In P.D. 325, after the Mars Mobile Armor subjugation campaign concluded, the affairs of this universe no longer concerned Reid. After all, any further developments would merely add another possibility to the future of the Iron-Blooded World, whether for better or worse.
However, the gains from this venture were truly substantial.
Upon returning, Reid unusually did not disband the team. Instead, he had the various metals and Pluman, which had piled up in the Gran Chaos's warehouse and even occupied dormitory space, moved out.
Just clearing these items took the better part of a day. The metals would later flow into the military factories of the New Misurugi Kingdom for use in subsequent wars. The Pluman was naturally stacked aside for the time being, to be sent to the Factory Module by the locals later.
Only after the Gran Chaos was cleared did Reid find time to return to the Factory Module and take stock of the campaign's rewards.
The first item was the Merit Points gained. Including the 200 Merit Points from the double reward for defeating Hashmal, Reid's total Merit Points had now exceeded 800 (ZZ G Invasion Mission: 260 + Stage Mission Colony Satellite Crash: 350 + Mars Mobile Armor Subjugation Campaign: 200).
Combined with the previous twenty pulls (which yielded Belfgang and Nanai Miguel), he had accumulated enough for another character pool soft pity.
However, Reid was still agonizing over how to use the Merit Points.
The New Misurugi Kingdom had always been short of top-tier talent, especially researchers. Reid had a pile of black technology that remained unstudied and undeveloped, only able to be used rigidly as-is.
But now, with war looming, individuals who could serve as elite MS Pilots and be deployed to the battlefield were also in high demand for Reid.
Additionally, Reid noted that saving up another twenty pulls would also secure the soft pity for the equipment pool.
Although Reid had an overflow of black technology, technologies rated A-tier by the system were not plentiful. It was important to remember that the system's A-tier technologies were all treasures on par with [Nanomembrane Armor].
However, Reid decided that since the choices were too agonizing, he shouldn't agonize over them right now. He would wait and discuss it with others later.
Moreover, war was imminent, and any newcomers now wouldn't have the luxury of time to adapt slowly. All resources needed to be tilted towards the war effort.
So Reid put the summoning matter out of his mind for the moment and continued looking down the list.
The amount of G-Coins farmed this time was considerable, but he skipped over that directly, as he currently had no shortage of G-Coins.
Next were the skill drops. Frankly, most of the enemies Reid had eliminated this time were mooks, but there were only three drops, fewer than Reid had expected.
However, these three drops were rather peculiar:
Next-Generation Female Knight (Charm +30, during 1v1 combat, attacks are more likely to cause malfunctions in the enemy Mobile Suit. Note: This skill is for female use; males must cross-dress to achieve the effect.)
Eyes of Fury (When the user's Mobile Suit is moderately damaged, it's easier to hit the enemy Mobile Suit's vital points.)
Waster (When using Beam Weapons, energy consumption increases by 30%, power increases by 10%; when attacking with solid ammunition weapons, if the ammunition type allows for multiple shots, there's a 30% chance of a rapid-fire sequence occurring, reducing Accuracy by 50% for that attack. Both effects slightly increase the chance of weapon barrel explosion.)
One of these skills was dropped by Julieta Juris. Given the setting, it seemed rather fitting, and the skill effect was quite good.
The system specifies "female knight" for female-only use of Reid, but what's this about men needing to cross-dress to activate the effect? Is this the system's twisted sense of humor? Or does it mean that as long as you dress as a woman, you're considered female?
This description made Reid consider equipping this skill on Gaia's Trio, mainly to see if their faces—which could scare children just by walking at night—would become appealing with a +30 charm boost.
The second skill was dropped by Gaelio Bauduin, which somewhat makes sense. In the original final battle, he was nearly destroyed by McGillis before rallying to deliver a crippling blow to the Bael while severely wounding McGillis.
The third skill was naturally contributed by that waste of space, Iok Kujan.
Reid's assessment that Iok Kujan's existence wastes both air and food seems to be endorsed by the system, as the "Waster" skill description says it all.
However, Reid feels the skill's negative effects are excessive.
