Chapter 129: Power Armor (Patreon)

Even someone lucky enough to possess that kind of potential still needed day after day, year after year of grueling physical and combat training to gradually unlock it fully.

The long grinding process and the brutal threshold for talent shut out the vast majority of people who wanted to grow stronger.

But this new power armor skipped past all of that tedious process and every harsh requirement. No accumulated talent needed, no years of hard cultivation — put it on and unlock overwhelming combat strength instantly. Simple, blunt, and efficient.

If a Supes who'd already been injected with the compound wore this armor, the two would reinforce each other, and the resulting boost in combat strength would absolutely be greater than the sum of its parts.

Alex ran his fingertips lightly over the armor's cold, hard alloy shell, a satisfied gleam in his eyes.

"Not bad," he said quietly, clear approval in his tone.

After a brief pause of thought, he recalled a scene he'd witnessed before and followed up with a question.

"Though there should be a custom version too, right?"

He remembered clearly that the power armor the Paradise Group's leader had worn before was nothing like this standard version in front of him.

That custom-built armor had outclassed the standard model across the board — its burst output and defensive barrier were both several tiers higher.

The wearer's actual combat strength had solidly reached the threshold of Demon Level, its deterrent presence formidable.

Standing off to the side, Ashley answered at once, her manner respectful and professional.

"Yes, the custom version does exist."

"But it demands extremely precise craftsmanship, core materials, and assembly technique. The margin for error is razor-thin, and it takes a great deal of time to finish properly."

She'd already gone over the entire production schedule in advance and had every figure at her fingertips.

"In roughly five days we'll have the first finished custom suit. Once the production line stabilizes after that, we can move into mass production step by step."

Alex nodded slightly, following the thread to press on the core production question.

"What's the projected output?"

Ashley gave a precise answer at once, without a trace of hesitation.

"The standard power armor is currently stable at two hundred units a month."

"The custom version's process is complex and its materials scarce, so monthly output is only thirty units."

"Too few."

Alex shook his head slightly, his tone flat but carrying an unshakable decisiveness.

"Set up a brand-new factory right away. Build out a dedicated production line and raise output across the board."

His gaze reached far beyond — it was never confined to America alone. The whole world would face compounding crises in the future.

As the most reliable and most easily distributed piece of mass combat equipment currently available, power armor's future demand would be enormous. The limited output they had now couldn't possibly support the global defense network he had planned.

Set against a long-term strategic layout, the money, manpower, and site costs invested now were barely worth mentioning.

A troubled look crossed Ashley's face; she hesitated before voicing her concern.

"But sir, an expansion investment on this scale — Congress will likely have a hard time approving it."

Large infrastructure and armament expenditures always required layers of Congressional review; the process was tedious and the resistance considerable.

Alex's expression stayed calm, his tone utterly certain.

"Congress isn't a problem. They'll agree."

By now his word and influence were more than enough to sweep aside most resistance at the decision-making level domestically.

"Yes, sir." Ashley said no more, bowing at once to accept the order.

Alex then added a new instruction.

"Have the factory rush out a few custom suits first and send them to the core research institute for in-depth testing as priority."

"Understood, I'll arrange it right away." Ashley quickly noted the order down and waited for what came next.

Alex changed the subject, bringing up the investigation that had been weighing on his mind.

"Those people I had you tracking down before — any word yet?"

At the question, Ashley's relaxed posture vanished instantly, her expression turning grave and bitter.

She took a deep breath and reported the situation honestly.

"Still no leads for now."

"The entire intelligence department is working at full capacity — we've mobilized every contact, every surveillance system, every data resource we have. We've searched from every angle, but there's still nothing."

Alex's brow slowly furrowed, a flicker of surprise and gravity settling in.

Not a single clue.

After the last hidden crisis, he'd specifically instructed Ashley to keep a tight grip on intelligence gathering and allow no slack whatsoever.

He knew full well she'd never dare slack off on something this critical again.

Yet even with the intelligence department throwing everything at it, they'd come up empty.

That could only mean Bofoi and Kuseno's methods of staying hidden went far beyond what any ordinary person could imagine.

