4/25/2019
1:15 AM
The airfield outside of the neighborhood was officially named Saint Moon Air Field Base. Every engineering project, scavenging collections, technological magic research, and specified air training for mages were focused here.
The same hangar, now called SMAFB Collective Services or SMCS, where Julius delivered the Apache helicopter, was packed with saved items, resources, and equipment like a landfill. Since Julius' first delivery, the workforce team of three mages grew to twenty. Hundreds of Millions of dollars were wasted by the US military, but at least half was taken to be fixed and rebuilt to mage standards.
Julius had taken back at least ten light tactical vehicles, four FMTVs, and three HEMTTs. He didn't bet on the tanks. Simon and Solomon performed a massive annoyance to the M1A2 Abrams tanks and brought them back to the hangar in a half-functioning capacity ninety percent of the time.
The SMCS's storage had only a few more tons left before it would reach at max capacity. Reorganizing them into proper zones was like playing with a pile of LEGO bricks. It was like playtime but for mages.
Lian, with both hands on her hips, was waiting outside the hangar.
"Are they coming?" Julius asked while reviewing a damaged M2 Browning machine gun.
"I don't know. They promised, but I haven't heard anything. If they're sleeping, then damn it. I should've known."
"I thought sleeping was less frequent for mages."
Lian turned around while remaining in place. "My school and some specialized mages have this thing called self-sleep. A variant of the sleep spell that we exert on ourselves to rest for a timeframe."
"How long is it usually?"
"Three to five hours." Lian sighed. "It kind of loses the point of being a mage. You want to be up and do things that you like without being constrained by fatigue."
Julius walked over while holding the M2 Browning machine gun. "At first, I kind of missed sleep, but now, I don't think I can say the same anymore. In my opinion, most of Earth has a mixed opinion on sleep. Anyone who agreed was the one who loved the night or stayed up late all the time."
Lian might be right. He stood with her while reviewing the damaged parts of the M2 Browning machine gun. After ten minutes, she gave up.
"They are really sleeping. Welp, they won't get to see the exclusive stuff all of us on the field found in the back…Close it up!" Lian ordered a few mages to hide it and get them reserved for the SMCS' special projects list.
Similar to Solomon's projects in the garage, Julius purposely made himself familiar with a little of what the SMCS was planning because he liked technological surprises. His imaginations were already wild like firepower.
Solomon came out of the SMCS' office. He was done. "Are you guys hungry?"
Julius shook his head. "No, the meal back at the—"
Grumble!
"Never mind. Yes, I am. What do you want?" Julius pulled out his phone for recipes. "We're going to eat back at my place. Daiyu should be back with the others."
"I wanted the minced ground pork with rice again. It's simple and tasty with less effort."
"Good deal." Julius turned to Lian. "Do you want to join the hunger?"
Lian took an ammo box from the pile. "Yeah. Even all that food I ate while flying, I'm starving now."
One of the SMCS' staff came out gliding in the air since walking in the hangar was like a maze. Flying was the quickest. He gave Julius copies of the balance sheet and all documents.
He quickly looked through it.
After claiming the money and assets from the deceased corrupt donors, all the allocation of the wealth Julius invested into building a new conglomerate called The Moon Corporation was only beginning to dig out of its nest. It was because of the first recent mass hiring that attracted Colemond locals and a group of mages, and many positions were filled quickly. Most of the Colemond locals who got hired, or hopefully all of them, were interested in magic. It wasn't on the interview, but they knew what they were getting into.
That was only a week ago.
All the balance sheets and documents the SMCS staff gave were for the new accounting and legal team. They been getting good benefits since their first day, so they were on call for most hours of the day.
Julius won't call them now. He finished reading through the papers and nodded back at the staff. "This is good. Moon Corp will send you the official details by tomorrow afternoon." He dashed backwards and landed outside, getting a view of the entire hangar. "You guys better take it easy."
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Lian and Solomon flew out as the hangar's gate closed.
"Yes, sir. You don't have to worry. We will get these done in no time."
Clank!
The winds blew as dawn cooled, and the full moon illuminated the night sky. An airplane flew over the hangar with its landing gear deployed. It descended on the runway of the air base.
"Is that a passenger plane?"
