When Reid woke up again, he was already in the medical room of the Gran Chaos.
Ange and Nein were by his side, and according to them, Reid had been unconscious for another day and night.
Nein said that after the Nu Gundam was shot down, Reid had collapsed like a child and fallen into a deep sleep. If it weren't for the Mobile Suit's life support system showing that Reid's physiological state was still normal, Nein would have almost thought Reid had inexplicably died.
Fortunately, at this time, the Londo Bell Fleet had been completely wiped out. The Codename: Amelius Squad was either dead or had fled, leaving only a few Amakusa units on the battlefield stubbornly resisting according to their programming.
One of these Amakusa units was captured by forcibly hacking its program, while the rest were all shot down.
Naturally, after the Joyeuse Gundam returned to the ship, Reid was carried out of the cockpit by the women and sent to the Medical Pod.
However, Reid had no external injuries, and the Medical Pod couldn't help either, so he was eventually moved to the medical room. At least it was more comfortable to lie there, and the women could stay close by.
Fortunately, this time Reid had taken the initiative and resolved all the battles around the time Neo Zeon originally attacked Luna II to obtain nuclear weapons. So, even though he was delayed for another day and night, he wasn't kicked out of the world due to the time limit.
If Reid had returned to the CE Universe while unconscious, things would have gotten quite messy.
There were now large numbers of New Misurugi Kingdom troops on the island of Ireland, composed of non-native inhabitants, and they definitely couldn't be allowed to know that Reid was unconscious.
In that case, Ange would have had to go out to reassure the troops, and if Reid hadn't woken up, the war for the New Misurugi Kingdom might have had to be ended prematurely.
Fortunately, Reid woke up after just one day and didn't feel any lingering effects of mental weakness.
This was actually quite normal. To put it bluntly, Reid had passed out simply because he had overcompensated too suddenly.
What kind of Psychic Power did Amuro have when he activated Miracle Mode? It was the kind that could turn him and Char into cosmic ghosts after death.
For the Star Inheritor's passive ability to devour his soul like that, it was equivalent to a vigorous young man downing a whole pot of century-old turtle stewed with millennium-old ginseng—it would be normal to have a nosebleed on the spot.
So, even though Reid was under the Star Inheritor's enhancement at the time, being overwhelmed like that and passing out was entirely normal.
Fortunately, after Reid passed out, the Star Inheritor skill's effect disappeared, so Reid essentially spent a day and night recovering from his "overstuffed" Psychic Power.
However, Reid did feel a slight discomfort from the sensation of instantly refining a human soul.
But this discomfort was quickly pushed to the back of his mind.
To put it bluntly, Reid wasn't like some evil cultivator from a fantasy world who deliberately killed people to refine their souls. Although the outcome was similar, the subjective and objective aspects didn't align.
Given Reid's utterly shameless moral standards on the battlefield, this act was no different from stripping clothes and equipment from dead enemies.
Nevertheless, after getting up, Reid still opened his attribute panel to check if his Awakening Value and other attributes had changed.
Then, Reid saw that the Star Inheritor skill in his skill list had suddenly disappeared.
This really gave Reid a fright, immediately sending his thoughts into a spiral. He wondered if absorbing Amuro's soul at the end might actually have been Amuro learning from Paptimus Scirocco, pulling a fast one on him just before death, directly wiping out the Star Inheritor skill and sealing away his cheat.
Fortunately, after checking himself, Reid quickly discovered the Star Pioneer skill.
So, curious, he clicked into the skill to see its detailed description.
Title of one who pioneers the future for humanity. When activated, greatly increases one's own psychic power. The strength is determined by the overall strength of humanity in the current world. Upon reaching a certain critical point, a miracle will occur. (System prompt: In an apocalyptic world, this skill's effect is almost zero. Please enhance human power first before using.)
To be honest, seeing the system description put Reid's mind at ease quite a bit. Because upon first seeing this skill, Reid's immediate reaction was to a certain GO mobile game he played in his past life, specifically the skill unique to heroes who brought progress to humanity, promoted the development of human society, allowed humanity to "skip grades" on a learning level, and became turning points in human history.
If the system was related to that mobile game world, Reid felt that even if he became a System Administrator in the future, he'd probably just be a high-level employee, and would discover that there was a huge group of existences above him that he couldn't possibly afford to provoke.
Luckily, things weren't that bad. Because if it were really connected to that world, Reid declared he wouldn't even do his assessment task, and would just live a carefree life in the CE Universe for the rest of his days.
Dying of old age is better than ultimately losing freedom and becoming someone else's high-level employee for countless epochs.
