Barbatos' thrusters carved a crimson trajectory across the dark night sky. The Aphha particles spewed from the semi-perpetual motion Aphha reactor, ignited by the propellant, resembled red stardust sprinkled across the stars.
"Once I complete this interview mission, can I leave here anytime?" Shin's expression was weary, but he still forced himself to ask the system in his mind.
"Yes, Mr. Shin, you can choose to return to Parallel World 0013 at any time after the interview mission ends. However, the next time you enter this world, you will have to wait 20 days for the main world to cool down. And your next entry will be for your first qualification exam," the system said softly. "Friendly reminder, the time ratio between this test world and the main world is 5:1, meaning one day spent in Parallel World 0013 is five days in this test world."
"And returning... it's not that casual, is it... Ugh!!!" Shin controlled Barbatos to land on a solitary island reef in the sea, opened the cockpit, and climbed out. Not long after landing, his face turned pale, and he immediately vomited.
Streams of fresh blood flowed from his nasal cavity and eye sockets, looking particularly horrifying. The sour smell of vomit permeated his nostrils, but more than that, there was a numbness and powerlessness spreading throughout his body.
Even though he inherited Mikazuki Augus's memories and experience, Shin's body was still at the level of an "ordinary person." Even with the Aphha particles' shock absorption and G-force reduction effects in the cockpit, even if Barbatos wasn't performing at 100% output, he was still nearly killed by the terrifying G-force!
Shin, having vomited until only sour water remained, groaned and lay on his back on the reef, gazing at the azure sky, breathing with difficulty. After leaving the cockpit, the persona of Mikazuki faded from him.
Looking back, his audacious self, eager to snipe Big Mom, seemed like a completely different person. It was terrifying, piloting a Gundam... utterly terrifying! I never want to get in a Gundam again in my life!!!
He turned his head, the sound of waves crashing against the reef echoing continuously. He stared blankly at the silent, kneeling figure of Barbatos Gundam, like a steel giant, for a long time, then softly said,
"System, if I settle this world, will I never return?"
"Theoretically, yes," the system said softly.
"But it's also possible to enter the same test world again during a product test, though the probability is extremely low. If you don't settle, you can always choose to enter this world, but only final settlement yields the final reward."
After calming down, Shin felt he should carefully consider his future. The system was something he had to accept, there was no choice. He didn't know what Parallel World 0013, the main world, was like, but considering he'd have to wait 20 days upon returning, he couldn't just go back so easily. Setting aside other things, accumulating enough experience and training in this world, and leveraging Barbatos Gundam's power to earn some test points for himself, was also quite important.
Although he had thoroughly angered the world's most terrifying woman in this world, and successfully attracted the attention of most forces including the World Government—it was troublesome, extremely troublesome. Barbatos Gundam had an unparalleled advantage in this world:
its mobility. In a pirate world where the fastest Admiral, Kizaru, only averaged supersonic speeds and where flight ability was extremely rare, Barbatos Gundam's not-so-outstanding atmospheric flight ability already put it in an invincible position—provided, of course, that it had a chance to escape.
Energy was not an issue; the dual Aphha reactors could provide almost perpetual motion. The only problem was that after extensive combat depleted energy, it would take some time to generate enough Aphha particles to cover the mobile suit, and propellant fuel would also need to be exchanged.
But weapons and ammunition were a huge problem. Shin didn't think the engineers in this world could meet the demands of manufacturing the ammunition and armaments required for Barbatos Gundam, or handle its maintenance. Perhaps Dr. Vegapunk could, or a few other elites, but Shin didn't think he had enough leverage to ask for their help. Ultimately, he would still have to spend evaluation points to carry out repairs and ammunition resupply for the mobile suit.
Aside from the Gundam, he was an extremely fragile individual in this world. Ordinary people in the pirate world possessed the stamina of average extreme athletes, superhuman recovery abilities, and terrifyingly high potential after extensive training, which could lead them to non-human levels. Wanting to learn the Six Powers and Haki in this world was pure fantasy; he couldn't possibly learn them. Even a normal human like him would probably be trained to death within a few days if he underwent the most basic Marine training.
"Headache... why do I have to suffer like this?" Shin rubbed his aching temples, sighing softly. Everyone wanted a system, but it also meant life and death were no longer in his hands, burdened with a destiny and responsibility that weren't his own.
