Chapter 229: "The Gold-Devouring Beast"

As night passed and a new day began, everyone—whether experienced or newcomers—threw themselves into intense work. A month wasn't particularly long nor short, and no one knew which world the next mission would take them to or what dangers they might face. Each person had to push their limits to prepare for the unknown.

Flit, Sumeragi, Argreus, Wang Liu Mei, and Jehart gathered early in the conference room to discuss systems for merit, ranks, and promotions. The current permissions for Prometheus Fortress were still too limited, with many functions yet to be unlocked. But even under these constraints, they had to establish a complete set of rules now.

Otherwise, how long would they have to wait until Prometheus Fortress fully unlocked its permissions? By then, it would be too late to start drafting regulations.

As for new functions potentially disrupting existing rules… they could simply adjust them later. With a general framework in place, the remaining work would just involve modifications and additions.

Dedicated pilots like Graham didn't attend the meeting. Whether it was due to carefree attitudes or trust in others, they weren't concerned—they only needed to know the final outcome.

Everyone had their own expertise and responsibilities. As combat members, their sole duty was to push themselves to become stronger.

Speaking of which, yesterday's seat competition had concluded, with results exactly as Yang Hui predicted: Asemu, Woolf, and Fram Nara secured the spots. Dole Frost had made it into the running but ultimately chose to step aside for his sister, yielding the opportunity to her.

Meanwhile, Yang Hui and Graham headed to the research institute to locate the [Skill Imprinter] Mephis had mentioned.

Graham had used all three of his skill extraction and enhancement attempts. Perhaps as karma for frequently wrecking mobile suits, none of the skills he drew were usable—all required imprinting.

"Let me see…"

Opening the institute's tech tree panel, a new page appeared—the complete tree for the Gundam AGE world, encompassing Federation, VEGAN, EXA-DB, and Yang Hui's independent research. Unlike the Gundam 00 tech tree, every node in the Gundam AGE tree was already unlocked.

"...This is complicated. My head's spinning," Graham complained.

"Don't worry, mine too…"

It wasn't just Graham—even Yang Hui, a professional researcher, found the tangled web of branches dizzying. The tree was overwhelmingly cluttered, and clicking any icon revealed subcategories like materials, armor, engines, radar, systems, and weaponry—many of which overlapped.

For scientific novices, this was oddly convenient. They could simply pick a preferred mobile suit, acquire the full tech package without deep analysis, and hand it straight to production.

But Yang Hui was different. As a scientist, he not only needed to learn the foundational technologies of various worlds but also integrate, merge, modify, and upgrade them to develop better and more complete technologies.

Thus, the current tech tree layout was highly unsuitable.

"Mephis, can the tech tree panel be reorganized? Instead of categorizing by world, can we extract individual technologies to form separate tree diagrams?"

[Affirmative.]

The moment he received the answer, the tech tree panel changed. The number of tabs increased, but each page now displayed a single technology, making it much clearer.

Yang Hui selected the last page and found the [Skill Imprinter] Mephis had mentioned. It required minimal resources, so he immediately unlocked it.

Not just the [Skill Imprinter], but many other practical technologies were listed across the pages. For example, the [Emergency Escape Device], an auxiliary system integrated with piloting equipment. It allowed pre-setting a coordinate, and when the mobile suit was destroyed, it would activate a teleportation device to safely transport the pilot to the designated location, ensuring absolute safety.

And more importantly…

"Space teleportation technology? At this price?" Yang Hui frowned. The [Emergency Escape Device] already involved high-level spatial teleportation tech—something even more advanced than VEDA or GN Drives. Yet, the cost was slightly cheaper than the [Skill Imprinter]. How was that possible?

Driven by curiosity, Yang Hui unlocked the [Emergency Escape Device] without hesitation and immediately produced one, along with ten [Skill Imprinters].

After imprinting some useless skills, he began tinkering with the [Emergency Escape Device], only to…

"...Mephis, can you explain how a chip the size of a palm can possibly contain space teleportation technology? Is the pinnacle of science really just magic?" Yang Hui asked with a complicated expression, staring at the chip in his hand. This thing defied his understanding—it was almost shattering his worldview.

[Rest assured, Commander. This fortress does not incorporate human concepts such as metaphysics, theology, or magic. This technology does not qualify as true spatial teleportation. It is a consumable item, and its underlying science cannot be researched. It is one of the benefits granted to the Commander by the fortress.]

"Then how the hell is this even listed in the tech tree panel?"

