After signing the agreement with Uzumi, Reid left the Archangel aboard the Hermes Zero. Their next meeting wouldn't be for another month.
When the Archangel entered Orb, the system displayed a notification that the phase mission was complete.
However, Reid didn't immediately check the newly refreshed missions and campaigns. Instead, he activated the Hermes Zero's Electronic Camouflage System and flew to a desolate area of the Pacific Ocean devoid of islands. From there, he ascended directly into geostationary orbit to rendezvous with the Aries.
Breaking through into space went smoothly—piloting the Mobile Suit was even easier than descending to Earth.
After meeting up with the Aries, Reid immediately ordered a return to the Star Palace Colony Satellite. With only a month left until Orb's funeral, he needed to deploy a modest force to reassure the four major powers of the Earth Sphere.
After all, the Star Palace Colony Satellite had already absorbed a considerable amount of resources, especially the massive haul of metals Reid had secured when Patrick came to power.
Despite the time that had passed, the construction progress on the neighboring colony satellite was slow. The area was simply piled high with materials stored in space containers (modular parts for the Barge-class, which housed military factories—so even if someone inspected the containers, they wouldn't suspect warship construction). It gave the impression that full-scale construction would only begin once all necessary preparations were complete.
By now, the four major powers of the Earth Sphere were likely wondering what Reid had done with all that metal. Building a colony satellite didn't require such quantities.
As for the Artemis Fortress, only the lightwave shield had been restored, with minor internal repairs—no major movements there either.
So, it was time to unveil the Assault GM Dominion. Noin's trained batch of Mobile Suit pilots had already graduated, and deploying a hundred units wouldn't be a problem.
Additionally, five Antietam-class Freighters could be mobilized. Not only would they carry enough Assault GM Dominions, but they could also bring sufficient shuttles to Orb for "kidnapping" technicians—no, rescuing civilians.
Of course, a force of this scale would inevitably raise some suspicion among the four major powers. The Atlantic Federation and PLANT might even sneer or find excuses to accuse the New Misurugi Republic of ulterior motives in expanding its military.
But this would also reassure them—the New Misurugi Republic's military strength remained within controllable limits. They could set aside the distant republic for now and focus on dealing with each other.
On the way back to the Star Palace Colony Satellite, Reid once again shooed the Xia sisters out of his room. The girls were still too young—he'd have to wait at least two more years before considering "eating" them.
Besides, without women around, Reid could focus on studying the system's refreshed missions and new features.
Opening the system, among the flood of notifications, the first was naturally the phase mission completion and the new phase mission prompt:
"Main Mission Phase Three completed. Rewards distributed. Branch Base module unlocked. Main Base conversion function unlocked. G-Invasion Module campaign refreshed.
Phase Four Main Mission issued: Prevent Genesis from attacking Earth during the Second Battle of Jachin Due. Reward: 300 Merit Points, 100,000 G-Coins. Failure: The world immediately enters an apocalyptic era."
Reid was quite satisfied with the fourth phase mission. Even without this system task, he would have stopped the deranged Patrick Zala from bombarding Earth with Genesis.
Moreover, there were still over four months left before the fourth phase main mission, giving him enough time to find an opportunity to launch his new plan.
Reid then began tallying up his current Merit Points. The reward for completing the third phase main mission was 200 Merit Points. Combined with the unused 120 Merit Points from the Gryps II Conflict and his remaining balance, he now had close to 400 Merit Points.
The only regret was failing the emergency mission triggered during ZAFT's surprise attack on the Alaska Base. That mission alone would have awarded 250 Merit Points. Unfortunately, the objective was to repel ZAFT's assault and defend the Alaska Base.
Reid gave up the moment he saw the mission requirements. There was no way he would risk his life for those 250 Merit Points. Besides, the Alaska Base was destined to be destroyed—if it didn't blow up, how else would the Archangel make its escape?
Demanding that he defend the Alaska Base directly conflicted with the main mission. Just like the system's Merit Point reward suggested, if Reid had actually tried to complete it, he would have been a complete fool.
