The Final Preparations

Fifteen years slipped quietly by.

Inside the manufacturing zone of the core laboratory on the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, the air had grown scorching hot.

Benjamin stood alone before the Central Control Console. More than thirty enormous curved light screens floated in formation before him.

Each screen displayed different data streams, energy maps, material conditions, or precise three-dimensional control interfaces.

His hands hovered over the control panel, faint spiritual light flowing from his fingertips as he connected deeply with the vast array network of the entire manufacturing chamber.

Through the multilayered composite observation window before the console, one could see the core manufacturing chamber, as large as a basketball court.

At that moment, over ten thousand prearranged miniature arrays within the chamber were operating in sync. Following the complex procedures Benjamin had set, they emitted lights of every color and carried out precise operations.

Some arrays spewed pale or ghostly blue flames, their temperatures controlled down to the finest margin; others acted like mechanical arms, drawing powder, liquid, or crystalline materials from fixed rails to spray or etch them evenly; still others released powerful force fields, stretching the mass at the very center of the manufacturing chamber.

It was a thin mist that constantly changed shape, hovering between the tangible and intangible—the Mystic Gang Mortal Dust Barrier awaiting its complete transformation and upgrade.

Benjamin's mind was calm, his gaze sharp.

What he was doing now was "modern artifact refinement," combining the Cultivation art of artifact forging with the precision manufacturing techniques of wizards.

Back when his level had been low and his laboratory rudimentary, he could only rely on his own True Fire and manual labor to refine artifacts slowly and laboriously.

But now, with the complete energy supply of a Level 7 Large Elemental Pool, a highly automated array network,