Chapter 686 : Optimization

Under the effects of the mystical power that had long been prepared in advance, the colossal mountain rising from the wilderness began its formal collapse. Amid ceaseless rumbling and trembling, cracks tore open across the mountain’s body, and inside the vast internal cavern, rocks cascaded in torrents. Beneath the spreading fractures, the vaulted ceiling of the cave was beginning to waver—on the brink of collapse.

Finally, with a deafening roar, the entire cave gave way. Massive boulders fell like thunderclaps, burying the cavern. The once-spacious internal mountain hollow was now completely filled with solid rock. Everything that had been within was swallowed whole.

After triggering the array that caused the collapse, Frederico immediately activated his ability—phasing through walls to move freely through the crumbling mass. Driven by the logic of the Machine Cognition Core, he emotionlessly continued his directive: eliminate interference, find the thief, retrieve the crystal.

Confronted with a nearly filled mountain interior, Frederico invoked his power to bond with the mountain itself. Leveraging amplification nodes secretly laid earlier within the mountain’s structure, he was able to sense the interior of the entire mountain and the subterranean terrain around it.

Through this awareness, the mountain and earth became extensions of Frederico’s body. He could clearly perceive every anomaly within this zone. This form of perception was akin to sensing disturbances in one's own body—completely impervious to conventional Shadow concealment.

As soon as his sensing was activated, Frederico immediately understood all within the mountain. He detected numerous corpses—his former subordinates buried by the collapse. But notably, the thief’s body was not among them—they had survived.

With no sign of the thief’s corpse, Frederico intensified his search and soon found three phantasmal figures phasing through the mountain’s matter in different directions—clearly attempting to escape.

He immediately concluded that these were the thief and their companions, who had likely used some method of intangibility during the collapse to avoid being crushed, and were now trying to flee through the mountain’s interior. Among the three, Frederico locked onto the form most similar to the thief and gave chase, determined to complete his mission and recover the crystal.

During the collapse, Dorothy had used the Dreamscale Censer, recently re-borrowed from the little foxes, to link herself, Adèle, and Nephthys into dream forms. This transformation into phantasmal bodies allowed them to evade the collapse and begin phasing outward through different directions.

Due to his directive priorities, Frederico ignored Dorothy and Adèle, instead pursuing Nephthys, whom he mistook for the thief.

While dream-forms and spiritual entities could phase through matter like gargoyles, they lacked their opponent’s exceptional detection abilities and speed in rock. Frederico, as an Aurum Gargoyle, possessed overwhelming terrain advantage—moving through solid stone with the speed of a Shadow Beyonder and the sensory reach of a Lantern. In contrast, other phantasmal forms were blind and sluggish in such environments.

Moreover, a gargoyle's material-phase ability wasn’t true intangibility—it was a special form of material reconfiguration, allowing it to shatter intangible forms through spiritual enhancement. The reverse, however, was not true—phantasms couldn’t harm him.

In a matter of seconds, Frederico caught up to the fleeing thief. Within the rock, he raised his warhammer high and struck at them. Under the mechanical cognition’s logic, the thief—unaware—should have been obliterated.

But to his surprise, they dodged.

At the last moment, the thief evaded the ambush entirely, escaping destruction.

This outcome would have shocked a normal Frederico: how had a phantasmal form sensed his presence in solid stone? In their form, they shouldn’t be able to use conventional items or abilities—so how did they detect him?

But as a machine-thought entity, Frederico didn’t ask such questions.

Instead, he immediately resumed his relentless attack—swinging his warhammer again and again. Yet every blow missed, each one seemingly anticipated by the thief.

Thus began another round of cat-and-mouse beneath the earth—one pursuing, the other fleeing, the thief dodging each swing by mere inches. Gradually, they drew closer to the mountain’s surface—almost free.

Realizing his opponent could perfectly track his movements, Frederico began adapting. He dynamically revised his tactics based on real-time feedback.

He began mixing feints into his robotic attacks, aiming to catch the thief off-guard. He altered his angles and positions constantly to find blind spots in their perception. He attempted to analyze their evasive pattern, seeking an exploitable rhythm.

