Novel Full Chapter 221 Masters Gather!
In order to support the Rune Armor project, Rocky had to bring in Aileen and make some adjustments to the original arrangements.
As one of Rocky’s confidantes, Aileen was already aware of the existence of runes, so Rocky relayed Orton’s plan to her directly. Although Aileen might not be a researcher, she was in charge of finances, and the funding for Orton’s research had to be allocated by her. It was imperative that she knew about this matter.
In response to this, Aileen offered Rocky her utmost support. Not only did she not hinder him in any way, but she also took the initiative to help plan for him and then got to work immediately.
First, they contacted the Ruby Chamber of Commerce and several other chambers of commerce with whom they had conducted transactions in Lingyu City, settling all payments from the previous dealings. This provided Rocky with over a million Gold Coins in cash.
With this cash in hand, Aileen first deducted five hundred thousand for a protection fee and other expenses, which would cover approximately three months; the remaining half a million was left entirely to Rocky for funding Orton’s research.
After that, Aileen set off for Eternal City and began moving between the various chambers of commerce, intending to sell off all the remaining Demon Materials. Once this inventory was sold, they could at least make another four to five hundred thousand Gold Coins. In this way, the one million Gold Coins that Orton requested would be secured, and at the same time, the expenses for the next three months in Thunderhawk City would also be accounted for.
Meanwhile, as all this was happening, those old friends mentioned by Orton were arriving one after another!
On this day, Thunderhawk City saw the rare arrival of a passenger ship.
Passenger ships are the most basic means of transport between Sky Cities, different from merchant ships and warships. They are specifically designed to transport people. Smaller passenger ships can ferry a few hundred people, while larger ones can carry thousands. To draw a comparison, passenger ships are somewhat akin to cruise liners.
The passenger ship that arrived in Thunderhawk City was a large one capable of carrying over a thousand people. However, when this huge vessel slowly landed at the Skyport, only one person disembarked, and he was a Dwarf.
“What kind of lousy place is this?”
The short Dwarf, slightly over one meter tall with whiskers on his cheeks, stepped off the ship, looked around, and then grumbled his dissatisfaction.
“Where’s Orton? That fellow Orton, why didn’t he come to greet me himself?”
After looking around and not finding Orton, the little Dwarf casually called over a Guard and asked with a huff.
“Excuse me… are you Master Hammerfire?”
The person he had casually stopped was none other than Rocky, who had been waiting at the Skyport for quite some time. So upon being approached by the Dwarf, Rocky immediately asked.
“That’s me, what’s up?”
Seemingly surprised that Rocky knew his name, the Dwarf, just over one meter tall, tilted his head back and squinted his eyes—small as soybeans—to take a good look at him.
“Master Hammerfire, I am a student of Orton’s and also the Lord of Sky City. My teacher is currently engaged in research, so he sent me to pick you up.”
Facing the dwarf in front of him, Rocky was extremely respectful and courteous, even a bit nervous!
One should not underestimate this dwarf based on his stature, for the dwarf before you is a master smith of the Void Magic Armor!
As a dwarf, Hammerfire was over fifty years old this year, but according to traditional dwarf concepts, a hundred and fifty years was merely the age of maturity. So, despite Hammerfire looking like a sturdy old man, he was quite young in reality.
And as dwarves, this race has an inherent intense talent and interest for smithing, a trait that has taken root deeply in their genes. During the Land Era, the dwarf race produced many master crafters of mana equipment. With the advent of the Sky Era and the emergence of Void Magic Armor, which took over as the mainstream while the traditional mana equipment faded into the background, this change had no effect on the dwarves, who continued to have masters in the crafting of Void Magic Armor.
Hammerfire was such a master.
At over a hundred and fifty years old, not only had Hammerfire witnessed the birth of the Void Magic Armor, he had also personally experienced its development over the decades. During these long years, Hammerfire had gradually become one of the most recognized masters in the field.
His achievements in the domain of Void Magic Armor were second to none compared to Orton in the field of magic energy, even surpassing him by a notable margin. Among the many models of the fourth-generation Void Magic Armor, one of the armors bore Hammerfire’s name, known as the illustrious Hammerfire Armor!
Since the fifth-generation armors had been out for some time, people had already formed definitive opinions about the numerous fourth-generation armors, even including various rankings. In all these diverse, authorship varied, and even purpose varied rankings, the Hammerfire Armor, developed under Hammerfire’s personal direction, always ranked first!
The Hammerfire Armor was hailed as the most perfect fourth-generation armor, without parallel!
This armor, from its initial concept, to later design, and then to actual development, was all led by Hammerfire! Just this alone is enough to prove his formidable strength in the domain of armor crafting.
Unfortunately, as the Void Magic Armor reached its fifth generation, Hammerfire, the master who created the most perfect fourth-generation armor, suddenly vanished. He had also led the development of a few fifth-generation armors, but only one was a success, and the rest ended in failure. Even the successful fifth-generation armor did not cause much of a stir, causing Hammerfire’s name to gradually fade from people’s sight over the years.
Perhaps it was due to nearly identical experiences, or perhaps their areas of expertise greatly aligned, or even possible similarities in temperament, that Hammerfire and Orton became good friends. Therefore, when Orton was preparing to start the Rune Armor project, the first person he thought of was Hammerfire and he was the first one he contacted.
