Time lost its meaning inside the chamber as Lucien continued his work with methodical precision. He varied pressure, authority, and energy input. He recorded each response with Perfect Calculation.
Patterns emerged slowly.
Then—
Something reacted differently.
Lucien paused.
He had invoked Cosmic Attribute Magic almost as an afterthought at first.
But the result astonished him.
The air trembled.
The Astrafer body did not redistribute the damage.
It hesitated.
Lucien's eyes sharpened.
"So that is it," he murmured.
He adjusted the parameters and tried again.
Cosmic magic stirred their bodies.
Soon, the reason became clear.
Astrafer was not merely a metal.
It was the crystallized consequence of a stellar anomaly. It existed because the planet had been shaped under cosmic pressure.
Which meant Astrafer's perfect synchronization did not originate from elemental balance or mana flow.
It originated from cosmic alignment.
And that was its flaw.
