Here's my situation:

After doing an overhaul of my cooling system (changing water pump, thermostat, and extensively flushing block and radiator) my temperature rose to a consistent 100C, either at highway speeds or city driving, but with no needle bouncing or erratic behavior.

The only problem with this is that the block is not ridiculously hot to the touch, the radiator is barely warm to the touch except at the top black plastic cover (where it is very hot), and the coolant in the reservoir is lukewarm at best.

Furthermore I can remove the cap of the reservoir when it is purportedly 100C in the system without any pressure escaping, much less heat.

--The hose connecting the block to the radiator at the top is very hot, as is the top of the radiator.--

I drained the radiator again, suspecting a slight blockage in there, flushed it, refilled, and this time bled the system. But this only dropped it to about 95C when driving at city speed and 98C at idle. Probably 100C at highway still.

I don't suspect the gauge since it is behaving smoothly, so there must be some blockage in the system, right? I really don't want to have to replace the radiator, it seemed to flow fine when I flushed it, could there be a blockage in the engine?

I need to fix this since this is my daily driver car, and I don't want to damage the engine with this high heat. Thanks everyone who helps me out with this car, I wouldn't be able to do it myself without y'all.