Ves waved his hand, causing a projection of the original Fantasia 2R Seraphim to erge into view.
Lucky, who was lounging on a table while crunching a chunk of mineral, looked up at the impressive female-shaped ch.
"ow."
"Yeah. Those were the days. Back then, I couldn't have imagined earning even a single MTA credit."
Though it was only five years ago, Ves had risen from a humble Novice into one of the most successful young Journeyn in the star cluster in this span of ti. The contrast was imnse, and anyone who studied his rapid progression would have been astounded.
It was no surprise that outside observers suspected that Ves had not been able to make so many accomplishnts alone!
His average performance at the Rittersberg University of Technology should have never produced a ch designer who was able to trounce a peer from the MTA in just five years of ti.
Only Ves and a handful of others like Calabast and Nitaa knew he took advantage of the ch Designer System to rapidly improve his design capabilities.
Everyone else who tried to figure out the truth had all been misled by their mistaken assumptions. They collected too little information and couldn't conceive that Ves owned sothing as mythical as the long-missing tal Scroll.
These kinds of misunderstandings continued to deflect suspicion from him, which was very convenient to him. While he had no illusion that these misunderstandings would protect him forever, as long as he survived his early growth phase, he and his clan would definitely be able to grow strong enough one day.
He shook his head. "That will take a while."
He returned his attention back to the Seraphim. As one of his earliest variants, he didn't need to be as discerning as Gloriana to spot the countless flaws and suboptimal implentations.
That along with the primitive, early generation components caused the ch's performance to be very lackluster compared to modern chs.
The difference was night and day!
The performance of the Seraphim was so bad that ch cadets with only a few years of training under their belt could already pilot it proficiently. In the first century of the Age of chs, chs weren't nearly as complex and complicated to master.
Various innovations that gave ch pilots greater power and control over their machines only erged in subsequent generations. Neural interfaces grew increasingly more capable. Their greater bandwidth and fine control allowed chs to control almost every function of a ch down to the output of a single servo motor!
Despite the frankly awful state of his Seraphim design, Ves still gazed at it with rose-tinted glasses. Despite the various difficulties he encountered, he still missed those simpler days.
"Well, that's over now."
As much as he liked to return to simpler tis, he couldn't afford to do so. Even with the help of the System, he had worked hard to climb his way up to success while overcoming many threats to his life.
Finally, he achieved a asure of power that allowed him to shrug off the control of most states and power players. The LMc had grown to the point where it could easily rival established second-class ch companies. His Larkinson Clan rapidly shot up past the point where it could readily establish and maintain its own sovereignty.
Yet as far as he had co in five years, this was just the start. He needed to go much further if he wanted to fulfill any of his great ambitions.
Part of the steps he needed to take was to procure an excellent factory ship.
"And to do that, I need to fulfill my end of the deal with DIVA." He muttered.
His eyes continuously studied the projection of his Seraphim design. The more he reminisced about the virtual ch, the more he comprehended Gloriana's desire for them to modernize and reimagine it for the modern battlefield.
"It's already pretty much a Hexer ch."
The original Fantasia had been designed as an explicitly female ch. It tried to form a contrast against all of the stocky masculine-shaped chs that already beca the dominant trend since the early generations.
Ves grew curious and began to call up the statistics and usage data of the Seraphim.
Despite being several years old and not that good of a ch design, it still enjoyed a decent amount of popularity in Iron Spirit. While it wasn't exactly a competitive ch design at the low tiers, it was a very fun and pleasurable virtual ch to pilot.
Any ch pilot would feel a rush by piloting such a fast and impressive-looking ch.
"Since that's the case, my reimagined ch design should definitely appeal to female Hexer ch pilots!"
Ves understood the other reason why Gloriana suggested him to design a ch based on his early Seraphim design.
If he disregarded all of its flaws, it was quite an attractive ch to won.
In order to fulfill their deal to DIVA, the Miracle Couple had to design eight Hexer ch designs. This was a hefty number, and Ves did not wish to waste all of his ti on designing modest, constrained male Hexer ch designs!
The gap in performance and impact between male and female ch designs in the Hex Army was very apparent!
"Those damn Hexers. They're not even letting off chs in their obsession to discriminate by gender!" He cursed.
The problem for him was that he was a man. If he wanted a bunch of man-haters to adopt a ch designed specifically for their stuck-up female ch pilots, then he needed to overco their intense opposition and bias.
Ves already anticipated a lot of resistance towards his recently-completed Blessed Squire design, and that was just a supportive male Hexer ch design.
The backlash would probably be ten tis as worse as soon as he tried to introduce a female Hexer ch design!
In short, there was a lot at stake. Ves could not afford to fail this design project. If he did, then he could forget about designing more female ch designs!
He waved his hand, causing the projection of the primitive Seraphim design to be replaced by a sketch of a much more sophisticated design.
