Max trained for an hour, keeping up his physique, even though the gains had seriously slowed down due to a lack of the extreme exertion that was needed to properly test himself at his current level of physical ability.

If Nico said it was cool enough that he had to see it in person, Max would come to check it out as soon as he finished his morning routine. The development team had a lot of new material to work with, and they could have developed almost anything in the last few weeks since meeting the hunters and receiving new technology.

When he reached the development lab, he was met by the sight of Nico happily petting some sort of Mobile Suit, only a little taller than she was. There were a number of other suits in the lab, all in different sizes, and they appeared to be designed to mimic a soldier in Special Forces battle armor.

There were also tables with an assortment of items that Max wasn’t able to identify, as well as racks of weapons.

“Why don’t we start with the really cool thing first, and then we can work down to the little things? Or do we do that the other way around?” Nico asked while all the lab technicians turned to look at the armor suits hanging on racks.

“Start with the armor, even if it’s not the really cool thing. What’s so special about a new form of infantry armor?” Max asked.

“This is no ordinary armor. It has been reverse-engineered from the Hunter Suits. It is a biomechanical suit designed to amplify the strength and agility of the wearer. It is a flexible armor and uses the wearer’s body as a base structure, but does have a lot of its own structural stability once it is equipped.

Climb inside and see for yourself. They are skin tight, so go ahead and strip down, then pick number seven. It’s your size.” Nico informed Max with a smirk.

Max stripped to his skivvies and stepped into the suit, which fit like a onesie with a helmet and gloves, with the torso held together by the chest plate that swung across his body and sealed to the back plates.

Putting it on felt like any other Pilot Suit or set of protective armored coveralls, but once he put on the helmet, the suit activated and formed perfectly to his physique, giving him a feeling of weightlessness as it augmented his every movement.

“The materials are incredible. It can triple the user’s inputs up to twenty times the human standard. That is how the Hunters control their Mecha, with a suit like this, so that the larger Hunter Suit perfectly mimics their movements. I just integrated the two for a more powerful option on the human scale.

Technicians, please put up the Line Mecha plating, old pattern.”

The workers scurried about, prepared for the order, and hung a familiar plate of composite armor on a stand, then rushed back to their waiting positions to watch the show.

“Activate the energy barrier and punch the armor as hard as you can,” Nico instructed Max, gesturing to the stand.

The stand was slotted into the floor and wouldn’t collapse even if a Crusader Class Mecha accidentally kicked it, so Max didn’t hold back at all, testing the speed augmentation to launch himself forward and drive a punch into the armor plating.

The shield over his fist glowed light blue at the impact as if absorbing a projectile shot, and a deep dent formed in the armor plating, leaving it wrinkled and with a clear fist mark in the center.

“That is absolutely ridiculous.” Max gasped, looking at the destruction.

“With your strength, you are definitely close to maximum output, which will give your punch an impact force of around eighty thousand newtons, so if you have a handheld weapon, like a claw, equipped, you should be able to punch holes in that armor plate.” One of the technicians explained before replacing the plate in case Max wanted to try again.

“I will assume that you made such a weapon?” He asked.

“What are you, silly? Of course, we did.” Nico laughed, then threw Max a weapon that mounted to the armor’s forearm plating and had three extendable claws.

The lead Technician spoke up as Max equipped the weapon to his armor. “Those claws contain their own energy field, the same as the one on your Mecha’s sword, only on a much smaller scale. Our testing shows that it should hold up indefinitely under the force that the suit is capable of exerting, though.”

Max hit the button, and a crackling red energy field surrounded the three blades that extended from the weapon. He threw a simple, straight punch at the armor, and the claws sunk in until the energy field on his first stopped them and dented the plate.

With a downward twist, Max wrenched the claws out through the bottom of the plate with a shriek of tortured metal.

“Alright, I admit it. This armor is amazing. We can discuss why you thought we wanted to send infantry into a fistfight with Line Mecha and Klem later. What else do you have to show me today?” Max asked.

“We have an assortment of firearms scaled to the suit, which I would like to mention, uses the biological energy packs, with a maximum operating duration of over a month without recharging. Plasma rifles, Disruptor Rifles, Ion Pistols, claws, a combat knife, and finally, a handheld Gatling Laser.” The Technician explained.

The Gatling Laser was a six-barreled man-portable cannon that used a backpack-sized power pack and, according to the attached data slate, could fire over a thousand beams a minute, using the rotation of the “Barrels” and a liquid cooling system to keep the arrays cooled since each projector only had to fire one-sixth of the rounds.

“And the intended mission for this weapon is what?” Max asked.

“Urban pacification and peacekeeping,” Nico replied proudly.

Sure. If your urban area was being invaded by Narsians and you didn’t have Mecha or tanks.