Let's not talk about the subsequent discussions in the AD Universe caused by the nuclear explosion for now.
After Reid returned to the CE Universe, he first dismissed the operational personnel as usual, then waited outside the Gran Chaos's Medical Pod for Ange's report.
In truth, Reid knew that Ange would most likely be completely fine, but he still felt that when she came out of the Medical Pod, she would definitely want him to be the first person she saw.
So, although Reid was waiting for the medical report, he was generally relaxed and could even idly look at the summary of the recent battle and the subsequent mission.
The Taklamakan Desert, Human Revolutionary Alliance, Union, and AEU Tri-nation Gundam Capture Campaign was displayed as complete. The World Change Fluctuation Value was locked at 15.514% with no change.
As for the rewards, the CE army this time provided a certain amount of G-Coins, but there were no other gains.
There was nothing to be done about it. Reid's side could already build all the Mobile Suits that appeared from the CE Universe this time. After all, they were all Mobile Suits from the First War. The Hellhound BuCUE Hound wasn't a machine with any technological leaps either; it just had modified weapons and a control system.
Therefore, all the technology drops were duplicates, resulting in zero gains.
And it had long been verified that people sent by the otherworldly invasion didn't drop skills, so the only reward this time was G-Coins.
Then, Reid looked at the next mission: United Nations Forces Annihilation Campaign Against Celestial Being. (The Earth Federation had not been established at this point; episode 20 clearly states that the three powers besieged Celestial Being under the name of the United Nations Forces.)
Well, one look and Reid knew this would throw him straight into the grand finale of the first season. He just didn't know where this Annihilation Campaign Against Celestial Being would begin.
The time gap in between was huge. Would it start from the annihilation of the Thrones, or from the battle with the Ptolemy? Even if it started with the battle against the Ptolemy, there was still a time difference of several days between the first and second battles.
However, this wasn't something Reid could predict right now. He could only take it one step at a time when the moment came.
But one thing was certain: after this campaign ended, he would have to wait at least four years before he could make another appearance in the AD Universe for the assessment. So, it was best to lay some groundwork during this final campaign.
Just as Reid was pondering what to prepare for the next assessment campaign, the Medical Pod's examination of Ange was completed.
The moment the alert sounded, Reid immediately tossed aside all thoughts about the Gundam 00 first season finale assessment and rushed to the Medical Pod to see the report.
As expected, Ange's report showed that her body was completely unaffected by any radiation.
One could only say that Ange possessed some genes from the mutated dragons of the other Earth in her universe. Perhaps her resistance to radiation was already much stronger than that of a normal person. The Immortal Aegis had only suffered severe damage to its outer armor, while the cockpit was undamaged. So, in theory, Ange hadn't been exposed to radiation.
However, seeing that Ange was still healthier than Tiger, Reid was relieved. He immediately let Ange out of the Medical Pod.
Undergoing a full-body scan in this top-tier Medical Pod required one to be completely naked, but as an old married couple, there was no need for Reid and Ange to be shy about it.
Sure enough, upon opening her eyes and seeing Reid, Ange was clearly in a good mood, but she still asked, "Reid? Why are you still in the medical bay? How did the battle outside go?"
Hearing this, Reid naturally replied with a smile, "Don't worry, the battle ended long ago. We've already been transported back to our original universe. Everything went smoothly, and no one was injured."
Hearing this, Ange said with a hint of dejection, "So, I became the first and only casualty in the team?"
Reid found himself at a loss for how to answer this question. Upon careful consideration, it seemed that Ange's Mobile Suit was indeed the first one on their side to be nearly destroyed during an interdimensional mission.
The most severe damage before this was the destruction of the Mirage Swift Thunder Dual Swords during the final battle of Zeta Gundam, and the time Reid overloaded the Hermes Zero Frame while fighting the Gundam Epyon.
However, in those two instances, the Mobile Suits were at most moderately damaged, and there weren't even any visible problems on the surface. This time, Ange's Mobile Suit required a complete overhaul.
But considering the Immortal Aegis was blown up by a close-range nuclear explosion, there was nothing to complain about.
If any of Reid's other Mobile Suits had been in Ange's position at that time, the result would have been the same. In fact, other Mobile Suits might have fared even worse. Only the Gundam Artemis could have avoided major damage by relying on its Floating Lightwave Rain Shield, GN Shield, and Lambda Driver triple-shield protection. But even then, all its defensive armaments would have overloaded, and it would have been impossible to escape the slight melting of its outer armor.
