The Scrap-Venture hovered inches above the surface of the Smelting Desert, its hull groaning as the external temperature climbed toward the melting point of lead. Below, the "sand" wasn't silica; it was a vast, shifting sea of microscopic brass shards and molten glass.
[ZONE: THE SMELTING DESERT]
[ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD: THERMAL SCOURING]
[CURRENT PRESSURE: 12.5 ATM]
"The shields are at sixty percent and dropping!" Mateo shouted over the roar of the atmospheric condensers. "The steam is so dense it's acting like a physical weight on the hull!"
"Maintain altitude," Kenji commanded. He stood near the airlock, his new Steam-Core Plating glowing a dull, angry red. The armor was hissing, its internal heat-exchange veins pulsing as they drank the desert's energy. "If we go any higher, the Sultan's 'Compression Lens' will cook us. If we go lower, we'll sink into the brass-drifts."
"Kenji! Multiple bogeys surfacing from the drifts!" Elara pointed a gloved hand toward the horizon.
Huge, dome-like shapes breached the surface of the molten sand. They looked like oversized pressure cookers with four hydraulic legs and massive, rotating saw-blades for arms.
[TARGET: SULTAN'S JUGGERNAUT (RANK 52 - ELITE)]
[TYPE: KINETIC SMELTER]
"They don't have mana signatures," Mateo realized, his Synapse-Hub whirring. "They're purely mechanical! They run on the pressure-differential of the desert!"
"Then we don't fight their magic," Kenji said, drawing his Void-Weaver Blade. "We fight their physics."
Kenji leaped from the ramp. Thanks to the 2x gravity increase from the Compression Stage, he hit the brass-sand like a cannonball. But he didn't sink. He used [Thermal Recycling] to flash-freeze a small patch of molten glass beneath his feet, creating a temporary platform.
The first Juggernaut lunged, its saw-blades spinning at a frequency that caused the air to scream.
"Bjorn! Catch the torque!" Kenji yelled.
Bjorn dropped from the ship, slamming his World-Root Splitter into the sand to anchor himself. As the Juggernaut's blade struck, Bjorn didn't push back. He used [Combat Recycling: Kinetic Loop]. He allowed the blade's rotation to spin his own axe, accelerating his swing to a terrifying velocity.
CLANG!
The Juggernaut's saw-blade shattered. Bjorn's follow-up strike sheared through the machine's brass hull, releasing a jet of high-pressure steam that sent the robot spinning into the drifts.
"They're too many!" Elara shouted, unleashing a [Frost-Silk Blizzard]. The cold mana met the desert heat, creating a localized explosion of fog that blinded the remaining Juggernauts.
Kenji moved through the fog like a ghost. He wasn't looking to destroy the machines; he was looking for their Control-Valves.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: PRESSURE-AUDIT (RANK 1)]
Kenji slammed his hand against the central boiler of a Juggernaut. Instead of cutting it, he "locked" its pressure-release vent. The machine's internal gauge spiked instantly into the red.
[INTERNAL PRESSURE: 50 ATM... 100 ATM...]
"Get back!" Kenji warned.
The Juggernaut didn't just explode; it became a shrapnel bomb of molten brass. Kenji used the [Radiator-Burst] ability of his armor to absorb the thermal shockwave, converting the explosion into a massive surge of mana for himself.
[LEVEL UP: 48 -> 51]
"The Spire is moving!" Mateo called out from the ship.
In the distance, the Obsidian Spire, the Sultan's seat of power began to rotate. Massive pistons at its base hammered into the ground, and a beam of concentrated steam shot into the copper sky.
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: COMPRESSION STAGE 2 INITIATED]
[LOCAL GRAVITY INCREASED BY 5x]
[ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN REDUCED TO 5%]
Kenji felt his knees buckle. Bjorn went down on one soft patch of sand, his armor creaking under the sudden weight. Even the Scrap-Venture was forced to land, its engines unable to generate enough lift to fight the 5x gravity.
"We can't... breathe..." Elara gasped, clutching her throat.
Kenji looked at the glowing Steam-Core in his chest. He reached into his "Scrap" bag and pulled out a handful of Jade Spirit-Silk and a Gutter-Drone Filter.
"Mateo! Bjorn! Sync your cores to mine!" Kenji roared, his voice strained.
He didn't forge an object. He forged a Zone. Using his [Alchemical Recycling], he began to "eat" the high-pressure CO2 in the air and "uprecycle" it into breathable oxygen, held within a 10-foot radius by the Spirit-Silk's resonance.
[NEW FEAT: LIFE-SUPPORT FORGE]
"The Sultan wants to squeeze us?" Kenji said, standing up despite the 5x gravity, his armor hissing as it pressurized to match the environment. "Then we'll just have to be the diamond that breaks his press. We're walking the rest of the way."
Kenji looked at the Obsidian Spire. It was no longer just a destination; it was a challenge to his very existence as a Smith.
"Bjorn, Elara get ready," Kenji said, his eyes burning with violet intent. "We're going to show the Sultan what happens when you put too much pressure on scrap iron."