Chapter 6861 Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV Saint Commander Casella Ingvar ultimately approved of the Ferocious Piranha Mark IV. It was not the most transformative update to the Ferocious Piranha line, but it retained many of the advantages of the Mark III while updating its configuration to the standards of the Hyper Generation. The results therefore satisfied the most essential demands of the Larkinson Army and the mech market. Casella should feel happy about that, yet she found it hard to find much pleasure in the release of this long-awaited update. "I feel rather underwhelmed by this Mark IV." She voiced. "I don't blame you. My work has long exceeded everyone's expectations on a consistent basis." Ves explained. "I always find a way to make new products that revolutionize their product categories. When updating an existing mech, I devise all kinds of new solutions that significantly enhance the existing configuration. This is most pronounced in the latest high-ranking mechs such as the Dark Zephyr Mark III, the Amaranto Mark III and the Minerva Mark II. When you go from those masterworks to the Ferocious Piranha Mark IV, the differences in quality and commitment are obvious." Ves essentially admitted that the Design Department did not really do its best to develop the best version of the Ferocious Piranha Mark IV. Alexa lowered her head. "Our Design Department was overtaken by the Great Severing. If the Phasewater Generation did not meet a premature end, the Ferocious Piranha Mark III would have remained relevant and up to date for at least a decade. Technological development would have begun to stabilize after the human race has gotten a handle on phasewater technology. All of those plans became worthless when the onset of the Hyper Generation ignited a new frenzy centered around E energy radiation and hyper materials." A new technological life cycle started before the last one had run its course. The Phasewater Generation lasted much shorter than any other mech generation. This caused a lot of problems for many mech companies, not just the LMC. Many of the larger mech companies were at least able to replenish their core mech lines fairly quickly. They employed many capable mech designers and were less reliant on individual talents. The Design Department of the LMC could not keep up. The company was still too young and had not expanded quickly enough. The poor timing of the Great Severing only complicated matters further. "The Mark IV's are predominantly reactionary mech designs. They are directly developed in response to an unforeseen circumstance. They lack the planning and investment of a proper mech design project." Ves elaborated. "So long as our civilization does not suffer any massive disruptions in the next decade, we should have ample time to properly plan out the development of the Mark V's. We don't have to cram them in the same 2-year timespan and rush them all to completion while doing the bare minimum like we are doing now. Does that satisfy you, Casella?" "The future is too far away." The Saint Commander replied. "Many people will depend on your Mark IV's to fight the enemies that are pushing us closer and closer to extinction. While I am not particularly overwhelmed by the Ferocious Piranha Mark IV, I can recognize that it would have taken much longer for it to get released if you insisted on devoting your full attention to it. That will end up forcing many mech pilots to remain stuck with their modified Mark III's." Mech design often amounted to reconciling overblown expectations with the constraints of reality. Time was the greatest constraint of every mech designer. The more successful ones always tended to be those who completed more work in less time. Those who could not work well under time constraints had no business remaining in the mech industry. "Let us proceed with the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV." Alexa proposed and began to change the projections to show the schematics and the simulations related to this popular mech line. "Similar to the Ferocious Piranha Mark IV, we have developed an iterative update to the Valkyrie Redeemer. It is split into two editions, one quasi-first-class that makes use of phasewater and one second-class that is mainly targeted towards general customers. It is a hyper mech that predominantly makes use of death-attributed hyper materials to enhance its natural inclinations. It is also a seventh-generation living mech that comes with all of the associated bells and whistles." The projection zoomed in on the armaments of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV. "As you can see, both weapons of the Mark IV are unusual. The ranged option of this marauder mech is a fourth generation luminar crystal rifle. What makes this weapon different is that it incorporates Mr. Harry Kaikkonen's ERC luminar crystal technology. Mech pilots can make use of their strong emotions to materially affect the expression of their hyper weapons. For example, as long as they are angry, they can transform this emotion into extra firepower." Casella looked interested. "The Instrument of Vengeance wielded by the Amaranto Mark III is the first ERC luminar crystal weapon of its kind, am I correct?" Ves grinned. "That's right. The Instrument of Vengeance is currently the ceiling of what can be done with luminar crystal technology. I have high expectations for Mr. Kaikkonen. He has successfully taken over the responsibility to continue the development of luminar crystal weapons. While he has yet to come up with more design applications, his current one is already useful enough. Using human emotions to enhance the firepower of luminar crystal weapons is like drawing upon free energy." The only problem was that the performance boost was inconsistent. Humans had little control over their emotions. If they channeled the wrong one in their luminar crystal rifles, they may end up firing weaker shots. This should not be a major impediment to the adoption of ERC luminar crystal weapons. The mech pilots needed to train themselves into evoking specific emotions that were tied to greater damage output. Besides, the Hexers who were expected to be the most predominant customers of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV should not have any problems with evoking strong emotions that were conducive to augmenting the firepower of ERC luminar crystal weapons. Ves only needed to reference his wife to have a pretty good idea how well the Hexers could weaponize their rage! 