The Exiled Duke's Lottery system

Chapter 217: Chapter 210: Weapons for the Chosen

Thirty days remained before the ninety-day industrial review. Two years and 305 days remained before the compulsory quest deadline.

The next morning, Lucien placed a standard infantry rifle across the centre of the weapons-planning table.

Brakka looked at it, then at Lucien. "This is either a very short meeting or the beginning of a bad idea."

"It’s a good rifle," Lucien said.

"That doesn’t answer the concern."

"It wasn’t meant to either."

The others had gathered in the same chamber where the commando armor programme had been defined the previous day. Lucas had returned with another ledger, which suggested optimism had finally abandoned him. Malen and Cedric carried team records and operational notes. Gandalf and Maerath brought preliminary mana-interface sketches. Ironbreaker arrived with three different recoil calculations and no explanation for why one of them already contained scorch marks.

Aurethar remained in his full golden form ( so shiny,it hurts my eyes) along the western wall, one foreleg folded beneath him, his tail curved safely away from the furniture. He watched the rifle with the expression of someone inspecting a tool designed for a less complicated species(actually the opposite by author).

Lucien rested one hand beside the weapon. "This rifle should stay with the soldiers it was built for."

Brakka’s suspicion deepened. "Then why is it here?"

"To establish what the commandos won’t be carrying."

Cedric leaned closer to the table. "The standard rifle is reliable, easy to maintain, and already tied to our ammunition production."

"Yes," Lucien said. "Which makes it excellent for the army."

Malen understood where the discussion was heading. "And insufficient for the armor."

"The armor lets them carry more weight, absorb more recoil, and remain effective with weapons ordinary soldiers couldn’t control," Lucien said. "If we give them the same rifle, we waste most of that advantage."

Lucas opened his ledger. "I assume the phrase ’most of that advantage’ is about to become expensive."

Aurethar lowered his head slightly. "You continue predicting Lucien with impressive accuracy little adminstrator."

Lucas looked toward him. "I would prefer to be wrong once."

Lucien ignored both of them. "I want a primary weapon built for powered armor. It must strike harder than an infantry rifle, defeat heavy protection, remain controllable in rapid fire, survive dirt, water, impact, and mana disturbance, and still function in confined spaces."

Brakka folded his arms. "You want a rifle, a launcher, or a portable cannon?"

"Something between all three."

Ironbreaker’s beard shifted with interest. "That sentence will keep several foundries employed."

Malen tapped the standard rifle’s barrel. "Don’t make it so large it becomes useless inside buildings, tunnels, ruins, or ships."

Cedric added, "And don’t design every round around destroying the heaviest target. Some missions require prisoners, intact rooms, and walls that remain standing."

Lucien nodded. "Then we start with the role, not the mechanism."

He described the concept in broad terms: a powered commando should carry a weapon with the force of a compact cannon but with enough control, reliability, and flexibility to serve as a primary firearm. Its ammunition should include several specialized effects without requiring an entirely different weapon for every mission.

Ironbreaker looked toward Brakka. "Hand cannon."

Cedric frowned. "That sounds like something designed without sights."

"Heavy assault gun," Brakka offered.

Maerath considered it. "Accurate, but uninspiring."

Aurethar’s golden eyes shifted toward him. "Mortals usually give machines impressive names immediately before discovering they don’t work."

"You named treasures," Maerath said.

"I named them after they survived."

Lucien looked at the rough programme sheet in front of him. "Thunderbolt Heavy Rifle."

Brakka’s expression didn’t change. "No."

Ironbreaker looked delighted. "Yes."

Brakka turned toward him. "You’re not approving the mechanism. You’re approving the name."

"It’s a strong name."

"It hasn’t fired."

"That has never stopped anyone from naming artillery."

Lucas wrote something in the margin of his ledger. Cedric looked over. "What was that?"

"The moment the programme became more expensive because everyone now expects the weapon to behave dramatically."

Lucien leaned back. "The name remains provisional."

Brakka looked unconvinced. "Everything remains provisional until the prototype stops attempting to kill the test crew."

Cedric spread several target profiles across the table. "If one weapon is expected to serve against personnel, armor, magical protection, and light fortifications, the ammunition must carry most of the flexibility." He arranged them in order: a hardened penetrator for armor; an explosive-impact round for reinforced positions and large creatures; a delayed-burst round for targets behind cover; a high-density fragmentation round for clustered enemies; a disruption round for wards and magical protection.

