"Hmph. Interesting. Very interesting."
As Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson continued to learn from the ssenger of Silence while serving alongside the Dostoevsky Clan, he regularly reported back to his clan.
Sotis, Gloriana answered his calls. Other tis, Ves managed to free enough ti in his schedule to have a good talk with the first and most experienced ace pilot of the Larkinson Clan.
They not only went over so of the lessons that Tusa learned, but also studied the battle logs of the Dark Zephyr in order to explore how the ace light skirmisher could be improved in a future update.
"I appreciate it that you are willing to share the wisdom espoused by the ssenger of Silence." Ves told Tusa over the comm. "It is certainly interesting to hear all of the theories that people have co up with to explain how ace pilots should develop. I don't know enough about this kind of stuff to tell you which ones are plausible or not. You should use your own judgnt for that. As a ch designer, I am more interested in how your gradual evolution and developnt should be paired with matching upgrades to your Dark Zephyr. What are your thoughts on this subject?"
The Larkinson ace pilot looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. I don't feel particularly short on anything when it cos to my battle partner. I am still getting used to the huge amount of power that I have gained after piloting the Mark II version for a long ti. The jump in performance is just too big. If I am being really honest, I would have liked to obtain a more effective area-clearing weapon, and also have a more effective way to harm or impair a powerful phase lord, but these are old and familiar shortcomings."
"This is the inherent limitation to sticking to a light skirmisher archetype, Tusa. If you are willing to forgo the purity of this template and agree to mount integrated energy weapons or install missile launchers onto the shoulders, I give your machine more effective area denial weapons that are excellent at clearing large amounts of cannon fodder. Does this sound like an interesting solution to you, or do you want your machine to remain classic?"
"I think… it is better for to work with the strengths and limitations of my current configuration of my ch." Tusa reluctantly said. "Light skirmishers can't do a lot of stuff, but maybe that is for the better. Mobility is everything to . If too much of the ch is dedicated to other priorities such as launching stronger attacks, it will make my ch slower sohow. I know just enough about ch design to figure that out. I think it is better if I can maintain my speed and maneuverability advantages as much as possible. I can still cope with a weaker arsenal, especially with the knowledge that there are other Larkinson ace pilots that can compensate for my shortcomings."
"You had a great ti working together with a marksman ch specialist, eh?" Ves knowingly smiled.
"I can't describe how luxurious it feels to not have to worry about my inadequate attack capabilities. I can completely devote myself to doing what I do best, which is being really fast and making myself impossible to hit. The ssenger of Silence has assisted and complented in battle in a way that I have never experienced from anyone else in the Larkinson Clan. Venerable Davia Stark could definitely learn a lot of lessons from this saint."
"The circumstances are entirely different, Tusa. You can't make a fair comparison between the two. The ssenger of Silence clearly prioritized his cooperation with you and took special care of you. His primary objectives are also very clear, which is targeting the greater phase lords that are leading the alien fleets in your warzone. In contrast, Davia Stark is much weaker, and she needs to cover the backs of every friendly high-ranking ch as well as do her part to keep our overall strategic direction intact."
Tusa sighed. "You're right. I get it. I think my experiences with the Terrans show that it is really important to have a powerful ranged attacker in our ch forces. Now that I have confronted these greater phase lords, I have learned that it has beco all the more important to have a way to effectively threaten their lives. If we don't have what it takes to bring them down quickly enough, they will just wade into our lines and collapse our forces by relying on brute force. If you ever want to raise a first-class ch force and play in the big leagues, you cannot afford to lack this capability. We need to have a powerful saint that can deter these giant bastards."
Both Larkinsons had one ace pilot in mind.
Of the three ace pilots to erge from the Larkinson Clan up to this point, Saint Isobel Kotin was by far the most destructive and offensive of them all. The purple sun that she managed to conjure during her dramatic breakthrough event proved to be powerful enough to overco the insane resilience and regeneration of the Emperor Tree and turn its entire core into ash and cinders!
Ves looked regretful. "We can't count on Saint Isobel yet. She is still stuck in the brain-and-spine-in-a-jar phase. According to the regular reports that I have received, her recovery process is on schedule, which is both good and bad news. The good news is that our biotech researchers don't anticipate too many complications that could risk her life. The bad news is that it will take a minimum of 4 years or so to develop a fire-proof bio-engineered post-human body that can fully rge with her surviving organs."
This took too much ti. With the Red Tide Offensive hamring at red humanity's defensive lines, the Larkinsons needed Isobel's aweso firepower sooner rather than later!
Unfortunately, even if Ves decided to switch up his strategy and rush Saint Isobel's restoration, it would still take several years for her to recover from all of the trauma of burning up her own body and familiarizing herself with a newly regenerated physique.
Since that was the case, the Larkinsons might as well take their ti and go for quality.