Julius shook his head. "No, it looked like one, but it's not. That plane is a prototype that uses an Airbus A320. Whoever is in command of testing this during the night is crazy, but props to them. Are you guys ready to head back?"
"Yeah, let's go."
4/27/2019
7 AM
[Skill Count: 37] + 18
Julius had paid more attention to the Maldoro's system's minimap. Specifically, the hotspot access. There was one relatively close, and it was located in Chandler. The strange part was the location, and the map showed it near Ling Ranch.
Since the last time they met, they hadn't been involved. The town of Chandler was considered passive at this point. Extending the Colemond Highway One hasn't started yet. They hadn't got the news either. The disconnect between two civilized areas was conceringly palatable.
Julius had one thought. He did not want Ling Wu and everyone at the ranch to be involved. Not only that, he wanted to keep it mellow and hoped the actual spot would not be in Ling's territory.
The thing about the system's map interface was its mysteriousness. Julius has no expectations of what it will be. Nobody at the residence does, and he was not going alone. Many were coming along.
King Valtoris joined by default. Julius was technically important to him, so it was no question. The two were training under the metal frame of a new building that was being built at the airbase. It was an amenity for the stationed mages to train.
"How many skills do you have now?" King Valtoris asked while maneuvering his sword to summon a new attack.
Julius thrust his blade right to a qi dragon attack. It exploded into smoke. "Fifty-five!"
"Good! We need to get you to sixty before it's time to go."
Clang!
Julius’ sword clashed with King Valtoris’ as he thrust him away, breaking the confrontation. Their legs were painted with dust and blood. The gust grew from the energy the two exerted.
Julius noticed King Valtoris' facial expression changed. "What are you planning?"
King Valtoris went into rapid speed, giving off the illusion of multiple duplicates. Julius wielded his blade around.
Clang!
Clash!
Shriek!
Silt!
Julius got a huge cut on his back. His instant regeneration began to take shape, fixing his gape immediately.
[Skill Count: 55] + 1
He stomped his right foot downward, causing brightness. Bending the knee, a sigil was summoned.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
A bunch of projects shaped like discs with spikes launched out of the sigil. King Valtoris went into a spree, dodging and destroying them.
"Hey! This is too much!" King Valtoris yelled as the sigil kept producing more and more. His blade condensed his green qi and unleashed it right at Julius.
The latter jolted a hard turn like a spinner's spindle as the system pop-up alerted a new skill added, totaling fifty-seven. His right foot was still anchored to the floor. The thighs and calves flexed as sky-blue exerted out of his leg to balance him as he stood with one leg to the ground.
[Skill Count: 56] + 1
He saw the wave of green qi speeding towards him.
Clang!
"Damn!" Julius grunted as he blocked a strong wave of energy while standing on one leg.
In his mind, he repeated a line multiple times to resist the temptation of standing with both legs. The strain was inflicted on his left ankle. If he gets another blood burst, he would be disappointed. Julius went for a new move attempt. He cast 反击 right between the thin opening between the edge of his blade and King Valtoris' energy wave.
The two Hanzi were enlarged and illuminated in bright red.
As a result, Julius got the upper hand and thrust the energy wave back like it was his move to begin with.
Kaboom!
The sigil disappeared, and Julius lowered his sword, Valence, and his right leg. However, he channeled his qi as if he were meditating, leading to a surge of energy exerted out of his body. It swirled around him from the ground up until it reached above his height.
In the smoke above, a massive green beam fired from King Valtoris' both hands. The smoke cleared, and Julius had to deal with another magnificent scope of an attack.
He cast a blue plus sign and followed up with a 焰. A layer of energy of the plus sign opened outward like a convertible car opening its roof. It then roared like the growl in an engine when the car speeds up. The plus sign changed colors to red, causing Julius qi to do the same.
And the plus sign fired a massive red beam of energy with faint blue qi streaming around it towards King Valtoris.
Kaboom!
Many mages in the area were summoned to the scene, firing various spells to protect the metal frame.
The swirling dome of energy grew in surrounding areas, inflicting a mighty demonstration of power.
It was very powerful, and the mages were going overdrive as much as they could to constrain the unleashed energy.
The extent of the possible damage was unknown, and the two would find out for themselves if they were really just training.
