The creation of the Illustrious One did not go unnoticed.
Throughout the Komodo Star Sector, owners and users of the original Crystal Lord suddenly found their old chs changing in unexpected ways.
While the Crystal Lords always possessed a glow, it had always been fairly weak. Only the ch pilots themselves experienced the differences.
All of that changed when the crystal golem morphed into the Illustrious One!
As his na suggested, the Illustrious One inherited much of the potential of the Blinding One. While that didn't imdiately translate to increased ability, the integration of the fused elents would only deepen over ti. Ves looked forward to what abilities he might wield at that ti.
For now, the Illustrious One just gained a massive boost of strength through unorthodox ans. It was a given that his condition was not stable. The uncontrolled rainbow lights radiating off his sparkling form was a symptom of his lack of control!
The effect imdiately altered the hundreds of thousands of Crystal Lord chs the LMC sold of its custors over the years!
As Ves' second original ch design, the Crystal Lord was an aging lastgen ch model. It never reached the critical success of the Desolate Soldier and Doom Guard model, but it was already a profitable offering by itself. It's luminar crystal-based laser rifle was slightly ahead of its ti during the rifleman ch model's release, but its performance could not keep up with the currentgen laser rifle models.
Nonetheless, its existing pilots had gotten used to the benefits of wielding a lighter, slimr and less cumberso weapon. As a premium ch, the Crystal Lord already perford well above typical rifleman chs. It was no big deal for the ch to effectively keep up with its more modern counterparts.
"What is happening?" A grizzled ch sergeant wondered.
The chs piloted by his rcenary buddies slowed down. Their unit was assigned to patrol a stretch of sandy plains on a planet that had been scoured during the Sand War.
Sensing an abnormality, the rcenary squad imdiately entered into a higher state of alertness. Several light chs road around in order to detect possible enemies while a knight ch protectively hovered next to the frozen Crystal Lord.
Suddenly, the ch seed to bloom. The sergeant and his comrades imdiately beca affected by a glow that was suffused with an outpouring of light and ambition!
Every other Crystal Lord exhibited the sa reaction! The chs in the hands of rcenaries, security companies, secret organizations, pirates and even the Larkinsons themselves all seed to undergo a universal evolution that made them greater than before!
Unfortunately, it didn't last. Several minutes after their owners and pilots greeted this unexpected surprise, the chs quickly lost their new glows. The vibe of the chs beca muted to the point that it closely resembled its original level.
"What?! Is that it? Where is the glow?!"
"No! Co back!"
"What is the LMC doing? This is the second ch model that has gone out of control!"
When the Illustrious One completed its evolution, Ves stepped in to prevent the changes from affecting the Crystal Lord. Since this was the first ti he tried to restore a ch's glow to its old level, Ves needed so ti to fiddle out the right solution.
Many people noticed the dramatic changes before they died down!
The LMC beca flooded with inquiries once again. Though the dia had picked up on the story, the outrage was much less this ti. The Crystal Lord wasn't as popular as the Doom Guard and the changes didn't negatively affect any custors aside from a few rare exceptions.
In fact, the owners of the Crystal Lord Mark I's demanded a return of the abortive 'free upgrade'!
Ves briefly discussed the matter with Gloriana, Raymond, Gavin and a couple of other executives in a series of conference calls.
After considering every angle, they eventually ca to a consensus.
"The market needs sufficient reasons to purchase our upcoming Crystal Lord Mark II." Ves issued his final thoughts on the matter. "While we can offer either a free or paid upgrade to the custors who bought the Crystal Lord Mark I, this kind of change falls well outside of the scope of the original products. When we initially sold it, we never promised or generated the expectation that the LMC would implent incrental updates in the following years."
The projection of Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson nodded in agreent. "The LMC's business model is centered around developing new product lines and keeping them fresh by releasing updated models with significant improvents. We will only muddy this arrangent if we narrow the gap between new and old by improving the latter."
It was a pure business decision to withhold the 'upgrade' that Ves developed from the Crystal Lord Mark I. As much as Ves wanted to side with his custors and give them a reason to cherish their old chs even more, the profiteering side of him won out this ti.
The LMC may be relatively flush with cash these days, but the Larkinson Clan needed much more capital to acquire more capital ships and fund the developnt of its upcoming expert chs.
To that end, Ves needed to build up as much montum as possible for his comrcial chs.
With the incorporation of improved luminar crystals and the addition of a vastly-improved design spirit, Ves believed that the Crystal Lord Mark II had the potential to achieve the sa critical acclaim as his other bestsellers!
On land, the Crystal Lord Mark II perford quite well. Its moderate armor coverage, its nimble movents and its light but very potent laser rifle promised stellar performance when paired with skilled ch pilots.
The design teams assigned to the project that led to its developnt had done an excellent job. Even without the constant supervision of Ves and Gloriana, the assistant ch designers such as Rina Orion did not disappoint.
Soon after Ves created the Illustrious One, the Crystal Lord Mark II Project entered its final track. New prototypes were being built to test the last round of adjustnts and fixes.
