Chapter 37: Frame Gear Modification Plan

Chiba-senpai sold me the Kodachi cheaply, so I saved quite a bit of G. I intend to use these Gs to strengthen Lucifer and challenge the E-Rank. Fortunately, since I’ve been slapped with challenges from upper E-Rankers right now, I don’t need stars for [Upper Challenge Rights]. It’s a chance to climb up for free. I immediately caught Lara, who had finished her lectures, to discuss it.

“Basically, for a Lightning Frame, the theory is to enhance its mobility, but if you place too much emphasis on that, it becomes easy to get wrecked instantly if you receive an unexpected attack, and it’s a common pattern to lose easily. To avoid this, one idea is to thicken the armor a bit and provide enough defense to withstand at least one hit, but in Nero-san’s case, the pattern with the highest winning rate is to seize the initiative and strike a killing blow, so considering that…”

“Yeah, let’s calm down a bit.”

A wave of proposals surged from Lara, but due to the sheer momentum, the talk went in my right ear and out my left. Managing to calm her down, I summarized only the main points.

“Anyway, I want to increase mobility. If possible, something where I can finely adjust the speed. Even better if it allows for instant direction changes at high speed.”

“Ehh…? If we do that, it’ll become something that puts a considerable burden on the pilot…”

“I can use body enhancement, so I’m fine.”

Body enhancement type magic that improves Frame Gear performance through Ether Liquid simultaneously strengthens oneself, so somewhat reckless movements become possible. Well, in exchange, it puts a burden on the machine, though…

“Virtual Frame Gear enhancement parts are divided into official ones released by the ‘Academy’ and custom parts that students apply for and register. The premise is that both official and custom parts can actually be made, and the G price reflects the cost of materials and development.”

“…Meaning?”

“High performance means high price.”

“What a cruel truth…”

I was told something completely obvious. Well, of course…

“By the way, what is your budget?”

“Umm, about this much…?”

I showed Lara all the Gs on my smartphone. She raised one eyebrow slightly pikuri and displayed several parts on the tablet she was holding.

“With that amount, it would be around here.”

The parts Lara presented were a lineup not that different from what I had checked myself. I guess I have to choose from these after all…

“Normally I wouldn’t recommend it… but there is the option of using non-standard custom parts.”

“Non-standard?”

“Parts with tuning that is too peaky, restricting the pilot or usage conditions. Like I said earlier, they put a burden on the pilot, and on top of that, are even harder to handle. Most of them are parts with extreme stat allocation…”

According to Lara’s explanation, developers of this type tend to push limits no matter what, creating things without considering machine balance or burden on the pilot at all. Since it’s possible to actually make them if you have money and technology, they are registered, but since most aren’t usable in matches, nobody buys them.

“In Nero-san’s case, even if the burden on the body can be managed with body enhancement, the machine itself might not be able to withstand these parts, resulting in an extremely short operating time…”

“How short is short?”

“Probably… maybe ten minutes at best, I suppose?”

Ten minutes… well, shouldn’t that be okay? Of course, it depends on the opponent. If it’s an opponent with rock-solid defense, it would naturally take time. Still, that’s about my average match time. If the match time gets shorter due to the enhancement, I think I can manage somehow?

“By the way, what happens if I exceed ten minutes?”

“Exceeding the machine limit results in function cessation, meaning Nero-san’s loss.”

Quite a big risk. But it’s not like I can’t use it. I just have to defeat them within ten minutes. I had Lara show me the non-standard custom parts. The products of runaway passion left by academy students or graduated seniors were all incredibly edgy creations.

“Is this the one with the highest acceleration among these?”

“That one, but it just flies straight, you know? I think this one allows you to change output with magic power, so it can be used more flexibly. Also, with this, you’d need a few sub-verniers for trajectory correction…”

While consulting with Lara, I decided to carefully examine various additional equipment for Lucifer.

◇　◇　◇

“Guh…! [Boost]!”

