Supremacy Games

Candace swiftly took off towards Cyclope's address, knowing that their heist wasn't over yet.

The note that Felix had left was a temporary countermeasure in case someone entered the treasury and found out about the Nethersteel's disappearance.

'We need something of similar appearence to replace the Nethersteel.'

This was the real countermeasure to avoid alerting the dwarves...Felix felt that the dwarves rarely visit the royal treasury due to the heavy security on the floor.

Even if someone did visit it, there was a big chance that he wouldn't look too deeply on the Nethersteel and get fooled by a similar copy.

After all, who would assume that Nethersteel would get stolen without raising a single alarm?

'Fortunately, we are heading towards elder Cyclope.' Felix commentated, 'He should have what we are looking for.'

'You could have just left a note that involves Cyclope and I doubt they will let out a single fart about any of this.' Asna mentioned lazily.

'It's the most reliable option for sure, but I refuse to involve elder Cyclope in any of this.' Felix shook his head with a solemn look.

Asna might not care too much about such details, but Felix refused to disrespect elder Cyclope like this.

After all, how bad would it make him look when dwarves realize that he had returned to get back what he had given them? It was quite shameful.

Based on elder Cyclope's kind and easy-going demeanor, he probably wouldn't care as much. Still, Felix refused to go that far.

...

One Hour Later...

Felix exited the void realm and continued what remained of the journey on his spaceship after entering Cyclope's territory.

Although it was situated within the Dwarven empire, it wasn't subjected to its laws or rules. This meant that he didn't need about Queen Ai sending his coordination to the authorities.

As for the investigation squad? He already settled it down with the Queen.

As long as he wasn't planning to break his contracts terms, then it was all good in the eyes of the Queen and the alliance.

"Are we really heading to the right place?" Felix inquired in confusion as he watched a cosmic milky white sun getting closer and closer.

His spaceship was merely a couple of million kilometers away from the sun, making it cover his entire field of view...Yet, there was no planet or any land in sight.

"We are in the right path." Lady Sphinx replied calmly, "Cyclope has sent you straight to his main forge."

"If you aren't confident in your spaceship's heat protection, then it's best that you store it." Thor mentioned casually, "His main forge is situated on the surface of this star."

"..." Felix was left at lose for words.

He didn't bother asking before, thinking that he was going to a planet, dimensional pocket, or something with a surface.

Yet, not in his wildest dreams did he think that the forge would be positioned on a star's surface!

Naturally, since stars had no solid surfaces like planets, moons, and such, the main forge must be hovering extremely close to the photosphere.

"My spaceship isn't built for any of this." Felix swiftly halted his spaceship and beamed it in his spatial card. Then, he continued his journey from within the void realm.

If it wasn't for fearing that his AP bracelets would be melted off, Felix could have flown directly into the sun without a single ounce of worry.

After all, he had immunity to fire and heat in general.

In a few seconds at best, Candace had gotten so close to the star, nothing but solar flares were seen around them.

Fortunately, they were watching from the void realm, which protected their eyes from the intense light.

"I think I see it." Candace mentioned as she pointed at a tiny black dot suspended beneath an ark shaped cosmic solar flare!

It was at least ten times the size of earth! Yet, the tiny black dot was unmoved.

The closer they got to it, the bigger it became...When they were merely a few thousand hundred kilometers away, it was close to the size of the moon.

It was cubic and had countless windows on all of its surfaces, making it resemble a super spaceship.

"For the material to not get melted off or even have a change of a color, it must have been built by using the Salamander Metal." Felix remarked with a look filled with astonishment.

He understood that the Salamander Metal was the only known metal to have an opposite reaction to heat.

While most metals get melted when exposed to high levels of heat, the Salamander Metal was capable of absorbing and converting that heat into sustainable natural energy.

The more heat it received, the more energy it produced! The best part? There was absolutely no threshold to the level of heat it could be exposed to.

For such a special and desirable type of metal, it was almost impossible to find it, making it get ranked on top five rarest types of metal.

Yet, here it was...A moon-sized forge made completely out of it!

"He is the Metal Primogenitor alright...Let's see if he will let us in."

Naturally, Felix had to ask for permission before stepping into the forge since it was impolite to arrive unannounced.

Sometime later...

"Welcome to the White Star Forge."

Cyclope greeted with a kind smile as he towered over Felix.

"Thank you elder." Felix bowed his head politely while glancing around him with a curious expression.

