The Sun Caster was an extravagant weapon system, one that had only been applied to a single ace mech before becoming buried within deep archives. It must have taken Gloriana quite a lot of effort to dig up this invention out of millions. She must have accessed a database and meticulously filtered out the most suitable weapon systems by refining her search. By inputting specific keywords and parameters, the overwhelming list would rapidly shrink into a more manageable collection. What caused her to fixate on the Sun Caster out of all of the possible choices, Ves could not tell. it was certainly grandiose. The ability to create a microsun-like plasma orb that could envelop an Ascended Giant would definitely attract the attention of everyone on the battlefield. The Promethea Mark Il would become the center of everyone's attention. It couldn't be helped. The existence of an extremely large and powerful conglomeration of plasma was enough to shift the outcome of most battles! Glorious. Ves had to admit that he immediately recognized the appeal of this idea. “Interesting.” He commented. "This is relatively old tech, and exclusively developed by the Plasma Caster. It will be rather troublesome for us to acquire the tech." "Not a problem. The Rubarthan Pact needs our help. It needs the power of your Ascended Giants. I think the Plasma Caster will be more than happy to exchange old data with substantial military assistance." “Then what? Look at how much the Rubarthan ace mech had strained itself. Creating a plasma orb exerts a huge load on the mech frame. Are you sure you want to integrate this function into the Promethea Mark II knowing that the changes will subject her to extreme stresses?" His wife remained confident. "The tech is outdated, which means that as long as we spend the effort to modernize it, we can produce much better results. Back then, the Plasma Caster and the Rubarthans did not have access to phasewater, hyper materials and superdimensional matter. We happen to have abundant access to all of these resources. I am certain that we can upgrade the Sun Caster and turn it into a much more powerful and practical weapon.” That was actually a promising suggestion. Ves put serious thought into this idea. Modernizing the Sun Caster was probably a complex project. The Larkinsons might need the help of Rubarthan mech designers and engineers in order to adapt the tech to modern standards. It would be worth it, though. The Sun Caster's power was already impressive back when it first debuted. It would become even more impressive once they updated it and applied it to the Promethea Mark II. “Why chose the Sun Caster in the first place?" He asked. "I mean, it looks really impressive and all, but generating a miniature sun is an extremely intensive task. I wouldn't be shocked if a Masterwork Installation can make one, but expecting it to form out of an ace mech that is very limited in size is a different matter. Is it really worth it to impose such demands on the mech frame?" "Yes." Gloriana responded. "I think you are fixating too much on function over form. While your own proposal is more practical and less demanding than mine, the Sun Caster is perfect for the Promethea Mark Il due to symbolism.” "Symbolism?" “Imagine an ace mech that is famed for inflicting damage with the help of flames. What would our enemies think when the Promethea Mark Il is also capable of producing a giant purple orb of plasma? Even if the voribugs are not subject to morale, they cannot ignore the orb. Its heat output is so high that it can burn most of the voribugs in the vicinity. Another advantage is that containing an already-formed plasma orb requires much less energy consumption. Although the orb still has a tendency to spread out and vaporize anything in the vicinity, it can still remain in this state for a fairly long time. The energy consumption level is much lower." In other words, so long as the Promethea Mark I's mech frame could withstand the load of channeling so much energy, utilizing the Sun Caster as a trump card was not unreasonable! Ves started to understand what his wife was getting at. *I see. The symbolism of fielding an ace mech that can create an artificial sun is one thing. Letting it linger as long as possible may help to bolster the morale of friendly units while keeping any cannon fodder away from its location. Since the artificial sun is generated by a pair of horn-like parts, that still leaves the Promethea Mark Il free to use her firearm, whether it is the ignitron or my proposed new energy projector. Since this is the case, we may be able to get away with combining both of our ideas, but only as long as our upgrades are good enough.” “I just thought of that as well, Ves. The idea has merit, but it will be difficult to implement it. The load on the Promethea Mark Il will be immense, especially if she is making use of two offensive systems at once. It will also take too much time to design an ace mech that has both offensive functions. Is it even necessary to implement both of them? We only need to give the Promethea Mark II an effective means to fight against the mutated voribugs. It is more efficient to commit to a single solution." Ves furrowed his brows as he put more thought into this matter. The issue had become a ttle more complicated due to more options becoming available. He personally believed in his own idea, but he had to admit that Gloriana had picked an interesting alternative. He really wanted to design an ace rifleman mech that incorporated both of their proposals. Was this the correct choice, though? It would take a lot of research to turn the energy projector proposal into a real weapon that was able to spread cold flames while also launching a huge number of frozen bullets at giant opponents. Due to the unique principles behind this idea, Ves would probably have to solve a lot of engineering problems by himself. Modernizing the Sun Caster and adapting it to the Promethea Mark Il would take even more R&D to complete. This was a highly technical job that required the effort of a substantial amount of scientists and engineers. Ves felt reluctant to tackle both of them at the same time, but that may be what it took to design the most superior version of the Promethea Mark Il. “We should ask Saint Isobel." Ves said. "She's available, so we might as well explain the current situation and let her voice her preference.