Chapter 476 — The White Knight Armor

Beyond all this, the most eye-catching feature of the armor was the fully covering helmet that came with it—a helmet of extremely striking design. Onto its streamlined, thick steel plates, phrases from the holy-light scriptures had been stamped directly by machine press; a tactical visor of crystal blended seamlessly into the whole helmet; and a pair of golden wing-shaped ornaments extended from the back of the helmet. Though it was plainly a mass-produced article stamped out by machine, it lent the entire helmet an added layer of sacred religious meaning amid its stern steel aura—

The parchment covered in classic doctrine, and the helmet stamped with holy runes and adorned with wings—clearly, these two would become the defining marks of the White Knights.

Gao Yang was well pleased with the armor's appearance. It could perfectly embody Cecil's strength, and also embody the significance of the holy light as one component of the Cecil system. But whether the thing actually worked well—that would have to be asked of Rebecca.

The first to give in to curiosity and ask, however, was not Gao Yang, but Amber—who had been shrieking loudly enough on the way out, and who by now was so curious she looked ready to crawl inside the armor herself. The half-elf lady circled the platform, round and round, and after two circuits she seized Rebecca: "Can this thing really let ordinary people use the holy light?"

Rebecca looked smug: "After the last round of tests, we ran a series of supplementary experiments to ensure safety. This suit is now a finished product ready for practical use..."

As she spoke, the girl pointed out the armor's various structures and explained them to Gao Yang: "We optimized the combat pack from the previous generation, reduced the number of charging crystals, and improved the pack's own energy output efficiency, so it can supply the armor with more power. With a full supply of energy, we integrated a large number of holy-light spells directly into the armor—including the most basic Holy Light spell, the Cure Disease spell, and blessing-type spells, all of which can be cast through this pair of specially made gauntlets."

Gao Yang nodded as he listened: these were all the most basic holy-light spells, and also the first batch of holy-light spells to be analyzed and converted. From a practical standpoint, the first generation of White Knights had no need to master those high-order divine arts of tremendous power but inconvenient to mass-produce; so long as they could shoulder the duties of battlefield chaplains, that would be enough to greatly enhance the strength of Cecil's armies—and to shake the faith of the traditional Church.

When Rebecca finished, Nicholas Egg drifted over as well, and from within him came a voice resonant with metal: "Drawing on our experience with the arcane armor's design, we added a more effective cushioning liner inside the White Knight armor. It can better protect the wearer's safety—on the battlefield, any class with healing abilities must be properly protected. In addition, since the pack's output has increased, we added more weight-reduction runes to the liner, so the pressure this suit places on the White Knights will be reduced, and they will be able to carry more supplies and equipment..."

"As a supplement to the protection, we also added a shield crystal to the chest of the White Knight armor," Camille added, pointing to the striking crystal at the armor's breast. "This crystal has an independent inverter array unit powering it, and can generate a holy-light shield whose strength even exceeds the force-field shields currently used by Cecil's soldiers. In an emergency, the shield it generates can cover an area of several meters around the White Knight—the duration is only a few minutes, but that is enough to protect nearby comrades in fierce combat and buy time for treatment or evacuation."

Gao Yang nodded again and again: just as he had pictured the battlefield chaplain, what would be most trusted about the White Knights was their power to heal and to protect. On the battlefield, a large company of priests able to cast wide-area shields and instantly unleash all manner of healing and blessing spells would greatly raise the soldiers' chances of survival, and still more greatly raise the morale and resilience of the entire army in combat. It was true that the fact of Cecil's battle-priests wearing armor heavier than that of heavy cavalry made their style look rather different from priests elsewhere—but their battlefield role was clearly much the same...

That notion of Gao Yang's persisted right up until Rebecca hauled out a gigantic long-handled warhammer.

"Now that we've covered protection, it's time to talk about the White Knights' weapons!" The girl's eyes sparkled with excitement as she hoisted the long-handled warhammer on her shoulder and shook it, clearly angling for credit (honestly, how did a mage have that kind of strength?!). "Mr. Wright proposed that an excellent priest must not only have the heart to protect the innocent, but also the power to strike down evil—so the White Knights also have formidable fighting strength. Look at this warhammer: first, it has a mechanical impact structure. The inspiration came from the power cudgel..."

(Oh my god!)