Ember Dragon

"This aviation corps actually has a title to be won?" Looking at the information displayed on the system panel, Mantou's brows suddenly lit up with joy.

You should know that titles are personal and non-transferable. The probability of obtaining them is also very low. They can only be obtained in some specific large-scale tasks - such as [Conqueror of the North] and [Champion of the Empire].

Some titles will have additional special effects, with golden light, flames, and rainbows appearing above the head, making the player look different and stand out from the crowd from a distance, causing the envy of all the newbies.

For Cassius, the cost of producing these titles was minimal, almost a free business.

However, players are flocking to it, and some wealthy players even spend hundreds of gold coins just to pursue the coolest and most domineering title.

——After all, for players, showing off is their first need!

Singo pretended to be disdainful and said with a smile: "You are really unworldly. It's just a title, isn't it? I am leading you to complete the internal mission. How can it be wrong?"

"Shh-"

Before he finished speaking, a dozen fancy titles appeared above his head: [Conqueror of the North], [War Hero], [Judgment of Ethel], [Tracer Ranger].
Various gorgeous special effects intertwined together, which could be called light pollution, almost blinded Mantou's titanium alloy dog ​​eyes, making him unable to help but open his mouth wide.

"Tsk, this pretentious guy"

Mantou curled his lips, turned around, and said to the hobgoblin: "Commander, please take us to familiarize ourselves with the mission. I can't wait to fight for the great blueprint of the empire and for His Majesty Cassius!"

Today's veteran players have already formed a set of templates for talking to NPCs. When in doubt, they simply express their loyalty.

"For the Empire, for His Majesty Cassius." The corners of the hobgoblin's mouth twitched slightly, but he still placed his hand on his chest and performed a loyalty salute again.

Then he turned around and led the two men into the depths of the armory.

Mantou saw that Singo still had his head full of special effects and hadn’t taken them back, so he complained, “Okay, Singo, hurry up and complete the mission.

Damn, if showing off can be a criminal offense, you should at least be sentenced to life imprisonment. These days, there are not many simple young people like me who never show off. "

Singo said calmly, "Do you really hate showing off? I see you look pretty impressive in front of those newbies."

He walked up to him, patted Mantou on the shoulder, and sighed, "Tsk, face the reality, Mantou - you don't hate pretending, you just resent that the person pretending is not you."

"."

Lies don't hurt, truth is the knife.

Hearing this, Mantou recalled the previous experience of being overshadowed by Singo and being ignored by the newbies. He was suddenly speechless and wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Click——"

The iron gate slowly rose up, making a crisp sound.

"This is."

Mantou's eyes suddenly brightened, and all his previous unhappiness was thrown out of the window.

The room was surrounded by transparent glass display cabinets, and inside the display cabinets were several huge, futuristic sets of armor with dragon flame patterns sprayed on their surfaces, exuding a strong "Imperial style".

——It can be recognized at a glance that it is armor specially made for wyverns. The helmet fits the dragon head extremely well, and the suit even has wing armor specially installed on the wings.

Singo was also quite curious and asked, "Is this the standard armor of the Imperial Air Force bombing corps?"

In recent months, the Empire's air force bomber force has performed brilliantly in the North Ethel War and the Dwarf Kingdom Conquest War, becoming the nightmare of countless enemies.

These armored flying dragons flew low over the sky with shrill screams, taking people's lives like the gods of death.

To this day, many indigenous people in North IJssel still have deep psychological trauma from this. When they hear such a scream, they will tremble all over, and even instinctively lie on the ground and curl up into a ball.

"You can say that, but what you see before you is far more advanced than that. It is the crystallization of the Empire's cutting-edge technology."

The hobgoblin pointed at the armor in the glass display case and introduced it with a smile: "This is the special equipment provided by the Empire for the Aviation Corps. We call it the 'Skyfire' suit, which means the wrath of a great dragon will fall from the sky and turn the enemies who dare to resist the Empire into ashes."

Mantou exclaimed: "Just the name sounds awesome!"

This time, even Singo nodded in agreement.

