Lord of the Sky City

Having successfully occupied Backhill Village, Rocky immediately started arranging various tasks to take complete control of the area as quickly as possible. He knew he did not have much time to prepare because, on one hand, the land was restless with Demons possibly attacking at any moment, and on the other hand, he was concerned about the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild and feared that they would not give up easily.

Thus, at his instruction, everyone around him immediately got busy.

Liliya began to handle the transfer of prisoners of war to Thunderhawk City in batches, so as not to let these captives stir up trouble in the village. Monte and Lin Feng, meanwhile, commanded the Guard Corps to repair the damaged walls from the battles and prepared themselves for potential conflicts with Demons.

Meanwhile, following this development, Thunderhawk City also started flying toward Backhill Village and arrived above the village the next day.

When Thunderhawk City arrived, Rocky boarded the captured Fleet and made a trip back to the city, and as he had said, he reorganized the Second Fleet of Thunderhawk City.

After driving away the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild, Rocky had captured three fourth-generation Escort Ships and eleven Reconnaissance Ships. With these, and including two warships captured from Wild Horse City, Rocky now had a total of five large warships, consisting of four Escort Ships and one destroyer.

Of these five warships, the single destroyer was added to the First Fleet. In the first battle against Wild Horse City, the First Fleet of Thunderhawk City had suffered minimal losses but had a Escort Ship sunk. Therefore, Rocky added the captured destroyer to the First Fleet, maintaining its fleet size at ten warships.

As for the remaining four Escort Ships, he incorporated them into the Second Fleet. With this, the Second Fleet of Thunderhawk City now had six Escort Ships along with several dozen Reconnaissance Ships, which constituted a considerable force, at least sufficient to be effective in battles against Demons.

At the same time, he met again with Glan, owing to matters concerning the mines of Backhill Village, in which the Sky Alliance also had a stake. After securing the mining operations, Rocky met with Glan to report the situation to the Alliance and request an inspection to confirm the status, and to discuss issues concerning the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild as well.

If this had been before, Rocky would have had to face these issues alone, but now it was different. As a member of the Sky Alliance, the Alliance was his backing. Not only did the Sky Alliance have a share in the mines of Backhill Village, but they would also support him in such matters, so naturally, Rocky needed to inform Glan about it.

“Oh? Is that so?”

When Rocky finished detailing the situation, Glan frowned and then his face turned angry.

“The Proud Dragon Commerce Guild really has the audacity! How dare they target the Alliance?!” Glan glared at Rocky and huffed, “City Lord Rocky, rest assured, I will report this to the Alliance immediately. If the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild dares to cause trouble at the mine, I will join you in confronting them, and we’ll see what they dare to do!”

“With your words, I am relieved,”

Nodding slightly to Glan, Rocky also showed a smile. Although he was not afraid to take on the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild, using the might of the Sky Alliance to coerce without fighting was certainly the best strategy. Thus, Glan’s stance truly eased his mind.

And due to the lingering issues in Backhill Village, the day after next, once Glan had reported the matters of Backhill Village to the Alliance, Rocky took him to leave Thunderhawk City, and the two returned to the mine together.

When Rocky returned to the mine, it was already the third day after the occupation. In these three days, all prisoners of war had been transported back to Thunderhawk City under Liliya’s personal arrangement. The previously damaged city wall had also been repaired diligently and was now complete. Therefore, when Rocky arrived on a warship, Thunderhawk City’s guards were already stationed atop the wall.

“Not bad, this place is really nice…”

After disembarking from the warship with Rocky and touring Backhill Village, Glan couldn’t help but say, “City Lord Rocky, no wonder the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild wanted to occupy this place. You have indeed found a great location!”

After the two returned to the mansion within Backhill Village and sat down, Glan said with a smile to Rocky, “This Backhill Village has a strategic advantage, with walls outside for defense and mines inside for mining. It’s truly a great place. If you can build this into your own stronghold on land, then upgrading Thunderhawk City to a mid-sized Sky City is just a matter of time!”

Watching Rocky, Glan seemed very excited as he spoke these words.

“Heh heh, I’ll take your auspicious words then.”

Facing Glan’s statement, Rocky laughed heartily, not bothering with false modesty or courtesy because this was indeed what he had in mind!

Backhill Village was definitely a great place, and its advantages were not limited to mining alone. What truly made it enviable was that not only were there mines to exploit, but the location itself was easy to defend and difficult to attack—a place ripe for greater development!

In today’s world on land, there are many occupied resources, but places like Backhill Village, naturally safeguarded by terrain, are extremely rare.

Currently on land, most resources are isolated; for instance, mines in certain mountainous areas can also produce minerals but are just solitary mines. Easy to occupy, they are hard to keep under the constant threat of demons. Numerous Sky Cities have invested astronomical amounts to hold onto such isolated ventures, and even then, sometimes they fail to hold them.

But this issue doesn’t exist in Backhill Village; because it was originally a village, and mining is just a part of the village, it has a unique advantage. Not to mention the tall walls at the village entrance, fortified by the Proud Dragon Commerce Guild—just these walls alone could resist the assault of hundreds of demons.

It is because of such unique advantages, merely exploiting Backhill Village as a standalone mine would be excessively wasteful. This place can not only produce minerals, but it also has the potential to be developed into a terrestrial base!

After visiting Backhill Village, Glan clearly saw its potential, and that’s why he made his earlier statement, believing that if Rocky could develop this place well, then using it as the foundation on land to upgrade Thunderhawk City into a mid-sized Sky City is inevitable.

In fact, after occupying Backhill Village, Rocky had also realized this point. Not just him, undoubtedly, the ousted Proud Dragon Commerce Guild thought the same, or else they wouldn’t have both constructed walls and buildings, and even carved platforms on the cliffs on either side of the village to dock skyships—evidently, they too aimed to build it into their own land base!