Haman's resentment and roars were certainly beyond Reid's hearing or perception.
Once the system returned, Reid's first action was to glance toward the rear of the ship. Seeing the battered Argama quietly docked behind the Aries, he felt a wave of relief.
It seemed his judgment had been correct—the so-called "independently movable objects" rule applied to warships as long as they could be towed. After all, warships didn't have hands; moving them meant dragging them. The system's logic was sound, and Reid silently gave it a mental thumbs-up.
Next, Reid granted the entire crew a three-day leave—everyone, including Une—to ease the tension accumulated over a month of continuous warfare.
Of course, as leaders, Reid, Ange, and Une didn't truly have the luxury of a break. They still had responsibilities to attend to. If the immigration staff of the New Misurugi Republic found out their superiors were taking time off, they'd probably be at a loss on how to proceed.
After arranging for the Aries' maintenance, Reid fed the Argama into the Factory Module and headed there alone to take stock of his gains.
This time, the number of Mobile Suits captured by the system wasn't particularly high—only the Gundam TR-6·[Hazel II], Psycho Gundam Mk-II, Hyaku Shiki, Zeta Gundam, and Methuss.
But in terms of data, Reid had effectively secured the primary Mobile Suits of the Titans, AEUG, and Neo Zeon.
From the A Baoa Qu Fortress' database, he obtained complete technical specifications for all Titans' space force MS. The only notable absence was the NRX-044 Asshimar, infamously nicknamed the "flying saucer." Strangely, its data wasn't in the fortress' records.
Honestly, Reid had always felt the Asshimar was an insult to his intelligence. Its MA Mode was just a flat disc—unlike an actual flying saucer, it didn't even rotate. With a full weight exceeding 60 tons, he couldn't fathom how it managed atmospheric flight, especially since it lacked the Byarlant's array of thrusters.
So, if the Asshimar's data was missing, so be it. Even if he had it, Reid would've rejected the thing purely on aesthetic grounds.
Meanwhile, the Jupiteris' database filled in the gaps for Paptimus Scirocco's line of Mobile Suits.
As for AEUG's machines, the Argama carried spare parts for the Rick Dias and Reams, along with complete technical files. Bright Noa hadn't even taken the Gundam MK-II's cockpit, so it was truly a full haul.
Neo Zeon's contributions were minimal during the Zeta Gundam era—just two new models. Since Haman had already handed over her Psycommu System, she naturally didn't withhold the Qubeley's data. As for the Gaza-C… well, congratulations to the Star Palace's mining operations for acquiring a new armed demolition drill.
This retrieval of Mobile Suits from the Gryps II decisive battle in U.C. 0088 was nothing short of comprehensive. Reid even felt that once the Factory Module fully analyzed all the data he'd brought back, the mid-tier of the Universal Century's tech tree would be entirely unlocked. After all, the Zeta Gundam era was when UC MS technology truly flourished.
After reviewing the Mobile Suits, Reid naturally turned to the system's final settlement.
First and foremost:
Merit Points: 120
G-Coins: 1,000,000+
Reid was fairly satisfied with these results. The Merit Points were straightforward—only The-O and the Zeta Gundam contributed, and without any multipliers, there wasn't much room for variation.
As for the G-Coins, even without the double bonus, it was already over 1 million. Reid could only say that his month in U.C. 0088—blowing up fortresses, infiltrating and ambushing motherships—hadn't been in vain.
Now his space fleet plan could be executed perfectly, with enough surplus to expand a massive Mobile Doll army. Reid was already considering where to carve out his own territory.
However, when he glanced at the breakdown, he realized the bulk of the G-Coins didn't come from his mothership takedowns but from Noin's final destruction of the Gryps II Colony Laser. So if there was an MVP this time, it seemed Noin had taken it.
Reid decided to reward her properly tonight, then stopped dwelling on the G-Coin distribution. He'd figured it out—just aim for the biggest targets in future battles. The bigger the target, the more G-Coins.
The next section was the spoils from the Skill Plunder module. Since it only plundered skills from defeated protagonists and major supporting characters, the haul wasn't as large as expected.
First, the most eye-catching one: the skill Red Comet. No doubt, it had to have dropped from Char.
Effect: +60 Mobility for the equipped unit. Slightly increases the pilot's G-force tolerance. When accelerating, the engine can be overloaded to triple the Mobile Suit's speed. (System Note: Use with caution. The Mobile Suit's frame may disintegrate if unable to withstand triple acceleration. Engine overload also carries explosion risks.)
