Reid had long had ideas for Mikazuki, Akihiro, and Hilda's Mobile Suits. He hadn't been just slacking off for the past two months.
With no one else to take over the research on the Ahab Reactor, Reid could only do it himself.
Of course, one couldn't expect Reid, with his limited education, to truly study the Ahab Particles within the engine. (They're not called Ahab Particles; they were invented by Ahab Balla-Emona, so the particles are named Ahab Particles.) The only thing Reid could do was conduct comparative experiments, such as testing the reactions of small amounts of Ahab Particles with GN Particles and Minovsky Particles.
Based on Reid's current research, he had essentially confirmed the original setting's claim that Ahab Particles are harmless to the human body.
Of course, discussing harm without considering concentration is just being disingenuous. A person can die from drinking too much water. If you were to stuff someone into an Ahab Reactor, or have them eat, drink, and sleep next to a full-power Ahab Reactor for over ten days, problems would still arise.
The "harmless to the human body" here means that Ahab Particles don't need to be compressed or filtered to a certain degree to be harmless, unlike GN Particles. Short-term human exposure to Ahab Particles, as long as the concentration isn't high enough to form a particle shockwave, won't cause significant effects.
All in all, from what he could tell, Ahab Particles were even more stable than GN Particles. The problem was that these particles were too stable; one couldn't expect them to channel psychic energy and create miracles out of thin air.
Of course, it was also possible that the conditions required for Ahab Particles to channel psychic energy and create miracles were simply too high for humans to ever achieve.
Therefore, his tests showed that Ahab Particles could coexist with GN Particles and Minovsky Particles, but they were like oil and water, completely immiscible.
The most troublesome part was that Reid discovered the Ahab Waves generated upon activating an Ahab Reactor would affect GN Particles and Minovsky Particles.
The principle was that Ahab Waves are an electromagnetic storm caused by the countless elementary particles that spread into the surroundings when Ahab Particles decay. Unlike the other two types of particles, whose communication interference lingers for a while even after the Mobile Suit has moved away, the interference from Ahab Waves disappears the instant the Ahab Reactor is shut down. (Damage to equipment from the electromagnetic storm is considered secondary equipment failure, not a result of lingering Ahab Waves.)
The effect of Ahab Waves on the other two particle types wasn't an explosive phenomenon. Rather, the Ahab Waves seemed to "push away" the two particle types, making them difficult to condense.
Reid had conducted an experiment. At point-blank range, Gundam Virtue's GN Shield required 1.1 times the emission power to maintain its original strength.
This effect wasn't too significant. That's why when Blade Angel was fighting in the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe, Reid hadn't even noticed the ten percent increase in GN Particle consumption needed to operate the Funnel Blades.
Afterward, Reid checked Blade Angel's logs and asked Nein about it.
It turned out Nein had actually noticed the slight increase in GN Particle consumption the first time she engaged an Iron-Blooded Orphans Mobile Suit in close combat. However, Blade Angel's GN Particle usage was completely overflowing, so an extra consumption of less than ten percent was considered a normal phenomenon by Nein—an additional cost from the collision of different particles (the Lambda Driver's passive shield offset part of the Ahab Wave's effect). Thus, she only logged it and didn't mention it specifically.
So, Reid went to test Minovsky Particles next. He found that the I-Field was also affected by these Ahab Waves, and because it wasn't as stable as GN Particles, the effect was even greater, requiring about twenty percent more power to maintain stability.
However, this experiment of Reid's involved holding an activated Ahab Reactor in the Mobile Suit's hand.
Under normal circumstances, the effect of Ahab Waves on GN Particles and Minovsky Particles was around ten percent. If the Mobile Suit itself was also protected by a Lambda Driver, this effect would be less than ten percent and would be dismissed by the Mobile Suit as normal consumption in an anomalous environment.
But when using an Ahab Reactor and the other two types of particle engines simultaneously, this effect was quite troublesome, as it would lead to the Mobile Suit's output being 1+1 < 2.
Furthermore, when Reid later tested it with Phantasm Particles, he found that Ahab Waves also affected them.
This thing was just outstandingly stable. It didn't react with anything; it just pushed everything else away upon contact, the kind of pushing that didn't even create a spark.
Now Reid understood why the variety of Mobile Suits in the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe was so limited. It was all thanks to these "rock-solid" Ahab Particles.
The good news, however, was that while the Ahab Reactor's output wasn't high, it was much better than Reid had imagined. A single unit's output was comparable to the Freedom's nuclear fission reactor. It was just that two units only produced a 1+1=2 effect, consistent with a Minovsky Nuclear Fusion Furnace, unlike two GN Solar Furnaces which could generate GN Particles exponentially.
