Chapter 538: NO.121: Guess why he's called the End of Gold?

NO. 121: Guess why he's called the End of Gold?

"Confirm the 'Observer' signal, confirm the afov (observable field of view) signal, confirm stellar fluctuations, determine it as a ceti (communication with extraterrestrial intelligent life) opportunity, apply to recreate a de (dark matter) individual, then make contact."

"Apply, apply."

——

Iron Ball, a space-use mobile weapon modified from an operational space bag.

Although its single-combat capability is extremely low, the manufacturing cost—including pilot training costs—is far lower than that of an MS (mobile suit/mobile warrior).

Furthermore, its joint operations with the Jim model have achieved notable results, so it is mass-produced and equipped by the Federal Army.

Although during the Solomon Offensive, there were instances where pilots, using a few tricks, destroyed six Big Devils (MS-09R) with Iron Balls.

But in most situations, this thing, pilot and all, counts as war consumables.

Its performance is poor and it is hard to operate; it was once called an 'Iron Coffin,' and only the demand of prolonged war causes it to appear in large numbers.

But precisely because it is so classic, the Iron Ball also occupies a subtle niche in Gunpla sales.

Moreover, due to its appearance, it is often grouped together with Hello, Turtle Tyrant, and Bear Tyrant as mascots for discussion.

Even Aomo's model display cabinet has a place for it, in the form of the original bare frame.

When placed alongside a few modified Gunplas, it feels somewhat out of place.

The difference between the actual sortie model and the idle hanging model is as follows.

This thing was the model Aomo initially used for game socializing and trolling.

Like a bunch of Iron Balls in outer space taking photos of stacking strange text, it is still a 'team-building classic item' when the squad has enough members.

For teammates about to take the college entrance exam, teammates celebrating birthdays, teammates about to attend interviews, they would arrange blessing texts and such; the later the time, the fewer Iron Balls appear in the photos, and the characters become shorter and shorter, to the point where one needs to replace them with a battleship-sword-style laser beam……

They eventually all abandoned the pit.

Deeply delving into game development has always been rapidly changing; in an industry where competition is fierce enough, players also often favor the new and dislike the old.

The main reason gbn has managed to get this far is still that the Gundam IP is durable enough, not only having nostalgia but also new works that can attract newcomers.

But the game itself does not especially emphasize balance; Gunpla performance depends on player conception and model quality, the technical upper and lower limits between pilots are also wide open, and newcomer experience relies entirely on self-awareness—can you honestly spend a few months first soaking in the Fish Pond Area?

Then, in the Fish Pond Area, there often mix in juvenile slaughterers; for example, that Evolto guy is a classic case, bringing a newly completed mech to the novice dungeon to test blades, cutting down NPCs and players that nobody cares about.

But when your skills have improved a little, you leave the Fish Pond Area and try heading to intermediate rooms, advanced rooms, and even challenging the Heavenly Ladder—then you discover that in there are not only demons and monsters, but also gods and great Buddhas.

If it weren't for this game supporting player-defined dungeons and self-designed events, with its extremely high degree of freedom, this game would actually have died long ago.

Relying solely on the Soul of Steel, one cannot roam freely in the prison cell.

An extremely high degree of freedom lets you decorate the prison cell into an otaku's happy room; if you truly can't out-compete other players, you can just soak in PVE every day, or even regard it as a travel simulator—one click to place yourself in the universe, asteroid belt, and various extraterrestrials, and even into the alien worlds crafted by player studios.

Thus the game has the precondition for retaining players.

But unfortunately, what affects player retention, besides variables in the game, is even more so variables in reality.

Academic pressure, work setbacks, interest changes, and even frustrated online romances……

Aomo never got a chance to ask individually; it was only when, in the recent online list, finally only his own name lit up that the Observer also abandoned his 'observation experimental field'.

"Guinea Pig-kun, you don't like this game?"

The horse girl operating the Iron Ball asked this, and beside her was a tall female high school student with a few traces of defeat still on her face.

After watching Ailisuzhi use the Iron Ball to get through the novice tutorial, this monster enthusiast felt very defeated; even if driving the Iron Ball is easier than a Gundam, it's hard to console.

All we can say is that, although biologically horse girls and humans belong to the same category, the differences in their various stats are indeed obvious.

