Chapter 424 - 413: Ryan’s New Body
Cybertron, in the exclusive puppet-crafting laboratory.
The room was filled with puppet components—arms, legs, heads... All sorts of high-grade parts were strewn everywhere.
On a circular platform in the center, a brand-new body lay silently, undergoing its final calibration.
[Compatibility calibration complete.]
Several dancing mechanical arms silently retracted into hidden compartments in the wall, leaving the stage entirely to the masterpiece on the platform.
The body was 1.95 meters tall, making it larger and more formidable than Rhine had been in life.
Streamlined, dark-silver armor perfectly mimicked every inch of the human form. The seams where the armor plates joined were so tight they seemed to be a single, natural piece.
Only at the joints and energy nodes did intricate golden Runes shimmer faintly, adding a touch of mystery and luxury.
[Body Material: Meteorite Iron-Void Star Gold-Mithril Composite Armor]
This Puppet’s body combined the ultra-high physical resistance of Meteorite Iron, the superior conductivity and deflection properties of Void Star Gold against energy attacks, and the perfect affinity for Magic Power from Mithril.
This was the result of a full year of Allen’s painstaking effort. Building upon the "Gabriel" armor, he had developed a new crystalline phase stabilization field model to perfectly fuse these three top-tier Magic Materials of vastly different properties.
Allen stepped forward and flicked a finger against the chest, which glinted with a cold, metallic light.
THUNK!
A dull thud echoed, without even the slightest extraneous vibration. All the kinetic energy was perfectly absorbed.
"With this level of hardness, I doubt even a Second-level Bloodline Wizard specializing in physical enhancement could easily damage it," Allen commented with satisfaction.
If it just stood still and let a First-level Wizard use it for target practice, they probably couldn’t even leave a white mark.
This was just the skeleton and armor; the bionic skin had yet to be applied.
"Report final parameters."
[As you command, Commander.]
[Project Codename: Second-level Wizard Puppet Construction]
[Designation: Level 2 Wizard-Class General-Purpose Combat Puppet / Artificial Soul Technology Validation Platform]
[Power Core: Hephaestus Type I Small-Scale Magic Engine]
Four years ago, Allen had spent three hundred Credit Points to purchase the schematics for small-scale Magic Engine technology from the Association’s knowledge base.
While the Earth Vein Magic Furnace drew energy from the void or earth veins, and the Freedom Gundam’s Singularity Engine gathered energy by distorting space, this fist-sized engine was more like a miniature nuclear reactor.
Its principle of operation was to use an ultra-high-pressure Rune field to excite a solid-state crystalline fuel rod, thereby inducing a magic fusion reaction that continuously output high-purity Magic Power.
Due to size constraints, most small-scale Magic Engines followed a technological path of generating power by consuming fuel.
The "fuel" used by this particular engine was a type of ultra-dense Magic Power crystal called a "Kryptonite Fuel Rod."
It was a name that practically begged for ridicule.
Each thumb-sized fuel rod contained an immense amount of Magic Power and provided an extremely stable output. A single rod cost as much as fifty thousand Low-Level Magic Stones.
The advantages were its extremely high energy density and stable output. The disadvantages were... it was expensive, and the technology wasn’t his own.
Allen frowned unconsciously as he looked at the engine’s power curve.
’This output barely reaches the threshold of a Second-level Wizard. It’s still a bit lacking.’
His gaze then fell upon the Puppet’s smooth, dark-silver head. What lay inside was the body’s true value.
[Control Core: Palace of Thought]
[Functions: Real-time soul status monitoring, digitized memory storage, Will Rune construction assistance...]
This was a special edition of the "Incantation Hub," custom-made for Rhine.
It would serve as a "VIP suite" for Rhine’s soul, simulating a true Sea of Spirit environment to the greatest possible extent, allowing his Will Rune to take root and sprout.
Furthermore, it could record every one of Rhine’s emotional fluctuations and thoughts. After being fully digitized, these most fundamental and subtle fluctuations would be fed back to Allen, becoming a crucial component in his quest to conquer artificial soul technology.
Of course, as the first Puppet Allen had built that approached the power of a Second-level Wizard, its firepower was nothing to scoff at either.
[Primary Weapon Systems:]
["Doomsday" Beam Ray: Fired from the tactical eyepieces in both eyes. Power is adjustable; at maximum output, it can instantly melt through ten meters of adamantine armor.]
["Absolute Zero" Cold Breath: Housed within the chest cavity. Can spray a rapid-freezing gas at extremely low temperatures, providing area-of-effect coverage effective at freezing energy bodies and targets with high regeneration.]
["Divine Punishment" Palm Beam Cannon: Equipped in both palms and directly linked to the incantation core. Capable of instantly casting zero- and first-rank spells. After charging, it can release the standard Intermediate Witchcraft, "Annihilation Light Spear."]
[Secondary Weapon Systems:]
[Micro-Missile Pods: Eight locations in total on the shoulders, back, and legs. Contains 256 tracking missiles with various warheads, including anti-magic, high-explosive, and pulse.]
[Multi-Purpose Rune-Etched Skeleton: Constant anti-gravity, illusion, and anti-interference Rune Arrays.]
[Defensive Capabilities:]
[Dual-Layer Composite Armor: Excellent physical/energy defense.]
[Small-Scale AT Field: Can deploy an invisible Force Field covering the entire body, providing high damage reduction and deflection against energy attacks.]
[Rune Matrix - Adaptive Repair System: Contains six hundred micro-repair units for rapid in-combat repair of overloaded internal Rune Arrays and Magic Circuits.]
...
Heat vision, cold breath, a body of steel impervious to blades and bullets...
You couldn’t say it was a perfect copy, more like a Frankenstein’s monster of different ideas.
That’s right. Allen had simply followed the template of the "Kryptonian" from his past life’s memories, using Witchcraft and Alchemy to brute-force a money-burning, mechanical Superman.
Excluding research and development, the cost of the materials and construction for this body alone reached a staggering five million, three hundred thousand Low-Level Magic Stones.
[Overall Assessment:]
[Body Strength: Equivalent to a Second-level Bloodline Wizard.]
[Peak Energy Output: 4600. Equivalent to an early-stage Second-level Witchcraft Wizard.]
[Projected High-Intensity Combat Endurance: 10 days. Standard Operational Endurance: 5 years.]
[Overall Combat Rating: Reaches the threshold of a Second-level Wizard.]
Allen’s brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the data on the panel.
Compared to "Gabriel," this Puppet’s instantaneous burst power was indeed a step down. The output ceiling of the small-scale Magic Engine limited its explosive potential.
The knowledge base contained blueprints for a more advanced Dawn Star Level puppet power source—one the size of a walnut that could unleash enough energy to destroy a mountain range—but its price was far beyond what he could currently afford.
But it didn’t matter. Firepower had never been this body’s core metric.
Its true mission was to become the perfect "petri dish"!
A crucible that balanced extreme stability with precise neural feedback, one capable of housing the budding Will Rune within Rhine’s soul.
As soon as Rhine transferred into this body, the nascent Rune in his soul, the one representing "miracle," would finally have fertile soil to grow into a towering tree!
"It’s ready. Apply the bionic skin."