Moreover, the versatile AC Universe Nuclear Fusion Reactor and the Ahab Reactor still kept to themselves. Lacking special particles, it could be installed together with an Ahab Reactor without issue.
As for the claim that Ahab Reactors were physically indestructible, one could only say the setting's creator had overthought it. Even without Dainsleif-type ammunition (Gungnir, special ammunition designed to counter Nano-Laminate Armor), the Ahab Reactors of those Grazes could be destroyed with a high-vibration GN Blade.
Reid's tests showed that the outer casings of these Graze Ahab Reactors were indeed highly resistant to impact, explosions, corrosion, and beams. But this was a far cry from indestructible, because it was also a type of Nano-Laminate Armor.
Furthermore, this phenomenon had little to do with the reactor's own armor material.
When an Ahab Reactor is running, it generates a certain amount of gravity (the output of the small reactors used in MS is basically imperceptible). After the Ahab Particles react, some of the elementary particles from the resulting Ahab Waves are deposited on the armor. Combined with a special metallic coating, this forms a multi-layered molecular arrangement that adapts to external impacts, thereby creating the various properties mentioned above.
(The above explanation comes from a guru on the Gundam Baidu Tieba. From the materials the author could find, this at least has some basis in the official setting materials.)
Therefore, the keys to the Nano-Laminate Armor of the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe are the Ahab Reactor and the special metallic coating. As long as the base metal isn't too poor, the defensive power won't be bad. (The reason Barbatos's armor was so fragile in the early stages was that after 300 years, the outer armor itself was about to give out.)
Reid had the special metallic coating from the Mobile Suits he captured from the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe, and its production wasn't very difficult. No wonder they coated the entire Gundam Frames in the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe with it, regardless of cost, which directly led to the Mobile Suit frames being harder than the outer armor centuries later.
So, this Nano-Laminate Armor had a theoretical possibility of being invincible. If the base material itself was good enough, and the engine was left running for over a thousand years, it should truly be impenetrable for a period of time when taken out.
However, the above was just a theory. The Graze Ahab Reactors Reid had captured were all newly manufactured and not difficult to destroy.
As for the only one with a long history, Gundam Barbatos, Reid had fed it to the Factory Module. Even if he built a new one now, its frame would no longer retain the reinforcement from three hundred years.
Fortunately, Reid had AC Gundanium Alloy on hand, which was far stronger than the base armor material of the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe. Replacing the new Barbatos's interior and exterior with it would surely make its defense and fortitude stronger than that 300-year-old antique.
Moreover, this armor and frame would not be countered by "Gungnir." Even without the nano-coating, AC Gundanium Alloy itself was not something small or medium-sized Electromagnetic Cannons could even scratch.
In addition, Reid also improved the new Barbatos's armor, taking advantage of the lightness of AC Gundanium Alloy to create a dual-layer composite.
The design principle was based on TPS Armor. The outer layer was Nano-Laminate Armor using AC Gundanium Alloy as the base, and the inner layer was Phase Shift Armor.
If a physical weapon really managed to break through the outer Nano-Laminate Armor, it would be in for a nasty surprise when it hit the Phase Shift Armor.
To break through this composite armor, one would first have to destroy the outer armor with a sufficiently strong physical weapon, then destroy the inner PS Armor with a beam weapon, and only then could one damage the internals.
This could be considered compensation for the fact that the Alaya-Vijnana System currently couldn't be integrated with the Psycommu System and the Lambda Driver.
(Once those two systems were added, pairing them with the Alaya-Vijnana System would place an excessive burden on the pilot. A psychic link supplemented by a connection to the spinal nerves would be like turning up the body's sensitivity a hundredfold, which would be a negative enhancement in combat and could easily get the pilot killed.)
However, although it lacked the support of these two main systems, the Epyon System, improved by Kirst Mosjous, and the PX System, which could briefly boost the pilot's and Mobile Suit's capabilities, could be installed.
With Nein's help, Kirst Mosjous had heavily modified the Epyon System based on the EXAM system he originally invented. It no longer transmitted large amounts of useless, chaotic information to the pilot, functioning more like a battlefield analysis system that could be directly transmitted to the brain.
However, on Reid's orders, a screening mechanism and limits were added to the information transmission. Now, how detailed the system's analysis could be depended on the pilot's ability, rather than just cramming all the data the system thought the pilot needed into their brain, with no regard for whether it would kill them.
As for the PX System, Nein's calculations showed it to be a match made in heaven with the Alaya-Vijnana System, with each complementing the other. It would allow Mikazuki to directly enter a state of man-machine unity.
The only thing to watch out for was not to keep it active for too long, lest the pilot's body be unable to bear it.
Therefore, Reid only set a 60-second activation time limit for this system, to prevent Mikazuki from burning out part of his spinal nerves and becoming paraplegic again.