Since there was no penalty for failing emergency missions, Reid simply pretended he never saw it.
Still, having enough for three ten-draws wasn't bad. This time, Reid planned to spend them all on ship captains. Although his fleet didn't require too many specialized personnel to operate each ship—Nami's newly developed AI could handle 90% of navigation and fire control—the officers Noin had trained so far couldn't be expected to have any experience in large-scale fleet battles. They still needed seasoned captains to guide them.
Next was the new module. Reid carefully reviewed the Branch Base Module and Main Base Conversion Function, finding their descriptions straightforward and interdependent.
The Branch Base Module was easy to understand. The system's designated main base was the Star Palace Colony Satellite.
A branch base, on the other hand, would be a new base with most of the main base's functionalities.
Of course, establishing a branch base came with restrictions.
First, unlike the Star Palace Colony Satellite—which the system conjured out of thin air—Reid had to find and secure a suitable location for the branch base himself, following specific rules.
For example, Reid couldn't just point at a random spot and declare it a branch base.
He had to occupy the intended land for at least 72 hours before the branch base could be established.
Additionally, only one branch base could be created at this stage. If the land was later seized by enemies or obliterated by some superweapon, the system wouldn't grant another branch base permission.
Reading these conditions gave Reid the vibe of an SLG game. Considering the system's creator had likely based its rules on infuriating mobile games, Reid immediately asked:
"System, after building the branch base, you're not going to make me complete some kind of 'monster siege' quest before I can use it, right? Or send enemies to attack me out of nowhere?"
The system responded instantly, likely with a pre-set answer:
"Negative. No additional trials will be imposed after branch base construction. Usage rules for branch bases are identical to those of the main base."
Reid felt much more at ease after hearing this. As long as the system wasn't deliberately manipulating enemy attacks, he wasn't afraid of mere probing from the four major powers of the Earth Sphere due to his territory expansion. When the time came, those four powers would never want to risk their lives against him.
What Reid feared was a system-controlled war, where he might end up fighting two of the four major nations simultaneously—that would be awkward.
Now that the system wasn't interfering, Reid relaxed and began reviewing the details for constructing a sub-base.
Then he noticed the fine print in the sub-base module clearly stating that the size of the sub-base was also limited.
If he still chose a Colony Satellite as the sub-base, the system's functional description explicitly stated that as long as it was a man-made base—no matter how large—if he had the capability to seize a starship as big as a star and hold it for 72 hours, the system could convert the entire starship into a sub-base.
However, if the base was to be built on the surface of a celestial body—whether a star, planet, or moon—the maximum area he could designate as the sub-base zone was 7,000 square kilometers.
At a glance, Reid immediately ruled out using another Colony Satellite as the sub-base. Colony Satellites were too fragile and offered no fallback options.
In the early stages, when he was just securing a foothold, a Colony Satellite had been a decent choice. But now that he was establishing a sub-base and stepping directly into the fray, how could he still rely on a Colony Satellite?
As for unrealistic options like massive starships, there was no need to consider them. In worlds where such starships existed, setting aside whether they'd even appear in future invasion scenarios, even if they did, he wouldn't be able to capture one.
Starships—just one vessel could be as large as a planet, or at least a moon. The people aboard and the technology required to build such ships would make fighting them akin to child's play for him.
So the sub-base had to be on a planet, and the only viable choice was Earth. Other planets were nonsense—in a standard Gundam universe, who would build a base inside a star?
A base area of 7,000 square kilometers would undoubtedly be enough to accommodate 20 million people.
But if he had to support so many people afterward, relying solely on the system to exchange for food wouldn't work. With a larger population, even if the system offered cheap food, his G-Coins wouldn't be enough. Therefore, he couldn't choose a planet where farming was impossible.
Moreover, the territory he occupied on Earth now couldn't be limited to just 7,000 square kilometers. At this point, an instinct ingrained in Reid's soul from his past life awakened. His intuition told him he needed to control cultivable land dozens of times larger to ensure he wouldn't be strangled by other nations in terms of food supply.