Reid equipped it without hesitation, making it his second active skill after Fortitude.
For one, increasing G-force resistance meant boosting physical endurance—something Reid could never have enough of.
Second, while the triple-engine overload seemed like a gimmick to match the "red, three times faster" meme, the description didn't specify that it had to be tripled. Three was the upper limit, not a requirement.
Most Mobile Suit structural designs had redundancy—1.5 times their rated safe speed was usually fine. For Reid's Gundarium Alloy Mobile Suit, the acceleration tolerance was absurdly high. The real bottleneck was the pilot's ability to endure the G-forces (even Ange couldn't handle the upper limits—this thing could withstand at least the third cosmic velocity, making it outright black-tech material).
The remaining issue was whether the engine could handle triple the rated load. Even an Ultra-Compact Fusion Reactor had safety limits. If the Mobile Suit was too heavy, triple acceleration was like strapping a live nuke inside the cockpit.
The second noteworthy skill was Star Inheritor, from Kamille.
The effect was a bit esoteric. The system described it as: "Converge thoughts to amplify mental energy. Upon reaching a critical threshold, a miracle may occur." (System Note: Excessive convergence of others' thoughts may induce schizophrenia in the user. Exercise caution.**)
This skill was incredibly powerful—it was essentially Kamille's soul-mode cheat, borderline game-breaking. But the cost was too steep. Reid equipped it immediately but resolved not to abuse it. This was a last-resort, all-or-nothing trump card. Otherwise, he'd end up as unhinged as Kamille.
The third notable skill was the universal Gundam cheat: Newtype, from Paptimus Scirocco.
The skill effect is straightforward—it enables a non-Newtype to awaken as a Newtype. Even those without an Awakening Value can use it, and the Awakening Value will unlock once equipped.
Reid himself has no use for this skill, as the system doesn't allow duplicate skills to be equipped. Overwriting is only permitted when a higher-tier skill replaces a lower-tier one (for example, Reid's Newtype overwriting Spatial Awareness). Independent skills like Newtype cannot overwrite each other.
Thus, this skill is perfect to reward Noin as the MVP.
The remaining skills are similar in nature:
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Intermediate Shooting Proficiency (increases shooting accuracy, obtained from Jerid Messa)
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Indomitable (prevents morale from falling into despair, obtained from Emma Sheen)
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Intermediate Leadership (boosts charisma as a leader, obtained from Bright Noa)
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Healing (reduces pain and infection risk while treating others, speeds up recovery, obtained from Fa Yuiry)
(Sarah Zabiarov, Reccoa Londe, and Rosamia Badam are considered minor characters by the author. Though they each had at least two episodes of focused portrayal in the original work, their primary role was to drive Kamille into a frenzy—so don't ask why they didn't drop any skills.)
The system hasn't specified an upper limit on how many skills a single person can equip. There might be one, or there might not.
However, skills definitely cannot be uninstalled, so Reid doesn't equip every skill he comes across. He only equips those that are top-tier at a glance or absolutely essential for him.
Still, between the skills acquired during the last AC universe run and this one, Reid has stockpiled quite a few. He feels it's time to gather everyone for a round of upgrades. After all, it won't be long before he's dragged into the CE universe's war.
After tallying his gains, Reid immediately headed to the Factory Module. Scanning this massive amount of data will likely take a day or two, even at the Factory Module's speed.
Reid genuinely plans to rest for a couple of days. Right now, the CE universe is in a rare moment of Tranquility.
The Archangel is still undergoing repairs in Orb and won't depart for another ten or so days.
The PLANT Supreme Council recently passed Patrick Zala's enhanced version of the Ouroboros Operation—[Ouroboros Operation - Throat Slitting]—during the April 1st Chairman election meeting.
Currently, ZAFT forces on Earth and in space are secretly mobilizing, leading to fewer clashes with the Earth Alliance.
On the Earth Alliance's side, the Atlantic Federation—the most aggressive faction in the war—is fully focused on mass-producing Project G's mobile suits and training pilots. They'd rather avoid fighting ZAFT during this period.
Meanwhile, the East Asian Republic is busy assimilating the two custom machine technologies Reid provided, leaving no time to battle ZAFT. Both sides are currently engaged in a glaring contest, conducting plenty of reconnaissance but only engaging in minor skirmishes—no large-scale battles.
