Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 717 Taking the Initiative
As summer approaches, the scorching sunlight during the day already brings a noticeable heat to the body.

Located in the northwest of the capital, the Starfire Warrior Training Base, which is not very large, was unusually quiet on this day... It was a day off, and the trainee soldiers were granted leave. Most of them left the base early, either to return to their homes in the capital to reunite with their families or to go out in groups of three or five to relax.

Only Sek and Bale, who were the squad leaders, were an exception... They refused their companions' invitation and did not choose to go out. Firstly, their relatives were far away in Fengyuan City, and the short holiday was not enough for them to return home to visit their relatives.

Secondly, although the military pay was more generous than during their recruit days, the two men, being frugal by nature, both chose to save it in the bank, unwilling to spend it on entertainment and enjoyment.

"The instructors repeatedly emphasized that once summer arrives... when performing daily routine maintenance on the magic armor, special attention should be paid to the joints and mechanical connections, as these areas are prone to absorbing and condensing moisture due to overheating, which can easily lead to rust and jamming over time."

Saike picked up the oil can in his hand, shook it, and carefully poured the liquefied grease into the joint gap.

Barr straddled the massive armor's shoulders, pulled out a towel from his waist to wipe the grease from his hands, and said with a hint of helplessness, "The maintenance of the armor could clearly be handled by the machine repair center, but the instructors insisted that we do it ourselves. Training alone is already exhausting enough, and now we have to take care of these metal contraptions... it's really..."

The equipment room where the magic armor is stored has been equipped with a lot of magic-powered alchemy equipment, making the indoor temperature even hotter than under the sun in the summer. Even though the two were wearing light short training uniforms, their chests and backs were soaked with sweat after staying inside for a long time, making them feel sticky and extremely uncomfortable.

But Cyke didn't complain. After completing the routine maintenance with practiced ease, he climbed back up the ladder into the armor and skillfully started the armor's drive mechanism.

"My God! You still have to practice? Today is a day off!" Baler couldn't help but wail loudly. Then, after Cyk raised a finger at him with his magic armor, making a provocative gesture, Baler rolled his eyes and climbed into the armor as well.

The entire base is currently deserted, and he is the only one who can accompany Cyk for extra training.

……

Soon, a series of dense metallic clanging sounds rang out in the outdoor training ground. The two did not choose to equip themselves with weapons, but instead controlled their magical armor to engage in close combat, repeatedly honing the fighting movements and combat skills that they had already practiced countless times, striving to turn them into muscle memory.

Just as the fighting was going back and forth... the iron gate of the base compound was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and an alchemical wheeled vehicle with military insignia rumbled in. Sitting in the vehicle were the other two squad leaders, who were also their close comrades-in-arms, Santas and Gregor.

"Wow! Good grief! You guys are still practicing?"

"Today is a public holiday, can you stop being so obsessed? Taking a break won't kill you."

Baler, who was already feeling unbearably hot and stuffy inside the armor, quickly stopped what he was doing, knelt down on one knee, lifted the helmet visor, and took a deep breath before saying, "Quick... quick, get me some ice water, the ice bucket is by the wall!"

Santas jogged over with a grin, grabbed a bucket, and mischievously poured it over Bale's head as he crawled out of his armor. Bale shivered from the cold, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and lunged at Santas, intending to teach him a lesson.

Sek also climbed out of his armor, too lazy to pay attention to the two making a ruckus, and asked Gregor, who was standing aside watching the show, with a puzzled look, "Weren't you going to the theater to see a play? Why did you sneak back halfway through?"

Gregor rolled his eyes and said with a wry smile, "How was I supposed to know that theater tickets were so sought after? It's practically impossible to get a seat. You have to book a week in advance and rush over when the performance is about to start... The tickets are already sold out. Even if you pretend to be a professional soldier, you can't get in through the back door."

Sek nodded, his enthusiasm undiminished. "In that case, why don't we do extra training together... we don't have anything else to do anyway." "Vacation is for having fun... if you only think about training all day, your mind and body will become sluggish." Santas got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and winked. "Even if we can't watch the show, we can choose other interesting things."

"What else is interesting? Just so you know, anything that costs money is out of the question..." Barr asked, puzzled.

Santa was speechless at his stinginess. After a moment, he put on a mysterious expression, pulled the three of them aside, and whispered, "During my last day off, while I was playing cards with the special forces officers at the officers' club, I secretly found out some news that will definitely interest you..."

"What news? Is it about the Starfire Warriors? Has the higher-ups finally decided to send us on a mission?"

The three of them immediately perked up their ears and began to ask questions repeatedly.

Santas curled his lip, raised his hand and pointed to a location in the southeast of the base, and said in a low voice: "In the recent Icebound Operation, the Northern Army captured many Lizardmen prisoners. I heard that there are even Winged Species among them, who are called Evolvers. Do you want to see these legendary cruel and terrifying alien monsters?"

Barr paused for a moment, then muttered, "What's so special about this? We've seen this before... What's there to know about those corpses that were sent back for dissection and research?"

"Tsk... I'm talking about living, breathing alien monsters! Not those dismantled specimens you saw in theory class!"

Gregor, clearly intrigued, chimed in, "That's right, we've never seen one alive, so why don't we sneak in and take a peek..."

Santas, however, changed the subject, saying with great interest, "What's the point of just taking a glance? How about we put on our magic armor and have a real combat training session with these guys? I want to see how many rounds these legendary, powerful winged creatures can last against the Starfire Warriors..."

Sek was startled by his audacious idea and quickly said, "Are you crazy! We haven't even experienced a single real combat mission, how dare we directly fight those winged creatures? Their methods are not to be underestimated, and if something goes wrong, no one can cover it up!"

"It is said that they are injected with large amounts of anesthetic drugs and drained of the black water stored in their bodies until they are selected and sent to the spellcaster's laboratory for live experiments. Logically speaking, they should no longer have any combat power or threat."

"But we can't just rush in and fight them, can we? If someone finds out and reports it, we'll be locked up."

Santas waved his hand, still unwilling to give up, and continued to urge, "The special forces officers have said that there are plenty of these prisoners, they are just worthless expendables. Sometimes when they feel itchy, they will go and kill a few to practice on the way."

"Besides, as long as we find a way to avoid being discovered by the guards, that's all that's needed..."

"The instructors said it themselves... that the Starfire Warriors' enchanted armor was specifically developed to counter these alien monsters. Don't you want to try it out for yourselves and verify the results of our training all this time?"

Under the relentless encouragement of the two, Sek and Barre exchanged a glance, finally succumbing to the temptation. They gritted their teeth, nodded, and whispered, "We'll go! Let me get the chainsaw sword from the equipment room first..."

(End of this chapter)