"Thanks. Though, I'm sorry to say, it will be a little while before I will be bonding us together as partners. If I were to do so, Rias would be incapable of reincarnating me as a Devil. Once she has, I'll bond us together and get to work getting significantly stronger."
He might not have pushed his personal strength over the last few years, mostly to make sure he was weak enough for Rias, or someone of similar strength, to reincarnate him as a Devil. That didn't mean, however, that he hadn't made preparations for the moment he became a Devil. He had many things sitting around his workshop that would help him out. He also had no intention of forgetting the Essence of the Blank safely hidden away.
The Essence wouldn't give him any strength by itself, but having all limiters removed would make his future progress significantly easier, if not faster. For speed he planned to rely on Ddraig and his creations. By combining it all together, he figured he could hit Ultimate Class, if not higher, before things started to get annoying.
"I shall simply return to my slumber until then."
After the last flash from the green gem on the gauntlet faded, Junichiro could feel that Ddraig was no longer present. It was a little weird, but it didn't bother him. Rather, he was focusing on Ddraig's last statement.
He walked away from the gauntlet and stroked his chin as he thought of various ways to get the poor dragon some entertainment. He only had very vague memories of drifting in the void, but he very clearly remembered the boredom. Going over your own memories was only entertaining for a short amount of time before it became boring. Even imagining stuff didn't help for very long.
He also couldn't help thinking that giving Ddraig some entertainment would improve the dragons opinion of himself and secure help from the ancient being. No one knew Ddraig's abilities better than he himself did. If he could get Ddraig to act as a helpful trainer, he could probably decrease the necessary training time by an order of magnitude!
Definitely something worth pursuing.
To that end, he collected all of the wands he'd been using and placed them back where they belonged. Meanwhile, his mind was whirling through various options, ideas, and possibilities as he contemplated ways he might provide entertainment to the dragon in question. Finally, he settled on what he felt was the best option, a golem.
Specifically, a golem that Ddraig could remote control with his conscious mind. It would not be the same as having his own body back, but it would be infinitely better than the nothing he had at the moment. It also wouldn't trigger the safety protocols in the Boosted Gear's systems either. Ddraig's soul would stay put but his conscious mind would move into the golem to pilot it. Essentially it would be like Ddraig was playing a full dive game to pilot the golem.
With his mind made up, he made his way deeper into his workshop to his vault. It was an impressive piece of magitech engineering. He'd taken a massive bank vault and modified the ever loving shit out of it with all kinds of security magic. Only he knew the proper method to open the vault. He couldn't help grinning to himself as he disabled the various levels of security until he could finally spin the massive wheel on the door and swing it open.
Within the massively expanded interior of the vault was a literal treasure trove. Every piece of gold he'd plundered on his tragically short vacation, was within the vault along with the collection of Albion's scales, and various other treasures he'd gotten in payment for his work. It even contained Excalibur Ruler sitting on a well crafted pure white marble plinth.
He grabbed a few of the pure white dragon scales, each one the size of a dinner platter or bigger. He thought it would be funny to use Albion's scales to give Ddraig some semblance of freedom while Albion was still stuck in his Sacred Gear.
It definitely seemed like something they could tease the white emperor over in the future.
With the scales collected, he made his way out of the vault, sealing it behind himself once more, and back into his workshop. The method of working with dragon scales varied from dragon to dragon based on the strength and age of the dragon. It would be far easier to work with the scales of a much younger Albion than it would be to work with Albion just before his defeat and sealing. These particular scales seemed to be from a little before Albion was sealed making them extremely durable. More durable than any mundane metal and the majority of magical metals. Hell, even hitting it with a hammer made it ring out like it was made of metal. Yet it had a surprising flexibility to it due to the nature of the scale itself. It was very odd.
Which made it perfect for what he had in mind.
The first stop was his alchemy section. It was filled to the brim with all kinds of gear, devices, and mad scientist crap. It looked like a cross between a high-end chemistry lab you'd expect to see in a pharmaceutical company and a witches brewing room complete with cauldron and jars filled with animal parts.
Tying it all together were a variety of transmutation circles carved into a variety of materials all designed to produce a variety of effects. Anyone without an extensive knowledge of Alchemy would be completely lost just from looking at the collection of items.
He needed to use this section of his lab first to treat the scales. Much like leather, dragon scales needed to be treated to be used properly. Otherwise, scales as old as the ones he was using would be impossible for him to forge into anything. Scales from younger and weaker dragons could possibly skip this step as their scales would be softer. In the case of Albion's scales, even with his magically enhanced forge heating it up for a year, the scale would never become malleable.