After repeated failures and exposed attacks, he concluded the thief possessed an unknown super-sensory ability capable of ignoring his Shadow concealment—declaring his permanent stealth protocol ineffective, and reallocating the spiritual power sustaining it to enhance offense.

In short, Frederico optimized himself.

With every adjustment, his strikes became faster, sharper, harder to dodge. Even though the thief could still see his movements, they began to falter. Their narrow escapes became increasingly desperate—their dream-form was nearly clipped several times.

Had it continued like this, they would have soon suffered a fatal blow.

But by then, both parties had already reached the edge of the mountain—on the verge of emerging.

Though Frederico’s terrain advantage had been growing, it was clear the mountain wouldn’t determine the victor. Still, he felt no panic. Once outside, he could unleash his full elemental power again. As long as he kept them locked on target, his endless bombardment would surely bring them down.

Finally, after one final clash within the rock, both parties burst through the mountain wall into open space once more.

But what awaited them was not the blackened wilderness under the night sky.

It was dawn.

Bathed in the light of morning’s first rays, they emerged into the world of daybreak.

Under the eastern glow, the fleeing thief re-solidified from dream form into physical form. Frederico opened his wings wide. Elemental power surged from his eyes, mouth, and wings—preparing for all-out assault.

But then—

His elemental senses picked up another powerful energy source—directly ahead.

And the nature of that energy… was completely unfamiliar to him.

He looked up.

There, illuminated by the dawn, was a cloaked figure hovering in the air.

A long, flowing cloak billowed in the morning wind. The figure raised one hand—and in front of their extended finger floated a golden metallic irregular object. Around it, immense, unfamiliar elemental power spiraled in nested rings, gathering in midair.

With the rising sun behind her and the morning breeze brushing past, Dorothy raised the fake golden pedestal before her eyes. The powerful magnetic field she had constructed was already complete. From beneath her hood, her eyes met the massive form of Frederico in the distance.

And as she looked at him—

She remembered.

…

Some time earlier, in Dorothy’s regular hotel suite in Flottes, Falano.

After confirming that her target was a Crimson-rank of the Dark Gold Society, Dorothy began gathering intel and formulating countermeasures. Her main source of information: an old acquaintance from the Craftsmen’s Guild.

“Aurum Gargoyle, huh? So that’s what a Gargoyle becomes after reaching Crimson… sounds tough to deal with. Insane defense… exceptional multi-element manipulation… material concealment… and the ability to directly convert mundane treasure into combat power…”

“First-rate endurance and defense for a Crimson… offense isn’t far behind either. Pretty mobile… practical skills too… very adaptable on the battlefield. Overall, a solid all-rounder…”

Sitting on the sofa in her suite, Dorothy read the words written in her Literary Sea Logbook, tapping her chin thoughtfully. After some contemplation, she wrote her observations down, and shortly after, Beverly’s neat, printed response appeared on the page.

“Yes, the Aurum Gargoyle is extremely strong in direct combat—especially effective against elementalists. It doesn’t even fall behind when facing other Crimsons that specialize in close combat. Its weakness is resistance to mental, spiritual, or conceptual interference—especially in the mental domain. But as I’ve mentioned before, they make up for that with external tools. The Machine Cognition Core is highly effective against psychic interference—nearly every high-ranking Stone has one now.”

“So if he has a Machine Cognition Core, mental defeat is basically off the table… the final outcome has to be settled on the material realm then.”

Dorothy replied quickly. Beverly answered just as swiftly.

“Exactly. I remember even back when you were White Ash, you already had methods to forcibly break through a gargoyle’s defense. Now that you’re Crimson, those abilities should be potent enough to threaten an Aurum Gargoyle. So yes, you’re capable of defeating one through physical means. But—”

“But what?”

Dorothy asked.

“But defeating isn’t the same as killing. It doesn’t guarantee you’ll incapacitate him in one shot. If you use that technique and fail to kill Frederico instantly, he’ll immediately realize you pose a real threat—his prized defense isn’t enough to protect him.”