Now it seems this Star Pioneer is probably just an evolved version of Star Inheritor.
It's equivalent to the difference between an ancient emperor who inherited the throne by succession and the founding emperor of a nation.
You say Reid hasn't pioneered anything for humanity?
But what Reid absorbed this time was Amuro's soul, and he did.
As the first protagonist of Gundam, saying Amuro pioneered the Gundam Universe is a statement no one would likely deny.
So, Reid made a huge profit this time. Not only did his psychic power increase another notch, boosting his Awakening, Reaction, Close Combat, and Shooting stats, but his biggest cheat also evolved.
From now on, Reid no longer needed to worry about the skill absorbing some strange resentment causing him to lose control, because from now on, Reid's cheat runs on self-charge.
Although this enhancement being determined by the overall strength of humanity in the current world has a somewhat mystical feel to it. Could it be that humanity really has something like a collective human unconscious entity, an Alaya-Vijnana System?
But thinking about this now is useless. Reid decided to return to the CE Universe first.
Of course, in the end, Reid couldn't return immediately. Ange forced the awakened Reid to undergo another comprehensive physical examination.
At this moment, Reid suddenly noticed that Ange's physical strength seemed to have skyrocketed.
Then, taking a glance at her status panel, he found the skill Innovator lying in her skill column.
All one can say is, Reid had finally surpassed Ange in physical attributes, turning the tables to become the master.
With this Innovator awakening, Ange's physical attributes and lifespan increased dramatically, and Reid became the weaker one again.
So, unable to resist, Reid could only submit to half a day of forced examination. Only after confirming nothing was wrong was he restored the right to move freely.
Returning to the CE universe, Reid glanced at the surveillance feed of the temporary factory building—no one had come by at that moment.
He immediately announced a break. Although the crew aboard the Gran Chaos couldn't truly take time off while stationed in Ireland, it was still necessary to let everyone rest and ease the tension.
As for Reid, unable to sneak into the Factory Module to check his gains this time, he could only make a brief appearance outside before returning to his own room on the Gran Chaos to tally the rewards.
As usual, he skipped over the G-Coins.
For Merit Points, both the Nu Gundam and Sazabi from this battle were worth 100 points each. Doubled and added together, that made 400 points. Combined with the remaining 360 points from before, he now had a total of 760 points. He'd likely need one more G Invasion Mission to reach the 1,000-point threshold for a guaranteed draw.
After all, the Merit Points awarded for the stage mission of having ZAFT invade Europe were far too few.
Since he hadn't reached the guaranteed draw threshold, he skipped over the use of Merit Points as well.
Next were the skills—the part of this G Invasion Mission he had been looking forward to the most. After all, he had defeated Amuro and Char from 0093. Surely, they'd drop something good.
However, when Reid looked at the list of skills he had acquired, it seemed the haul wasn't as plentiful as he had expected.
First and foremost were the skills dropped by Amuro and Char.
The skill dropped by Amuro was [White Demon], which moderately increased the mobility and lethality of the Mobile Suit when piloting a Gundam-type unit. (Note: Whether a unit is classified as a Gundam-type is determined by the System, not by whether its name includes "Gundam.")
This skill from Amuro was exactly what Reid had expected, and its effect was decent. However, the System hadn't provided clear criteria for determining whether a Mobile Suit qualified as a Gundam.
Instead, the note explained that units with "Gundam" in their names might not necessarily be classified as Gundams by the System.
A typical example was whether the Delta Gundam, developed from the Hyaku Shiki, counted as a Gundam. If it did, what about the Delta Plus, a simplified version of its performance?
But this issue wasn't particularly significant for Reid. Most of the Mobile Suits in his possession were based on prototypes, and as long as the prototype was a Gundam, they were likely to be recognized as such.
The more troublesome cases were units like the Mystic Lightning—whether they counted as Gundams or not.
However, Reid definitely wouldn't equip the [White Demon] skill on Belfgang.
That said, Reid didn't equip it on himself either.
At this point, Reid's attributes and skills were more than sufficient. In the CE and AD universes, if he claimed to be second, no one from the original animations would dare claim to be first.
So, Reid decided to equip this skill on Mikazuki. It would benefit him more, and the color of his Mobile Suit matched the theme.
The skill dropped by Char perfectly matched the theme of this G Invasion Mission—it was called [Char's Counterattack]. Its effect moderately increased the power of Awakening Weapons and the mobility of the Mobile Suit when piloting a unit with over 80% of its main body painted red.
Honestly, this skill was much more practical than [White Demon], as it only required the main body of the Mobile Suit to be over 80% red—a condition that was easy to meet.
