Chapter 7165: Dulo’s Input Ves exited the System Space with renewed determination. He finally addressed a major shortcoming that diminished his chances of winning the leadership challenge. That did not mean that victory was about to fall on his lap. He still had to work for this outcome. It just became a lot more accessible to him than before. That was all he could ask for under the circumstances. One of the first actions he took after he exited the System Space was to revise his equipment designs and alter his demands to the Red Collective. He added further specifications to the raiments that the Red Collective was supposed to develop for him for the upcoming fights. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 Now that he became a competent spear wielder, he knew a lot more about which armor sections needed additional layers and which ones had to be slimmed down to facilitate his moments. Not every spear wielder fought in the same manner. The fighting style imparted by the last enlightenment fruit was fairly expressive in terms of moves and techniques. It was excellent for dueling as it incorporated far more than simple stabs. In order to perform all of the spins and other wide sweeps with a fairly lengthy polearm, it was best if the raiment did not get in the way, or worse, limit his range of motion! Meeting his demand did not come without a cost. His raiments had to forgo adequate protection in numerous areas such as the armpits and such, but there was not much he could do about it if he wanted to fight without his armor getting in the way. What was more important was that Ves wanted his raiments to provide greater support for channeling his abilities. The two enlightenment fruits granted him many new ways to turn his power into powerful effects. His gear could either hinder or complement his new fighting methods, and it was best if the latter happened more often than the former. There was not enough time for Ves and the RC to test everything out and develop the most optimal set of equipment for a deviant Demonic Possession Spearman. They all had to make do with lots of guesswork. As a mech designer, Ves understood how frustrating it was to work on short notice with frustratingly little solid criteria, but he was in the same position. His sparring session with Ketis enlightened him to many different aspects about his new fighting style, but he still did not have a more complete overview of what he was capable of. He still had to make a lot of adjustments and adaptations to how he executed his techniques in order to make them work with a non-demonic entity such as Blinky. There was not enough time for him and the Dark Apostle to complete this enormous endeavor in a short amount of time. The best they could do was to pick the low-hanging fruit and solve the problems that hindered them from executing the simplest and most straightforward techniques. Anything fancy or more specialized had to wait until much later when the leadership challenge had already passed. Ves was not too worried. He believed the simpler fighting techniques should be enough to tide him over. He would just have to rely on his equipment to make up for the difference. He had great confidence that he could enter the dueling ground with much better gear than any of his opponents. Ever since the Phase Lord Department became estranged from the Red Collective, it had ceased to receive any resupplies. Its headquarters no longer received any phasewater, exotics, hypers and so on. Its scientists and engineers also lost access to the Red Collective’s internal network, which meant that they could no longer keep up with the latest R&D advancements made by the collies. Sure, the headquarters had already been supplied with a lot of riches prior to its isolation, but these were known quantities that could only be stretched up to a point. Ves was not arrogant enough to assume that the leaders of the Phase Lord Department did not make their own preparations. Their gear was probably receiving last-minute upgrades as best as their staff could accomplish given the limited conditions. Ves and the collies just had to ensure that they did a much better job. Their conditions were so much better that there was no excuse if his weapons and armor did not have an obvious gap with the gear used by his upcoming adversaries. In order to help him develop a better set of spears for his upcoming duels, he called over Dulo Voiken and brought the EdNet graduate up to speed. The Journeyman Mech Designer scratched his head in utter perplexment. "I knew that the new frontier had changed far more than anyone of us could have imagined during the time I was studying how to design first-class mechs in the EdNet, but this is something else. This doesn’t make any sense. How have you managed to become so good at spear fighting? I may not be a fighter, but my eyesight is not poor. There is no way you could have trained in spears until you have reached this level of proficiency in the few years that has passed. It is impossible no matter how ridiculous systematic cultivation has turned out. There is a limit to how much you can defy the laws of reality." Ves knew it was difficult to explain to Dulo how he suddenly became so good at combat, and he did not intend to offer a reasonable explanation at all. With his current status and prestige, he could get away with keeping people in the dark. He did not need an informed Dulo. He needed a compliant Dulo. Ves casually brushed aside the other mech designer’s questions and proceeded to explain his initial plan for the four spears he intended to design for every duel. Once Dulo Voiken’s attention shifted to the weapon concepts, he became a lot more focused now that they were