The Mech Touch

Chapter 5288 The Leader of the Pack

They basically acted like physical interfaces that could directly draw in the power of exotic radiation and infuse it into a controllable luminar crystal weapon!

Before the Age of Dawn, Ves had no special thoughts about developing more products like the Gray Lotus in the short term.

As powerful and useful as this relic weapon may be, the lack of suitable materials made it impossible for him to develop this technological direction any further!

That was no longer the case. The Age of Dawn had changed the rules. Hyper materials that were previously so rare that they only showed up in weird places like the Nyxian Gap and the spaces controlled by the Five Scrolls Compact were about to become a lot more ubiquitous.

Even if the emergence of higher grades of hypers were a lot more demanding, that did not stop the fact that they would probably become a lot more common in the Red Ocean in the near future!

However, just because a lot more odd and peculiar sympathetic materials comparable to Black Demon Steel became available did not mean that it was easy to make use of their properties!

While it was possible to use them as the base materials for simple products such as swords and armor plating, this was only the most shallow application of their unique properties.

Using them as a core material of an energy weapon system was much more difficult. Constructing a laser weapon by substituting ordinary exotics with more interesting hypers did not necessarily lead to a transformation in performance.

Mech designers and engineers needed to be a lot more clever than that in order to successfully channel the power of exotic radiation through an energy weapon.

Luminar crystal technology happened to offer a ready-made template to make this happen. The attack phase crystal that converted electrical energy into various different energy beam types was a sophisticated weapon component that performed radically differently depending on its material composition!

Luminar crystals actually resembled archemetal a lot in this area. Both were composite materials that were practically designed to offer wide compatibility to different materials and produce dramatically different results based on endless combinations.

Before the Age of Dawn, Ves had casually managed to develop 6 conventional attack phase crystals.

Laser beams, positron beams, light beams, slicer beams, kinetic beams and disruptor beams all produced extremely useful results in the right situations.

Much of the power of the ranged mechs of the Larkinson Clan was based on their ability to employ the right attack phase crystals at the right time.

The funny part about all of this was that Ves didn't even specialize in crystallography or energy weapon systems!

However, by borrowing the alien insights and intuition of the Illustrious One, he had been able to make far more progress in this field than he should. His advancements in luminar crystal technology essentially allowed the Design Department to operate without a lead designer who specialized in ranged weapon systems.

Yet for all of the progress that Ves had made in developing stronger and better luminar crystal weapons, he only recently made the realization that he had been playing with a neutered version of this alien tech all this time.

He long speculated that the original luminar race had lived in ancient times where the power of heaven was abundant in the Milky Way.

It made a lot of sense that luminar crystal technology was more suited for a medium or high energy environment.

The way that luminar crystal technology easily enabled Ves to make effective use of hyper materials showed him that it was practically made for this purpose!

The Gray Lotus and more recently the Ignitron rifle equipped by the Promethea both possessed special properties that enabled them to exceed the overall performance of conventional luminar crystal weapons!

Their existence made every other luminar crystal weapon obsolete!

This included the powerful Instrument of Doom wielded by the Amaranto and the Irvan rifle wielded by the Minerva!

All of the Transcendent Punishers Mark II that were equipped with luminar crystal cannons were even more out of date!

It became imperative for Ves to upgrade these weapons into newer variants that made effective use of hyper materials.

The difference in effective combat power between a current generation luminar weapon and a next generation luminar crystal weapon was massive!

Ves personally estimated that the gap in effective performance was as much as 50 percent!

His wife grew increasingly more hungry as Ves explained the enormous potential of luminar crystal technology in the new age.

"Right now, my progress in the development of luminar crystal technology can be divided into three generations. The first generation was the first time I made use of it in my third-class mechs. The second generation was when I learned a bunch of stuff from the MTA and successfully developed improved crystals that are much more suitable for second-class mechs. The third generation mostly consists of custom luminar crystal weapons that I have designed or upgraded for our expert mechs. What characterizes their performance is that their damage output can be boosted by design spirits. The Instrument of Doom is the most obvious example of such a weapon."

"I see." Gloriana looked thoughtful. "You probably expected to stay in the third generation for a longer period of time."

"That's right, but my planning couldn't keep up with the changes in our environment. Now that sympathetic materials are becoming more available, it would be stupid for me to neglect their amazing synergy and compatibility with luminar crystal technology. I am already treating this as the fourth generation of luminar crystal weapons. The integration of sympathetic materials opens up a lot of new possibilities. For the integrated luminar crystal weapon system of the Jupiter Project, we need to consider what sort of element we want to imbue into its attack phase crystal."

This was a difficult decision as there wasn't an obvious answer available.