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 "Hmmm, right. Let us call her over right away." Saint Isobel Biotin was left without a functional mech that enabled her to leverage her current strength to the fullest. Not that she was comfortable with returning to the field at this time. She had lost almost her entire body in the past and only just gained access to a new one. While she was not an ordinary meek pilot, the process of experiencing life through an entirely new cybernetic body was incredibly profound. The recovering ace pilot spent most of her time mastering her new body and preparing herself for her upcoming service. As a champion who numerous people would look up to, Saint Isobel wanted to be ready to go full throttle the moment the Larkinsons presented her with her new ace mech. Therefore, Ves was not surprised to find out that she had been spending her time on self-study. Just because ace pilots had reached a high level of transcendence did not mean that studying had become irrelevant. While it was not strictly necessary for them to know how stuff worked, there were certain ace pilots that were able to derive strength from knowledge. High-ranking mech commanders relied heavily on knowledge to command their troops better. Other expert pilots and ace pilots that relied heavily on complicated tech also benefited from understanding the principles that make it work. However, the consequences of learning how stuff actually worked had a direct influence on how they wielded their strength. The power of a high-ranking mech pilot was very idealistic. They did not ascribe to any objective truths because their resolve preferred to impose their own truth onto the universe. As such, studying science and technology was a specific way for an ace pilot such as Saint Isobel to strengthen her mastery of advanced tech. Yet doing so would also shape her perception of reality. She would no longer be able to wield her ignorance as much as before. Her ability to impose her own truth would have less flexibility than before due to learning theories that more accurately described the laws of reality. For example, if Saint Isobel previously believed that fire was an element, then learning that fire could better be described as an exothermic reaction would result in many changes in how she wielded her power! Whether these changes were for the better or worse remained to be seen, but now that Saint Isobel had chosen this path, she was determined to make it work. In any case, Saint Isobel had been engrossed in her quiet self-study. The sudden summons broke her concentration and left her in a disjointed mood. As her cybernetic body navigated through the halls of the Tarrasque, she eventually found herself inside a mech lab. There, the Miracle Couple filled her in on the latest discussion. Saint Isobel Biotin calmly listened as Ves and Gloriana presented multiple different proposals on how to arm the Promethea Mark Ii for the battles to come. The native aliens had already become old news as far as most people were concerned. Saint Isobel felt a little disappointed that she might not get to tackle enemy phase lords and phase whales properly due to their diminished threat relative to the mutated voribugs. After the pair of mech designers completed their explanation, Isobel silently contemplated her options. “I want both." She ultimately said. "The Sun Caster is impressive. It can end a battle before it can spiral any further. It can also help to define my mech and my identity. No other ace mech has made use of the Sun Caster in the Red Ocean, correct?" “That is the case as far as we know." Ves confirmed. “Then let the Plasma Shaper's invention make a comeback through my machine." Isobel formed a mild smile. “The updated Sun Caster will become my new trump card. Even if I can only generate a single miniature sun per battle, that is enough to deal with powerful enemies such as the Emperor Tree. I need a finisher." it figured that she would fixate on this shortcoming. Although Saint Isobel ultimately managed to defeat the Emperor Tree after her astonishing breakthrough, who knew whether future enemies were better able to resist her flames. “It sounds like you are incredibly satisfied with the Sun Caster. Do you really have to gain access to the other weapon as well?" "Yes." The determined saint said. "More options are always better. Besides, the ice fire thing is really interesting. I need to diversify the damage output of my mech. I cannot rely on inflicting thermal damage all of the time. The more I rely on heat to inflict damage, the more my enemies will work to counter my strength. This is why I want to learn how to freeze my enemies into stillness. Even if it is somewhat related to Fire, it is still different enough to make it harder to counter.” She was able to recognize the same advantages that Ves and Gloriana had already considered. “If you truly insist on incorporating both weapon systems, then we can do that." Ves eventually said. "It will be costly, though. The power of both weapons may not be as great as if we focus our development on a single weapon system. What is also important to note is that it will take more time to complete your project.” "How long?" "Expect a delay of at least several months." (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)