Numerous important shipments arrived in the next few days. Ves eagerly welcomed the supply of superdimensional matter from the expeditionary fleet. He also felt enthusiastic to reunite with Jovy, who accompanied the crucial supply fleet dispatched by the Red Association. Ves wondered multiple times why Jovy had to be recalled for a time. The reasons must have been special. There was no need to go through so much trouble just to file a report. As the Tarrasque and other starships began to load in additional supplies and materials, a sizable amount of hull-grade superdimensional matter got shipped to the surface. Although the local workshops and factories were not rated to work with superdimensional materials, the Rubarthans had implemented a few hasty upgrades. This should allow them to create superdimensional alloys which they could subsequently forge into armor plating. Ves did not set too much expectations on the quality. So long as the new superdimensional raiments held up under moderate pressure, then that was enough. He had spent the last few days diving into his mech design projects. He remotely coordinated with his new collaborators on the first steps of his elemental Carmine mech design projects. The mechers were eager to make their mark on the Polymetal mech design concept. The meek designers working on behalf of the Hunting Association were considerably more reserved, but they sounded cooperative enough. All Ves cared about was that both projects finally received proper attention and backing from major institutions. The difference was substantial, especially in the case of the Red Association. The other mech design projects did not proceed as smoothly. For example, Ves and Gloriana began to argue about whether the mech concepts for the Promethea Mark Il Project and the Lionheart Mark Il Project had become outdated. "We need to change things up." Ves argued to his wife. "We devised the mech concepts of both projects with the assumption that they only needed to fight against the native aliens. The Promethea Mark Il was designed to burn enemy warfleets and alien phase leaders with hot and inextinguishable purple flames. She can be a great machine when employed against the mutated voribugs, but we need to give her a more efficient means of setting lots of voribugs on fire." Gloriana crossed her arms and fell into thought for a moment. "I see no need to go back to the drawing boards. It may be true that the firepower of the Promethea Mark Il is excessive against massed voribug swarms, but do not forget her purpose. She is an ace mech. Her foremost responsibility is to counter enemy champions. Her secondary responsibility is to destroy the enemy's warships, fortifications and other megastructures. Clearing out the cannon fodder comes third. We can rely on other units to clear the ordinary swarms." "Oh, come on, Gloriana! I have a handful of new ideas that can massively increase the Promethea’s swarm-clearing efficiency. So long as we equip her mech frame with weak but highly efficient energy projectors, they can be used to set a huge number of voribugs on fire, especially if she uses them in conjunction with her Saint Kingdom." "I see no need to implement such a drastic change to the mech frame of the Promethea Mark II, Ves. Turning her into a hybrid mech or a multipurpose mech will weaken her original identity and introduce multiple weak points into the mech frame. Superdimensional protection works best if there are as few holes as possible. If we want the Promethea Mark Il to last long enough to conclude the current wars, then we need to take her armor integrity seriously. Besides, if you want to give Saint Isobel more offensive options, then why not design a second gun for her? The upgraded version of the Ignitron Assault Rifle can be reserved for battles against native alien forces." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 Ves paused for a moment. Her idea had a lot of merit. He hadn't thought about designing a second handheld weapon for the Promethea Mark Ii, but now that Gloriana mentioned it, he developed an appreciation for this simple solution. It was not as if this was the first time that Ves designed alternative weapons for a high- ranking mech. The Amaranto had access to both the Instrument of Vengeance and the Instrument of Doom, though the latter had yet to be upgraded to modern standards. The Everchanger built up a small arsenal of weapons, granting Venerable Joshua even greater flexibility when it came to choosing his loadout for the next battle. Pairing the Promethea Mark II with just a single weapon seemed inappropriate now that she was slated to become a junior ace mech. Perhaps Ves should design a sidearm for her as well in order to increase her attack options even further. Or maybe not. He did not want to spend too much time on this project. His workload was already hefty enough. "I like your idea." He said with a smile. "Let's go for it. According to our new plan, the ignitron Assault Rifle will be designated as the Promethea's high-powered energy weapon solution. We will optimize its performance so that it can effectively burn and vaporize native alien assets. As for the second weapon, it will have to be an energy weapon that is primarily centered around clearing away massive amounts of voribugs. Preferably, the Promethea will be able to make use of this new weapon to burn the bodies of the voribugs so that our enemies will not be able to recover as much biomass as they wished." Killing the voribugs was often not good enough. To deny the mutated voribugs of the resources they needed to replenish their fallen quickly, vaporizing the carcasses was the best solution. The output of the Promethea Mark II's new weapon needed to be strong enough to produce this result. This should not be a challenge so long as they designed it according to first-class standards. Ves and Gloriana proceeded to work behind their terminals for half an hour. They calculated the math and explored their options for new and interesting energy weapon systems. They soon presented very different ideas. Ves went first. "My