“From what I know of the Dark Gold types, the moment they sense they’re not in an unassailable position, they’ll flee. They’ll burrow a thousand meters underground and vanish—good luck chasing that. Whatever you were trying to obtain from them will be taken along too, and you might never get another chance.”

Beverly’s careful explanation filled the page. Dorothy frowned slightly, then wrote.

“He’d run the moment he realizes he’s been breached? That cowardly?”

“Of course. These guys run a cutthroat business, not some holy war. They’re extremely self-preserving. If your strike doesn’t kill Frederico on the spot, he’ll bolt the instant he senses danger—and you won’t stop him. Some of them even encode that escape protocol directly into their Machine Cognition Cores.”

After a moment’s thought, Dorothy replied.

“Then I’ll just make sure my first strike hits his vital point. Kill him in one blow.”

“Aim for a vital spot? It’s not that easy.”

Beverly answered. Dorothy replied again, puzzled.

“Why? Don’t tell me the Aurum Gargoyle’s vital points have been decentralized like the Chalice.”

“No, not like that. The Aurum Gargoyle does have a vital point—but it’s not the usual head or heart. It has just one weak point: its stomach… or more accurately, its internal treasure vault.”

Dorothy furrowed her brow and wrote.

“‘Stomach’? ‘Treasure vault’? Can you explain?”

“The so-called treasure vault is the source of its power. It’s the organ where it stores all the treasures it devours. This vault digests them and converts them into the energy that powers its attacks—specifically elemental energy. It’s the core that drives the Aurum Gargoyle’s entire combat capacity.”

Dorothy immediately responded.

“Then where is this treasure vault located? If I destroy it, that should kill the Aurum Gargoyle, right?”

“If you really could destroy it, yes, that would do it. But the problem is…

you probably can’t destroy it in one strike.”

“Why not?”

“Because the vault’s location is not fixed. The Aurum Gargoyle can restructure its own internal body. It can move its treasure vault around freely. No one except the Gargoyle itself knows exactly where it is at any given moment.”

Beverly’s clean, printed letters appeared on the page again. Dorothy’s brow furrowed even deeper. After a long pause, she began writing.

“So the vital point is the treasure vault… but it doesn’t have a fixed position? That’s troublesome… So to kill Frederico in one blow, I’d need to figure out exactly where his vault is located at that moment? That’s going to be a pain. Could I use ‘Lantern’ to shine it out?”

“Unlikely. Aurum Gargoyles are auxiliary Shadow—stocked full of Shadow reserves. How much Lantern do you have to burn through that? Even if you have enough to exhaust his shadow reserves, normal Lantern items like Illuminating Beacon would only show his spiritual profile. X-ray or anatomical insight devices from the Lantern path are mostly high-tier Church tech. Do you have any?”

Beverly’s response was tinged with rhetorical doubt. Dorothy paused for a long moment, then slowly wrote.

“Right, you mentioned before—the thing that shields Frederico from psychic interference is the Machine Cognition Core, right? It was originally your guild’s creation?”

“Yep. That was one of our premium products. We sold a lot of them. I’m sure Frederico has one. Maybe it was resold to him, or maybe they cloned it themselves. If you’re planning to tamper with it and want our help—forget it. We don’t install backdoors in our products. Company reputation.”

Beverly wrote this proudly. Dorothy immediately wrote back.

“I’m not asking for a backdoor. But you said this Core replaces the user’s primary consciousness during battle, right? That it dynamically adapts to the battlefield… learns and reallocates their spiritual resources mid-combat?”

“Exactly. It’s a top-tier adaptive battlefield optimizer. That’s our flagship feature~”

Beverly replied with a hint of pride.

Dorothy thought for a while, then carefully wrote her next question.

“Then… is it possible that the Machine Cognition Core might analyze the battlefield…

and decide that some of the user’s mystical mechanisms are redundant…

and optimize them out, reallocating those resources elsewhere?

“Specifically—could it determine that if the opponent has already completely seen through the user’s movements and mechanisms, then continuing to run those concealment protocols is pointless and wasteful, and choose to deactivate them to free up spiritual capacity for enhanced offense?”