Chapter 16 – 0079: Gundam Standing Proud upon the Earth
Inside the hangar, Tolle Koenig gazed at the four Gundams standing together.
[Tem Ray, I think I've done more than enough to honor your son, Amuro Ray. In the original course of fate, he was supposed to pilot the RX-78-2 Gundam prototype. Now, I've upgraded that to the Full Armor FA-78-2 heavy armament type—its survivability has been massively improved. Sure, he wasn't going to die anyway, but with this, his future battle record should be even better. Taking three of your Gundams isn't too much to ask, right? Oh yeah—my Gundam collection just went up by +3. And as for the high-mobility Unit 4, once I assimilate and modify it, it can temporarily serve as my personal ride.]
After completing the design and manufacturing of the Gundam's external armaments, Tolle Koenig spent his spare time cultivating—strengthening himself was always the top priority.
During this period, he also made several large-scale supply runs, filling his storage space to the brim.
His "hamster hoarding" tendencies were on full display; unless the storage was full, he felt no sense of security.
It was like the time he downloaded a terabyte's worth of small-scale "imperial" games, but in reality, barely played any of them.
Most of them just slept quietly in the hard drive, never once booted up.
And now, there was no chance to play them at all—one of life's great tragedies.
During his time cultivating in the UC world, his soul power—essentially his spiritual strength—had grown considerably. In the SEED world, it hadn't increased at all.
As his soul power rose, his mental strength also increased in sync, and his Qi had gone up as well.
Soul Power: 24 → Mental Strength: 480 → Concentration skill could now be sustained for 8 minutes.
Qi: 920 → continuous usage time finally broke past 1 minute.
Tolle Koenig asked the system about how soul power increased, and the conclusion was:
Improving physical strength allowed the body to hold more soul power, and the UC world's soul power was relatively active, making cultivation easier.
In the original anime, Newtypes' various abilities also seemed to be manifestations of soul power. Powerful Newtypes, after death, would drift near other Newtypes they cared about.
And while alive, a Newtype could even see the souls of the deceased.
Late September, UC 0079—Tolle Koenig received an alert from the nano-DG cells outside the satellite.
Three Zaku II units had appeared on the satellite's outer perimeter, two of them about to enter.
Zaku II
D-Class Mobile Suit
Life: 1200
Energy: 180
Mobility: 45
Armor: 260
Terrain Adaptation: Sea–Land B / Air–Space B
Fixed Armaments: 120mm Machine Gun (500); Bazooka (1000); Heat Hawk (1200/5)
Finally, the plot was about to kick off. He rushed to the vehicle storing the four Gundams, quickly stowing away three of them, leaving only Unit 2.
He removed its micro-missiles, beam cannons, and other ranged weapons, loading them onto another empty transport truck—
Just in case the "Mule" ended up like Kira Yamato, accidentally blowing a hole in the satellite.
If the satellite was destroyed, he'd be homeless for the next month, drifting through space.
He then had Nami fabricate a batch of dummy suits—externally identical but without reactors, stuffed full of explosives—ready to detonate upon any Zaku II attack.
Leaving the military base, he positioned himself at a safe distance, ready to secretly watch the moment the Gundam would stand proud upon the earth.
After all, if he got too close, he wouldn't survive the blast from a Zaku II's Minovsky reactor explosion.
The plot unfolded as before: the three other Gundam transport trucks were destroyed in direct hits from the two Zaku IIs—total explosions, nothing salvageable.
Only one vehicle remained untouched—the one carrying the RX-78-2 Gundam—and oddly, it hadn't been attacked at all.
Soon after, Amuro Ray entered the cockpit and, using the head-mounted 60mm Vulcan guns, drove back one of the Zakus.
He then drew his beam saber and engaged both Zaku IIs in close combat.
It didn't take long before one Zaku II had its cockpit pierced by the Gundam's beam saber.
It exploded on the spot, the blast immense.
Even from afar, Tolle Koenig felt the shockwave, muttering to himself about how inconsiderate the "Mule" was, casually wrecking the environment.
Before long, the other Zaku II was also destroyed by Amuro's Gundam.
Only after the battle ended did the White Base make its appearance.
Tolle Koenig quietly withdrew from the vicinity of the base, finding a place to hide.
He planned to spend the last month on the satellite alone, focusing on cultivating the School of the Undefeated of the East martial arts.
After a month of ascetic-style training, his overall strength hadn't improved much.
However, his soul power had greatly increased: Soul Power → 36; Qi → 1200.
His proficiency in the School of the Undefeated of the East had risen to Intermediate, greatly boosting its power but also increasing its energy consumption.
(School of the Undefeated of the East – Intermediate): When activated, consumes 30 Ki per second. Strength, Constitution, and Speed each increase by +30; weapons gain +300 attack power.
The most unexpected surprise—he had gained two new pilot skills: Newtype Lv1 and Space Awareness Lv1.
He had actually become a Newtype. Even if only Lv1, it was still NT.
(Newtype Lv1) – Passive: Accuracy, Evasion, Reaction, and Technique +10%.
Active: Consumes 10 Mental per second when activated, +10% perception, slightly increases remote weapon control range; each additional funnel/remote weapon increases consumption by +1 Mental per second.
This was an essential skill for using funnel-type weapons. In other words, he could now pilot machines equipped with remote weapons and psycoframes.
Once in the SEED world, piloting a unit with the DRAGOON system should be no problem.
And Space Awareness Lv1 gave him an extra edge in space combat when piloting MS or MA units.
(Space Awareness Lv1) – Improves adaptability and sense of direction in space by 10%, allowing quicker recognition of one's position in the cosmic environment.
Main Status Screen
Host: Monty Hill (Current identity: Tolle Koenig)
Current World: Gundam 0079
Strength: 6 (20)
Constitution: 40
Speed: 6 (26)
Soul Power: 36
Bloodline: Mutated Nano-DG Cells (Non-infectious)
Talents: Devour Evolution, Self-Regeneration
Skill: School of the Undefeated of the East – Intermediate
Pilot Attributes
Stamina: 400/400
Mental: 720/720
Ki: 1200/1200
Shooting: 36
Melee: 102
Technique: 67
Reaction: 90
Defense: 20 + 100
Pilot Skills: MS/MA Operation – D Rank, Newtype Lv1, Space Awareness Lv1
Pilot Mental Skill: Concentration
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