The largest and most rigorous experimental site in the Perpetual Pump, a huge cage called the Workshop.

Lorenzo and Merlin were in the middle of it at the moment, but their thoughts never stopped here, the roar of the machinery continued, the protective armor was retracted and strengthened layer by layer, and the lifting platform rose and fell, and it seemed that they had already prepared for the experiment.

Everyone was excited, although Merlin was the only alchemist, but as scientific researchers, their desire for knowledge was no worse than Merlin's, and they were trying to explore the frontiers of human cognition, advancing their understanding of the world from simple and cold iron tools to complex and efficient machinery.

But at this moment, the two of them have a completely different mood from everyone, fear, awe and confusion.

Merlin sat on the black angel's shoulder, his eyes empty and glazed, but his mind was moving rapidly, telling one broken clue after another to be put back together in an attempt to restore the shattered mirror.

After a long time, even the others didn't understand what Merlin was doing, after all, he was supposed to preside over the start of the experiment, not sit on the shoulders of the Black Angel, as if he was whispering something to Lorenzo.

He thought of something, Merlin leaned close to the visor, and after a brief moment of horror he thought of something even more terrifying.

"Lorenzo, there's one more question. ”

He whispered, for fear that someone would hear about this terrible secret.

"You, in the minds of you demon hunters, do demons die as naturally as humans?"

"Nature...... Death?"

Lorenzo's heart was not much less stressed than Merlin's at the moment, he thought he knew enough about the Evangelical Church, but now it seems that this huge organization that has been circulating for a long time, even if it is old and dying, its hidden secrets are far beyond everyone's imagination.

"Yes, natural death, even if there is no disease and no external force, human beings will continue to weaken and age their own organs as they grow older, they are like cogs on machinery, slowly rusting to death, until the machine stops and can no longer be started. ”

Merlin had a terrible conjecture, and he couldn't help but ask.

"Because you demon hunters have secret blood, the powerful forbidden blood will strengthen your body, and because of that strange power, your physique is far beyond ordinary people, and even close to demons, so you have the terrifying vitality of demons. You usually live long and can delay the failure of this organ for a long time. ”

"But there's a problem, even though we've been battling demons for so long, we never seem to have found a demon that died a natural death......

In other words, demons also die naturally, but the fight between us is rarely observed...... So back to this temple of stasis. ”

Merlin couldn't help but look at the gap in the armor, and the delicate patterns loomed over the armor.

"Lorenzo, have you ever wondered how long this 'temple of stasis' has existed, for years, decades, or centuries?

Demons, what the hell is it?"

......

Gray steam spilled through the cracks in the armor, and the iron feathers fell to the ground like thousands of hanging sword blades, and the black angel was half-kneeling like a stone sculpture, wrapped in the iron armor and cracking, exposing Lorenzo with a viscous blood-like liquid dripping from it.

He took a sip of water, then lit a cigarette, and looked at the bright dome above and didn't know what he was thinking, the electrode wires on his back were wrapped around the flesh and blood, all the way to the inside of the armor, Lorenzo had not yet broken the connection with the Black Angel, it was only an intermission in the experiment.

The staff walked back and forth in the neighborhood, casting a surprised look at Lorenzo, they never thought that anyone would be able to control this strange armor, let alone be so stable, the bright green light brought a peaceful atmosphere, ordinary people driving armor for such a long time would already have symptoms, but Lorenzo was like no one, as if he was born for this.

No one could answer Merlin's final question, Lorenzo couldn't do it, and he didn't know that there were more unsolved mysteries in this world, "truths" that had not yet been touched.

He looked around casually, and after coming into contact with these secrets for a short time, he felt a strange sense of exhaustion, if he could, Lorenzo would like to sleep well, and he didn't know how long it had been since he had been here, maybe a day had passed.

The staff didn't know what Lorenzo was thinking, they were just doing their job, pulling the cables and fuel, and injecting it into the Black Angel's body.

At the beginning, Merlin was not optimistic about the results of the experiment, for the sake of safety, the Black Angel was a minimum activation, and now in order to experiment, he needs to ensure that it has a certain ability to act.

