Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ran persuaded the birdman to help protect the planet, fleet, and bug queen from the Earth Unified Army by promising nightly concerts of peaceful songs. After returning to the Second Archangel, he approved Basak going out and planned to send Luo to study local technology.

• Xiao Ran told the birdman that the Earth Unified Army wanted to control the bugs and use them to dominate the galaxy.
• The birdman agreed to help if Xiao Ran’s group provided songs like Basara’s, and Xiao Ran promised nightly performances starting in three days.
• Xiao Ran reflected on how discovering the birdman, identifying him, and bargaining with him were crucial to completing the mission.
• Xiao Ran returned to Hangar Three and saw Luo, Basak, and the Haros working on the Multi-function Backpack.
• Xiao Ran let Basak go out when he was bored and said he planned to send Luo to learn about the world’s technology.

Xiao Ran reviewed Luo’s Tactical Armor Type-1, a universal MS backpack designed to support multiple units and detachable GN Dragoons. Luo agreed to refine its interfaces and produce another unit, and the chapter ended with Xiao Ran and Luo securing the Second Archangel.

• Basak departed after speaking with Luo, and Xiao Ran returned to find Luo working on the Tactical Armor.
• Luo demonstrated the backpack’s GN Dragoon weapons, drone attachments, and compatibility with several mobile suits.
• Luo explained that the Tactical Armor still needed improved universal interfaces, and Xiao Ran chose a flexible interface design over modifying incompatible units.
• Luo told Xiao Ran that Prometheus had approved the blueprints and explained the high production costs; Xiao Ran ordered another unit and offered to take Luo somewhere with more technicians and suitable production facilities.
• Xiao Ran warned Luo that the coming conflict could become a massive legion-level war, and Luo promised to have the equipment ready.
• Xiao Ran and Luo locked down the Second Archangel so unauthorized people could not board or take it.

Xiao Ran brought Luo to L.A.I and arranged for him to exchange technical knowledge with its engineers. Luo began introducing advanced technologies and planning a joint project, leaving him at L.A.I to collaborate with Angelo’s team.

• Angelo welcomed Xiao Ran and Luo to L.A.I and agreed to make the company’s technical resources available to Luo.
• Xiao Ran asked Angelo to establish a department centered around Luo, where L.A.I’s best technicians could exchange knowledge with him.
• Xiao Ran left Luo with Angelo and told them to contact him if anything came up.
• Luo showed Angelo technical data for GN-series technology and Dragon Fangs, then explained how Phantom Particles could improve L.A.I’s beam weapons.
• Luo and Angelo agreed to begin building a Tactical Armor and to study each other’s technologies while working together on new research.

Xiao Ran oversaw preparations for a planetwide concert, then appeared onstage with President Glass before the performance. Glass announced that he was resigning and that Xiao Ran would succeed him, then began to issue what he called his final order.

• Xiao Ran arranged for the 25th Fleet’s artists, broadcasts, and venues to prepare for a concert that would reach audiences across the galaxy.
• Xiao Ran reviewed the concert schedule and told the stage director to give the children more opportunities to perform.
• Xiao Ran and President Glass took the stage before the concert and addressed the fleet on a live broadcast.
• President Glass praised Xiao Ran’s leadership and announced that he was resigning as Great President, with Xiao Ran succeeding him.
• President Glass began to announce a final order, but Xiao Ran cut off the microphone and offered to deliver the announcement himself.

Xiao Ran became president of the 25th Fleet and used his inaugural address to condemn the Earth Unified Army’s demands and rally the fleet to defend its home and the bugs. A prompt informed him that the fleet qualified as an independent faction, and he had twenty-four hours to choose what to do with it.

• A system prompt told Xiao Ran that Unit 678 had gained control of an eligible independent faction and offered him three choices, with a decision due within twenty-four hours.
• After recovering from his shock, Xiao Ran began his presidential address and warned that humanity, rather than alien lifeforms, posed a threat to the fleet.
• Xiao Ran described the Earth Unified Army’s demands to seize V-virus survivors, take control of the Fleet Defense Force, and force the fleet off its planet.
• He announced that his special force had captured the Earth Unified Army’s fleet without casualties, prompting the audience to acclaim him.
• Xiao Ran urged other fleets to unite and warned that the 25th Fleet would fight rather than surrender its home or its allies.
• After the address, Xiao Ran told the crew to include battle footage, especially scenes of the bugs protecting the fleet, in the concert broadcast.

Xiao Ran reviewed the requirements for turning a faction into an Exclusive Faction and chose the long-term benefit of converting the 25th Emigration Group. Prometheus told him he needed a legion first and gave him one mission cycle to establish or join one before his choice was canceled.