A 30% additional energy consumption for a 10% damage increase is barely acceptable, but reducing projectile weapon accuracy by 50%? That's ridiculous.
On a real battlefield, a millimeter of muzzle deviation would make you miss completely. With 50% reduced accuracy, you'd basically never hit anything.
And the slight increase in weapon explosion chance is the most absurd part. Using high-powered weapons with this would be suicidal.
Any weapon requiring energy concentration or barrel usage already has non-zero explosion risk. Now this skill slightly increases that chance—if it triggers during combat, even if you survive the explosion, losing your weapon would leave you vulnerable to finishing blows.
If only the system allowed skill deletion, Reid would remove this immediately.
It feels like merely having this "Waster" skill in the storage slot might negatively affect his luck, even when unequipped.
Surprisingly, Reid noticed that despite destroying the Arianrhod sub-fleet, no skills dropped from Rustal Elion.
Either the old fox lacked notable command or Mobile Suit piloting abilities—being only skilled in political maneuvering—or he wasn't actually present in the fleet Reid destroyed.
Since Reid never personally encountered Rustal Elion, he couldn't determine his psychic signature to confirm his presence in the destroyed ships.
But Reid didn't dwell too much on whether Rustal Elion survived.
If he's alive, it's not Reid's problem—the one who should be worrying is McGillis, now stranded penniless in that sector of space.
For skill allocation: "Eyes of Fury" goes to Mikazuki, whose piloting style often leaves him missing limbs, and whose Gundam Barbatos Lupus will eventually upgrade to Emperor Form.
The "Next-Generation Female Knight" skill—joking about giving it to Gaia's group aside—should go to Noin, who's more suitable.
As for captured Mobile Suits: six total—Hashmal, Gundam Gusion Rebake Full City, Gundam Flauros, Gundam Vidar, Gundam Asmoday, and Gundam Gremory.
One Mobile Armor and five Gundam Frames—quite the haul.
Reid would naturally feed these to the Factory Module first.
Hashmal needed to be analyzed first, because Reid wanted to produce it quickly, modify it, and then deploy three to five units to wreak havoc on the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation.
The five Gundam Frames were naturally prepared for Tekkadan. Orga and the others had been piloting Ghost Jegans for some time now, and it was about time they upgraded to new Mobile Suits.
However, equipping Tekkadan with new units would come later, as there was another piece of technology to review.
This time, the dropped technology was the metal tentacle manufacturing technique from Rafflesia.
This could only be described as neither particularly good nor bad.
The metal tentacles on Rafflesia indeed had their unique qualities—maintaining flexibility while being capable of easily slicing through armor made of Gundarium Alloy γ.
But Reid wasn't a tentacle enthusiast; he simply thought that this material, which could be both hard and soft, extendable and retractable, could replace some of the flexible biomimetic materials used in Mobile Suits.
With the technology review complete, the gains from this G Invasion were fully accounted for.
In summary, they had achieved their primary objectives while also acquiring a considerable number of additional Mobile Suits and resources.
One could only say, thank you to McGillis for his generosity—the metals Reid had seized this time were all purchased with his money.
Now that the inventory was finished, Reid left the Factory Module.
Reid planned to go out and discuss with Une whether they should recruit personnel next or take a chance on new technology, while also reviewing how to stage the upcoming press conference on the public disclosure of clones.
However, more often than not, plans don't survive contact with reality.
Just as Reid and Une had agreed that recruitment was the next step but were still debating whether to look for soldiers, ship captains, or scientists—
The emergency phone in Reid's office rang. Reid picked it up and heard Elsa from the secretariat speaking in a steady, rapid tone:
"Chairman, ten minutes ago, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation launched a surprise attack on our Ascension Island Base and Old Capital Base (formerly a port city of the New Misurugi Republic). Simultaneously, the East Asian Republic is massing significant forces in the South China Sea and East China Sea, suggesting possible intentions to move south.
Additionally, the Balki Fortress in Earth's orbit has detected the Earth Alliance's Eighth Fleet (a newly formed fleet using the designation of an old unit) gathering in a hazardous zone. An attack is expected imminently."
Hearing this, Reid and Une immediately realized that the Atlantic Federation had made the first move.
