Now that the Amaranto Mark III had returned to their makers, she received a quick but significant overhaul. Gloriana already prepared the plans to upgrade her to a fully fledged first-class ace mech during the design process of the current iteration. Her memories of making these preparations were still fresh, so she was able to implement many of the changes right away. Ves meanwhile worked towards upgrading the Amaranto to a seventh generation living mech. He also made a few tweaks here and there based on his own feelings and judgment. It did not take too long to complete upgrades due to all of the prior preparations they made. The most significant upgrade by far was the replacement of the power reactor. Swapping out the severely underpowered second-class hyper power reactor for a genuine high-end Terran-developed hyper power reactor instantly elevated the performance of the Amaranto Mark III! "This is a big change, Stark." Ves said with a satisfied expression as he studied the telemetry of the newly installed power reactor after its first activation. "The new power reactor won’t be able to increase the maximum charge limit of your Instrument of Vengeance, but it should enable you to charge up your marksman rifle considerably faster than before. In other words, as long as you can aim fast enough, your firing rate should easily triple under the right circumstances. You can eliminate more cannon fodder with accurate strikes, or take down a lesser phase lord much faster than usual. Of course, you can charge your weapon even faster if you draw power directly from a warship like the Torturous Scream." The ace pilot understood quite well what an advantage this represented. Being able to increase her firing rate would definitely allow her to raise her impact on the battlefield. She could swing entire battles around by eliminating key targets faster than before. However, she did not look entirely satisfied with the gains. "What about heat buildup?" She asked. "There’s no improvement on that front." Ves admitted. "We have already incorporated excellent heatsinks into the Amaranto, but they are not the best. It would be great if we can get our hands on dimensional heatsinks. They basically allow you to toss heat energy into a different dimension, thereby allowing you to get rid of the problem with the fewest possible issues. The problem is that our clan does not have access to the tech that allows us to reproduce them. We can only purchase them from first-class powers, but each of them are reserving the limited amount of dimensional heatsinks for their own high-ranking mechs." "I see. That is… disappointing to hear." "I have already issued a standing order to snap up any dimensional heatsink that becomes available for sale or exchange. I don’t expect to be able to purchase one in the short term. The more red humanity is driven to a corner, the less resources these groups have access to that allow them to produce more dimensional heatsinks." Saint Stark frowned. The new power reactor would roughly allow the Amaranto Mark III to increase her firing rate by at least 3 times. That also meant that the Amaranto Mark III would generate heat 3 times faster as well! In fact, the problem was more severe than that because the slow firing rate of the original Amaranto Mark III meant that the machine had plenty of time to distribute and dissipate all of the heat buildup. If the Amaranto Mark III Version 2 began to fire her Instrument of Vengeance at a very fast pace, then the machine wouldn’t be giving itself enough time to cool down between shots! "How should I handle the heat problem, then?" Davia Stark asked. "You rely on an external heatsink. Any big piece of matter will do" Ves replied. "For example, if you enter one of the 4 sniper bunkers of the Torturous Scream, numerous mechanisms will attach to your mech frame and act as heat pipes that will drain the excess heat building from your Amaranto in a highly effective manner. The entire alien battleship is more than happy to serve as your ace mech’s heatsink." "What about the Bastion? Can the Amaranto Mark III still be mounted behind her back?" "Yup, though it is less effective than usual due to potential interferences from hyper materials. I do not recommend you rely on the Bastion to serve as an aiming platform, a defensive bulwark and a heatsink. However, your Amaranto will still be fine if you try it out anyway." "Can asteroids serve as makeshift heatsinks?" "Not always. You need to scan the asteroids and make sure it can withstand the enormous influx of heat. If the asteroid composition is too poor, then the surface will melt far sooner than you find convenient. The heat generated by the current version of the Amaranto is formidable." This was an annoying but understanding restriction. There was no easy way to increase the Amaranto’s ability to deal with heat. Ves changed to another topic. "You asked me several times earlier whether it is possible to raise the maximum charge limit of your Instrument of Vengeance. We have already employed every trick that we could find to maximize the single-shot output of your Instrument of Vengeance. There is only one realistic way to make it qualitatively stronger, which is to let me convert your weapon into a D-arm." The temptation was strong. Saint Davia Stark wanted to pit herself against the toughest and most horrible enemies. Being able to wield a weapon that carried a much greater punch than usual should definitely catch the attention of both allies and enemies! Yet… she did not exactly gain the best vibe out of the Bitter Scimitar when she had a chance of getting close enough to it. The Everchanger struggled for quite a while until the expert mech somehow managed to stop his D-arm from causing