Lucky's gems always tempted Ves. They strengthened chs through inexplicable and seemingly magical ans.
The System's vague descriptions and nas for them only furthered their sense of mystique. Ves could hardly fathom the principles behind these tiny but incredibly influential objects. He couldn't even begin to figure out how a gem cat, a sentient chanical creation, could possibly convert a lot of minerals into these extraordinary objects.
Ves was determined to crack their secrets so day. He knew that now was not the ti, though. He already tried to utilize many different scanners on them, but none of them had ever produced any useful clues. The 'tech' behind these gems was too advanced. A simple Journeyman like him wouldn't even be able to get his foot in the door.
"I'll probably have to wait until I reach Master before I can begin my studies." He muttered.
Even then, it was doubtful if he could make any significant progress at that level of strength. His specialty did not lie in gems. While he felt that they might be related to spirituality in so way, the gems worked too well in isolating that aspect from his perception.
Before Ves pulled out his gems from his pocket, he suddenly paused and turned to Lucky.
The black-clad gem cat idly floated inside the cockpit. Lucky sniffed the controls and curiously eyed the alloyed surfaces.
"Lucky."
The cat turned around his head. "ow?"
"We're in a difficult situation right now. Don't you think it's ti you contributed to our defense?"
"ow?"
"Don't act stupid! You know what I'm talking about!"
"ow ow ow!"
No matter how much Ves cajoled or threatened Lucky, the darned gem cat simply wouldn't spit out a gem. What was taking him so long?!
"If you're suffering from constipation or sothing, then Dr. Ves here has a solution for you…"
As soon as Ves brought out a spare chunk of B-stone from another hidden pocket, Lucky's black-plated tail went ramrod straight!
"OW!"
Unfortunately, the bluff didn't work. Even the threat of suffering an awful belly ache did not prompt Lucky to go to the bathroom. Ves disappointingly put his B-stone chunk that he had prepared for this occasion away.
While he felt tempted to ram a piece of B-stone down Lucky's throat, that would only render his powerful commando cat useless in the coming battle. The timing wasn't good.
He had no choice but to turn his attention to his existing collection of gems. He grimaced as he thought of the options available to him. None of the gems he retained were as good as the ones he used before.
[Maiden's Affection]
The desire of an ancient maiden is locked within this gem. Increases the attraction of a ch by 40 percent to females.
[Bastet's Whisper]
The echoing whisper of a feline patron can be found within this gem. Enhances the acceleration of a tiger ch by 30 percent.
[Whipping Boy]
The fear of a boy towards won is encapsulated within this cursed gem. Increases the dread of a ch by 50 percent to males.
These three gems were supposed to be Lucky's ordinary products. Aside from the Bastet's Whisper which he couldn't utilize right now, the other two gems brought abnormal benefits.
For a long ti, he considered them to be trash. They did not increase a ch's technical performance but instead changed the way that people regarded them.
Ves rely relegated them to masterwork ch tokens in his mind because of his low opinion of them. They held no other value pushing a high-quality ch over the threshold of masterwork ch.
This ti was different. The current crisis forced Ves to reevaluate all of his assets. He realized what a fool he had been to look down on the Maiden's Affection and the Whipping Boy.
After designing the Doom Guard, the Valkyrie Redeer and Ferocious Piranha, he discovered how effective suppressive glows could impact the battlefield. As long as the enemy ch pilots were susceptible to the negative influence of a glow, then it was truly worth it to invest in a ch that specialized in this aspect!
The existence of the three aforentioned chs caused Ves to view gems that influenced human emotions in a different light.
An important question ca to mind. "Do the effects of the gems overlap with the glows of my chs?"
He wasn't too sure about that, but the implications were huge. If the Valkyrie Pri, which also possessed the iconic Marked For Death ability, frightened an enemy ch pilot to an extent, amplifying this effect by 50 percent could very well render the target completely frozen in fear!
If the gem and glow did not directly interact with each other, then it was still fine. The double effects would still produce a better result than normal due to their complentary effects.
Whatever the case, the Whipping Boy had suddenly turned into a hot commodity in his eyes. He actually resented Lucky for not producing more useful gems like these!
"I only have one to go around." He muttered. "Should I really use it up on the Valkyrie Pri?"
As much as Ves relished the sight of the Valkyrie Pri taking out the enemy champions one-by-one by reducing their ntal balance, there was another pri ch that also possessed a suppressive effect.
If the Piranha Pri assigned to Venerable Tusa possessed the original glow of the Doom Guard, then he would have installed the Whipping Boy into its fra within a heartbeat.
However, ever since Nyxie died, the Doom Guard and Ferocious Piranha designs lost their primordial fear effect they were originally centered around. Now, the chs produced an alternating disorientating glow that was based on different principles.
"What a sha." He shook his head. "If the Piranha Pri still possessed its old glow, the Whipping Boy would have turned it into a terror that could disrupt the enemy battle formation."
As a result, the Whipping Boy gem appeared to be the most suitable for the Valkyrie Pri. Ves briefly thought what Venerable Joshua would think about piloting a ch that was blessed by a gem with such a denigrating na.