Maerath raised one hand immediately. "That last category can’t be solved with a single projectile."

"Why not?" Lucien asked.

"Because magical defences differ. A ward built around heat dispersal doesn’t fail the same way as one anchored through spatial distortion. A corruption barrier is not merely another shield. A single anti-magic round would either be weak against everything or dangerously unstable."

Gandalf nodded. "We can develop a small family later, once we understand the most common threats."

Malen examined the explosive-round concept. "And for close quarters?"

Cedric answered first. "A heavy solid round or a reduced-effect fragmentation design."

Malen shook his head. "Too much risk in confined spaces."

Brakka looked at the sketches. "Then one standardized casing, one firing mechanism, several projectile types. The weapon stays common. Mission selection changes the load."

Lucas raised his eyes from the ledger. "That’s the first sentence today I approve of."

Ironbreaker glanced toward him. "Standardization?"

"Fewer production lines."

"Don’t confuse approval with happiness," Brakka said.

The next argument was over calibre. Cedric wanted a round large enough for meaningful explosive effect. Ironbreaker wanted something even larger. Brakka rejected both before either had finished explaining why they were necessary.

"A larger round doesn’t merely increase damage. It increases ammunition weight, barrel wear, recoil, receiver mass, feed size, and production difficulty."

Ironbreaker tapped the armor requirements. "The suit exists to carry burdens ordinary soldiers can’t."

"The suit doesn’t make ammunition disappear."

Aurethar spoke from the wall. "Apparently that’s what my rings are for."

Everyone turned toward him. He raised one claw. "That was sarcasm, not consent."

Lucas made another note. Aurethar’s eyes narrowed. "What did you write?"

"Possible logistical support."

"Cross it out."

"I didn’t specify the source."

"You looked at me while writing."

Lucas crossed nothing out.

Brakka pulled two cartridge outlines from Ironbreaker’s papers and set them side by side. "We test both."

Ironbreaker looked pleased. "You rejected them."

"I rejected choosing one without data." The smaller experimental round would offer better capacity and lower weapon weight; the larger would carry more explosive effect but place greater stress on the receiver and the wearer.

Cedric asked, "How many prototypes?"

"One receiver with interchangeable test assemblies if possible," Brakka said. "Two dedicated mechanisms if not."

Lucas looked toward him. "Which costs less?"

"The first."

"And which is more likely to survive?"

"The second."

Lucas closed the ledger for a moment. "I preferred the first."

"You asked the wrong question."

The firing mechanism came next. Ironbreaker proposed scaling up a proven automatic action and reinforcing the locking system. Brakka argued that simply enlarging an infantry mechanism would produce something too heavy to carry even with powered armor.

Gandalf studied the recoil notes. "Mana assistance could reduce the burden."

Brakka looked toward him. "Where?"

"Bolt movement, feed stabilization, recoil absorption, ignition consistency."

Maerath leaned over the table. "The armor braces before each shot. The weapon sends a firing signal through the suit interface — the legs lock, the torso distributes the recoil, and the shoulder assembly compensates before the impulse reaches the wearer."

Malen’s expression hardened slightly. "And if the link fails?"

Brakka answered before Maerath could. "Then the weapon must still fire safely."

Gandalf nodded. "Reduced performance, perhaps. Not failure."

Lucien approved the principle. "Mechanical baseline mode. Armor-linked enhanced mode."

Brakka wrote it down. "The weapon works without the suit. The suit makes it better."

Aurethar lowered his head closer to the table. "A weapon that requires perfect circumstances is an ornament."

Ironbreaker said, "A heavy ornament."

"Mortals have built many."

The feed system created another division. Cedric wanted detachable box magazines — quick to change and sealed against contamination. Ironbreaker wanted belts for sustained fire. Malen rejected exposed belts outright.

"A loose belt catches on everything."

"Then we cover it," Ironbreaker said.

"Then it becomes a large covered box attached to a soldier trying to crawl."

Brakka separated the problem by mission. "Compact magazines for infiltration. Larger magazines for assault. External powered feed for fixed defence or deliberate heavy engagements."

Cedric looked toward him. "One receiver accepting all three?"

"If we design the feed interface correctly."

Lucas reopened the ledger. "How many magazine types?"

Brakka answered without looking up. "Fewer than the number of tactical problems Cedric will eventually create."

Cedric nodded. "I’ll accept that as progress."

