Inside Assembly Workshop No. 1, mechanical arms were performing their final tasks. As sizzling sparks died down, a Golem chassis was taking shape.

Six thick, hydraulic legs supported a heavy, square chassis. Atop the chassis sat only a hidden Control Core and a massive, Hive-style launcher box, angled up toward the sky at 45 degrees.

It lacked the anthropomorphic majesty of the "Pacifist" model. It resembled a Spider Slayer carrying a pack, but was without its sinister agility.

A twelve-tube launcher.

Deep within each launch tube, the faint, dark-red glow of Runes shimmered.

[Project Codename: Inferno.]

[Designation: Mid-Range Fire Support / Saturation Strike Platform.]

Allen stood on a lift platform, reaching out to stroke the cold casing of the launcher box.

"Jarvis, report the final parameters."

[Yes, Sir. The ’Inferno’ prototype has a total weight of 2.3 tons. It completely forgoes defensive armor and sensory capabilities, instead relying on guidance from a Demon Eye to project its firepower. The spider-like articulated chassis gives it mobility across most terrains and allows for autonomous reloading. Its movement speed is somewhat slow, but in a fixed-position mode, its stability increases by 40%.]

[Weapon System: Twelve ’Red Lotus Type I’ alchemical Magic Missiles.]

On a nearby weapon rack sat a dark-red cylinder, twenty centimeters in diameter—the very soul of this machine.

The warhead’s design followed the high-explosive concept of ’The Last Word,’ but with optimizations.

Instead of Burst Shroom powder, the interior was filled with a more stable mixture of powdered, compressed Fire Element Crystals and a toxic blend of Magical Beast fats. Upon detonation, it dispersed a high-temperature, burning, adhesive toxin that rapidly consumed oxygen, specifically targeting the respiratory systems and flesh of heavily armored Magical Beasts.

Though called a missile, it had no guidance or propulsion systems. A Wizard’s techniques replaced those functions. Allen integrated three sets of Rune technology into the missile’s body:

First, a Flying Magic formula and an Anti-Gravity Rune Array, ensuring a range of up to fifty kilometers.

Second, a Trigger-Type Blazing Flame Array, which enhances its power and guarantees detonation on impact, preventing duds.

Third, and the most insidious of all, an Illusion Rune Array. Ever seen an invisible rocket?

"What’s the cost per unit?" Allen asked the most critical question.

[Including missile body materials and Rune etching, a single ’Red Lotus Type I’ costs approximately 200 Low-Level Magic Stones. A full salvo costs 2,400 Low-Level Magic Stones. The launch chassis itself costs 2,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]

"Over two thousand Magic Stones for a single salvo... all the cost of this thing is in the Magic Missiles." Allen’s lip twitched, but then his eyes grew fanatical.

’But it’s money well spent. Against a dense insect swarm, a single, precise sniper shot is meaningless. The only truth is an explosion that blankets the entire area. I refuse to believe their entire bodies are as hard as their carapaces!’

"The Last Word" had been powerful, but it was a stationary landmine—passive.

But "Inferno" put wings on that landmine, making proactive, door-to-door deliveries.

"What about the range? Is there any room for optimization?"

[Fifty kilometers is the limit of our current technological capabilities.]

The Red Lotus Type I Magic Missile used Rune technologies common in the Wizarding World to achieve flight. Compared to the missiles of his previous life, its advantages were low cost and a large payload, but its disadvantage was a short range.

Allen had tried designing a rocket booster, but his technical skills were insufficient. Forgetting everything else, he couldn’t even figure out the propellant formula, which was outside his professional knowledge of Golems.

In his past life, even the smallest missile was the culmination of scientists’ wisdom. To actually create one, you first needed to master fundamental disciplines like mathematics, mechanics, and control theory to establish a theoretical foundation for missile design. You also had to study specialized technical knowledge like overall missile design, propulsion systems, aerodynamic layouts, and structural strength, and understand system engineering methods and processes, including requirements analysis, multidisciplinary collaboration, and experimental verification. It wasn’t something he and Dseek’s public knowledge base could just whip up.

Fortunately, this world had Witchcraft. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to build something that could fly 10 kilometers.

"How long until we can scale up production?"

[The Rune engraving and debugging are complete. As long as raw materials are sufficient, one ’Inferno’ and its complementary ammunition can roll off the line every forty-eight hours.]

"Build two more launch chassis, and start with forty-eight Red Lotus Type I missiles."

Allen placed the rocket he was holding back on the rack. "Once my war preparations are complete, I’ll throw a grand ’festival celebration’ for the giant scorpions."

With the ground-based heavy firepower settled, Allen’s gaze shifted to the other side of the holographic projection.

A streamlined aircraft model hovered there—the [Storm Falcon].

