Age of Adepts

Goblin Plane, City of Machines.

There was a massive alchemy lab underneath an adept’s tower.

Tight, dense scaffolds were built all over the large thirteen thousand square meters assembly workshop. Countless goblin engineers and technicians climbed up and down the scaffolding, soldering, cutting, banging, and making so much noise that it was almost like a market in there.

Surrounded by all the scaffolds, one could faintly see the shape of a massive magical machine construct.

It was a massive magical machine golem dragon constructed entirely of metal. Its body was a hundred meters long from head to tail, supported by six thick and sturdy metal legs. Every detail and pattern carved on the machine was exceedingly pretty and realistic.

The creation of this magical golem dragon made use of large amounts of Firegrime Copper, causing its surface to appear an odd shade of dark red. Whenever someone struck its metal body with considerable force, sparks would come flying out and ignite the clothes of the ‘attacker.’

That was why emergency fire alarms would be ringing on some spot of the giant dragon every few minutes before they were extinguished by a goblin firetruck that had been waiting there for orders.

When Greem walked into the workshop in the company of Deserra and a group of advanced goblin engineers, this messy scene was what he saw.

A hundred meter long giant magical machine golem dragon.

Greem narrowed his eyes slightly, assessing the machine as he silently thought.

It was important to note that even among actual dragons, beings that were a hundred meters long were ancient or primordial dragons, often Sixth Grade at the very least. Yet, these tiny, weak, bean-like goblins had managed to create a machine of this scale with their perfect and refined machine craftsmanship! Even Greem couldn’t help but be impressed by their abilities!

However, even if the goblins were to gather all the advanced technicians and engineers of their entire plane, this was the limit of what they could do. Without the magic generator furnace technology that Greem provided, they would never be able to power such a massive mechanical construct, even if they were to fill all of the dragon’s insides with steam-powered engines.

It seemed the goblins had long since understood this idea. Ever since Greem, the Crimson Clan leader, had arrived at the Goblin Plane and the City of Machines, the smartest and most senior of the goblin engineers had been following him around. The goblin was constantly rambling about ‘lack of funds,’ ‘many casualties,’ ‘few apprentices,’ and a whole host of other words like a monk reciting his prayers.

Of course, the one thing he made sure to talk about the most was the giant magic generator furnace on the blueprint!

Given the four hundred ton weight of the golem dragon, this massive magic generator furnace would have to possess at least one-third the efficiency of the mega generator furnace that Gazlowe had assimilated to be able to power such a massive construct.

Considering all the magic energy weapons that would have to be added to the machine, the new magic generator furnace to be forged had to have the same level of efficiency and power as that mega magic generator furnace.

However, Greem had to make use of a precious magic spring to create that mega generator furnace. It would cost a lot more Queyras alloy if he wanted to create another magic generator furnace that could compare to that!

That was why Greem’s mind was quickly calculating the estimated Queyras alloy required even as he walked around the golem dragon and evaluated it.

He had obtained a total of two hundred and seventy tons of Queyras alloy this time. According to the most recently optimized model data from the Chip, he could construct approximately sixty-seven space furnaces or twenty-six magic generator furnaces. However, if he wanted to forge a large magic generator furnace, he would need to use three to four times the usual amount of Queyras alloy.

Greem’s head swelled and hurt every time he thought of the Sky Patrol Mothership, the Goblin Dragonlance, the Dimensional Ripper, and the legendary Thunder God Titan. He had a feeling that all his assets would be cast to the wind with the help of these weak goblins.

However, the golem dragon was only a prototype. It was a project meant to accumulate construction experience for the true killer machines that came after. Amongst those massive magical machine constructs, Greem paid the most heed to the Patrol Mothership and the Thunder God Titan.

This magical machine golem could only compare to a Fourth Grade creature at the very best. Still, it was too clumsy and could not fly after all. If the Fourth Grade enemy were too sly and started guerilla warfare against it using these weaknesses, the dragon would have a hard time dealing with them.

It was evident from the fact that Fourth Grade Death Witch Leader Khesuna could beat an actual Fourth Grade dragon in a duel.

That was why, in Greem’s mind, this future golem dragon could only be the lowest level Fourth Grade magical machine, even if it were successfully created!

However, given the Crimson Clan’s current lack of a Fourth Grade adept, the existence of a Fourth Grade magical machine was a good thing either way.

At the moment, the only question was whether this endeavor would be worth it!

Greem stopped walking at the thought of this. Instead, he turned and looked at the old goblin that nearly ran into him from following too closely behind.

“You.”

