The New Power Armor’s Direction

It didn't take long to decide the specifications of the armor. That's

because I was very clear on what exactly I wanted the power armor to

be.

First of all, my minimum requirements were environmental

adaptability and precision operations.

Environmental adaptability will ensure you can survive and work in

extreme environments such as on the surface of planets in the middle

of being terraformed, the interior of ships and colonies that have had

their airtightness compromised, extreme weather conditions that are

harmful to the human body, and toxic atmospheres. It can be said to be

a basic requirement for any decent combat-use power armor.

Precision operation indicates how accurately a power armor can

emulate the wearer's movements. If a power armor's reaction in

response to the wearer's movements is slow, it will be evaluated as a

[sluggish] power armor, and conversely, if the armor's response time

is so fast to the point that it ends up overwhelming the wearer, it will be

categorized as an [oversensitive] power armor.

In either case, it's possible for the wearer to somewhat get used to their

quirks eventually, but sluggish ones still have delayed reaction times,

and oversensitive ones cause the precision to drop. In other words,

power armors that have the right balance between those two extremes

are the ones with the best precision operation capability.

"Those are what most of our customers demand as well. Do not worry.

We will do our best to meet your expectations."

It looks like this is the main purpose of the movement tracing the man

mentioned earlier. So they not only adjust the hardware but the

software as well huh.

"Ease of maintenance is also important."

"Ignoring the more technical details, products that make use of state-ofthe-art materials often prove to be a bit troublesome. That's just how it

is."

"If so, then do you stock up on spare parts in advance so they can be

easily purchased later?"

"That is an option. We can also compromise on the materials a bit in the

aid of better maintainability."

While the shopkeeper and I were discussing the details, Elma, Mimi,

and Kugi were busy looking at the sample power armor images on the

holo-display.

"My impression of power armors are them being rough and bulky, but

these are pretty slim, aren't they?"

"Yeah. It looks like they also pay a lot of attention to aesthetics since

these are for nobles."

"They look like fine pieces of armor indeed… But won't you become

sluggish when wearing them because of the extra weight?"

"Power armors are equipped with artificial muscles to prevent that–"

Mimi began to explain the characteristics of power armors to Kugi who

didn't know much about them. Un, the sight is somehow quite adorable.

I was reminded of the first time Mimi boarded Krishna. During that

time, I also explained Krishna's various functions and amenities to

Mimi.

By the way, I was actually quite pleasantly surprised about the design

choices for custom-made power armor. There were no such things as

custom-made power armors in SOL, so this was my first time

encountering them.

"Assuming that these are the basic functions, what options can be

added on to the armor? The power armor I always use is equipped with

a number of fixed weapons, so it can enter combat even if it was

unarmed. It has enough firepower as is."

"Of course, using our proprietary technology, it is possible to add

firepower while maintaining precision operations. But, of course, there

is also a limit. If we equip it with too many fixed weapons, the weight

might end up being too much. That would hinder its performance."

"I see. But considering the situations where you'd sortie with a power

armor on, isn't a certain level of firepower necessary…?"

In the first place, in normal situations, there was no problem with using

the RIKISHI. Unless the situation requires the use of swords, using

RIKISHI was preferable due to its firepower and toughness. In other

words, what I ultimately required in the new power armor wasn't

firepower or defensive strength, but quickness and stealth.

"Let's change our approach a bit. I want to focus on stealth and speed in

addition to environmental adaptability and precision operation."

"Understood."

You can't expect stealth and speed from RIKISHI at all. If I insisted on

going in the same direction as RIKISHI, I might end up with a halfbaked product, and that would be a real waste.

"However, stealth and speed, is it? That's quite a reckless configuration."

After saying so, the shopkeeper displayed a bitter smile. I tilted my

head in confusion at the shopkeeper's reaction.

"Reckless? Doesn't insisting on adding laser guns, plasma launchers, or

grenade launchers seem a lot more reckless?"

"Oh c'mon. Depending on how you look at it, a noble-use power armor

specialized in stealth and speed can be considered as more geared

toward assassination right…? Of course, it's gonna be evaluated as

reckless."

"I see."