any further trouble. "I cannot accept the notion of surrendering too much control." Saint Davia Stark said. "If transforming the Instrument of Vengeance into a D-arm will generate years worth of friction, then I would rather take my chances off your existing technologies. All of your works are reliable and helpful enough to help us fight better. Introducing a disruptive element that I cannot fully control may lead to fumbles during a critical moment in the future. I do not wish for others to question my reliability." "These are… reasonable arguments. Very well, if that is your wish, then I shall refrain from offering this option to you in the future. If you change your mind, you can come back to me anytime and we can discuss solutions." Though Ves was disappointed that Saint Stark did not feel tempted to convert the Instrument of Vengeance into a D-arm, perhaps it was for the best. He would have plenty of time to improve his Demoncasting abilities. When the new saint started to fight against enough overwhelming phase lords and other formidable alien units, she should definitely develop a stronger urge to upgrade the firepower of her Amaranto Mark III! Ves would hopefully have a more mature solution prepared for her. The Amaranto Mark III already served as an extremely powerful deterrent against any enemies who sought to assassinate him or disrupt large swathes of alien space. The two soon changed topics. They chatted about various aspects related to the Amaranto Mark III and other Larkinson mechs. "After we are done with upgrading the Amaranto Mark III, you have a choice on what to do next." Ves said. "As an ace pilot, our clan will not impose any unnecessary restrictions on what you are allowed to do. Well, you are a guest pilot anyway, so you are not fully subject to our rules. Have you already thought about how you want to spend your next months? There are many different battlefronts that could use the help of a deadly ace marksman mech." Saint Stark had indeed put a lot of thought behind this consequential decision. "I prefer to follow Saint Tusa’s example and rotate among the frontlines. I would like to fight alongside him and his Dark Zephyr Mark III as well, but I would also like to explore other pairings." Ves nodded. "Our clan does not have too many objections about your plan. We want to remind you that when our first-class mech force and accompanying warships are ready for action, we would vastly prefer it if you come back to us. We can fight as an independent troop and strike at our own targets. Your Amaranto Mark III will also enjoy the best fighting conditions by occupying one of the sniper bunkers of our flagship." "I am not opposed to returning to your side, but I would prefer it if my Instrument of Vengeance does not remain idle for a long time. We must fight against the native aliens in a proactive manner if we want to drive them back." In other words, the fleet better be good at picking fights, or else Saint Davia Stark and other like-minded ace pilots might bail and fight elsewhere! "What do you think about gathering all of the ace pilots of the Larkinson Clan together in a single fleet and operating as a single powerful first-class strike force?" Ves proposed. "We’ll combine the excellent firepower of the Torturous Scream with the speed of the Dark Zephyr Mark III, the purple conflagrations of the Promethea Mark II, the Knights and Barons of the Minerva Mark II, the razor-sharp blade of the First Sword Mark III and finally the ultra-long-range dominance of your Amaranto Mark III. What do you think we can accomplish with this combination?" "You missed the Lionheart." "I did. Saint General Ark Larkinson doesn’t get along with Saint Commander Casella Ingvar. Besides, my uncle is better suited to lead his own unit. He needs to be the brightest presence on the battlefield in order to fight at his best. He will be competing far too much for attention if he joins our party." "Hm, you are right, sir. I would say that the lineup that you have mentioned earlier sounds extremely impressive to me. I cannot imagine how so many ace pilots with living ace mechs can accomplish on the battlefield. I have a strong suspicion that if we were able to field so many ace mechs, we would have been able to crush the native aliens that successfully conquered the Viola Magnifica System." Discover hidden tales at freewebnovel Ves smiled. "That goes without saying. If we are truly able to amass so much concentration of high-end combat strength, then it is a waste of time for us to linger in the Middle Zones. We will have to participate in the much more intensive fights in the Upper Zones. The native aliens are bringing out their best assets in those battlegrounds. Ace pilot or not, you all need to curb your arrogance, because the native aliens have learned enough about how we operate to develop many tricks and counters." The stronger his clan become, the more he set his sights on the battles that would truly decide the future course of red humanity. He refused to let his fate be dictated by the performance of third parties. The Larkinsons needed to participate and do whatever was necessary to win the battles that red humanity could not afford to lose! "However, it would take way longer for the Torturous Scream to get delivered to New Constantinople to form such an elite force. They still needed to complete the upgrade projects for the Minerva Mark II, the First Sword Mark III and the Promethea Mark III! All of that would take a lot of time. Ves would prefer it if his Premier Branch could start fighting only when it had amassed at least 5 ace mechs, but if the Red Tide Offensive continues to make drastic gains, then the Larkinsons may have to make do with just 2 or maybe 3 ace mechs.