When I cast the Null Magic [Boost] for body enhancement, the heaviness pressing me into the seat eased somewhat. It’s quite a wild horse, this new acceleration equipment. The large thrusters newly equipped on Lucifer’s back are naturally inferior to [Windia] I rode for the part-time job, but they still showed performance close to it. However, it seems it really puts a considerable burden on the machine; as a result of running it continuously during simulation training, just as Lara predicted, Lucifer’s machine issued an alert and ceased functioning after about ten minutes. If this were a real match, it would be my loss.

『Okay then, displaying enemy targets~.』

Just as I heard Lara’s voice from outside the Frame Unit, Cavalry units appeared in various places on the wasteland stage. The number is fifty. Same number as with [Windia]. If I can’t handle at least this number with Lucifer, it’s not even worth talking about. That time, it didn’t even take ten minutes. Even with this Lucifer, I should be able to do it. …Probably. Plus, that time I had the Spell Caster which I’m not good with, but now that I’ve received Chiba-senpai’s teachings, I might be able to maneuver even faster—I was thinking such convenient things. As a result, with three units remaining, Lucifer ceased functioning, and the mission failed. Kuaaa! My maneuvering was bad! I should have aimed more for the cockpit or head to force a function cessation in one hit!

『What will you do? Continue?』

“Of course! I’ll do it until I clear it!”

From there, on the fifth try, I somehow managed to defeat fifty units within ten minutes.

“I see… I don’t have to move at full power constantly…”

“Exactly. Fight at the machine’s original speed at close range, and use it at crucial moments like when you want to close the distance, dodge an unexpected attack, or launch a surprise attack. That would be effective. It’s about mixing fast and slow paces.”

Lara and I were reviewing the reflection points while watching the recording of my battle.

“Compared to constantly accelerating, the load on the machine will also be reduced, so the operating time should be a bit longer. In the first place, you don’t need to use it at full throttle so much, you know?”

No, I know that, but. I think I’ve gotten used to magic control quite a bit, but like… when I think “Accelerate here!”, I tense up and let it out in a burst…

“Hmm… In Nero-san’s case, even if the frame is Lightning, maybe a Mystic internal system would be better.”

“Hmm…? By internal system, do you mean the Ether Liquid and Spirit Furnace inside the frame?”

“That’s right. Mystic Frames have finer ‘Ether Vessels’ that flow Ether Liquid compared to other frames, extending to the details of the machine. This allows for fine magic control and the use of precise magic.”

I see. Hmm, true, my own magic balance is originally completely leaning towards Mystic Frame.

“Does that have to do with magic that can’t be used in Frame Gears?”

“Yes. For example, just because someone can use [Fireball], doesn’t mean they can shoot [Fireball] with a Frame Gear easily. Only after repeated training and constructing a machine suited for it can it be used. That is ‘Gear Spell’.”

‘Gear Spell’. Like the [Heavenly Thunder] Rimiera-senpai used at the entrance ceremony.

“Magic that affects one’s own body, like body enhancement types, is relatively not difficult and can be applied to Frame Gears. This is amplification by Ether Liquid, so it’s different from Gear Spells. [Floating Swords] ‘Fragarach’ is also not a Gear Spell but falls under this category.”

In other words, theoretically, anyone can use [Floating Swords] ‘Fragarach’. It’s just that moving them as desired is incredibly difficult. An amateur can make a sound with an instrument, but playing music is impossible for an amateur.

“Can you modify Lucifer’s internal system to Mystic?”

“I can, but… the combat experience you’ve accumulated so far will become zero, you know? It’ll go back to how it was at enrollment; are you okay with that?”

“It hasn’t even been two months yet, and changing it later would be more troublesome. If I’m gonna do it, I think now is the time.”

“Well, true.”

It’s a waste that the combat experience until now will become unusable, but in my case, [Star Duel] was mostly with Armed Gear. If anything, I was racking up losses in Frame Gear battles… Besides, if this modification goes well, I might be able to use ‘that magic’ which I couldn’t use in a Frame Gear. If I do that, I should be able to fight with a considerable advantage. I had Lara look at that magic, and we steadily proceeded with Lucifer’s modification plan.