'The ground is solid, and I can feel the pulse of life.'
Ryuji placed his right hand on the ground, feeling the earth's rhythm, then made a fist and punched a bowl-sized crater into it.
The hole then visibly repaired itself.
'The Ugo Ring has also perfectly integrated with the foundation. The Philosopher's Stone, the earth, and the Dragon Vein have formed a perfect closed-loop system, supplying each other.'
Ryuji nodded in satisfaction, stood up, and looked toward the liaison officer on the other side.
"How is the situation with the Dragon Vein?"
"It showed signs of turmoil initially, but quickly calmed down."
'It seems there are no issues with the Dragon Vein either, but it's uncertain whether it's truly stable or just temporarily calm...' Ryuji pondered for a moment, then continued, "Pass down the order: unless absolutely necessary, no one is to approach within three kilometers of the Dragon Vein tower."
"Yes."
Watching the messenger depart, Ryuji nodded slightly.
Although the sheer scale of the Dragon Vein meant that if it truly erupted, the entire Roran wouldn't be enough to contain the explosion.
But below, the Ugo Ring stabilizes the foundation, and above, there are triple-layered doors made of Vibranium, Adamantium, and various other precious metals. Even if the Dragon Vein exploded, it wouldn't cause too much of a splash.
But just in case, it's better to keep people away to prevent accidents.
"Ryuji..." Ebizo walked over with a grave expression, continuing, "The commotion just now was too great. It will likely attract prying eyes from many factions. The construction of the Mechanical City can't be kept secret any longer."
"So what?" Ryuji's lips curled slightly. "Right now, all the Shinobi Villages in the world are either stuck in the quagmire of war or have lost their ability to compete and are recuperating. Even if they know Sunagakure is building a Mechanical City, they don't have the energy to deal with us."
"That may be true, but it's still better to be cautious." Ebizo's face showed concern. "Currently, the villages don't have the resources to send armies to intervene, but sending elite teams to sabotage is still possible."
Hearing this, Ryuji also grew serious.
As the saying goes, a thief needs only a day to strike, but guarding against theft requires a thousand days.
Roran has five thousand knight puppets and isn't afraid of any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
But the weakness of puppets is their lack of human flexibility and adaptability. Even though Ryuji installed artificial souls within them, their mechanical bodies cannot experience the sensations of living beings, and thus they lack normal human emotions.
Additionally, without biological structures like brains, their intelligence is also very simple, only capable of following orders.
For fighting and killing enemies, they are undoubtedly terrifying weapons of slaughter.
But for preventing infiltration and sabotage by elite experts, they aren't sufficient.
Now, in the midst of the ongoing Third Shinobi World War, every village wants to be the final victor.
If they discover Sunagakure is constructing an invincible war fortress, they will undoubtedly do everything in their power to stop it.
Not to mention the other four Great Shinobi Villages, just the experts from small and medium-sized villages would be impossible to guard against completely.
If the entire Shinobi World were to target Sunagakure, it would be very difficult for the Mechanical City to be built smoothly.
"...The next step is to complete the flight system. Let the foundation take to the sky, and we'll complete the subsequent construction in the air."
After brief consideration, Ryuji proposed his idea.
The Book of Raziel didn't mention that the Ugo Ring would create such a huge commotion upon completion, so this situation caught him off guard, and he could only think of this solution for now.
Although some people in the Shinobi World can fly, they are extremely few in number… only a handful.
If the foundation takes flight, basically no one could disrupt the city's construction.
However, this would not only increase transportation costs but also disrupt the optimal construction sequence, wasting unnecessary materials and steps.
Considering the size of the Mechanical City, the loss would be almost equivalent to the gains from the recent Land of Rain's campaign.
"I think it would be better to have the village send people to guard this area," Ebizo said after careful thought. "Prioritizing the flight system would waste enough money to fund the village for a major victorious battle. It's more economical to have the village's Shinobi be idle for a year."
"But there are still risks in that approach," Ryuji gently shook his head. "If we can perfectly keep enemies out, that's fine. But if we can't, even if we defeat the enemies in the end, what's the use? The destruction caused by the fighting would still hinder the city's construction, and the losses then might not be less than what I mentioned."
Ebio still felt prioritizing the flight system was a loss, but the Mechanical City was designed by Ryuji, who understood it better than he did.
Moreover, Ryuji's abilities were evident for all to see, and his own ideas weren't necessarily more correct. So, after hesitating for a moment, he agreed with Ryuji's viewpoint.
"...Then let's proceed as you suggested!"
"I will go adjust the factory equipment first, produce the necessary parts. The defense of the perimeter will be in your hands. Every day we delay the outside world getting the news, the greater the chance of successfully building the Mechanical City."
"I will certainly do my best."