"It doesn't matter! I'm not going to tell him anything!"
Just as he unfolded the small tools embedded into his Unending Regalia in order to install the Whipping Boy, he briefly paused. His pouch held much more than three gems. It was just that their origins and descriptions were too vague.
[Minor Chaos Remnant]
An infinitesimally small remnant of chaos is captured within this gem. Increases the penetration of any sharp lee weapon wielded by a ch by 40 percent.
[Unstable Chaos Essence]
A terrible essence of chaos is locked within this gem. The essence is stolen from a great and ancient horror that would dearly wish to regain it. Carry this gem at your own risk.
[Antithesis Essence]
???
The Minor Chaos Remnant at least sounded useful, but the other two gems left Ves completely speechless!
He could only guess at their effects, but the good news was that he wasn't completely left in the dark. He once utilized a pair of Unstable Chaos Essence gems in his wedding rings. He also transford a bunch of Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gems into spiritual bombs which produced potent blasts during the Battle against the Abyss.
These so-called chaos gems were filled with volatile but powerful energy. Ves believed they could be harnessed, but so far he lacked the courage to embed them in any of his chs.
"They should be safe enough." He guessed. "Every gem that Lucky produced so far is geared towards empowering chs. These chaos gems should not be any different. It's just that I can't predict what effects they will bring. What if they bring harm to the ch pilot as well as the opponent? What if they have a corrupting effect?"
Lucky produced a substantial amount of chaos gems while travelling through the Nyxian Gap. The dark and twisted environnt sohow affected the gem cat's output, which ant that the gems definitely contained a lot of ominous energy!
Together with other clues, this interaction also proved that Lucky's products were heavily influenced by the environnt he was in, but Ves wasn't paying attention to that at the mont.
"I don't have enough gems to go around." He muttered. "I have 6 pri chs and only 3 usable gems with defined effects. While I'm afraid how the chaos gems will affect the ntality of my expert pilots, I shouldn't underestimate their ntal fortitude."
Expert pilots were fad for their abnormally strong wills. Ves was actually quite hopeful that the corrupting influence of the chaos gems might bring about a stimulating effect instead. It was similar to how inducing pri resonance and true resonance allowed expert pilots to exercise their resonance strength.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking.
Ves made the decision to utilize the chaos gems despite the risks. Whatever happened to his expert pilots in the future, right now he needed to add an imdiate boost of power to as many chs as possible!
"Let's get this over with first."
He installed the Whipping Boy gem into the Valkyrie Pri. The ch did not appear to be much different aside from gaining a small but invisible boost in quality.
As Ves eventually erged from the cockpit, he turned around to take another look at the ch.
The machine did not look more intimidating to him. Joshua needed to activate its Marked For Death ability in order for the Whipping Boy to exert its true value.
Ves looked forward to witnessing that mont.
He proceeded to install the other gems.
The choice of gem for the Bright Sword Pri was very obvious. The Minor Chaos Remnant possessed an incredibly valuable effect of increasing penetration.
While Ves briefly contemplated using it on the Bright Spear Pri instead, he eventually opted to augnt Venerable Dise's ch.
The Swordmaiden fighting style depended heavily on cutting through chs. Ketis also specialized in sharpness and tried to turn that into a key advantage when she assisted him in developing the Bright Sword Pri.
With Venerable Dise's indomitable battle performance and aggressive fighting style, she could easily bring distress to her opponents!
Of course, defense wasn't her strong suit. If the enemy prepared to et her attacks and employed containnt tactics, then the Bright Sword Pri could easily beco entangled before being attacked on all sides. It was up to Major Verle and the other commanders to prevent that from happening.
"Well, even if she gets surrounded, with an indestructible Unending alloy greatsword that is 40 percent sharper than before, she can probably cut her way out of an encirclent!"
After augnting Venerable Dise's pri ch, Ves contemplated whether he should use up the Maiden's Affection. Compared to the Whipping Boy, the Maiden's Affection appeared to be mostly useful in boosting the morale of friendly Hexers.
"The Valkyrie Pri and the Bright Sword Pri were already the best opportunities to utilize this gem."
In his opinion, the third-best ch to use this gem upon was the Shield of Samar, but it already possessed a gem long before he turned it into a pri ch.
The other three pri chs did not look like a good fit for the Maiden's Affection.
"Hmmm, maybe I should save it up for the Glory Seekers."
He decided to put away the Maiden's Affection and begin using his other chaos gems instead.
He entered the cockpit of the Piranha Pri and decided to embed it with one of his Unstable Chaos Essence gems.
"Since this ch possesses a suppressive glow, then adding a bit of chaos to the mix will definitely produce a surprising result!"
He could hardly imagine changes to the Piranha Pri's glow. If it worked out the way he hoped, Venerable Tusa would probably gain an even greater advantage at close-ranged combat!
The re thought of this happening delighted Ves!
"Hahahaha! More chaos! More death! More destruction! Don't let any of those blasted Fridayn get away with their sanity intact!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers