After briefly skimming through the introduction to the “Real Battlefield” mode, Yu Xiao roughly understood.
This mode allowed players to play as an ordinary soldier, moving alongside their unit, fighting against all manner of different enemies across countless battlefields while continuously honing and strengthening their own abilities and machine.
And, unlike the simulation battle modes that could be selected before, in a single match the number of enemies would correspondingly increase along with the numerous NPC allies.
In short, it had changed from something like an arcade-style stage-clearing template into a quasi-open-world mode with growth elements.
And as for combat, it had also shifted from the original 1-vs-1 to multiplayer team-based group competition.
One could call it a moderately-sized change.
After comprehending these changes, Yu Xiao pressed the confirm button on his controller once more to switch pages.
Next, what entered Yu Xiao’s view was a short line of text:
[Please select a faction]
Beneath this line of text, there was also a dense mass of background introduction.
So Yu Xiao carefully began to read.
…In this worldview that seemed to have combined quite a few works together and was set in an alternate reality, there were three major factions.
They were, respectively, the “Human Reform League” established with the eastern Shenzhou Nation at its core, abbreviated as the HRL; another major power sharing a border with it, the “EU”; and finally, the superpower that hung isolated overseas and dominated an entire continent alone, the “New Continent United States.”
Originally, they had been in a state of standoff due to conflicts in many aspects.
Now, however, because of an invasion by an evil alien force, they had begun a brief joint resistance against the enemy.
This sort of thing was a very plain setting, right?
So Yu Xiao didn’t pay it any further attention.
And he casually selected the HRL as his starting faction.
After all, the Penglai Island where he currently lived was an island city of Shenzhou Nation.
And people always liked to choose options in games that gave them a full sense of immersion.
Next, Yu Xiao’s gaze shifted to the second line of text.
[Please enter a codename]
A codename.
That should refer to his nickname in this game, right?
This one, though, couldn’t be decided as offhandedly as the previous item.
After much deliberation, Yu Xiao finally typed the four characters “Red One” into the text box.
It sounded a bit tacky, but Yu Xiao believed the tackier it was, the stronger it was.
That was the eternal, unchanging truth of this world.
And what he was going to play as should be an “ordinary soldier”… Thinking about it that way, perhaps he didn’t need too flashy a wording after all.
And once both items were selected, the screen jumped.
[Information entry complete. Now randomly selecting your starting machine…]
He couldn’t choose it himself?
Yu Xiao couldn’t help but frown.
But that was fine too.
He then reconsidered.
After all, unknown things were more captivating.
[Your starting machine is: OZ-06MS Leo]
And moments later, accompanied by this prompt, a 3D model of a mobile suit appeared before Yu Xiao’s eyes.
It was a machine painted entirely in green, with a square amber-yellow visor on its head, and a structure so plain it could even be called crude.
…Simply put, it looked exactly like a rank-and-file grunt.
But before he could even finish sighing over it, the message that appeared next stole Yu Xiao’s attention away.
[Account construction complete. You are about to enter the Real Battlefield…]
It was starting already?
Yu Xiao raised his controller.
And the loading process lasted only a moment.
Then, to Yu Xiao’s surprise, what was displayed on the screen were exquisite visuals far beyond what the weak hardware of his home console could possibly load.
The oppressive leaden clouds drifting across the edge of the sky, the withered yellow grass swaying in the wind.
Every blade of grass and tree in the scene was incomparably realistic.
If not for the fact that the object at the center of the screen, the mobile suit “Leo,” reflecting a dazzling metallic luster under the blazing sun, was something that could not possibly exist in reality, Yu Xiao might have thought the production team was fooling him with some landscape photos taken from somewhere.
…He remembered that during simulation battles, it hadn’t been like this.
Back then, whether it was the models or the scenery, the modeling and rendering should have been more crude…
The current level of visual detail was, by comparison, more than ten times, even nine times, what it had been before.
