Gundam: From Piece to Player

Hi Camus, I'm Anna El. You can search me online; I guess you could call me a celebrity.

“…It’s Master El! I’m a fan of yours.” Camus immediately became excited, catching the other party off guard.

【Huh? Do you know me?】

"I've read about the heroic deeds of the masters in NEWTYPE. You took down thousands of Federation mobile suits while piloting a single MS! That's amazing."

Because his father was developing MS weapons for the Federation, he rarely came home, always using work as an excuse. This made Camus dislike the Federation's militaristic and aggressive military.

Driven by a rebellious streak, he developed a liking for the Federation's enemies—except for Zeon, who was a bit too extreme, while Miss Anna El was completely spotless, like Joan of Arc.

[Hehe, that's an exaggeration. Actually, there were only about 100 machines attacking at the same time, and I had a partner.]

Anna's reply was still full of warmth.

Seeing the other person's humility, Camus became even more convinced that he had met the real deal.

"Where are you? In Blue Noah? I'd like to get your autograph."

I'm in Shangri-La.

"The Shangri-La colony is over 600,000 kilometers away from here. How can your superpowers reach such a distance?" Camus couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

[...Actually, it can only be done with the help of some equipment. This directed energy brainwave device can function like making a phone call. It actually took me a while to locate your position.]

Camus excitedly bit his finger, wondering if he was the kind of person with great talent who was worth Master El's time to find.

He had always felt that he was a little special. Could it be that he was a new kind of human?

"Can I go to Shangri-La too?"

The Shangri-La described in NEWTYPE magazine is a sacred place for the new generation.

Every new human who arrives will receive scientific training equally and awaken to become a mature new human.

Shangri-La doesn't refuse anyone, but Camus, you can't come now, can you?

"Ah, Master El, why do you say that?"

If you were to come, would your parents agree and allow it? Your parents provide for your food, clothing, and shelter, right?

The other person's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Camus, chilling him to the bone.

Indeed, short-term tourism is fine, but if it's a long-term stay, how to explain it is a real challenge.

I'm still in school and still participating in the karate club.

My father enjoys his work and has a mistress; to him, I'm probably a burden.

While Mom appears tough on the surface, she can't bring herself to let work replace the meaning of her entire life. If I were to leave... Mom would probably break down.

The thought of running away from home had just popped into my head, and I even had a destination in mind.

But when it came to actually implementing it, Camus began to back down.

“Lord El, I can find a way. I can persuade my mother to move to Shangri-La.”

[You can try this... By the way, I have to go now, but before I leave, here's a useful trick for you. If you find the surroundings too noisy, give this a try.]

A peculiar sensation washed over him, and Camus reopened his eyes.

Like a newborn baby that cries loudly... he seemed to have obtained a system from a novel, and suddenly "learned" a certain skill as if he had received a divine revelation.

After activating the skill, all the sounds around you seem to be turned down when you use it.

When he "disabled" the skill, a massive amount of information flooded his mind, almost making him rush to the toilet to vomit up the acid reflux in his stomach.

So, is it actually creating a perforated "air wall" between itself and the outside world?

Like a strainer, it separates the soup ingredients from the broth, allowing for selective filtering of information.

Camus suddenly realized something and rushed into the study, opening one of the storage cabinets.

There are five Newtype booklets inside.

Each of these books contains a short story.

The origin of this skill is one of them—the book tells the story of a new human explorer who uses a time machine to travel back to the Cretaceous period and is chased by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but eventually escapes.

Tyrannosaurus Rex was the most powerful predator on Earth since its formation.

Its head has highly sensitive sensory organs, like radar, which can detect the prey's every move from several kilometers away. Its roars are also infrasound waves that can instill fear in the prey to the bone.

The explorer used this skill to capture the Tyrannosaurus Rex's location while concealing his own "scent," ultimately allowing him to escape.

It's the same trick I've learned now.

Since this book is like this... could the other four books also contain some hidden secrets?

Camus excitedly began flipping through the other four books.

Although the Shangri-La Observatory looks like a large astronomical telescope, it is actually a brainwave signal amplifier. The signal tower can transmit and receive brainwave signals and adjust the transmission direction.

Anna El can use this device to communicate remotely with other Newtypes within its "range," completely ignoring interference from sources such as Minovsky particle dispersion and sunspots. It is a highly efficient communication and brainwave search device.

