Lord of the Sky City-Chapter 834 - 816: Absorbing Technology

The booming sales of the Rune Battleship were both expected and surprising.

It was expected because, given the formidable combat power of the Rune Battleship, it was entirely understandable that everyone was vying to acquire one. Yet it was surprising because, even with full preparation in place, the enthusiasm of the buyers exceeded the expectations of the Apple Tree Corporation.

Faced with a deluge of orders, Pansen felt both joyous and troubled. The joy stemmed, of course, from the sheer profit that these orders represented. The trouble, however, lay in the overwhelming volume of orders that even the manufacturing capabilities of Apple Tree Corporation could not fulfill on their own.

As a juggernaut in the warship industry, Apple Tree Corporation naturally had its own shipyards, and not just one or two. Yet, even so, it couldn’t keep up. If these were orders for ordinary warships, Pansen might have been able to delegate the production to other shipyards. But that was out of the question for Rune Battleships, which involved a vast amount of Rune Technology. These technologies were under Rocky’s strict prohibition against leakage. Even if Rocky didn’t prohibit it, Pansen wasn’t foolish enough to let other shipyards handle such top-tier advancements.

As a result, deciding which orders to prioritize and which to delay became a taxing dilemma for Pansen. After all, the clients capable of purchasing large quantities of Rune Battleships were all major players, including not only the Kafka Empire but also the intermediary chambers of commerce from two other Alliances. Balancing between these powerhouses was a headache-inducing challenge for Pansen.

Pain and joy mixed together—that was Pansen’s sole sentiment at the moment.

And from this single point, one could discern just how seriously people were taking the Third Counterattack War. Almost every Sky City had completely shifted its focus toward the war preparations, leaving no time for other concerns—except for Rocky.

Having announced early on his decision not to participate in the war, Rocky became the lone outlier among the heavens. He neither rushed to prepare his forces nor engaged in other forms of readiness because he had already completed his preparations a year earlier.

Do you still remember the series of actions Rocky took after the destruction of Fury and Sky Might, the two Sky Cities?

After striking a Rune trading deal with the Alliance, he not only allocated part of the funds to upgrade his Sky City but also stockpiled an immense amount of daily necessities—basic commodities like grains were purchased in such vast quantities that the two Sky Cities couldn’t store them all. In the end, the excess supplies had to be stored in Backhill Village.

At the time, the Ruby Chamber of Commerce, which managed the procurement of these materials, couldn’t understand why Rocky insisted on this course of action. But now, everyone understood. As it turns out, Rocky had planned everything from a year ago, including his decision not to partake in the counteroffensive war.

Precisely because his preparations had been done a year in advance, when the war loomed closer, there was no longer anything urgent for him to do. This, in turn, gave Rocky ample time to continue advancing Thunderhawk City’s technology.

In recent months, Rocky had remained stationed in the research lab, tirelessly collaborating with Orton and others to organize and classify. The reason was simple—the research materials sent by the Magic Energy Research Institute were far too vast and diverse.

However, just as Aniye had once pointed out, while these materials were indeed vast and scattered, they were immensely valuable to their efforts. Even the small portion of technical data they had managed to sort through showcased not only innovative ideas but also solutions so surprising that they frequently left Orton and his team astonished. Once these technologies were successfully converted into runified and elemental forms, Rocky would likely find himself in an absolutely dominant position in these two fields.

"Simonuo, that old bastard, truly has some skills..."

Looking at a freshly sorted document, even someone as high-minded as Orton was compelled to sigh in admiration at the excellence of Great Elder Simonuo’s research.

"Teacher, what is this?"

"It’s a targeting interference system."

Handing the document over to Rocky, Orton explained, "Felly must have mentioned it to you. In the earlier battle, the fleets from the Heavenly Ancestor Church deployed several new technologies, one of which was a system designed to disrupt our targeting. This is it."

"So, this is the one!"

Upon hearing Orton’s explanation, Rocky immediately turned his attention to the document in his hand. Felly had already provided him with a very detailed report of the earlier battle, so he was well aware of how precarious the situation had been. Had it not been for the overwhelming power of the Rune Battleships and Felly’s bold command, they might have lost that fight. In the report, Felly had specifically emphasized the opponent’s interference system, noting how it significantly suppressed the performance of the Rune Battleships. That memory still lingered fresh.

"Stop standing there in a daze. Take this document to Pelaya—she’ll need it."

"Understood."

After a quick response, Rocky hurried out of the lab. It wasn’t long before he reached the research institute’s second floor, where he found Pelaya.

The new research institute where they were currently working had been completed not long ago. Its size was several times larger than the old facility, spanning five stories high, making it the tallest structure in all of Thunderhawk City. This allowed Orton and others to no longer crowd together on a single floor conducting different studies. Instead, each of the four core researchers managed their own floor, with clearly defined areas of focus.

"Teacher Pelaya, Teacher Orton asked me to deliver this to you."

Upon meeting Pelaya, Rocky presented her the targeting interference system document. After a quick glance, Pelaya handed it off to her assistant and said to Rocky, "Go back and tell Orton that I will improve upon this technology and try to incorporate it into the Armor as well. However, this will have to wait until the Magic Conduction Technology research is completed."

"Understood."

With that, Rocky briefly glanced around the lab until his eyes landed on two researchers handling a diamond-shaped device.

He couldn’t be more familiar with this device—it was the Magic Conduction Machine mounted on the Holy Angel Armor!

Pelaya was a master in the field of Magic Energy Conduction, and the key to Magic Conduction Machine technology lay precisely in Magic Energy Conduction. On one hand, the conduction occurred between fragments of Super Crystals; on the other, it linked Magic Conduction Machines with the Armor. Hence, as soon as this technology was acquired, it was handed over to Pelaya for research.

What Rocky hadn’t expected was that Pelaya had managed to produce a Magic Conduction Machine in such a short time.

"There’s nothing surprising about it. It was just a matter of building it according to the documentation," Pelaya said nonchalantly upon noticing Rocky’s interest in the Magic Conduction Machine.

"Teacher, can this technology be applied to the Rune Armor?"

Since the topic of the Magic Conduction Machine had come up, Rocky decided to inquire further. As one of the technologies he and Orton prized most highly, it received critical attention upon acquisition. For Rocky, the pressing question was whether the Magic Conduction Machine could be successfully integrated into the Rune Armor.