However, Orton did not share many details with Hammerfire, only asking him to come to Thunderhawk City to participate in his project. That’s why, after arriving, Hammerfire was so eager to meet Orton.
And when Hammerfire heard that Orton did not come to meet him in person and had sent Rocky instead, his wrinkled face showed an expression of discontent.
“Hmph! That old man! Let’s see how I’ll deal with him!”
Having said that, Hammerfire ignored Rocky and went straight toward the carriage parked not far away…
Three days after Hammerfire arrived in Thunderhawk City, still at the skyport, a passenger ship arrived, carrying a human mage who was of a similar age to Orton or, rather, even much older than Orton.
This time, it was not only Rocky waiting to greet them. Orton also came in person, even Hammerfire came himself, and as soon as he saw the other party disembark, Orton hurriedly approached.
Without his usual defiant demeanor, Orton respectfully bowed his head upon reaching the other person, “Senior Brother.”
“Master Aniye.”
Just like Orton, Hammerfire also respectfully bowed his head to the human mage and called out, “Master.”
The human mage in front of them, named Aniye, was also a master-level figure in the Magic Energy Domain. Moreover, he was Orton’s senior brother.
Many people hadn’t heard of Aniye’s name because he was not as famous as Orton and Hammerfire, but in the academic world, his name was known to all. There was a simple reason for this: in his youth, Aniye had participated in the development of Sky City alongside his teacher!
Just this achievement alone was enough to immortalize him in the history books.
Three days after Aniye’s arrival, the last of Orton’s old friends, whom he had summoned, also arrived, but this last friend of Orton was indeed a lady.
Actually, to call her a lady wasn’t quite right, for Orton was already over eighty years old this year. Had it not been for his breakthrough in magic power to the level of an archmage, which kept him fairly robust, he would have been an old man in his twilight years. And this female friend he had invited, maybe she wasn’t as old as him, but she was in her sixties or seventies, so instead of calling her a lady, it would be more accurate to say she was an old woman.
However, when Rocky followed Orton and the others to meet this old woman at the Skyport, he was startled, for she looked to be only in her forties and not at all like an old woman.
“You rascal, how could you also bring your old flame here!” Stay updated with empire
Standing next to Orton, Hammerfire gave Orton a hard kick upon seeing who the last person was and mockingly said.
“Shut up.”
After glaring fiercely at Hammerfire, Orton took a deep breath and straightened his clothes, before finally stepping forward toward the person.
“Pelaya, it’s been a long time.”
Bringing Rocky to the person, Orton tried to show a smile that was not too awkward.
“Indeed, how come you seem to be getting older?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Pelaya, who had just come down from the ship, raised an eyebrow at him and then spoke.
As an expert in the mana framework field, don’t let Pelaya’s real age fool you; she may look to be in her forties, possibly due to some special method, so when she raised her brow at Orton, she still had the charm of her youth, and Orton’s face instantly reddened.
This scene left Rocky stunned; he had never seen Orton blush like that before.
“Come on, tell me what you’ve summoned me here for this time, acting all mysterious.”
Pelaya immediately asked with a laugh, having made Orton’s face turn red with just a flick of her curved eyebrows.
“Let’s talk about it at the research institute; I have something important to show you.”
Before this, although Hammerfire and Aniye had arrived much earlier, Orton had only settled them in at Rocky’s City Lord’s Mansion and hadn’t said much to them, clearly waiting for everyone to arrive before explaining in detail.
Now that Pelaya had arrived, all the old friends Orton had gathered were finally assembled. Although counting Orton himself there were only four people, each one of them was a master in their own domain, each capable of leading an entire project on their own. Yet, now, they had been convened together!
Honestly, if this news were to leak out, one might not dare to say much else, but at the very least, it would cause a sensation in the academic world, because any project that required the participation of so many masters was without exception one of the world’s most cutting-edge projects!
And now that everyone had arrived, they took a carriage from the Skyport, not going to the City Lord’s Mansion but directly to Orton’s research institute.
“Orton, what exactly are you up to? It’s been so many days, and you haven’t said anything.”
Upon arriving at the research institute and going to Orton’s lab together, Hammerfire complained dissatisfiedly. He had been the first to arrive in Thunderhawk City, but it had almost been a week, and Orton still hadn’t said anything to him. This secretive behavior didn’t sit well with the straightforward Dwarf.
Not just Hammerfire, even Aniye and the newly arrived Pelaya were also very curious, as their relationship with Orton was surely closer, yet they too were unaware of why Orton had summoned them.
However, faced with Hammerfire’s questioning and the curiosity of Aniye and Pelaya, Orton merely smiled slightly, offering no explanation or further words, only effortlessly drawing a Mana Rune in front of everyone with his magic power!
“This…!”
The moment the Mana Rune was drawn, Aniye stood up from his seat, followed by both Pelaya and Hammerfire doing the same.
“This, what kind of Rune is this! It can actually store magic energy!”
PS: The cross-era development of Rune Armor is about to begin, but not only does it need the support of gold coins, it also needs your recommendation support! So please, recommend it!