The five-person team structure made complete uniformity impossible anyway. Each team needed a mix of close assault, precision fire, and sustained suppression, but Lucien rejected the idea of three unrelated weapons. Brakka proposed a family instead — one core receiver, one firing system, one ammunition casing, a common armor interface, common maintenance tools, and shared internal parts wherever possible. The general-purpose version would stay short enough for ruins, boarding, and close operations. A precision variant would use a longer barrel and specialized penetrator ammunition. A support version would carry reinforced cooling and larger feed options.

Ironbreaker looked at the three silhouettes. "Thunderbolt Assault Rifle. Thunderbolt Precision Rifle. Thunderbolt Support Gun.(And ladies and gentleman here comes the bolter)"

Brakka looked at him. "You accepted that name far too quickly."

"I’ve committed."

"That’s not a defence."

Lucas studied the shared-components proposal. "This, at least, is sensible."

Brakka raised an eyebrow. "You approve?"

"I approve of the parts being shared. I haven’t approved of anything attached to them."

Lucien moved the discussion forward before the morning could be lost to a single weapon. "The commandos also need a launcher."

Cedric immediately supported it. "Clustered enemies, trenches, barricades, light fortifications, targets behind cover." He suggested mounting it beneath the primary weapon.

Malen objected. "Then every commando carries the weight whether the mission requires it or not."

Ironbreaker proposed a detachable unit. Brakka agreed. "Separate enough to carry only when needed. Compatible enough to mount under the main weapon or fire independently."

The launcher ammunition would share as much casing and fuse technology as possible — fragmentation, smoke, stun, breaching, incendiary, and a later disruption variant for wards and magical mechanisms that Maerath insisted remain experimental.

Lucien agreed. "We don’t label something anti-magic simply because it glows and frightens accountants."

Lucas looked toward him. "That has happened?"

Gandalf said, "More often than it should."

Aurethar added, "Less often after the first explosion."

Cedric moved to grenades: a standardized body and safety system with several functional fills. Fragmentation for open combat. Smoke for concealment, withdrawal, and marking. Stun for prisoner recovery and capture missions. Breaching for light barriers and doors. Rune-disruption later, once Maerath and Gandalf understood what could be made reliably.

Lucas asked, "Do they need all of these immediately?"

"No," Cedric said. "They need the correct one when the mission demands it."

Malen nodded. "Mission packages. Not every commando carrying every tool."

That principle extended to mines and planted devices. Commandos might need to close a route, delay pursuit, protect an extraction point, or sabotage infrastructure. Malen wanted compact devices that could be carried, placed, armed, and recovered safely. Cedric outlined the categories: anti-personnel mines, anti-armor charges, directional fragmentation devices, signal-triggered charges, time-delay demolition charges, and magical-flow disruption devices.

Lucien made the control requirement clear. "Specialist issue only."

Malen agreed. "Not every dangerous object becomes standard equipment because one person understands it."

Brakka added, "And every device must be safe to disarm by its own user."

Ironbreaker nodded. "A mine that can’t be safely recovered by the person who placed it is badly designed."

Aurethar’s tail moved once behind him. "Mortals have a remarkable tradition of leaving dangerous objects in the ground and then becoming surprised when they remain dangerous."

Malen glanced toward him. "The goal is to ensure the enemy regrets finding them first."

The discussion reached melee weapons, and Ironbreaker immediately leaned forward. Brakka noticed. "You’ve been waiting for this."

"I’ve been patient."

"You’ve been staring at the empty section of the plan for half an hour."

"Patiently."

Powered armor would allow heavier weapons than ordinary knights could use effectively. Lucien didn’t ask for a single ceremonial sword carried by every commando — he wanted practical categories: a compact breaching blade for doors, armor seams, and close spaces; a shock hammer capable of concentrating the armor’s assisted strength into a single point; a longer combat blade for open fighting and large enemies.

Maerath suggested limited enchantments that improved impact, edge stability, or temporary disruption against magical barriers. Aurethar warned against making the enchantment essential. "If the magic fails and the weapon becomes useless, you’ve built a wand with an identity problem."

Brakka agreed. "The base weapon remains effective. Enchantment improves performance."

Ironbreaker looked toward Lucien. "The hammer should survive hitting things the sword should avoid."

"That sounds reasonable."

Brakka looked at Ironbreaker. "You heard him. Don’t interpret that as permission to build a siege ram with a handle."

"No promises."

Weapon integration with the armor proved as complicated as the weapons themselves. Each suit would be individually fitted, yet every weapon needed common interfaces. Brakka proposed a standardized external mounting rail and data connection. Ironbreaker added adjustable recoil-transfer braces tuned to each wearer. Gandalf and Maerath wanted secure mana recognition so a captured weapon couldn’t operate at full performance in enemy hands.