The two Larkinsons began to shift their attention towards another na, one that had beco a lot more prominent than before!
"Can Casella do it?" Tusa questioned.
"Possibly. Not entirely. Our study of the Saint Commander's improved Commandeering ability and newly gained Enfeoffnt ability shows that she can massively amplify the firepower of a large ch force while also elevating the firepower of dozens of chs to the standard of a low-tier expert ch. Combined, this can definitely multiply the effective firepower of our ch force to a formidable degree, but the maximum degree of empowernt still remains limited. The temporarily endowed 'Knights' and 'Barons' as we call them can only gain so much true resonance assistance. Their current level of firepower can definitely threaten lesser phase lords, but I am not so sure that remains the sa towards greater phase lords."
Greater phase lords, just like senior ace pilots, had reached a threshold of power that allowed them to beco virtually impervious against massed small arms fire.
When their tough phasewater-empowered true bodies reached the size of tropoli or even small moons, then the sheer quantity of attacks of the chs under the command of the Saint Commander simply ca across as shooting lots of needles!
Sure, these needles had enough power to wear down the greater phase lord's spatial barrier and induce pain when struck his physical body, but there was no way these tiny attacks could seriously damage a well-protected phasewater organ or have any chance of inflicting a crippling injury.
Command specialists seed to be incredibly powerful, but they always had trouble with confronting powerful enemies at the sa level or higher.
A powerful enough champion could ignore any army arrayed against him and rampage with impunity!
The Diffraction Lord and the Biopod Mother both seed excellently suited to counter a ch army led by Saint Commander Casella.
The Diffraction Lord would be able to weave a lot of false images and misdirect a lot of incoming firepower.
The Biopod Mother could produce a seemingly endless tide of disposable biomonsters that could force the ch army into a grueling contest of attrition. The Biopod Mother was so massive that she could definitely spawn a lot more biopods than the amount of chs that any typical ch force could muster!
A well-rounded first-class ch force, no, a ch corps geared towards fighting the most powerful alien fleets had to be led by multiple different ace pilots.
There were many viable ace ch compositions, but at least one of them had to possess the attack power to inflict real harm onto a greater phase lord. Whether that ace ch was primarily lee or ranged focused did not matter too much. The machine had to be able to kill an opponent that possessed body proportions that ranged in the hundreds of kiloters!
Ves and Tusa eventually went back to discussing the Dark Zephyr. There was little point in talking about subjects outside of their imdiate control.
"I still need to unlock the remaining potential of the current version of the Dark Zephyr before I have a better idea on what should be improved." Saint Tusa told his cousin. "I have barely scratched the surface of what it is capable of. For example, I have begun to experint with Erlemin and tried to banish many different objects. I am not satisfied with the scale of stuff I can banish. I need to keep practicing and increase my resonance strength to the point where I can whisk away entire chunks from alien warships."
"How much ti will you need until you can properly weaponize your Banish ability against enemy warships?"
"I don't know." Tusa shrugged. "I have been trying to create a so-called artistic conception based on this resonating ability that should hopefully speed up my progress, but it is hard to create an image that I am invested in when this is completely new to . I need to put in a lot more ti and practice before I am ready to combine this resonating ability with my domain field."
The God Kingdom Building Theory gave Saint Tusa a clear enough direction and thodology to develop his set of abilities. However, the formulaic approach also demanded a lot of trial and error. There was no substitute for hard work.
"Take your ti, Tusa. Erlemin and its effects are new to us as well. We need to gather all of the data related to it and crunch the numbers in order to better attune your Dark Zephyr to its unique properties. I am glad to hear that we don't have to perform an urgent upgrade or correction at this ti. Our Design Departnt doesn't have the ti to revisit the design of the latest iteration of your ace ch at the mont."
"How are the other high-end projects coming along?" Saint Tusa eagerly asked.
"Saint Commander Casella Ingvar won't be joining you on the battlefield soon. The Minerva Mark II Project has almost reached the halfway point and still requires a lot more work. The good news is that the Amaranto Mark III Project and the Riot Mark III Project are much closer to completion. Gloriana and her collaborators have managed to solve many of the difficult problems that stalled them for a while. Once they overco the most challenging hurdles, they can essentially do the rest of the work on autopilot. It just takes ti to flesh out the designs of the two high-tier expert chs. Whether Venerable Davia Stark and Venerable Rosa Orfan will be able to break through shortly after receiving their powerful new machines is another question, though. So far, neither my grandfather nor my uncle have managed to obtain any luck."
That caused Tusa to frown. "Once I have completed my tour with the Dostoevsky Clan, I'll co back and instruct them in person. I have learned so much more about what makes an ace pilot. Maybe I can set them on the right path."
"Let's hope so. If they can't break through even after that… then maybe they are never ant to transcend their limitations any further…"
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