[Insufficient Permissions.]

"Fine..."

Infinite worlds meant infinite possibilities. Yang Hui wasn't naive enough to assume every world was purely scientific—there were bound to be worlds with fantasy or magic, even super robot universes where magic-like concepts existed. But Mephis had already told him that all mandatory mission worlds were based on his memories, designed to contribute scientific advancements to Prometheus Fortress. The fortress itself was a product of science, so traditional magic or similar phenomena wouldn't appear—at least not until they gained the strength to confront unknown forces and free Prometheus Fortress from its hiding place in the void.

Still… every time Mephis told him "Insufficient Permissions," it felt like a knife twisting in his chest. And there was nothing he could do about it. The fortress's development had to proceed step by step—rushing was impossible.

"Then I'll head off to training." Having resolved the issue of redundant skills, Graham naturally had no intention of lingering in this headache-inducing place. He still needed to check on the others' training progress. As the fortress's second strongest combatant, it was his duty to guide the others in improving their skills.

After Graham left, Yang Hui remained alone in the research area, familiarizing himself with the new tech tree interface. He worked on integrating technologies from both worlds, extracting their essence while discarding the dross, merging them into a unified standardized system.

...

Before anyone realized it, a week had quietly passed. Sumeragi and the others had temporarily concluded their discussions, establishing a preliminary framework for a series of rules and regulations. While still lacking in detail, it was sufficient for the current situation.

Yang Hui, who had been buried in the research area for the entire week, finally managed to streamline the entire interface. By combining existing technologies, he completed standardized benchmarks for all fields.

A quarter of their rest period had already elapsed, but there was no time to relax. The next mission would involve twelve participants simultaneously. Excluding Sumeragi and Wang Liu Mei, ten mobile suits needed preparation. Yang Hui, Graham, Flit, Asemu, and Jehart already had their own units, but all required upgrades—replacing existing systems with the newly standardized technologies and customizing them according to each pilot's combat style.

Meanwhile, Setsuna, Lyle, and Tieria needed entirely new mobile suits tailored to their specifications.

The production area's rules remained unchanged, though they had become more complex. It was now possible to independently design a mobile suit's exterior, frame, structure, and more, incorporating various technologies and armaments. Once the blueprint was complete, the production terminal would assess its integrity and rating, then calculate the required resources and time for manufacturing before production could begin.

This arrangement suited Yang Hui perfectly. As an MS designer, he naturally preferred designing mobile suits from scratch according to specific needs rather than mass production. While mass-produced units were necessary, he had no intention of using the production area for that purpose—at least not until Prometheus Fortress expanded enough to warrant standardized equipment.

Of course, Prometheus Fortress's current technological level was far from low. Among the advanced technologies retrieved from EXA-DB, many components and systems had been rated as A-class, meaning they now had the capability to manufacture A-class mobile suits outright.

But...

No one's piloting skills had reached A-class yet!

The strongest, Yang Hui and Graham, had only recently entered B+ territory. Below them, Flit, Asemu, Jehart, and Lyle were all B-class. Further down, Woolf, Setsuna, Tieria, and others were only at B-. Even if they built an A-class mobile suit, no one could fully utilize its potential—it would just be an expensive display piece.

And there was another pressing issue...

"Ugh, we can't afford this." Yang Hui nearly wept as he looked at the dwindling resource count. After opening three resource packages, what had once been ample supplies were nearly depleted again in just half a month. The cost of one B-class and two B- mobile suits was still a painful expenditure for Prometheus Fortress at this stage.

Fortunately, Yang Hui and the others' mobile suits were only modified and upgraded rather than being rebuilt from scratch, otherwise the supplies really wouldn't have been enough.

They had originally planned to use Diva's assault landing mode as a blueprint to manufacture two more battleships, but alas... the mines at home just weren't productive enough ε(┬┬﹏┬┬)3.

"Supplies are too scarce. I thought the research sector was already a gold-devouring beast, but I never expected the production sector to be the same," Sumeragi complained while massaging her aching forehead.

"There's no helping it. This is our first time using it, and... I have a feeling that no matter how many mines we have or how advanced they are, supplies will always be in short supply," Yang Hui sighed.

Yang Hui understood Prometheus Fortress's operational model all too well. Right now, there were only the research and production sectors, but he had a premonition that the number of gold-devouring behemoths would only increase in the future. And the upgrades to the facilities... if he wasn't mistaken, the costs would likely grow exponentially.