Gifts that come without effort inevitably hide traps you don't know about.
The gifts bestowed by fate have already been marked with a price when you weren't aware. He slowly stood up; things had come to this, and sighing incessantly here wouldn't change anything.
"When will these damned things end?"
"If you mean fulfilling all the terms of our employment contract and being promoted to a free partner of the company, then your evaluation rank needs to be promoted to S or above," the system said slowly. "Before that, you need to pay a certain amount of security deposit to the company every twenty days. The amount of the security deposit increases with your evaluation rank. If you fail to pay three or more times, the company will terminate your employment contract according to the employment agreement."
"And then I'll be forever stuck in Parallel World 0013?" Shin sneered. "You guys are really 'human-friendly'."
Yes, this system was indeed human-friendly enough. At least compared to systems that instantly erased you or turned you into a woman if you failed a mission, a system that merely terminated your labor contract was indeed very human-friendly. But if Shin hadn't guessed wrong, if the contract was terminated, he probably wouldn't be able to go home forever.
Not only that, all his issues for living normally in Parallel World 0013, such as identity records and everything else, would probably be canceled by the system. He couldn't accept this outcome. He wanted to go home; he didn't want to be in these "thrilling" another world adventures!
"Thank you for your compliment. Our Mysterious Items Co., Ltd. has always adhered to the principle of people-oriented, unlike the Main God Space, which wantonly deprives its employees of their lives and property," the system said softly.
But no matter how he heard it, it sounded sarcastic.
Shin's mouth twitched. So now, a serious problem lay before him. Should he continue to stay in this Pirate World to earn 'points', or should he return to Parallel World 0013 first to see what the situation was like?
"Due to your excellent completion of the interview mission, a special reward X1 has been issued, allowing you to choose one from the following three 'Gundam' series products for exchange, which can be brought into Parallel World 0013."
The haunting system, like a ghost, disrupted his thoughts and presented three light screens before him:
Product Name: RX-78-2 Gundam
Product Level: C (Weapon Type · Mecha
Type · Humanoid Weapon Classification)
Product Introduction: A series of weapon products from the Gundam series world. Its original owner was Amuro Ray, also known as the White Devil, the progenitor of the entire Gundam series. Manufactured by Anaheim Electronics in conjunction with the Earth Federation Forces, it is equipped with a Minovsky Reactor and Luna Titanium armor. Weapons and equipment need to be purchased separately; this product only comes with basic equipment and no option to unlock all weapons.
The technological application of this product has high limitations but high applicability. Among similar products, this single-soldier weapon is recommended for purchase.
Product Price: 3400 evaluation points (This purchase can be replaced by virtual points x10)
(Click to view detailed data)
Product Name: Newtype Remodeling
Surgery (Immature Version)
Product Level: C- (Biological Type · Genetics · Modification Technology Classification)
Product Introduction: A biological technology application from the Gundam series world. This technology originated from the Murasame Research Institute under the Titans organization. This technology aims to transform humans into Newtypes (Newtype) who are further adapted to the space environment, with improved physical qualities, and awakened mental powers and spatial sensing abilities. However, the Murasame Research Institute's modification technology is immature, an extension of reinforced human technology derived from cloned Newtypes. This technology has a certain chance of failing to transform the surgical subject into a reinforced human, or directly failing.
The technological application of this product has extremely low limitations and extremely low applicability. This surgical project is strongly not recommended for purchase among similar products.
Product Price: 1200 evaluation points (This purchase can be replaced by virtual points x10)
(Click to view detailed data)
Product Name: Natural Person Mature Body Adjustment Modification Technology
Product Level: C+ (Biological Type · Genetics · Modification Technology Classification)
Product Introduction: A biological technology application from the Gundam series world. This technology originated from the Destiny Institute on Mendel, an L4 colony satellite of P.L.A.N.T. This technology aims to transform Natural Persons into Coordinators, who are further adapted to the space environment, with comprehensively improved physical qualities, and whose intelligence, physique, reaction speed, learning speed, immunity, and appearance and physique can be controlled and adjusted.
This technology is relatively mature and can safely transform surgical targets into Coordinators, with a low possibility of failure. The technological application of this product has extremely high limitations and extremely high applicability. This surgical project is recommended for purchase among similar products.
