Chapter 2600: Giant Killer The more Ves spent time on the Blinding Mech Project, the more he became interested in its performance. The supportive knight mech depended so much on the Illustrious One's glow that Ves had basically turned it into a sacrificial vessel. If Ves disregarded its design spirit and its luminar crystals, the Blinding Mech did not have much going for it anymore. It was far worse than the Blessed Squire in this regard. His first Hexer mech design at least possessed enough utility and armor to be an asset on the battlefield without relying on the Superior Mother. The same could not be said for the Blinding Mech. It possessed inferior armor, bad mobility and just a simple sword as its only weapon. It also didn't provide any further utility to justify its presence in battle. All of ths meant that Ves was basically making a huge gamble. At this point in the design project, he didn't know how effective the Blinding Mech could channel the Illustrious One's dazzling properties. If Ves miscalculated somehow, then he essentially wasted six months of his precious time on a project that resulted in a piece of trash! "I can't even use the Crystal Lord Mark II Version C as a reference." The new third-class laser rifleman mech was supposed to be an excellent premium product. However, all of the hype surrounding the Ferocious Piranha Version C basically sucked out all of the oxygen for the other mech. While the Crystal Lord IIC did sell at brisk amounts, it was simply not as attention-grabbing. Its glow was not focused towards the Illustrious One's blinding effect at all, so the strengths of this model weren't as apparent. At the very least, there were too few anecdotes, battle footage and battle reports to make any solid conclusions. Any incidents where enemy mechs fumbled in front of the Crystal Lord Mark II could also be chalked up to other reasons. The LMC did not plan to market the new Crystal Lord model at this time either. Unless it was able to generate hype on its own, it was better to focus on maximizing the sales of the Ferocious Piranha Version C. "Well, I have enough confidence in my product. It has to work. The Illustrious One isn't a useless bum after absorbing the essence of the Blinding One." Ves no longer worried so much about the Blinding Mech's viability and focused on completing his designs. Aside from that, he also spent a decent amount of time working with Juliet on the first LMC mech exclusive to the Penitent Sisters. The purpose of this project was to design a mech that could punch above its weight and pose a threat against powerful mechs. While that sounded similar to the Blinding Mech, this was different. The Blinding Mech was a landbound mech that was suitable for large-scale battlefield conditions. It was meant to be piloted by relatively expendable male Hexer mech pilots and did not possess any inherent offensive capabilities. In contrast, the project codenamed Giant Killer was meant to deliver a mech design that not only complemented the Penitent Sister battle formations, but also leveraged the skill and fervor of its mech pilots to leapfrog their battle strength! Therefore, the Giant Killer simply wasn't compatible with the Hex Army or the Glory Seekers. Even if other Hexer mech pilots got their hands on some Giant Killers, the mechs wouldn't be able to exert their full strength. This was because the power of the Superior Mother played a pivotal role in empowering the mechs and mech pilots. So far, Ves did not disseminate the power of his battle networks and battle formations. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to keep this feature as a trump card for his Larkinsons. He didn't even intend to share it with the Glory Seekers despite how much the Giant Killer could increase the overall security of their combined fleet. In the beginning stages of this project, Ves and Juliet puzzled which mech type they should adopt. The obvious solution was to start off with a lancer mech, but Ves had already ruled out that option beforehand. Against powerful second-class expert mechs or just a single first-class mech, attempting to swarm them with melee mechs was too costly! "It has to be a ranged mech." Ves insisted. "The mech has to possess enough firepower to deplete energy shields and punch through solid armor. It also has to possess enough mobility to adapt to numerous different circumstances. It also needs enough defenses to last on the battlefield." "That sounds like an expensive mech." The Penitent Sister designer noted. "The Giant Killer must be powerful enough to give it a chance against second-class expert mechs or very basic first-class mechs. I don't expect it to win a duel against powerful opponents, but I expect to obtain some results as long as we are able to deploy at least 200 mechs." There was no other way to defeat a significantly superior mech without investing a lot of money and resources. Fortunately, due to the law of diminishing returns, the total value of Giant Killers deployed in the field did not have to exceed the value of a small number of powerful mechs. As long as the Penitent Sisters piloting the Giant Killers enjoyed a decisive numerical advantage, they should already have the grounds to win such a clash! The offensive power of the mech was key. The Giant Killer didn't have to be as well armed as the Transcendent Punisher, but it had to be able to pierce through the toughest possible armor. That was not an insurmountable problem for a heavy landbound artillery mech, but it was an entirely different matter when it came to a medium spaceborn rifleman mech! The advantage of the Transcendent Punisher was that it was able to output a lot of damage and make use of the cover provided by the bunkers of the Larkinson Clan's starship. However, these conditions also limited the Transcendent Punisher's versatility. Its firing angles and its mobility were so limited that it was too