So, in the end, Reid could only say, "Don't be sad. You were facing a close-range nuclear explosion. For the Mobile Suit to only have this much damage is extremely lucky. That other world's Athrun was ruthless. But even though he's gone, we can take it out on this world's Athrun. For example, we can schedule a few more combat simulations or extreme training sessions with him. Or have him do endurance training with us, like mountain climbing. I guarantee his legs will be jelly when he wakes up the next day."
Reid wasn't bluffing. With his current physical enhancements, if Athrun were to compete with him in endurance, he would literally be exhausted to death. The same would apply even to the genetically superior Kira.
It was just that Kira's willpower wasn't as tenacious as Athrun's. His will would probably break before his body truly gave out.
Ange was amused by this and no longer dwelled on being the first in the squad to be shot down. She laughed and said, "Alright, I happen to need to let off some steam. But, why don't you practice with me first today."
Hearing this, Reid's expression turned solemn. It seemed the real test of the day was yet to come. As expected, when Ange was in a bad mood, he was the one who had to suffer.
(Readers don't like to see what happens next, so I won't write it out and pad the word count.)
The next morning, Reid climbed out of bed next to Ange, still feeling relatively energetic. Our queen had been quite restrained yesterday, so he was able to wake up early. It was truly a joyous occasion.
However, after getting up, Reid headed straight for the Factory Module.
Although Ange hadn't brought up the topic of being "shot down" again yesterday, Reid knew that she still cared about it deep down.
Looking at the Immortal Aegis Gundam in the factory, which needed its entire outer armor replaced and its internal wiring reset—a process almost equivalent to dismantling and rebuilding it—Reid had already decided to switch to a new machine.
To be honest, Reid was reluctant to retire the Immortal Aegis, as it was the first Mobile Suit he had designed and assembled himself.
Although it had undergone numerous modifications and the current machine only shared the name and appearance of the one he originally designed, it was still a memento.
So, Reid chanted "out with the old, in with the new" in his mind and had the Factory Module smelt down the Immortal Aegis.
He would still rebuild this Mobile Suit later, as it was an important milestone machine.
However, he planned to use the factories of the New Misurugi Kingdom to build it next time. All non-public technologies would be removed, and it would be built based on the first version of the design he had created, which would also serve as a test of their ability to construct top-tier Gundams.
But that was for later. After smelting down the Immortal Aegis Gundam, Reid called for Nein, preparing to design a new Gundam.
This time, Reid planned to lay the groundwork for a future Twin Solar Furnace Mobile Suit by directly creating a twin-furnace machine.
Don't be surprised. The theory of the Twin Solar Furnace, like the Trans-Am System, was sealed in the original GN Drives as a black box.
After all, even if Aeolia Schenberg had foreseen that traitors might appear within the Celestial Being Organization and defy his plan, he couldn't have predicted the state of the Gundam pilot holding the Original Furnace at the time of betrayal.
If the data was only sealed in one Original Furnace, what if the Gundam pilot holding that furnace had already been killed?
So, this theoretical data, just like the Trans-Am System, was naturally present in every Original Furnace.
Since the data existed, the Factory Module had naturally analyzed it long ago.
However, just as Reid had analyzed from the setting books in his past life, the twin-furnace system required the GN Particle frequencies of the two GN Drives to be as similar as possible, ideally infinitely close to 100%.
But, when it truly reached 100%, it became a case of too much of a good thing. Two GN Drives with identical particle frequencies would not have a furnace resonance, and the particles would not increase exponentially; it would simply be 1+1=2.
That was why Reid needed to go to CE's Jupiter to build new GN Drives. This wasn't just to reduce costs, but to build two identical GN Drives at the same time and place, just like in the Gundam 00 movie.
This way, the particle frequencies of the two GN Drives would be almost identical, but not completely the same (just like how identical twins aren't completely the same, with differences in details), allowing the Twin Solar Furnace to function perfectly.
Also, Ange being "shot down" this time was largely because she currently had no special abilities. Reid wanted to try and see if he could awaken her as an Innovator through long-term exposure to the twin furnaces.
An Innovator with a Dragon Bloodline—the thought of it was exciting.
However, the new machine he was building for Ange today would definitely still use completely identical GN Drives bought from the G-Coin shop.
Although it was just the power of GN Drive 1 + 1, it could still be used to test the GN circuit design of the twin-furnace system and collect data on the application of high-output particle weapons.
With the Twin Solar Furnace, the problem of a single furnace's insufficient burst power was more or less solved.
But Reid still planned to add an AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor. When asked why, he'd say that a dual power source had much stronger adaptability in special situations than a single power source.
Moreover, the power generation of the Twin Solar Furnace alone could not support the energy required by the Buster Beam Rifle.
To fire a Destroyer Beam using GN Particles, he would either have to activate Trans-Am, or Reid would have to install a GN-T Drive on the weapon and use it as an energy pack.
