"Eh... me?"
Kira pointed at himself, his widened eyes showing surprise.
This MS should be considered confidential, right?... Yet they're just handing it over to me to modify the OS like this. Is this really okay?
"After all, there's no more suitable candidate at the moment. We can only trouble you to give it a try."
Lu Tianming spread his hands helplessly. During the previous battle, he had sensed that although Xia Chuan could freely control the mobile suit's movements, the Strike's original shoddy OS acted like a limiter on his brain—many detailed movements either weren't executed properly or were executed chaotically.
This was when they needed their toolman Kira to step in—adjusting parameters and modifying key configurations.
He wasn't worried about Kira being unable to do it... Rather, if Kira couldn't do it, then nobody in this world setting could.
In the original work, Kira had rewritten programs while piloting the Gundam from the very beginning. The password locks he casually created took technicians an entire fortress half a day to crack. Later, when he transferred to the Dawn Organization, he single-handedly took charge of developing the Natural version OS... Lu Tianming had no doubt that while Kira secured the title of SEED ace pilot, he could simultaneously claim the title of ace technician too.
Having such a hack-level technician working for free to modify the OS... Lu Tianming wouldn't easily let this opportunity slip away.
Otherwise, with Xia Chuan already being dumb, combined with a dumb OS, Lu Tianming could hardly imagine how ridiculous things would get when those two idiots started malfunctioning together.
"I understand... But I've only worked on Coordinator-related systems before. I'll need your assistance, Mr. Lu, to write a suitable program."
Kira pinched his chin, pondering for a moment before asking in a somewhat tentative tone.
His blinking eyes watched Lu Tianming as if worried he might refuse.
Just like a student seeking guidance from a teacher.
"No problem. In that case, come with me."
Lu Tianming nodded. Seeing that this was feasible, he led Kira into the cockpit. As Kira entered the Strike's cockpit, Lu Tianming faintly heard a soft tsk sound coming from inside...
Lu Tianming naturally knew this was Xia Chuan's emotional reaction. Watching Xia Chuan's obvious displeasure at Kira's entry, Lu Tianming found it quite amusing.
Hard to bear—when Murrue sat in earlier, you were all excited, but now that it's a guy, you're tsk-tsk-tsking, huh?
Ah, typical little head control... Oh wait, it seems he doesn't have a little head anymore.
Lu Tianming suppressed his laughter and knocked on the edge of the cockpit—signaling Xia Chuan to quiet down and not expose himself.
After all, the Strike having its own consciousness... such matters shouldn't be easily revealed to others.
Fortunately, Kira hadn't paid too much attention earlier. He sat in the cockpit, pulled over the keyboard, and began debugging.
But as he typed, his eyebrows furrowed, and he occasionally glanced at Lu Tianming with a surprised expression, his eyes seemingly concealing shock and confusion.
That look seemed to say... how did you manage to pull off such amazing maneuvers earlier with such a terrible system?
Kira had basically witnessed the Strike Gundam's previous battles... those remarkably human-like, sharp movements that surpassed all MS performance he had seen in various reports.
He had initially thought that an OS capable of supporting such maneuvers would be top-tier or close to it, requiring little modification on his part.
But when he got his hands on it, he realized... the reality was completely different from what he had imagined.
The Assault Suit's original OS was downright terrible—to put it in perspective, it was like an FPS game where mouse movement controlled walking, WASD keys handled camera rotation, and the space bar was set to fire.
Forget about performing complex maneuvers; just walking normally would make him marvel at the pilot's sheer skill.
And yet... Lu Tianming had not only walked effortlessly but even executed near-human combat movements earlier...
Just how skilled was his MS piloting technique? Was he really not a Coordinator?
Nearby, Lu Tianming seemed to notice Kira's unusual gaze and asked:
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Huh? Ah... no, nothing."
Caught staring, Kira flusteredly waved his hands before pausing in thought and suddenly asking:
"Um... Mr. Lu, could you check if any of these parameters need adjustments?"
Compared to the Kira from the original timeline who was forced to modify the OS under dire circumstances with full initiative, this version—summoned here for work—was noticeably more restrained. Coupled with the need to adapt to Lu Tianming's habits, he felt somewhat hesitant in adjusting certain data.
"Let me see... Increase the transmission speed of the Simulated Neural Impulse, update the Neural Link Network based on combat data, optimize the Transfer Function, add Coriolis Deviation Correction, and preset some frequently used complex movements as Motion Routines integrated into the operating system..."
Lu Tianming looked at the screen in front of Kira—he had intended to just go through the motions and give a casual response.
But when he saw the parameters, he found himself speaking almost involuntarily... as if he were intimately familiar with these seemingly incomprehensible data.
Kira quickly nodded and began typing furiously on the keyboard—almost as soon as Lu Tianming suggested a modification, Kira would implement it with his programmer's lightning speed, often within two to three seconds of the next suggestion.
The combination of a god-tier programmer and Lu Tianming's involuntary, navigation-like guidance resulted in the operating system being overhauled at a storm-like pace... leaving Xia Chuan, the Machine Spirit, utterly bewildered.
"Bro, how do you even understand this stuff?"
If Kira hadn't been present, Xia Chuan would have blurted this out aloud.
Yet even Lu Tianming himself didn't know why... if he had to explain it, it felt as if his brain had connected to some database the moment he entered, granting him full comprehension of the data's meaning.
It was as though... simply being inside this cockpit gave him some kind of buff.
After entering the cockpit, Xia Chuan gains the ability to act autonomously... and I become proficient in MS operations?
Lu Tianming harbored a suspicion but wasn't entirely convinced.
Finally, Kira typed the last character, let out a long sigh, and leaned back against the cockpit seat, exhaustion evident on his face—the high-speed programming had even strained his Coordinator brain.
"At last... the OS is completely renewed."
Lu Tianming gazed at the thoroughly revamped Operating System from top to bottom, deeply moved—his earlier flattery hadn't been in vain. When Kira committed to something, he truly delivered.
"That's right... But speaking of which, Mr. Lu, how did you manage it earlier? Even with such an outdated OS, you executed those fluid movements."
Kira nodded with a sense of accomplishment, then after a moment's thought, voiced the question that had been puzzling him.
"Who knows? Logically, it shouldn't have been possible."
Lu Tianming scratched his head—he couldn't very well say the Assault Suit moved on its own... But seeing the curiosity in Kira's eyes, he knew he couldn't brush it off.
This didn't stump Lu Tianming, however. After brief consideration, he crafted a response for Kira.
A slight smile curled his lips as he looked at Kira and said:
"If I had to guess... perhaps it's because of something I did before startup that made the Assault Suit's 'Machine Spirit Greatly Pleased'?"