Chapter 261 - 225: Ship and Equipment Upgrade

"Agate! Seventy-Six! Divine Emperor be praised..."

Manon froze for a moment, then yanked the Full Coverage Helmet off his head. Laughing, he strode quickly behind Agate, intending to give him a Battle Brothers-style bear hug to express his joy and welcome.

But before he could reach him, Agate’s mechanical arm grabbed his and pushed him aside.

「Two months had passed.」

Since they last saw him, Agate’s aura of Mighty Power had grown far stronger; it seemed he had already reached the Two-star Earth Military Rank.

His crimson hooded cloak was also different from before. It now bore numerous complex emblems that glowed with faint blue Energy Patterns, giving it a strong religious feel.

A large skull emblem was embroidered with silver thread onto the hood of the cloak.

After rebuffing Manon’s enthusiastic greeting, Agate remained as silent and taciturn as ever. He merely turned to glance at Reinhardt and the other squad members, giving a slight nod in greeting before returning to his work.

However, when Gwen the Oil Girl saw Agate’s cloak, she froze in place. If she wasn’t mistaken... the Energy Patterns on it were words written in an ancient coded language.

They meant: Master of Hundred Machines.

As a member of the Mechanical Order, she dared not show the slightest transgression or offense. She took a few steps forward, then knelt on both knees, bowed her head, and silently awaited Agate’s command.

This was because the only Technician Priests qualified to wear such a cloak were the Sages within the Monastery.

The strictness of the hierarchy within the Mechanical Order was something an Imperial Knight could scarcely imagine.

For any low-level Artificial Creation Officer, failing to kneel and bow their head in reverence upon meeting a Mechanical Sage would bring consequences they absolutely could not bear.

Agate had, of course, noticed Gwen’s presence.

But he had no interest in such excessive formalities. With his back still turned, he said in a cold voice, "Praise the God of All Machines. Rise."

Seventy-Six leaped down from the top of the ship, shouldering his firearm. "Long time no see, everyone. Ready to go die in the Demon Void Realm?"

Raphael said coldly, "I thought you were dead."

"My mission bestowed by the Great Emperor is not yet complete, so how could I possibly die? I hear you all went to Hurst. How was it? Feel like a vacation?"

Just then, a sacred parchment flew out of Forbidden Guard Blairder’s Radiant Beacon. After glancing at it, he interjected, "Everyone, save the reunion for later. Time is short. The Ash Guard has temporarily secured an Orbital Port. You need to depart for Verne’s low orbit within half an hour."

After he finished speaking, Blairder addressed everyone in the hangar with an extremely serious expression. "May the Emperor protect you."

Though the atmosphere of lighthearted chatter seemed relaxed for the Verne Front Line, this Forbidden Guard knew full well what kind of mission the people standing before him were about to undertake.

Breaking through a heavy encirclement to venture deep into the Demon Void Realm...

It was a mission with a slim chance of survival.

Reinhardt glanced at Gwen the Oil Girl, who was standing there looking a little lost. After a moment of silence, he said to Blairder, "She is an excellent Technician Priest. You are to take her to the recruitment office and find a suitable post for her."

Blairder nodded slightly and prepared to leave with Gwen.

Just then, Agate, who had been busy inspecting the ship, turned to glance at Reinhardt. He then looked at Gwen’s somewhat small, retreating figure and, after a moment of silence, said, "Verne’s Stereoscopic City is in dire need of logistics and repair personnel right now. Send her there."

Compared to maintenance work on a ship, a ground-based job was relatively safer—just a tiny bit, of course. And only a tiny bit.

Agate had only to glance at Gwen to know her background, which academy she had graduated from, and where she was currently serving.

This was one of the privileges he had gained after his promotion to Master of Hundred Machines.

The Ash Border Founding World was exceptionally cold, but it contained the largest excavation site of the Ancient Wizard Civilization. More than half of the ships in the Imperial Administrative Region were built there.

’Did I hear that right?’

’A Mechanical Sage is personally arranging a job for me?!’

She hurriedly turned, bowing her head respectfully to Agate. However, when she noticed Reinhardt’s gaze, she suddenly understood that this wasn’t due to her own exceptional talent.

The only reason she had drawn the attention of a Mechanical Sage was entirely because of that Emperor’s Angel.

More than for her own safety, Gwen was concerned about the mission these important figures were about to undertake. ’The Demon Void Realm... May the God of All Machines protect them.’

Then, she turned and followed Blairder out of the hangar.

After Gwen left, Agate looked at Reinhardt and asked in his cold voice, "You know her?"

"On Hurst World, and during the breakthrough of the Verne Front Line blockade, the young woman fought alongside us."

Agate turned back to his work, unscrewing a bolt, removing a cover plate, and injecting oil into the gears. "The repair work in Verne’s Stereoscopic City will be relatively safer for her."

Reinhardt nodded slightly.

Even though there was a high probability Gwen would die on the front line, his duty as an Imperial Knight required him to be responsible for the young woman’s placement.

Manon greeted Seventy-Six enthusiastically, but Matthias and Raphael weren’t fans of the bastard with his mouth full of hell jokes. They simply walked over to greet Agate.

Reinhardt took out the Phase Cube he had been storing in his Power Armor and handed it over.

"Gwen dug this out of a Wizard’s head. It seems to be some kind of ancient ship-based technology."

Agate’s Mechanical Eye glowed with a dim, ethereal blue light as he used his mechanical arm to take the cube, examining it carefully. "A Phase Cube... Lost ancient technology.

The Punisher Ship has a corresponding slot for it.

But it will still require some operational maintenance and upgrades. It should be doable before we enter the Demon Void Realm."

As he spoke, Agate gave Reinhardt a deep look. He personally refused to believe that this was anything other than the protection of the God of All Machines.

After entering the Demon Void Realm, extraction would be the most severe of the many problems they would face.

But if they could deploy the Phase Teleportation Gate technology on the Punisher, the problem of extraction and boarding would be perfectly solved.

After taking the Phase Cube, he said to Raphael and the other two, "I also brought the Power Armor commissioned and funded by the Capet Dynasty. It contains Imperial Technology personally customized for you by several Sages, including myself.

You need to put it on and confirm everything before we depart. Any issues must be resolved here."

This was something Lady Catherine had personally promised the Vengeance Angel Squad after they completed the Kemola Battle, but they hadn’t expected it to be delivered so quickly.

It was enough to make Manon, who had once served in the financially strapped Emperor’s Shield, sigh with emotion.

Compared to the Radiant Divine Emperor,

it seemed the Lords of the Forging Worlds truly preferred Radiant Gold Coins.