While the two were chatting, everyone in the second-floor activity room was also filled with amazement.
Having just watched the entire match, they took a long time to snap out of it.
"Has Brother already become this strong?"
Athrun couldn't help but sigh.
Although he hadn't explicitly said it before, he had been striving with the goal of defeating his brother in mind.
Moreover, given his rate of growth, this wasn't an unrealistic ambition. But now...
Seeing that Fred had already matched the strength of an Elite, Athrun's competitive spirit dimmed considerably for the moment.
Given Fred's current level of strength, Athrun feared it would take him years to catch up.
Beside Athrun, Yzak wore a similarly complicated expression.
On one hand, he felt proud that the person he followed—who was also his teacher—was so formidable. On the other hand, like Athrun, he felt that catching up to him was a distant prospect.
The calmest among them were Flay and Nicol.
One of them was only focused on strengthening her body, while the other was simply excited to see his brother grow stronger.
"Let's head down, or they'll come to hurry us along."
Seeing that it was about time, Athrun spoke up, breaking the silence in the room.
This once again livened up the atmosphere, which had grown quiet due to Fred's performance.
...
In PLANT, New Year's activities weren't particularly abundant.
For one, PLANT itself suffered from a severe lack of culture. For another, some Coordinators were unwilling to embrace the culture of Naturals.
To put it bluntly, some even wanted to overturn the calendar created by Naturals. As a result, even New Year's Day held little significance for Coordinators.
Otherwise, if they truly followed New Year's customs, it wouldn't be them coming to his home—he would have been the one visiting.
Whether in this Plantation or even in the Main District, people went about their usual business.
Everything still seemed quiet and deserted.
After sharing a meal and discussing recent news, everyone returned home.
There were no firecrackers, nor any special programs.
It was like Christmas in his previous life.
Watching everyone leave one after another, Fred set aside the scattered thoughts that had arisen from socializing and conversation.
They had taken the initiative to visit because of his value.
And compared to focusing on socializing, his own abilities were far more reliable.
Now that his combat skills had broken through, he still couldn't let up, as growth was a gradual process.
As for their lack of trust in him, he could only slowly build up his credibility.
For now, the cooperation was going smoothly. As long as Lacus became an idol and gradually strengthened her influence, and he managed to deal with all the antagonists here, things would be just about right.
Thinking this, Fred clenched his fists tightly.
He looked out the window at the bright starry sky and took a deep breath.
His eyes, reflecting the countless stars, shone with hope for the future.
...
The last day of the year 65 passed in relative tranquility.
But for Fred, it made little difference.
With the arrival of 66, Fred continued his daily routine of studying and researching at home, training with Alec when he had time, teaching a few youngsters combat skills and MA piloting—all part of his ultimate life goal of maintaining peace.
Meanwhile, on another front, Thomas—leader of the main research group for the Laurasia-class power reactor—had just returned from New Year celebrations. Before he could fully enjoy the holiday spirit, he found himself standing before Joule with a look of utter despair as he reviewed the report on Fred's research.
"Representative Joule, are you saying this engine device was developed by that five-person team?"
He led such a large team, yet they were outperformed by a mere five-person group? Was that reasonable?
Initially, he had thought the competition from above wouldn't be stressful, and he once believed that young director named Freed was just some big shot's son here to gain experience and build his resume.
But now? That young director with just four researchers managed to defeat his team of over a dozen people?
And they worked remotely?
"Yes."
Joule maintained an expressionless face while quietly appreciating the dramatic changes on the other man's face. Having experienced his own shock earlier, watching someone else being even more shocked was indeed quite entertaining—even Joule wasn't immune to this pleasure.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier...?" Thomas asked with a bitter smile.
He had just been reporting that they were ready to begin the ignition experiment application when he received this news.
"Confidentiality requirements," Joule explained.
Though that wasn't the entire reason. Part of it was because Fred's progress was so rapid that all parties had to coordinate quickly to arrange this ignition experiment. In the midst of the busy preparations, Thomas had been temporarily forgotten.
After all, compared to Fred's frequent breakthroughs, Thomas's presence had become somewhat less noticeable.
The result was that Thomas wasn't notified until all arrangements for the ignition experiment had been completed.
After hearing this, Thomas remained silent for a moment before saying, "So I should attend next week's ignition experiment too?"
"That was the plan all along. Keep an eye on things—perhaps you can gain some inspiration from it."
"Understood."
Thomas calmed down and nodded. He wasn't particularly resentful, as anyone promoted to this position at least had stable temperament, or were wholly dedicated to PLANT's cause.
Although he didn't know Freed's background, given the current situation where Coordinators were being oppressed, he had no intention of sabotaging the other party.
Nor did he wish for their experiment to fail.
Though if it did fail, he would indeed need to learn from their mistakes.
Thinking this, Thomas now became serious.
...
While these two were conversing, Fred's life remained ordinary yet fulfilling. Time passed quickly until the day of Fred's experiment arrived.
Watching the masked young man dressed neatly early in the morning without revealing any emotion, Alec felt like he was more nervous than Fred himself.
"This experiment is quite important, right?" Alec asked.
As Fred's guard, he had recently heard that this experiment involved the first ignition test of a new engine for the new warship.
All pre-ignition experiments had been conducted through computer simulations for security reasons.
Who knew if it would succeed?
"It should be quite important, right?"
Fred responded.
"Should?"
"If it fails, we'll just keep improving it."
"This ignition experiment's power is one-tenth of the full power engine. It won't kill anyone."
"Don't worry."
Fred gave a thumbs-up.
"You..."
Seeing Fred still in the mood for jokes, Alec let out a bitter laugh.