Gerhard's gains were also impressive during that one dungeon run. He left the dungeon after completing the first floor, but that was alright; what he wanted to know, he now knew.
Through all that training with the Mk. 1 Polymorphic armour, Gerhard gained 5 points in STR, 4 in VIT and 8 in DEX. The suit was really good, but it had many aspects that could make it so much better. The biggest weakness right now was its terrible dexterity.
With this, Gerhard was the miniature version of an Imperial Titan with their void shields. He was terribly slow, but it could be improved, and it would be.
Apart from the obvious lack of flexibility and speed, there was a severe lack of ammunition space. All he had were the 2,000 rounds that fit into the ammunition pack on the assault cannon. And that was simply too little.
Gerhard had no interest in using the assault cannon sparingly. He wanted to overwhelm the enemy with firepower. And to do that, he needed more ammunition available than those meagre 2,000. But it could be improved and quite easily at that. Gerhard knew he could definitely increase the hand-held ammunition pack to 4,000, but beyond that, it would be too bulky.
So if he wanted to go further, he had to add an ammunition storage system to the suit itself, but then he had to change the suit's entire design and move away from the Iron Man look. It didn't matter, of course, since Terminator Armour was also sick to look at.
At least some of them.
> I SUGGEST YOU GO FOR THE LEANER BUILD AND NOT QUITE TERMINATOR-LEVEL. IT WOULD ALLOW YOU TO STILL BE DEXTROUS AND FAST, WHILE ALSO USING DIFFERENT WEAPONS. YOU COULD SWITCH BETWEEN THEM.
"So not fixed?"
> NO. YOU'RE NOWHERE NEAR CLOSE TO PRIMARCHS IN PHYSICAL ASPECTS, SO DON'T USE SUCH ARMOUR. GO FOR LEANER, BUT VERSATILE. YOU CAN ALWAYS IMPROVE YOUR TECHNOLOGY AND PHYSICAL STATS LATER ON. BUT RIGHT NOW, KEEP THE ADVANTAGES YOU HAVE.
"You're right. But I'll still install that ammunition storage."
> THEN YOU WOULD HAVE TO CONNECT IT TO THE ASSAULT CANNON MID BATTLE. THAT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA.
"Bigger weapons then? For more firepower, but leaner armour for mobility."
> YES, THAT'S THE BEST IN MY OPINION. AND SINCE YOU ARE ON A CLOCK, I SUGGEST WE DO THAT. AFTERWARDS, YOU CAN ALWAYS CREATE A BODY FOR ME TO SUPPORT YOU IN BATTLE.
"Very well, it's a good idea."
.
[Bolt Pistol – Rank: Novice]
Durability: 140/140
Damage: 110
Critical Chance: 10%
Fire Rate: Semi
-
[Bolt Pistol Magazine - Rank: Novice]
Capacity: 12
-
That was the treasure Gerhard had acquired from the Genestealers, and what a find it was. Now, this version, which was the standard version, wasn't anything impressive. Especially with a magazine capacity of 12, it was barely usable for what Gerhard had planned.
However, Gerhard was not about to leave things as they were. To smoke out the Genestealer Cult once and for all, he needed more power and a lot more ammunition.
He got to work right away and took apart the magazine and the Bolt Pistol itself. [Dismantle] had grown to a good level, making it more likely to clean each part and improve its durability. With it, he gained the blueprint for a Bolter Pistol and could now improve it.
The truly interesting part, however, was the types of ammunition. Sadly, there were only standard bolts in the magazine, so Gerhard wouldn't be able to research others, but the idea of having portable mini-rocket launchers in such a magazine was brilliant.
Standard bolts were comprised of the following components: outer casing, propellant base, main charge, mass reactive detonator cap, depleted deuterium core, and diamantine tip.
The calibre of the standard round was .75, and it possessed a super-dense metallic core. Standard bolts could also feature a depleted uranium core, which Gerhard's did not.
> IT SEEMS THAT CREATING MORE AMMUNITION WILL BE RATHER IMPOSSIBLE. DEUTERIUM AND DIAMANTINE ARE HARD TO COME BY.
"You're right. It's impossible."
> INDEED.
"Absolutely unattainable."
> IT LOOKS THAT WAY, YES.
"Why do we even bother?"
