Catherine raced around the factory, studying everything that fascinated her, which was everything. Even in death, she was a curious person.

  The factory stood three stories tall, yet there was only one floor. Such was the height of the multitude of pulleys and tools that aided in the creation of this single Mana Cannon.

  Pulleys raised large panels into place while workers used their tools to fasten it while another ensured the thousands of Enchantments connected correctly with the rest of the device.

  A weapon that stood two stories by itself and at least double that height in length. This particular design of Mana Cannon was called the KM-12, or Kaize Mark 12. The actual design was the Kaize Cannon. It simply took twelve different designs to get it to work. And even after all those iterations, the KM-12 was an unstable weapon. Reliable, but costly, and just as dangerous to its users if handled even slightly wrong.

  The Kaize Cannons were designed to be siege weapons, meant to wipe out large amount of enemies or even a few powerful ones. Not even the Masters of the Zalarian Royal Guard dared to stand in the way. Catherine wished to see what a hundred of them could do if they were all fired at once.

  Unfortunately, due to their cost and complexity, there were only a few of them in the Zalarian ranks, and certainly none that were mobile. Even atop the reinforced walls of the Zalarian Cities, a single shot of the Kaize Cannon required Earth Mages to repair the foundations as the recoil was too powerful. Not that it could fire fast enough to worry about the wall crumbling beneath it.

  After each shot, several crews were needed to cool down certain components, replace others, rearm, and take aim once more as the recoil completely changed where the Cannon was aimed.

  With the Demon invasion being such a pressing matter, nine other factories, just like this one, were busy constructing as many Kaize Cannons as they could. Countless others were busy building other weapons. Catherine even knew that twenty Factories were creating those Firearms that the Inventor Claire had designed.

  The entire Kingdom of Zalar had been mobilized for the coming war, slowly turning their entire Kingdom into one massive fortress. Catherine wondered just how much blood would have to be spilt to take it. Just as she wondered how she could help spill more.

  Yet that was not her task here in Zalar. Instead, she was there to ensure the creation and safe transportation of a device that King Heradon, King of Zalar, swore would be effective even against Demigods.

  Even Catherine was not privy to its creation, only that it must be created, and safely brought to her Master as quickly as possible.

  The creation of such a device was taking place underneath the Factory Cathrine was exploring, and seeing just how many craftsmen were being allowed into the secure bunker, each one a true master of their work, and the precious materials being hauled in, Catherine knew that the device would be powerful, perhaps even seeing a use in the upcoming Demonic War, whatever it was.

  Catherine had initially explored the Golem Factories, but while they were interesting, they were pretty similar to what the rest of the world used. The only real difference being that the Zalarians had streamlined the process, allowing them to create Golems exponentially faster and in vast numbers.

  If a Golem Operator lost their Golem, they simply ran back to the warehouses, attune with another, and get back to work. Most Operators could only manage a handful, but there were plenty, usually higher ranked Operators, who could control upwards of a few dozen.

  Compared to Alaster’s several thousand Undead, it was pathetic, but Catherine laughed at the idea of comparing anything to her master. He was simply too outlandish. Regardless, compared to a normal Necromancer, of comparable Level, who could raise several hundred Undead, a few dozen Golems still seemed much too small a number.

  That is, until one saw the Golems.

  The Golems that Zalar considered ‘Standard Issue’ were made of heavily reinforced steel and wielded a Mana Cannon and halberd. A single Golem could wipe out several dozen Undead and could be categorized as a B rank threat on its own, at least by Adventurer Guild standards.

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  With their weapons, the Golems were well equipped to handle most threats, though they could be equipped with other weapons. And with their Operators being able to be separate from their Golems, usually safely behind the frontline of any conflict, so long as the Golem supply was maintained, the Zalarians had a virtually immortal army.

  At least, that is what they tried to accomplish.

  Of course, not all Zalarians were Golem Operators or similar Classes, it was just the Class the Kingdom prioritized and therefore, the Class the System typically gave.