The sight of the sketch caused Ves to curl his mouth in a smile. "Gloriana inherited so of my flair."
The 'Valkyrie Redeer' concept she ca up with inherited most of the charm of the Seraphim design, but introduced a few more Hexer elents.
The ch had been beefed up a bit. Its curves beca a bit more pronounced as its slightly thicker armor plating provided a lot more protection to the ch.
"It's not a light ch anymore. It's a light-dium ch."
The weapon loadout of the ch diverged from the original Seraphim. Instead of kitting it out with a marksman rifle and a combat knife, Gloriana instead chose a set of weapons that better reflected the aggressive tendencies of female Hexer ch pilots.
"Female Hexer ch pilots usually leave long-ranged fire support to their male counterparts." Ves reminded himself.
The Valkyrie Redeer instead ca ard with a pulse submachine gun. Though it wasn't as powerful as full-sized weapons, the submachine gun still packed enough punch to tear through most light chs.
As a pulse weapon, the submachine gun fired a lot of powerful particles that mainly inflicted energy damage. The weapon mainly needed to be replenished with energy rather than physical ammunition, which ant the ch wouldn't be too unduly encumbered.
"This is a good fit for the Valkyrie Redeer."
Even though a single pulse submachine gun wasn't very threatening on its own, it could still allow a squad of chs ard with the weapon to tear through any ch, especially when circled!
However, the submachine gun was not the Valkyrie Redeer's primary focus. It rely offered the aerial ch a way to defend itself against more mobile targets and harass tougher opponents.
The real focus of the ch was its iconic-looking spear and shield. The latter was curved and shaped like a hexagon. There was nothing else going for it aside for being rather modest in size.
The spear was also rather simple. It was shorter than most spears, but long enough to function as a very potent stabbing implent.
Taken together, the spear and shield granted the Valkyrie Redeer a lot of assault choices.
Gloriana's Valkyrie Redeer was rely inspired by the Seraphim. What worked in Iron Spirit might not necessarily work that well in the Komodo War. That, or the Hexers already fielded a very good light aerial marksman ch.
When Ves tried to imagine the Valkyrie Redeers on the battlefield, he beca imrsed by their dazzling performance.
Squads of Valkyrie Redeers would prowl the air. Though slower than light chs, they were still fast enough to evade powerful enemies and fortified defense posts.
Instead, they would prowl the flanks of the battlefield and look out for opportunities. As soon as they spotted an enemy on the ground that they could take, they would begin to dive to the surface while firing their submachine guns to herald their incoming charge.
Once they got close enough and built up so montum, they would holster their submachine guns and take up their spears and shields.
With gravity assisting their dive, they closed in on their targets like a charging formation of lancer chs!
If a number of enemy chs survived the inevitable collisions, the Valkyrie Redeers weren't helpless in lee combat. With their spears and shields, they were able to adopt several different fighting styles in order to tackle their opponents!
The Valkyrie Redeer was not a marksman ch. It was not a spearman ch or a lancer ch either.
"It's an aerial marauder ch." Ves concluded.
Unlike light skirmishers, the Valkyrie Redeer placed a bit more emphasis on its ranged capabilities. As long as he could pair the ch with a second-class pulse submachine gun, then it could pose a considerable threat to any opponent at dium range!
Sure, the weapon wasn't suited to pierce through thick defenses, but that wasn't the point. The Valkyrie Redeer possessed superior mobility due to its powerful flight system and should take full advantage of this strength to attack the enemy's flanks.
If the Valkyrie Redeer wasn't able to crack a tough defense, then that was when it should employ its dive attack! With a charge that was not that much inferior to the charge of a lancer ch, the Valkyrie Redeer should easily be able to break the shield of a knight ch.
In order to finish off exposed enemies, the Valkyrie Redeers should possess enough strength to overwhelm them at close range.
"Their strength lies in their versatility." Ves concluded. "With at least three different modes of attack, the Valkyrie Redeer can pose a threat to almost any weaker target."
Though Ves was confident he could fulfill the offensive criteria of this ch concept, he knew that it would co at the cost of defense.
Even if second-class armor systems were incomparably resilient compared to third-class armor systems, the weapons they faced were significantly more powerful as well.
No matter what, the Valkyrie Redeer was not a ch that could take a lot of hits. The only way the ch could mitigate so of the incoming damage was to rely on its hexagon-shaped shield.
Even then, in order to preserve the mobility of the ch, Ves couldn't pair it with a thick and heavy tower shield.
Overall, the Valkyrie Redeer emphasized both offense and mobility. It was not designed to absorb a lot of hits, just like other marauder chs.
"It's a ch designed to pick a battle of its own choosing, just like pirates." Ves chuckled. He found the comparison to be apt. "Maybe that is why marauder chs are called this way."
When Ves began to evaluate the difficulty of this design project, he knew that he had a challenge on his hands.
The capacity of the ch was too small for his liking!
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