Chapter 5696 Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III
Work on the Dark Zephyr Mark III Project frustrated Ves so many times that he frequently had to step away from it to prevent his mood from deteriorating too badly.
As much as he wanted to get it done as soon as possible, there was no way to rush the development of a first generation archemech design, especially one designed for a high-tier expert pilot.
Gloriana dictated the pace of this project, and she was determined to succeed. She slowed down her progress enough times because she wanted to do stuff right instead of quickly.
Her attitude may be correct, but it ensured that Ves would have to wrestle with this project for at least several more months.
Fortunately, he also had other mech design projects to sink his teeth into. A lot of old mech lines were finally receiving their long-awaited updates to bring them up to the standards of the Hyper Generation.
One of the more noteworthy among them was the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III.
For a long time, the Valkyrie Redeemer had served as a consistent bestseller and a source of enduring profits for the LMC.
Not only had the feminine mech model conquered the Hexer mech market, but it had also allowed Ves to gain a growing amount of sway over the Hex Federation!
Though Ves had not signed any formal treaties with the Hexers as of late, more and more people treated their second-rate state as his semi-private back garden.
The reality was that he was no longer as dependent on the support of the Hexers than before. It was nice to have a large base of support, but Ves would not even notice if the Hex Federation disappeared one day.
He had not forgotten about all of the help that the Hexers provided to him in the past. No matter what, the Hexers were his friends, and they deserved to receive his attention every now and then. Perhaps one day he might thank himself for keeping this relationship alive.
Designing the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III was a serious endeavor. His wife also insisted that she had to be involved when he initially decided to embark on this update.
"Aren't you busy enough, already?" Ves questioned. "You already have your hands full with raising our children, studying first-class mech design and trying to put together our first archemech."
"I shall free up the necessary time somehow. I can help you collect feedback from the Hexers who have been piloting the Valkyrie Redeemer for years. They have a large range of complaints and requests that can give us clearer directions on how to improve the next iteration of our successful mech line."
She had a point. Ves did not really look forward to talking to a lot of Hexers in person. Offloading this responsibility to his wife made a lot of sense as she essentially spoke the same language as her former people.
Gloriana did a good job at collecting a large amount of user feedback and compiling them all into a common set of points.
"One of the most acute problems we need to solve is the lack of effectiveness against alien warships. The base form of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II is optimized for combat against mechs. Outside of employing battle formations, they are not as good as other mech models in tackling the alien threat. This persistent shortcoming has forced the Hex Army to switch to other mech models in order to reduce their losses when they participate in the Red War."
This was a problem that Ves had been neglecting for too long. He knew exactly what his wife was talking about and agreed with her assessment.
"Do the Penitent Sisters have any issues with their own Valkyrie mechs?"This chapter's initial release occurred on the N0v3l--Biin site.
Ves did not leave his improvements to material design choices. He also wanted to enhance its utilization of E energy and leverage its close connection to the power of death in a more useful fashion.
It would be a waste to ignore this potential!
If Ves was still the same mech designer as he was a few years ago, he would have never dared to go this far into strengthening the Valkyrie Redeemer.
However, Ves gained a lot more courage now that he had been promoted to a tier 3 galactic citizen. He was able to disregard a lot of rules and restrictions and no longer had to be afraid of provoking other people's greed.
So long as he continued to enjoy the protection of the Red Association, he could add features to his mechs that he previously did not consider due to a variety of reasons.
Gloriana slowly realized that her husband wanted to make another statement with the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III.
"Ves…"
"Yes, honey?"
"The luminar crystal rifle…"
"The fourth generation luminar crystal rifle of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III should still be fairly light and compact. This won't increase the firepower that much, but what is special is that it is not only confined to making use of the hyper versions of all of the six standard attack phase crystals. What truly makes this weapon different and unique when compared to other luminar crystal weapons is that it is permanently embedded with a gray beam attack phase crystal."
"You mean the same as in the Gray Lotus?!"
"Not exactly." Ves shook his head. "I made use of a unique high-end hyper material when I initially built the Gray Lotus. It is a uniquely powerful hyper pistol that has proven to be an excellent complement to the Everchanger. The gray beam attack phase crystals reserved for the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III will be a lesser variant that is much more suitable for mass production."
He and his clan had yet to find any samples of Black Demon Steel in the new frontier. It may not even be a natural product since it contained the word steel.
That was a shame. Black Demon Steel was such a good hyper material that was not only compatible with death E energy, but all kinds of other negative energies as well. Ves could think of so many uses for this material.
In any case, there were many lesser alternatives that were much more widely available. The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III was still meant for mass production, so Ves could not go too far in this aspect.
"How effective do you think these rifles will be?" Gloriana asked.
"They offer an alternate means to neutralize enemy warships. I don't think the lesser gray beams will be as effective as the Gray Lotus in penetrating the transphasic energy shields of enemy warships, but I don't know for certain. We do know that hyper energy shields are remarkably more effective at neutralizing these sorts of attacks. It is only a matter of time before more and more aliens upgrade the defenses of their warships with stolen human technology."
"Even if they can only really start slaughtering alien crew members inside their own warships after breaching past transphasic energy shields, that is still a lot more effective than trying to tear through meters of thick hull plating." Gloriana consoled Ves.
"Hm, I guess you are right. This is only a part of the package, though. I have other features in mind that will make this mech a lot more amazing, but the gray beams should serve as their most dependable killing tool."