Reid vaguely remembered someone in his past life had roughly calculated supply chains based on 20th-century productivity and proposed an estimation formula: 20 million people could be sustained by about 10 million mu of farmland.
But those 10 million mu of farmland would also require people to manage and cultivate them, along with supporting infrastructure and military-police forces. Plus, Reid couldn't just drive away all the original inhabitants of the land he seized, so the total number of people he'd need to feed would certainly exceed 20 million.
Controlling an actual territory dozens of times larger than the base area was necessary, and the more farmland, the better—it had to exceed 20 million mu.
Thus, Reid prepared to return to the Star Palace Colony Satellite to discuss revisions to the plan he had tentatively named "Bright Sword" with Une.
The attack target needs to be revised—the original one is no longer suitable. With the Construction Module for a secondary base, Reid deserves better territory. As long as the module operates smoothly, he could directly produce tens of millions of loyal natives.
Even among the four major powers of the Earth Sphere with their massive populations... well, PLANT, which now has less than 60 million people, doesn't count as a major population power.
The three great nations of the Earth Alliance each have at least over a billion people, but finding ten million individuals who would obey any order without question is impossible for any of them.
People have their own self-interests. Finding ten million natives like these across the entire Earth would be unthinkable.
The mere hundred thousand natives in Star Palace Colony Satellite have already allowed Reid to develop to this extent. With ten million natives, Reid believes he could soon declare himself the fifth major power in the Earth Sphere, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the current four nations.
That's roughly the situation with the Construction Module. The system has essentially given Reid another advantage—once he secures a foothold on Earth, he won't have to worry about instability.
As for the main base relocation function, it can only be used after the secondary base is established.
This function primarily applies to the Factory Module. The system isn't generous enough to provide Reid with another Factory Module for the secondary base.
Thus, Reid has the authority to choose which base houses the Factory Module. The base with the Factory Module becomes the main base, while the original main base's Factory Module entrance will be permanently sealed.
Until Reid switches the main base back, the Factory Module entrance at the original base will remain inaccessible. Even if Reid dismantles the old main base, he won't be able to recover the Factory Module.
Of course, there are restrictions on this relocation. After Reid establishes his first secondary base, he automatically gains one relocation opportunity. Each time he completes a phase mission, he earns an additional opportunity.
However, the maximum number of opportunities is one. In other words, if Reid doesn't use the main base relocation function during a phase mission, that opportunity is wasted.
Still, Reid doesn't mind wasting it. Being able to establish a secondary base now clearly indicates the system is facilitating his shift of national focus to Earth.
If the Factory Module remained in Star Palace Colony Satellite, Reid would have to stay there permanently, leaving the Earth secondary base to be managed remotely.
In short, Reid is very satisfied with the new module and declares that the system has earned immunity from criticism until the next G Invasion campaign.
Then, Reid checks the newly refreshed G Invasion tasks for this phase and immediately regrets granting the system that immunity.
The three tasks that have appeared are as follows:
1.
2003 AD, Merida Island, West Pacific—Amalgam's Assault on Mithril Headquarters Campaign
2.
A.C. 195, Luxembourg Base Offensive-Defensive Battle
3.
A.C. 195, Resource Satellite MO-V—Gundam Theft Operation
Honestly, these three tasks seem fairly normal. The Merida Island campaign is a point-farming mission—the protagonist's mobile suits will definitely include Amalgam's Behemoths. Following the system's rule that "bigger equals more valuable," three Behemoths would provide a substantial amount of Merit Points.
The battles for Luxembourg Base and the resource satellite MO-V, along with the Gundam heist, can be discussed together. The most valuable assets in these two battles were undoubtedly the Epyon Gundam and the two Gemini Gundams.
However, none of these three battles allowed large numbers of personnel to participate. Only the Luxembourg Base assault permitted three people to enter, while the other two were restricted to Reid alone.
The Gundam heist on resource satellite MO-V was relatively smaller in scale, so it made sense for one person to face at least five B-grade custom Mobile Suits and one A-grade unit.
But the battles at Merida Island in the West Pacific, where Amalgam overran Mithril's headquarters, and the assault on Luxembourg Base were major engagements.