If someone said this was a documentary from a future era, there might even be people who would believe it.
Well.
It’s probably a change to the texture pack after the update.
This sort of thing happens often.
He thought.
Still, this optimization was seriously incredible.
Yu Xiao couldn’t help but marvel silently in his heart.
In his memory, the studios capable of achieving this level were few and far between.
…I really want to know just who on earth made a game like this.
As he silently thought this, Yu Xiao shifted his gaze back to the matter at hand.
“Alright. Let me see, the enemy is…”
Muttering unconsciously, Yu Xiao rotated his viewpoint.
“…Whoa?!”
And then he couldn’t help but let out a slightly startled, terrified cry.
Because everywhere he looked was filled with densely packed, bizarre creatures.
They were strange monsters whose design seemed to blend the features of humans with those of certain arthropods.
And their models were likewise quite refined and lifelike, looking genuinely somewhat terrifying…
Which was why Yu Xiao had been startled.
But after calming down, he quickly identified the source of these monsters.
They were things called Beta.
In Yu Xiao’s memory, they were the alien insectoid monsters from the “Muv-Luv” series.
They were beings that regarded humans as a kind of mineral, terrifying enemies with whom communication and dialogue were impossible.
And at this moment, Yu Xiao thought of some miscellaneous things again.
The “Leo” assigned to him was a main-force machine from “New Mobile Report Gundam Wing.”
The HRL faction he belonged to came from “Mobile Suit Gundam 00.”
Three things that had nothing to do with one another had now converged in one place.
How should he put it… It really was like the sort of chaotic mashup you’d see in a “Super Robot Wars” series work.
But, he wondered whether the studio had actually paid for the copyrights.
If not, then perhaps in the original world, they’d be fiercely sued into going out of business by that conglomerate starting with the letter B.
At that point, they’d probably have to really stop version updates…
…Forget it.
There’s no use thinking too much about this sort of thing.
Yu Xiao shook his head, focused his mind, and returned his attention to the matter at hand.
On the monitor, a pop-up window filled with a great deal of text was projected.
It was an explanatory introduction to the various conditions of the battlefield:
[Battlefield Map: Human Reform League, Shenzhou Nation, Jibei Plains]
[Allies: Human Reform League Army]
[Enemy: Beta]
[Battlefield Background: The iron hooves of Beta’s invasion press forward step by step, and have now arrived before the capital of Shenzhou Nation, Tianjing City. The Northern Army Group of the HRL has organized a defensive line here. Support them, and hold the position!]
[Victory Conditions: Hold your ground in place for three hours, or annihilate all enemy forces]
At the same time, a countdown of “180:00:00” appeared in the lower right corner of the screen.
It should be counted in minutes, probably.
…What’s this.
So straightforward.
Seeing this, the corner of Yu Xiao’s mouth curved into a faint arc.
No matter how you looked at it, the former condition was simpler.
But Yu Xiao also wanted to test his own skill.
After all, as the old saying goes, the Leo’s performance varies vastly depending on the pilot.
Facing a swarm of countless insects with just a single mass-produced machine might look like an impossible feat to anyone.
But fortunately, this was a game, a place that existed precisely to let people do things that common sense called impossible.
So then, just how far could he go…
As he thought this, Yu Xiao pushed the joystick.
The pop-up window explaining the battle situation vanished at that moment along with his movement.
“…Yu Xiao, Leo, launching!”
After Yu Xiao imitated the protagonists of the Gundam series with a pretentious shout, the Leo crouched slightly, and the thrusters on its back ignited at full power.
Trailing blue light, the steel giant in dark green paint kicked up sand and dust from the ground.
Under Yu Xiao’s skilled control, it did not retreat and cower.
Instead, it charged straight ahead, directly into the horrifying swarm of insects that covered the mountains and plains before him.
Ok Bois… where the power stones at?!
(since we’re just starting out for now, might increase these in the future)