difficult to take advantage of its firepower in certain scenarios. The biggest disadvantage was that the Transcendent Punisher was not suited for offensive operations! The Giant Killer was supposed to fill up this gap. It didn't have to match the firing rate or the damage output of the Transcendent Punisher, but it had to be armed with the most powerful ranged weapon that could be fitted onto a relatively mobile spaceborn mech. Since Ves was willing to invest a lot of money in the Giant Killer, he set its overall design budget at 800 million hex credits. That was very expensive compared to his other design projects! It was worth it though. With an allotment of 800 million hex credits, Ves could make use of excellent lightweight armor systems, powerful flight systems, efficient power reactors and high-capacity energy cells. Setting a lavish budget also allowed him to incorporate miniaturized components, thereby freeing up precious capacity that opened room for additional parts and modules. "Still, all of these aspects are secondary to the weapon system. In a battle against a powerful enemy, you can't allow them to live long enough to destroy all of our mechs. As long as the battle revolves around attrition, our losses will be horrendous regardless if we win or lose." Juliet remarked. Ves leaned back in his chair while stroking the physical projection of a glowing electronic cat. "You're right. We shouldn't get caught up in stuffing as much goodies in the Giant Killer design as possible. All of these features are secondary to the firepower of the mech. Bygul, can you search for ranged weapons that meet the criteria I am about to set? Make sure the weapon model is accessible and fits the framework of the Giant Killer concept. [Mew.] Bygul served as an adequate substitute for Lucky. What Ves particularly liked about the ASTERA AI Core's virtual avatar was its adaptability. Bygul learned so quickly that he adopted many of the characteristics that Ves liked to see in cats. If there was one downside about Bygul's propensity for change, it was that the cat didn't possess a strong and unique character. Ves had to command him to curtail the learning routine in order to solidify his personality. The AI core instantly performed the task that Ves had assigned to it. The core split up a portion of its processing power and began to access numerous databases. It also accessed the galactic net and explored several different weapon catalogs for suitable weapon models. In the span of just a few seconds, Bygul not only collected information about thousands of suitable weapon models, but also ranked and categorized them in a very clear and user-friendly format. A new projection appeared in the design lab that listed all of the potential choices. Ves smiled and rubbed the head of the electronic cat. The physical projectors built into the design lab compartment made sure that Ves felt as if he was petting a real cat! "Thank you, Bygul." The projected cat looked up at him with cute, glowing eyes. [Mew mew mew!] The only disappointment was that Ves didn't feel any emotion from his new cat. No matter how good Bygul emulated the joy and love of a living animal, without the life that gave these emotions heft, it was all fake. Ves sighed. "Lucky is still better." Still, the convenience provided by the Spirit of Bentheim's AI core was incomparable. Ves and Juliet only had to examine the list of results for ten minutes before they settled on a choice. Ves pointed his finger at a large cannon. "The Samheim VVK-11C is one of the most powerful gauss cannon that can be fitted on a medium mech frame. It's cumbersome and impractical, but not too much." Juliet detected a complication. "The Samheim gauss cannon isn't designed to fire standardized rounds. Instead, it can only be loaded with proprietary, ultra-heavy rounds." The Xcordon gauss cannons utilized by the Transcendent Punisher were capable of firing several different standardized projectiles. This made it easier to supply it with ammunition. In contrast, the weapon developer of the Samheim deliberately made it difficult if not outright impossible for the weapon to be loaded with commonly-used rounds! This meant that every customer was forced to make use of proprietary Sarun rounds. Naturally, if anyone wanted to produce these rounds, they had to license the projectile model from the same company. Ves did not necessarily get upset about this. In some cases, forcing a customer to utilize a single brand of ammunition was nothing more than a scam. However, he did not believe it was the case at the moment. When he agreed to pay billions of hex credits to license the Samheim gauss cannon and its accompanying Sarun round, he studied the complete design schematics and technical parameters. "This is still a worthwhile weapon to pair with our Giant Killer. The Samheim makes use of some special methods to increase its muzzle velocity that requires specific adaptations on its rounds. What's even better is that the Sarun round is even better able to pierce through shields and resilient armor due to its peculiar design and high-quality materials." That was assuming that Ves and his clan had enough money. Neither the Samheim nor the Sarun round were cheap. Not a single mercenary corps would want to make use of this extravagant weapon system. There simply wasn't a way to earn enough profit! Ves was different. He and his clan were swimming in money. This was why he unscrupulously set the Giant Killer's budget at 800 million hex credits. He could afford paying for quality! Juliet "If we pair the Samheim gauss rifle with the Giant Killer, then it won't be a rifleman mech anymore. It's more apt to describe it as a cannoneer mech." "You're right. It does look like that. It even has the relatively limited ammunition capacity due to the size of the rounds and the energy needed to fire them all. This is not a mech with a lot of staying power!"