The construction period for the Celestial Throne was shorter than expected.

All the core technologies were readily available: the Anti-Gravity Matrix, second-generation Magic Engines, Illusion Runes, and anti-interference technology. It was a simple matter of modular assembly.

The only component that needed a complete redesign was the super-sized barrel for the "Light of Judgment" main cannon.

The thing had to be tough enough. Otherwise, firing it once could cause the chamber to explode, and that would be a real disaster.

The outer casing of the barrel alone required twelve tons of raw Earth Vein Tempered Steel ingots.

But the final total cost was kept to 760,000 Low-Level Magic Stones, which was 40,000 under budget.

When it came to saving money, Allen had become quite the expert.

When he had just been promoted to a Level 2 Wizard, he was still worrying about every single piece of High-tier Magic Steel.

In the Forged Fire Fortress’s exchange vault, adamantite was priced at 120,000 Low-Level Magic Stones per ton, and the Mithril-tungsten steel alloy was even more expensive, priced by the kilogram.

That price had made Allen ache for a long time.

The shell for a single Freedom Gundam would cost 100,000 Magic Stones, and the Cyclops used over four thousand tons of armor.

If he were to procure it all from the fortress, the material costs alone would have bankrupted him. The thought had troubled him for a good while back then.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

He allocated a budget of two million Magic Stones, burned through five scale models, and after three months, managed to create an "Earth Vein Magic Super-High Temperature and High-Pressure Forge."

The principle wasn’t complex.

Deep underground, the fire elements already reached temperatures of several thousand degrees. He modified the extraction array of the Earth Vein Magic Furnace to channel the extracted high-temperature Fire Elemental Magic Power directly into a special sealed furnace chamber. Then, he used Rune technology to amplify the heat and push the temperature even higher.

The maximum temperature instantly shot up from three thousand degrees to over ten thousand.

This temperature was high enough to smelt most high-tier ores and even perform ultra-high-pressure quenching treatments that conventional forges couldn’t handle.

As for the inner walls of the furnace chamber, he simply applied a three-layer AT Field for containment, coordinating it with Super Vibration technology to forge the metal ingots under high pressure.

He had to admit, he would never be able to fully repay his senior sister’s kindness. The AT Field was practically a divine, all-purpose technique!

With the equipment sorted, all he needed was a formula.

Allen gritted his teeth and spent 800,000 Magic Stones to buy a standard Level 3 Golem alloy formula from Master Mercer’s technical database.

The formula his master sold was a general-purpose version, suitable for the production needs of most Alchemy Wizards, and hadn’t been optimized for any specific application.

After getting the formula, Allen began to study its principles and concepts, seeking ways to improve upon it.

The veins in Zone 18 contained three types of local specialty ores. They were abundant and of stable quality, but due to their high impurity content, they were classified as "not recommended for use" in the formula.

He spent four months running over six hundred sets of ratio experiments and found a modified solution specifically adapted for the local ores.

’Impurities aren’t the problem,’ he thought. ’The problem is not knowing how to utilize them.’

Under super-high temperature and pressure, the impurity elements in those three ores actually formed a special crystal lattice structure with the main alloy, greatly increasing the material’s density and hardness.

And thus, Earth Vein Tempered Steel was born.

Its density was four times that of adamantite, and its hardness surpassed any metallic Magic Material he had ever encountered. Yet, its cost was only one-fifteenth of purchasing equivalent-grade materials from the fortress.

The deep, dark red armor on the Cyclops was made of this very stuff.

The main structure of the Celestial Throne also made extensive use of Earth Vein Tempered Steel.

This proved that people could unleash immense potential under high pressure—with the exception of math.

...

「Three days after its completion」

Allen conducted the first full-system test of the Celestial Throne. The three second-generation Magic Engines ignited.

The oval platform, driven by the Anti-Gravity Matrix, slowly ascended into the upper atmosphere of the material plane.

Ten thousand meters, twenty thousand meters.

Thirty thousand meters.

The Illusion Rune Array activated, and the entire platform vanished from both visual and magical perception.

Jarvis’s data streamed back continuously.

[Altitude: 30,200 meters. Atmospheric Temperature: -67°C. Magic Power Density: 3.1 times that of the surface.]

[All three engines operating normally in active absorption mode. Magic Power reserves are steadily increasing.]

[Anti-interference technology is effectively blocking 91.4% of energy turbulence.]

Everything was normal.

