"We escaped…" Vincent heaved a sigh of relief after they managed to safely get away from the dark clouds surrounding the 15th Tower.

"Kekeke… You have to thank me for that… Although you can take two or three of those lightning strikes, there was no way you can survive ten of them with only that armor of yours."

Krusk laughed as he was proud of what he did to save Vincent and Luna from those scary bolts of lightning.

In the first place, they already know that the dark clouds above the tower weren't a natural phenomenon that will just appear out of nowhere.

Something must've triggered it and the two Celestials informed Krusk about the situation.

As soon as he learned that this cloud can most likely be controlled by someone, Krusk had already made preparations to protect their airship in case they were attacked.

Well, this preparation was obviously used to protect Vincent so he couldn't help but feel that he had truly done something great.

"Thank you for that, Krusk. I didn't expect the River Dragons has that kind of ability…" Vincent said as Krusk was indeed correct. He knows that his Celestial Armor wouldn't be enough to protect him from the lightning that could probably pass through his armor and burn his body.

Although he has other magic tools that could protect him, the intensity of those bolts of lightning would just be too much for him.

In any case, Mythical Beasts were truly beings that are on a different level. Their abilities weren't similar to the Mana Arts that Mana Practitioners can create.

What they have were innate skills that couldn't be copied unless you've decided to do extreme modification and forcefully learn them as Tier 4 Mana Arts.

Just like what Krusk did just now which was to secretly protect Vincent using the scales of the adult River Dragon.

It must be remembered that aside from River Dragon's eyes and its heart, Vincent also received a few scales from the Mythical Beast that they found.

He doesn't have any use for it yet so he allowed Krusk to play with it since he seems to have some kind of connection to them…

Thanks to this, the ten or so scales were now Krusk's secret weapon. He can control them like his additional limbs and they even possess stealth mode ability so it wasn't obvious that they were tanking the damages from the bolts of lightning just now.

Rem and Tara then explained to Vincent what really the dark cloud was and he felt a headache after learning its secret.

'Another being capable of manipulating Aether? Ugh…' Vincent groaned. Even though he had already expected this much. It still doesn't feel good to know that it's the truth.

It matches what they've found out inside the Altar Room. After all, Vincent's body was attacked by Aether and he only survived thanks to his Brilliant Zeal Ring. Furthermore, the old project leader was also using the Aether to attack them…

It means that someone is teaching them how to manipulate it or perhaps, they discovered this after they found some remnants of this particular being from the past.

After all, it's not impossible to find some ancient materials that were left behind during the First or Second Rapture when great battles occurred. They might've studied this and learned how to use Aether but this didn't explain their connection with Magic God.

Nevertheless, Vincent can only be on the defensive for now. They have to quickly build their territory and gather enough resources to protect themselves…

Luckily for them, Vincent was contacted by the Tower Lord on the next day that his dispute with the 15th Tower was already settled.

Professor Turhan delivered this message after he was dragged by the Tower Lord from his villa.

"Professor, I didn't expect that you'll come here yourself just to deliver a message." Vincent was a bit surprised that a Grand Magus can be used as a messenger now.

"Haha… It's not like that. I also want to visit this land before you completely transform it. I can't wait to see what kind of city you'll build…"

Turhan said as he glanced at the many workers that Vincent hired to build his territory.

"It will probably take two to three years to complete this even with the help of the Earth Elemental Magicians that we have…" Vincent commented.

"That's true… I can see that a large portion of them is focusing on digging—No, are they creating a huge drainage system?"

"You can say so… I'm planning to make this land's sewage system a bit better… Well, I'm not really a planner myself and I just took this suggestion from one of my subordinates." Vincent said as he sat on the couch. They were currently in his temporary shelter as the residential area was still under development.

"Hmmm… This looks impressive." Turhan said with admiration as he spread out his Mana Sense.

p He realized that the sewage system that they are creating as some sort of foundation for the city had already reached over six kilometers. He believes that all cities should've created this as well before they became overpopulated.

He can somehow see what Vincent was planning with this foundation and couldn't help but be excited about the future.

Well, Turhan believes that he has already reached his peak as a magician after he obtained the secret techniques of the Zemin Clan so he was no longer busy with his research and found this territory development as decent entertainment.

In short, he no longer has the inspiration he needed to continue doing intense Magic Research and visited this place to unwind and perhaps, regain his previous enthusiasm for researching various techniques to increase his multi-casting ability.

***

Just like that, another two years passed as Vincent was able to peacefully develop their territory thanks to the Tower Lord's protection and the One Sea Merchant Union's unending support.

This means that the previous citizens of the Tudor Kingdom that were captured by the Barbarians now have a new place they could call their home…

Then, just like what his senior sister did, Vincent decided to name his city after a deity's name and called it Vera City.

'Hmm… I hope she won't get mad and add another seal on my body…'

Vincent mused as he looked at the city they have created with their blood and sweat.