Despite being set in a 20th-century timeline, the Amalgam attack on Mithril's headquarters took place in a world where radar and satellites were fully functional—meaning beyond-visual-range (BVR) combat was the norm.
Even if Reid scattered Minovsky Particles across the battlefield to completely disrupt communications in the area, intercontinental missiles wouldn't care.
Those missiles might lose precise targeting, but even if they relied on inertial guidance to strike, the sheer volume of firepower would still deal significant damage. Reid wouldn't walk away unscathed.
Don't assume that Gundarium Alloy, Phase Shift Armor, and Lambda Driver defenses in the AC universe make Gundams truly immune to conventional missile attacks.
With Reid's current technology, even if damage could theoretically be reduced to zero, there would still be a cost—either draining the Mobile Suit's energy or exhausting Reid's own mental stamina. Everything has its limits, and he doesn't have something as convenient as a GN Shield from a Solar Furnace. He couldn't endure hours of bombardment like Celestial Being's units.
The idea that Gundams are completely unnecessary in modern military doctrine isn't baseless. If radar and other electronic systems remained functional, the first Victoria campaign in the CE universe had already proven that Mobile Suits weren't particularly effective against opponents capable of BVR strikes.
That battle ended in a crushing defeat for ZAFT, who hadn't yet deployed Neutron Jammers across Earth. They soon realized that the portable Neutron Jammers used to disrupt Victoria Base's systems were useless.
GINNs were quickly overwhelmed by supersonic missiles launched from all directions. Even though Victoria Base only had manually aimed weapons for counterattacks, ZAFT was still routed.
Though ZAFT later claimed their defeat was due to a lack of ground support—relying solely on orbital drops turning the battle into a meat grinder—anyone with military knowledge understood that without suppressing BVR combat, Mobile Suits would always be at a disadvantage against the Earth Alliance on Earth.
Now, sending Reid alone into such a battle—while allowing an A-grade Mobile Suit—wasn't impossible, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the system just wanted him to experience the thrill of a supersonic missile barrage.
Finally, the Luxembourg Base assault was even more absurd. In this battle, Neo-OZ deployed thousands of Mobile Dolls [Virgos] to eliminate the OZ forces still loyal to Treize.
The defending forces at Luxembourg barely numbered over a hundred. The [Virgo] Mobile Suit could essentially only engage in close combat, as ordinary ranged firepower had minimal effect against its Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shield (the Tallgeese's Dover Gun could withstand it head-on). Unless one possessed extreme mobility to flank the shield's defensive blind spots.
It's worth noting that two [Virgo] units could coordinate their Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shields to form a Hexagonal Circular Magnetic Shield, increasing both defensive coverage and strength. With three units working together, they could execute a near 360-degree, gap-free Nonagonal Circular Magnetic Shield.
Of course, this wasn't invincible—a beam with sufficiently high energy density could penetrate it.
But the [Virgo] consistently ranking among the top three most troublesome mass-produced enemy units in the entire Gundam series wasn't just empty praise. These things became genuinely troublesome in large numbers.
Moreover, the final boss of this battle was Heero piloting the berserk Epyon Gundam.
As a specialized close-combat machine with all its skill points allocated to melee, Reid had to admit that none of the Mobile Suits in his current lineup could guarantee victory in a blade-to-blade duel against it.
And at that time, Heero couldn't distinguish friend from foe, essentially becoming a one-man army. With Minovsky Particles jamming communications, interference and lock-on tactics became meaningless.
Thus, an awkward situation emerged: the Epyon Gundam was best handled by slowly whittling it down with ranged units, while the [Virgo] wasn't suited for ranged combat. Being limited to only three Mobile Suits, Reid felt the system had definitely ramped up the difficulty for him.
But Reid had no choice—protesting to the system wouldn't grant him an extra Mobile Suit. He'd have to brainstorm other solutions for the [Virgo] later, perhaps having Nami develop an electronic virus targeting the MD system. He'd let OZ experience firsthand the helplessness of facing the Aegis Gundam.
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