The only Earth Alliance faction still actively fighting ZAFT is likely the Eurasian Federation. With the Gibraltar Base lodged in their throat and the Suez Canal still under ZAFT control, the Eurasian Federation has both their upper and lower holes plugged, with no outlet to vent their frustration. Naturally, they have no choice but to keep throwing themselves at ZAFT.
The East Asian Republic and the Atlantic Federation were also happy to see the Eurasian Federation and ZAFT locked in a deadly struggle. After all, if all three powers remained silent, ZAFT would likely lose sleep at night, convinced that the Earth Alliance was plotting some grand conspiracy. Their own research and development of new Mobile Suits might be exposed, leading to sabotage from ZAFT.
Thus, on Earth, both the East Asian Republic and the Atlantic Federation played the role of supportive allies, sending all kinds of supplies to the Eurasian Federation—even selling military equipment at rock-bottom prices (since both sides were upgrading, they offloaded their outdated gear to the Eurasian Federation at low cost)—all to back them in their fight against ZAFT. They deliberately made it seem as though the Earth Alliance's counterattack would begin in Europe.
The sheer volume of supplies was so overwhelming that even the Eurasian Federation found it hard to adjust. They remarked, "After all these years of scheming against each other on Earth, who would've thought you'd support me so generously in my time of need? Truly moving. It just goes to show—old neighbors are the most reliable, unlike those exiled Coordinators who only know how to bully us."
Reid watched as the Eurasian Federation willingly played the fool, serving as cannon fodder to draw ZAFT's attention, and could only shake his head helplessly.
After all, this was just how the Cosmic Era universe worked—everyone else was thriving, while the Eurasian Federation was always getting beaten up. (Across two main series and a movie, even counting side stories, the Eurasian Federation was perpetually on the receiving end, with only varying degrees of severity.)
So Reid naturally stayed out of the conflict, sitting comfortably on the sidelines. There was no difference between him and the East Asian Republic or the Atlantic Federation—he, too, was busy manufacturing military equipment, hoping no one would pay him any attention.
However, Reid hadn't forgotten that in just over a month—on May 8th—he would have to complete the main phase mission assigned by the system.
For this mission—ensuring the Archangel's escape from the Alaska Base—Reid couldn't boldly intervene with his fleet. The Alaska Base was a crucial military stronghold for the Earth Alliance Forces, and since Reid didn't belong to any Earth Alliance member state, sailing in with warships would give the Earth Alliance every justification to accuse him of provoking war.
Sneaking in during the chaos of battle wasn't a good option either. If he helped the Archangel break through and his identity was exposed, the outcome would be the same—the Earth Alliance would claim he had ulterior motives for infiltrating the Alaska Base. Publicly, Reid would be in an extremely disadvantageous position.
So, for this, Reid planned to ask an old friend—the East Asian Republic—for help. He needed them to provide a plausible reason to get him inside, though it would have to be just him and a single Mobile Suit. Otherwise, the Eurasian Federation and the Atlantic Federation would surely notice.
The problem was, Reid hadn't yet figured out what excuse the East Asian Republic could use to get him into the Alaska Base. After all, this wasn't about entering East Asian Republic territory, where they could make their own decisions.
To smuggle Reid in, the East Asian Republic would need a convincing justification.
Fortunately, there was still time, and Reid could brainstorm the excuse later. During his two-day break, he had actually been designing a Mobile Suit that could assist him in infiltrating the Alaska Base.
Since he'd be returning to Earth alone, Reid wanted to develop a space-capable Mobile Suit that could make the trip from Earth to space single-handedly.
Technologically, building an aerospace Mobile Suit was feasible—it was just a matter of figuring out the right configuration.
As for the G-forces required to accelerate the Mobile Suit to the first cosmic velocity, Reid's current physical condition combined with the Red Comet skill effect and the CE universe's advanced black-tech spacesuit should handle it without issue.
The main problem is that achieving the first cosmic velocity would mean this Mobile Suit's speed and mobility have reached an absurd level, making the Operating System the real challenge. Relying solely on mechanical reactions might not be enough—it would be best to incorporate psychoframe control to assist the mechanics. Otherwise, in actual combat, Reid might accidentally tap the thrusters too lightly and send the Mobile Suit crashing into the enemy.
So, as Reid pondered this, he headed toward the comprehensive large-scale laboratory inside the Star Palace Colony Satellite.
Reid decided to bring Tem Ray, Elvira Hill, and Nami into the discussion to figure out how to solve the control issues for a Mobile Suit capable of reaching the first cosmic velocity.
Haha, made it in time—thanks to the big boss who kept repeating the same points in endless meetings.