A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 856 - 599: Build It Yourself!

With the complete destruction of the Bird Head Galaxy, hundreds of millions of Cosmic Monsters also turned to dust in the universe. This brought relief to everyone, as at least the threat to humanity was gone — but Duanmu Huai knew this was just the beginning. The truth was that the Cosmic Monsters that had converged on the Bird Head Galaxy were merely the Vanguard Army. Having defeated them, the main force was surely going to continue its approach.

That would have to wait for some time, though. They would deal with it when it came.

The Exelion planned to return to Earth to report, but Steel Bastar decided to stay behind — Captain Tashiro was aware that if Steel Bastar returned to Earth, it would inevitably be dragged into the battle between the Earth Federation and PLANT. So, he left Steel Bastar behind to safeguard the fleet, only making adjustments to the pilot roster.

Amano Kazumi seemed to have a loved one on Earth, so she and Captain Tashiro returned there, while a fiery red-haired beauty with an arrogant spirit took her place piloting Steel Bastar Unit 2.

Rongge Floid.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, just the name alone is ridiculous without her getting into a fight with herself.

As for Duanmu Huai, he decided to act with the fleet for the time being. After all, although the threat of the Cosmic Monsters was seemingly eliminated for now, the Vajra threat persisted. The Great President of the fleet welcomed him warmly — he had seen the reports of the Tribunal Fleet’s performance in the Bird Head Galaxy battle and was naturally much more at ease having such a formidable force accompany him.

So, once there was some downtime, Duanmu Huai found Maria and began planning their next step.

And that was... to build a Mecha of his own!

As mentioned before, Duanmu Huai’s forte was charging and leading the vanguard; he wasn’t as fond of commanding from the rear, but he had no choice in the past. Now it was different. Aikute was outstanding in directing fleet battles, so Duanmu Huai could let go and plan to return to his old profession.

"Do you mean a transformable one, like the VF fighter?"

Holding her notebook and listening to Duanmu Huai’s demands, Maria was completely overwhelmed.

"Of course, transforming is the romance of men. If it doesn’t transform, it’s half as exciting!"

Although the fight was not over yet, and Duanmu Huai couldn’t get his hands on the Contraction Furnace and VF fighter, that didn’t matter. The Tribunal had the technology and the data; worst case, he would just build his own and then upgrade it once he had the Contraction Furnace.

What protagonist’s Mecha wouldn’t have a second-stage upgrade?

"Right, the wings must be duck wings."

Duck wings epitomize sci-fi and romance, and transformable duck wings take sci-fi romance to the extreme.

Fighter jets, who wouldn’t love them? The more sci-fi and stylish and handsome the better!

"Also, make the body sturdy. I plan to use it for boarding actions."

Boarding actions were a tradition of the Imperial Naval Fleet, and Duanmu Huai didn’t want to fall behind. Just imagine piloting a fighter jet straight into an enemy warship for a boarding action. How thrilling would that be?

"What about auxiliary targeting for shooting?"

"Ogis will help with that."

Duanmu Huai patted the head of his little darling, planning to make it a two-seat heavy fighter. He would handle piloting and Ogis would take up support — Unlike Duanmu Huai, Ogis was very skilled in that area. Normally it wasn’t apparent, but Ogis is the type who could hit the bullseye every shot with a handgun and make the bullets go through the same hole, though she seldom needed to demonstrate it.

"So don’t forget to add a Funnel or drone or something for her to control."

"What about the human-form Mecha’s appearance..."

"Oh, just do whatever you think is best."

Duanmu Huai had less than a third of the enthusiasm for human-form Mechas compared to fighter jets. You could say he left that part pretty much up to Maria. Or to put it another way, unless something unexpected happened, he probably wouldn’t need to transform it into the human-form... probably.

In fact, Duanmu Huai himself didn’t understand why VF fighters had to transform into humanoid robots...

The fighter was so cool as it was; why not just add a coat of paint and name it GLAM or BLAZE? Wouldn’t it be stunning?

To be honest, Duanmu Huai really disliked the design of Imperial fighters. They were just too boxy, lacking any appeal to him. Even the Night Raven Black Star was no exception, having a design that was not at all glamorous or sci-fi but rather like something that crawled out of a mine.

Let alone the functionality, what Duanmu Huai disliked most about Imperial fighters was their shape — all those square fronts equipped with gun ports. Although not entirely impractical, Duanmu Huai still believed that streamlined, bullet shapes were the coolest!

On the other hand, those boxy heads looked like they were roughly welded together in a mine...

As a qualified client, Duanmu Huai left content after making his requests, leaving Maria behind to pull her hair out over her notes and blueprints. Although she wasn’t averse to such challenges... the demands were just too much!!

Unfortunately, as this was an order from her superior, Maria had to comply regardless of her wishes. And so — after several sleepless nights and untold amounts of hair loss, Maria finally completed the fighter jet to Duanmu Huai’s specifications.