• Xiao Ran studied the six strict requirements for obtaining an Exclusive Faction and considered why the task would remain difficult even for a legion.
• Xiao Ran compared the available rewards and decided that converting the faction offered greater long-term value than taking immediate rewards.
• Xiao Ran selected Option 1 and confirmed his choice to convert the 25th Emigration Group into an Exclusive Faction.
• Prometheus informed Xiao Ran that he could not convert the faction without a legion and reserved his choice for one mission cycle.
• Xiao Ran accepted that he had to join or establish a legion to activate the conversion, or risk receiving a random alternative reward.

As Sheryl and Lanka’s concert filled the skies with singing bugs, countless Jump Channels appeared and the Earth Unified Army arrived with a fleet of more than one hundred thousand vessels. Xiao Ran ordered the 25th Fleet to prepare for battle and summoned his team as the concert continued.

• Xiao Ran weighed the advantages of joining a legion against founding one himself and decided he would not join another participant’s legion.
• Sheryl and Lanka sang “Bird Person” with the bugs, and Xiao Ran finally became absorbed in the performance.
• Thousands of Jump Channels appeared in space, and bugs and Warship Bugs raced through them as the Earth Unified Army’s fleet arrived.
• Xiao Ran ordered the military to readiness, while Glass urged him to inform the public without stopping the concert.
• Xiao Ran summoned the Second Archangel; Basak departed, Cruze set General George’s plan in motion, Luo rushed L.A.I.’s equipment to a warship, and Mwu headed to the Second Archangel.

As the Earth Unified Army attacked, Xiao Ran prepared the 25th Fleet to defend itself while Cruze revealed a scheme to turn the enemy fleet’s internal divisions into a political opportunity. Xiao Ran approved the gamble but insisted that the fleet suffer no losses.

• Xiao Ran announced the attack at the concert, urged civilians to shelter, and asked Sheryl and Lanka to continue singing for the soldiers.
• Xiao Ran left for the Second Archangel as most residents remained in place and the main island’s Outer Armor sealed shut.
• Xiao Ran ordered personnel and equipment transferred from the Second Archangel to the captured New MACROSS-class Battleship while retired soldiers and academy students reported for duty.
• Cruze told Xiao Ran he had contacted General George’s direct subordinates and arranged for them to help attack the factions within the Earth Unified Army fleet.
• Cruze revealed that he planned to let the enemy fleet be destroyed, then use General George’s return to Earth to create political upheaval and elevate him to power.
• Xiao Ran accepted Cruze’s risky plan but warned that the 25th Fleet must not suffer losses because it would soon become their exclusive fleet.

Xiao Ran prepared the MACROSS-class Battleship for the coming standoff while Cruze set out to weaken the Earth Unified Army through political maneuvering. The battleship launched for space with Mwu in command, and Xiao Ran believed his side had the means to secure victory without a costly head-on fight.

• Xiao Ran outlined how Cruze planned to use Admiral George and Earth Unified Army officials to sow political chaos and delay attacks on the 25th Fleet.
• Luo brought equipment to the Second Archangel, where crews began fitting the experimental Tactical Armor Type 1 for Justice Gundam and transferring units to the MACROSS-class Battleship.
• Xiao Ran appointed Mwu captain of the MACROSS-class Battleship and assigned Moses as her adjutant, with the ship's former captain serving as First Officer.
• Mwu received reports that the fleet faced over one hundred thousand enemy battleships, while its own forces included ten thousand battleships and fifty thousand Bug Warships.
• Cruze arrived on the bridge with the battleship's First Officer, and Mwu ordered the MACROSS-class Battleship to launch into space.

Xiao Ran and Cruze engineered a public incident that made the Earth Unified Army attack its own personnel, triggering widespread suspicion and chaos within its fleet. As the Unified Army fell into infighting and the 25th Fleet retaliated, Cruze prepared for General George to appear.

• Xiao Ran ordered his MACROSS-class Battleship to join the first defensive line and forbade attacks without his authorization.
• Cruze sent a Shuttlecraft carrying detained Unified Army personnel away, then broadcast that it was returning senior officers and falsely claimed General George was aboard.
• More than a hundred Unified Army warships fired on the Shuttlecraft, and Cruze used the attack to condemn the fleet publicly and authorize the 25th Fleet to defend itself.
• The warships that attacked the Shuttlecraft jumped away as suspicion spread through the Unified Army, whose retreat devolved into collisions and indiscriminate fighting.
• Xiao Ran ordered his forces to return fire, and the 25th Fleet and bugs attacked the Unified Army, which lost nearly twenty percent of its forces in about a minute.
• Cruze told Xiao Ran that it was time for General George to make his appearance.