Allen stood outside the workshop, gazing up at the sky.

"Light of Judgment, charge."

The Celestial Throne began to adjust its position. Inside the main cannon’s barrel, three layers of stacked Runes lit up in sequence.

The output from the three engines was consolidated by an internal confluence array into a highly compressed Magic Flow, which advanced toward the muzzle along a guide channel made of Deepsea Sunken Silver.

Charging took twelve seconds.

The muzzle aimed at the ground. The target was a mountain in the desert northwest of Zone 18.

"Fire."

A white pillar of light, 12 meters in diameter, shot down vertically from an altitude of thirty thousand meters, piercing through the entire atmosphere at near light speed.

The instant the pillar of light pierced the center of the mountain, the entire peak exploded from within. Rubble and lava were flung in all directions as a mushroom-shaped cloud of dust billowed upward. The shockwave stripped away the top layer of earth within a two-kilometer radius.

All that remained was a bottomless crater that looked like a volcano.

Right to the core!

[Peak Magic Power reading: 6217. Deviation from theoretical value: 1.3%.]

[Cooldown initiated: 180 seconds.]

’Passed the test.’

Allen nodded in satisfaction.

"Set the Celestial Throne as the anchor point for the Golem Teleportation Technique."

[Set. Teleportation deck spatial coordinates calibrated. The Commander can open a Space Gate from the Cybertron Workshop to the Celestial Throne’s deck at any time to teleport any Golem unit.]

The Cyclops, forty-eight meters tall, fifty-four thousand tons.

Leaping from the deck at an altitude of thirty thousand meters, plummeting from above the clouds like a divine punishment from myth, to stomp right on the enemy’s face.

’That scene would definitely be spectacular.’

Allen closed his eyes and played the scene out in his mind, unable to suppress the grin spreading across his face.

"...I’ll have to find a lucky soul to witness it."

There were ten months left before he had to leave the Molten Iron Mountain Range plane.

’Counting the days, it’s about time I said goodbye to my old partner.’

He opened his communication module and dialed Victor’s encrypted channel.

The call connected three seconds later.

A holographic image of Victor popped up. He was sitting behind a mahogany desk, a glass of amber liquid resting by his hand.

His golden hair was immaculate, and his deep red Wizard Robe was ironed without a single crease.

Even though he was pioneering a new plane, he somehow managed to project the relaxed air of a nobleman on vacation.

"Allen?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "You’re calling me? Did the sun rise in the west today?"

"I’ll be packing up to leave this plane soon. Just thought I’d give you a heads-up."

Victor put down his glass, his expression turning more serious.

Leaving.

That word meant their decade-plus of competition and cooperation in the Molten Iron Mountain Range plane was about to come to an end.

"Time really flies."

He sighed with rare emotion before reverting to his usual demeanor. "Where are you headed? To the Gate of Truth headquarters?"

"Maybe. I haven’t decided yet."

Allen’s tone shifted, becoming playful. "By the way... I built something new. A real big guy. Want to come feast your eyes?"

"How big?" Victor asked, his expression unreadable.

"Hmm... standing up, it’s a little taller than your rebuilt workshop."

Victor’s workshop was thirty-five meters tall.

His eyelid twitched.

"Alright." Victor gave a slight nod, maintaining his aristocratic composure. "I’ll open my airspace for you. Just come on over."

"Great. I’m on my way."

Allen smiled and cut the communication.

The straight-line distance from Zone 18 was three hundred and eighty kilometers.

Allen rubbed his hands together, a mischievous grin spreading across his face like a child about to play a prank.

He spoke into his communicator, issuing a command.

"Jarvis, target is Zone 19, the airspace over Victor’s territory. Send the Celestial Throne ahead."

[The Celestial Throne is en route. Estimated time of arrival in the target airspace: forty-seven minutes.]

"Excellent."

Allen’s consciousness connected to the Control Core of the Cyclops.

"Big guy, wake up. Time to get to work."

Inside the hangar, the massive, single eye burning with orange-red flames suddenly lit up.

"Boss, reporting for duty."

"Are you ready to experience the feeling of flight?"

Allen’s grin grew wider and wider.

"Activate the Golem Teleportation Technique. Target: the deck of the Celestial Throne."

[Spatial anchor locked. Constructing teleportation channel... ]

’Victor, oh Victor... I hope your jaw doesn’t hit the floor this time.’

He murmured softly, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"This is going to be a big surprise."