Thinking it over, that wasn't hard to understand. Even Dr. Genus, the top biologist, had managed to stay hidden for decades, vanishing completely from everyone's sight.

If Alex hadn't had X-ray vision to see through layer after layer of disguise to the truth, there would have been no way to find him at all.

For an ordinary intelligence operative or investigative agency, tracking a top-tier figure determined to stay hidden would be even more hopeless.

Bofoi had spent years steeped in mechanical technology, and Kuseno was a master of modification and precision engineering — both had more than enough ability to cover their tracks perfectly. Pinpointing either of them in the vast sea of humanity was extremely difficult.

Alex pushed down his irritation and gave the order in a steady voice.

"Keep investigating with everything you've got. The moment you find even the faintest trace, notify me immediately."

Dr. Genus alone had already brought him immeasurable technological and scientific gains. Alex couldn't begin to imagine how high the technological ceiling could go if he managed to gather all three top-tier geniuses — Bofoi, Kuseno, and Dr. Genus — together.

That potential value was worth every ounce of effort he spent tracking them down.

"Understood, sir." Ashley acknowledged solemnly, marking the matter as top priority once again.

After finishing his inspection of the factory and laying out the work assignments, Alex drove back to the research institute alone.

The institute's lounge area was quiet and relaxed.

Starlight, Maeve, and Cate sat around a table, delicate embroidery needles pinched between their fingers, heads bowed as they worked the fabric over and over.

It was a power-control training method Dr. Genus had devised specifically for them. In his theory, if they could precisely control something as small and delicate as an embroidery needle and complete fine stitching steadily, they would gain full mastery over their surging new power.

Once they could calibrate even the tiniest amount of force, wielding their strength in combat afterward would come naturally.

But right now, the three of them clearly weren't having an easy time of it.

Alex stood a short distance away watching, a smile tugging at the corners of his eyes.

Their movements were clumsy and stiff, every motion carrying an awkward, halting quality.

A pile of snapped steel needles sat heaped in the corner of the table, along with scraps of fabric warped and torn from sheer brute force.

The dense pile of ruined attempts was proof enough of just how grueling their training had been.

All three of them were simply too strong, their power long past any ordinary human limit — learning to rein it in and release it at will was proving far harder than expected.

"Today's trip to the factory paid off well," Alex said, walking over unhurried, his quiet voice breaking the room's stillness.

"I've set aside a few custom power armor suits. They'll arrive at the institute in a few days."

"Since you've all been working on controlling your strength lately, by the time the armor gets here you should have it pretty well mastered. You can try it on and see how it feels then," he added, a smile in his voice.

"So keep at your training these next few days — put real effort into mastering that control."

"Armor production is limited right now, and every front line and combat unit is desperate for equipment — it doesn't come easy."

"If you break one by accident, there won't be a spare to replace it."

Cate's head shot up at that, her eyes curving into a smile, her tone unusually considerate.

"It's fine, don't worry about us."

"Even if we get the gear, you could have my uncle send it to the front line where it's needed. We don't mind waiting our turn."

Starlight shot her a glare at once, her voice dripping with resentment.

"Bitch!"

She knew perfectly well Cate's whole sweet, considerate act was pure calculated flattery. Fuming, she gripped the fabric she'd just barely stitched a pattern into and shredded it to pieces with sheer force.

Cate paid no mind to Starlight's resentment at all, breaking into a triumphant grin instead.

"Hehe, I'm genuinely thinking of you, sir. What's wrong with being thoughtful and sweet?"

Maeve set down her needle and thread, watching the two of them bicker, and let out a helpless little laugh.

"I honestly can't imagine what you two will be like a few months from now."

Cate made no effort to hide the adoration in her eyes, her gaze landing squarely on Alex, her tone sincere and ardent.

"I won't change. I'll only love you more from here on, sir."

The blunt, fervent confession softened the room's mood instantly.

Alex laughed and waved a hand, cutting off their teasing at the right moment.

"All right, that's enough."

"Just focus on adapting to your power for now. Before long, I'm afraid you'll all have your hands full."

Starlight's ears perked up at once, curiosity filling her eyes as she quickly pressed for more.

"Wait — is something going on?"

