Published at 19th of May 2026 8:16 am

Chapter 7492 The Archetech Iceberg

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

"So… Saint Isobel wants to pilot a dark and edgy mech."

"I wouldn't describe it that way." Ves said as he leaned against the clean alloy work table. "She wants to pilot a mech that reflects her shift in mindset. The original Promethea has a fine look, but its heroic bearing is a bit too strong for her liking. Now that she deliberately wants to position herself as the Larkinson Clan's villain, she needs to convey the impression of one. It is just like those dramas where degenerated heroes swap out their bright costumes for more ominous looking ones. In this situation, her mech is her costume. This is more than a symbolic change. It is a transition that directly influences her conviction."

Gloriana could not direct her focus on her tinkering with a piece of salvaged advanced archetech anymore. She turned her chair around and looked up at her husband.

"I suppose you did nothing to discourage her from making this immature decision. You must be looking forward to exploring this contrast in themes and adding more variety to our high-end mech roster."

She knew him too well.

"This is her choice to make, Gloriana. Do not forget that we exist to serve mech pilots, not the other way around. Even if mech pilots are overly emotional, have bad logic and possess a very biased and flawed perspective of reality, their needs must still be accommodated to the best of our ability. This is especially the case for ace pilots. It is our responsibility to convert as much of their fanciful ideas into concrete and practical products."

His wife let out a sigh. "I have not forgotten those distinctions. You do not need to remind me as if I am still a young Novice Mech Designer. I am merely… disappointed that Saint Kotin has developed such a strong aversion to the ideal of a heroine. She might not fit this archetype as well as Venerable Joshua or Saint General Ark, but she is still a positive example to many ladies of our clan. If she has decided to embrace a darker and more ominous persona, then that will have great implications, not just for our minions, but also our public image."

"I know that this will affect many variables, but that is not a reason to avoid it." Ves responded while crossing his arms. "I actually agree with Saint Isobel on most of her points. I think that our clan is too honorable and upright for its own good. This may be an advantage during a time of strong order, but that is already a thing of the past. Now that we are entering an era of prolonged upheaval, we need to sharpen our claws."

"We can do so without having one of our strongest pilots adopting an evil persona, Ves! The Larkinson Clan enjoys a great reputation dividend for maintaining a positive and uplifting image, do you know that? The release and subsequent performance of the Riot Mark III has not been enough to affect that as it is an obvious outlier, but if we shape the Promethea Mark II according to her new demands…"

"You are free to seek her out and persuade her to change her mind."

"...Forget it." She shook her head.

She knew as well as any other mech designer how stubborn high-ranking mech pilots could be once they made up their minds.

On top of that, Saint Isobel Kotin was absolutely not an individual who developed a reputation for making hasty and thoughtless decisions.

Such champions tended to take their time and analyze the problem from multiple angles before settling on what they considered the most optimal choice with absolute confidence!

Now that Gloriana finally brought herself to accept this change, the pair of mech designers began to discuss the other proposed changes.

Many of them irritated her. The Promethea Mark II Project had already reached halfway to completion. Though she did not have to start over from scratch, she still needed to divert her time to redesign a number of sections in order to align with the new vision.

Much of them had to be done in order to accommodate the addition of optional mounted wargear at some point in the future!

Fortunately, these structural changes did not require too much of an overhaul. Gloriana merely had to add mounting sockets to the exterior while making sure the overall mech frame did not suffer excessive physical stresses when merged with a much larger mechanical construct.

"Converting the Sun Caster from an integrated weapon module into the core weapon system of a set of mounted wargear is a large undertaking." Gloriana frowned. "It will be larger and more complex than the Victrix that we designed for the Minerva Mark II. It is good that you told her that we cannot provide the mounted wargear to her right away. We truly do not have the time to address this additional chore. The Lionheart Mark II Project and the Bastion Mark II Project are also important. I do not intend to neglect the demands of Ark Larkinson and Jannzi Larkinson."

"Don't worry. I do not think that Saint Isobel will become too upset if she only receives a 'bare' ace mech at first. The Promethea Mark II is already stuffed with plentiful advancements compared to her old expert mech. New and powerful features such as the Bloodfire System, archetech, superdimensional tech, support link tech, Triton-Remose-B, an ultra-compact cockpit as well as a connection to a new design spirit will be more than enough to keep her busy for a while. It is best if she practices with the Promethea Mark II in her base form first before she makes use of the mounted wargear."

"She needs to learn how to walk before she can run."

"Exactly."

Gloriana looked at the latest sketch of the Promethea Mark II. The addition of the mounted wargear centered around a massive Sun Caster plasma cannon and multiple secondary energy cannons completely changed the look and performance of the entire unit.