> ...
"..."
> YOU HAVE A SOLUTION, DON'T YOU?
"You bet your ass I do. And it makes me giggle just thinking about it."
> HAS [ADEPT CREATION] FINALLY PUSHED PAST LEVEL 100?
"Not quite, but after creating the Mk. 1 armour, I'm about to hit it. Level 98, so it shouldn't take that long anymore."
> THEN CHOP CHOP, GET TO IT. YOU MIGHT AS WELL START WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MK. 1. TWO BIRDS AND ONE BOLTER, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
"Indeed."
.
"YEEESSSS!!! I DID IT!!!"
> MAY I EXPRESS MY CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, MASTER? A TRULY IMPRESSIVE...
> THE SUIT IS NOT EVEN DONE YET.
"Of course it's not done yet. I'm talking about the [Creation] skill. I finally advanced it to [Special Creation]!!!"
> I SEE. SO WE SHALL NEVER REQUIRE RESOURCES TO CREATE NOVICE-GRADE RESOURCES AND ITEMS, IS THAT CORRECT?
"That's right! Can you imagine me creating a full mag mid-fight? Or endless amounts of ammunition? Or the endless resources to create something even better out of them... oh, this is a glorious moment. Write it down, Hans. Today is the day."
> A SPECIAL FOLDER HAS BEEN CREATED, MASTER. IF I MAY FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION TO THE PRESENT. AM I CORRECT IN ASSUMING THAT YOU ARE STILL GOING TO CREATE BETTER AMMUNITION FOR THE BOLTER PISTOL OR NOT?
"I won't. Creating new ones will take too much time, and there's a chance that I run out of ammo during the battle. So I would have to create the Novice-grade ones anyway. No, I'll focus on the better-graded ones later. And I already have an Adept-grade Bolter Pistol."
[Bolt Pistol – Rank: Adept]
Durability: 320/320
Damage: 330
Critical Chance: 16%
Special Effects:
| +70% internal explosion damage
| ignores 35% armour
| moderate AoE damage
| no accuracy penalty
| -30% heat generation
-
> HMM, A GOOD WEAPON, MASTER. SO YOU GET A SET AMOUNT OF DAMAGE JUST THROUGH THE PISTOL ITSELF?
"No. This has the Novice-grade bolt rounds inside, and that's what does the damage. If I could create better ammunition, it would do a lot more damage."
> AND WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER WEAPONS YOU SPOKE OF? THE POWER SWORD?
"Oh, yeah. I had a brilliant idea on how to show the Genestealers the middle finger and kill them with their own weapon. The Bonesword."
> I ASSUME YOU FOUND A WAY AROUND THE LIVING ORGANISM WITH THE SMALL BRAIN, THAT TRIES TO DRAIN YOUR ENERGY?
"Check this out."
[Bonesword - Rank: Adept]
- Durability: 400/400 (regenerating)
- Damage: 710
- Critical chance: 20%
- Attack speed: mid-high
Special Effects:
| Psychic Disruption Field
| -> Ignores 85% physical armour
| Life drain:
| -> Restores HP equal to 25% of damage dealt
| Monomolecular Edge:
| -> +50% damage to flesh targets
| -> +30% damage to armour
| Neural Synchronisation:
| -> scales with user's INT / WIS
| -> +20% effectiveness when using mana/psychic skills
-
> THAT'S...
"Hehe"
> WELL, IT'S SOMETHING ALRIGHT.
"HEHEHE"
> IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED?
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Look at it! Look at this beauty! 710 damage per swing, and that doesn't even include the amount of energy it drains."
> SO YOU FOUND A WAY TO NOT ONLY USE, BUT ENHANCE YOUR [ENERGY DRAIN] SKILL. HOW DID YOU GET PAST THE LIVING ORGANISM?
"I took its genetic structure, grew a new one by infusing my Mana into it at the same time as it grew, repeated the process again and then killed the original after succeeding. It's not only alive, and doesn't want to harm me, I control it fully."
> SO YOU MANAGED TO REPLICATE ME IN A BIOLOGICAL WAY. VERY IMPRESSIVE. DID YOUR [BIOLOGY MASTERY] AND [CHEMISTRY MASTERY] LEVEL UP?
