Lord of the Sky City

"You can think of it that way, but it's not exactly right, because this design doesn't use wheels for direct movement, but tracks instead,"

"Tracks?" Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

When Rocky mentioned such an unfamiliar term, not only was Hammerfire stunned; Orton, Aniye, and Pelaya were equally taken aback. All four of them turned their gaze to him in unison.

In response, Rocky didn't elaborate much but simply walked over to the small blackboard in the research lab. After erasing the various formulas that had been written there, he took a piece of chalk and sketched a track, saying:

"This is a track, just a simple concept I had in mind. It's essentially a flexible chain loop driven by several wheels."

"This thing..."

As Rocky roughly sketched the shape of a track, Hammerfire hopped down from the table, walked up to the blackboard, and climbed his special little ladder, looking closely.

After a while, he took the chalk from Rocky's hand and briskly sketched a detailed diagram of the track's structure!

"You mean like this, right?"

"Yes! Yes! Just like that!"

Hammerfire's intelligence was unexpected; Rocky had barely explained the structure and purpose of tracks, and yet Hammerfire immediately understood and even figured out the design, prompting Rocky to nod enthusiastically and add, "If these tracks are installed on a chassis and driven by mana, they could replace wheels, allowing for rapid movement on flat ground, mountainous terrain, or even in sandy areas."

"That's exactly the kind of setup I was thinking of..."

Worried Hammerfire might not grasp his meaning, Rocky hurriedly explained as he sketched his ideas on the blackboard. His drawing skills were naturally poor, so the result wasn't much to look at, not even particularly illustrative, but the general idea came across.

What he had drawn was a New Armor with a tank-like base and a humanoid upper half. Well, it wasn't exactly humanoid as much as it seemed to be, because Rocky had turned the Armor's arms into cannon barrels, reminiscent of the Magic Energy Cannons on Monte's Armor's left hand, and similarly, two more barrels were mounted on the shoulders.

Once he finished the sketch, Orton and the others gathered around to listen as Rocky explained:

"The next generation of specialized Land Combat Armor I envision looks like this. The advantage of this design is manifold. First, it offers improved maneuverability; with mana as a power source, the speed of track movement can far exceed that of a horse-drawn carriage. Today's Land Combat Armor can't even compare to it, resolving the issue of mobility."

"Additionally, since the flight system has been removed, a large portion of the mana could be saved and used for the defense system, creating a more powerful Defensive Net. As a result, it wouldn't be necessary to equip excessively heavy armor."

"At the same time, I think this Armor doesn't need to be fitted with too many weapons. As long as the power of the weapons is sufficient, it only needs to be armed with three types of highly practical weapons for long, medium, and close range combat. For example, this shoulder-mounted Magic Energy Cannon is for long-range bombardment, while the hand-held Mana Launcher is for hand-to-hand combat. Eventually, one more medium-range weapon will complete the set."

"Using this Armor in conjunction with soldiers, whether advancing or defending, would be like having a real mobile artillery platform on the battlefield, capable of rapidly moving and providing timely firepower support, making it much more practical than the current Land Combat Armor."

In just a few words, Rocky conveyed all his ideas, then looked towards Orton and the rest.

However, when he looked at Orton and the others, he found them all frowning deeply, none paying her any attention, their eyes fixed on the small blackboard.

After a while, Hammerfire spoke up, "With your design, how would a Void Magic Warrior operate it?"

"They would just sit inside."

As he spoke, Rocky drew a little figure sitting down on the blackboard, indicating that the Void Magic Warrior would only need to sit inside the Armor to operate it.

"What about the emptying capability?"

At this moment, Orton also spoke up and asked.

"We can forgo the anti-aircraft capability because this is Land Combat Special Armor. If there are enemies in the air, they can be handled by the regular Void Magic Armor. If that's really not feasible, we can also equip anti-aircraft weapons. Since this type of Armor can't be too small—it needs a stable base—there is still room to equip it with anti-aircraft weapons."

"What about the mana requirements?"

"The mana requirements won't be too high because..."

Clearly, Rocky's proposal had greatly piqued the interest of Orton and the others. Following this, they gathered around him and the small blackboard, continuously asking questions. Rocky had answers prepared for some of the questions while others, which were too technical, he couldn't answer. However, even for the questions he couldn't answer, Orton and the others would inadvertently find solutions themselves, and thus a discussion centered on Rocky's idea for the New Armor began.

They discussed his concept for the New Armor for a long time, essentially covering all possible issues from every angle, because they were genuinely intrigued by the proposal. As the discussion progressed, they even delved into many other related issues.

"I think this Armor could be used in conjunction with normal Armor."

After glancing at the small blackboard, Pelaya said, "Rocky's earlier ideas were great. Since it's Land Combat Special Armor, we can indeed abandon the ability to fly. So why not modify the normal Armor to specialized land combat? The combination with this kind of large Armor would surely have a better effect."

"Exactly, this Armor can be considered a mobile artillery, providing continuous fire support during battles."

"Not only that, but we can also design various models. Some could focus on close combat, some on long-range strikes, and even some specifically for air defense."

"Right, right! We can't be too narrow-minded. We need to think boldly!"

Around the concept of the New Armor proposed by Rocky, the four masters had a lengthy and intense discussion. As mentioned before, Rocky's idea had opened a door for them, instantly liberating their fixed ways of thinking. With this, their thoughts became as wild as unruly horses, whether plausible, implausible, feasible, or entirely unfeasible—all kinds of ideas surfaced.

As the discussion went on, time quickly slipped into the late night, and it wasn't until then that they finally brought the conversation back to Rocky's concept for the New Armor.

"City Lord, lad, your concept is excellent! It's better than any I've designed before!"

After a series of discussions, Hammerfire no longer glowered at Rocky and instead praised him warmly, then said:

"The New Armor will be designed based on your ideas. Come over tomorrow, and we'll both draft the design blueprints together!"

"Great!"

Hearing this from Hammerfire, Rocky immediately nodded in excitement. After discussing with the others for a while, they left the laboratory.

Though Rocky had left the lab, Orton and the others continued their discussion, but this time it wasn't about wild concepts. They focused on how to turn Rocky's idea into reality. So, by the next day, when Rocky returned to the lab, Hammerfire and the others had everything about the New Armor concept figured out.

"City Lord, lad, since this Armor is your concept, you have the right to name it. Have you thought of a name?"

The next day, when Rocky came to the lab and began to draft the New Armor design with Hammerfire, Hammerfire asked him.

"I've thought of one." Rocky said with a smile and nodded, then spontaneously said, "Let's call it the Land Combat Tank Type 1 Armor."