Compared to the simple and brutal ’Inferno,’ this thing looked like an elegant work of art.

However, at the moment, this work of art was still incomplete.

[Compatibility between the high-speed aerodynamic layout and the Flying Rune Array has been resolved, but in simulated flight tests, bombing and firing accuracy remain insufficient.]

[The core problem is still the Control Core and sensory module.]

"Still no good?"

Allen sighed.

"I need the soul of a Flying Magical Beast."

Allen pointed to the core of the model. "And it has to be the soul of a raptor-type beast, one skilled at hunting and sensitive to airflow."

The sensory module also needed an upgrade; it must have high-speed dynamic image capture capabilities.

[According to real-time data from the fortress’s trading market, a complete soul of a ’Skysplitter Eagle’ or ’Storm-Thunder Vulture’ sells for between 800 and 1,200 Magic Stones. Furthermore, supply is scarce; they are often listed but rarely available.]

Clever Alchemy Wizards had long ago considered the issue of unit counters. In this plane, Flying Golems were the absolute top choice, making related materials highly sought-after.

For a single Storm Falcon, just buying the "brain" would cost a thousand Magic Stones, not to mention the lightweight magical materials for the airframe and the expensive Anti-Gravity and Flying Rune sets...

"Put the mass production plan on hold for now."

Allen gritted his teeth and made a compromise. "Post a purchase order on the market first. I’m going to build two prototypes from scratch for testing. Air superiority... even with just two, they can be as effective as twenty."

"Money..."

Allen sighed at the heavens. "Why is it that the stronger I get, the poorer I become?"

To ease this anxiety, he walked to a corner of the workshop.

An inconspicuous behemoth lay there.

It looked like a mole cricket magnified countless times, its entire body an earthy yellow. Its front was a pair of enormous, shovel-like forelimbs covered in spiral patterns, and its head was a cone embedded with a Stone-to-Mud Rune.

[Project Codename: Digger Worm.]

[Designation: Resource Exploration / Subterranean Operations.]

[Mobility: Burrows forward, maximum depth 500 meters.]

[Production Cost: 1,500 Low-Level Magic Stones.]

This was the "money-making Divine Artifact" Allen had created to solve his financial crisis.

He took it outside the workshop.

"Activate."

At Allen’s command, the Digger Worm’s compound eyes lit up with a murky yellow glow. Its forelimbs began to vibrate at a high frequency, and the surrounding soil instantly softened into quicksand.

"Go. Find all the nearby ore deposits for me."

The Digger Worm let out a low hiss and plunged its head into the ground.

The hard bedrock of the gobi desert became as fragile as tofu before its vibrating shovels and cone-shaped head. In just a few seconds, its massive body had completely disappeared underground, leaving only a deep, one-meter-diameter hole.

Allen watched the subterranean sensory images being fed back to his glasses. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

In the images, the Digger Worm was tunneling through the ground at an astonishing speed. Information about surrounding ore veins, the direction of underground water flow, and rock strata composition was converted into a data stream by the high-sensitivity detection array in its head and transmitted continuously back to Jarvis’s database.

"Small associated iron deposit detected... low purity, ignoring."

"Underground river detected... marking as a water source."

But this was not the full extent of his plan.

Watching the long tunnel the Digger Worm left behind, an industrial machine from his previous life came to Allen’s mind: the tunnel boring machine.

The current Digger Worm was still rudimentary, only capable of digging small tunnels that a single person could pass through.

’But what if... I scale it up tenfold?’

’If I could create a giant tunnel-boring Golem ten, or even twenty, meters in diameter, and pair it with spatial reinforcement Runes, I could build a vast and intricate transportation network beneath this wasteland.’

’I could establish an entire underground transport network, connecting the workshop, mining areas, and even more distant locations.’

’By then, no matter how strong the Magical Beasts on the surface were, they wouldn’t be able to threaten my supply lines.’

’Perhaps even... an underground fortress, undetectable by the outside world.’

War on the surface was always risky, whether it was from Magical Beast tides or the covetous eyes of other Wizard factions. But if he could control the underground, he would possess far greater strategic depth.

On the offensive, he could use the tunnels to instantly deploy Spider Slayers behind enemy lines.

On the defensive, he could seal the entrances and hide in a base hundreds of meters underground. Even if the leader of the Dream-Weaving Demon Orbs showed up, they could only stare helplessly.

"Jarvis, create a new project folder: [Underground Great Wall Project]."

Allen’s voice echoed through the empty workshop, filled with ambition. When it came to creating new project folders, he was second to none.

[Folder created. Designate ’Digger Worm’ schematics as core prerequisite technology?]

"Designate it."

Allen turned and walked back into the workshop. "And when you have spare processing power, begin running feasibility simulations for a ’Heavy Tunnel-Boring Golem.’ The goal is to build an underground city within ten years."