Author Notes:
Yup, I consider it's an absolute win that OBOM's world building is gonna be more detailed than ever. I think this is a must-have, considering the whole premise of this fic is purely original :D
Anyway, big shoutout to Private Kitsune01! Hope you enjoy the multiple Early Access Chapters! Also, salutation to Private Ghost3524 for taking a step back and become a frontline soldier! Your continuing service is most appreciated, Sir!
As for what this particular chapter is all about... Uni, I summon you!
P.S: It's basically a motorhome that is lightly armed and can swim kek.
https://www.patreon.com/Heartbreak117
https://discord.gg/cVZxJ29ruh
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[Daily Login Reward received:
5x Box of 100 rounds of M962 (tracer) .50 caliber Saboted Light Armor Penetrator.]
"Huh, that's neat." I mutter aloud the moment I finish reading the System's given reward. "Whoever or whatever is gonna be on the receiving end of these bullets will have a rude awakening, that's for sure."
"Ehm... Is the reward good, Umbra?" Aurea asks, not really understanding, and not understanding the term Saboted Light Armor Penetrator at the same time.
"I will share with you that whole memory sequence about how the SLAP round works later. But long story short, it's probably the best armor-piercing ammo for the M2 machine guns we have on the White Pearl." I say, while pulling the throttle back, letting our boat coast gently around in the riverway. "I reckon, bar the more well-protected Knights and magical beasts, our .50 cal machine guns can perforate nearly every threat we come across with the SLAP rounds in their belts. In fact, I should take some time to reload the machine guns. At the very least, each belt should have 1 SLAP round per four or five rounds."
Having found a suitable place to drop anchor near a sandy riverbank, I bring the White Pearl to a full stop before leaning back on my Captain's chair. Bringing my arms up for a stretch that accentuated the curves of our body, covered by the Black Silk bodysuit, I let out a sigh before smiling.
"Anyway, before I get started on doing that, and perhaps even scout the area around here, how about I listen to what you've been working on these last few days, Aurea? I can't help but notice how you rummage through my wealth of technological knowledge with a keen interest in floatation and motor design."
"Ah! R-Right!" Aurea launches her reply alongside the mental images of what she's spent the last few days doing. "I-I was thinking that since the White Pearl is locked to an aquatic environment, isn't it a bit inconvenient for you, Umbra? I-I noticed how recently, Alpha and you spend more time walking and climbing than actually using the riverways. This has caused you two no small amount of fatigue... So, I try to come up with a potential way to help, and I think I manage to find one...?"
I giggle, feeling the concern and care Aurea is sending to me through our link with one another.
"Thanks, Aurea. Even when the Alpha is willing to carry me on its back, we still waste more time and energy than we should just trying to get to the point of interest. Our current exploration pace is indeed inefficient and carries the risk of injuring ourselves in the long run due to mounting fatigue. We can't exactly deploy the White Pearl everywhere, after all..." I then raise an eyebrow, having perused the information Aurea is sharing with me. "So your plan to rectify this issue is to make a truck?"
"And using the GAD Module, no less?" I add, a bit surprised by the plan Aurea is cooking up.
"W-Well..." Aurea actually acts sheepish, for once. I can just about see her scratching her cheek bashfully, right now. "I-If it's amphibious, then it counts as a boat, right? And the GAD Module should be able to accommodate all kinds of boats so..."
"... Fair point." Aurea isn't wrong, I think? "Ain't no harm in testing this out, but first..."
I stand up before moving to poke my head out of the pilot house, saying to Alpha. "Hey! Mind if I work out something with the Other Me in my head for a bit before we commit to anything else for the day?"
In response, the Alpha, which is lying curled on the deck and enjoying the morning breeze, waves a tail in a lazy manner without opening its eyes.
I shrug. "I'll take that as a yes then."
I then return to the chair and plop myself down. I then boot up the GAD Module and Aurea, with an additional mental command, queue an order for the Module to display what the vehicle she has in mind. And lo and behold, the GAD Module actually accepts the preliminary design of an amphibious vehicle. Now that I can clearly see the stats for Aurea's truck, though, I can't help but comment.
"A motorhome? I get White Pearl must really be growing on ya."
Aurea replies with a soft smile. "You have everything you would ever need on a White Pearl... And it's simple too. I-I have always wished for such a place to call home, and I know you are too... So, the motorhome design emerged when I gained insight into your knowledge of vehicular travel. Hopefully, it will help ease any fatigue that you will incur on our journey of exploration..."
"Aww~! That's so nice of you, dear Other Me!" I coo while giving Aurea a mental pat on her head, to which she seems to purr and shyly smile in our mental space. "Anyway, I see that you have taken a liking to the SSB M3 Amphibious Bridging Vehicle, or at least the overall form of it."
I can feel Aurea nodding. "Yes... It seems like it's rugged and reliable, and roomy as well. The GAD Module allows me to make a lot of modifications to it, and I have fiddled with removing the bridge-laying device for a container with a living area in it. I-I just don't know if this is a reasonable modification..."
"Eh, I see you have the start of a bright idea, Aurea." I reply, giving her confidence level a little boost. "And I see that you have made the container able to house whatever amenities the White Pearl has as well. That's just perfect for the long trips we will have to make in the future."
"T-Thank you, Umbra! Uhm, can you help me work on the other parts? I am not sure what is really needed for the rest of the vehicle." Aurea asks me in a soft tone, wanting to include me in the process of creating yet another little marvel of ours.
"I will be honored to participate in this project, Aurea." I accept it with a bright smile before continuing. "First of all, because we're modifying it to be an exploration motorhome, this variant of the M3 should not just have endurance, but it must be capable of going all-terrain."
