Chapter 176

"You guys lost THREE white mechas the last time you came here??" I asked them incredulously.

"An exaggeration. They could barely be considered white mechas. More like blue mechas on steroids." The Ancestor said dismissively. "You're only around half my age and already you're sounding like an over excited old man."

"They may be miserable pieces of junk compared to our Blood Moon Mechas, and truly they were barely above the minimum energy output set by the Federation-"

"The already very low standards set by the Federation." The Ancestor interrupted Bruce Pang mildly.

"Yes that. But they were nonetheless certified white mechas. And they were all destroyed by the damned Gavarels. It is too dangerous for us to be passively taking on their attacks." Bruce Pang said adamantly. "Especially considering that he had not absorbed Deathscythe, and the mecha output he could manifest at this point is probably nowhere as strong."

"You've been spoilt by our Blood Moon Mechas." The Ancestor said to Bruce Pang quietly. "Don't you remember your good old days when you thrived without your Chronos?"

"I do. I will and I can do all of that again if I have to. But I won't if I don't have to. And in this case, we all don't have to cut it close like this. We can easily go back and get him to absorb Deathscy-"

"You want to go back and deal with that Wang Demoness?" The Ancestor interrupted Bruce Pang once more.

However, this time he managed to shut him up.

At that time, I was pretty amused by their extreme dislike of dealing with Secretary Wang, to the point of preferring to deal with Horse Gavarels instead of her.

"What a bunch of losers, scared of a mere woman." I remember chuckling at them.

They merely gave me a haunted smile at my words.

"I will remind you of your words when you finally stand at the receiving end of the Demoness Wang's tirade." Bruce Pang said with a tired smile.

With hindsight, that tired smile should have been enough warning for me to stay the hell away from Secretary Wang. But I completely ignored it.

"Sure. By all means." I grinned at him naively.

"Anyway, we should be fine. Justin, the smaller your mecha is, the more condensed you can make your mecha armor, right?" The Ancestor asked.

"That's right. If I merely make our spiky ball the size of a small car, I can make it as strong as ten white mecha armor stacked on top of each other." I nodded.

"Good. Let's do that then. Here, use this armor specification." The Ancestor said calmly and passed a small device to me.

My eyes gleamed greedily and I immediately took it with eager hands and let my mind dive into it.

"Wow.. This is.. Amazing.." I breathed out in awe as I studied the blueprint of a Gold Grade Mecha Shield.

Of course there were mecha shields in the list of blueprints I absorbed earlier, Gold Grade Shields as well that could easily withstand the combined attacks of multiple blue mechas.

But that particular Gold Grade Mecha Shield Blueprint was truly something different.

For one thing, it gave the definition of 'shield' the wildest and most ridiculous identity test ever.

Could a shield deal ridiculous damage?

I mean, yes shield bashes are extremely powerful, and if used at the right time, it could very well kill a recklessly charging enemy outright.

And yes, there is a story about an American captain with a round shield which he throws around like a frisbee to kill his enemies.

That story is far fetched and completely detached from reality. But even if it's real, it still didn't give the shield an identity crisis like that particular one.

That shield was completely bonkers.

It was like a weapon designer got forced to design a shield at gunpoint, and then grudgingly designing a shield but secretly giving the shield the soul and the effective function of a weapon.

It could block attacks, yes, but that was the only thing "shield-y" about it.

Everything else, all of its special features screamed "I WILL KILL YOU, AND I WILL KILL YOU NOW! THERE IS NO ESCAPING ME!"

So what were its special features?historical

The first and mildest feature it had was its tagging function. The shield was made up of nanoparticles, and the user had the option to cause a tiny amount of its nanoparticle to stick to the attacking weapon and 'tag' it.

Wherever the weapon went from that point on, the shield wielder would be able to track.

It wasn't an attacking function, but it sure exhibited the designer's deep desire of not letting any of his enemies escape.

The nanoparticles were completely undetectable and unremovable. Once you got tagged, you're tagged.

But still, all things considered, it was.. Mild.

The second feature it had was nothing like it.

It was aptly named 'death by a thousand cuts'. The shield was pre programmed to release a thousand small but highly powerful laser coated blades that would surround the tagged target in a vicious tornado of swirling blades that would ravage any and all unarmored matter into shreds, such as exterior sensors which were not sufficiently protected.

Against flesh and bone, that tornado blade would turn even the largest mammoth into nothing more than bloodstains on the ground within minutes.

Harsh.

However, it was like a lover's gentle caress compared to the third feature.

The third one was its most powerful feature, and in that feature, the "weapon designer" had done away with all pretenses of wanting to design anything but a full frontal weapon that could take on any and all of his enemies in flurries of furious and unstoppable attacks.

It was called "Smile".

"Only the manic and bloodthirsty God of Death would smile at such a stupid form of attack." I couldn't help but mutter when I understood the full scope of the shield's third feature.

The Ancestor merely snickered lightly. However, he remained quiet otherwise.

He was watching me very intently with a contemplative look on his face.

"I totally have no idea why this third function works this way. I mean, I understand the logic of having the nanoparticles latch on to whatever touches the shield and then "biting" off chunks of the weapon/body part.

That's an excellent feature that works in a similar manner to the second feature. It's not as devastating as it has a much shorter range, but it is more complete in its destruction as it rips the enemies apart at the molecular level.

But why the hell would the shield actually store whatever it had "bitten" off within itself? It doesn't do anything! It just makes the shield heavier!" I complained. "No, it does do something. It makes the name "Smile" truly appropriate.. IF I am a bloodsucking vampire!!"

"Smile isn't a completed design. It is merely the first baby step in replicating.. well. You know what." The Ancestor smiled.

"Replicating I know what? What do I kn- .. what? You're trying to replicate Devour??" I shouted in shock.

"Smart kid. Yes. Our nanotech design had improved by leaps and bounds and we are able to mimic the act of breaking down everything like Devour. It's not as powerful and incredible as Devour's red energy, of course.

But I think this is a good step forward. Still, we met with a complete blank with the second step of synthesizing them into things that we want." The Ancestor sighed as he explained the background of the third feature.. Smile.