While I let plans for the big gun stew in the background of my mind, I got to work on the other guns. I wanted turrets that would recycle absorbed kinetic energy, so first I simply made the struts and suspension support able to absorb and redirect such energy. I did not make use of enchanting and simply made the material have the nature of absorbing instead of flexing to let it pass through. This wouldn't stop my truck from moving, merely make any bouncing impossible.
The eight guns were then designed as sniper rifles, with long barrels, double handles used to turn and aim the stand, and electronic binocular scopes. There was a chamber that slid out sideways at the end closest to the gunner that one could put anything in to fire, though I was planning on getting some coal pieces for ammo. The friction generated when they accelerated through the air would turn them into fireballs to add to the damage.
For triggers, I set up little bars attached to the buttons on top of the aiming handles that would complete the kinetic energy transference circuit that led from the suspension into the gun to the chamber when pressed at the same time with the chamber closed. This would cause a focused kinetic blast to accelerate the chambered round to 1500ft per second, well above the speed of sound. Perfect for bringing monsters down low enough to crush.
Looking at the empty slot for the big gun, I had a brilliant idea. An energy blasting weapon might actually empower certain monsters, so what I needed was an energy suction weapon that would rip mana apart and absorb it into my Hero core as well as replenish the mana batteries.
I thought about what drain enchantments I had access to. Almost all of them were short range, except one used for an Ascent to godhood ritual. That converted an entire planet of life into the ritual. Funnily enough, that meant that the more people alive, the more powerful the resulting deity, so users of the ritual were rewarded by encouraging peace and a life of plenty. I was pretty sure I didn't want to wipe the planet clean of life to power myself up, so I took a look at what prevented the drain from affecting the ascender. Nothing did, the process of dying and melding with all that energy was part of the ascension. So that enchantment was off the table!
I realized that I should break the weapon effects down. I wanted to first disassociate mana from my target, then transfer it to me. I needed to enchant the cannon rounds first with mana drain to rob the mana, then something that would transfer it to my core.
I looked at spatial enchantments, and there was one for something to exist in two places at the same time. It required two enchantments that were the same enchantment, meaning it was impossible to inscribe without twisting space. No problem. I created a large steel round and made it so that it twisted space. Whenever it was fired, it would stay in the chamber and at the same time would speed through the air at 1500 feet per second to hit a target. Imagining this was quite a challenge, but my recent spatial manipulations had given me enough knowledge about how space works. Try to work with the image of a single space encapsulating the cannon ball, then beneath this layer there is a new layer added every time it is fired. Each new layer, which is made by utilizing a paralocation enchantment, is initially sustained using energy from a crystallized mana battery (CMB from now on), and then further maintained by the mana drain enchantment once the round reaches its target and the drain activates. Once the mana drain is cut off due to the death of the target, the additional layer and draw on energy is canceled. This spatial paralocation could be duplicated as many times as needed. Space can be compressed to an amazing amount. It will bend and stretch space a little, but not enough for me to worry about ripping apart the fabric of reality, even when fired multiple times.
So now I have my gun. When fired, it will propel via a rail gun enchantment a supersonic cannonball that will stick to a target and suck it dry. The sticking is due to amplifying the life and mana drain enchantments until they compress the energy they take in to the point of near solidity.
I tested my new gun, which I dubbed The Suckerball on a model dragon. I saw that life drain sucks the qi energy, while mana drain sucks the mana, and that one suckerball iteration could kill a normal dragon in less than a minute. After my suckerball exploded due to energy overload, I remembered to add an energy transfer enchantment to the paralocation enchantment. I put a filter in first to remove the possibility of tainted energy, then looped the energy transfer through the CMBs with an automated switch that would redirect the flow once the CMB had been restored to its original charge, before hooking it up to my core.
Time for the last features. Realizing that I forgot the Hero sword energy absorption enchantment, I put it in the wheels. After hooking that transfer circuit into the CMB rechargers with its own automatic switches and then to my core, I also added repair enchantments that would be maintained by the main CMB. Then to increase the lethality of running over things, I put a blender enchantment on the underside of the truck that would do what my guns did and violently twist apart anything between the wheels. Finally, I hooked up projection screens around the driver's section so that I could see around me when I drove .
I saved my work, and came back to the real world again. Huh. Robin had taken care of the rest of the monsters, who apparently thought she was vulnerable when I was preoccupied making my giant truck. It really is more efficient when they group up.
"Thanks Robin! You're the best!" I called to her.
She came over to me, panting slightly from the hard work of chopping necks that were as thick as oak trees. "And why weren't you backing me up?"
I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I got a little involved in making new transportation. I've been getting the feeling you aren't overly enthused with my gravity slide. Behold!" I waved my arm dramatically and quickly thought of a name. "The Death Machine!" Maybe that was too over the top? Nah.