Silong's voice was hoarse with disbelief and trembling violently.
This towering man, nearly two meters tall and covered in bulging muscles, was shaking all over with excitement like a child.
He was witnessing with his own eyes the steel giant that Lin Xia and their master had poured countless days and nights of effort into, a creation that countless people had dismissed as pure fantasy.
Yet now, it was truly moving before him, so agile and so powerful!
Its smooth movements and the terrifying sense of power it radiated far surpassed even his boldest imagination!
Without warning, tears poured from the corners of Silong's eyes, eyes that had long been weathered by the heat of the forge and marked by the passage of time. They rolled down his rough cheeks and splashed onto the cold floor.
These were not tears of sorrow.
They were the purest joy of seeing a dream become reality, the ultimate emotion of a craftsman witnessing the fruit of his life's work come alive!
He clenched his teeth tightly, refusing to let himself cry aloud, but his shoulders shook uncontrollably.
"It succeeded… Master do you see it? It succeeded!!!"
He roared silently in his heart, his enormous hand covering his mouth as he stared through tear-filled eyes at the moving crimson giant, as though he could see the future of the Blacksmith Association and the hope of craftsmen finally standing tall with pride!
Inside the cockpit, Lin Xia's feelings were a hundred times more intense than Silong's!
The moment the mecha responded completely to his first command, an indescribable ecstasy flooded his consciousness, as though his soul had been extended and his power infinitely magnified!
He could feel it!
This was not indirect control through levers or buttons, but a deeper and more direct connection!
He could feel the solid sensation of the mecha's heavy metal feet stepping on the ground.
He could feel the slight resistance of the air being torn apart as the alloy arms swung.
He could feel the pulse of energy flowing through the reserved weapon ports on its back!
He could even feel the subtle changes in the stellar energy flowing through the gaps in the armor!
This enormous steel body, forged from Star Metal and countless rare ores, seemed to have become a part of his own body!
His thoughts were the mecha's commands.
There was no delay and no obstacle.
It moved as naturally as his own limbs!
Lin Xia tried slowly raising his right hand. The moment the thought arose, the mecha's massive metal right arm, powerful enough to easily crush boulders rose in perfect synchronization, its movements steady and precise.
He tried clenching his fist.
The giant metal fingers instantly closed, producing a deep, powerful metallic clang.
Clang!
"Haha… Hahahaha!"
Lin Xia could no longer suppress his excitement and burst into laughter inside the cockpit.
His laughter was filled with incomparable satisfaction, a sense of conquest, and boundless anticipation for the future!
The sound faintly emerged through the mecha's amplification device, carrying a metallic resonance as it echoed through the workshop, forming a strange symphony with Silong's silent sobs.
Another thought crossed Lin Xia's mind.
This time, it was a more complex movement!
The mecha's enormous body showed not the slightest hint of clumsiness. It smoothly stepped forward, then used its left leg as a pivot, its massive frame driving the right leg through a sharp half-circle and completing a swift, powerful spin!
The heavy alloy feet struck the ground, creating a visible shockwave.
The movement was clean and decisive, a perfect combination of strength and speed!
This was absolutely not a cumbersome puppet.
It was a genuine war machine!
"Flexible! It's so flexible! H-How is this possible…?"
Silong was completely dumbfounded. He had forgotten to cry, and only the utmost shock remained.
This mobility far exceeded his expectations!
Lin Xia immersed himself in the pleasure of controlling everything.
He guided the mecha through various basic movements within the workshop, which was not particularly spacious.
Forward.
Backward.
Side-stepping.
Small jumps.
Punching.
Blocking…
Every action responded precisely to his thoughts.
The toughness of the Star Metal frame, the efficient transmission and control of energy by the core arrays, and the immense power supplied by the Tears of the Star Core had combined perfectly!
"Strength test!"
Lin Xia thought to himself.
He controlled the mecha to walk to the edge of the workshop, where there lay a piece of ultra-dense Trial Obsidian, as large as a house, used to test the power of forging hammers.
The mecha stopped before it.
Its enormous metal right fist clenched tightly.
Brilliant blue energy lines instantly lit up within the arm and converged upon the fist, forming a dazzling halo of energy!
"Ha!"
Lin Xia drove it with his will.
BOOOOM!!!!
A world-shaking explosion rang out!
The mecha's gigantic alloy fist slammed into the obsidian like a falling meteor!
The incomparably hard obsidian surface was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks!
Countless stone fragments shot out like cannonballs, striking the distant alloy walls with a series of metallic clangs!
As the dust settled, a gigantic fist imprint, half a meter deep, was clearly embedded in the center of the stone!
"Hiss!"
Silong sucked in a sharp breath.
The power of that punch had absolutely reached the level of a full-power strike from a Soul Sage!
And this was obviously far from the mecha's limit!
Inside the cockpit, Lin Xia felt the feedback of that overwhelming strength, and his heart surged with boundless ambition.
He looked forward, his gaze seeming to pierce through the workshop's heavy walls and into the vast world beyond.
With the mecha, with this era-defining war machine, the Blacksmith Association would no longer be merely a group of "craftsmen" forging weapons for others!
"Senior Brother!"
Lin Xia's voice rang out through the mecha's amplifier, carrying a metallic resonance and barely restrained excitement.
"Do you see it? This is our mecha! This is the confidence of the Blacksmith Association's future!"
Silong abruptly wiped his face, brushing away his tears. Nothing remained in his eyes except unparalleled determination and fervor.
"I see it, Xia! I see it! Hahaha! Damn it, it was worth it! Everything was worth it!"
Lin Xia slowly turned the mecha around to face Silong.
The enormous machine towered before him like a mountain, yet its azure-blue "eyes" were filled with life.
"Senior Brother,"
Lin Xia's voice carried an unprecedented solemnity.
"This is only the beginning. We need more materials, more precise components, and more powerful weapon modules! The mines and contracts granted by the Empire are our greatest support! As long as we can mass-produce them, even if it's only a small-scale deployment…"
His voice was resolute, filled with the determination to create a new era.
"Our Blacksmith Association will possess its own ultimate military force, powerful enough to make every Soul Master sect and every imperial family take notice!"
"We will completely break free from the shackles of being mere 'blacksmiths' and truly become a top-tier force standing at the peak of the continent! No one will ever dare look down upon the wisdom and strength of craftsmen again!"
The brilliant blue light in the mecha's eyes burned fiercely like two eternal stars, illuminating Silong's face, twisted with excitement, and lighting up the workshop that had given birth to this miracle.
Outside, the celebrations in the plaza continued, as everyone rejoiced over the Empire's rewards.
But inside this workshop, a true celebration belonging to the craftsmen had only just begun, a steel storm capable of shaking the entire continent had merely ignited its very first spark.
---
For additional chapter's
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu