Chapter 837: Cybertron Legion

Lei En and the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers worked continuously.

Each statue component changed shape in his hands, melting into liquid and solidifying, then re‑activating, sometimes requiring over a dozen steps.

Every step was carefully controlled, continuously adding various metals and alchemical materials in precise ratios to form a magical alloy, while the internal rune array was completed simultaneously, after which the casting piece was assembled and tested.

Unwittingly, Lei En was buried in work until noon the next day.

The first Sky‑Pillar Colossus was completed!

A ten‑meter‑tall colossus stood before him, its blue‑red paint striking and imposing, hands gripping a long sword, its facial expression vivid, like a giant clad in intricate armor. Even while unpowered and idle, its mechanical elegance and aura of dominance were palpable.

If anyone from Ai Lun E Si's world saw this colossus, they would only marvel at its power and superb craftsmanship.

But Lei En felt something different.

"Yei Qing Hui!"

He admired the Sky‑Pillar Colossus he had created, feeling a special sense of satisfaction and a hint of nostalgia.

When he watched movies in his past life, he never imagined he would one day forge a magical version of a Sky‑Pillar, but that film series, aside from the special effects, was all trash!

"Combat test, then."

Lei En stepped forward, stored the colossus into the Nebula Ring, and instantly teleported outside the Obsidian Tower.

The cavern housing the Obsidian Tower was enormous; the slave town the Eye Demon had built beneath the tower had been leveled, and all passages to the outside were sealed to prevent dark‑realm creatures from wandering in, now converted into an open‑air weapons testing ground.

Lei En took the Sky‑Pillar Colossus out.

Boom—

The massive colossus hit the ground, its broad feet sinking slightly, and its very shape exuded overwhelming pressure.

Lei En thought a thought and activated the colossus's Titan Engine.

Hum…

The colossus's eyes flared, as if a sleeping giant had opened its eyes; within the pupils gears turned, meshed, spiraled, a massive energy current coursed through its body, and metallic clanks of mechanical collisions rang out, sounding oddly pleasant.

A terrifying aura radiated, and the surrounding air grew hot and hazy.

Lightning Elements gathered from all directions, activating rows of rune arrays on the colossus's armor, flashing a few times before vanishing.

It had already linked with the Obsidian Tower, which continuously transmitted mysterious energy to the colossus across the void.

Lei En retreated a hundred meters.

Through a split‑brain crystal, he controlled every movement of the colossus, seeing all the vision it sensed; without a command, the colossus began to move.

It stepped, pacing back and forth.

Each step produced a heavy thud, shaking the ground, while mechanical whirring sounded from within. After confirming the whole structure was sound and everything ran normally, the colossus's speed surged and kept accelerating.

Bang bang bang bang…

The earth trembled continuously, and sound waves echoed throughout the cavern like a minor earthquake.

The Sky‑Pillar Colossus raced around the Obsidian Tower, swift as wind, balanced in posture, not the clumsy bulk of ordinary Arcane golems, but agile and versatile, giving a sense of effortless strength, like a living giant.

Sudden stops, direction changes, turns, jumps, rolls…

Any movement a human transcendent can perform, the Sky‑Pillar Colossus can replicate, without the sluggishness of a mechanical construct.

The colossus's speed equated to Level‑Eight Swiftness.

Given its massive size and weight, possessing Level‑Eight Swiftness was truly astonishing.

During the high‑speed run, the colossus lifted a sword weighing tens of thousands of pounds, crouching slightly as its right arm unleashed thick bolts of lightning that converged onto the blade, which glowed with dazzling electric light. Simultaneously, the armor plates at its shoulder blades lifted, revealing two massive engine nozzles that burst forth a searing blue tail flame.

The colossus swung the sword.

Boom!

A thunder‑like blast rang out as the massive colossus flashed by, materializing on a distant clearing. Behind it, a trench over two hundred meters long and several meters deep remained, the soil vitrified by high‑temperature lightning, emitting wisps of black smoke.

This was the colossus's most powerful melee attack.

Lei En inscribed the spell Electric Flash Teleport within the colossus, and building on that, combined the combat Element "Flash Sword Slash" principle, using instantaneous engine thrust to achieve an effect similar to a Thunder Slash.

He named this technique "Flash Thunder Slash"!

The power of Flash Thunder Slash was comparable to the Thunder Slash Lei En unleashed when he transformed into a Titan Giant, though it required a slightly longer charge time.

Moreover, after use the engine overheated and needed cooling, requiring at least a minute before it could be employed again.

Nonetheless, Lei En was very satisfied.