"What of the Cryotron energy shotgun concept that we already promised for later?" She questioned. "Will you still design it for her, and do you still intend to turn it into one of your D-arms?"

Ves shrugged. "We haven't spoken about it to be honest. I think it is better to finish the mounted wargear first before anything else. I do not mind it if we end up shoving this idea to the side. However, I think it is still necessary to provide such a weapon to the Promethea Mark II eventually. It is a weapon that is tailor-made for use against the mutated voribugs. This second major threat is not going away anytime soon. We still have time, though."

"I agree. I also believe it is best to leave this project for later. It is not as if the Promethea Mark II in her base form is harmless against the mutated voribugs. We still possess an incomplete understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Red humanity is constantly learning more about the many subspecies produced by the 6 hives."

Gloriana could not help but curl her lips into a mischievous smile when she said those last words.

Ves wondered why.

"In any case, do you think we will be able to complete the Promethea Mark II Project in time despite these changes?"

She paused for a moment before giving a reluctant nod. "This outcome is within the realm of possibility. I cannot provide any greater certainty than that. Our workload has increased, but the removal of the Sun Caster from the base mech frame has also simplified its configuration, so we should be able to manage. To be honest, I am actually looking forward to incorporating some of the more readily applicable solutions that I have recently derived from the archecruiser's impressive structure. I have already managed to figure out half-a-dozens ways to compress more functions in the same volume of archemetal just by copying the homework of the arche shipbuilders."

Of course, this only applied to the most superficial applications of archetech.

The archecruiser still possessed a wealth of ingenious and highly optimized design solutions that required a lot more investigation, analysis and deduction before Gloriana could imitate them in her own works.

Still, the Promethea Mark II would still be able to enjoy a small advantage due to this recent development.

"How will your findings impact your ambition to develop 'Glorianatech'?"

Her expression immediately drooped. "Glimpsing what the arche have done to build the archecruiser has… better informed me to the vastness of my undertaking. When I initially thought that I had found my unique path to realizing my design philosophy, I based much of my assumptions on what I was able to derive from the captured archefrigate. However, I knew much less about the arche and their tech back then. I already accounted for the very real possibility that their more important homeships are more advanced by nature, but I severely underestimated the gaps in quality and complexity. The potential of archetech is much greater than I initially thought, but that has also raised the barrier of converting it into a human version that is fully compatible and easily combined with our civilization's conventional tech base."

In other words, she underestimated the challenge of her undertaking, as usual.

She saw an alien scout vessel and mistakenly thought that it already encapsulated much of the essence of archetech.

Then she encountered a more serious warship of the same alien race and suddenly discovered that she had never come into contact with 'real' archetech until that moment!

The arche were not as 'primitive' and 'underdeveloped' as she thought!

This race had lived for a long time and had lived through multiple ages.

Even if the arche had fallen from their prime and could no longer maintain the splendor of the past, that did not change the fact that they enjoyed a huge accumulation of unique technologies derived from their miraculous archeshells.

A single ambitious mech designer could never decipher and surpass the technological foundation of an entire major race so quickly and easily!

Ves even felt the need to persuade his wife to set aside her current ambition and aim for a more achievable goal.

However, he held himself back.

This was her choice. He trusted her to know what was best for her own life and career.

Besides, he had already inducted her into the System. She might not have been able to earn enough AP at this time, but she still had plenty of years to redeem more enlightenment fruits and improve her overall capabilities. There was no way she would let this challenge stump her for long.

"Will the Lionheart Mark II and the Bastion Mark II benefit from more applications of advanced archetech?" He asked.

"The Lionheart Mark II is too far ahead for that. Its level of archetech will not differ too much from the level of archetech that I intend to incorporate into Promethea Mark II." Gloriana replied while shaking her head. "It will be different for the Bastion Mark II. We do not have to finish the ace heavy space knight so soon, so that gives me much more time to master new design applications. The Bastion's mech frame is also much larger, which makes it much easier to incorporate new solutions that take up a substantial amount of volume. This will likely be the first high-end mech that truly benefits from the gains of studying the archecruiser."

That sounds good. The Bastion Mark II relied much more on her defenses to fulfill her function.

Ves had not forgotten that the Shield of Samar, the Bastion's previous incarnation, had melted in an instant due to her inability to withstand a powerful attack from the Skorpion Kommando.

Even though it was not Jannzi or her living ace mech's fault for being so vulnerable to the enemy high-tier expert mech's trump card, Ves still felt at least partly responsible for this outcome.

He and his wife had been too confident in the Shield of Samar's defenses. They underestimated the means of their enemies and paid the price for their hubris.

Ves hoped to do better this time, and so did Gloriana.

No matter what, the Bastion Mark II must never be in such a quick and sudden fashion!

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