“I am Gonga, the current Dean of the Goblin Empire’s Royal Engineering Academy and the construction supervisor of this magical golem dragon!”

“You seemed to have mentioned a lot of technical and logistical problems earlier. I’m not interested in those at present. My only concern is what you can give me if I provide you with a large magic generator furnace with sufficient power.” Greem placed his arms behind his back, raising his eyes and putting on an arrogant expression.

The goblins around him immediately held their breath when they heard his words.

All the goblins that could be here were advanced engineers at the very minimum. They had all been fully involved in the creation of the golem dragon. Naturally, they all knew the value of a large magic generator furnace. In the past, they had complained to the stationed adepts about the lack of apprentices, funds, and constant casualties. But now, the only thing that genuinely bothered them was the lack of a powerful heart that could power the magical golem dragon!

Countless complaints, countless requests, countless expectations.

Every time, they were rejected by the adepts. And every time, they got no reason for the rejection. That undoubtedly caused these goblin engineers to be anxious beyond compare, unable to sleep or sit still, fearful that such a massive magical machine project would go to waste.

Today, they had finally, for the first time, heard news of the large magic generator furnace and from the mouth of the Crimson Clan leader himself. How could it not cause them to go into a frenzy with delight?

“A powerful Fourth Grade magical machine golem dragon!” Dean Gonga shouted with all his strength, “Fourth Grade…it is Fourth Grade! It will most definitely help you sweep aside all of your Fourth Grade enemies.”

Greem couldn’t help but chuckle internally when he saw the old goblin shout with all he had and sending saliva flying all over the place as if he couldn’t be more worried that Greem wouldn’t believe him.

Fourth Grade.

These goblins that had been used to being kept in a cage, like tigers in a zoo, probably could not even imagine how terrifying an actual Fourth Grade creature was!

Did they think that those Fourth Grade adepts would break into some foolish melee, like some stupid warrior,  against the dragon?

The might of a Fourth Grade adept was far beyond the limits of worldly imagination. And they certainly had plenty of means to deal with a  slow and clumsy brute like this.

So what if its size was massive? So what if its entire body was forged purely of magical metals?

Against a true Fourth Grade adept, it was no more than a pathetic and tragic target. Defeating the magical golem dragon wouldn’t be a problem. The real question was whether the opponent was willing to pay the massive price of taking down a target as sturdy as this.

Greem was not at all fooled by the old goblin’s passionate rant. Rather, he had a far more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the golem dragon than the old goblin!

“Fourth Grade magical machine construct? Good, very good.” Greem did not pop old Ganga’s fanciful bubble of idealism. Instead, he turned the topic of the conversation, “Then what practical difficulties are standing between you and completing this goal?”

“This…” Old Gonga hesitated for a moment.

Even with the might of the City of Machines as it was, they would have to commit all of their resources to create a magical machine construct of this scale. Disregarding the technology and workforce, just the transport teams required to move the metal ingots reached over a hundred in number.

They traveled through the various major mines every day, collecting the ores and taking them thousands of kilometers to the City of Machines. There, they were processed by the smelting, refinement, and extraction workships before finally being placed in the hands of the goblin technicians.

The magical alloy smelting and crafting that came after were then completed in a small goblin laboratory. The daily production from these labs was no more than a few hundred kilograms of refined alloy. To put together the amount of alloy the golem dragon required, thousands of goblin engineers and technicians were working restlessly through day and night. The number of goblins that had died in the labs and on the operating platforms alone numbered in the hundreds.

The sole reason they were all putting their lives on the lines was to personally see a ‘god-tier’ magical machine construct born from their hands!

For some native creatures who could not step out of the plane due to their racial restrictions, Fourth Grade was indeed the highest level within their world.

The title of god would not be inaccurate at all!

It was because of how much the goblins had put into the project that Gonga was so concerned that the difficulty of his request might scare away this young human adept.

“…we can solve all other difficulties by ourselves. However, three problems can never be solved with the power of us goblins alone.”

“Speak!”

“First is the problem of the adept apprentices. The lord adepts have assigned us five adept apprentices, and we have become able to do some runic circuit carving under their guidance. However, the number of goblins who have grasped this skill is still far too little. At the very least, if we want to finish carving all the runic circuits and various arrays within the golem dragon, the current number of adept apprentices is still far from sufficient.”

Greem gave this some thought. Soon he had obtained the internal information about the clan and replied to the old goblin decisively.

“From the day after tomorrow onwards, I will assign a hundred adept apprentices from the clan to you. The number of adepts will also be increased, and I will have them cooperate with your work.”

The surrounding goblins immediately let out a wave of cheers!