After the energy system of the Gundam Barbatos Lupus was fine-tuned, Mikazuki was extremely satisfied. He was particularly pleased with the PX System. When activated, the Gundam Barbatos was enveloped in a blue glow of high-energy particles, which, combined with its blood-red electronic eyes, gave it a rather imposing aura and sent its combat power soaring.
Since Xia Yulan had also switched to a new Mobile Suit, both she and Mikazuki needed actual combat to familiarize themselves with their machines. So, Reid took them and others who needed training to an uninhabited area for live-fire simulation battles.
The results showed that in terms of melee combat flexibility, the Barbatos Lupus with its PX System active was even stronger than the Blade Angel with its Trans-Am System active.
It was only because Xia Yulan's own fighting skills were a cut above Mikazuki's rough-and-tumble style, allowing her to gain the upper hand with some clever tactics (the two only engaged in pure close-quarters combat during their spars, without using Funnel Blades), that the top spot for MS melee combat in Reid's team didn't change hands. (Ange was so overpowered in simulations that she wasn't included in the rankings.)
In fact, Belfgang, piloting the Mystic Lightning, could fight the Blade Angel to a standstill in its normal state and slightly overpower the Barbatos Lupus. He was a formidable ace-rated MS pilot in his own right. However, the Mystic Lightning's stealth ability was unsuitable for pure melee spars. Once both Mobile Suits activated their burst systems, the Mystic Lightning could only end up defeated.
Fortunately, there was still someone Belfgang could bully. With Mikazuki's Mobile Suit ready, Reid had naturally also finished Akihiro's and Hilda's machines.
Building these two Mobile Suits was relatively straightforward.
For Akihiro, Reid had not yet upgraded his Alaya-Vijnana System to a three-interface setup.
He needed to find some excuse for such a blatant upgrade for a subordinate, otherwise, he, as the leader, would seem biased to his men.
However, the dual-interface Alaya-Vijnana System in Akihiro's body was more than sufficient and wouldn't make him overly sensitive like Mikazuki.
Considering that the Gundam Gusion Rebake Akihiro originally piloted was a standard heavy-assault type, and its successor, the Gundam Gusion Rebake Full City, had iconic pincers that gave it a strong construction-site vibe, Reid decided to fully commit to this aesthetic.
He opted to maintain the style of the Gundam Gusion Rebake Full City.
However, Reid didn't plan for Akihiro to continue practicing his four-armed fighting style.
The main technical difficulty of the Gundam Frames from Iron-Blooded Orphans was essentially how to stably link two Ahab Reactors. Once that was solved, the frame itself could be modified at will.
Therefore, Reid used the Barbatos's frame as a blueprint, significantly thickening and heightening it to accommodate various heavy weapons later on.
There wasn't much to say about the Outer Armor. It was the same type as the Barbatos's, only thicker and larger, with the paint job changed to an earthy yellow. Reid named this Mobile Suit the Garibaldi Rebake.
In terms of armament, Reid combined the Gundam Barbatos's mace with the Gundam Gusion Rebake Full City's scissors to create a Scissors Hammer.
The "scissors" part of this Scissors Hammer was actually a pair of Thermal Pincers, to prevent it from being useless against Phase Shift Armor. The hammerhead remained a purely physical weapon, but the spike was actually a High-Energy Field Generator, specifically designed to break through energy fields like Beam Shields, Lightwave Screens, I-Fields, and GN Fields.
The long horn on its head was not a communication antenna, but a Thermal Horn.
The Offensive Shield on its left arm was a Laminated Armor Shield with a built-in Beam Rifle. Resistance to beams was a non-issue for a Mobile Suit powered by Ahab Reactors.
As for the backpack, Reid didn't try to force the Garibaldi Rebake to fly this time with a "brute force" approach.
Even with the weight reduction from AC Gundanium Alloy, the Mobile Suit's heavy armor, massive Scissors Hammer, and requisite giant pressure valves kept its weight high.
Forcing it to fly under these conditions would not be cost-effective, so Reid decided to make the Mobile Suit even heavier.
He directly added a small Positron Blaster to the backpack.
Yes, it was the same prototype small Positron Blaster used by the Astray Blue Frame, a piece of technology Reid had "borrowed" from the Dawn Company during the last major battle.
Nein had already optimized this cannon using technology from the Buster Beam Rifle, solving the range issue that Reid had most criticized.
As for its high energy consumption, Reid scoffed, "You're telling me two Ahab Reactors plus one AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor can't power a single small Positron Cannon?" This Garibaldi Rebake had no other high-energy-consumption weapons; it had so much energy it could just blast you into oblivion.
However, the addition of this small Positron Cannon made it even more impossible for the Mobile Suit to fly in an atmospheric environment. It could only move via hover-skating on land and water, much like the Gundam Calamity.
