As William ascended into the sky, he decided to take the opportunity to test the flight performance of his Sentinel armor. In his mind, he commanded the suit to accelerate to full speed. However, the armor sent a confirmation request, making him certain once again—there was no doubt that the armor believed full-speed flight would be dangerous, which was why it was asking for his confirmation.
"Sunday, connect to my Sentinel armor and calculate my flight speed."
After saying this, William mentally controlled the armor to push his body to the maximum speed it could endure, heading toward the island 400 kilometers away.
"One, two, three, four…" By the fifth second, he had already slowed down and was hovering at the edge of the storm clouds over the island.
A quick mental calculation made him exclaim in shock, "One hundred kilometers per second?!"
"Yes, SIR. To be precise, it was 109 kilometers per second. That is also the maximum speed your body can currently withstand.
If you exceed this speed—whether accelerating or stopping—even with the Sentinel armor on, your body would risk rupturing its capillaries."
"So, just minor internal bleeding? Not even a serious injury?" William chuckled to himself. "Six thousand kilometers per minute?
That means I could fly back to London in under three minutes?
Flying around Earth's 40,000-kilometer equator would take only 400 seconds—less than seven minutes?"
Wait… seven minutes to circle the Earth? Compared to those monstrous beings who could do it in a single second—or even less—his speed suddenly didn't seem all that fast.
Of course, if his physical capabilities improved further, his Sentinel armor's flight speed would naturally increase as well.
After all, when he had commanded the armor to go full speed earlier, it had refused to comply.
This suggested that full-speed flight might pose a life-threatening risk. However, since Earth's gravity limited his acceleration, such concerns wouldn't be an issue in space.
But once he was in space, he could summon his ship at any time. So why bother flying himself?
Besides, no matter how fast superluminal travel was, it still couldn't compare to the instantaneity of a space jump.
William remained silent as he watched the storm clouds over the island. Seeing this, Sunday reminded him, "SIR, if you're concerned about the lightning within the storm, you need not worry. The Sentinel armor, like the Mark armor, was designed to absorb electrical energy."
"No, that's not my concern."
William smiled. He had forgotten to inform Sunday that his Sentinel armor, now enhanced with superpowers, was vastly superior to its original design.
"Calculate the total energy my armor absorbs."
With that, he deliberately slowed down and dove headfirst into the storm, heading directly toward the area with the most lightning activity.
Before he even reached the storm's core, massive bolts of lightning, attracted by the armor's energy absorption ability, began striking him in rapid succession.
For a moment, William looked as if he had committed some heinous crime against the heavens—everywhere he looked, there was nothing but brilliant blue lightning.
As his armor indiscriminately absorbed all incoming electricity, the surrounding area transformed into a lightning storm of its own, with dozens of bolts striking him at once.
"Zzzzt… Zzzzt…"
The immense electrical energy drawn to his suit began forming a massive, rotating sphere of lightning around him.
At the same time, his armor sent him a warning—it was nearing full capacity.
With a wave of his hand, the Sentinel's raw material, which matched the armor itself, fused onto the existing suit, absorbing energy while integrating into the design.
This time, instead of storing the fully charged material in his inventory, he allowed his armor to expand.
On top of the original fish-scale-like full-body suit, additional layers emerged—an ornate breastplate, pauldrons, bracers, a segmented war skirt, armored boots, and a flowing red cape.
Even though the skin-tight bodysuit alone could protect him, William couldn't ignore how snugly it fit around his lower body, making him feel like a walking target.
No wonder certain people were so fixated on him.
With the armor's energy storage capacity increased, it ramped up its absorption of the lightning within the clouds.
In less than half an hour, the perpetual thunderstorm—which had raged year-round except during summer—showed signs of weakening.
Where before lightning had struck him every few seconds, it now took seven to eight seconds for a bolt to form, and they seemed significantly smaller.
Yet despite absorbing so much lightning, the armor indicated that the newly integrated materials had only absorbed about a third of their energy capacity.
Although harvesting lightning for power was far slower than directly absorbing energy from the Cosmic Cube, it did have its advantages.
For one, the surface of his gold-tinted armor now crackled with ghostly blue electricity.
More than that, with a mere thought, he could unleash arcs of lightning around him, shocking anything or anyone attempting to approach him unnoticed.
Meanwhile, his dark red cape, infused with absorbed energy, ignored the violent winds and billowed behind him at a steady forty-five-degree angle—making him look as majestic as ever.
After about an hour, having absorbed over two hundred more lightning strikes, the storm showed even clearer signs of subsiding.
If William remained here for several days, he might actually be able to quell the centuries-old storm system surrounding this island cluster.
Ironically, that wasn't in his best interest.
Sensing that his armor had reached 80% energy capacity—and now requiring over twenty seconds for a single lightning strike—William decided to proceed toward the island.
Flying a few kilometers forward, he emerged from the storm and was immediately captivated by the view ahead.
Beneath him lay a small island only a few kilometers in diameter.
Though not large, it was picturesque—lush green mountains, cascading waterfalls, and vibrant, thriving vegetation.
Unfortunately, this was merely the entrance to an underground world.
"Where is Laura's shelter?" William asked Sunday.
Following Sunday's map guidance, he arrived above Laura's makeshift treehouse—only to see a pile of rubble and a dark cavern entrance beneath it.
Nearby, he noticed a surprising number of large animal carcasses.
"Were these creatures trying to escape from underground?"
"Yes, SIR. If my calculations are correct, this cave is the burial site of Queen Himiko of Yamatai.
After the tomb's explosion, the violent tremors and falling rocks likely shattered a passage leading to the underground world."
William merely furrowed his brows at the explanation but didn't pursue the matter further—after all, he planned to enter the cave himself soon.
"What about the Trinity operatives and the captured civilians?"
Sunday displayed an image of the scattered remains around the cave entrance.
Among the large skeletons, there were noticeably smaller ones interspersed throughout.
William was taken aback. "Are you saying that these dinosaurs didn't escape from underground—they chased these people up here?"
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