This kind of nervous system damage was currently incurable. The Medical Pods from the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe could regenerate severed limbs, but they couldn't regenerate vital human organs like the spine.
Otherwise, Ein Dalton wouldn't have had to undergo the Alaya-Vijnana surgery to embed most of his body into a Mobile Suit just to regain mobility and seek revenge on Mikazuki.
(At that point, Ein Dalton could be considered to have semi-ascended into a machine. The Mobile Suit was his body, but the death of his body meant the death of his soul, and his body was destined not to last long.)
With that, the design concept for Mikazuki's Mobile Suit was settled.
As for the Mobile Suit's appearance, Reid didn't add too many fancy things, simply bringing out the Gundam Barbatos Lupus ahead of schedule.
However, in the Gundam Barbatos Lupus that Reid built, all the exposed frame sections at the waist and arm joints were covered with armor, to prevent people from saying he was cutting corners by leaving the Mobile Suit's skeleton exposed. With AC Gundanium Alloy, there was no need to worry about weight reduction.
In terms of armament, Mikazuki liked heavy weapons. Reid used the special metal from the CE Graveyard Colony Satellite to forge a Two-Handed Heavy Forged Sword for Mikazuki, specifically for armor-piercing.
To prevent encountering physical high-resistance armor like Phase Shift Armor, this heavy forged sword could also be "enchanted" with plasma to parry against various particle-based beam sabers.
For ranged weapons, Reid would definitely not be giving Mikazuki a smoothbore cannon again. That thing was really not good for anything, and its rate of fire was too slow even for clearing out grunts.
In any case, Mikazuki's shooting ability was truly mediocre, so Reid built a Beam Gatling Gun into each of the Barbatos's forearms. They were sufficient for close-range covering fire and could also be used to shoot down missiles and the like.
Of course, to ensure the Mobile Suit's output and thrust, Reid added an extra AC Nuclear Fusion Reactor on top of the two Ahab Reactors already in the Gundam Frame.
The backpack was also changed to a large thruster pack, with the goal of achieving atmospheric flight capability for the Gundam Barbatos Lupus through sheer power, just like the Byarlant. (After all, Minovsky flight and GN Particle levitation were prone to accidents due to the point-blank Ahab Wave interference, and he didn't dare use them without extensive testing.)
However, subsequent tests showed that this flight system was rather useless. Mikazuki said that flying like this made it impossible to fight properly, and he still needed to stand on a sub-flight unit.
But in the end, Reid didn't remove the flight system, because countless pilots in Gundam history had been defeated because their sub-flight units were destroyed.
This flight system would ensure that the Gundam Barbatos Lupus could at least return to the mothership in the sky after its flight platform was destroyed, without Reid having to fly the mothership down to the ground to pick it up.
And if there was an ocean below, the Gran Chaos couldn't submerge, and salvaging the Mobile Suit would be very troublesome.
However, what Reid didn't expect was that perhaps the power of the AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor was too high.
After Mikazuki joyfully climbed into the Mobile Suit and connected to it, he said directly, "Commander Reid, I feel a bit... swollen. I need to let it out."
Reid was baffled. He checked Mikazuki's vital signs monitor and found that he seemed to be in a state of adrenaline-fueled excitement, even experiencing the phenomenon men have when they wake up in the morning.
This scared Reid so much that he immediately shut down the Mobile Suit, terrified that he had just broken the main character he had gotten for free.
Sure enough, as soon as the Mobile Suit was shut down, the abnormality in Mikazuki's body disappeared, proving that the Mobile Suit was the cause of the problem.
After multiple tests, they discovered that as soon as the Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor was turned on, the Mobile Suit's power overflowed. The new Epyon System judged this as a simple positive parameter and fed it back directly to Mikazuki through his spinal nerves, causing his body's hormone levels to surge.
Fortunately, this problem wasn't hard to solve. They restricted the new Epyon System's direct feedback for energy anomalies and changed it to a gauge notification.
There was no good solution for the spinal nerve conduction; Mikazuki's three interfaces were just too sensitive.
In this regard, they could only limit the use of the AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor, activating it only when a battle started.
If there was a battle, allowing Mikazuki and the Mobile Suit to "vent their energy" should prevent harm to his body.
As for the pilot experiencing a period of post-nut clarity afterward, that wasn't Reid's problem to consider. It would conveniently prevent Mikazuki from pulling a Gundam-shaking stunt here as well.
It was worth noting that although Kudelia hadn't come, Atra had. She was currently studying to be a combat medic.
Mikazuki and Atra were destined to get married. This time, however, Reid had prepared a marital home for them. It would be too much if they started fooling around on a public-property Gundam again.