Xiao Ran ended the battle with the Earth Unified Army after the birdman appeared and threatened both sides against endangering the planet or targeting the Vajra Queen. A week later, Fleet 25 had recovered and gained support from other fleets, while Xiao Ran reviewed a proposed alliance and found its terms inadequate.

• Admiral George ordered the Earth Unified Army to cease fire and withdraw after agreeing to reconciliation with Fleet 25.
• The birdman appeared between the fleets, warned them not to threaten the planet or the Vajra Queen, and vanished.
• Cruze escorted Admiral George away with technical data, and the Earth Unified Army fleet jumped out of the system.
• Fleet 25 celebrated its victory, and Xiao Ran and his allies settled into the Presidential Palace as life returned to normal.
• Representatives from Autonomous Fleets and Border Forces brought supplies and proposed the Autonomous Trade Alliance, recommending Xiao Ran as its first chairman.
• Xiao Ran read the alliance proposal and judged its terms too simplistic.

Xiao Ran strengthened his alliance proposal with technology sharing and welcomed the arriving S.M.S fleet, while Admiral George returned to Earth and exposed the betrayal and threats his fleet had faced. Earth Unified Army Headquarters appeased George and rewarded his troops, but suspicion spread among its leaders as Cruze's conspiracy took hold.

• Xiao Ran added regular technology trading and disclosure to the alliance proposal, then asked Catherine to have it refined by professionals.
• Luo used his Scrap Dealer skill to recover two damaged Tianjin Level 4 heavy cruisers for Xiao Ran.
• Xiao Ran left his work to welcome the arriving S.M.S fleet, which brought reinforcements and two warships he had been awaiting.
• Admiral George returned to Earth with only about sixty percent of his original fleet and confronted Earth Force Headquarters over the betrayal and heavy losses.
• Earth Unified Army Headquarters reviewed George's battle recording, sent investigators and a delegation, then appeased and rewarded him and his troops.
• Earth Unified Army leaders began suspecting one another, as Cruze's conspiracy started to take effect.

Over three months, Cruze manipulated the Earth Unified Army into chaos and helped General George become its Supreme Commander, preventing further action against the 25th Fleet. Meanwhile, the fleet’s members pursued their own activities as Luo completed a greatly upgraded Tactical Armor Type-1.

• Cruze exploited senior officers’ weaknesses and deepened divisions in the Earth Unified Army as officials argued over how to handle the 25th Fleet.
• George gathered allies by investigating the conflict and promising corporations advanced technology and military contracts.
• Scandals involving senior officials reached the press, forcing the Supreme Commander to resign and allowing George to take his place.
• George issued an order forbidding further action against the 25th Fleet, which the Unified Army’s upper ranks approved.
• Sheryl rested after her month-long concert, Mwu studied fleet warfare, and Graham, Naluo, and Basak continued training.
• Luo finalized an upgraded Tactical Armor Type-1 with a more powerful engine, four GN-T Solar Furnaces, and two large GN Fangs.

Xiao Ran’s Tactical Armor prototype malfunctioned when its red GN-T Solar Furnaces conflicted with the green particles from his Gundam, prompting Luo to develop a Dual Furnace System and TARNS-AM System. After three months of alliance-building and technology exchanges, Cruze secured General George’s appointment as commander-in-chief, completing the random mission and clearing the way for Xiao Ran and his group to leave.

• Xiao Ran tested the Tactical Armor in Strike Gundam, and the prototype backpack sparked after its red GN-T Solar Furnaces conflicted with the Gundam’s green particles.
• Luo identified the cause and, with L.A.I.’s Technicians, developed the Dual Furnace System and TARNS-AM System, then revised the Tactical Armor to use compatible Solar Furnaces.
• Xiao Ran established a technology-exchange alliance and obtained more than ten technical documents, including advanced Micro Missiles and rail-mounted Self-Propelled Turrets.
• Cruze completed his plan on Earth and placed General George in the commander-in-chief position, resolving the crisis facing the 25th Fleet and completing the random mission.

Xiao Ran prepared to leave the 25th Fleet for Earth and another distant destination, arranging for Catherine and Ozma to protect the fleet while he was gone. Moses and Billy agreed to follow him, activating follower missions that required him to settle their families before bringing them to Prometheus.

• Xiao Ran decided to take Moses with him and considered bringing Billy, while weighing Bobby Margot as an alternative helm officer.
• Xiao Ran summoned Catherine, Ozma, Billy, Moses, and Bobby, announced his departure, and assigned Catherine and S.M.S to protect the fleet.
• Xiao Ran borrowed Bobby for the journey and told Catherine to consult President Glass about problems in his absence.
• Xiao Ran asked Billy and Moses to accompany him to a dangerous, unknown destination, and both pledged to follow him.
• Moses and Billy's follower missions activated, requiring Xiao Ran to settle their families before he could bring them to Prometheus.

