Chapter 77: Owin’s Successor
Behind the door wasn’t a new labyrinth.
It was a massive workshop.
Thousands of puppet parts hung from the ceiling on metal cables. Arms, heads, skeletal frames, energy cores, and many structures Ethan had never seen before were sorted and placed in separate sections.
Workbenches lined both walls. Most of the tools were covered in dust, but a few crystals were still glowing, proving the workshop’s systems hadn’t completely shut down.
At the center sat a circular stone pedestal.
On the pedestal rested a coffin made of black metal.
The coffin had no lid.
Inside lay a skeleton nearly two meters tall, dressed in a rotting mage’s robe. Its skeletal hands were placed over its chest, cradling a staff broken in two. A black crystal sat in the center of the ribcage, with green flames occasionally flickering within.
The moment Ruo Yan stepped inside, the two flames in the skeleton’s eye sockets flared to life.
Gold-rank tier 7 energy surged outward.
Everyone behind them stopped at once.
Brakk immediately drew his war axe, and the Elves raised their staves. Korr stepped in front of the Stoneweavers, the energy core on his chest blazing bright.
Only Ruo Yan didn’t retreat.
She stared at the skeleton in the coffin, threads appearing around her fingers without conscious thought.
She could sense it.
Not like a living creature.
Not quite like a puppet either.
The skeleton before her existed somewhere between those two states. Inside its body was a complete Puppet Core, but deep within, an extremely faint fragment of a soul still remained.
Aldren studied the coffin, the green stone on his forehead glowing continuously.
"Gold-rank tier 7 energy. However, this body was certainly far more powerful once."
Brakk tightened his grip on the war axe. "Is this the inheritance reward?"
No one answered.
At that moment, every crystal in the workshop lit up simultaneously.
A stream of white light converged beside the coffin and slowly took the shape of an old man.
He had disheveled white hair, a gaunt frame, and wore a leather coat covered in scorch marks. His left hand still looked human, but his right had been replaced with a mechanical arm sporting six fingers. One eye was real; the other was a purple lens that never stopped rotating.
He looked at the people who had just entered, then his gaze settled on Ruo Yan.
"At last, a Puppeteer has made it here."
The voice came from all directions, nothing like the sound of a living person.
Aldren stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Are you the master of this ruin?"
The old man didn’t look at him.
"I am Owin."
Everyone’s expressions changed at once.
An Elf standing behind Aldren said in a low voice, "Puppet Master Owin?"
Korr also slowly raised his head. "That name appeared in the Stoneweaver clan’s ancient records. A Puppeteer who vanished long ago."
Owin’s projection looked at its own mechanical hand, then said plainly, "I’m dead. What’s speaking to you is merely a personality recording left inside the workshop’s core. I have no soul, and I cannot leave this place."
Brakk looked around. "If you’re dead, then who’s controlling the labyrinth?"
"The rules." Owin turned to him. "The labyrinth doesn’t need a controller. It only needs to keep following the commands that were written long ago."
Brakk wanted to ask more, but Owin had already shifted his gaze to Ruo Yan.
"Step forward."
Ruo Yan didn’t comply immediately.
She looked at Ethan.
The Soul Thread between them carried a very faint sensation, as if Ethan were telling her he was still here.
Finally, Ruo Yan stepped forward.
Laira moved to follow, but the moment she neared the stone pedestal, a barrier of light appeared instantly, blocking her path.
Crimson flames erupted around Laira’s hand at once.
Owin looked at her. "The inheritance only permits the successor and the soul anchor point to enter."
Laira frowned. "I’m his Partner too."
"But you’re not a Puppeteer, nor the anchor point chosen by the successor."
Laira eyed the barrier, clearly weighing whether to burn through it.
Ethan placed a hand on her shoulder. "I’ll go in with Ruo Yan."
Laira turned to look at him. "You’re injured."
"I just need to stand beside her."
