"What's the evaluation going to involve?"
Xu De asked right after him.
"Mobile Suit operation."
Revil continued.
"The Special Operations Division's technicians assessed the Mobile Suit you captured. It's in excellent condition."
Xu De searched Google for TWKAN.
"If we gather some other parts from the battlefield, we can put it back together."
Xu De said.
"Not a simulator, but actually piloting it?"
A simulator was always different from a real Mobile Suit. Actually piloting one would be much harder.
Going straight to the real thing seemed like asking too much.
"Yes, but there's a simulator. We'll get it ready as soon as possible after you reach the Moon."
Hearing that there would be a simulator, Xu De relaxed a little and asked,
"Is there a manual?"
"I've got one ready for you."
As he spoke, Revil pulled a thick book from behind his back.
It looked a little worn and was covered in grease stains. It was even thicker than the fighter-pilot manuals Xu De had seen in his previous life. He had no idea where it had come from.
Still, as long as it worked.
Thinking that, Xu De took the book and asked,
"Will anyone else be taking the evaluation?"
"Probably, but the candidates are confidential."
"You know this project is classified."
Revil shook his head.
"The evaluation will probably start four days after you reach the Moon. With the information I have now, that's about all I can find out."
"Sorry for the trouble, sir."
Xu De wasn't dissatisfied.
If Revil's superior—the Third Fleet's commander-in-chief—were still alive, Revil would naturally know more.
But the commander-in-chief was dead. Anyone who didn't kick Revil while he was down was already showing him some camaraderie. No one was going to risk sharing classified information with him.
"If you want more detailed information, you could try..."
Revil didn't say it outright, but his eyes drifted toward the pocket where Xu De kept someone's contact information.
"I understand."
Xu De had thought of that too, but he could only sound them out once he reached the Moon.
As for the step he needed to take now, he already had a fairly good idea.
All that remained was to see whether he could pull it off.
One small step for a Ginn, one giant leap for Xu De.
Xu De tightened his grip on the manual, then raised his other hand in a crisp salute to Revil.
"Sir, I'm going to study the manual!"
"Go ahead. I'll be waiting for good news."
Revil patted Xu De on the shoulder like a kindly elder.
"I won't let you down, sir!"
Xu De straightened his back.
Once all the various messages had been confirmed, the remaining trip to the Moon gradually grew dull.
After the battlefield's life-and-death struggle and the busy work of cleaning up, most people slept soundly.
Xu De was the only one moving around the ship, where day and night blurred together.
He had given the manual a quick read.
It was incredibly complicated.
But Xu De's usual approach was to break any difficult problem down into smaller parts until he could solve it.
The biggest obstacles to piloting a Ginn were coordination and reflexes.
Just like how Sai had crashed while piloting the Strike.
Controlling all the limbs was so complicated that he couldn't pilot it properly.
It was like a game where each button controlled a different limb. Some experts could walk effortlessly, as if they were really walking, but ordinary people struggled just to move forward, as if their limbs didn't belong to them.
So before he could get his hands on a Ginn simulator, Xu De needed to keep working on his coordination and reflexes.
Of course, aboard a standard Drake-class ship, the training area didn't even have a Moebius simulator. It only had one for the Mistral.
And that was Xu De's destination.
He floated down the empty corridor for a short while before reaching the training area.
There weren't many people there. When Xu De arrived, everyone looked over.
Xu De's accomplishments had made the rounds here too. Some of the people watching him were welcoming; others showed no expression.
Xu De paid them no mind and opened a simulator that hadn't been used in quite some time.
"Here it is. Survival Mode."
After swiping through the screen, Xu De quickly found what he was looking for.
"Best record: 10 minutes, 21.09 seconds. Lieutenant Libby."
The score was connected to the fleet's internal network.
In other words, it was the best record in the Third Fleet.
Xu De hadn't expected it to belong to an old acquaintance. He let out a laugh, then murmured,
"Then you're where I'll start, Lieutenant Libby."
He wanted to prove himself, but he also wanted to confirm that he was better than the others.
Since he didn't yet know who else might be competing to become a Mobile Suit pilot, he would start with someone whose record he could see.
"Goal: break eleven minutes before we reach the Moon!"
After setting himself a small goal, Xu De didn't waste any more time.
He eagerly pressed the start button.
Before long, his first attempt was over.
Looking at the time—10 minutes and 2 seconds—Xu De narrowed his eyes.
He realized he had underestimated the difficulty of Survival Mode.
The difficulty rose with every passing minute.
For the first eight minutes, the steadily increasing number of ZAFT work-use Mobile Armors weren't much of a problem. But starting at the ninth minute, Ginns appeared.
By the tenth minute, there were two Ginns.
And naturally, they kept accumulating.
The earlier parts were manageable, but having two Ginns swarm a single Mistral was a little unfair.
Still, if Libby could do it, then so could he.
"In that case, I might as well remove the lower half."
Xu De studied the Mobile Suit configuration screen in front of him.
The Mistral could be split in half.
The lower section, shaped like a tray, held the Vulcan Cannon and some work tools.
The upper section consisted of an oval cockpit and two mechanical arms.
Using only the upper half would definitely make him faster, but he'd have no weapons.
"But then it'd be even more fragile. And without weapons, he wouldn't be able to shoot down those ZAFT Mobile Armors."
As Xu De continued to think over his strategy, word of his near-record-breaking run quickly reached Libby's private quarters in the officers' section, carried by a fellow trainee.
"What!?"
Libby had been lying in bed, planning his revenge. At the sight of the message on his communicator, he shot upright.
He'd nearly broken the record on his very first try?
He'd been top of the simulated battles for years. Sure, he'd made a few minor adjustments to the data using his connections, but Xu De shouldn't have had access to anything like that.
Libby couldn't stay put. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he headed straight for the training area.
And as word spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred, the whole ship soon heard that Xu De was challenging the Survival Mode record.
Except for those who were too exhausted or still on duty, most of the soldiers made their way to the training area.
"Training?"
In the captain's cabin, Revil studied the report in front of him, as well as the simulator feed being broadcast through his clearance. His face lit up with interest.
Even without much information, Xu De was still finding his own way forward. That was exactly why Revil was increasingly certain Xu De would go far.
And on his very first simulation, he had already come close to Libby's best record.
Thinking of that, Revil quickly pressed the record button.
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