The Dustweaver contained so much advanced tech that it was far outside of the scope of a comrcial ch model.
Ves strongly suspected that it was either a tech demo or an experintal work. Master Quan clearly developed it in order to figure out how he could augnt his chs with hyper technology.
The old Master definitely succeeded to a large extent because the Dustweaver exuded a clear sense of threat.
Just looking at it made his Jutland organ throb, which ant that it could pose a real threat against his true body!
Though Ves was not entirely sure what made the Dustweaver so strong, he could make a guess based on the fact that it integrated a notable quantity of high-grade hyper materials.
Many of the hyper chs that Ves had witnessed in the past relied on the classical elents to augnt their performance. A clear majority of the hyper ch models released in the past few months had a clear connection with the 5 elents.
This was definitely not a coincidence. Hyper materials of the five elents could be found practically anywhere. They were also major components of E energy radiation, so hyper chs could always attract large amounts of tal, water, fire, earth or wood energy from the environnt.
Aside from the wood elent that was mainly applied to biochs, the other 4 classical elents had beco so ubiquitous among currentgen chs that a self-sustain ecosystem had ford around their usage.
The more ch designers worked with the 5 elents, the more research and knowhow they produced over the course of their work.
Much of this progress was bound to spread across human society. The Red Association also aggregated a lot of results and helped to disseminate them to the ch industry in order to speed up the collective developnt of hyper technology.
In the half year or so since the start of the Hyper Generation, many ch designers had already pushed the research and application of the 5 elents to a much higher level than the other E energy attributes!
This encouraged more ch designers to develop hyper chs based around the sa elents, causing the infrastructure around these products to grow even more.
It was a positive feedback loop that showed no signs of slowing down. Ves loosely estimated that at least 70 percent of all hyper products would be based around at least one of the classical elents!
The prevalence of hyper products based on water and so on made hyper chs based on other E energy attributes stand out more.
They might not be as refined or efficient as ordinary machines, but the more exotic hyper chs inevitably acquired abilities that significantly transford their combat approach!
Ves had a strong suspicion that he was looking at one of these cases. He discreetly utilized Blinky's senses to determine what sort of E energy attributes that Master Quan applied to his ch design.
He sensed at least two relatively familiar attributes.
One of them reminded Ves of rot and decay. It was a force that was tied to the universal rule that nothing lasts forever and that everything eventually crumbled into dust.
The other attribute felt a lot more threatening to Ves. It was the primal force of destruction, the ability to completely break whatever it struck.
This was a powerful combination of attributes!
Though Ves had never worked with these attributes himself, he possessed enough expertise to know that it was far more difficult to control E energy attributes that were inherently more dangerous and abstract.
The destruction attribute was especially difficult to handle as it could easily destroy the ch that attempted to use this powerful energy!
However, Master Xieliq Quan just happened to possess an abundant amount of experience with dangerous and volatile tech. He was probably among the more qualified ch designers to make use of this powerful E energy attribute.
Just as its na suggested, the Dustweaver predominantly leaned towards the decay attribute, and only made minor use of the destruction attribute.
As Ves continued to discern the secrets of the Dustweaver, his behavior did not go unnoticed.
"How much have you guessed, Professor Larkinson? Are you able to simulate the Dustweaver's combat approach?"
"I think I have a decent idea of the concept behind this hero ch." Ves said with growing confidence. "At first glance, the Dustweaver looks as if it is a machine with high peak performance but low endurance. It is designed to go on the offensive and hamr its target with unrelenting aggression. Once it is able to break down the opposing energy shield, it can finish off the exposed ch by firing its molecular disintegrator. No matter how well-armored the opposing ch may be, just a few shots should be enough to break down all of the fancy armor and crumble enough internal components."
Master Quan nodded as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his tallic coat. "Your logic is sound, but the Dustweaver is not as simple as it appears on the surface. What else can my hero ch do that enables it to overco enemies in a different manner?"
Ves narrowed his eyes as he thought about the elents that were not congruous to his earlier description.
He had a hunch that there was a deliberate reason why Master Quan chose to turn the Dustweaver into a hero ch as opposed to a hybrid ch or whatever.
Ves thought back on the hero chs he designed in the past. The Ouroboros and the Everchanger had always been more about the guns and swords in their hands.
When Ves studied the Dustweaver from a different angle, he suddenly ca up with a premise that matched all of the clues that he had gathered!
"The Dustweaver doesn't appear to be a hero ch at first because its primary armants are primarily effective at close range." Ves spoke. "The shoulder-mounted positron guns allow it to attack at longer ranges, but they are too small and weak to defeat powerful chs by themselves. That contradicts the inherent aning of a hero ch, which is that it should always have an effective ans to defeat enemies up close and from afar."
