness and remarked, “Material condensed from a special talent? Why show me this? It’s not suited for widespread use, is it?”

“My apprentice made it.”

“Your apprentice? That girl Alice?”

“No, Lando—the new one I took in.”

“Oh? Hidden talents, indeed. Quite impressive!”

Their conversation left Leia, eavesdropping nearby, utterly confused. She knew Lando, who had made quite a stir at the Silver Tower recently, but what was this hidden talent they spoke of?