"Ring ring ring..."

The phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Roland took a few seconds to find the one that needed to be connected from a pile of machines, bent down and picked up the receiver.

The label on the telephone indicated that the caller was from the Air Knight Academy.

As more and more lines were connected to the office, he had to add a small table in front of his desk to specifically place these telephones.

"Is that so? I'll be right there."

After hanging up the receiver, Roland stood up with a happy expression, picked up the coat hanging behind the chair and put it on.

"Tilly calling?" Nightingale raised her eyebrows and asked.

"Yeah, the preparations for the big plane are complete, and the test flight will begin soon."

The "big plane" he referred to was the key project of the Graycastle Design Bureau—the four-engine long-range bomber. After learning about the possibility of obtaining a mobile take-off and landing site, he immediately asked the relevant technicians about the feasibility of engine replacement. The answer he got was that as long as the weight distribution was adjusted slightly, it would not affect the aerodynamics at all. However, replacing it with the Phoenix engine would lead to a significant decrease in performance, such as requiring a longer runway for take-off, carrying only half of the internal fuel at most, and reducing the range to about one-third of the original, etc... In short, the new aircraft could no longer meet the previous requirements for long-distance raids in terms of various indicators.

And its only advantage was that the results could be seen immediately.

The essence of the Phoenix engine was still an improved radial engine. Anna had completely mastered it in more than a year, which was much more mature than the large in-line engines equipped on bombers—even if the Design Bureau provided all the detailed drawings, the prototype would have to undergo platform testing first, which would inevitably reduce the progress of the entire project.

In fact, at the beginning of the plan, the bomber was put into the "one-year plan". For Neverwinter City, this was already a very bold plan. Even if there were no accidents in the research and development process, it should still be more than half a year away from its normal release.

If it wasn't for the Masked Lord making Roland realize that the God of Creation had the ability to perish together, a year wouldn't be too long. But now, the situation had become very different—once the God of Creation rose to a high altitude at the cost of overdrawing the magic stone veins, even if its core could be destroyed, it would not be able to save the huge damage caused by its fall.

Plus, humans now had an aerial aircraft carrier-like floating island, so the loss of the bomber's performance was no longer unacceptable.

Crossing the messy cables, Roland walked towards the door while putting on his coat, "Let's go and take a look too, this is the biggest plane in history!"

"Crash—"

Just as he passed the mahogany long table, the turned-over corner of his coat suddenly caught the teapot placed on the table. By the time Roland realized it, the pot had already irreversibly tilted towards the ground.

"Ah..." Nightingale seemed to move, her figure disappeared briefly for a moment, but in the end it was still a little too late.

The teapot seemed to be touched by something invisible, tumbling half a circle in the air before falling on the carpet, breaking into several pieces in response, and the freshly brewed hot tea was spilled all over the ground.

"Your reaction seems to be getting slower," Roland teased, "You never missed this kind of catching things with your bare hands before, could it be that you've gained weight from eating too many snacks?"

"..." Nightingale surprisingly didn't retort, but looked at her hands with some confusion.

"Let the maids clean up here, let's go to the Air Knight Academy first, Tilly is still waiting there."

...

On the take-off and landing field of the Air Knight Academy, a black plane much larger than the Seagull was slowly pulled into the runway by a trailer.

In addition to its size, the pair of wide monoplanes and the four engines hanging under the wings were also the most obvious differences from other fighter planes.

Although the star-shaped engine with its short and thick outline was not compatible with the plane's slender shape, most of the onlookers would not notice this disharmony—the unprecedented size alone was enough to firmly grab everyone's attention.

Compared to the nimble appearance of the Skyfire, its all-black paint job was like a giant beast lying on the ground.

Gude was no exception.

Since the appearance of this plane, his eyes had not left the target for a moment. If he hadn't personally flown the Skyfire, he was afraid that it would be difficult for him to believe that this heavy machine could really fly into the sky. But even so, Gude's heart was full of surprise and shock—it had only been a year since he left Neverwinter, and this place had come up with such an exaggerated thing. Her Majesty the Queen's ability was a little too exaggerated.

Finjin couldn't say anything other than repeatedly saying "So big."

"I guess only the most outstanding Air Knights will be qualified to fly this behemoth in the future?" Heinz said with emotion, "Among our class, only Gude is likely to have a chance."

"That's not the case." Unexpectedly, the one who answered him was actually the always indifferent Eagle-faced Instructor. "As far as I know, the pilots of the bombers will not be drawn from front-line flying officers. Of course, this doesn't mean that those people are not excellent, but Princess Tilly judged that ensuring air superiority is the most important goal of the Air Knights. Protect the bomber well, shoot down any enemy that dares to approach, if you can do this, it doesn't matter if the people on the big plane are all rookies."

"Instructor..." The three of them straightened their bodies immediately.

"Relax, I'm not here to reprimand you." Eagle-faced swept them blankly, "You are already the top fighters among the Air Knights, have a little more confidence in yourselves."

"Yes, yes!" The three saluted.

"Next, everyone will face the main force of the devils, work hard." Eagle-faced walked to the other side with his hands behind his back.

Finjin breathed a sigh of relief, "I feel like the instructor is especially..."

"Gentle?" Heinz answered.

"Indeed," Gude shrugged, "But if these behind-the-scenes discussions get into his ears, he shouldn't hesitate to let you sweep the toilet for another week."

The two immediately tactfully changed the subject.

At this moment, the propellers of the black plane started to rotate at high speed, and the surging roar instantly drowned out the discussion of the onlookers on the field.

Even after so long, when Gude heard this familiar and rhythmic rhythm, he still felt his blood surging.

I really like flying...

In the continuous sound of piston strikes, the bomber began to move forward slowly and accelerate continuously—this process was much longer than the Skyfire, but as it approached the end of the runway, it still raised its nose little by little.

Gravity could no longer restrain it.

The black behemoth seemed to spread its long wings and climbed into the sky against the slightly humid sea breeze.

After a circle of climbing, the bomber turned its direction and flew towards the northwest of Neverwinter. In that direction, the North Slope Mountain, suspended in mid-air, was particularly eye-catching.

Gude knew that all the elements for their proactive attack were ready.

The decisive battle with the devils was near.