  The Zalarians also had divisions of various types of Mages and Warriors. The Mages would hang back and provide support for the Frontline, while the Warriors would prioritize the more complex maneuvers in battle, such as flanking or dividing.

  While all that was interesting to Catherine, it was not nearly as interesting as the completely new weapons that were the Mana Cannons. At least new to her. To the Zalarians, it was a weapon they had known all their lives. While it was still being improved and tweaked, the base model and idea was the same as it was when it was first created several generations ago.

  So while she waited for the device to be ready, she explored to her cold still heart’s content. It was not so easy going for John, who was covered in dirt and stone and had been for the last several days.

  While Catherine was placed on safety and transport, John was assigned to mining and construction.

  Zalar was preparing for war, and not just any war, but an invasion of the entire world. While they had sent warnings to all the other Nations, they had all been ignored, laughed at, or even threatened. Though the messenger sent to Taurus had been unable to locate their Capital or any officials.

  Ignored by all but the Independent Alliance. Not because they were smarter or wiser, but because Alaster had pledged for the information’s authenticity.

  Using Alaster’s Death Knights as long range messengers, the two Factions had formed an agreement. Not as concrete as an Alliance. Zalar was not joining the Independent Alliance. But the two Factions had agreed to spare no expense in helping each other fend off the Demon Invasion.

  After all, both sides had something the other wanted.

  Zalar had access to advanced technology and weapons, but Galmore had elite Soldiers and teachings. While Zalar had focused on ancient lost tech, this had caused them to lag behind the rest of the world in terms of warfare and combat, something Galmore was an expert in from their constant siege.

  Meanwhile, Onigas had access to a fortune of raw material, ranging from timber and ore, to simple food. While their Soldiers were stronger than the world’s standard, they were still much weaker than Galmore’s. So instead of trying to match their military might, Onigas instead began to focus on production.

  But the two Factions had quite the distance between them, especially Galmore.

  While Alaster had cleared the way between the two Independent Cities, allowing the builders to construct a road, it was still much too exposed and vulnerable to attack, both from Monsters or an intelligent foe. And even if the caravans weren’t attacked, it still took several days or even weeks, depending on the weight of the goods.

  In times of war, supply routes were the most valuable commodity. If a Faction had all the best Soldiers and completely outnumbered the other side, they would still lose if they could not equip them, let alone feed them.

  And so, Alaster had ordered the conscrution of massive tunnels stretching all the way from the Zalarian Capital, to Onigas, and to Galmore. Smaller tunnels were also being dug from Ivrand to the other Zalarian Cities, but those were bring handled by the Zalarians themselves.

  Using the thousands of weak mindless Undead that had previously rampaged above ground, Alaster had undertaken quite possibly the largest construction project in Human History. At least in the last few centuries.

  While the Undead dug, Zalarian Engineers and their Golems were building railroads. Trains were an incredible mode of transportation that Alaster was quite happy with. While most Mounts were faster than a Train, a Train did not have to stop every few miles for rest and water. It did not need to sleep, nor did it need to eat. The train could haul several hundred tons of material or people.

  The only real limitation the Trains had were its railroads. The Trains were completely useless without them. So they could not be used to explore and prone to sabotage or damage. All these Trains required was water and heat, both of which could be easily supplied by a Water Mage and a Fire Mage, not even powerful ones.

  Every ten miles, John made sure to contruct a reinforced bunker connected to the main tunnel through a much smaller personnel tunnel, which could be used to store emergency gear and food and basically serve and a fort in case the main tunnel was ever attacked.

  After all, the Tunnel would connect to the inside of the cities, each one its own capital. It was imperative that the tunnel itself be just as, if not more so, protected as the cities it connected to. To further protect the Tunnel, outside each bunker, the Zalarians set up a few large Mana Cannons and several smaller ones.

  If the tunnel was ever breached, all the leaders wanted the Demons to pay a mighty price for each checkpoint.

  Yet, despite all this preparation, Alaster was focusing on the more pressing matter of bloodthirsty Demigods. He had his own plans in the making.

  Neither he nor the leaders were sure all of this would be enough for what was coming.

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