"I see... so that was the story behind the Purple Armor. A miraculous form with no way to replicate it—and yet, Yugo, you can trigger it at will. That’s truly astonishing."
While analyzing the Blaster, Anhel showed her surprise at a story that defied common sense in every way as she listened to the three of them recount how the Purple Armor had first appeared.
The phenomenon of absorbing magic power from multiple people to reshape armor into a more robust state was something she had never seen or heard of, but she had no choice but to believe it when the evidence stood right before her eyes.
However, knowing that such a feat could not be easily repeated, she crossed her arms and nodded to herself before addressing Yugo and the others.
"The manifestation of the Purple Armor was a miracle where every gear happened to click into place at once. It would be best not to expect the Blaster to be enhanced in that exact way again."
"Yeah, I figured as much. Besides, even if I did enhance it like that again, I can't imagine it becoming anything other than a slow, heavy-hitter type anyway."
Yugo agreed with Anhel’s assessment, a complicated expression on his face.
He had already suspected that even if he tried to power up the armor in the same way, the only result of gorging on massive amounts of magic power would be the armor becoming harder and heavier. He found her suggestion to pursue a different approach to the Blaster’s evolution quite reasonable.
"Now then, the real question is how we strengthen the Blaster from here. First, let’s hear from the pilot himself."
This was the core issue: how should they make the Blaster stronger?
Faced with Anhel’s question, Yugo crossed his arms and let out a low groan as he delved deep into thought to decide on a direction.
While the Purple Armor was exceptionally sturdy and boosted his offensive and defensive capabilities, it had the glaring weakness of reduced movement speed.
If that was the case, he wanted a speed-focused form to compensate, but he had a feeling she would just tell him to take the armor off if he asked for that.
Deciding to save that suggestion for later, Yugo considered what functions he lacked and spoke about his current needs.
"I guess I need a long-range option...? I’m satisfied with how I handle close-quarters combat, but I feel like I’m missing a way to pressure an opponent from a distance."
"Hmm, I see. That is certainly a weakness."
While he could fire compressed magic power as a projectile, it was a technique that required too much charge time.
In response to Yugo's request for a ranged weapon he could use more casually for harassment and poking, Anhel offered her thoughts.
"I agree that's a function we should build into the armor. If you tried to use a Magic Item like Melt’s, it would be a hassle to activate from under the armor, and it might interfere with your magic power control. On the other hand, a handheld weapon would be a chore just to channel magic into. It would be better to integrate a ranged attack into the armor itself... but the technical side of that is tricky."
"The simplest way would be to switch the Magic Crystals to attribute-imbued ones, wouldn't it? Then you could convert magic power into attacks based on that element. But attribute-imbued Magic Crystals are so rare..."
"Oh, aren't you a clever little brother? I like you. Want Big Sis to give you a hug?"
"Hey, knock it off! You’re going to corrupt Fee!"
"Don't be so stiff. How about both you brothers bury yourselves in my cleavage at the same time?"
"No thank you!!"
Yugo and Fee rejected her in unison as Anhel teased them, her hand already reaching for the zipper of her jumpsuit.
Beaming at how perfectly in sync the brothers were, she composed herself and got the conversation about the Blaster enhancement back on track.
"While keeping Yugo's request in mind, let’s start with the upgrades we can actually pull off. Specifically, we'll review the armor's Magic Power Circulation and perform some Shape Adjustment. For the former, we can expect a jump in overall specs by fine-tuning how magic power flows through the crystals on the wrists and ankles. For the latter, we can make your movements smoother by tweaking the joint shapes and streamlining the frame. We’ll start there."
He understood the logic, but actually realizing it would take time and materials.
Yugo and the others nodded in agreement with Anhel’s plan to prioritize the feasible upgrades.
Just then, Melt suddenly remembered something. She raised her hand and made a bold suggestion.
"Um, I think Yugo did this before, but he used to concentrate Micro-particle Metal into his hands or feet to boost his attack power, right? Could we use that for something?"
"What!? Hey, hey, why was such a fun detail kept from me!?"
"Ah... I did do that, didn't I? I was desperate at the time, so I was just acting on instinct. I’d forgotten all about it until now."
Yugo scratched his head as he recalled the tactic he had used during his fight with Rush.
Anhel, meanwhile, had a manic glint in her eyes. She began pacing around the room in excitement, muttering rapidly to herself.
"Concentrating Micro-particle Metal into the limbs to boost instantaneous firepower? Now that’s fascinating! If we apply that, we could even shift the shape of the limbs into weapons! Should I try to program a Weapon Transformation Function as a base...!?"
"Wait, seriously? You can do that!?"
"I can. Or more accurately, I will. We'll have to test everything one by one to see what's possible and what isn't. If it's you, the guy who pulled off a miracle like the Purple Armor, you’ll probably manage most of it anyway."
"Whoa! That’s incredible! Wait, so, could I put a rocket on my right arm and a drill on my left leg too!?"
"A rocket might be a stretch... but a drill is definitely doable. Though I think the arm would be a much better fit than the leg. See, once the shape changes, we can use magic power to rotate the Micro-particle Metal, allowing it to function as a pseudo-drill—"
"That’s amazing! Amazing! You mean a Drill Arm! That’s so cool! It’s perfect!"
"A-Ahahaha... we've really been left out of the loop, haven't we?"
"It seems like Anhel-san and my brother are two of a kind after all..."
Melt and Fee shared weary smiles as they watched Yugo and Anhel get carried away, both of them becoming so obsessed with the possibilities that they completely lost sight of their surroundings.
Still, both of them were happy that this eccentric engineer had joined the circle of friends surrounding the good-natured Yugo.