The hobgoblin stepped forward and continued to introduce: "The military engineers of the Imperial Science and Technology Department have continuously upgraded and modified the bombing force's standard equipment, adding rocket thrusters, gravity suspension devices, and spell positioning.
This set of armor has epoch-making powerful performance, allowing an adult wyvern to carry more than two tons of ammunition and accurately hit targets at an altitude of thousands of meters.

At the same time, the speed and maneuverability of the wyvern will not be reduced, but will be qualitatively improved, with a maximum speed of 700 kilometers per hour."

Mantou walked forward, wanting to press his face against the glass.

The several-meter-long wing armor gleams with metallic luster and presents a perfect streamlined shape. It is covered with several slender steel feathers and can quickly adjust the direction of flight according to the needs of the knight.

The hobgoblin said proudly: "This set of armor has far more functions than you can imagine."

"Snapped!"

He snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, several steel pipes extended from the trailing edge of the wing armor, emitting bursts of brilliant flames.

The hobgoblin continued, "This rocket thruster can generate a terrifying force in a short period of time, allowing the wyvern to accelerate several times in an instant."

Singo and Mantou listened to the explanation of the earth elf and carefully observed the "Skyfire" armor in the glass cabinet.

There are several complex metal discs installed under the wing armor. They are gravity suspension devices that allow the wyvern to carry more ammunition and also allow it to land safely when hit.

Even the claws are covered with special armor, and there are several wheels on both sides, which allow the wyvern to accelerate and take off on the ground runway with the heavy armor on its head.

Mantou stared at the armor in the glass display case with his eyes fixed on it. His gaze was so intense that someone who didn't know him would think he had seen his dream lover: "So handsome!"
Singo couldn't help but sigh and clapped his hands: "It is worthy of being a creation of the Mechanicus. It is like turning the wyvern into a bomber."

The hobgoblin reminded: "This is all thanks to the wise leadership of His Majesty Cassius."

Singo said hurriedly: "Of course, the great Emperor Burning Ashes is everywhere. Whether it is the economy, politics, military or technology of the empire, it is all thanks to the supreme majesty. His wisdom is everywhere in the empire."

"Well said, you are worthy of being the earl of the empire, you are really conscious.

Hearing this, the earth elf nodded with satisfaction and even clapped his hands.

Seeing these two people singing the same tune and flattering the emperor very skillfully, even a thick-skinned man cursed in his heart: "How shameless! Why don't you take me with you!"

"Yes, thinking about how hard your majesty has worked for the empire, a surge of loyalty arises in my heart, and I want to sing an impassioned "Hymn to Cassius": How can I repay this kindness?..." Mantou wiped his tears sincerely, and joined this cultural salon unique to the Burning Empire with his natural acting skills. They flattered him for a while before gradually returning to the main topic.

Looking at the Skyfire armor, Singo thought for a moment and asked, "After equipping this armor, my original skills in controlling the wyvern will probably change a lot."

The hobgoblin nodded slightly and answered seriously, "Yes, this set of armor has brought about an epoch-making change, and the dragon-riding technology derived from it is very different from traditional riding, but..."

He lowered his head and smiled before continuing, "With your talent, it will be easy for you to master this new equipment. Although the equipment is newer, technically speaking, controlling a flying dragon is much simpler than before."

Back then, it took me half a year to barely control a flying dragon and gradually grow into a flying dragon rider, but you only took half a day."

"Of course, it's the same this time."

Singo is full of confidence in this matter.

"In that case, please start training now! I hope you can complete the task assigned by His Majesty as soon as possible and completely exterminate those orcs!"

The hobgoblin snapped his fingers again, and with a heavy thud, two huge iron doors slowly opened.

The view in front of me suddenly opened up. The sky was blue and cloudless. Behind the room was a long and flat runway that was specially built for wyverns.

The glass display cabinets on both sides of the wall suddenly opened, and two sets of brand new "Skyfire" armor were taken out and piled in front of the two people.

And not only do wyverns have cool armor, their pilots also have matching clothing, including a windbreaker made from drake fur and a helmet similar to a motorcycle helmet.