"Last time you also said you’d just go in and pull her out."
Ethan couldn’t argue with that.
Laira looked at Ruo Yan through the barrier, her voice going cold. "Protect him."
Ruo Yan’s brow creased slightly. "I don’t need you to remind me."
"I don’t trust you."
"Then stand there and watch."
The two looked at each other for several seconds.
Finally, Laira pulled the flames back, but her eyes never left Ethan.
He stepped through the barrier.
The Soul Thread between them immediately lit up, and the barrier didn’t stop him.
Everyone else was held outside.
Brakk was immediately displeased. "We fought through the labyrinth together. By our agreement, anything found should be distributed based on contribution."
Owin turned to look at him, the purple lens in his right eye rotating once.
"Are you a Puppeteer?"
Brakk answered, "No."
"Can you control a Soul Thread?"
"No."
"Then what have you contributed to my inheritance?"
Brakk’s expression darkened instantly.
A few Beastkin behind him started to step forward, but Korr extended his metal arm to stop them.
"This isn’t some ownerless item found along the road. The creator of the inheritance has chosen the recipient."
Brakk spoke in a low voice. "You’re siding with them?"
Korr answered evenly. "I’m siding with the rules we agreed upon."
Aldren stepped out with a smile to mediate. "Korr is right. The inheritance belongs to whoever has the ability to receive it. However, there may still be other rewards further ahead. There’s no need to argue right now."
The words sounded fair enough, but his eyes had never left the skeleton in the coffin.
Owin paid no attention to the argument outside.
He looked at Ruo Yan and asked, "What is a puppet?"
Ruo Yan hesitated slightly.
She looked at her three wooden puppets standing beyond the barrier. One missing half an arm, one with its shoulder cut away, the last one covered in cracks from battle after battle.
"A weapon."
Owin pressed further. "Only a weapon?"
Ruo Yan fell silent.
In her memory, her former master used to say puppets were nothing but expendables. When they broke, you replaced them. When they weakened, you discarded them. A Puppeteer shouldn’t have feelings for something created to take hits.
But after she was abandoned, those very puppets were the ones that stayed by her side.
They couldn’t speak.
They couldn’t understand emotions either.
But every time she was in danger, they charged forward without fail.
Ruo Yan looked at Owin and answered slowly. "They’re weapons. But they’re also the only things that didn’t leave me behind."
The lens in Owin’s eye stopped rotating.
After a moment, he gave a slight nod.
"Not a perfect answer."
Ruo Yan frowned.
"But at least it’s not a lie."
Owin gestured toward the coffin. "Many Puppeteers treat their puppets as expendables. That isn’t wrong. Puppets are created to fight, to protect, or to die in place of the one controlling them. But someone who doesn’t understand the value of every component, every energy core, and every soul placed into a puppet will never create a true masterpiece."
He looked at the three damaged puppets outside.
"You’re weak. Your puppets are weak too. But when the rules tried to break them down, you worried about them before yourself. That’s proof enough that you still have the right to walk this path."
Ruo Yan said nothing.
Owin shifted his gaze to Ethan.
"And you. You’re not a Puppeteer."
Ethan replied, "I know."
"But you walked into a reclamation zone to save a Partner who didn’t belong to you. Then you agreed to share your Heavenly Gate with her. Aren’t you afraid your cultivation speed will drop?"
"Yes."
"Not afraid of running out of resources?"
"Yes."
Owin let the corner of his mouth twitch upward. "Then why did you still do it?"
Ethan looked at Ruo Yan and answered calmly. "Because being afraid doesn’t mean I have to leave her behind."
Owin’s projection was silent for a few seconds.
Then he laughed.
"I’m beginning to understand why the labyrinth let you see the gaps in the rules."
Ethan didn’t explain.
Owin didn’t ask further either. He turned back to the coffin, his mechanical hand clenching slightly.
The metal locks around the coffin all released at once.
Crack!