Chapter 1 Firepower Upgrade for Lily's Combat Form

Hao Ren hadn't considered upgrading Lily's combat form, but after she brought it up, he realized it could be quite useful, especially for her.

Her weaknesses were indeed quite obvious.

There were quite a few people in the family, but not everyone needed a "firepower upgrade." Vivian and Yizaks were both exceptionally strong, the kind who were fierce at both close and long range, and they relied mainly on their spellcasting and natural talents in combat, with no obvious weaknesses. Little demon Elizabeth, like her father, was a talent-based fighter, and what she needed most right now was learning and growth rather than external upgrades. Nangong Sanba's main function was to look good, with dps as a sideline, so his focus was on improving his selfie skills and posing experience, and he didn't need Hao Ren's help either. Nangong Wuyue... Nangong Wuyue's dps was consistently zero, so there was no point in strengthening her. The only one left who could be considered half an action operative was Gun, but the cat girl's main weakness was intelligence... so there was no need to consider her for the time being.

After thinking it over, Hao Ren felt that improving Lily's strength was the easiest and quickest way to go, because he came up with a plan right away.

Looking at the husky girl's hesitant expression, Hao Ren smiled slightly. "Alright, leave it to me. Anyway, I don't have anything to do at home these days, so I'll do some research on upgrading your equipment."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Vivian's voice suddenly came from the side. It turned out that she had suddenly noticed Hao Ren and Lily holding their bowls and running to the side looking secretive while she was clearing the table, and she couldn't help but come over out of curiosity. "Ew—Lily, you're smiling like an idiot."

"I asked the landlord to upgrade my equipment!" Lily wagged her tail happily, her ears twitching energetically. "The landlord agreed!"

"Upgrade your equipment?" Vivian blinked. "Oh, right, those claws of yours should be upgraded, or else the names you came up with later would be wasted..."

Lily puffed out her cheeks. "That's not what I'm talking about!"

"We're studying how to improve her combat power after she fully transforms," Hao Ren explained with a smile. "After fully transforming, all combat indicators increase by leaps and bounds, but the weaknesses are also magnified. She lacks ranged attacks, her combat endurance is worrying, and she can't make many of the fine movements she can in human form. Oh, and there's also the inability to communicate—I plan to solve this problem as well."

At this time, the others also came over curiously. After hearing Hao Ren's words, Nangong Sanba couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, this sounds like a major upgrade. Why did you suddenly think of solving these problems?"

"She brought it up," Hao Ren pointed at Lily. "And it just so happens that these weaknesses have become more and more obvious in recent battles, so I might as well take advantage of these few days to solve them."

Obviously, the matter of Lily getting an armed upgrade aroused great interest in everyone. Perhaps these guys were too bored at home, so when they heard there was something fun to watch, they all crowded over and started giving their opinions. They had all fought side by side on the battlefield, and everyone knew each other's fighting styles and strengths and weaknesses very well. They were also very clear about the areas where Lily desperately needed improvement in her fully transformed form, so after a noisy discussion, they actually came up with many detailed problems that Hao Ren hadn't even noticed before.

But they couldn't help with the specific implementation, because Hao Ren planned to use his pile of high-tech equipment to redesign a set of equipment for Lily, and the design concept and technical details of this set of equipment were completely beyond anyone else's reach.

So when Hao Ren and the data terminal started discussing the blueprints, everyone gradually dispersed, and the living room suddenly became quiet. The only one left beside Hao Ren was Lily, who was looking forward to it and was unusually quiet.

"You're not planning to just wait here until the blueprint comes out, are you?" Hao Ren looked at the husky girl with a wry smile. "This thing isn't that fast. It takes two days just to draw a picture for a custom-made dress."

Lily thought about it and felt that he was right, so she ran back to her room to continue watching her TV series.

But after a short while, Hao Ren felt someone sneaking up to him again. He suddenly turned his head sharply. "Didn't I say you still need to... uh, Gun?"

The one who had quietly approached was not the impatient husky, but the silly cat. The cat girl was obviously startled by Hao Ren's sudden turn and almost jumped onto the back of the sofa. "Meow! Big cat, you scared me!"

"You're still scaring me, sneaking up on me like this," Hao Ren rolled his eyes at the cat. Then he suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen this cat during the heated discussion just now, which was obviously not in line with her personality, so he became curious. "Speaking of which, what were you doing just now? Looking for me for... um? What are you doing with a straw?"

He saw the cat girl holding a straw and gesturing with it on her head, while asking curiously, "Big cat, what does 'sucking the cat' mean that I've heard so many people say? Can you demonstrate it for me? I brought you the straw!"

