Chapter 3: Gundam G – The First Time Traveling
Although the artifact's outline was still blurry, it felt like a conical shape to the touch—looked a lot like the drill pendant Simon wore in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Monty Hill felt that once his permissions were upgraded in the future, he should be able to see its full form.
For now, it was better to start partitioning the storage space first.
"System, divide out a space of 30×30×24 meters (length × width × height) as a hangar.
From now on, weapons, living beings, and mobile suits go there.
Another 30×30×2 meters for storing clean water.
Another 30×30×2 meters for cooked, packaged, and clean food.
The remaining 30×30×2 meters for raw food.
Time in the hangar space flows normally, while time in other spaces is relatively frozen."
(You have to keep raw and cooked food separate, right? Otherwise you'll get a bacterial infection, have diarrhea, and die in another world—what a disgrace that would be for the traveling army.)
"Oh, right, System—can you automatically sort items when collecting them?"
"Yes, Host. Items will be automatically categorized upon collection. Shall I proceed to partition the storage space?"
"Mm, yes. Do it."
"Understood, Host. Beginning partitioning… Partitioning complete."
"Heh, fast enough.
Let's start by storing the food, water, and other supplies."
Chen placed all the food from the fridge into the storage space, then put his hand on the faucet, opened the valve, and began filling it with water.
Once everything was ready, Monty Hill addressed the auxiliary system.
"System, I'm ready. Begin the transfer."
"Understood, Host. Initiating transfer. Countdown: 10, 9… 2, 1. Begin."
Monty Hill's vision went black, and he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in the middle of a desolate, ruined city.
"Damn, just like that I went from home to the apocalypse. All ruins.
Good thing I came prepared, otherwise I'd be finished."
He pulled out a mirror to check his appearance.
"This body is still Tolle's. Looks like from now on, I'll use the name Tolle Koenig while wearing this body.
As for the name Monty Hill… I'll treat it as part of the past. Farewell to my old self."
Tolle Koenig gave a wry smile of self-mockery. (From here on, the protagonist's name changes to Tolle Koenig.)
"At least this body is young and full of energy. Even if he's not a Coordinator, he could still get himself a girlfriend—not bad.
If I had crossed over in a body pushing forty… forget it. Bad back, sore legs, pot belly—one day in a world like this and I'd collapse from exhaustion."
"No, wait… If you don't handle the girlfriend thing right, she'll just end up with someone else. Might even get snatched by Dearka Elsman, the pilot of that Buster Gundam. Staying alive would be hard enough."
Tolle Koenig thought for a while, his head aching more and more.
"Sigh, forget it. I'll just take things one step at a time.
Worst case, I'll stay single. It's not like I've never had a wife before—once is enough."
He closed his eyes, comforting himself with feigned optimism.
"You can only let go after you've had it. Mm-hmm."
"Pah, what 'mm-hmm'? I'm not a monk.
Forget it—better figure out the situation first."
He searched the city ruins for three days but found nothing—no food, no clean water.
Thankfully, the storage space was filled with tap water from the faucet, otherwise he'd be dead by now.
Food was running low, and he still hadn't found any useful clues.
No scrap metal, no abandoned vehicles, not even human bones.
Everything was cleaned up so thoroughly he couldn't even guess what kind of world this was.
Just as he was at a loss, a distant rumble reached his ears. Tolle Koenig immediately set out toward the sound.
When he saw a yellow, mono-eyed robot in the distance, he finally understood why the ruins were so "clean."
So it was the Devil Gundam's doing—people and resources had been assimilated and turned into parts for the Death Army's mobile suits.
"The DG cells' 'self-evolution, self-regeneration, and self-replication' functions really live up to the hype. Top-notch environmentalism.
This is bad… I don't want to get assimilated. I just started traveling and I'm already facing death? Being assimilated is probably no different from dying."
"Host, the current world has been identified as Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Permissions upgraded to: Private Third Class.
Time limit extended by 30 days. Next world transfer: 120 days.
Storage space doubled to 60×60×60 meters.
Shall the subdivided spaces also be scaled proportionally to 60×60×48 and 60×60×4 meters?"
"System, permission upgraded—but only to Private Third Class. Looks like I've got a lot of grinding ahead.
Yeah, scale all the spaces proportionally. Double them all."
Just then, a Death Army mobile suit began moving toward him.
"Crap, they spotted me! That detection range is insane. I have to run, or I'm done for."
Tolle Koenig turned and sprinted away, activating full-body coverage on his nano-suit—looking somewhat like a cross between Iron Man and Kamen Rider.
His running speed instantly multiplied several times over.
"System, this nano-suit also boosts physical performance? Nice.
Hey, nano-suit, do you have thruster simulation? If not, I'm going to run out of steam sooner or later."
Suddenly, an electronic synthesized voice came from within the suit.
"Master, the nano-suit has no such function."
"What the—? Nano-suit, you can talk?
Okay then… ←_←
But seriously, I'm almost out of breath here. Without thrusters, I'm dead. (?_?)"
The ground shook violently as a massive Gundam head emerged from the earth in front of him.
Now he was trapped between enemies front and back. Before he could dodge, the head swallowed him whole.
"It's over? Just like that? I haven't even gotten to touch a Gundam and I'm already dead?"
(Gundam Head: The hell you looking at? I'm still a Gundam, you know—I've got the V-fin antennas and everything.)
Inside the Gundam head, the electronic synthesized voice spoke again.
"External intrusion detected… Nano-suit assimilation in progress…
Nano-suit initiating camouflage function…
Molecular structure and permissions surpass opponent. Assimilation upgrade successful.
Acquired: Self-Evolution, Self-Regeneration, Self-Replication.
Camouflage mode activated…
Performance boost: Strength, Constitution, Speed +10; Defense +100.
Skills: Intelligent Brain Assist (improves mobile suit performance by +20%).
Assimilation (can assimilate and modify other objects or living beings; assimilation can be reversed without leaving traces)."
Tolle Koenig instantly perked up.
"Well, damn. I can work with this—my appearance now looks like a DG cell skeleton soldier.
Hahaha, so my golden cheat isn't some random artifact—it's this nano-suit! Even if I can't pilot a mobile suit, no problem.
With this upgraded assimilation, I can self-repair and resupply."
Rubbing his chin, he muttered to himself.
"Speaking of assimilation… doesn't that mean I can make my own Gundam in the future?
Awesome. I could collect parts and build a full-scale, 1:1 Gundam myself."