Fortunately, Reid still ensured the Mobile Suit's short-range dash speed was no less than the Gundam Barbatos Lupus's, though its side-to-side strafing was slightly sluggish.
In terms of systems, the new Epyon System and PX System were naturally equipped on this machine as well.
However, when Akihiro piloted the Garibaldi Rebake and activated the PX System, his performance was clearly weaker than Mikazuki's in the Gundam Barbatos Lupus—such was the difference between pilots.
Belfgang's Mystic Lightning had now become the team's melee combat benchmark. Akihiro could only suppress Belfgang by activating the PX System. Normally, he couldn't land a single hit with his giant hammer and was completely toyed with.
Of course, Reid himself could only fight Belfgang to a draw in melee combat by relying on his ability to predict attack timings and his superior Reflexes, and it was debatable whether his opponent was even going all out.
As for hand-to-hand combat, Reid's stance was, "Ange, Xia Yufang, Belfgang, you three go at it. The rest of us, myself included, will just watch." (Reid could last a long time, but he still couldn't win.)
Therefore, Akihiro was well aware that fighting his instructor (Belfgang was responsible for Tekkadan's military discipline) was just asking for a beating. So, he could only seek out the last veteran to receive a new Mobile Suit for a simulation battle.
This person was, of course, Hilda, who had been on a high for the past few days since getting her new machine.
Akihiro's Garibaldi Rebake was an excellent opponent. The Mobile Suit was tough, knew how to dodge, used tactics, and had the courage to advance under heavy fire.
So, Hilda was simply having a blast.
After all, Hilda was a veteran of the otherworld expeditionary force (in her own opinion), yet she was the last to receive a Mobile Suit with performance that could keep up with the main force. She had harbored some resentment during the wait.
However, this time Reid had specifically arranged a machine for her that was maxed out in firepower, tailored to her specialty in fire support: the Z Plus Gundam. (Its real name was ZZII, but this Mobile Suit was an extension of the ZII and wasn't closely related to the ZZ Gundam, merely borrowing its armor design. To avoid it being mistaken for a successor to the ZZ, its original name wasn't used.)
Putting everything else aside, this Mobile Suit's basic armaments alone included a high-energy long rifle, a Destroyer Beam Cannon, two Beam Rocket Launchers, a pair of Beam Sabers, and a pair of head-mounted Vulcan Guns.
The Mobile Suit's high-energy long rifle was an improvement Reid made based on the MEGA Beam Rifle equipped on the Zeta Gundam.
Nein incorporated F91's VSBR Technology, used a longer barrel, and applied post-U.C. 100 particle convergence technology. This made the long rifle's standard beam attack have the power and range of a sniper rifle, but with the firing rate of a standard rifle.
Furthermore, by adjusting the convergence strength, it could perform a beam scatter shot or concentrate the beam into a blade for use as a Beam Saber (with power comparable to the Meteor System's Beam Saber).
The Destroyer Beam Cannon was the Z Plus Gundam's most powerful weapon. In MA Mode, it was located on top of the Mobile Suit and could flip backward to fire directly behind it. In MS Mode, it was normally on the back but could also flip over the head to fire.
This Destroyer Beam Cannon was not the one on the back of the Hermes Zero. Its power was only equivalent to the Wing Gundam's Buster Beam Rifle, mainly because this Mobile Suit had too many other weapons and couldn't support the high-energy-consumption weapon of the Hermes Zero.
But the reputation of the Buster Beam Rifle preceded it. Even if it was just the Wing Gundam's version, its single-shot power could still squeeze into the top ten among all MS equipment in the Gundam Universe.
The Beam Rocket Launchers were located on the Mobile Suit's shoulders. Besides firing beam attacks, they could also launch various types of physical ammunition for suppressive fire.
The beam attack from these launchers had only the basic power of a high-energy, long-range beam cannon. But for firing physical rounds, Reid designed an Electromagnetic Rapid-Fire Cannon for them.
It fired 350mm high-explosive shells. This Electromagnetic Rapid-Fire Cannon could fire once every two seconds, emptying its five-round magazine in ten seconds. After a ten-second automatic reload (the barrel still needed to cool), it could continue its rapid fire.
As long as it had enough ammunition, this single Mobile Suit could match the firepower of a heavy artillery company just by firing shells.
The Beam Sabers and head-mounted Vulcan Guns that followed were just extras and backups; Hilda probably wouldn't have many opportunities to use them.
For armor, Reid directly copied the ZZ Gundam's full armor design. However, to reduce weight, the external armor was just a combination of AC Gundanium Alloy and an anti-beam coating.
For propulsion, because it needed to use F91's Minovsky Flight System, it was equipped with the latest version of the Minovsky Nuclear Fusion Furnace combined with an AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor.