But even using a GN-T Drive as an energy pack, one could forget about the massive sword from Gundam 00 that could slash from a height of several thousand meters down to geostationary orbit. That was a miracle that could only be achieved with a true twin-furnace system.
With the power source decided, Reid chose the Wing Gundam as the model for the Mobile Suit's appearance.
Since Ange liked high-mobility combat, the backpack would no longer be extravagantly loaded with cannons.
For the wings, since GN Particle Anti-gravity, combined with the inevitable addition of the Lambda Driver, made aerodynamics unimportant, Reid directly used Large Cutting Wings. The wings were actually giant blade-wings, similar in nature to the Strike Gundam's warship sword, and could even be detached and used as dual swords.
The feathers below the wings were Funnel Blades, three on each side. Ange also had an Awakening Value, and although she wasn't very proficient at using funnel-type weapons, they were still useful for suppression and finishing off enemies.
Below the two large wings, Reid installed two GN Particle Version VSBR Beam Cannons.
These cannons would ensure the Mobile Suit had the ability to attack to the rear and below in MA Mode, and in MS Mode, they could pivot to the front to attack, much like Freedom's "Frigate" railguns.
For armor, AC Gundanium Alloy was still the best choice. Paired with the twin furnaces' GN Field, it could ignore the vast majority of attacks.
However, Reid still prepared a shield to deal with special physical swords.
Since the Mobile Suit had a bit of an energy surplus, Reid directly created a TPS Armor Composite Offensive Shield. However, this TPS Armor also adopted the model of Orb's Strike Gundam.
The exterior was a standard Phase Shift Armor, but a Yata-no-Kagami Shield was built-in. When needed, opening the shield's outer armor could give the enemy a surprise.
As for the composite armament under the shield, it was still a missile generator.
However, this missile launcher was custom-made. It could only fire and store one type of missile: an Ultra-Low Temperature Missile that approached absolute zero.
This missile was a special ammunition proposed by Nein, who had summarized the refrigeration technology of the CE Universe.
Based on adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration technology, it could create an extremely low temperature of 94mK (approximately -273.056°C, but not the absolute zero of -273.15°C. This is a technology that has already been discovered in reality. You really don't know until you look it up; modern technology is already so close to absolute zero. Of course, this last little gap is a chasm).
Even in a vacuum, if this missile hit a Mobile Suit, it could instantly freeze and shatter the outer armor of most machines.
One had to know that the armor in various Gundam universes was all developed on the skill tree of resisting high temperatures. Few focused on resisting low temperatures. After all, the low temperature in the Earth Sphere is around -200°C, and being able to withstand that is enough. Normal weapons couldn't create lower temperatures.
(The author feels that the -270°C temperature around Earth found on Baidu is a bit problematic. This temperature is the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) far from any star. The detailed description says it was measured in open space far from stars and other heat sources. From an astronomical perspective, Earth is not too far from the sun. As long as it can be illuminated by the sun, the surface temperature of a Mobile Suit could even be positive. For example, the surface temperature of the space station can reach 150°C in direct sunlight and drop below -100°C on the shaded side. The -200°C here is an estimate based on the -190°C on the dark side of the moon, which is definitely not rigorous.)
But in the field of low temperatures, a difference of 0.1 degrees could turn metal into a crispy snack. If this -273.056°C ultra-low temperature missile scored a direct hit, even AC Gundanium Alloy would become a crispy snack. At that point, even a 30mm Vulcan Gun could crack it open.
As for Phase Shift Armor, the ultra-low temperature would let the Mobile Suit know what an energy-guzzling monster was. Even a nuclear-powered machine would face a power supply efficiency crisis. If that didn't work, it could directly freeze the Mobile Suit in an atmospheric environment.
However, this thing was completely countered by various shields. So-called low temperature, if blocked by a shield, posed no threat in a non-atmospheric environment.
But there's no such thing as an invincible weapon. Installing this ultra-low temperature missile on Ange's new Gundam would be a good test of its effectiveness. Besides, her original world had something like freeze bullets, so she was already familiar with the concept.
As for the main weapon in the right hand, it had to be the CE version of the Magnum Beam Rifle. (This is the advantage of a hybrid power source; you can use electric drive or particle drive as you wish.)
For the remaining armaments, there were Gatling cannons on the shoulders, Beam Sabers in the side leg armor, the usual two Beam Boomerangs on the outer shoulder armor, and foot blades were also added.
The systems were, of course, the standard configuration for a GN Drive machine: the latest Psycommu System, Lambda Driver, and Trans-Am System.
Finally, this Mobile Suit, named the Ice Phoenix Gundam by Reid, was born.
(Please imagine the wings are also blue and white)