Boom—
Lu Chen, piloting the Strike Freedom, shot out of the naval base at subsonic speed, then gradually gained altitude over the sea.
Two towering columns of water erupted in front of the harbor at Golden Horn Bay.
This Gundam stood about 18 meters tall and weighed 80 tons. Its entire body was covered in VPS armor, a unique type of armor in the Gundam world that effectively defends against real-world weapons.
“Wow, this is more thrilling than drag racing.”
Inside the cockpit, Lu Chen felt an unprecedented feeling of being pushed back.
It was like driving a supercar on the open plains.
“Commander! Commander! You’re going too fast!”
The destroyer girls, also equipped with thrusters, tried to catch up to the Strike Freedom, but found themselves lagging behind.
After all, they weighed several thousand tons when their ship-girls were deployed. Their thrusters allowed for high-altitude maneuvering, but couldn’t reach subsonic speeds like an 80-ton Gundam.
“The Strike Freedom’s maximum speed can exceed the second cosmic velocity. In theory, Commander, you could leave Earth, meow.”
Akashi’s voice came from the internal communication system.
“But it’s not recommended to fly too far. If you accidentally hit a meteorite, we wouldn’t be able to save you, meow.”
“I know.”
Before long, Lu Chen looked out the window and saw layers of clouds.
Below, there was the tiny city of Constantinople, and the naval base, like a sesame seed. In the distance, he saw lush forests and ruins of cities.
From high above, he could see the world in its entirety.
“I’ve installed all the Strike Freedom’s weapon systems according to the blueprints, meow.”
“Commander, you should understand this better than I do, right?”
Akashi, in the naval base, flipped through the blueprints while introducing the mecha’s weapons systems to Lu Chen.
Two MA-M21KF high-energy beam rifles.
These were an improved version of the Sirius beam rifle, firing high-energy lasers to destroy enemies. When connected, they could function as a long-range sniper rifle.
Two rail guns and two close-defense cannons were mounted on the head and waist, powerful enough to penetrate modern main battle tanks.
The melee weapons included a beam saber and a beam shield. Lu Chen didn’t like close combat, but it wouldn’t hurt to slash at enemies occasionally for a change of pace.
The Strike Freedom’s most powerful weapon, the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam’s Super-High Energy Beam Rifle, was installed in the abdomen. It had been tested at the port area and could effectively strike Siren Purifiers.
Even compared to the main gun of the battleship girls, its power was not inferior. At the same time, it was extremely fast.
Since it was an energy weapon, its bullet speed was equal to the speed of light. Within a range of 300,000 kilometers, it was instantaneous. No real-world weapon or kinetic weapon could achieve that.
In addition, the Strike Freedom’s most iconic feature was the wireless guided weapon system, Dragon Rider, installed on the eight mechanical wings behind it.
The Dragon Rider system could be detached from the mecha, using the beam assault cannons to attack from 360 degrees with the pilot’s thoughts. Essentially, it was eight floating cannons.
Even in a one-on-many situation, it could quickly wipe out enemies.
Click—
Lu Chen controlled the eight armed wings to detach from behind.
With a single thought, he locked onto several targets on the sea below.
Bang—Bang—Bang—
The armed wings fired simultaneously, each shot hitting its target precisely. Heat energy evaporated a plume of water on the surface, causing a commotion among the curious Bri and the small ship girls.
“So accurate!”
“Wow wow wow, such big waves!!!”
Boom—
After accelerating again, Lu Chen circled the Earth at an altitude of 10,000 meters, taking a lap around Eurasia.
Cruising in the air with this behemoth gave him an unparalleled sense of exhilaration.
From a military theory standpoint, Gundams, or humanoid robots, were an awkward compromise between space planes and tanks.
In terms of air maneuverability and combat power, they couldn’t compete with future starships and fighter jets. In terms of ground combat, they couldn’t beat tanks or tracked mechs of the same cost.
Because those machines didn’t have unnecessary designs like limbs. All their materials could be allocated to weapons and armor. They were ugly, but they could fight.
But Gundams were cool!
Sharp lines, a cool look, and excellent air-space maneuverability.
Piloting a Gundam was a temptation for men no less than transforming into a Kamen Rider.
A commander like him, driving an ugly tank into battle? How could that be?
As for performance, Lu Chen felt it was enough. After all, he could get all sorts of strange things from other worlds in the future, and maybe even further strengthen this big toy.
“By the way, if you look at it in terms of warships, what level is a Gundam?”
Lu Chen suddenly asked.
“That’s a bit difficult to answer.”
Akashi pondered for a moment.
“Theoretically speaking, your ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam’s Super-High Energy Beam Rifle has the same destructive power as a battleship, and it’s more mobile. It can also fly out of the atmosphere.”
“But the Gundam’s resistance to damage is obviously inferior to a warship. The Strike Freedom only weighs less than 100 tons…”
“So it’s a glass cannon?”
“Not really.”
Akashi shook her head.
“After all, Commander, your body is pretty tough. Maybe even tougher than the Gundam.”
“…”
The most vulnerable part of a war machine is usually the pilot.
But Lu Chen felt that he was probably tougher than the Strike Freedom.
Swoosh—
After circling in the air for another round, Lu Chen landed the Gundam on the beach.
The surrounding ship girls gathered around, looking at the strange behemoth.
A few of the more lively destroyers had already gone to ask Akashi to let them pilot the remaining Unicorn, Barbatos, and Destiny Gundams.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be great if this thing was smaller?”
“Akashi, are we going to build a command ship in the future? We should make it the flagship of the alliance. Otherwise, when the Strike Freedom goes out, there’s no place to put it…”
“Put it in the ship girls’ cargo hold? That feels a bit weird.”
Lu Chen was thinking about whether he should use the technology from the Gundam world to build a mobile fortress to store the Gundams.
It was a bit of a hassle to have to carry a 20-meter mecha around.
“I don’t think that’s necessary, meow.”
Akashi scratched her head.
“Commander, do you remember what the function of the Mind Cube is? It can materialize the collective human cognition of a certain object…”
“What you believe yourself to be from the bottom of your heart, the Mind Cube’s power will twist you into that…”
“So what do you think you are now?”
“?”
Lu Chen was stunned.
He was currently sitting in the cockpit of the Strike Freedom, becoming one with the machine.
The two had achieved an unprecedented level of synchronization.
“My gender is an armed helicopter… Oh no…”
“I think I’m a Gundam.”
…
(Image of the Strike Freedom)