Regarding the âVibranium Energy Crystalâ, there were a couple of interesting things to take notes of. When it was first made, Leo didnât limit the charging rate of the battery and directly linked it to the companyâs power grid. As a result, six blocks within Hellâs Kitchen lost their power.
After he added a limiter to the charger, this situation didnât occur again. Yet, seven days went by, and âVibranium Energy Crystalâ still hadnât been fully charged!
He took a glance at the Vibranium batteryâs attribute in the system.
ăVibranium Energy Crystal. A high-performance rechargeable battery made from Vibranium and âVibranium Energy Storageâ.
Weight: 10.21kg
Energy output: 0 ~ 5 billion joules per second.
Charging rate: 0 ~ 8 million joules per second.
Maximum capacity: Around 50 trillion joules.
Currently being charged. Current energy, 7100 billion joules.ă
These attributes were way better than the âMiniaturized Microreactorâ he received from Dr. Octavius. Its performance also far surpassed the Miniaturized Arc Reactor Tony built in a cave. But based on his rough estimation, its performance was still way behind compared to the Miniaturized Arc Reactor Tony modified in his company.
Furthermore, an interesting point to note was that it was great that Leo was smart. He only charged the battery with the companyâs power grid for half a day before cutting the power source. Otherwise, the companyâs electrical bill for this month would be off the chartsâŚ
The nearly one trillion joules of energy was charged by him using the remaining power from two âMiniaturized Microreactorsâ. For the following days, he silently connected to the U.S. power grid from the outsideâŚ
Based on the current situation, when he secretly fully charged the battery, the U.S. power grid would incur a loss of nearly one million dollars for nothingâŚ
Nevertheless, stealing electricity wasnât a long-term plan. Perhaps someday a U.S. power company would come knocking on his door! Leo believed it was necessary for him to build an independent power source in his lab for providing sufficient energy for his experiments.
How about a nuclear reactor?
Leo rubbed his chin and felt it was doable. But he had to ensure the reactorâs safety when using it. Shoving the matter of building a huge nuclear reactor aside, he was preparing to assemble Viper Mark III and tested its defensive prowess.
Disconnecting the charging âVibranium Energy Crystalâ, he circulated his Mechanical Force and donned Viper Mark III before striding over to the test area. Steam also needed to cooperate with Leo for the test. It followed Leoâs butt and arrived at the test area too.
For testing the armor, the test area had been constantly improved by Leo. There was a specific test area for impact resistance.
He approached a device and said, âSteam, began testing. In the first test, adjust the impact force to 60% of Viper Mark IIâs withstood limit.â
âBuzz! Adjustment completed. Began testing.â
Boom!
The testing device, which was modified from a stamping machine, brutally slammed Viper Mark IIIâs chest horizontally. Leo bent his knees, stabilizing his body to carefully sense⌠And sensed nothing at all!
Except when he was stabilizing his body, he sensed no impact force within the armor!
âSteam, adjust the impact force to 100% of Viper Mark IIâs withstood limit.â
Boom!
This time, before he could stabilize himself, he was sent flying away. But, within the armor, he still couldnât feel any exterior impact force. Even when he crashed into the wall behind him, he still felt nothing at all. Just when he was falling down, his body hit the armorâs interior and sensed a slight pain.
When he was wearing Viper Mark II, his internal organs would be shaking under this impact force. Even the armorâs exterior had deformed while all sorts of delicate devices in the armor also received damage.
Removing the armor, he found out the armorâs chest didnât have any scratches on it.
âTsk, tsk!â Leo sighed in admiration, âAs expected from Vibranium!â
Putting on the armor again, Leo switched the energy module, activating the defensive runes on the armorâs surface.
âWoo!â He mentally played a sound effect, as a translucent barrier silently appeared around the armorâs exterior. Standing back in front of the testing device, the same impact force brutally slammed the armor chest once more.
This time, Leo wasnât sent flying away. Instead, he left a half-meter skid trail behind before steadying himself. After activating the barrier, it was as if possessing a mitigating effect. The impact force Viper Mark III received was half of the original impact force.
Albeit, it was too energy-consuming for the barrier to brace the impact. Several billions of joules vanished instantly.
Leo didnât dare to continue the test. A single impact was equivalent to hundreds of dollars worth of electrical bills, although it was stolen from somewhereâŚ
Returning back to the lab, he removed Viper Mark III and continued letting Vibranium Energy Crystal steal electricity. He sat on a chair with his legs crossed while contemplating the next improvement plan.
He still had âMiniaturized Anti-gravity Repulsorâ from Tony and he was free lately. So, he must work to bring forth Viper Mark V out, allowing the Viper to soar in the vast sky.
Vibraniumâs energy blaster, which was made from offensive runes, was powerful, and the recoil was minimal. It was a wonder whether or not Newtonâs Second Law was devoured by Vibranium!
However, Leo felt he still needed to rely on Tony Starkâs repulsor to take flight.
âSteam, come over. Letâs continue the work!â
âNew project, Viper Mark V. Objective, long-distance flying. Key technology, âMiniaturized Anti-gravtiy Repulsor.ââ Leo suddenly paused a bit before adding, ââMiniaturized Anti-gravity Repulsorâ sounds lame. Change it to âAnti-gravity Pulse Blasterâ. Import Viper Mark IIIâs model. Oh yeah, add electrocution function as well.â
âBuzz! Project created and now displayed on the control panel.â
Afterward, it was time for Leoâs showtime. It was just flying. Installing an Anti-gravity Pulse Blaster on both of his arms and legs and testing the effects first!
He recalled in âGuardian of the Galaxyâ, Starlord only had a rocket booster on his feet and could fly properly.
Now he had an extra pair of arms, flying was just a small deal, right?!
Unfortunately, when the test began, he wrecked the lab apart and decisively gave up on this simple yet crude idea.
âWell, Starload had a better hip!â Leo sighed.
After countless tests, Leo equipped the armorâs chest and back with an Anti-gravity Pulse Blaster too. Utilizing multi-directional force, it was able to increase the armorâs flexibility during flying.
He also installed ailerons and flaps onto the armorâs back and legs to increase flight stability. Additionally, he also specifically wrote a flying-usage chip for automatically adjusting long-distance flying that didnât require him to use his brain to control all the timeďź
Besides working on the flight system, he also installed a positioning system, navigation system, and detection system in the armor. But all of these systems were quite low-end compared to future Mark series armor.
There were no ways to circumvent this. After all, the Marvel Universe would experience an explosion in civilian technology for the upcoming two or three decades. Now it was still relatively backward.
As long as these technologies had a breakthrough, conquering the relative issues wasnât too much of a hassle. It wasnât something Leo could solve alone. What he could do right now, was to use the current technology and improve Viper Mark V as much as possible. The others could be perfected later on.
At the moment, Viper Mark Vâs framework had been built. To successfully fly properly, he needed to train constantly to the point he could do it while sleeping!
And this training lasted half a month!
It was due to Leo having âEnhanced Body Balanceâ, otherwise, even training for two months wasnât adequate.
After half a month, he drove the car alone to the unoccupied countryside of New York. During this half a month, he was constantly training how to fly indoors while making minor adjustments to the armor.
Today, it was finally the day for the actual flight.
The long hours of diligent flying caused Leo to brim with confidence on todayâs test flight. Opening the car trunk, he took out two pieces of Vibranium Energy Crystals from the pile of Viper Mark Vâs components. The crystals had been fully charged and were radiating a dim blue hue.
For the past two weeks, the energy consumed for the flight test was rather huge. He spent quite some time searching for a place to secretly charge the crystals.
It seemed like it was inevitable to build an independent power source!