Malen saw the problem immediately. "A teammate must still be able to use it."

The solution grew from that objection: the primary owner would receive full armor-linked performance; authorized teammates would get functional access with reduced optimization; an unauthorized user physically capable of handling the weapon would have only the mechanical baseline.

Lucas looked at the growing list. "That sounds expensive."

Aurethar replied from the wall. "At this point, that observation has become ceremonial."

Lucas didn’t disagree.

The ammunition estimates finally forced the discussion back toward production. Heavy rounds, launcher ammunition, grenades, mines, spare barrels, maintenance parts, and specialized projectiles would require more than one workshop and more than one supply line.

Lucas placed Ironhold’s schedule on the table. "The first two foundries are six days from operation. You’ve now assigned them armor, weapon parts, ammunition, magazines, grenades, and specialized alloys before either furnace has lit."

Brakka looked at the schedule. "Then we begin in stages."

The first weapon-production priorities would be narrow: Thunderbolt test barrels and receivers, two experimental ammunition sizes, basic penetrator and fragmentation rounds, standard grenade bodies, simple smoke and fragmentation grenades, and armor-compatible mounts. Everything more advanced would wait until the core systems survived testing.

Lucas looked toward Lucien. "Titanworks carries the first prototypes?"

"Yes," Brakka answered. "Ironhold begins learning weapon and ammunition production immediately."

Lucien approved. "One foundry supports armor and structural work. The second begins weapon and ammunition trials."

Lucas wrote it down reluctantly. "That’s still too much."

"It’s less than everything," Lucien said.

"That’s not the same as reasonable."

The materials discussion resumed with more restraint than the previous day. Maerath proposed Aetherium and Runesilver for the weapon’s control systems, targeting link, and armor interface. Ironbreaker wanted Starforged Adamant only at the locking lugs, barrel extension, and highest-stress internal points. Aurethar suggested limited Voidsteel around sensitive mechanisms intended for corruption-heavy environments. Brakka rejected any rare material where controlled ordinary alloy would perform adequately.

Lucien supported him. "The best weapon isn’t the one with the rarest material in every part."

Aurethar’s eyes shifted toward Lucas. "At last, someone has discovered that wealth and intelligence are different qualities."(Intelligence discovered)

Lucas looked toward the enormous golden dragon. Aurethar noticed immediately. "Don’t become bold."

The heavy-ammunition estimates created the final obvious problem. Even powered armor could carry only so much physical volume. Maerath placed one hand beside the calculations. "This returns us to the rings."

Everyone looked toward Aurethar considerably faster than the day before. The dragon lowered his head. "You’re improving. Yesterday it took several seconds."

"We need enough for testing," Lucien said.

Aurethar’s eyes narrowed. "How many?"

"Five high-grade personal rings. One larger team-storage ring. Several lower-grade rings for training and failure testing."

Lucas looked at Lucien. "You prepared that number."

"Of course."

Aurethar turned toward him. "You came to the meeting already planning to request items from my hoard."

"I came prepared."

"That’s a courteous term for organized theft."

Lucien held his gaze. "Will you provide them?"

"Temporarily."

Lucas asked, "At what cost?"

Aurethar looked toward him. "I want to see what they destroy before discussing quantity."

"That’s not a price."

"No. It’s quality control."

Brakka gave Aurethar a look of professional respect that surprised everyone at the table, including Aurethar.

"You’ve applied procurement standards to a dragon’s hoard."

"Someone had to."

Lucien accepted the terms without pushing further. Testing first. Negotiation after. Whatever Aurethar intended to charge for permanent use, he would charge based on what he witnessed — which meant the commandos had every reason to use the rings well.

Lucas closed the ledger and looked at the planning board: armor silhouettes, weapon outlines, ammunition sketches, material lists, and a production schedule already straining under the weight of what had been decided in two days.

"We have defined the weapons before building the armor that will carry them," he said.

"Yes," Lucien said.

"That is either confident planning or enthusiastic disorder."

"Both have produced results before."

Lucas made one final entry. Outside, Ironhold’s foundries were six days from ignition. Titanworks had already received the first armor requirements. The Thunderbolt programme existed so far as a name, a concept, and several pages of Brakka’s handwriting that nobody else could fully read.

It was, by any standard, an early beginning.

That had never stopped anything yet.