"Which means instead of four wheels, it should be given eight wheels. To accommodate the necessary number of wheels, modifications need to be made to the transmission, powerplant, and suspension system as well."
With a mental command, the M3 Amphibious Rig, as depicted by the GAD Module, goes from having four to eight. "Let's temporarily remove the container part so that we can expand the heart of the M3 first, shall we?"
Where there should have been a bridge layer, there is now Aurea's containerized habitat module. The container is then lifted and stored in the GAD Module's directory, ready to be reinstalled later with a flick of the hand. Eventually, I start removing the internal of the M3 as well, breaking it down until there's only an open framework left for me to work my mental gymnastics.
First, to accommodate the eight-wheel, all-terrain criteria, I removed the drive train and air suspension from a different vehicle, the Oshkosh-made HEMTT. I then installed them in the M3 after some modifications to incorporate them with its powerplant. This will result in the M3 being capable of traversing all sorts of rough terrain, and at the best speed possible. After all, a habitat module on its back is much, much lighter than its usual bridge-laying device.
And speaking of bridge layer stuff. It's actually not possible for the M3 to swim without having its two side pontoons deploy. That, by itself, is too complicated a feature to have. So, I dedicate the next stretch of my effort to redesign the M3's amphibious capability. This goes on to make the M3 capable of swimming without having any pontoon at all. It's as simple as driving the M3 straight into the water and letting its pump jets do the work. Of course, the swimming speed of an M3 is nowhere near as fast as the White Pearl, a mere 15 km/h in the water despite my best attempt. But having that to cross a short river stretch is much better than having none at all. And the neat thing is, the M3 should be able to cross some of the harsher river flows as well, thanks to its bulk.
At the very least, the M3 will spare us less pain to keep bringing out the White Pearl to cross a river that is only ten meters wide.
Moving on, I have to redesign the drive cabin and frame of the M3 somewhat as well, now that there's no bridge laying and pontoon set in place.
First, I bring the habitat module Aurea design back onto the design. I then modify the frame of the M3 to more fittingly accommodate the container on its back, making it more aesthetically pleasing. Coincidentally, the living space the habitat module gives us is more than enough to house Alpha in the back as well, which is a nice feature Aurea came up with.
Moving on, I expand the original drive cabin of the M3, granting more room and visibility for the driver and passenger seats. I then connect the cabin to the habitat module with a passage that is separated by a small door.
Additionally, I make provision for a manned turret atop the drive cabin. This is where I keep things a bit simple, opting to keep the M3 as simple and light as possible to leverage its currently robust power-to-weight ratio due to the removal of the heavy bridge-laying equipment. Eventually, I decide on equipping the M3 with a turret holding twin M2HB machine guns, decked out with a Gunner Protection Kit. Although requiring me or someone else to control it, the turret should offer enough deterrence to any threat we may come across. After all, inspired by today's Login Reward, I choose to give the M3's munition storage both SLAP and API rounds for its twin .50 caliber guns.
I think we have a land shredder at hand... Eventually.
Finally, I touch up on the armor protection of this heavily modified M3. Since it has to be able to swim with certain finesse, the best I can do is to give it my best attempt at an All or Nothing armor scheme. After some fiddling, key parts of the M3 will be rated against .50 caliber projectiles, SLAP included, whereas the majority of the vehicle will be robust against .30-06, which is already more than enough for an exploration motorhome.
Oh, and before I forget, I opt to retain some utility things like towing winches and the lifting crane that come stock with the original bridge-laying configuration. Who knows, the crane may or may not come into usefulness. Additionally, the lighting system is revamped to be more powerful, making sure I never have to drive blind in the night, if needed.
To cap things off, I give the M3 the same Ivory Clam coating the White Pearl has.
"Uhm... I think we should camouflage the M3..." Aurea chimes in with her suggestion.
"Really? I mean, I can understand where you're coming from, but..." I reply.
"One White Pearl is enough, Umbra. I-I think for the M3, we should be more realistic..."
"Alrighty then." I nod easily enough. "While still retaining the benefits of the Ivory Clam coating, let's remix the color and give the M3 the beautiful three-tone woodland CARC, which consists of green, brown, and black. The island seems to be heavy in the woodland theme, anyway... There, this should just about do it for our motorhome."
I then give the command for the GAD Module to spin our home-brew M3 variant a spin.
"It's..." I start.
"... Beautiful." Aurea comments in a small tone, witnessing yet another collaboration of ours coming to life.
Well, not necessarily now, but soon.
"The best part is, this M3 is technically capable of going past its prior speed limit of 80 km/h and operational range of 750 km thanks to the massively reduced weight. And we can have the GAD Module construct it for cheap at a mere three months, despite all the modifications we made to it. Goes to say how simple a truck is, at the end of the day, with little to no electronics at the core. The only modern aspect I can see from this is the habitat module with its solar panels and household appliances, which are always nice to have."
"So, Aurea," I tune into my dear Other Me. "What name shall we christen the M3 with?"
That's a legitimate question, given that the M3 has all of our personal touches to it, much like the White Pearl. Aurea falls into serious contemplation at this, before I feel a lightbulb go off in my head.
"How about... Rover? Like the moon rover you told me about some time ago."
"You know what, that's such a fitting name." I smile, changing the name M3 into Rover before hitting the build button.
Right after that, the GAD Module starts working in earnest, building our order.
"Three months, huh? Not long, not short. It's enough time for us to hike a few more mountains, at least." I say, before standing up. "Come on, Aurea, let's continue with the day. I guess Alpha must be bored waiting for us to do something, right now."