"I understand your point," Lacus said, blinking her adorable eyes at He Kui.
"We can exchange a brand new asteroid for Director He, and of course, the radar is no problem. But I need to see it myself~"
"Thank you."
Hearing Lacus's agreement, He Kui breathed a sigh of relief. Being able to trade it was a relief, as he wasn't sure what to do with it otherwise, and the radar was crucial for him.
It was a means to control external machines at any time.
"No need to thank me, but what does Director He plan to do with the radar?" Lacus asked softly.
"Well, my company operates in both May City and November City, so I just want to improve everyone's work efficiency."
"Oh, I see~"
Whether Lacus believed him or not was unclear, but she nodded.
"But since Director He rarely contacts me, how is the progress on the Warrior Gundam?"
"It's going well. We've already entered the testing phase of the Dragoon system."
"That's fast~ I hope you succeed soon."
The conversation left Lacus seemingly satisfied, with her favorability towards He Kui reaching an impressive thirty.
After hanging up the phone, He Kui didn't dwell on Lacus's favorability but instead looked at Sulei.
After all, he had left Sulei in the office that day to leak some information to the Clyne faction, as a return for their previous care.
And it seemed Sulei really hadn't mentioned it to Lacus.
Feeling a warm glow in his heart, He Kui's gaze towards Sulei became more intense.
"What is it?"
Blushing under He Kui's gaze, Sulei glared at him.
"Nothing, just that this matter is resolved."
"And then?"
"Then we can continue what we were doing before."
With that, He Kui pushed Sulei onto the sofa.
"Let me see if you've grown."
"Pervert!"
Despite her words, Sulei made no real attempt to resist.
With this matter settled, the testing of the Warrior Gundam's Dragoon system began.
Unlike previous tests near May City, this one took place again at Boaz.
"Director He, please guide me this time."
Hieronymus looked at He Kui with admiration, meeting him privately for the first time.
"Mr. Hieronymus, if I remember correctly, you were formerly with the Clark Design Bureau, right?"
"Yes! I'm honored to be the test pilot for Director He's Dragoon system! I'll do my best to complete the mission."
"Please do your best."
After watching Hieronymus leave, Erin, having checked all the data, approached He Kui at the monitor.
"Have you done spatial awareness tests?"
"C-level. In a two-seater, I can manage."
C-level meant he needed to fully concentrate to control the Dragoons.
He could use them, but in a one-person battle, he couldn't manage both and could only control four.
More than that, and he'd lose accuracy.
"What a pity."
Erin shook her head. With He Kui's inherent abilities and elite skills, having the Dragoon system could place him among the world's top ranks as a researcher.
"There's still a long way to go."
Hearing He Kui's words, Erin smiled, thinking he was too proud to admit his shortcomings.
But He Kui was at peace with it.
The first-generation Dragoons weren't even complete, and the second generation wasn't coming anytime soon.
While spatial awareness couldn't be trained, perhaps a skill might come along someday.
As they spoke, the testing at Boaz officially commenced.
The experiment went smoothly, with ten sets of ten moving targets each. The combined accuracy rate was 59%.
Incorporating the beam shield generator principles might allow the Dragoons to form a beam shield.
The challenge was this defensive mode consumed energy at the same level as a beam shield, depending on the pilot's ability.
Opening it for one or two seconds at a time could allow dozens of uses.
Even with nuclear power, it couldn't stay on indefinitely; the small Dragoon components had limited power and needed recharging after use.
And without friend-or-foe recognition, it was purely defensive.
He Kui figured even if he mentioned it, it wouldn't be taken seriously—there were only a handful of people in PLANT who could control Dragoons, and that included Cruzer. Better to keep it as his trump card.
"That test pilot must have B-level or even A-level spatial awareness. I didn't expect the design bureau to have such talent."
Erin remarked.
According to their current military academy tests, only one person had this talent at B-level or higher.
Here was another.
The rest reached at most He Kui's C-level.
"Everyone has subtle differences in the talents hidden in their genes."
He Kui said, sending the data back to May City via Boaz's radar.
"Leave the other Dragoon with your beam group for now."
Seeing the data, Erin said with satisfaction.
It seemed she and Joule had reached a prior consensus.
"But don't stop improving. Have Director Hanifus look into it more."
"I understand. Thank you."
He Kui had successfully kept one Dragoon, but there was still the anti-neutron jammer, which he couldn't use yet.
It was like having it but not knowing how to use it.
"Director, is it true that the Warrior Gundam will be dismantled?"
"Yes, it's true."
Erin sounded surprised.
"You have quite the network."
"Sort of."
He Kui scratched his head and continued.
"But dismantling it is such a waste. It's a high-spec machine."
"It's likely intended for the assembly of Unit 2, as the anti-neutron jammer in the head isn't very useful."
The Warrior, though two to three times more powerful than the Alliance's Gundams, couldn't fully utilize the nuclear machine's strength with its head limitation.
"Is Unit 2 starting soon?"
"Yes, by the way, He Kui, your Mirage Colloid Field installation should be pretty flexible, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"So we plan to incorporate it. Take a look."
Erin handed He Kui a tablet showing a small aircraft-like flying device.
"This is... a flight pack?"
"Director He knows his stuff. This is the propulsion design from the Verne Design Bureau."
"Is that so..."
How could he not know? The little aircraft looked exactly like the Justice in his memory.
"So in the coming days, see if you can install the Mirage Colloid system on it."
"For stealth or distortion?"
He Kui asked softly.
Either way, Justice would be significantly enhanced.
Imagine Justice drawing attention in battle while the quantum communication system controlled a stealth aircraft to ambush others. As long as the pilot wasn't too inferior, they could gain an advantage, taking victory by surprise.
And the field system would make the aircraft a shield.
It could attack and defend.
"Distortion protection. Since the pack can't use PS armor due to power limits, its defense is low, and in backpack mode, the wings are just like on your GINN."
"I understand."
With such modifications, Justice would be epically upgraded.
"But the field system hasn't been practically tested."
"I know, so we also need to start weapon tests on Gates."
"Go ahead and work on it."
Erin said excitedly before leaving.
Leaving He Kui with a frown.
With Justice nearing completion, the war might be nearing its end, at least temporarily. He needed to keep strengthening himself.
With the asteroid base being established with the Clyne faction's help, and the six million saved from the asteroid enough to buy a small shuttle, he could gather more fuel and fly to Julius Seven to retrieve the Aegis.
"By modifying the shuttle into a directional energy communication relay and enhancing it with quantum communication, I should be able to control Aegis even with a neutron jammer present."
With tha
t thought, He Kui chose not to leave Boaz just yet, instead staying at the radar station under the guise of maintenance.
With a long time until his next trip to DSSD, he also needed to check on their progress.
-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!