Chapter 37: Ancient Computers (3)

Now that the holiday season was over, I had no chance to hunt down any stray devils.

Though, truth be told, I didn't mind much. By that point, I had become far too absorbed in the data I had recorded from the Boosted Gear.

Especially since I was back in my garage, now with a much bigger screen, and Aurora—who handled everything for me—making it so much easier to dive into the data.

First, the metal. The material of the Boosted Gear is unique. It's a fusion of Ddraig's energy and transmuted metal, making it significantly more durable. Its history speaks for itself, but it's also deeply vulnerable to specific weaknesses.

An anti-dragon weapon fused with soul-damaging properties could critically damage or even destroy the structure in one strike. It's powerful, but only against particular threats.

Now that I understood the method, I could start working on my own version of Scale Mail. But mine wouldn't be so primitive. The Boosted Gear Scale Mail only bypasses the restrictions placed on the Boost, allowing Ddraig's energy to leak around the host. This boosts the host's overall performance by 9 to 11 times, depending on their body's durability.

The armor itself isn't special—it's merely crystallized draconic energy. There's no magic or advanced technology in it. The only exception is Juggernaut Drive, which develops a Longinus Smasher. But even that is just the dispersal of excess energy the body has accumulated—a fail-safe to protect the Gear.

That's why I need to build this from the ground up, just like I did with my guns.

Minimizing the logs from Boosted Gear, I navigated to the folder labeled "Projects" and opened it. Inside were just two projects: Project Diamond and Project Aurora. Other projects, like M.T.M or Barrier Rail, were in separate folders under "Systems."

Project Diamond was something I had started long before I even built my PC, so I had to backtrack and type everything down after it was set.

But this new project…

I needed a name with personal meaning. Then it came to me—remembering all the mecha anime I'd watched, especially the very first one I'd seen.

I quickly opened my internet browser to check if it existed in this world.

"Gundam...Seed…" I typed into the Google search bar and pressed enter. And there it was.

It existed. And I was in the period when Gundam 00 was still in the works.

"Well, this is going to be interesting…" I closed the browser and returned to my project, creating a new file and naming it "Project Freedom."

After my favorite mech. It was ironic how I was enslaving devils, yet choosing a name tied to freedom…

It also fit perfectly. The Scale Mail—or whatever it would eventually become—would give the user the 'freedom' to go places where normal humans couldn't.

After creating the project file, I started the design phase.

I quickly sketched the Freedom Gundam. It felt strange drawing a mech, as I was more accustomed to drawing cars. But still, I managed a perfect copy of it. Funny how the last time I saw this anime was almost 30 years ago. Maybe I should rewatch it in this timeline to see if they altered the plot.

Regardless, once I finished the front, I drew the back of the mech, then the sides.

Once the basic design was done, I sent it to Aurora for 3D rendering.

Turning around, I watched as the mech appeared on the holographic display. I put on my design gloves and picked up the stylus. It was time to bring this drawing to life.

First, the obvious task: making the mech fit a human. Unlike the original Freedom, this version wouldn't be 50 meters tall. Instead, it would be closer to 2 to 3 meters.

So, resizing it and fitting a human inside was the next step. Nothing too scientific—just a matter of adjusting it for practicality.

I started with the chest piece. The thrusters would be discarded. The suit would run on magic, not uranium. Once the thrusters were gone, I focused on the main power source.

I would use a customized Diamond Core Heart. Unlike the ones in my hometown or in Kuoh, it wouldn't be shaped like a diamond. Instead, it would resemble a prism. To make up for the reduced durability, I would add extra layers of protective casing. After completing that, Aurora did a basic rendering, adding the initial systems and laying down the technology.

Next, I moved on to the arms. I adjusted them for human physiology and spread the network of magic systems throughout, including servo motors for the elbows to enhance the power of the limbs with magic. This would allow the suit to generate even more strength.

For the legs, I simply repeated the same process as I had for the arms. Then I turned my attention to the helmet. The design of the Freedom Gundam would remain the same, but I had to adjust the inside to fit the human head. I added an Aurora visor and a full holographic support display.

Once that was done, it was time for the hardest and most crucial part: the energy wings.

This was probably the most difficult part. No matter what I tried, I kept failing.

Clearly, a new system was required.

"Heh… let's try magic crystallization for this…"

After a moment of thought, I scrolled through the Boosted Gear logs and found the data on Juggernaut Drive.

I tinkered for a while and created a basic circle for the system. Adding it to a handle, I created a basic M.T.M. circle, and then…

Sound of Beam

A blue lightsaber.

"Is that a lightsaber?" Serafall asked, hearing the unmistakable sound.

"Nice, right? Too bad it has no force behind it," I said, swirling the blade around clumsily before showing how harmless it was.

"You could make a lot of money selling these…" The older devil mused thoughtfully.

"Right, but I'm not exactly ready to share M.T.M. with the whole world," I replied flatly.

"...You could always replace it with something else," she suggested.

"I'm sure magic crystallization isn't exactly widespread either. I haven't heard of anyone else using it," I responded, turning off the lightsaber and returning to my desk.

Now that I could create the magic wings, I needed to make them fly.

"That's actually pretty simple," I thought, adjusting the design. The energy wings would channel flight spells.

"Not only that," I added, "they could also emit other spells… like Solomon's signature spell…"

Quickly adjusting the design again and inputting the changes, I pressed enter, letting Aurora handle the calculations to see if my ideas were feasible.

A few minutes later, after spinning in my chair and making Serafall pout at me for ignoring her, the math and emulation were complete.

[The design rendering is complete]

[The armor is feasible at: 99.97%]

'In other words, the current design is possible,' I thought seriously.

The rough design was finished. Now came the real work.

"It's done. The rough design is finished," I said to the still-pouting devil.

"Oh? Already!? But you've only been working on it for two months!"

"Well, isn't this a huge step forward? Tons of new systems, bringing everything together…"

Serafall walked over and checked the computer screen.

I pressed the mouse button, dragging the project into the holographic display.

"You… You just made Gundams a reality, didn't you?" she said, shaking her head as she walked over to the display.

"Heh… you know Gundam?" I asked, surprised she was familiar with it. I figured she was only into magical girl stuff.

"I should be the one asking this! You never said you were into Japanese anime!" she pouted at me.

"You could always ask me to cosplay if you want," I teased, as she struck a pose from Sailor Moon. Yeah, I somehow remembered that.

"Right... we can talk about that later."

"Sure thing~~~ As I said, I can dress however you want~~~" she said, giving me a playful wink before turning back to the armor.

"So… what are the specs?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"The material will be the same one Big G used for his gear. The M.T.M. inside will continuously make the armor stronger, essentially making it indestructible."

"Indestructible?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Sort of. It's powered by a Diamond Core reactor, so I won't need to use my own magic."

Her eyes widened for a moment, then settled down.

"In a sense?"

"Exactly. The internal space is limited, and there isn't much I can do to make it better. G-Force or other external factors can still affect it."

"Magic circles or spells can't fix that?" she asked, arms crossed.

"I'll be using both tech and magic to counter that as much as possible. But I won't be flying to space or deep underwater in this. It can protect against extreme cold and heat, but only offers limited protection from radiation."

"I'll add barrier magic later. For now, this is just the Mark I—just something to gather data for the next model," I explained, staring at the holographic display of the Freedom Mark I.

Even though it wasn't done, I already had ideas for future versions. But for now, I had to make this a reality first before adding the new concepts.