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂 He even thought about whether he should commission Harry Kaikkonen to develop a custom ERC luminar crystal pistol for his wife. Given her strong mood swings, she might be able to fire an energy beam that was powerful enough to drill through a mech! "So the luminar crystal weapons of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV have become a more serious threat rather than a peashooter, is that correct, Ves?" "It depends on what they are fighting against. The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV's are well-positioned to defeat enemy phasefighters. Their effectiveness is not as good when fighting against enemy warships, but they are still able to do a lot of damage as long as they close the distance and use their space suppressors to weaken the enemy vessel's energy shields." The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV needed to remain fairly light and compact. Their mass should be slanted towards the lower end of medium mechs. This meant that the Mark IV could not afford to wield a large and bulky rifle that also required plenty of support systems inside the mech frame. The same applied to the spear. It was lighter and slender than the weapons wielded by dedicated spearman mechs. This easily enabled the Valkyrie Redeemer to wield the weapon with a single hand. "Have you turned the spear into the Mark IV's Ultimate Module?" Ves nodded. "Yes. The Soultaker Spear is a little bit more special than the Piranha Teeth. The former can unleash an empowered attack that should have a similar effect to battle formations that make use of Helena, but on a much smaller and weaker scale. It will take a lot of time to charge up the Soultaker Spear, but you can massively speed up this process by staying close to lots of dying enemies. The weapon is literally named this way because it feeds off the spiritualities of deceased enemies." Casella's eyes sharpened. "What about deceased humans?" "Relax. The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV will never mistreat red humanity. The Soultaker Spear can make a distinction between human and alien souls." To be honest, Ves felt tempted to bend this rule, but he ultimately rejected this setting. He did not want to get in trouble with people who objected to the unsolicited harvesting and repurposing of red human souls. "Does the Soultaker Spear possess any other advantages aside from its status as an Ultimate Module?" "No." Ves shook his head. "The weapon has otherwise undergone minimal changes. What has changed is the physical defenses of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV. If you have looked at the designs, you will see that the round shield that the Valkyrie Redeemer previously wielded is absent. We replaced it with the Battle Skirt System. Beatrice Hendrix has made sure to design a slightly thicker version of this defensive system. This way, the Mark IV can enjoy the protection previously covered by the physical shield, but quickly put the modular armor plates away when they are not needed anymore." "It also allows the Mark IV to wield both weapons in two hands at all times. It is rather debatable whether the Valkyrie Redeemer is a marauder mech or a hero mech." Alexa Streon mentioned. The Battle Skirt System added a considerable amount of cost and complexity to the mech designs, but it added an unparalleled degree of flexibility. Not only would the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV manipulate its modular armor plating in any shape it desired, it could also borrow the modular armor plates of other Valkyrie Redeemers in order to increase its defenses in a pinch! Ves saw no reason why the Mark IV should continue to carry around a clumsy physical shield when a superior solution was within reach. "I feel bad for the mech pilots of the Maiden of Adversity." Casella said in a melancholic tone. "The Battle Skirt System defined this mech model. Now, it is being applied to other machines like the Bastion, the Minerva Mark II, the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV and who knows what else." "We haven't talked about the Bright Warrior Mark IV yet." Alexa supplied. "Well that too. Is there still a reason for the Maiden of Adversity to exist?" Ves and Alexa exchanged glances. "Probably not, Casella." Ves replied. "An elite variant of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV can pretty much substitute for any newer version of the Maiden of Adversity that we can come up with. I don't think this mech line has failed. It will simply live on in all of the mech designs that make use of the Battle Skirt System. Being able to inspire other mech designs to imitate its look and features is another form of success in my book." "I do not completely understand your argument, but I suppose that makes you the mech designer." This would not be the first or last time that Ves took the initiative to retire an active mech line. The Maiden of Adversity and other products that had fallen into comparable situations had their places in the mech market in the past, but eventually got overtaken by fresher, newer and more competitive mech models. Ves was only willing to perpetuate the mech models that had proven to be more relevant and timeless to the mech market and red humanity. His time was too precious to waste on mech models that had lost their appeal. "The Hexers will have other products to choose from in the future." Ves promised. In any case, the Peninent Sisters, the Glory Seekers and the Hex Army should be more than happy with the improved features of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV! Alexa had already cycled the projections in order to present the Bright Warrior Mark IV.