Lord of the Sky City

As night fell, Rocky brought the four sets of Void Magic Armor that he had just seized to Orton's research institute and met Orton, who had still not rested.

"Teacher…"

Upon entering the laboratory, Rocky found Orton still standing at the experiment table and quietly uttered a word.

"Sit down."

Without looking back, Orton casually spoke as he continued working without pause.

An hour and more passed in this manner before he finished his work and finally turned around to glance at Rocky.

"Young man, you seem to be weighed down with worries."

After taking a look at Rocky, Orton picked up a chair and sat down next to the experiment table.

And hearing his words, Rocky could only give a wry smile; of course, he was weighed down with worries!

Right now, Thunderhawk City was facing a life-and-death crisis, and yet Orton had asked him to come up with one million Gold Coins for research. The pressure this placed on Rocky was immense, not to mention that he could not refuse the reasons Orton had given. Under such circumstances, he naturally seemed heavily preoccupied.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that in just half a day, Rocky was so worried that the corners of his mouth had developed blisters!

So, after a wry smile, he looked at Orton and felt compelled to ask again, "Teacher, were all those things you said true?"

That morning in the City Lord's Hall, Orton had had a serious talk with Rocky, primarily about the fall of Tulip City.

In Orton's eyes, the fall of Tulip City was a very dangerous sign, indicating that the delicate balance that had been maintained between humans and demons for nearly a century had been broken!

Demons occupied the land, and humans lived in the skies; this situation had been ongoing for nearly a hundred years. Although during this time humans had made more than one attempt to fight back, even launching two large-scale wars of resistance, the situation had ultimately remained unchanged.

In fact, this nearly century-long status quo had formed a delicate balance. In this balance, both sides were doing quite well—disregarding the quality of life of the demons, at least the people living in the skies were not doing poorly.

However, with the fall of Tulip City, this balance had been disrupted!

In the eyes of the average person, the fall of Tulip City might not signify much. After all, there were still two other cities on the land. Even if the other two were lost as well, the sky and the land were completely separate realms; it would be impossible for demons to threaten those living above.

For an average person to have such a thought was normal, but in the eyes of someone with a broader perspective like Orton, the fall of Tulip City represented far more. Especially since Orton had witnessed the annihilation of a city by a Magic Dragon firsthand, this made him all the more aware of the severity of the issue.

The demons that had been dormant for a century were on the move!

This was Orton's judgment. He had arrived at this conclusion through the fall of Tulip City and the obliteration of the city by a Magic Dragon—that the demons were about to take action!

Was his judgment correct?

It was!

In fact, as early as six months before, there had been noticeable unrest among the demons, coinciding oddly with the time Rocky had become troubled!

As Rocky discovered the Mana Runes, he began to gradually establish his reputation, especially after eradicating the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group. Many City Lords were already familiar with his name. But the beginning of it all, can be traced back to the mission to protect Backhill Village.

In that mission at Backhill Village, Rocky had noticed the peculiar increase in demons, although at that time he didn't give it much thought. The fact was, the unusual activities of demons had started back then, and Rocky was unaware that, while he was determinedly defending Backhill Village, the far-off Gesya City was undergoing a massive siege by demons!

Therefore, the abnormal activities of demons had already been manifesting six months ago, and the fall of Tulip City was merely a result that arose from these movements.

At the same time, in Orton's view, the consequences of these movements weren't as simple as just the fall of Tulip City. He believed that the unusual activities of demons would have a profound impact on the entire world!

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In light of these circumstances, he felt he could no longer wait.

In line with his previous thinking, he had planned to dedicate one to two years to thoroughly research the Mana Runes and then move on to their practical development. This approach might seem slow, but was actually the quickest because the longer the research on runes took, the fewer detours would have to be navigated once applied in practice.

But now, as demons started to stir, Orton felt there was no time for a leisurely pace anymore. He could wait, but the demons would not; who knows when they might all grow wings and launch an attack on the skies.

So Orton decided to immediately put the runes into practical use!

And his first plan was the runification of the Void Magic Armor – the Rune Armor project!

Orton decided to apply runes to the Void Magic Armor as a priority, to alter the current situation where the Armor could only rely on a Magic Stone as its power core, by creating a new technology driven by runes. It was precisely because he was undertaking this epoch-making research that he had asked Rocky to provide him with one million Gold Coins in funding.

When Orton shared his plan with Rocky, who had originally intended to flatly refuse him, he ultimately agreed.

He had no choice but to agree. Whether Orton's plan would benefit the world or not, Rocky did not know; what he did know was that he would certainly reap immense benefits from it!

Should the Rune Armor project succeed, then Rocky would become the owner of this top-notch technology and also of the first set of Rune Armor. The benefits that these could bring him were immeasurable!

Therefore, even if Rocky had to grit his teeth and tighten his belt, facing such challenging circumstances, he still agreed to Orton's request!

However, even though he agreed, he could not help but worry, and that was precisely the reason for his visit to Orton today.

"Teacher, do you think the Rune Armor project can succeed?"

Sitting opposite Orton, Rocky couldn't help but voice his concern. A million Gold Coins was not something he couldn't afford, but it was all he had, and given his already challenging situation, if anything went wrong with Orton's research, he would be completely ruined. So, his worry was inevitable.

"Brat! Don't you trust me?"

But as soon as he asked, Orton immediately rounded his eyes in surprise.

"Teacher, it's not that I don't trust you, but I think... even with just you and myself, can we really create the Rune Armor?"

Rocky wasn't so much worried about Orton's abilities; he was concerned about whether just the two of them could successfully complete the project. He had another unspoken worry: Orton was, indeed, a master in the field of Magic Energy, but what they were about to work on was Armor! While Armor and Magic Energy were inseparably linked, Armor nonetheless had its own unique technologies, in which Orton was not well-versed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After Rocky asked his question, Orton simply smiled and countered with a question of his own, "Brat, when did I ever say that this project involves only the two of us?"