Especially for horse girls trained as racing horse girls, their neural reflexes, operational hand speed, and even their observation and judgment of the situation far surpass ordinary people; placed in the Gundam world, they would have to be calculated as super-soldiers (enhanced humans of the 00 series).

Of course, this refers to piloting aptitude.

The characteristic brain quantum waves of super-soldiers still require extra training—some red skills under the Three Goddesses skill tree are, in a way, the same thing done differently, and Suzi and Chazuo both have talent in this area.

But compared to innate talent itself, Aomo finds Suzi's operation quite familiar, obviously indicating she has experience driving similar space vehicles.

When this point was told to Empress Xi, she then perked up a little.

"Can't say I don't like it."

"That just means not liking it much."

"That Little Snake guy doesn't have much Soul of Steel~ I just met him and he was already playing monster fighting!" Suddenly inserted into the conversation, Teacher Da Xi broadcast the information she had.

When talking with others about people she knows, she is always especially interested, even when the person in question is right beside her.

"One point that needs to be denied is that the Soul of Steel refers to the love for radishes, that is, sincere love for robots, not limited to the Gundam series," the person calmly popularized and corrected, "Robots, hot blood, courage, and love—in this regard, the Gundam series is not really able to serve as a main representative."

"Eh? Those super series robot works?"

"Exactly," Aomo nodded slightly, "and in gbn this is greatly limited; players cannot freely assemble Getter, Mazinger Z, Brave King, and similar mechs, the system does not allow such simulation, forced replication only triggers system errors, so only pure imitation of appearance is possible."

"Just like some high imitation armor in reality."

The Tianmen Airport in Jiemen North District once held a Soul of Steel anime expo, with many 1:1 mechs joining, and at that time the vast majority were high imitation armor.

But even if it is high imitation, it is just as exhilarating, especially when they each start moving; the energy emitters used for filming, activated in the manner of simulated attacks, make it seem as if those steel giants truly manifest.

Such anime expos are hard to come by even once every few years in Jiemen District, but in Tianmen City they happen every year.

After all, it is the main production base of those high imitation armors.

Those who engage in high imitation in this world are all transmigrators; after discovering that this world's technological level possesses such capability, they roll up their sleeves to retrieve their long-buried dreams.

Regarding this, Xi, who previously studied in Tianmen City, nodded somewhat ambiguously: 'Is this the real reason Little Snake abandoned the pit?'

"No."

Aomo shook his head.

"The real reason is insufficient finances and lack of time."

Children who are sufficiently independent should clarify their goals upon entering high school; to realize their dreams, they study and research, and the increasingly profound courses and growing expenses are burdens that need to be filled with time.

Compared to games where you buy glue, modify glue to get stronger, it's indeed the case that games where you can get stronger purely by grinding are more suited to oneself.

And the gradual abandonment by old friends is merely an additional weight.

If the observation target just ran off, we'd simply look for it again; that game back then was merely lukewarm, not yet half‑dead, but what truly made him seal the model was still this weighty reality that forced a compromise.

Such an answer obviously left the listeners somewhat silent.

Whether as the wealthy second‑generation Ailisuzhi, or as Xin Tiao Qian, whose low expenses meant no pressure, they could not really empathize with this, yet they still felt the gravity of the topic.

So after a few seconds of silence, they suddenly spoke up.

Almost simultaneously.

「Is the little snake planning to return to its den? 」「What experiment are we doing here? 」

「I hadn't thought about it; I'm just running a test, an observation experiment as always—I did this three years ago. 」

One sentence answered both questions at once; Aomo kept his eyes on the game window before him, his fingers repeatedly tapping the refresh function button at a steady rhythm.

It was as if he were waiting for some contact, or as if waiting for some pop‑up.

「Three years ago? 」 Qian was a little surprised, 「At that time the little snake was only 16, right? What experiment? 」

Upon hearing this, Aomo raised his other hand, which held a model—a thing that should not appear in GBN, since all models in this game ought to have been scanned and await summoning as data.

Its form was overbearing, its appearance ferocious.

That was the Demon God of the End.

Demon God Zero.

Even Morrison, who was still just a visitor—namely, the Hello‑style model idler—suddenly unfurled his 'double ears'.

「You, how did you bring this…? 」

Although his reaction drew surprised looks from the two girls, Aomo merely grinned and answered the previous question, word by word.

「A server‑crash experiment. 」