Chapter 2099: The Concept of Fusion

Knowing the right people really did make things easier, especially when those connections had been forged through war.

As a magic beast, the Reverse Winged Lion King naturally had its own circle of acquaintances within Magus World.

However, Rank Four and above magic beasts were nowhere near as organized as the divine towers or knightly orders, and they had always received relatively little attention from the upper echelons of the Magus Civilization.

Meanwhile, sea beasts, which made up a considerable portion of the magic beast population, were generally classified among the sea races instead.

As a result, the Reverse Winged Lion King had few opportunities to establish closer ties with other magic beast kings, much less seek guidance or assistance from powerful elders of his race.

By making the introductions, Sein had essentially done it a favor.

Besides, the continued prosperity of Ashenreach’s magic beasts would benefit both Sein and the region as a whole.

At the very least, whenever the local knightly orders or divine towers needed suitable targets for trials, powerful mounts, or rare magic ingredients, they would never be short of options.

When Milena learned that Sein was heading to Steel City to purchase a space fortress, she expressed an interest in accompanying him.

As it turned out, the Moon Tiger wanted to order one of her own.

The space fortresses produced by the Capiche Business Alliance were simply too expensive and were primarily designed with knights and mages in mind.

For Milena, Steel City was clearly the more suitable choice.

The space fortresses produced there were generally sturdy and durable, with spacious interiors that offered more than enough room for even massive magic beasts to move around freely.

Noticing the slight surprise on Sein’s face, Milena bared her two pearly-white fangs in amusement.

“No one said magic beast kings can’t order space fortresses. There’s no such rule in the Magus Alliance,” she said.

“Ordinary magic beasts would indeed have a hard time operating one, but I could simply hire a few full-fledged mages. Or perhaps I could seek help from the elves of the Grand Elven World who specialize in operating space fortresses. With their assistance, there’s no reason magic beasts like us couldn’t make use of such a war platform.”

“As for the cost...” Milena smiled faintly. “I’ve managed to save quite a bit over the years.”

“You’re certainly an ambitious magic beast king. I support the idea,” Sein commented with a nod. “Perhaps Black Oblivion should have taken you as a role model long ago. The last time I saw that guy, he was still stuck at the peak of Rank Four.”

That was not the last surprise Milena had in store for Sein.

When the two arrived outside Steel City, her enormous white tiger body suddenly began to transform.

Within moments, the massive Moon Tiger disappeared. In its place stood a tall, beautiful woman with long silver hair, wearing a sheer white dress.

The natural marking that was on her forehead in tiger form remained as a faint platinum-colored symbol, giving her a subtle air of dominance that contrasted with the grace and elegance of her otherwise refined appearance.

Still, her presence was completely different from Gongsun Wudi’s. It was nowhere near as overwhelming.

If anything, that subtle air of dominance only added a peculiar charm to her appearance.

Even so, whenever Sein’s gaze drifted toward the marking on her forehead, he could not help but picture her massive tiger head.

“Let’s go.” Milena smoothed her dress before walking over to Sein. “I’m not very familiar with Steel City. Would you mind showing me the way, Master Sein?”

Sein quietly averted his gaze.

“Sure.”

***

Babbage, the Rank Five mechanic, served as the main intermediary for Sein’s latest space fortress order.

This was not the first time Sein had dealt with him.

Long ago, after the war in the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization came to an end, Sein had sold many fragments of ancient technological artifacts recovered from that secret realm through Master Babbage.

The Magic Cube had already absorbed the law power contained within those fragments.

Even so, the fragments themselves still possessed immense research value, along with technological knowledge left behind by an ancient civilization. Steel City had therefore offered Sein a very generous price for them.

Sein had made quite a substantial profit from that transaction.

This time, however, he had come to Steel City to spend money.

Even the Burning Flame Unit’s previous frame had been custom-made by professional mechanics recommended by Master Babbage.

After several successful dealings between them, Sein naturally felt quite comfortable working with him.

The moment they met, Master Babbage greeted Sein warmly and quickly struck up a conversation.

Although he had already learned through their previous remote communication that Sein had advanced to peak Rank Five, seeing Sein’s current strength in person still left Babbage visibly astonished.

Since returning to Magus World, Sein had made no attempt to conceal his aura either.

After all, if he wanted to purchase so many space fortresses and receive greater resource support from the Magus Civilization, he first had to prove that he possessed enough strength and potential to justify such an investment.

If an ordinary Rank Four mage suddenly declared that they wanted to purchase seven space fortresses, the Magus Civilization might not even approve the application.

After all, space fortresses were important strategic war platforms, especially during the ongoing Clash of Civilizations.

Whether one could afford them was only part of the issue. The bigger question was why anyone would need so many in the first place.