On the Prime Material Plane, perhaps fewer than ten mortals could survive a Flash Thunder Slash, even the defense‑renowned Golden Bimon Beast might not endure it.

Moreover, the Sky‑Pillar Colossus was not limited to melee.

Powered by the massive energy of the Titan Engine, Lei En inscribed numerous lightning spells within the colossus: Electric Flash Teleport, Electric Blast Orb, High-level Thunderclap, Thunderous Stomp, Chain Lightning, Electric Claw Technique, Lightning Storm, Lightning Javelin, and so on, all spells Lei En frequently used.

Its most powerful ranged firepower was the Electric Light Cannon mounted in the colossus's left arm.

It was identical to the Electric Light Cannon in Getan City's defense system, releasing "Electric Light Beams" in three modes: a high‑frequency burst of three to five rings of beams, a seven‑ring laser cutting beam, and a nine‑ring beam burst that required full charge to fire.

These are the colossus's offensive capabilities.

The colossus's defense was equally formidable, with three layers of armor protecting the internal Titan Engine, each layer etched with Arcane runes of different functions.

The outermost armor bore a "Resistive Force Field".

Lei En devoted the most time and effort to this protective spell, using hundreds of nodes placed across the colossus to bind the originally spherical field into one that perfectly matched its shape, like an invisible transparent armor coating.

The Resistive Force Field could defend against physical strikes as well as energy damage.

At the same time, it only blocked attacks from outside; attacks from within passed unhindered, allowing it to stay active throughout combat.

Conventional magical shields hinder melee, defending against enemy attacks while also restricting the user.

Thus, pure casters are limited in melee and can only strike with spells.

Although the Resistive Force Field's defense was slightly weaker than various magical shields, it was the colossus's best option; as long as energy persisted, the field remained.

Even if the field were breached, the colossus's three‑layer alloy armor remained indestructible.

Additionally, the colossus was inscribed with a suite of Arcane arts—teleportation, Any Door, flight technique, Eye of Secret Art, divination, spell reflection, spell deflection, spell nullification barrier, shrink spell, protective arrows, protective energy damage, spell absorber, among others—focused on mobility and protection.

From the beginning, Lei En's design was that the colossus has two systems.

One for lightning attacks, the other for Arcane protection.

The energy source for lightning attacks is a Titan engine, while the energy source for Arcane protection is the Iola Core, requiring remote transmission.

The Obsidian Tower can also supply mysterious energy to the Sky‑lifting Colossus, but both the power and transmission distance are very limited.

Therefore, the Sky‑lifting Colossus before us is not yet a complete form.

It must pair with the Iola Core to obtain an inexhaustible energy drive before it can unleash its greatest combat power.

The biggest difference between the Sky‑lifting Colossus and the Sky‑pillar is that it cannot transform, though its strength may be greater.

Boom—boom—boom…

Lei En watched the Sky‑lifting Colossus fire high‑frequency lasers from its left palm and suddenly let out a sigh.

The Sky‑lifting Colossus is powerful!

It is stronger than most Saint Rank strongmen below th Level, and can even face some slightly weaker Holy Soul Wizards in battle, with a good chance of winning, such as Duke Silver Star.

But it has a huge drawback—its cost!

The material used most in constructing the Sky‑lifting Colossus is Titan Blue Iron, a magical alloy unique to Titan Giants; after Lei En obtained the formula through a metallic feel, he melted it with activated metal. The formula contains the highest proportion of refined gold, as well as mithril, Arcane Gold Iron, Star Stone and a dozen other metal materials.

The Sky‑lifting Colossus weighs a total of 120,000 pounds, of which 100,000 pounds are Titan Blue Iron.

Just this material alone costs over 1,500,000 Gold Shields!

Additionally there are another 20,000 pounds of other alchemical materials, gems, magical metals, pigment for inscribed rune arrays, and a stock of large source crystal rods…

Lei En can pull out a list spanning dozens of pages.

Finally, excluding labor costs, a single Sky‑lifting Colossus costs as much as 2,000,000 Gold Shields!

Even if he is extremely wealthy now, he cannot bear such a price; converted to the Empire's copper liso, that's two billion.

Ten Sky‑lifting Colossi consumed 20,000,000 Gold Shields.

Besides being expensive, the Sky‑lifting Colossus also has a cost‑performance issue.

Two million Gold Shields are enough to produce a dozen power armors to equip a squad of Extreme Warriors; the overall combat power of the two may be comparable, but Extreme Warriors have more uses, applicable in a wider range of environments, whereas the Sky‑lifting Colossus is merely a display when not in combat.

