"Are you serious?"
Loweid finally recovered from his shock and could not help asking.
"Sir, would you joke about something like this?"
Pano answered with a question of his own.
Loweid had nothing to say. He could only ask his secretary to bring over a resignation document, sign it, and tell Pano, "All right, go finish the formalities."
"Thank you. Goodbye."
Pano took the document, said his farewell, and made to leave.
"Wait!"
Loweid called him back.
Pano turned around and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Loweid hesitated. "No... nothing..."
Pano did not press him and soon left the office.
"Something's not right. Wasn't he still throwing his achievements in our faces and demanding all sorts of things from the institute before?" The secretary looked at Loweid, offering a pointed reminder. "There must be something going on!"
"What else could it be? He's found somewhere else to go and wants to take the 'Thousand-Mile Horse' project with him! But since he's surrendered 'Mage Armor' and 'Mount Spell,' the higher-ups would approve even if I refused.
"It's just a shame that the project is up in the air now. We'll have to put together another team and start from scratch."
Loweid weighed the pros and cons with perfect clarity.
The secretary sounded worried. "What if we can't get it off the ground...?"
Loweid scoffed. "What, is the institute incapable of doing anything without Pano?
"As I see it, even if Pano has found somewhere else to go, getting enough funding and manpower to develop 'Thousand-Mile Horse' will be the real challenge.
"And even if he does get lucky and produce more results, it'll only be because he used resources he took from the institute."
After giving it some thought, the secretary decided to keep quiet.
"Pano, why are you leaving?"