proposal is to design a luminar crystal energy projector. The design is relatively simple given our current mastery of luminar crystal technology. It is nothing more than a regular energy weapon but fitted with a focusing mechanism that allows us to tighten or expand the output of the energy beam. However, just because it is relatively simple doesn't mean it is weak. I am not sure whether it is a good idea to turn it into a D-arm, but even without this measure, the new weapon will establish a good balance between firepower and efficiency.” While there were many different variations of directed energy weapon systems, Ves had always favored luminar crystal technology because it was easier to reach higher levels of efficiency. Compared to more standard laser weapons, luminar crystal weapons contained less parts and produced less waste heat. The latter could be repeatedly fired without worrying that it would overheat anytime soon. Of course, it still had limits, but Saint Isobel Koton needed to work harder to take this issue seriously. Gloriana looked suspiciously at Ves. “I do not believe that this is the extent of your plan. This sounds too uncomplicated for a mech designer as creative as you. What are you truly up to? Are you truly content to design a simple luminar crystal energy projector?" Ves smirked. "Okay, you got me. I may have come up with an experimental idea. Do you recall the Ice Fire Stone that we acquired a while ago? I put it in the vault in the hopes of integrating it into the upgraded version of the Ignitron. Now I think it may be a better idea to integrate it into this swarm-clearing weapon instead.” His wife needed a moment to call up the documents related to this strange hyper material. Prior experiments revealed that it was possible to leverage the dualistic properties of the Ice Fire Stone to develop a weapon that could spit out cold fire. If a normal energy weapon produced hot flames, a weapon that integrated the mysterious Ice Fire Stone was capable of generating freezing flames! So long as the effects remained coherent, it was very much possible to amplify the freezing reaction by feeding it with more thermal energy. This made no sense. Exposing anything to heat should normally make it hotter, but the reality-defying flames produced under the influence of the strange rock seemed to violate the law of conservation of energy! Of course, Ves had come up with more complicated theories on how it was possible to produce a freezing flame without running afoul of the First Law of Thermodynamics. He did not have the time to conduct proper experiments in order to verify those idle theories. It was already enough for him to know what the Ice Fire Stone could produce when utilized correctly. Gloriana furrowed her brows for a moment. "Is it necessary to make use of this hyper material on the energy projector? Why not abide by your original plan and use it to upgrade the Ignitron?" "Think about the enemies that they are meant to be used against." Ves said. "From what I have witnessed so far, the native aliens are vulnerable to thermal energy attacks as long as you can get past their energy defenses. The raging hot flames that Saint Isobel is known for can burn the native aliens more effectively once she takes possession of her ace mech. Giving her a weapon that produces a freezing effect does not add much value.” His wife started to understand what he was going for. "Wait. I understand now. The voribugs are resistant towards thermal damage. They are inherently more resistant towards fire and energy damage. If the Promethea makes use of the Ice Fire Stone against these insects, then her attacks will not only face less resistance, but also freeze the bugs in question, causing their activity levels to drop." They could take advantage of this in multiple different ways. The most obvious one was to develop an energy weapon that was able to project its freezing attacks in the widest possible angle. This would disperse the energy attack to the extreme, but so long as the nearby voribugs got exposed to just a wisp of freezing flames, then they would slowly become paralyzed to the point of turning into popsicles! "Wait" His wife suddenly said. "The flames produced by the Ice Fire Stone do not actually generate a classic exothermic reaction where the voribugs are turned into ash. Their bodies will still remain relatively intact if in a frozen state. They may even be able to come back to life as soon as they are thawed! Is it not better to leave this special hyper material out of the equation?" Ves smirked. "You are correct that using the Ice Fire Stone will leave the bodies frozen but relatively intact. That is why I want to grant the Promethea Mark Ii the ability to make use of them. I am still working on this, but I want to devise a gadget or an add-on to the energy projector that will enable her to gather up all of the frozen bugs within the radius of her Saint Kingdom before simultaneously launching them out! So long as they remain completely chilled, their hard bodies will punch through the bodies of numerous voribugs, creating a 3D effect that is similar to opening fire with a humongous shotgun!" This was a crazy idea! it sounded awfully dubious to Gloriana, but as long as every step worked as Ves described, she could see how this may be an incredibly effective way to clear out dense swarms of voribugs. “I am not too sure about this to be honest.” She said. "The initial freezing shot should be highly efficient, but the energy needed to attract all of those frozen voribugs before launching them violently in an enormous volley will expend a lot more energy. The Promethea Mark Il will not be able to perform this sequence on repeat for long." "Perhaps... you are right, but you have to admit that this should be an incredibly effective way to clear out the largest swarms in the shortest possible interval. It is a creative solution and one that should work especially well against enemies that are much more highly resistant towards thermal damage. The Promethea Mark II will become a nightmare to the bugs of the Solari Hive."