That year, the Sun Moon Empire scarcely had any true distinction between day and night.
In the underground core area of Mingde Hall, Soul Tool machinery ran without pause, while hundreds of high-grade Soul Tool furnaces burned day and night.
Large quantities of rare metals were transported from all regions to Ming Capital, where they were smelted, purified, forged, and then sent to different factories.
Military Soul Tool cannons, heavy Soul Tool war chariots, long-range Soul Tool artillery platforms, fixed-mount Soul Tool projectiles.
Batch after batch of finished products was loaded into armories before being delivered throughout the empire by the Transport Soul Engineer Corps.
This was not production in the ordinary sense. It was the entire Sun Moon Empire's Soul Tool industrial system exhausting its future potential to amass strength for the coming war of unification.
Mingde Hall's master, Kong Deming, stood before a massive metal platform. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had not left this place for several consecutive days.
At the center of the platform stood a black humanoid machine over thirty meters tall.
Its body was pieced together from hundreds of special alloy plates, with heavy armor covering its shoulders, chest, arms, and legs.
There were no unnecessary patterns on the armor's surface, only deep Soul Tool circuits that seemed to have been forcibly carved into the metal.
Its head had no facial features, only two vertically arranged Soul Tool crystals.
Though those two crystals had yet to be activated, the entire machine had already made the atmosphere around it grim and oppressive.
"Civilization Punisher No. 1, main structure complete."
A Level-9 Soul Engineer reported in a low voice.
"The main energy core has been connected. Ninety-seven percent of the external Soul Tool circuits are complete."
"What about the weapons system?" Kong Deming asked.
"The