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Looking at the Mana Sword broken into two pieces in his hand, Rocky was dumbfounded...
What had he just done... To destroy such a precious weapon, it was simply too wasteful... No, that's not the point!
The point was why a Mana Sword embedded with two Magic Stones could be so easily broken!
Such a result made Rocky almost unable to believe his eyes, because even something as strong as the Void Magic Armor could not so easily destroy a Mana Weapon!
Could it be... could it be...
Thinking of this, he suddenly looked at his left hand, no, he should look at the Rune Sword in his left hand!
Could the overwhelming power of this Rune Sword have easily sliced the Magic Sword in two?
Realizing this, he couldn't help but gasp and felt a bit dazed.
Because this was something that shouldn't happen at all!
Previously, Wensel had already said that the Mana Rune was merely a substitute for a Magic Stone, and apart from the difference that one was a rune and the other was a stone, there was no essential difference between them.
So the Mana Sword just now shouldn't have been cut by the Rune Sword!
This result left Rocky completely baffled.
Unable to figure it out, he then brought the broken Mana Sword to his eyes and examined it, finding nothing unusual. Then he closely inspected the Rune Sword, noticing no difference except for the rune patterns on the blade...
Wait!
Looking carefully at the runes on the Rune Sword, Rocky suddenly thought of something!
These two swords did have a difference—while the Mana Sword only had two Magic Stones embedded in it, the Rune Sword was densely covered with runes!
This discovery immediately led him to a critical question!
"Could it be... could it be that because the number of runes far exceeded that of the Magic Stones, the power of the Rune Sword was vastly superior to that of the Mana Sword..."
This thought had barely emerged before Rocky took a sharp intake of breath. He suddenly felt as if his train of thought had been opened by a great door.
Indeed, that must be the reason the Rune Sword easily cut the Mana Sword in two; it was because there was a vast difference in the Mana contained within them!
Even though the Mana Sword had two Magic Stones embedded, it simply had two; on the other hand, the runes on the Rune Sword formed a complete pattern!
This meant that even though both were Mana Weapons with no qualitative difference, there was a massive quantitative gap, which should be the root cause of the Mana Sword being easily broken.
And if this were really true, it would be terrifying, because it might indicate that the Mana Rune was indeed, as Wensel himself claimed, a remarkable invention on par with Sky City and the Void Magic Armor!
The reason for saying so was that Rocky quickly thought of the Void Magic Armor he was wearing!
As everyone knows, the Void Magic Armor was powered by Mana, which comes from where? Naturally, the Magic Stones embedded within the armor. However, just like the broken Magic Sword, the essential nature of Magic Stones as stones leads to many limitations in embedding them, and these material limitations also indirectly limit the power of the Magic Armor.
But if... if the Magic Stones embedded in the Void Magic Armor were replaced with more miniature, more convenient Mana Runes, then wouldn't the limitations be overcome? Would the same set of Void Magic Armor, with more Mana, be more powerful than before?
Might there even be greater developmental space when the Void Magic Armor breaches the limits of Mana!?
A series of ideas popped up in Rocky's mind, making him instantly understand the true purpose of the Magic Runes and finally comprehend why Wensel dedicated his life to studying this invention, because clearly, this invention was truly great!
"I've struck it rich, struck it rich, this time I've really struck it rich!"
Having figured out the true purpose of the Mana Runes, Rocky felt his heart was about to jump out, for this time he really had struck it rich!
Although now he knew very little about the Mana Runes and had no idea how to draw them, do not forget that the research notes left by Wensel were already in his possession. As long as he learned everything in the notes when he returned home, he could fully grasp this great invention!
So this time, he really hit the jackpot and hit it big!
"Excellent!"
Punching the air vigorously with his fist, Rocky was elated. He knew that as long as he had some time to fully master the Mana Rune technology, both he and Thunderhawk City would be utterly transformed by it!
"Calm down, calm down, I'm the City Lord, don't act like you've never seen the world..."
After a moment of excitement, Rocky forcibly calmed himself, then looked at the other boxes in the secret chamber and quickly opened them one by one, finding various weapons and armors inside.
By this time, he already understood why Wensel had left these behind in the secret chamber. They were meant for him to use as references while learning Mana Runes.
What a considerate old man.
Taking out the equipment inscribed with Mana Runes from the boxes, Rocky placed them in his cloth sack, and then, carrying the sack on his shoulder, went back to the laboratory, taking everything from there as well...
It wasn't that Rocky was greedy, but that he was too poor right now; not only he but Thunderhawk City was also too poor, so this had to be done.
Although the technology of Mana Runes was great and now in his hands, do not forget that just learning how to draw the Mana Runes would take quite some time, and when it would start generating real revenue was even more uncertain.
Thus, while Rocky's future was hopeful, he was still a destitute City Lord at the moment, and that was the harsh reality.
Under such circumstances, he couldn't let anything in the lab go to waste. If they could help him learn Mana Runes, they'd be kept; if not, they'd all be sold. In short, nothing should be left here to go to waste.
So after this, he threw aside any concerns about his City Lord image and began a frantic looting in the lab...
"There shouldn't be anything left to take."
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Rocky finally stopped, showing a very satisfied expression.
After the previous looting, he had taken everything he could from the laboratory, and after ensuring there was nothing else to take, he carried the cloth sack in one hand and several tied boxes in the other, leaving the lab with his booty.
Exiting the laboratory door, through the long tunnel, and finally waiting for the stone gate to reopen, he finally returned to the forest on the surface.
Naturally, being back in the forest, Rocky's mood was excellent, as the gains this time were tremendous.
"Is there... something missing?"
But even though Rocky was in good spirits, he vaguely felt something was amiss, as if something were missing...
"Could it be something I didn't take?"
"No... I checked several times..."
"Eyer!"
Frowning as he thought for a moment, he suddenly remembered what was missing: It was Eyer, whom he had left outside, and who was now nowhere to be found!
"Did this guy... run off on his own?"
Realizing Eyer had disappeared, Rocky looked around and confirmed that Eyer had indeed run off.
However, Rocky didn't bother to search too carefully, as he had already planned to banish Eyer to the land, and in such a case, it didn't matter if Eyer ran off; there was no need to bother with him anymore.
Thus, he ignored the fleeing Eyer and began to slowly rise into the air, preparing to leave the forest.
But just at that moment, as he was just lifting off the ground, there was suddenly noise from within the forest.
"Help! Help! Help!!"
The sudden cries for help made Rocky turn his head immediately, and he saw someone limping towards him from deeper within the forest...
Eyer!
The person running towards him was none other than Eyer!
As Rocky saw Eyer, Eyer also spotted him and immediately shouted, "Sir! Help me! Help me! It's..."
Eyer's words were cut off abruptly when a large hand suddenly reached out from the shadows behind him, grabbed him, and in the next instant dragged him into the forest!
All of this happened so suddenly that not only did Rocky fail to react, but even Eyer himself did not respond, not even letting out a cry.
But after a moment had passed, Rocky, realizing what had happened, shouted "not good" in his heart, immediately flying swiftly into the air.
Demons!
The thing that had just seized Eyer must be demons!!
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