"Oh, for sure. Both of them saw massive leaps. I even took care of the too many spikes it had. I can't show it to the Imperium, but I can definitely use it to kill the remnants of the Genestealer Cult."
> SO THEN ONLY THE ARMOUR HAS TO BE FIXED AND IMPROVED, AND THEN WE'RE READY TO GO?
"Not quite. I also want to create one thing, and then we're good."
.
Gerhard approached the Genestealer Sanctus's high-performance sniper rifle. Ever since he had killed those Genestealer Primus from a far position, he wanted to get himself a sniper rifle, and now, he could go ahead and improve it.
He began the disassembly with the optical components. First, manipulating the large, complex optic sight, he worked on the integrated targeting and stabilisation elements. He unscrewed the main scope and separated the advanced digital processing core, a valuable "focus calibrator" piece.
Moving down the length of the rifle, he carefully removed the entire upper assembly. He focused on the long, specialised silver barrel, detaching it from the receiver. He then broke down the upper casing, which involved detaching the central stabilisation and focusing nodes. Gerhard removed the Sanctus's barrel, integrated recoil-dampening components, separating the inner, highly accurate barrel from the outer heatsink and muzzle shroud.
The trigger group and grip were set aside, as they were too specialised for his lasgun's standard pattern.
That's right. Gerhard was going to take some parts of the Sanctus' sniper rifle, improve what he could and then add them to his Lasgun.
He placed his reliable, green-bodied lasgun on the workbench, preparing it for a major overhaul. He started with the power pack. Depressing the Power Pack Catch, he ejected the high-capacity, heavy sickle magazine he had created himself. This made the weapon safe.
He then turned his attention to the rear of the weapon. Using a standard field tool, he managed to detach the entire integrated solid stock, leaving the open Holding Lug receiver interface exposed and a simplified grip behind.
Looking at the barrel, he recognised that the current short, slotted barrel needed to be replaced. He unscrewed the small, ribbed Barrel Screw at the front end, freeing the standard barrel. The Body Casing, with its golden Imperial Aquila crest, was now a hollow shell.
With a field full of parts, Gerhard began the fusion. He retrieved the Sanctus's primary, extended sniper barrel. It was already over twice the length of the standard one, truly a Long-Las Barrel. He integrated it directly into the forward opening of his lasgun's body casing, after heating it and doing the minor changes, meticulously threading the original Barrel Screw into a custom-threaded adapter to lock it in place, ensuring perfect alignment for the coherent beam.
He added the Sanctus's outer thermal-regulating vents from the sniper shroud over the new barrel.
The Optic Sights were now a priority. Instead of a basic scope, Gerhard took the Sanctus's advanced, long-range targeting module. He created a custom mounting bracket and fixed it directly to the receiver's top. He used fine wire to connect the digital core and the "focus calibrator" logic to the lasgun's power system via the small, circular Trigger and Firing Controls housing, bypassing standard limitations to enable precision targeting at distances exceeding 4,000 meters, usual for standard Long-Las.
Gerhard did not use the standard wide sickle Power Packs for this sniper role. Instead, he inserted one of his own creations into the chamber. This allowed for cleaner power delivery, higher capacity, increased damage and improved sustained firing. This he fine-tuned using the newly advanced firing controls, setting the lever on his Trigger and Firing Controls between the high-power 'MAX' and 'MIN' for focused, efficient shots.
Finally, Gerhard reattached the simplified grip he had kept earlier, then grabbed one he had created himself, a sturdy, simple black stock option. The golden skull and Aquila on the dark green casing remained. A formidable M36 Kantrael Pattern Lasgun was now upgraded to a powerful Long-Las sniper rifle.
[Long-Las - Rank: Adept]
- Durability: 300/300
- Damage: 410
- Critical Chance: 25%
- Fire Rate: Mid
- Charge Capacity: 120
Special Effects:
|Extreme Precision Core
|→ +70% accuracy
|Critical Overload
|→ +100% headshot damage
|Penetrating Beam
|→ shots pass through multiple targets
|Silent Execution
|→ reduced sound and reduced flash
|Kill Confirmation
|→ +20% damage on targets above 70% HP
-
The only thing remaining was the finishing touches on the Mk. 1.2 armour. But that wasn't going to take long.
A few hours later, he was finally finished.