But despite this, Merlin did not remove the red restraint, Lorenzo performed well, but Merlin always felt that there was a hidden risk.

"Lorenzo, I'll go through those alchemy notes about this. ”

Merlin's voice rang out from the communicator on the side, but Lorenzo didn't look at it, but at the high platform next to him, where Merlin was preparing for the next experiment.

"Do you think there's a clue there?"

"Naturally, demons have a long lifespan, or rather, their flesh and blood have a strong vitality, and if our speculation is true, this should be found in some notes, after all, this property is too similar to the Philosopher's Stone, which can immortalize people. ”

"The Philosopher's Stone?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, the Philosopher's Stone, or some elixir of life, this kind of thing is a pronoun in alchemy, a synonym for the true miraculous power, which you can exchange for godlike power, or you can gain an immortal life...... At least when I was younger, many of the alchemists I met pursued immortality. ”

Merlin reminisced about his youth, with a hint of nostalgia in his words.

"At that time, my teacher was not dead, and alchemists were not as scarce as they are now, and we would sometimes exchange materials with other alchemists, and if necessary, we would exchange skills slightly, but more often than not, it was a plundering of each other's knowledge, and my swordsmanship was learned at that time, and many alchemists who pursued immortality were hacked to death. ”

"At that time, the hit rate and lethality of firearms were not very stable, and the blade of the sword was still very reliable at that time. One of the reasons why alchemists yearn for eternal life is that they can possess knowledge forever, and greed is an abomination, but we pay the price in the end. ”

Lorenzo was silent for a moment, then asked slowly.

"And Merlin, how long have you lived?"

Thanks to the ferocity of the Glorious War, the long evolutionary history of firearms was accelerated during the war, and in less than a hundred years it developed into what it is today, but Lorenzo knew very well how far back that era was when firearms were still in their infancy.

"Don't worry about that, I'm not a demon, I'm not a monster, I'm just an alchemist, just a little longer than the average person. ”

Merlin replied directly, he looked young from his appearance, but in fact he had lived for a long time, as if his body had been frozen at a certain time in some distant time, and he had remained that way until now.

"What about the Emerald visitors, and how did Arthur talk to them?"

At this point, Lorenzo couldn't help but ask, "The Evangelical Church is far deeper than it seems, and I sometimes feel that even if we capture the Seven Hills one day, we will not be able to restore those secrets. ”

"It's true, and Arthur is having a hard time right now, I haven't seen him in days, but from the rumors, that Anthony is tricky. ”

Merlin said, then continued.

"Prepare, Lorenzo, the test is about to begin. ”

Hearing Merlin say this, Lorenzo realized that the staff had already left the workshop, and the heavy gate fell heavily, and it was closed to the outside world, Lorenzo got back into the cockpit covered with flesh and blood, and every time he entered the black angel Lorenzo, he needed to bear a certain amount of psychological pressure, which felt like jumping into the mouth of a monster.

The torn armor closed one by one, and the visor closed one by one to completely envelop Lorenzo, and then in the roar of the steam engine, the half-kneeling black angel slowly stood up, and the iron feather hummed with the shock.

The large Geiger counter came online, and a curtain of rain fell from above, washing away the remaining pollution in the workshop, and the rails dragged slowly under the dripping rain, and then threw a black steel object in front of Lorenzo.

"That'...... What is it? Merlin. ”

Lorenzo had never seen anything like it, but judging by the arrangement, this was the object of his experimentation.

"The Third Generation of Original Sin Armor...... To be precise, it's a degraded version of the second generation, well, in fact, the current original sin armor is basically a continuous deterioration version of the first generation, and we ordinary people can't resist that terrible erosion, so we have to keep reducing the proportion of demon flesh and blood in the machine.

If the demon flesh is regarded as some kind of composite material, it should be quite good mechanically, strong toughness and resilience, so we built it on this basis, the third generation of armor can be mass-produced on a large scale, and the driving standard has been lowered a lot, the price paid for this is in combat effectiveness, it is far inferior to previous generations. ”

While Merlin explained to Lorenzo, on the other side of the workshop, the original sin armor also slowly stood up, because the proportion of demon flesh and blood was weakened, and with more mechanical reinforcement, it was a few points larger than the black angel, and it appeared more bulky and sturdy.