Knowing they couldn't win through reasoning, the Atlantic Federation had once again chosen to initiate hostilities.
Once war officially broke out, they could dismiss anything the enemy said as slander—even with evidence, it would still be labeled as slander. After all, with fighting underway, they no longer had to pretend to be reasonable.
What Reid hadn't anticipated, however, was that the Atlantic Federation had actually managed to persuade the East Asian Republic to cooperate with them this time.
It seemed his rise had indeed aroused the vigilance of the East Asian Republic.
But the East Asian Republic clearly didn't want to be the one to strike first. By openly assembling their forces, they were forcing Reid to deploy troops for defense, thereby tying down the New Misurugi Kingdom's military strength to fulfill their obligations to their allies.
The East Asian Republic wanted the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation to test whether the New Misurugi Kingdom was a paper tiger.
If the New Misurugi Kingdom found itself at a disadvantage or even in a stalemate with the two federations, the East Asian Republic would likely press in with a full-scale invasion.
Because "how can one tolerate others snoring beside their bed?"—and right now, the New Misurugi Kingdom was clearly that "other."
However, Reid was not in a hurry. The possibility of the Atlantic Federation becoming desperate and launching an unprovoked attack had already been anticipated by Une, so preparations had been made at both bases. Reid directly asked:
"Understood. What's the situation on the front lines?"
Elsa immediately replied:
"The Ascension Island base is still engaged in combat, but the communication environment there is very poor. We can only receive simple text messages. However, based on the information received, the Atlantic Federation shouldn't be able to capture the base anytime soon.
As for the old capital base, thanks to Tekkadan's efforts, the Eurasian Federation's ground and naval forces have already been repelled in their first wave of attacks."
Hearing this, Reid felt the situation was still under control and immediately issued orders:
"Dispatch the troops from Balki Fortress. The Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation have already launched large-scale attacks. There's no need to hold back—directly assault the Earth Alliance's Eighth Fleet. The goal is singular: after destroying them, seize control of the space above Ascension Island base.
Then notify the old capital base: after repelling the Eurasian Federation's attack, drive their ground forces north of the Black Sea. Additionally, blockade the Mediterranean route to the Suez Canal to cut off the maritime supply lines for the Eurasian Federation's forces in the Middle East.
Finally, inform the Archangel, which is returning via detour from the Arctic Ocean. The Nameless unit is to be officially incorporated into the regular army to destroy the physical undersea cables connecting Eurasia and North America in the Bering Strait, cutting off real-time network communications between the two sides.
Tell Matilda Ajan and the Nameless unit that I will send new Mobile Suits required for the mission. After completing the task, proceed to the Atlantic Federation's Hawaii base and await new orders there."
After confirming that Elsa had noted everything down, Reid hung up the call.
Immediately afterward, Reid called the military district stationed in eastern Australia and ordered the naval forces to begin slowly advancing toward the Atlantic Federation's mainland.
After contacting the eastern Australian military district, Reid then contacted the northern military district, instructing them to deploy forces to the central Pacific and then head west to confront the East Asian Republic's forces in the East China Sea. Next, he contacted Mina in the western district, directing her to command her troops to confront the East Asian Republic's forces in the South China Sea.
Reid granted Mina full autonomy over her front line, with only one requirement: don't back down.
In Reid's view, the more confident he appeared now, the less likely the East Asian Republic would be to launch a rash attack before the outcome of the first engagement with the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation was clear.
Of course, Reid had also prepared a contingency plan: if his judgment proved wrong, he would have the Balkis open fire to force the East Asian Republic's offensive to retreat.
However, Reid didn't believe that the New Misurugi Kingdom, after all the preparations he and Une had made for this war, would falter so easily.
Thus, Reid promptly organized a press conference to publicly disclose the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation's collaboration in cloning him. Following this, Queen Angelise announced to the world that the New Misurugi Kingdom was formally declaring war on the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation.
Reid intentionally omitted the East Asian Republic in the first declaration of war—a signal indicating relatively lower hostility toward them.