Master Quan looked impressed. "Spoken like a true hero ch designer. You are getting close to the truth, but there is still more to the story."
"I was getting to that, Master. What is strange about the Dustweaver is that if it wishes to overco the defenses of its opponents as quickly as possible, it should be saturated with E energy attributes that align with this approach. Instead of doing so, you have integrated your design with a large proportion of decay-attributed hyper materials. This only makes sense if your ch is designed to wear down its adversaries over a longer stretch of ti. I believe that the positron cannons or maybe even the dium-range molecular disintegrator may have a way to efficiently wear down the defenses of a ch like my Elite Fey Fianna from a comfortable distance."
This made so much more sense. The dium-range molecular disintegrator was a large tell. Master Quan could have easily equipped a more effective version of his alien-derived weapon system in his ch design if it only needed to be used at close range.
Master Quan responded with an amused expression. "Impressive! Your understanding of chs is much deeper than the other Senior ch Designers that I have t over my long career. To be able to decipher my Dustweaver to this extent is a testant to your love of our craft. As expected of a ch designer that had already produced a multitude of masterwork chs at an early age."
It always felt good to be complinted, but Ves did not think he had figured everything out about the Dustweaver. He still felt that it possessed a bit more depth that added another dinsion to the hero ch.
However, the match was about to start. The round of inspections took much longer due to the far greater complexity of the chs, but once the chers had done their jobs, the Dustweaver and the Elite Fey Fianna moved to the opposite ends of the ch arena.
As the countdown started, Master Quan approached and made an odd request.
"I have learned that you are far more physically gifted than you appear on the surface. May I have your permission to touch you? I would like to feel your skin."
That was an exceedingly weird request, but Ves did not think it was inappropriate in this situation.
A Master like Xieliq Quan possessed many connections, so it wasn't a surprise that he knew that Ves was a human phase lord.
Many people held a lot of curiosity towards phase lords among humans. What were they like? How did all of the space folding keep their true bodies in working condition? All of these questions fascinated many researchers who had developed a strong interest in this powerful native custom.
Ves simply answered by pulling up the sleeve of his outfit and offering up his arm.
They had already shook hands before, but now that Master Quan traced the length of Ves' arm with his aging fingers, the man drew a lot of conclusions from this impromptu study.
The Master ch Designer did not even pay attention to the challenge match anymore!
As the countdown reached 30 seconds, Master Quan suddenly gripped Ves' arm with his clawed hand and actually started to communicate with Ves through a spiritual connection!
"I would appreciate it if you do not show any obvious reactions to our conversation. I have been waiting to speak to you for many months."
Ves found it difficult to maintain a cool expression.
While it was not actually difficult to communicate through spiritual ans, it was definitely not a common thod during the Age of chs!
There had to be a very deliberate reason why Master Quan chose to communicate with Ves through this fashion.
Compared to talking with their voice or transmitting signals with their cranial implants, communicating directly through a small and direct spiritual connection was a lot more secure!
Given the emphasis on forming a secure communication channel, Ves imdiately suspected that Master Quan did not want the chers or anyone else to listen to what he had to say.
"Let reintroduce myself to you, Professor. I am not only a Master ch Designer, but also a mber of the Cosmopolitan Movent."
What?!
Ves found it incredibly difficult to suppress his shock at this revelation!
A part of him imdiately wanted to call security so that they could take this human traitor into custody, but he imdiately got rid of that foolish plan.
There was no way that Master Quan went through all of this effort to et with him and reveal one of his dirtiest secrets just to offer himself up to the chers.
Ves tried his best to control his emotions, though it was clear that the gem cat resting on his shoulder had beco alerted.
"ow." Lucky did not shift his gaze away from Master Quan.
"Explain." Ves hissed through the spiritual connection. "I am no friend of the cosmopolitans, and I do not think your group thinks favorably of either."
The Master with a murky background released a ntal sigh. "The Cosmopolitan Movent is not as monolithic as you think. It is similar to the Red Association in that it is split up into multiple cells, each of which have developed their own schools of thought. Centralization is impossible in an umbrella organization like ours as that could easily allow the chers and the fleeters to roll every cosmopolitan up at once."
"And that matters because...?"
"Let assure you that I am not a part of the more radical cells that are hostile to you. It may be difficult for you to believe, but there are moderate and reasonable mbers within our movent. Many of them are indistinguishable from the people who are part of normal society."
Ves had heard so many bad stories about the cosmopolitans that he found it difficult to imagine that these terrorists and extremists could match this description.
No one aligned with a forbidden organization like the Cosmopolitan Movent unless that person had beco crazy!
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