…
After bidding farewell to Ebizo, Ryuji headed to the underground factory in Roran.
The Mechanical City's flight system was originally a combination of two technologies. But since obtaining The Book of Golden Fairies, it has become three.
The first is the Specific Gravity System, which freely adjusts the city's density and weight, with a core formed from the sealing formulas of the Light-Weight Rock Technique and Added-Weight Rock Technique.
The second is the Planetary Engine, created by combining the alchemy from Golems and Dragons with the steampunk technology from The Steam Age.
Cough... This thing is a piece of black technology Ryuji created by merging two different systems. Naturally, its power output can't reach the level of moving a planet… it can't even propel a continent or a small city.
After all, neither Golems and Dragons nor The Steam Age are worlds with outrageously powerful systems, so the technology transformed from their combination can't be outrageous either.
But combined with the Ninjutsu-tech system that changes an object's density and weight, it can make this city fly. However, this poses a major problem with energy consumption. Without an infinite energy source like the Dragon Vein, it would be difficult to stay airborne continuously.
The third is the Floating Island technology recorded in the Book of Golden Fairies. It's a levitation system centered on anti-gravity technology, capable of keeping a landmass afloat with minimal energy consumption.
Since obtaining this book, Ryuji hasn't had much time to study it in depth, but he is already well-versed in many otherworldly knowledges.
Although most come from different worlds, many share similar power systems, especially magitech that uses magical energy.
Because the nature of magical energy is very similar to Chakra, except for a few worlds like the Nasuverse where mystery stems from the Root… in most magical worlds, magical energy comes from life and spirit. And what magical energy can do, chakra can also basically achieve, just with different formulas.
Therefore, although he hasn't deeply studied the Book of Golden Fairies, he essentially understands the principles and methods of the anti-gravity system recorded within.
'First, produce the parts and materials for the first two flight systems. Use the 3D Printer for what ordinary equipment can't make. At the same time, gain a concrete understanding of the Floating Island system and convert its formula patterns into ones using Chakra.' Ryuji made plans while rapidly modifying the factory equipment.
He still had too many research projects on his hands and was entangled in various mundane affairs. He needed to complete the work here as quickly as possible and then settle all the piled-up matters.
With the help of worker puppets, the speed was infinitely faster than the first modification. It only took him six hours to complete the equipment modifications, then he had the worker puppets handle production.
He himself plunged headfirst into the workshop within his Personal Space.
The data for the Specific Gravity System (the system changing material density and weight) and the Planetary Engine were already prepared, and various materials and equipment were also ready.
Therefore, he just needed to input the data into the 3D Printer, load the corresponding materials, and patiently wait for manufacturing to complete.
Both of these things were massive...
The Specific Gravity System… to achieve power sufficient to cover fifty square kilometers, it needs to be built to cover at least 1.5 square kilometers in area.
And the Planetary Engine is composed of countless propulsion units; one needs to be installed almost every kilometer beneath the foundation. Even if most parts can be produced by ordinary mechanical equipment, it's still no small project.
During the parts manufacturing period, he began experiments to convert the formulas for the anti-gravity levitation device.
…
Time passed bit by bit.
That night, various equipment parts were produced in an orderly manner.
The second day, Ryuji emerged to direct the worker puppets in assembling the produced parts, then returned to his workshop to continue research.
The third day, a team of Wandering Shinobi from the Land of Flowers arrived nearby to investigate and were eliminated by the prepared Ebizo. Ryuji carried on as the day before.
The fourth, fifth, sixth days... scouts from various Shinobi Villages arrived at Roran one after another.
Most were eliminated by Ebizo and his prepared team, but there were still experts skilled in concealment and infiltration who weren't discovered, and others with exceptional escape methods who got away.
Among these scouts were also powerful experts; a few formidable ones even gave Ebizo some trouble. But when the densely packed, endlessly regenerating puppet army surged out, even the most skilled experts were eventually submerged beneath it.
And Ryuji continued living the same life as the previous days.
The seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth days... more and more squads came to gather intelligence. Ebizo's failures increased, and gradually, more and more factions learned that Sunagakure was secretly building something.
However, although they didn't know exactly what Sunagakure was building, such a secretive and massive project certainly wasn't good news for them.
With the Shinobi World War at its current stage, everyone wanted to be the final victor. Seeing Sunagakure secretly undertaking a major operation naturally made them wish for its failure.
Therefore, with certain individuals' efforts, this news spread wider and wider, with various rumors flying. The most widespread and numerous rumor was that Sunagakure was secretly manufacturing a weapon to dominate the Shinobi World.
Ebio and the entire Sunagakure's leadership were deeply worried about this.
But Ryuji paid no attention to any of this, maintaining his routine of work every day.