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment, then slapped his forehead. Just like he said before, this cat's biggest weakness was her intelligence...

Hao Ren's idea for Lily's requested "firepower upgrade" could be summed up in one sentence:

A heavy, self-propelled firepower platform, plus a mobile field base.

Lily's werewolf form had been used skillfully for a century. Whether it was fighting skills or the use of various weapons, she had developed them to their limit, and her fighting style had already taken shape. Even if she were to improve further, there would be limited room for improvement. However, her beast form was different. Her fully transformed form was a skill she had only mastered three years ago. Even if she was a husky spirit, it didn't mean that after being a "person" for a century, she could suddenly transform into a quadruped and immediately use her fangs and claws skillfully. In other words, her beast form was currently fighting entirely on instinct. Even a high-end skill like dog cannon was only stiffly grafted onto her beast form: it required charging, required aiming while standing still, and even required her to open her mouth wide when releasing it, which greatly affected her vision. These were all signs of not being able to control it skillfully.

Skill level was something that needed to be practiced slowly, which Lily could only solve herself. But Hao Ren could first design a set of equipment for her that could function stably without requiring too much thought. Not to mention anything else, it would be a waste not to use her two-story-high body and ridiculously strong physique after she transformed.

Such a large siege beast, how many small missile launchers could be mounted on it...

Based on this inspiring design concept, coupled with the data terminal's excellent virtual computing capabilities and the database's mature weapon solutions, an armament named "Heavy Armor Lily mk-i" was quickly designed and manufactured.

Of course, he couldn't do this kind of testing on Earth, so Hao Ren directly took Lily to a weapon testing station on the satellite Irim. There was plenty of space here for her to run wild, and even if she broke something, it wouldn't matter.

Lily had been unusually excited since leaving the house, and she couldn't calm down at all after arriving at the test site, jumping around Hao Ren. "Landlord, landlord! Where's my new equipment? Is it powerful and cool?"

A group of people who had followed to watch the fun were also full of anticipation. Vivian frowned and asked, "Speaking of which, I don't know if you've thought about a problem—Lily's transformation process will destroy her clothes. Even if you solve this problem, she will only be able to use her claws and mouth after transforming. In this case, will she be able to put on this set of things you made for her by herself?"

"Of course, these minor details have already been solved with simulation calculations," Hao Ren smiled slightly and slowly took something out of his portable space and threw it to Lily. "Here, your combat armor."

Lily subconsciously caught it and looked at it, her expression suddenly turning strange. "...A collar?"

What Hao Ren threw over was just a silver-white collar.

"Landlord, you're not kidding me, are you?" Lily looked back and forth at Hao Ren with a suspicious look in her eyes, as if looking for a place to bite him. "This collar is the heavy equipment you designed for me?"

"This is just an activation terminal. I can't let you carry around a set of giant armor that your beast form can wear, can I?" Hao Ren smiled mysteriously. "Put it on, transform, and you'll know what's going on."

Lily looked at Hao Ren with suspicion, but she was already used to wearing her vitamin collar, and she never had any concept of "werewolf dignity cannot be violated, no one can put a collar on her," so she finally put the collar on her neck.

"Whoa, it's so light, I can hardly feel it," Lily moved her head and waved to the others while taking out spicy sticks from her pocket. "Then you all step back—I'm going to transform!"

A moment later, accompanied by a cheerful and clear howl, the silver-white "giant wolf" strode out in a gust of wind.

And the collar that had been around her neck before was still around her neck, but its volume had been magnified dozens of times with the transformation process, turning into a silver, heavy neck guard. The neck guard fit the body lines after her transformation, with blue light flowing on the surface, looking countless times cooler than when it was just a small collar.

"Is that it?" Nangong Sanba asked curiously.

Lily also looked down curiously, but it was impossible for her to see the neck guard from her own perspective, so she raised her front paws and pulled around her neck. And just as she made this movement, the blue light flowing on the surface of the silver-white neck guard suddenly turned into cracks. Immediately afterwards, the entire device quickly changed in a series of complex and incredible deformations and expansions!

A series of synthesized sounds came from inside those mechanical structures: "Heavy combat armor activated, first start—basic self-check complete. Energy module-normal, life support module-normal, tactical support module-normal, shield generator-normal, target acquisition device-normal, micro-nuclear missile launch array-normal, beam weapon platform-normal, comprehensive radar station-normal, medical center-normal, hair grooming device-normal, head-patting simulator-normal, dog communication device-normal, krypton gold headlights-normal, windshield wipers-normal..."