However, to fully utilize both effects of this skill, the Mobile Suit needed to be equipped with Awakening-type weapons.
After some thought, Reid decided to give this skill to Salamandine. After all, no matter how many times she changed her Mobile Suit in the future, it would undoubtedly be entirely red.
Following the skills of the two UC protagonists were those of the two members of Codename: Amelius Squad.
Both Chang Wufei and McGillis were conscious, living individuals, so they could also drop skills.
Moreover, both of them were dropping skills for the second time, so the rewards were quite practical.
Chang Wufei directly dropped [Combat Ability LV3], which simply and straightforwardly increased melee combat value by 150.
Without a second thought, this skill was equipped to Xia Yulan, as the Blade Angel was entirely armed for close combat.
McGillis, on the other hand, dropped his [Alaya Consciousness (Original)].
This skill was more effective than Alaya Consciousness Lv3, and after installation, there were no side effects like protrusions on the spine that would force one to sleep on their side forever.
The interface for [Alaya Consciousness (Original)] on the spine was a flat, egg-sized plate parallel to the skin. Once covered by clothing, it was completely unnoticeable.
However, this skill would override Alaya Consciousness Lv3, so equipping it to Mikazuki and Akihiro would waste one Alaya Consciousness Lv3 skill.
But for others, Reid felt they weren't quite qualified.
After struggling for a while, Reid finally decided to equip it to Norba Sino. This guy was a sniper-type talent, so increasing his Mobile Suit control ability would help him shoot more accurately in the future.
The next three skills all came from supporting characters.
Cunny Cass provided [Endurance LV1], which slightly improved the pilot's endurance. It was likely developed from his long-term suffering as an Enhanced Person.
This skill was given to Stella, as she was the one in the team who needed endurance the most.
Reizen Schneider provided [Shooting Ability LV2], which increased the pilot's shooting value by 100.
This skill was later given to Hilda, who guarded Noin. She had been working hard too.
Kira Sum provided [Hot Blood], which slightly increased all of the pilot's attributes once their morale reached a certain level.
A relatively weak morale-based skill, with no clear indication of what "a certain level" meant, and the increase was only slight. It was later given to Salya, as Reid also needed to balance things out.
However, the very last skill surprised Reid greatly, as it came from Code Amelias.
[Betrayal](Usable Count: 1), as the name implied, actively used to make the target leave their current faction and break all contracts.
But the skill clearly indicated that the usable count was 1, meaning it could only be used once now.
Reid truly hadn't expected Code Amelias to drop a skill. If he had known earlier, he would have gone all out the last time he encountered her.
Reid didn't need to guess about the usable count—it was undoubtedly granted once for each time Code Amelias was killed.
It was worth noting that the reason Reid had spared Teletha in the previous battle was because he couldn't recruit her to his side, and she had genuinely been forced into a difficult situation.
Clearly, the reason the System couldn't contract Teletha was due to the contract between Code Amelias and Teletha.
Now, with the ability to break this contract, it meant Reid could try to recruit people from Code Amelias' side.
However, upon further thought, Reid felt somewhat relieved that Code Amelias hadn't restored her authority. Otherwise, with her abilities, she would have already started sabotaging Reid's contracts.
Although everyone was getting along well now, Reid believed that simply terminating the contracts wouldn't easily lead to betrayal from any of them.
However, without Reid's contracts, whether these people in the team would immediately be expelled from the world remained uncertain. In any case, Reid wasn't quite willing to take that gamble.
Only, Reid suddenly remembered that he had just warned Teletha not to enter other worlds and become his enemy again. If she actually followed through, wouldn't that mean he wouldn't encounter her again until the final showdown?
Letting Teletha continue to suffer in the Code Amelias faction still made Reid feel a tiny bit guilty, after all, she was truly pure-hearted.
But now, feeling sorry for Teletha was useless for Reid—he could only take things one step at a time.
The skills ended here. Reid didn't see Hathaway and Quess's skills, nor did he see the skills of Amuro's lover, Jane Jean.
It seemed likely that Hathaway and Quess had been left behind in the Side 1 Colony. After all, Bright Noa originally intended to keep Hathaway on Side 1, but he had sneaked onto the Ra Cailum because he wanted to go to Neo Zeon to find Quess.
However, after Reid altered their destiny, Quess didn't leave the Side 1 Colony, so Hathaway naturally wouldn't sneak onto the ship anymore.
As for Jane Jean, she should be treated as ground crew personnel. After all, in the anime, she sortied in a Mobile Suit to rescue Hathaway and bring him back to the ship, not to engage in combat.
(End of Chapter)