"It’s finished already?"

I must say, Duanmu Huai was also taken aback when he learned the news. He didn’t expect Maria to act so swiftly. Before, when he saw how troubled she was, he thought his requests were excessive. But now it seems Maria’s potential is even greater than that. Hmm... Perhaps he should increase her burden?

"Yes, Great Judge."

Maria, of course, did not know of the dismal fate awaiting her. Although Duanmu Huai’s demands were quite high, luckily they were all very clear, at least he didn’t throw something at her like "Just make it look cool and flashy"... If that were the case, Maria would truly be looking for a place in the Tribunal to bash her head in.

"Take me to see it!"

Duanmu Huai did recognize Maria’s technical skills. Anyone who could hand-craft a tank within a civilization of medieval levels would stand out anywhere.

And indeed, Maria lived up to Duanmu Huai’s expectations.

"Oh, oh, oh, this is just so cool!"

Standing in the hangar and looking at the warplane in front of him shimmering with a metallic sheen, Duanmu Huai was extremely satisfied.

Under the illumination of the lights, there was a warplane with a full sci-fi vibe, its body all black. It looked similar to conventional warplanes, with its bullet-shaped nose, streamlined body, and sci-fi, duck-wing design. Especially when thinking that this warplane belonged to him, Duanmu Huai was even more excited.

Although he couldn’t wait to hop in and take it for a spin, Duanmu Huai still patiently listened to Maria’s explanation.

According to Maria’s explanation, this warplane was a bit bigger than the average warplane, 20 meters long and 23 meters wide. Relative to a normal warplane, it was larger, but that was necessary, taking into account Duanmu Huai’s size. A normal cockpit would not have fit him, plus there were additional pieces of equipment to be placed, hence the size.

For the cockpit, Maria did not go for a glass dome panorama type but instead made it airtight. It utilized cameras to gather information from all around and reflected it inside the cockpit, allowing Duanmu Huai to fully grasp the battlefield situation with a 360-degree view without any dead angles.

Beyond that, the entire warplane was powered by an antimatter reactor, and moreover, Maria had used black technology from other worlds—including the Tantaros Drive from the Star Union, which could generate a special mass field to shield heat reactions, making it impossible for enemies to lock on to and attack the warplane with thermal energy.

The warplane’s main armament consisted of two BFG9000 plasma cannons, which had become a standard installation for the Tribunal, from the Demon World.

As for missiles, a combination of Predator Armor-piercing Bullets and Storm Strike Missiles was chosen.

In fact, Maria had originally proposed using Vortex Missiles, but Duanmu Huai had vetoed the idea. In fact, all Vortex weapons had been completely sealed by Duanmu Huai. The reason was simple: Vortex weapons could tear apart the very fabric of the universe’s spacetime, creating a massive hole that swallowed everything it touched into subspace. This might have been fine during the Imperial Era, but not anymore. Duanmu Huai did not want to risk causing irreversible damage to subspace...

Therefore, for Duanmu Huai, missile weaponry was merely supportive since, without a Contraction Furnace, he couldn’t manufacture an unlimited supply of reactive warheads like Steel Bastar. So Duanmu Huai simply equipped a few missiles, just for the sake of having them.

The objects hanging under the wings on the left and right sides that looked like missiles were actually mere funnel guns—Lumiaire had hacked into those MS units after listening to Ann’s requests and acquired the data. Following Duanmu Huai’s requirements, Maria had also added the funnel guns to the design. Three on each side, six funnel gun platforms in total, controlled by the auxiliary Ogis.

"Not bad, not bad at all. This is truly excellent."

After scrutinizing the entire warplane from top to bottom, Duanmu Huai was beyond excited, just as if he had just gotten a new car.

Indeed, warplanes are a man’s romance, the perfect embodiment of speed and passion. That’s way better than just any plain mecha.

And this warplane could even freely enter and exit the planet’s atmosphere, making future visits to other planets far more convenient for him.

"Eh? Mr. Knight, do you think this mecha is pretty?"

Out of curiosity, Anya had followed along to see it, and looking at the mecha in front of her, the girl admitted she couldn’t understand such an odd design.

"What’s so great about this weird triangle-shaped thing?"

"What do you know, this is a man’s romance."

Hearing Anya’s question, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes. He wasn’t like Anya, whose mechas looked like works of art. The symbol of the modern technological industrial system was efficiency, simplicity, fluidity, science fiction!

Full-on futuristic style, that’s it!

As for you, what’s the point of all that carving and engraving?

What’s this about an ’inherent sense of beauty’ all of a sudden?

"But Mr. Knight, you still need to paint it, right?"

"Of course, not only paint but also decals."

What’s the joy of flying a plane without a livery?! Half the fun is gone!

"Then I guess it doesn’t matter whether it’s pretty or not..."