Within the Earth sphere, this thing can be used directly to "make phone calls".

Anna removed her helmet, revealing a few strands of dull, straw-like hair that had fallen out.

“Your NEWTYPE magazines are ridiculously outrageous, Aronnax,” Anna complained.

Aloknas seemed not to hear Anna's words, but looked at her with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, you can finish things before you die."

Aronnax sighed: "Are you sure you want to just let Camus Vidan run wild like this... what if something goes wrong?"

"You underestimate Camus Bidan's resilience. New Humans are much more durable than you think. It's good to let him try to solve problems independently. This skill that Hero always asks me to teach him can solve his problems very well... Let's step in when he encounters a crisis he can't solve."

"I really envy them. They have adults like us to help them. When we were young, we had nothing."

.

I've been harassing that kid Banagher on the computer for days, but he's not responding and the progress bar for my strategy isn't moving at all.

Karma had no choice but to take it slow.

He had also figured out the problem: compared to the neighboring New Federation and the Republic of Zeon, other forces had an inherent disadvantage in attracting new humans.

After awakening, the new humans are born with a sense of kinship, and their communication is like a chat room... The saying that new humans attract each other has a natural truth to it.

Perhaps I should set up an elite school for new humans like Char did?

It doesn't seem very appealing.

It would be faster to consider achieving a new breakthrough in the realm of soul technology.

"Psychic sensing framework?"

"Yes, Director, have you heard of this? It's a new technology that inscribes the Psycommu system onto the MS skeleton, essentially turning the entire machine into a living biological computer."

A week after arriving on the moon, Kalmar secretly visited Side 3.

They went directly to the "inventor" of the mystical framework in the original timeline—Nanai, the current director of the Funagana Institute—hoping to at least see if they could find any clues about the research.

Chapter 244 The Horcrux Hosted by the Female Ghost

"That's an idea? That's certainly a good approach."

Seeing the director's eyes light up, Karma felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.

So you're saying there hasn't been any specific research yet? In some strategy games, there are technology penalties for researching ahead of time. Is there a similar penalty here?

"Have there been any accidents where the pilot's soul was trapped inside the machine?" Karma asked, changing her perspective.

Nana's expression immediately changed.

“Our organization did have an accident during the experiment… One trainee’s soul was captured by the machine’s Psycommu system and imprisoned within the machine.”

Captured, imprisoned?

Karma's mind flashed back to a series of images.

In the video, the blonde girl runs into the water and spins around.

“NT is different, right? Although I don’t know what heaven is like, I believe that the soul absolutely exists… When I’m reincarnated next time, I want to be a bird.”

After the cockpit was left empty, only the necklace inside remained.

The transmigrator's memories kicked in again, which also served as a reminder to Karma.

Can a psycho-sensing framework preserve soul consciousness?

And the psycho-sensing framework... is essentially a large-scale psilocybin computer that stores souls—

In other words, can the Psycommu device be used as a container for the soul?

"Can someone take me to the place where the soul-imprisoning machine is located? You didn't destroy it, did you?" Karma asked Nana.

“It’s classified.” Nanai reacted instinctively, but realizing the identity of the person asking the question and the instructions given to her by Commander-in-Chief Xia, she immediately changed her words: “I’ll take you to see it right away.”

After leaving the research base aboard a spaceship, Karma, following Nanai's directions, spotted the machine in the warehouse within a military colony.

This is a Zaku, but the various square-shaped block armor and weapons attached to it are reminiscent of a mobile suit.

Spiritual Zaku.

"During the testing of the Cymemic System, an accident occurred due to the system going berserk, and this new human trainee named Yasna Elmarit died during the test."

"die?"

"Records show that when the experiment ended, the body stopped breathing, and she 'forgot' to breathe. Her brain quickly died from lack of oxygen, and we held a funeral for her."

So, the matter should have ended there, but then the ghost story happened?

Nana's answer confirmed this conjecture.

"However, when we tried to start the machine again afterward, we found that the Psycommu could not be activated properly, and the new humans who tried to start it reported that they heard Asuna's voice during the piloting process... We immediately sealed the machine away."

Has this machine become a Horcrux that a female ghost can possess?

Karma opened the cockpit from the outside; it was empty.

The cockpit was like an abyss leading to the underworld.

Since such a phenomenon exists, there must be a reason for its existence.