talking about his area of expertise. "I have a lot of comments." He said as he scrutinized the projected weapon designs. "First, a plasma spear handles much differently from a solid alloy spear. Your maneuverability will also be enormously impacted by the heavy reactor module mounted on your back. Are you sure you are willing to commit to a restricted fighting style during your first duel?" Ves nodded. "Yes. The Unshakeable King is a defensive powerhouse. It is unlikely that he will change his entire fighting approach for this upcoming duel. Besides, adopting a different combat approach for the first duel should catch the Fiery Axe by surprise when I fight against her with a completely different loadout and fighting approach." "I see. I can understand the strategy behind your decision, but one of the revelations you have made is that you are able to channel powerful darkness abilities with your spear. I do not see how you can facilitate this when your equipment loadout for the first duel is so heavily slanted towards the use of a plasma spear. Shouldn’t there be a contradiction between the darkness element and plasma weapons?" That was a valid observation, and one that Ves had already thought about. "That is why I intend to augment my gear with fire hyper materials, Dulo. This will be a high-energy loadout where I want my plasma spear to burn as hot as possible. The raiment should also be equipped with energy-intensive tech in order to make good use of that big reactor. Mobility is not as important as other criteria." Dulo frowned. "That is a risky strategy. What if the Unspeakable King proves more mobile than expected?" "Well, I can always purge my armor and restore my mobility." Ves shrugged. "I am not too worried about this possibility." "What if your strategy fails to be decisive enough? For all of the merits of your plasma spear, phase lords are notoriously tough." Ves began to smirk in response. "That is why I intend to add another surprise to my weapon. I have recently learned how to turn hyper materials and more specifically fire hyper materials into volatile explosives. Let me give you the details." The other mech designer became more and more astonished when Ves gave an example of how he could turn a solid hyper product into a potent bomb! "This is impressive tech." Dulo said. "I can especially see how valuable it is when employed in spears. They are easy to produce and throw. Why insist on turning your plasma spear into a self-detonating projectile? Are you not afraid that it will accidentally blow up before it was supposed to do that? Why not carry additional javelins that are made for this purpose?" "The mass allowance for the duel is pretty tight. I do not want to weaken my raiment or my plasma spear just so that I can carry a handful of exploding spears on my back. I also do not think that weaker weapons can inflict enough damage against a defensive specialist. I need to whittle down the Unshakeable King’s defenses before I can attempt to launch a killing blow. It is best if the detonation is powerful enough to take away his life. His treasonous ideas are intolerable to me. Causing the plasma spear to explode in front of his face, especially when he completely did not expect it, may be enough to finish the job." "And what if this defensive specialist managed to survive this powerful strike?" "That is what the backup knife is for." Ves smirked. "Unlike the plasma spear, this will be a solid alloy blade, so I will augment it with darkness hyper materials. If the duel has already reached this stage, then I expect that the reactor has largely exhausted itself. I may have purged it sooner for one reason or another. While it is risky to get close to the Unshakeable King, I believe I have a good chance of finishing him off if he has already suffered a lot of damage from my prior attacks." This was the least reliable part about his game plan for the first duel. A backup knife was not a great weapon, especially in the hands of a fighter who only knew how to wield polearms with skill. Demonic Possession Spearmanship worked best when fighting with a spear. A knife lacked the reach and other properties that could help with channeling a large variety of offensive power moves. However, there were still a handful of simple tricks that Ves could perform with a knife after he made a number of adjustments. The effects wouldn’t particularly be strong, but the magnitude should be significant enough to make a difference. If the Dark Apostle still was not able to finish off the Unshakeable King at that point, then he may as well give up and allow his opponent to claim victory. As Dulo took in the information, he raised his finger and began to apply additions and modifications to the plasma spear. "Lucky for you, one of the subjects that I have studied is the application of plasma technology in spear-type weapons. Your draft design is not bad, but the Red Association has mastered more advanced plasma spear templates that offer superior containment and fault tolerance. Your plasma edge is much less likely to fizzle out if we redesign the internals of these mechanisms." Dulo put the knowledge he had learned during EdNet training to good use. His revised plasma spear design was indeed a lot safer and less prone to malfunctions. Of course, his renewed design relied a lot on rare and exclusive materials as well as tech that was exclusive to the Red Association. It was not so easy to develop such a weapon without the support of a technologically advanced organization. Everything was connected in a way. The Red Association’s technological superiority was based on a broad basis of supporting tech. The same applied to the Cybernetic Empire, but to a much greater degree.