There were thousands of silver metallic giant automatons, walking back and forth while carrying all sorts of equipments.

Felix knew that they weren't bots operated with AI as they had the divine codex written across their entire bodies, dictating every single move they make.

"You caught me cleaning up the forge." Cyclope chuckled, "I have never used this forge ever since the primogenitors Era ended...So, everything was left to carry the dust."

"I can help." Felix proposed, wanting to use his gemstone golems to give a hand.

"No need. My helpers are enough." Cyclope gestured with his hand while walking away, "Follow me."

Felix chased after him while continuing to look around him in marvel.

The interior of the forge was even more splendid than the outside as it had unique tinted dark windows that allowed a balanced level of light...The gravity was perfect so as the cooling like they weren't merely a few kilometers away from the sun.

After walking for a short while, Cyclope and Felix had arrived at a humongous forging station that made him feel like he had stepped into the land of the gods.

A single nail was at least a hundred times bigger than him.

Even Cyclope looked too small in this area.

However, that soon changed as Cyclope started getting bigger and bigger until he made the forge station seem to have a reasonable size.

"Size Manipulation." Felix mumured, realizing that Cyclope also mastered this ultimate ability.

The only difference was that other primogenitors mastered it for the sake of battles while he learned it to help him with forging any kind of divine equipment.

"Come join me up here." Cyclope invited with a faint smile, "The view is much better."

Without an ounce of hesitation, Felix also used his own size manipulation and pushed himself to match Cyclope's size.

"Elder, I doubt I can stay like this as long as you." Felix coughed, knowing that his current size couldn't be supported for more than an hour.

"Oh, you can use the void realm then." Cyclope permitted.

"Much appreciated." Understanding what meant, Felix requested from Candace to open a void rift to fit his arm...Then, he pushed it inside the void rift and started absorbing void energy to sustain it.

He could have done the same with his neutral conversion technique, but he knew that it was limited in this area unlike the infinite void energy.

"Show me what you got." Cyclope said.

Felix nodded and handed him a spatial card that had all the requested materials with the exact quantity.

"Hmm? You managed to get your hands on Nethersteel as well?" Cyclope remarked in intrigue, "Didn't you say that you are having problems with getting it?"

"Cough, I kinda paid a visit to the Dwarven empire and borrowed it on the way here." Felix answered sheepishly, knowing that didn't sound too good.

"Well, good job." Cyclope nodded casually before moving on, "Now that I have everything, we can finally begin."

"That's it...?" Felix said with a surprised tone, not expecting that Cyclope would be this nonchalant about his blatant robbery to a gift that he had personally given.

"Hmm? You still on this?" Cyclope patted him in the head while chuckling, "They weren't going to use it anyway. So don't beat yourself on such a useless matter."

Just like the other tenants, Cyclope also wasn't too concerned with the dwarves' reaction...In his mind, keeping such a fantastic material hidden for such a long time was a crime on its own.

"Alright, wear those for your safety." Cyclope didn't wait for Felix to respond as he shoved giant pair of goggles in his chest.

Then, he made an unlocking gesture with his arms while staring directly at an enormous metallic wall.

KA-THUD!!!

'Dear god...Don't tell me, he is planning to expose us directly to the star?!'

Felix felt shivers course on his spine after being hit by a brilliant blinding ray of light when the wall was separated into two halves!

Without an ounce of hesitation, Felix removed his bracelets swiftly and threw them inside the void realm...Candace caught them and protected them.

Then, he wore the goggles, making him stop squinting at the incoming intense light.

Ka-thumb!!

In a few moments, the wall was no longer there, making Felix and Cyclope face directly the hellish surface of the sun!

"Oh, I just remembered, can you handle the heat...?" Cyclope asked as he scratched his bald head with an embarrassed expression.

"More or less..." Felix's eyelids twitched, knowing that Cyclope could have easily killed him if he didn't have fire immunity!

"Do excuse me, I rarely receive guests here." Cyclope sighed in relief, knowing that he would have been killing not just Felix, but also three of his friends.

No wonder Kumiho and Siren always tease him because of his clumsiness on anything unrelated to forgery.

"Elder, If I may ask, why are we even here?" Felix wondered.

"You mean being this near to the sun?"

"Yes."

"How else do you think I will be able to melt Nethersteel and the rest of these divine materials?" Cyclope smiled, "To forge a divine masterpiece, you need a natural masterpiece to act as the furnace."

"What's hotter than stars in this universe?"

😉