Xiao Ran completed his objectives in the world, secured several battleships, and received the mission rewards before returning to Prometheus with his team. Bobby Marg became a follower, and the chapter ended with him marveling at Prometheus.

• Xiao Ran arranged for Moses and Billy's families, rewarded them, and explained Prometheus and its missions to them.
• Xiao Ran's team prepared the recovered battleships, while Luo memorized L.A.I's technology and Xiao Ran asked Former President Glass to oversee the fleet.
• Xiao Ran received 80,000 Merit Points, a designated Follower Slot, a Vajra Mother Core, a Spatial Crystal Navigation Propulsion System Blueprint, and a B-rank Vocal Weapon.
• Xiao Ran designated Bobby Marg as a follower and chose to return to Prometheus after twenty-four hours.
• Xiao Ran and his team returned aboard the Second Archangel, and the battleships vanished with them without alarming the fleet.
• Bobby Marg woke in Prometheus and exclaimed at its grandeur, stunning Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran welcomed Bobby, Moses, and Billy to the team and examined their Prometheus attributes, finding them useful as bridge crew and special-operations personnel. He discovered that the harbor control platform could swap the Second Archangel for one of several other warships, including a Small MACROSS-class Battleship.

• Bobby admired the hangar and greeted Cruze enthusiastically, while Moses and Billy greeted him more normally.
• Luo led the newcomers and others to unload supplies from the Second Archangel, while Cruze and Graham went to have a drink.
• Xiao Ran reviewed Bobby, Moses, and Billy's attributes and skills, noting Moses's Geradi transformation and the men's special-operations abilities.
• Xiao Ran found the Control Warship option on the harbor platform and changed the displayed formation around the Second Archangel.
• Xiao Ran selected a Small MACROSS-class Battleship, and the platform prompted him to confirm the replacement.

Xiao Ran arranged to sell two Tianjin Level 4 warships while keeping the Second Archangel, then asked Luo about establishing a legion after revealing he had obtained an Exclusive Faction. Luo explained that it was an Exclusive Territory with vast potential and that its world would never again become a Prometheus Mission World.

• Xiao Ran canceled the prompt to replace the Second Archangel and watched Haros and engineering robots unload its contents.
• Xiao Ran asked Luo to sell two Tianjin Level 4 warships, which Luo estimated could bring in 2.5 to just under 3 million.
• Xiao Ran asked Luo how to establish a legion and revealed that he had obtained an Exclusive Faction and a legion specialty.
• Luo explained that Exclusive Factions were rare, valuable territories belonging entirely to a legion, with extensive room for development.
• Luo told Xiao Ran that no second Exclusive Territory could appear in the same world and that the world containing his territory would never again become a Prometheus Mission World.

Luo explained how an Exclusive Territory could provide Xiao Ran with a private world, mission opportunities, and profits, then outlined the rules and rewards of Special Missions. Xiao Ran learned that establishing a Legion required a Special Mission with a ten-person entry limit, leaving his eleven-person squad one member over the limit.

• Luo explained that Xiao Ran's Exclusive Territory would be a private world where Legion members could accept missions and trade unique products, and where Xiao Ran could issue protected missions.
• Luo asked to build a factory in Xiao Ran's future Exclusive Territory, and Xiao Ran agreed if the territory could be developed.
• Luo described Special Mission cycles, mission types, entry limits, risks, and Special Evaluations that could upgrade skills.
• Luo explained that specialization-based Growth Missions offered learning and rewards, while a Legion Establishment Mission required a Merit Point payment and allowed up to ten participants or followers.
• Xiao Ran counted his squad's eleven members and realized that one person would have to be left out of the Legion Establishment Mission.

Xiao Ran’s team prepared for the dangerous Special Mission by heeding Basak’s advice, deciding how to handle the team’s eleven members, and spending Merit Points on emergency equipment and upgrades. After days of training and battleship exercises, all eleven gathered in the hangar as the mission was about to begin.

• Basak warned Xiao Ran, Cruze, and Graham that Special Missions were chaotic and dangerous, advising them to gather intelligence, avoid reckless actions, and stay cautious.
• Cruze proposed leaving the legion-establishment mission to work alone, but Xiao Ran postponed the decision and promised to equip the team with emergency Ejection Devices.
• Xiao Ran spent Merit Points on Ejection Devices, upgrades for Bobby, Moses, and Billy, supplies, and modifications to the team’s battleships.
• The team trained together for several days, improving their combat coordination and practicing battleship operations under Mwu’s command.
• Luo built unmanned fighters and two VF-27s for Moses and Billy as backup mission machines.
• All eleven team members gathered in the hangar and waited for the Special Mission to be issued.