Mantou couldn't wait to put on the helmet, and suddenly a translucent screen appeared in front of his eyes, which actually located his current position. There were also small red dots clearly marked on the map, and precise data such as distance, altitude, and wind speed were displayed in the lower right corner.

The hobgoblin said, "This helmet is similar to the previous imperial map. You can use it to confirm your own and the target's location and achieve precise strikes. You can also use the intercom to communicate with the imperial ground crew to obtain various information and receive real-time instructions..."

When they reached the outdoor running track, Mantou waved excitedly, and the contract on the back of his hand came into effect.

"Come out, Noodles!"

"Ow—"

With a loud roar, the two-legged dragon suddenly appeared in the air, then descended from the sky, raising a cloud of dust, looking majestic.

Mantou pointed at the armor not far away and said excitedly: "Noodles, try it on."

"Ah?" Looking at the pile of strange steel creations, the pterosaur shook its head and howled in confusion. The armor that looked so handsome in Mantou's eyes was simply a huge cage in Noodles' eyes.

Due to their weight and size, wyverns have a hard time flying.

If it is put on that heavy-looking iron lump, it would be good enough if it could move. How could it flap its wings and soar freely in the sky?
Mantou understood what the flying dragon meant, and quickly patted its head, stroked its neck, and said softly, "Don't worry, Noodles, I won't let you fail to fly...

Give it a try, maybe you’ll like this feeling.”

"Ow"

The pterosaur howled, rubbed its huge head against Mantou's shoulder, and finally agreed reluctantly.

"Hey, ha!"

"A little more to the left, yes, put the wing armor into the groove!"

"Ow?"

The assembly process of the "Skyfire" armor is extremely complicated, and every step must be done perfectly, just like assembling an airplane with a biological skeleton.

Accompanied by heavy breathing, several strong ogre workers struggled to lift the parts, assemble them and fit them together.

Finally, a two-legged dragon covered in heavy armor, like a mechanical monster from the future, appeared in front of Mantou.

"Damn, he's so handsome!"

Mantou rushed forward, hugged Feilong's claws, and gently stroked the thick armor with delicate patterns, his eyes full of love.

But the wyvern still felt uncomfortable. It tilted its head, shook its body, and wanted to flap its wings, but found that its wings were bound by the wing armor and it needed a lot of effort to shake them slightly.

Mantou jumped up and straddled the back of the wyvern. His uniform fit perfectly with the armor on the wyvern's back, almost as if they were one.

"This is emergency braking, this is jet acceleration, and this is..."

Mantou flipped through the "Skyfire Operation Guide" in his hand, observing the large number of buttons and levers on the back of the pterosaur, feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable.

After more than ten minutes of familiarization, Mantou finally felt a little confident. Holding the joystick in his hand, the feeling was completely different from controlling a flying dragon in the past.

He was feeling nervous and said into the intercom: "Requesting takeoff, runway A01, wind speed."

"Approved for takeoff."

Holland's voice came from the other end of the intercom.

Mantou hugged the wyvern's neck and said through gritted teeth: "Noodles, I'm not very familiar with the operation yet - forget it, never mind, let's go!"

"boom--"

In an instant, the steel pipe behind the two-legged flying dragon's wing armor spewed out gas and flames, generating a strong propulsion force, and the wheels on both sides of its claws also spun rapidly, getting faster and faster, even producing sparks from friction.

"Ow—"

Noodles let out a somewhat frightened roar. He had never run at such a speed on the ground before.

"Fuck, this is so fast."

The strong feeling of being pushed on the back made Mantou a little flustered, but more of it was exhilaration - he had reached this speed many times when riding a flying dragon.

But he had never experienced such rapid acceleration, it was like a sudden gust of wind.

Mantou only felt that the airflow around him was becoming more and more rapid, and the lifting force under the wings of the two-legged flying dragon was becoming stronger and stronger.

Accompanied by the whistling of the air and the sharp explosion, the man and the dragon left the ground and ran towards the blue sky along the raised runway.

"Take off!" (End of this chapter)