For internal systems, besides the Psycommu System and the Lambda Driver, Reid added the PX System.
But with such ferocious firepower and full armor, some mobility naturally had to be sacrificed.
Although this MS had an MA Mode for high-speed movement and maneuvering in the air, its speed didn't break Mach 1.
Its agility in MS Mode wasn't bad, but it still felt somewhat cumbersome overall and couldn't perform overly complex physical movements.
Moreover, when the Mobile Suit was firing on all cylinders, it was basically impossible to move while shooting; it could pretty much only stand and fire.
Although Reid had also equipped the Z Plus Gundam with the most advanced sensor and fire-control systems, and even added a multi-lock system, actual target practice showed that against moving targets the size of a Mobile Suit, Hilda's accuracy with multi-lock was only about 60%. Reid didn't expect her to compare to Kira in multi-locking, but he hoped she could at least maintain an 80% hit rate.
In this regard, Reid could only have Hilda practice more. Fortunately, she was quite satisfied with her Mobile Suit, so her training was diligent.
It was just tough on Akihiro. His Mobile Suit was almost immune to beams. As long as Hilda didn't use the Buster Beam Rifle, she couldn't quickly wear down the nano-coating on its surface, making him a perfect target.
After all, if Hilda trained with Mikazuki, she would barely land any hits the entire time before being inexplicably knocked down at close range, which was no fun at all.
If she trained with Belfgang, he was now quite adept with the Lambda Driver. Distorting beams while maneuvering and evading was a piece of cake for him. Since superweapons like the Buster Rifle couldn't be used in spars, Hilda would only be defeated even faster.
Of course, Hilda could also spar with the remaining Tekkadan members piloting the Ghost Jegans, but that would just be bullying.
This training continued for about half a month. Seeing that everyone was familiar with their Mobile Suits, Reid had the Factory Module create a 1:1 replica of the Gundam Virtue he had brought back before. After transporting it to the Gran Chaos, he gathered the team and entered the AD Universe again for an assessment.
It was the same familiar transit. This time, the Gran Chaos was dropped high in the sky above a desert.
Hoshino Ruri reported their position immediately.
"Location confirmed. Eastern desert of the Kingdom of Azadistan, Middle East."
Hearing this, Reid breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed no extra distortion nodes had appeared this time.
It was the first time the members of Tekkadan had personally experienced world-traveling (they had been unaware of when they crossed over while being transported in a container), so when the environment outside the ship changed, they ran to the edge of the bridge to look out through the glass.
Then, the youngest, Ride Mass, couldn't help but remark, "So this is what it's like to travel between worlds. This is a desert? Do they have ostriches here too? But why does it look different from where we trained? It feels even more desolate than Mars."
Ride Mass's words, which were part observation and part complaint, made Reid want to say that a Middle East depleted of its fossil fuel resources would naturally be more desolate than Mars (or rather, the surface fossil fuels were depleted, making the cost of extracting the rest much higher).
Moreover, when Reid had Hoshino Ruri gather data on the AD Universe from the internet, he had learned that the Middle East's gold resources had also been exhausted centuries ago.
To add insult to injury, the three major world powers had now jointly announced a ban on the use of polluting fossil fuels and had blocked oil exports except in special circumstances, switching entirely to clean solar power.
This directly caused the financial systems of the Middle Eastern countries, whose economies relied on oil exports, to collapse.
However, before the Middle Eastern countries could solve their financial problems, the gradual construction of the solar power system rendered the entire Middle Eastern region devoid of value.
This act of pushing people to the brink naturally led the already martial-minded Middle East to armed protest.
Of course, given the industrial conditions of the Middle East, they stood no chance of resisting the three behemoths: the Union, Celestial Being, and the AEU.
What's more, the Middle Eastern countries were not united. Before they could even mount an armed protest, they had to engage in a round of internal conflict due to religious and other reasons.
After all this turmoil, the Middle Eastern countries completely lost their chance to transition. The once "richest in the world with a cloth on their head" Middle Eastern tycoons went bankrupt one after another. Only a small number of families with achievements in the financial sector could maintain their wealthy status, but their assets had also shrunk significantly.
So, in Reid's view, the Middle East of the AD Universe was now just a poor place.
The Kingdom of Azadistan was doing relatively well among the Middle Eastern countries, but it still had to face daily crises: an energy crisis caused by the ban on fossil fuels (if you dared to use them, the three major powers would dare to attack you, so at most they were used on a small scale in secret, inaccessible to the general populace), shortages of fresh water and food, and the constant threat of national financial collapse.
And, most critically, the conflict between the religious conservatives and the reformists who wanted to comply with the global situation, which put the country on the constant brink of civil war.
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