Chapter 34: The System's New Function

The massive space battleship plunged straight into Orb's territorial waters.

"For your ship's refusal to heed warnings, our military will now exercise our territorial defense rights."

The Orb naval commander demanded the Archangel pass through, then a barrage of missiles and shells poured into the sea—right next to the Archangel—splashing water high into the air.

"Tch, that acting was a bit over the top, but this must be the most expensive automatic ship wash in history."

Li Boyong, in Unit 2, watched the Orb navy wash the Archangel's deck with artillery fire, complaining as usual.

The MS team led by Athrun tried to continue their approach but were driven away by Orb military helicopters. Not wanting to trigger a diplomatic incident, the Athrun Team had to stay away from Orb's territorial waters.

After the ZAFT forces left, the Archangel, having recovered its carrier-based aircraft, entered the secret shipyard of Morgenroete under the escort of the Orb navy.

Li Boyong left Unit 2, took off his helmet, and caught his breath.

He hadn't yet recovered from the tension of the battle and sat blankly on the wing. The maintenance crew saw this and didn't come over to disturb him.

However, Li Boyong knew in his heart that he wasn't just exhausted from the battle's tension, but also because today's battle had brought him another kind of worry.

It seemed some things were starting to deviate from the plot he remembered. Was it because of his butterfly effect?

Shihe, who hadn't appeared in Athrun's team originally, had joined the pursuit of the Archangel with her experimental unit.

And today's battle as well—although the Archangel had successfully entered Orb's territorial waters, the engine that should have been destroyed by the Buster was instead damaged by the Blitz.

Currently, there didn't seem to be any earth-shattering changes, and the general plot progression seemed to be the same as the original, but some details had already changed beyond his expectations. He feared he wouldn't have the ability to cope with such unexpected changes in the future.

These were the fundamental reasons for Li Boyong's shaken state of mind.

As for the fatigue from the battle, this fight had been harder than he imagined. Using a fighter to fight some grunt units was already very strenuous; fighting Gundams directly was practically hell mode.

If it weren't for the fact that the enemy focused their main targets on the Archangel, and that Shihe still had some conscience and went easy on him, he would probably be dead.

He felt that every time the system issued such missions that only required him to survive, they were always those kinds of extremely grueling battles.

Fortunately, the mission was completed, and Li Boyong checked the system, successfully obtaining 3 Plot Points.

At the same time, the system opened a new interface. He opened it and discovered that this interface could actually view other people's attributes!

This gave Li Boyong, who had been wavering, a feeling that "those who survive a great disaster are destined to have good fortune."

If unexpected changes were to occur, he had to become as strong as possible to deal with those accidents.

He glanced at the Archangel's other two pilots. Kira and Mula Flaga hadn't recovered from the intense battle either and were resting wherever they could find a spot in the hangar.

Li Boyong hurriedly checked their four-dimensional attributes to compare them with his own.

After all, although he could always see his own attributes, he had no idea where he stood without a comparison.

Kira Yamato (Coordinator)

Combat: 85

Shooting: 102

Reaction: 110

Will: 75

Skill: SEED (When triggered, increases Reaction and Will by 30 points.)

Mula Flaga (Natural)

Combat: 43

Shooting: 95

Reaction: 89

Will: 83

Skill: Spatial Awareness (Increases evasion ability and improves ability to use Dragoon-type weapons.)

Veteran (Excellent rhythm control, reduces energy consumption in battle.)

The Man Who Makes the Impossible Possible (Randomly increases a certain attribute during battle and increases pilot survival rate after being shot down.)

Title: Endymion Hawk (Increases evasion ability when fighting in space and atmospheric environments.)

Both of their attributes were very powerful. Kira's went without saying; his shooting and reaction speed were super strong, and the SEED skill could add so much Reaction and Will—no wonder he became so powerful once he entered SEED mode.

As for Mula Flaga, his Combat was truly trash—even worse than his own! No wonder he refused to use the Sword Striker. But his Shooting, Reaction, and Will were all higher than his own. However, judging from the data, the gap wasn't obvious. From this, it seemed his own attributes weren't bad among the grunts, and might even be relatively excellent.

Thinking about it, that made sense. What kind of battles had the Archangel been through? If his skills were really that bad, could he have survived until now?

It was just that Mula Flaga's flashy skill list looked a bit impressive; the various effects were dazzling. He estimated that if he really fought Mula Flaga, there would still be a significant gap.

And there was this title; it seemed to be the first time it had appeared in the system. He didn't know if he could obtain one through the system's subsequent upgrades.

After finishing looking at the two aces' attributes, Li Boyong checked his own attributes in passing, feeling a bit envious.

No!

Li Boyong looked at his attribute panel carefully again. He didn't know why, but his Combat had changed from 45 to 46.

He felt this might indicate one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was that the basic four-dimensional attributes could potentially be improved by accumulating combat experience. The bad news was that the basic four-dimensional attributes might not be improvable through the system.

After all, he hadn't discovered any function in the system that could exchange for attributes after all this time.

Then Li Boyong started checking which skills he could learn. Just as he was concentrating on researching which skills were more suitable for him, Mula Flaga seemed to have recovered from the intense battle.

He first walked over to Kira, cheered him up, and told him to get some good rest.

Then Mula Flaga wandered over to Li Boyong. Seeing him in a daze, he patted him on the shoulder: "What's wrong? You look like you've been scared out of your wits. This doesn't look like the usual you."

"The Li Boyong I know is a man who piloted a Mobius and survived against G-series units in the low-orbit battle. As the only surviving pilot of the Eighth Fleet, you can't embarrass Admiral Halbadon!"

Li Boyong, who was carefully checking the system, heard Mula Flaga's words and gave a bitter smile. "I just barely survived."

He paused and then raised his hand: "But you don't need to say these things to motivate me, and you don't need to worry about me. I'm just purely tired. Such intense battles are really bad for the body. Do you know how many near-overload maneuvers I had to perform to dodge the enemy's attacks?"

"Haha!" Mula Flaga laughed upon hearing this and patted Li Boyong's shoulder hard again. "If you can still joke, it means you're not in much trouble. In that case, hurry back to your room and take a shower; don't catch a cold."

"Got it. Let me get some good rest during this time." Li Boyong stood up and patted his butt. "Anyway, the negotiations with Orb have nothing to do with me, but you probably won't be able to escape it."

Mula Flaga thought about it, and it seemed that was indeed the case; his shoulders slumped immediately. ===== CHAPTER 35 =====