Lei En shook his head; in the short term, he probably will not manufacture another Sky‑lifting Colossus.

He has spent money so ruthlessly these two years that he is nearly emptied.

Moreover, the sheer quantity of alchemical materials and magical metals he purchased has already affected the Empire's alchemy market; many material prices have surged, some even shortage, and even with money they cannot be bought.

Building another Sky‑lifting Colossus would only raise costs further, making it unprofitable.

Lei En couldn't help feeling regretful; the "Cybertron Legion" of fifty to a hundred Sky‑lifting Colossi can probably only be imagined in dreams.

The test stopped; the Sky‑lifting Colossus stood still and powered down, its eyes' light extinguished.

He returned to the Obsidian Tower to continue working.

Soon after, the second Sky‑lifting Colossus was also completed.

Lei En no longer tested it himself, but had Thundercast Celestial Soldiers do it; the remaining eight Sky‑lifting Colossi will all be finished within a few days.

"Almost done."

He withdrew and returned to Gotham City, teleported to Graham Morgan, then to Jin Gang Fort on the Sain Plateau.

It is afternoon; shouts and cheers echo outside the fortress, as the Holy Spear Knight Corps trains. Currently the Holy Spear Knight Corps has over 8,500 members; Jin Gang Fort underwent an expansion last year but still cannot accommodate all the Holy Lance Knights, so half of the members are stationed at Gotham City's barracks.

Extreme Warriors also added a fifth company, bringing the total to three hundred.

These two years, Lei En never stopped having Thundercast Celestial Soldiers cleanse the undead in the Aibolaken region, continuously expanding westward; forty percent of the harvested electricity is used to create Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, thirty percent is converted into Holy Light power to bless Holy Lance Knights, and the remaining thirty percent is used by wizard avatars to construct spell models.

Now the number of Thundercast Celestial Soldiers is exactly five hundred.

Five hundred tool‑people, working day and night to forge weapons and gear, develop new items, train Holy Lance Knights, cleanse undead; they are indispensable everywhere.

Lei En walked into the mechanical alchemy chamber that resembled a factory.

Over a hundred Thundercast Celestial Soldiers are also working here, forging the power armor Lei En has researched for years.

It is now finished, pending only testing.

Previously, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers themselves wore the armor, undergoing hundreds of tests, repeatedly revising to perfect design details and fix bugs; in the past two months no issues have arisen, allowing Extreme Warriors to be officially equipped.

However, a few Extreme Warriors must try it first, since the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers are much smaller in size.

"Xikalius, bring a few brothers over."

Lei En issued the command through the original body's symbiosis.

A few minutes later, the towering Xikalius, as massive as a wall, and four other Extreme Warriors entered the mechanical alchemy chamber together.

"Boss!"

Five Legendary barbarians shouted loudly.

They curiously peered into the circular room, having never been there before; even the walls were cast of metal, with some sections exposing wiring that glowed with flowing energy, and a ring of tall display cabinets surrounded them, their contents invisible.

In the center of the room's floor stood a hexagonal platform that looked extraordinary, protruding just over half a meter, its structure complex, clearly the main body was buried deep underground.

Lei En said to Xikalius, "Take off your armor, then step onto it."

"Alright."

Xikalius did not hesitate, swiftly shedding his heavy blue armor, leaving only shorts, his steel‑like robust muscles exposed, brimming with explosive terrifying power.

He is already a Legendary Mid-stage, just one step away from advancing to Legendary High-rank.

On the platform lay a pair of massive blue metal combat boots.

However, the boots consist only of soles, toe caps, and half uppers, resembling a half‑finished pair, very thick yet with perfectly smooth edges.

"Step inside."

Following Lei En's instruction, Xikalius slipped his feet into the half boots, finding they fit his feet perfectly, down to the millimeter. The sensation beneath his feet was peculiar, extremely resilient and solid, yet with an indescribable elasticity.

Before he could fully feel it, a mechanical transmission sound reached his ears.

Clack—clack—clack…

The platform trembled slightly, and eight mechanical arms extended from below; two of them clamped onto his wrists and lifted them up, his hands spreading to either side, fixing his posture.

The remaining six arms swiftly reached toward the surrounding walls; the cabinet doors on the walls opened automatically, and the mechanical arms took out piece after piece of armor components flashing with rune light, as if they had their own thoughts, retracting steadily and quickly, assembling the armor components onto his body.

"Jileman above!"

The Extreme Warriors were stunned by this scene, their jaws almost dropping to the ground.

I've regained the feeling!

(End of chapter)