Alex's smile faded, his expression sobering slightly, and he laid out the recent threat to the three of them plainly.

"While I was out on a mission with Mosquito Girl and the others, we ran into an unknown, high-performance robot."

"That robot's combat strength was ferocious — an ordinary superhero would stand no chance against it."

"If whoever's behind it masters mass production and deploys these things on the battlefield in numbers, it would trigger a catastrophe on a massive scale, with casualties impossible to predict."

The curiosity on Starlight's face vanished at once, replaced by gravity and confusion.

"A robot?"

"Can we trace where it came from, or who's controlling it?"

Alex shook his head slightly, a trace of helplessness in his eyes.

"We're still investigating at full force, but there's no solid lead yet."

Maeve's brow knit, utterly baffled. She'd always kept an eye on tech developments at home and abroad, and she'd never once heard of mechanical combat technology this advanced.

"Has our technology really come this far already?"

"To think someone could build a combat AI robot this terrifyingly powerful."

As far as public knowledge went, technology was still stuck at the early stages of AI. Most robots on the market moved clumsily and reacted sluggishly, barely managing basic autonomous movement — glorified junk, at best.

A machine capable of fighting independently and outclassing superheroes was completely beyond anyone's understanding.

"No one can say for sure." Alex spoke slowly, a note of caution in his voice.

"At the very least, I can say with certainty America itself has no such technology."

"As for other factions or other countries, we haven't turned up any related leads there either."

In truth, he'd already had a vague suspicion for a while, but without solid proof, he wasn't willing to jump to conclusions.

Cross-referencing the One Punch Man original he'd watched in his past life, there were only a handful of people capable of building a combat robot at this level.

First and foremost was Bofoi, the absolute ceiling of the mechanical field, followed by Kuseno, a master of modification technology.

Dr. Genus, though also possessed of top-tier research ability, leaned toward Biological Modification in his work. Most of the combat entities he built were fusions of biology and machinery — a purely mechanical, high-end robot simply wasn't his field.

The problem was, Alex knew next to nothing about either Bofoi or Kuseno.

In his past life, watching the original, both of them had been portrayed as squarely on the side of good — neither had ever shown clear villainous behavior, nor any record of stirring up chaos or attacking humanity.

He had no way to determine whose hand this attack had actually come from.

The more Maeve thought about it, the angrier she got, her voice thick with indignation.

"This is absolutely absurd."

"Mysterious Beings are already running rampant, alien races are already circling like vultures — humanity's facing crisis on every front as it is."

"And these geniuses with cutting-edge technology, instead of joining forces to fight off outside threats, are hiding in the shadows engineering slaughter — what are they even thinking!"

She clenched her fist, a flash of sharp hostility crossing her eyes.

"If I ever find whoever's behind this, I'll cave their skull in myself and stamp this threat out for good!"

Alex just gave a faint smile at that and said nothing.

He knew Maeve's thinking right now was far too simple.

If these robots really had been built by Bofoi or Kuseno, taking either of them down would be anything but easy.

As a top-tier S-Class Hero, Bofoi's overall strength ranked solidly near the top of the Hero Association — his resources ran deep and his methods were countless.

Even the prodigiously gifted Child Emperor had once been his student — proof enough of just how peerless his knowledge and combat strength were.

The mechanical legion under his command was terrifyingly strong; any high-end robot he pulled out at random could go toe-to-toe with a Dragon Level Mysterious Being.

In fact, after the Hero Association's collapse, he alone had mobilized his mechanical creations to rebuild the entire organization in short order.

That kind of ability and depth was nothing an ordinary powerhouse could match.

Kuseno was much the same. Though Genos, the cyborg he'd built, had an uneven combat record, his technical craftsmanship was unquestionably top-tier.

At her current strength, if Maeve really went up against Kuseno, it would be a coin toss at best — and one careless move could easily put her at a disadvantage.

"Don't get too worked up over it." Alex said gently, soothing the group while settling his own concerns as well.

"Once this power armor goes into full mass production and spreads, combat strength everywhere will get a major boost."

"By then, even if more robots come causing trouble, we'll have enough strength to hold them back and suppress them. Things will get better little by little."

That was his plan for the future — and, right now, his greatest source of confidence.