"I want you to visit the Bravo base as my representative," Arnold informed Allen.

"Is there some emergency?" Allen asked back "It's kinda weird for you to ask something like that out of the blue."

Arnold proceeded to tell them how he had never gone to the other bases inside zone 4, after being promoted as a Section Chief like he was required to. He also told them he had planned to visit the bases himself but a lot of things happened and in the end, he got so occupied with dealing with different situations that he forgot about his plans to visit the bases.

"...and as you know, I'm still busy dealing with the swamps and stuff, and might not be able to visit the bases. So I thought, it would be better if you could visit the bases in my stead. I don't want to delay it as maybe they are in danger or some problem that they might need help with."

"If it's your wish then I'll oblige with your request!" Allen proudly banged his chest with his fist, "I'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Take a few soldiers and a dozen of my summons with you. You never know what will happen on your way to the bases."

"Aye, sir!"

Arnold nodded and then turned towards Talos who was now working as his advisor to form a vision for the bases and zone 4, also he was helping Arnold to lead on that path and so far his suggestion has been nothing but good for him and the base.

He was also supervising the development and installation of new types of defence mechanisms which were being developed by Arnold's automatons. Also, the size of the robotic workforce had significantly increased with around 150 automatons added to Arnold's arsenal. This was also done with the upcoming strike on the swamp monsters.

Arnold, with the help of Talos and other automatons, successfully manufactured a new range of automatons: The Strike Troops.

___

[ST-1]

TYPE: Ultralight Combat Automaton

GRADE: A+

BASIC STATS:

DURABILITY (DUR) : 3500/3500

ENERGY (ENR) : 2500/2500

STRENGTH (STR) : 100

DEFENSE(DEF) : 70

INTELLIGENCE (INT) : 88

AGILITY (AGI) : 79

ACCURACY (ACC) : 65

EVADE (EVD) : 60

HEIGHT: 1.62 meter

WEIGHT: 40 KG

CONTROL : [Basic artificial intelligence] chip

POWER SOURCE: [Star Shard] – Solar/Thermal charging

ENERGY CONSUMPTION (Idle mode): 3 Energy/min

ENERGY CONSUMPTION (Combat mode): 16 Energy/min

RECOVERY RATE : 9 Energy /min

WEAPON MODULE : Sword, Spear, and Shield

ABILITIES : [none]

___

This new series of automatons were lighter, faster and deadlier than their previous counterparts. It was so as they were made to kill monsters as swiftly as possible. But the new series had a huge disadvantage over other automatons.

While the strike troop series was a marvel of their own, they lacked the defensive capabilities and high durability unlike the other set of automatons who had an average of 100+ defence and 4000+ durability while the new series only had 70 defence and 3500 durability on average. The good thing was that it was intentionally done so, after all, one can't have everything that they wish for right?

Arnold had to make a trade-off between strength, defence and agility/evasion. The choice was obvious. Strength and agility were the only things that mattered in the swamp, the defence was also important but not half as important as the other factors as long as one didn't get hit, so Arnold didn't hesitate while making the choice as far as durability was concerned, one way to increase durability was by making their armour thicker, which would have increased the weight of the automatons hence Arnold had to limit that as well. The result of all the upgrades was the creation of his primary strike force got the swamps.

However it wouldn't have been possible for his automatons to build so many strike troops in a couple of days, neither did he have enough materials to make and maintain more than 20 STs. That's where Nathan stepped in.

He provided Arnold with whatever materials he needed and in his words, "Once the war starts, I want you to show off your powers as a creationist to gain the support of other families. You and your creations would be the centre of attraction and I'll do whatever I can to help you."

That was all the confirmation Arnold needed. within the next 5-6 hours, he was delivered everything he wanted and the automatons started working day and night in his domain to make as many automatons as they could and they were still at it.

"Talos, would you mind looking at this?" Arnold showed him the [Forging material box].

Talus carefully picked it up and thoroughly analysed it, while Allen watched the two of them talking like some scientists.

'It looks like a normal box to me... what's so special about it?' Allen thought before shrugging his shoulders.

"This is intriguing," Talos said while analysing the box, "I've never seen a material box before and had no idea that the elder could grant such items. However, I do know a little about the celestial materials that master had mentioned about."

"Tell me about them could you?" Arnold wanted to know whatever details he could get about the materials.

Talos nodded and began narrating what he knew about the materials, their origins, their properties, as well as their uses. Since Arnold already knew about adamantine, Arnold asked Talos to skip it and start explaining about the materials.

According to Talos, all of the celestial materials were said to have been made in the godly forge of Avalon, the same place where Excalibur was forged along with hundreds of other weapons.

Even though celestial platinum was the rarest among celestial metals, it wasn't a material that was suitable for making weapons. Rather it was suitable for accessories that could grant godly abilities to the user.

While Celestial gold and silver were used to make the Brahmastra¹ and Pashupatastra², respectively, and Celestial copper was used for making defensive gears that could hold up against the attacks from a lesser god.

"Interesting..." Arnold mumbled. His mind already filled with very creative ideas for making weapons and gears.

****

1. Brahmastra: A weapon of mass destruction in Hindu mythology. Described in a number of the Puranas (Hindu holy text), it was considered the deadliest weapon. It was said that when the Brahmastra was discharged, there was neither a counterattack nor a defence that could stop it. It is said to have nuclear properties, according to a description on the internet: 'When it strikes an area it will cause complete destruction and nothing will grow not even a blade of grass, for the next 3-5 years. It will not rain for 3-5 years in that area, and everything including metal and earth become poisoned.

2. Pashupatastra: An irresistible and most destructive personal weapon of Shiva and Kali, discharged by the mind, the eyes, words, or a bow. It too has similar properties to that of Brahmastra, but its destructive powers could be controlled by the will of the user, something that can't be done using Brahmastra.