Halberton's Encouragement

"Greetings, Admiral, Ensign Ramias."

Xu De did not let his eyes wander, simply offering a salute as he spoke.

Cook had brought only him along before remaining outside the door; the others present were technical officers he did not recognize, and these two were the only ones whose names he could call.

"Oh, have you two met?"

Hearing this, Halberton looked toward Maliu with keen interest.

He had been focused on watching Xu De's combat performance earlier and had failed to notice Maliu's unusual behavior.

Only now did he realize that his student's face was flushed crimson. As an older man, he quickly understood that Maliu seemed to harbor some feelings for Xu De.

"Yes, I was in charge of the batch of Moebius that Xu piloted previously."

Maliu met Halberton's gaze, answering with a hint of nervousness.

Though she appeared to be a mature beauty, she was unexpectedly naive and pure-hearted.

"Then you two can be considered fated."

Halberton smiled with an enigmatic expression before continuing.

"The Ginn you piloted has already achieved a certain level of combat effectiveness. How did you manage that?"

"By alternating between hand and foot operations, though I cannot perform many complex maneuvers if I have to use both simultaneously," Xu De answered honestly.

The movements he had just executed in the Ginn were exactly that: he focused on his hands first, then his feet. If one looked closely, they would see there were no fluid, linked motions.

It was barely acceptable when facing Coordinators at medium to long range, but if it came to close-quarters combat, he would definitely be suppressed if he could not use his hands and feet in unison.

"Even so, that is quite impressive."

Hearing that Xu De's explanation matched his own hypothesis, Halberton stood up from his seat and patted Shun on the shoulder.

"If the system were further simplified, would you have the confidence to operate it fluidly?"

"Yes, but at the very least, it would require autonomous coordination between hand and foot movements," Xu De said after considering the feel of the controls.

"Mm, I understand."

Watching the youth's confident demeanor, Halberton made his own calculations.

A smile appeared on his face as he turned to look at the young woman, who remained nervous and inexplicably shy.

"Maliu, is there anything else you would like to ask?"

Halberton's tone carried a rare hint of teasing.

"Ah, g-good luck?"

Maliu met the gaze of the Admiral and the heroic eyes of the youth, then lowered her head in confusion.

Her heart began to beat even faster.

The youth's performance just now had shown both tactical cunning and raw skill. To Maliu, who was dedicated to the research of MS and armor, his appeal had clearly increased significantly.

In Maliu's eyes, Xu De was the person here most likely to pilot the new type of MS.

His future was undoubtedly bright, and since their projects were similar, perhaps there would be many opportunities to meet in the future.

Thinking of this, a sense of inexplicable anticipation grew within Maliu's heart.

Observing Maliu's reaction, Halberton kept his smile as he spoke to Xu De.

"Your rank and rewards will be issued together once this is over."

"Go back for now. While I think highly of you, do not be careless; the outcome has not been fully decided yet."

After Halberton said this and returned Xu De's salute, he allowed him to leave the room.

"Well?"

Halberton turned to look at Maliu, who had remained silent and was acting more adorably dazed than usual.

"Not bad?"

"I am asking about the system."

Halberton shook his head with a chuckle.

"Ah..."

Maliu, her face flushed red from embarrassment, stammered as she continued.

"I don't know much about the system, but just as he said, if we want to popularize MS in the future, we must simplify the system or make it more intelligent."

"However, we currently don't have many professional experts in that field."

Speaking of her field of expertise, Maliu gradually became serious.

"Are we still going to cooperate?"

"But those big shots who do nothing but eat and draw pay probably won't agree."

Halberton gave a bitter smile.

Those people are still hoping to assemble the Fifth and Sixth Fleets to launch a direct counterattack on the PLANT homeland.

Although the latest war game simulations show it is still feasible.

But could it really be that simple?

Those Coordinators are every one of them shrewd to the core.

Even the most meticulous plans can have loopholes.

Without a Mobile Suit with matching capabilities, trying to crush them purely with numbers is no different than a balloon hitting a thin needle.

The balloon is certainly large, but it is also extremely easy to be pierced by a single point of a needle.

"Admiral..."

Maliu looked at her mentor with concern.

"It's fine, we just need to continue pushing the plan forward."

The Admiral shook his head and said.

Unaware of their discussion and unable to participate in the matters they were debating, Xu De returned to the training area.

He was immediately met with the eager gazes of the others, which also carried the fear one feels toward a formidable enemy.

The fear was easy to understand; after all, they had all witnessed Xu De's strength just moments ago.

The eagerness, however, was for the sake of forming an alliance.

Although the assessment was a melee—meaning there was a high probability that the ten of them, now nine, would be thrown together to fight until only half or even one remained—teaming up with Xu De meant securing a powerhouse on the field.

The eagerness they felt now to team up with Xu De was so similar to, yet so different from, the eagerness they felt when they initially viewed him as a "fish" to be exploited.

At the very least, these people no longer dared to underestimate him.

"Xu, what did the Admiral want with you?"

Before anyone else could step forward to cozy up and issue a team invitation, Moody walked up and asked.

"He just asked about piloting," Xu De replied.

"Well, that's normal enough."

Moody nodded, then grabbed Draco from the side and pulled the three of them together.

"Let's team up!"

"With this devious guy included, that makes three of us."

Draco, who had been called devious, glanced at Moody.

He neither acknowledged nor declined.

"Second Lieutenant Draco."

Xu De nodded toward him.

"Hmm."

Draco gave a simple nod in return.

He felt no psychological pressure regarding his previous instigation.

Xu De was not particularly surprised; he had investigated the man as well.

Draco was a tactical genius, skilled in behind-the-scenes coordination, and his skill in piloting a Moebius was certainly not poor either.

His combat record involved using a stratagem to coordinate a six-man Moebius unit to wipe out four Ginns.

It could be said that everyone here was a figure who had emerged because of this battle.

Although such battlefields were dangerous, they were also opportunities for them to make a name for themselves.

Regardless of whether this was their desire or not, that was the reality.

Of course, they had no role in the original plot.

He didn't even know if they were the reserve pilots who were blown up at Heliopolis.

If that were truly the case, it would be far too frustrating.

It was obvious that those eventually chosen to pilot Mobile Suits would be the elites.

They could have had the opportunity to achieve great things.

They were not "chosen ones" like Kira.

They could only rely on their own efforts to move forward step by step.

Yet they died just as they were about to reach the next milestone in their lives.

Although Kira being forced to turn against his good friends was also tragic, that was a theatrical kind of tragedy. For Xu De, it was the deaths of these people that resonated with him more.