"Hello, Mr. Holmes. ”

A voice came from the other side, and Lorenzo was unfamiliar with it.

"He's a night stalker, and he's currently a test driver for three generations of Original Sin Armor Sword Dancers. Merlin explained.

He had some impressions of the night owl's code name, Lorenzo, but then he asked.

"Test driver? This is also an experimental weapon?"

"Yes, just as you succeeded, I just wanted to test how big the gap between the third-generation sword dancer and the first-generation Black Angel is. ”

Merlin was careful about his experiments.

"So what am I going to do? Knock him over?"

Lorenzo asked, this was the first time he had used the Original Sin Armor to fight, and he didn't know what would happen.

"Of course, it's better to beat it harder, anyway, the third-generation armor is not very valuable, and if the test results are good, we can mass-produce it on a small scale at any time. ”

"Am I not going to kill him?"

"What do you think the thick armor at the core of the third-generation armor is used for?"

Merlin replied to Lorenzo, then to the Night Stalker.

"Don't be polite to Mr. Holmes, he's a witcher who can beat him more than you even if he doesn't have the protection of the Original Sin Armor, try to kill him with all my might, I need the detailed data difference between the two generations of armor. ”

"Okay. The Night Stalker replied briefly.

The Black Angel was on the other side of the workshop on the other side of the sword dancer, this was Lorenzo's first battle, and he had only learned how to raise his hand with the original sin armor a few dozen minutes ago.

The order was given, the battle began suddenly, Lorenzo was fully prepared, it stands to reason that the first generation of armor will not lose to this third generation of armor that has deteriorated several times, but the sword dancer did not rush to attack, but stood in place and immediately followed by a sword blade several meters long ejected from his elbow, and the other hand grabbed an armor firebolt, and at the same time, the heavy armor fell, protecting his fatal parts.

Lorenzo was stunned, he pressed the button and the lever sharply, but there were no new weapons popping out on the Black Angel, only those dense feathered blades obeyed Lorenzo's orders.

"What's going on with Merlin!"

Lorenzo screamed, and as he screamed, he could clearly see that the Sword Dancer had a weapon rack on his back like a weapon master, and although it was equipped with not as many weapons as a weapon master, it carried several heavy pieces of external armor, and seemed to have completely abandoned its ability to maneuver.

"I also realized this when I was developing three generations of armor, and we have been walking into a research and development misunderstanding, although the first generation of armor is powerful, but the driving requirements are too demanding, and its own advantages are only those resilience and mobility, but our own advantages are not here. ”

Merlin reflected on himself, sometimes when he got a new technology, he couldn't help but lean towards other excellent people for its research and development, such as the Demon Hunter Order, at the beginning, the positioning of the original sin armor was like a demon hunter, with a strong single combat ability.

"Our biggest advantage is the terrible industrial base and strong production system, rather than increasing the proportion of demon flesh and blood to strengthen the resilience, it is better to add a few more plate armor and pursue mobility, but it is better to equip it with powerful firepower, after all, this kind of steel thing, the mechanical institute can make a lot in a day. ”

"Lorenzo, this is a victory for productivity. ”

Merlin said this, and at the same time the sword dancer pulled the trigger mercilessly, and the blazing dragon's breath came with the half-melted molten iron, and under the urgency, Lorenzo instinctively controlled the black angel, and the steel feathers tore the surging fireworks, and the red molten iron attached to it, but then there was a howling wind.

The cold blade of steel sliced through the burning sea of fire, and the sword dancer burst into front of him in an instant.

"You say poor mobility?"

Lorenzo couldn't help but curse.

"yes, so to make up for that, we put a lot of stuff outside. Merlin replied with a smile, he loved to see Lorenzo deflated.

The heavily armed sword dancer pulled up a sword light several meters long, and on his back, the rough propulsion system gave it powerful power in the most primitive way, although it could only travel in a straight line, but it was enough.

This is a fantastic armor, a group of neurotics add something to the left and add some equipment to the right, in line with the shooting idea of "insufficient performance, peripherals to make up", so this experimental stage weapon was born.