Pairing the Everchanger with the Gray Lotus made at least some sense as Venerable Joshua excelled in the opposite element. By exposing him to the polar opposite, he could take advantage of the contrast and interactions between the two elements to rapidly advance his understanding of his domain.

The fire beam attack phase crystal integrated in the Ignitron rifle was a natural fit for the Promethea. This recently developed upgrade complemented Venerable Isobel Kotin's abilities and enabled her to launch her flaming companion spirit at her targets more effectively.

As for the Jupiter Project, the story became a lot more complicated. The reason for this was because General Ark Larkinson's domain was not based on primal elements such as fire or life.

"I have studied your uncle's domain in detail." She said. "I have also listened to Ark's own interpretation of his power. From what I have been able to understand, he is a command-oriented expert pilot at heart, but he is so obsessed with taking responsibility that he is not willing to let his troops suffer on his behalf. He possessed a powerful sense of noblesse oblige that translates into a form of personal empowerment."

"That sounds like my uncle alright." Ves nodded. "A Larkinson is raised to protect the weak. Even though Ark has chosen the command track, he doesn't see himself as a chess player like Commander Casella Ingvar. He sees himself as the leader of the pack. It is not in his nature to stick to the rear."

His courage and sense of duty had caused Ark to shape himself into a commander that fearlessly fought on the frontlines!

Gloriana nodded in agreement. "To be more precise, your uncle can derive a large amount of power depending on how much he can raise the morale of the troops under his command. The more his presence and feats can inspire his men, the more power they feed back to him. This can often lead to a positive feedback loop where his entry into the battlefield and initial successes in combat can increase his men's beliefs in him. This translates into greater empowerment where he can become even stronger than before, allowing him to inspire his men even further!"

This was one of the reasons why he had managed to earn so much respect while he served in both the Bright Republic and the Garlen Empire!

Ark was a perfect fit on the battlefield as he often fought at his best when he was being propelled by the confidence and the beliefs of the mech pilots under his command!

"This ability doesn't make him invincible, though." Ves pointed out. "If Ark suffers an early setback or if another powerful mech pilot outshines him on the battlefield, he won't be able to empower himself as much as he should."

"I am aware of that. This is why it is important for him to rely on shock and awe to make a strong impression in front of his troops. The main reason why I think it is best if we implement an integrated energy weapon system into the frame of the Jupiter Project is that it can produce a powerful visual spectacle at the start. The results will be even better if the results of its opening salvo can produce an immediate and dramatic effect on the target."

In other words, pure combat effectiveness was not the highest priority. The Jupiter Project had to look awesome while it fought against its adversaries, because this translated greater power for General Ark!

"The death element won't work well in this case." Ves frowned. "Death beams are incredibly harmful against most organic life, but it is difficult to see the results when bodies start to drop inside the hulls of alien warships. The lack of clear and obvious material damage will limit the feedback from friendly troops."

"What about fire, then? The Promethea's damage output is not only visible, but also much more dramatic."

Ves liked this suggestion a bit more. "I suppose this choice works better. The new fire beam attack phase crystal has already been tested on the battlefield, so we can shorten the development time. However... I don't think that my uncle's synergy with fire is good enough. He won't be able to control or amplify the flames nearly as well as Venerable Isobel. He might even lose control of the fires, which means that there is a decent chance that he might burn his troops! I can't think of a greater way to destroy friendly morale than this. I don't think we should recklessly play with fire."

It was better to be cautious in this regard. His wife reluctantly agreed with this stance, though she didn't want to rule it out entirely.

Ves thought about the dramatic explosions produced by the Destroyer of Worlds. Her damage output had an enormous effect on morale. Each time she pulverized a powerful target in a domineering fashion, she struck terror in the hearts of her enemies.

At the same time, she buoyed the confidence of friendly mech pilots, mostly because they knew that there wouldn't be much left for them to clean up. Their god pilot had already shattered the backs of their enemies!

However, it was difficult for Ves to gain access to the power of destruction. He had already expended Emma's spiritual fragment, and he didn't know how to replicate a comparable domain to that of Divine Irene Mox.

Besides, destruction was a difficult force to control. A mech pilot who had no special affinity with this element had a high chance of suffering an accident!

"What about light?" Gloriana suddenly suggested.

"Hm?"

"We can exaggerate the light show produced by the ranged damage output of the Jupiter Project." His wife said as she became increasingly more enamored by the idea. "With the help of the Illustrious One, we can make it so that the Jupiter Project can light up the entire battlefield! This is perfect for your uncle! He sees himself as a white knight, so what better way to exemplify his presence than to turn him into a beacon in the dark?"

That... actually sounded really good. Ves seriously considered the viability of this choice.