The tests also served as an opportunity for the LMC to observe the effects of the Crystal Lord Mark II's improved design spirit.
Compared to the likes of the Solemn Guard or the Superior Mother, the Illustrious One did not induce a strong psychological effect on others.
It did not affect reality as blatantly as the likes of Lufa either.
Instead, the test pilots and observers noted that the glows projected by the prototype exerted a hybrid influence.
The ch pilot and any friendlies within the area of effect gained a higher affinity towards energy, directed energy weapons and crystals. While they didn't gain any concrete knowledge, their intuition and feel towards these subjects had noticeably improved. The ch pilots knew their limits and also exhibited better judgent whenever they piloted the prototype in simulated battles.
Overall, their ability to make split-second decisions in battle had improved!
Yet this wasn't all. When the glow was active, the performance of the luminar crystals inexplicably increased by five to ten percent. This was significant enough to warrant a considerable investigation.
Even Gloriana visited the testing grounds in person in order to study the effect!
No one ca up with any answers aside from confirming that the strange luminar crystals were indeed sensitive towards the Crystal Lord Mark II's glow.
When Gloriana acted on a hunch and replaced the luminar crystals of a prototype with normal substitutes, the glow of the ch seed to grow substantially dimr.
"It turns out they complint each other!"
No one anticipated that such a relationship existed. Not even Ves suspected that luminar crystals were so responsive to the spiritual signature of a strong luminar specin!
"Maybe we've been misusing luminar technology all this ti!" Ves guessed.
In fact, Ves believed that not even the MTA research team that delved into luminar technology anticipated this outco!
A headache imdiately ford in his mind. "Ugh. As if I don't already have enough on my plate."
Despite these oddities, the Crystal Lord Mark II prototypes perford well enough to make additional testing superfluous. Ves and Gloriana carefully studied the ch's improved performance paraters and tweaked the design of the laser rifleman ch to account for the changes.
After a final round of touch ups, the pair formally concluded the project.
In two different design labs, the Braves and Erudites both stood up and clapped their hands. The three design teams responsible for realizing Ves and Gloriana's vision basked in the honor of completing the LMC's first minor design project!
Ves proudly addressed the contributors of the finished project.
"Thank you for your efforts. Your assistance was crucial to the developnt of the Crystal Lord Mark II. We will mark your performance later and award you with additional Larkinson rits if your contribution is great enough. Rember, as long as you go above and beyond what is expected of you, we will always reward your efforts as long as they are helpful."
The mbers of the remaining design teams beca more eager after hearing this announcent.
Earning more Larkinson rits was the best way to improve themselves!
As Ves studied the faces of his assistants, he noted that the Erudites exhibited a much stronger reaction than his Braves.
This was no surprise to him. Due to the fact that his Braves had all taken part in the Nyxian Gap Campaign, they were automatically entitled to receive a set of second-class augntations.
Though Ves sowhat regretted this expensive promise, he was still determined to abide by it. No matter how much he had to delay his other procurents, he wanted to improve 'his' n so that they would quickly be able to expand their influence in the Larkinson Clan.
Obviously, the fact that the Erudites were left out did not make them happy. Intellectually, they understood that they weren't entitled to any 'hazard pay' as they did not take part in a life-threatening mission.
It did not prevent them from growing jealous.
Seeing the Braves earning so very desirable augntations without doing anything special was infuriating! Aside from helping to implent so upgrades and modifications, the Braves had not done anything that strengthened the Larkinsons in battle.
Of course, the Eridutes could never understand the fear and desperation of the Braves during the Battle of Ulimo Citadel and the Battle against the Abyss. It took nerves of steel to remain calm during the escalating clashes!
As far as Ves was concerned, the Braves deserved this special treatnt. In any case, they were his boys and girls. He selected them for their courage. In terms of pure design ability, they were not as good as their Erudite counterparts.
It was for this reason that Gloriana insisted on leveraging bonuses to provide her assistants with an alternate ans to earn rewards. After all, as better ch designers, the Erudites should be able to harvest a lot more bonuses.
The smartest and most capable Eridutes should be able to climb up by themselves. Those who weren't good enough to earn any bonuses deserved no attention from Gloriana. She was quite fair and transparent about her intentions.
"Alright, folks, let's not get too excited." Ves spoke after the excitent died down. "We only finished a single project. There are five more that haven't reached the finish line. Let's work hard in order to finalize the remaining ch designs before my return!"
The LMC's Design Departnt beca more productive as ever. The Miracle Couple devoted all of their available ti on the ongoing projects, thereby speeding up progress considerably!
Ves also devoted a lot of ti to fleshing out the spiritual characteristics of his various chs. He implented retraction dials to each of them and also added them to the LMC's existing ch catalog.
Pushing out this 'update' was very easy. Many custors had been asking for this function for a long ti, so when the LMC officially released these minor updates, millions of existing LMC chs soon gained the sa ability!
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