Nurous important shipnts arrived in the next few days.
Ves eagerly welcod the supply of superdinsional matter from the expeditionary fleet.
He also felt enthusiastic to reunite with Jovy, who accompanied the crucial supply fleet dispatched by the Red Association.
Ves wondered multiple tis why Jovy had to be recalled for a ti. The reasons must have been special. There was no need to go through so much trouble just to file a report.
As the Tarrasque and other starships began to load in additional supplies and materials, a sizable amount of hull-grade superdinsional matter got shipped to the surface. Although the local workshops and factories were not rated to work with superdinsional materials, the Rubarthans had implented a few hasty upgrades. This should allow them to create superdinsional alloys which they could subsequently forge into armor plating.
Ves did not set too much expectations on the quality. So long as the new superdinsional raints held up under moderate pressure, then that was enough.
He had spent the last few days diving into his ch design projects.
He remotely coordinated with his new collaborators on the first steps of his elental Carmine ch design projects.
The chers were eager to make their mark on the Polytal ch design concept. The ek designers working on behalf of the Hunting Association were considerably more reserved, but they sounded cooperative enough.
All Ves cared about was that both projects finally received proper attention and backing from major institutions. The difference was substantial, especially in the case of the Red Association.
The other ch design projects did not proceed as smoothly.
For example, Ves and Gloriana began to argue about whether the ch concepts for the Prothea Mark Il Project and the Lionheart Mark Il Project had beco outdated.
"We need to change things up." Ves argued to his wife. "We devised the ch concepts of both projects with the assumption that they only needed to fight against the native aliens. The Prothea Mark Il was designed to burn enemy warfleets and alien phase leaders with hot and inextinguishable purple flas. She can be a great machine when employed against the mutated voribugs, but we need to give her a more efficient ans of setting lots of voribugs on fire."
Gloriana crossed her arms and fell into thought for a mont. "I see no need to go back to the drawing boards. It may be true that the firepower of the Prothea Mark Il is excessive against massed voribug swarms, but do not forget her purpose. She is an ace ch. Her foremost responsibility is to counter enemy champions. Her secondary responsibility is to destroy the enemy's warships, fortifications and other gastructures. Clearing out the cannon fodder cos third. We can rely on other units to clear the ordinary swarms."
"Oh, co on, Gloriana! I have a handful of new ideas that can massively increase the Prothea’s swarm-clearing efficiency. So long as we equip her ch fra with weak but highly efficient energy projectors, they can be used to set a huge number of voribugs on fire, especially if she uses them in conjunction with her Saint Kingdom."
"I see no need to implent such a drastic change to the ch fra of the Prothea Mark II, Ves. Turning her into a hybrid ch or a multipurpose ch will weaken her original identity and introduce multiple weak points into the ch fra. Superdinsional protection works best if there are as few holes as possible. If we want the Prothea Mark Il to last long enough to conclude the current wars, then we need to take her armor integrity seriously. Besides, if you want to give Saint Isobel more offensive options, then why not design a second gun for her? The upgraded version of the Ignitron Assault Rifle can be reserved for battles against native alien forces."
Ves paused for a mont. Her idea had a lot of rit. He hadn't thought about designing a second handheld weapon for the Prothea Mark Ii, but now that Gloriana ntioned it, he developed an appreciation for this simple solution.
It was not as if this was the first ti that Ves designed alternative weapons for a high- ranking ch.
The Amaranto had access to both the Instrunt of Vengeance and the Instrunt of Doom, though the latter had yet to be upgraded to modern standards.
The Everchanger built up a small arsenal of weapons, granting Venerable Joshua even greater flexibility when it ca to choosing his loadout for the next battle.
Pairing the Prothea Mark II with just a single weapon seed inappropriate now that she was slated to beco a junior ace ch.
Perhaps Ves should design a sidearm for her as well in order to increase her attack options even further.
Or maybe not. He did not want to spend too much ti on this project. His workload was already hefty enough.
"I like your idea." He said with a smile. "Let's go for it. According to our new plan, the ignitron Assault Rifle will be designated as the Prothea's high-powered energy weapon solution. We will optimize its performance so that it can effectively burn and vaporize native alien assets. As for the second weapon, it will have to be an energy weapon that is primarily centered around clearing away massive amounts of voribugs. Preferably, the Prothea will be able to make use of this new weapon to burn the bodies of the voribugs so that our enemies will not be able to recover as much biomass as they wished."
Killing the voribugs was often not good enough. To deny the mutated voribugs of the resources they needed to replenish their fallen quickly, vaporizing the carcasses was the best solution.
The output of the Prothea Mark II's new weapon needed to be strong enough to produce this result.
This should not be a challenge so long as they designed it according to first-class standards.
Ves and Gloriana proceeded to work behind their terminals for half an hour.
They calculated the math and explored their options for new and interesting energy weapon systems.
They soon presented very different ideas.
Ves went first.