Product Price: 5000 evaluation points (This purchase can be replaced by virtual points x10)
(Click to view detailed data)
Compared to the items he had previously viewed, there was now a product level and a purchase price. Shin's hand hesitated for a moment over the three options, then he unhesitatingly crossed out the second one.
What kind of joke was that? Was he crazy?
To exchange for an immature Newtype modification surgery that was highly likely to turn him into a mad reinforced human, or even worse, to die if it failed?
Newtypes were indeed impressive; Newtypes in the Gundam UC series could, to some extent, be called espers, but the problem was that the safety of this modification project was simply too low.
Shin hesitated for a moment and deleted the first one. The original Gundam was not as strong as his Barbatos Gundam.
Although it came from the more technologically advanced UC universe, its performance was almost entirely inferior to Barbatos. While it could be brought to Parallel World 0013, the problem was that he had nowhere to hide it. Such a groundbreaking technological product could not be held by an individual.
Although it was powerful, especially the Minovsky particle reactor that subverted physics and could shield all electronic signals, which was enough to change human warfare history, even its own nuclear fusion reactor could make a big leap in human development.
However, while causing a butterfly effect, Shin would also be exposed to the eyes of various officials. God knew if this system had a punishment mechanism after exposure; even if it didn't, Shin didn't want to put his life in someone else's hands again.
The last option was also the most reliable one. Coordinators, from the Gundam SEED world, also known as the group hostile to humans living on Earth in the CE worldview. They were initially created by some unknown scientific research group. The first Coordinator, George Glenn, became the secret creation of this scientific group, and later George also demonstrated the powerful research achievements of these scientists. George was exceptionally talented from childhood, nominated for a Nobel Prize at the age of 20, becoming a superstar in the world, and also an athlete and excellent pilot, working for the Federal Aviation and Space Administration of the Atlantic Federation.
Undoubtedly, the technology that created George made him a "genius" far surpassing ordinary human standards, yet still within human comprehension. This technology, compared to the NT technology in the UC universe, which had already entered the realm of metaphysics, was not as sci-fi as one might think.
Even in Shin's 21st century, someone had done something similar. Of course, that was just an impulsive, foolish scoundrel who, without regard for scientific ethics, arbitrarily removed the part of two infants' DNA that might lead to HIV infection. That technology wasn't particularly advanced, and doing such a thing without knowing the effect of that gene segment was definitely more detrimental than beneficial.
What the original group of scientists in the CE worldview did was the same, but unlike reality, the scientists in the CE worldview had almost completely deciphered the human genetic information library. Anyone with a slight understanding of this area knows how incredible this is. To put the human genetic information library in layman's terms, even if all the electronic information in human society to date were combined, it still wouldn't match the data content of a single person's entire genetic library.
And this also included a large amount of deciphering and analysis, an understanding and application of genetic information, which is undoubtedly an almost fantastical technological achievement.
But precisely because of this, the reliability of this technology is quite high, as it is mature and stable enough, and easily accepted by human society. Therefore, compared to Newtypes in the UC worldview, who were largely used as weapons and often met tragic ends, Coordinators even established a complete and independent nation. Setting aside various debates, Newtypes are definitely stronger than ordinary Coordinators in all aspects; the former's mystical psychic abilities alone basically overwhelm the latter. But Shin doesn't need Newtype's mystical psychic abilities right now, nor will he gamble his life on such unreliable things.
He just checked the 'Gundam series' products that could be exchanged in this world, and there was indeed a mature NT modification surgery available, but its price was more than twenty times that of the immature version, and it couldn't be brought out of this world. The reinforced humans in the CE worldview were not the result of natural persons being forcibly modified into Coordinators later on, but purely biological CPUs. Although he hadn't heard of such research facilities under the fox-like chairman in the plot—it was probably an 'out-of-plot' existence. So, with no other choice, let's begin!
Shin unhesitatingly chose to exchange for the third option. In an instant, the one hundred thousand virtual points he had earned from sniping Big Mom plummeted by half! For a moment, Shin felt his head sink, and a feeling of relaxation throughout his body made him almost instantly lose consciousness.
But in that moment just before he completely passed out, as he opened his eyes dimly, he seemed to see a striking white light and several figures...
------
Support me with Powerstones, Reviews and comments