Although Sein had never submitted the details of his upcoming experiments to the Magus Civilization, both Steel City and the Capiche Business Alliance eventually approved his applications after conducting their own reviews.

The four space fortresses Sein had commissioned from Steel City all belonged to the same series, though each differed slightly in both appearance and internal structure.

According to Sein’s design, these four fortresses would form the outer layer of his massive fortress cluster. At the same time, they would also serve as the limbs of the super-giant fortress robot he envisioned.

These fortresses would inevitably bear the brunt of enemy attacks.

Likewise, once the fortresses combined into one gigantic form, its limbs would naturally become some of the easiest parts for enemies to target.

The space fortresses produced by Steel City were renowned for their enormous size and exceptional quality.

The Thunder God series Sein had commissioned was the first new line of space fortresses Steel City had released in nearly three thousand years.

Its name came from a title once held by Odin, an alliance overlord who had distinguished himself greatly on the battlefields of the current Clash of Civilizations.

Before ascending to the throne, Odin had gone by that title for a time.

In recent years, however, it had been passed down to one of his sons.

The four Thunder God-series space fortresses Sein had commissioned differed considerably from one another, but each cost around twenty-three million magicoins.

Together, the four constructs came to nearly one hundred million magicoins!

And that was before factoring in Sein’s plans to have Steel City’s mechanics, alchemists, and fortress builders assist him with a series of extensive modifications.

Once all the modification and processing costs were included, Sein might have to spend another hundred million magicoins!

There was no helping it. If Sein wanted tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of professional alchemists to assist with his experiments, not to mention several Rank Four and above mechanics, then he had to be willing to spend the money.

If he tried to modify four colossal space fortresses entirely on his own, who knew how long it would take?

While Sein discussed the purchase and modification of the four space fortresses with Master Babbage, Milena stared at him in stunned silence.

She had known that Sein had come to Steel City to commission custom-built space fortresses. What she had not expected was for him to order so many at once!

Even more astonishing was how casually he seemed prepared to spend hundreds of millions of magicoins on them.

Milena’s entire fortune was only in the eight-figure range in magicoins.

Sein, however, failed to notice the subtle change in the way she was looking at him.

While discussing one of the modification requirements with Master Babbage, he suddenly remembered something.

“Master Babbage, have the intelligent robots from Nexon been in contact with Steel City in recent years?”

“Ah, the ones from Nexon...” Babbage thought for a moment before replying, “More than a thousand years ago, they did approach us. They wanted Steel City to help them build production lines for several special models of intelligent robots.”

“But that never actually happened. Their requirements were very unusual, and some were difficult for even our mechanics here in Steel City to meet. Besides, Steel City has its own production demands to deal with. We simply can’t spare too much manpower to help them overcome their so-called technical hurdles.”

“Those intelligent robots may have seized many core production components from the Gallant Federation’s heavy industrial facilities on the front lines of the Clash of Civilizations, but...” Master Babbage paused for a moment.

“As you know, Master Sein, the principles behind our Magus World’s alchemy are fundamentally different from the Gallant Federation’s purely technological systems. Even if their most advanced equipment were placed right in front of us, that doesn’t mean we could immediately break through the technological barriers behind it.”

“Several Rank Five and Rank Six Mechanical Masters here in Steel City have said the same thing. We probably won’t have the time or peace of mind to thoroughly unravel those mysteries until the Clash of Civilizations is over,” Babbage said with a sigh.

Sein nodded but did not respond immediately.

The reason he had suddenly thought of the Nexon intelligent robots was because of his previous fusion with Fermera.

If Fermera could fuse with him...

Could Sein perhaps use the Magic Cube to modify the Nexon intelligent robots and fuse with them as well, allowing him to wield even greater power?

Then again, that would involve an entirely different and far more advanced field of research.

It might even prove more complicated than the fusion experiment of seven space fortresses he was currently planning.

Simply unifying their wills would already be an enormous challenge.

After all, those intelligent robots possessed wills of their own. Unlike Fermera, they might not be willing to become Sein’s “accessories”.

Space fortresses were different. They possessed no independent consciousness, so there would naturally be far less resistance during the fusion and transformation process.

All Sein needed to do was assign a group of mages to each space fortress to operate it and assist him in battle.

Over the years, the number of registered mages at the Divine Tower of Ashes had grown considerably, so assigning enough personnel to operate several space fortresses would not be a problem.

They would not even have to be combat mages.

The academic mages who normally focused on research and teaching were perfectly capable of operating a space fortress as well.

The only drawback was that things would become considerably more dangerous once they entered the battlefield.

It certainly would not be as comfortable as teaching at the divine tower academy.