"My proposal is to design a luminar crystal energy projector. The design is relatively simple given our current mastery of luminar crystal technology. It is nothing more than a regular energy weapon but fitted with a focusing chanism that allows us to tighten or expand the output of the energy beam. However, just because it is relatively simple doesn't an it is weak. I am not sure whether it is a good idea to turn it into a D-arm, but even without this asure, the new weapon will establish a good balance between firepower and efficiency.”
While there were many different variations of directed energy weapon systems, Ves had always favored luminar crystal technology because it was easier to reach higher levels of efficiency.
Compared to more standard laser weapons, luminar crystal weapons contained less parts and produced less waste heat. The latter could be repeatedly fired without worrying that it would overheat anyti soon.
Of course, it still had limits, but Saint Isobel Koton needed to work harder to take this issue seriously.
Gloriana looked suspiciously at Ves.
“I do not believe that this is the extent of your plan. This sounds too uncomplicated for a ch designer as creative as you. What are you truly up to? Are you truly content to design a simple luminar crystal energy projector?"
Ves smirked. "Okay, you got . I may have co up with an experintal idea. Do you recall the Ice Fire Stone that we acquired a while ago? I put it in the vault in the hopes of integrating it into the upgraded version of the Ignitron. Now I think it may be a better idea to integrate it into this swarm-clearing weapon instead.”
His wife needed a mont to call up the docunts related to this strange hyper material.
Prior experints revealed that it was possible to leverage the dualistic properties of the Ice Fire Stone to develop a weapon that could spit out cold fire.
If a normal energy weapon produced hot flas, a weapon that integrated the mysterious Ice Fire Stone was capable of generating freezing flas!
So long as the effects remained coherent, it was very much possible to amplify the freezing reaction by feeding it with more thermal energy.
This made no sense.
Exposing anything to heat should normally make it hotter, but the reality-defying flas produced under the influence of the strange rock seed to violate the law of conservation of energy!
Of course, Ves had co up with more complicated theories on how it was possible to produce a freezing fla without running afoul of the First Law of Thermodynamics.
He did not have the ti to conduct proper experints in order to verify those idle theories.
It was already enough for him to know what the Ice Fire Stone could produce when utilized correctly.
Gloriana furrowed her brows for a mont. "Is it necessary to make use of this hyper material on the energy projector? Why not abide by your original plan and use it to upgrade the Ignitron?"
"Think about the enemies that they are ant to be used against." Ves said. "From what I have witnessed so far, the native aliens are vulnerable to thermal energy attacks as long as you can get past their energy defenses. The raging hot flas that Saint Isobel is known for can burn the native aliens more effectively once she takes possession of her ace ch. Giving her a weapon that produces a freezing effect does not add much value.”
His wife started to understand what he was going for. "Wait. I understand now. The voribugs are resistant towards thermal damage. They are inherently more resistant towards fire and energy damage. If the Prothea makes use of the Ice Fire Stone against these insects, then her attacks will not only face less resistance, but also freeze the bugs in question, causing their activity levels to drop."
They could take advantage of this in multiple different ways. The most obvious one was to develop an energy weapon that was able to project its freezing attacks in the widest possible angle.
This would disperse the energy attack to the extre, but so long as the nearby voribugs got exposed to just a wisp of freezing flas, then they would slowly beco paralyzed to the point of turning into popsicles!
"Wait" His wife suddenly said. "The flas produced by the Ice Fire Stone do not actually generate a classic exothermic reaction where the voribugs are turned into ash. Their bodies will still remain relatively intact if in a frozen state. They may even be able to co back to life as soon as they are thawed! Is it not better to leave this special hyper material out of the equation?"
Ves smirked. "You are correct that using the Ice Fire Stone will leave the bodies frozen but relatively intact. That is why I want to grant the Prothea Mark Ii the ability to make use of them. I am still working on this, but I want to devise a gadget or an add-on to the energy projector that will enable her to gather up all of the frozen bugs within the radius of her Saint Kingdom before simultaneously launching them out! So long as they remain completely chilled, their hard bodies will punch through the bodies of nurous voribugs, creating a 3D effect that is similar to opening fire with a humongous shotgun!" This was a crazy idea!
it sounded awfully dubious to Gloriana, but as long as every step worked as Ves described, she could see how this may be an incredibly effective way to clear out dense swarms of voribugs.
“I am not too sure about this to be honest.” She said. "The initial freezing shot should be highly efficient, but the energy needed to attract all of those frozen voribugs before launching them violently in an enormous volley will expend a lot more energy. The Prothea Mark Il will not be able to perform this sequence on repeat for long." "Perhaps... you are right, but you have to admit that this should be an incredibly effective way to clear out the largest swarms in the shortest possible interval. It is a creative solution and one that should work especially well against enemies that are much more highly resistant towards thermal damage. The Prothea Mark II will beco a nightmare to the bugs of the Solari Hive."
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