Of course, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation quickly and comprehensively denied the matter of the cloned Reid. Although facing questioning from various media outlets, their spokespersons merely reiterated that the New Misurugi Kingdom was now an enemy state and that all their evidence was unreliable.
Unfortunately, the civilians and military personnel of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation were not fools. The clone crisis erupted once again among the populace and military of both nations.
However, just as the Atlantic Federation had anticipated, after the war began, many military personnel in both countries understood that now was not the time to dwell on the clone issue and reduce their own combat effectiveness. As a result, the scale of various protests remained small.
Nonetheless, seeds of disappointment and dissatisfaction had been sown in the hearts of the soldiers. Given the opportunity, these seeds would grow and ultimately destroy the governments that viewed them as fools.
The East Asian Republic, upon the New Misurugi Kingdom's declaration of war against the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation, immediately announced its own declaration of war against the New Misurugi Kingdom in accordance with the Earth Alliance defense agreement.
But just as Reid had expected, while the declaration of war was made, the forces the East Asian Republic had assembled in the East China Sea and South China Sea remained entirely inactive. Adopting a stance of "I won't move if you don't," they tied down a significant portion of the New Misurugi Kingdom's military strength.
Three days passed in this manner.
Although the first wave of clashes between the New Misurugi Kingdom and the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation had not yet concluded, the situation had become relatively clear.
On the second day, after the Black Tri-Stars and Belfgang provided support, the Balkis fleet successfully shattered the Earth Alliance's Eighth Fleet, nearly wiping it out as an organized force once again.
With the near-total annihilation of the Eighth Fleet in synchronous orbit, the New Misurugi Kingdom seized control of the space above Ascension Island Base, prompting the Atlantic Federation's Atlantic Fleet, which had been besieging the area, to withdraw.
In the battle for Ascension Island Base, although the New Misurugi Kingdom's forces had the advantage of being backed by the base, they only managed to fight the Atlantic Federation's Atlantic Fleet to a stalemate. Both sides suffered losses, but neither was critically weakened.
In Europe, the task assigned by Reid was successfully completed by the Old Capital Base.
Tekkadan's ground combat capabilities were beyond doubt, and the dual immunity to beam and solid ammunition of the Gundam Barbatos Lupus and Garibaldi Rebake left the enemy in despair.
The Eurasian Federation's ground forces were driven north of the Black Sea as if herding ducks.
Subsequently, the eastern Mediterranean Sea came entirely under the control of the Old Capital Base. All Eurasian Federation vessels were unable to pass, effectively isolating several field armies still engaged with ZAFT forces in the Middle East, cutting off their supplies.
As for the eastern Pacific Ocean, the only region where the outcome remained undecided, the situation had devolved into chaos.
The Atlantic Federation would not stand idly by while the New Misurugi Kingdom's naval forces approached its homeland.
Thus, the Atlantic Federation abandoned its naval engagements with ZAFT in South America and redirected all its forces to confront the New Misurugi Kingdom.
Since Reid had rejected PLANT's alliance proposal, ZAFT chose to stand by and watch from the sidelines. The New Misurugi Kingdom's eastern navy and the Atlantic Federation's Pacific forces clashed fiercely along the line from Orb to the Cook Islands.
However, this area was close to the New Misurugi Kingdom's homeland, and Reid had long since upgraded the armor and high-vibration claws of the Kapool and other underwater Mobile Suits. As a result, the combat loss ratio between the two sides' underwater Mobile Suits at one point approached 2:1.
As Mobile Dolls, two Kapools could trade for one manned Forbidden Blue from the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet.
If encountering the Abyssal Forbidden, the exchange ratio would be 1:1.5 - two Kapool Mobile Dolls would require three Abyssal Forbidden units to counter.
There was no helping it. In recent years, the Atlantic Federation had primarily focused on developing space and air forces. The surface fleet could still benefit from advancements in the air force, with the Windam as their main Mobile Suit.
But the underwater forces were truly neglected - unloved by grandmothers and uncles alike. Although their scale had expanded significantly, they were still using Mobile Suits developed two years ago.
Moreover, trading unmanned Mobile Dolls for human pilots was profitable even at a 5:1 ratio.
With the New Misurugi Kingdom's current production capacity,
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