With the Watchmen officially transitioned into the Apex Defense Force, Kellan moved immediately to the next phase: equipping them. The team, led by Jax, was formidable in conventional terms, but they were sub-optimal against dimensional threats.
Kellan gathered Jax and Lyra in the Apex Command's newly designated R&D Annex, filled with the sophisticated, yet flawed, equipment recovered from the Council of Elders.
"Your sub-optimal armor and weapons won't stop a Class 3 entity," Kellan stated, pointing to the neutralized creature's remains. "We need Apex Synthesis."
[Optimal Insight (Level 3) Activated! Target: Watchmen's Standard Tactical Gear + Dimensional Remains. Optimal Synthesis: Apex Nanoweave Plating (Lightweight, dimensionally reactive armor) and Apex Disruptor Rounds (Localized energy suppression ammunition).]
Kellan focused on the inert chitin of the Class 3 predator. He poured the remaining Apex Shard Dust onto the material. Lyra stood ready, her Absolute Energy Control stabilizing the volatile dimensional component.
"Lyra, channel the A.D.B.G.'s power," Kellan commanded. "I will perform the Synthesis on their body armor. We need to infuse the dimensional matter into the Kevlar weave."
Lyra's golden eyes glowed as she perfectly regulated the high energy output. The standard black vests of the Watchmen, placed on the synthesis platform, shimmered violently, then reformed with a smooth, silvery sheen.
Jax watched, utterly fascinated. "Does this armor actually stop them?"
"It doesn't stop them; it makes their sub-optimal attack energy useless," Kellan explained, picking up a synthesized vest. "The Apex Nanoweave converts the dimensional force into latent, harmless thermal energy. It's an Optimal Defense against dimensional aggression."
Next came the weapons. Kellan synthesized the Apex Disruptor Rounds, infusing standard ammunition with a trace of the synthesized dimensional material.
"These rounds won't kill a dimensional entity directly," Kellan told Jax. "They induce an extreme, localized sub-optimal energy surge upon impact, forcing the entity's internal matrix to collapse briefly. It's a precise takedown tool, not a destructive one."
With the equipment ready, Kellan turned to the final requirement for Organization Phase I: talent acquisition.
"Seraphina," Kellan said, pulling up a highly segmented data file. "The Council of Elders had a single sub-optimal weakness that we didn't exploit: their reliance on old-world financial secrecy. But who managed their most sensitive, non-financial data?"
Seraphina immediately pulled up a personnel file. "That would be Dr. Vivian Roth. A cryptographic genius. She managed the Council's hidden communication network. She's a brilliant mind, but she was dismissed for 'emotional instability' two months ago."
[Optimal Insight (Level 3) Activated! Target: Dr. Vivian Roth. Sub-Optimal Point: Emotional Instability (Hyper-focus and Social Isolation). Optimal Action: Recruit for her unparalleled cryptographic insight, framing the dimensional entities as the 'Ultimate Cipher' that only she can break.]
"Emotional instability is just a sub-optimal name for hyper-focus, Seraphina," Kellan corrected. "She was bored by their simple secrets. The dimensional entities use codes we can't even perceive. We need her."
"I can offer her a high salary, but she hates conventional authority," Seraphina warned.
"Lyra will go," Kellan decided. "Lyra, use your Apex Champion status. Don't offer money. Offer her the chance to solve the ultimate, impossible cipher—the communication patterns of the Inter-Dimensional Entities."
Lyra nodded, a confident, predatory light in her eyes. "A genius who felt irrelevant. A perfect sub-optimal target for recruitment. I will be back with our new Cipher Apex."
Kellan watched Lyra leave, already calculating the synergistic potential between Dr. Roth's cryptographic mind and his Apex algorithm. With the Watchmen as the shield and Dr. Roth as the insight, Apex Command was ready for the next level of the dimensional war.