The heart of the matter was pointed out by Elma, who also sported a

bitter smile. My confusion was instantly cleared up. Certainly, sneaking

past the guards and killing the target silently with a sword by making

use of stealth and speed was definitely a method employed by

assassins.

"But if you go in that direction–"

"He doesn't seem keen on changing his mind."

"Because there's no reason to."

Mimi tried to object, but I just shrugged her off.

Honestly speaking, I really don't know a lot about how this world

works. I'm not a nobleman who values honor and pride, but a

mercenary who trades lives for money. Being called cowardly or dirty

sound more like compliments to me. The one who ultimately survives,

in the end, is the winner. Insisting on proper rules and methods in

combat is pointless if it leads to you losing your life.

And so, we finalized the armor specifications. First, it will adapt antilaser plating. It's the latest armor plating devised to prevent

evaporation-induced explosions when hit by lasers. It can even

withstand up to three shots on the same spot by a laser rifle or

something of similar firepower. Actually, it makes use of plenty of rare

crystals whose mining rate had increased significantly.

"Rare crystals? It's that stuff, right?"

"Yeah, most likely."

"Right."

I, Mimi, and Elma probably thought of the same thing. It's the stupidly

huge crystal sea urchin that shone brightly under the dazzling light of a

pulsar.

Anyway, the artificial muscles that will be used on my power armor will

be of the highest quality currently available. Due to their quantity not

equaling the ones used in the RIKISHI, the armor will have less raw

strength, but it will still possess power that easily surpasses bare flesh

by several times. It was a product that not only excels in power but also

explosiveness, and it seems it was possible to continue running with it

on for extended periods of time at a speed of about 80 km/h, even

when fully equipped. Its servos were also perfectly whisper-quiet.

"It looks like I'll need quite a bit of training to be proficient with it."

"That will be necessary to some extent. However, once we capture your

motion data in advance and incorporate it into the armor, your troubles

will be considerably reduced."

"I see."

The armor will also be equipped with a small but high-output generator

and an energy shield function. It will also sport optical camouflage

capability. It will be even more sophisticated than the Chameleon

Thermal Cloak I bought back then, and was apparently also capable of

deceiving infrared, electromagnetic waves, and various other detection

methods aside from regular optical camo.

"However, if you continuously perform extreme movements, the

camouflage effect will be significantly reduced."

"So that means it's impossible to turn completely invisible."

But seeing this world's level of technological advancement, more potent

optical camouflage tech could have already been developed and put

into practical use. Well, even if this was a shop catering to nobles, it was

still a civilian one after all. So they might not be allowed to handle topsecret military tech or something.

"You really turned it into a piece of equipment fit for an assassin, didn't

you…?"

"Ain't it cool?"

By the way, I also had them incorporate a high-power grappling hook

shooter and anti-laser smoke emitters.

According to (self-conducted) research, a hook shooter is the number

one tool that's unlikely to work in reality. It's basically that tool that

pulls you up by first shooting a grappling hook at a wall or roof. The

wire itself was made of very tough artificial muscle bundles, and it

seemed a high-power motor was used to enable it to pull one up

quickly, power armor and all. In other words, it was a machine that

seemingly combined the function of a chameleon's tongue and a highpowered automatic reel.

The anti-laser smoke emitter was a device that releases a special smoke

screen capable of significantly attenuating the power of laser weapons.

It can be used a total of four times, with two placed on each shoulder of

the armor. Since the number of uses was limited, one needed to

consider the most effective timing to deploy the smoke.

"It does look cool!"

"Um, well… D-Doesn't it look pretty, um, villainous?"

Mimi highly praised the custom power armor's design, but it seemed

Kugi wasn't a fan. I mean, sure, I made it look a bit evil and ninja-like,

but I don't think it looks that bad. Or rather, in my opinion, typical

knight-in-shining-armor designs just didn't suit me and my character.

"Actually, the color can be changed through the Chameleon camo

function."

"It's not about the color… No. It is quite presumptuous of me to object

to your preferences, My Lord. I'm sorry."

"Nah, you don't need to apologize for that. It's fine."

I definitely won't change the design, okay? Sorry. But to think my

armors ended up being designed after a sumo wrestler and a ninja.

Well, they do kinda have the same theme, right? Should I take it further

and order a samurai-form power armor next?