"Is this some sort of form of specifically raising kids?" Christina asked, as she realised that these two were 'testing' something.
"Precisely!" Marcus pointed his finger at the girl as if she had won a lottery or something.
"It's the Imperial Education System! If you think Gundam is the crown jewel of military, then this system is the crown jewel of Imperial Education itself!
I based it on the system I use to develop my mobile suits.
You see, it starts from the very beginning, as early as four! As children learn to read, write, and count, and as they slowly get exposed to the outside world, teachers observe and collect data on them.
Now, the early data is very simple: Does the child think before he acts, or doesn't he?
The teachers observe and notice their character traits.
Once they find what they are looking for, they adjust to the child the next school year.
The kids get sorted, and over the years, as they grow, we have engineers with engineers and scientists with scientists; the system makes sure these teenagers end up with people who share similar tastes.
It's where they make friends and find their loved ones. It's where another experiment is on its way." Marcus explained to them how his Empire raises the next generation.
"It's where natural, selected breeding takes place." He pointed out another important thing.
"...But…what about…" Christina had a bit of concern with such a system.
"You will probably say: 'What if he or she doesn't want it?' right?" He replied with an eye roll.
"I asked him the same thing." Leila sighed; she had already talked with him about that.
"A large majority of people would choose what they are good at. In the society you grew up in, you couldn't pick that because of financial issues; some people pick high-paying jobs because they need money.
But that's in your world. My world doesn't have such an issue.
The system tracks things, and people are assigned where they are good at.
And the thing is, my system works…" Marcus pointed at his son.
"He is a byproduct of that. From a very early age, I began to test it on Trajan and my two daughters. My son is like me; he likes tech, and he will most likely end up part of G-Force, making Gundams and advanced technology.
That is not all of his talents, as he inherited our tactical mind, so he can be a tactician if need be." The Emperor looked at his wife for a second, hinting at her militaristic past.
"...Still…what about personal traits?" Wang Liu Mei asked, she is well aware of talents and personality.
"Indeed. Those develop because of one's surroundings. People rarely change jobs they are good at, and such changes occur only for personal reasons, such as upbringing, family situation, or financial circumstances.
These kinds of things my Empire has already dealt with. One doesn't need money or worry about the family situation in my empire, as all jobs pay well.
We give houses because, due to colonial expansion, all the jobs created by the Empire are well-paid. We do have the private sector, but it deals with the nuisances we don't care to bother with; most of the time, it's consumer goods.
At the end of the day, we make sure you follow what you are good at, and we make sure you find a partner who does similar work to yours, and then we ensure and encourage your child to do the same thing as you do." He explained to the trio the system he developed based on his Mobile Suit Developer System, which he uses to make his Gundam Thrones.
"Yes, it's the best system that allows people to find work even for those who believe they are untalented or have never discovered what they are good at." Leila chipped in.
"Indeed, the best part is that this is organic and has a natural flow to it.
We do observe people's characters just as much as their talents. Milly's department does constant reviews; she is very good at reading people, and she deals with hard cases involving certain troubled children." Marcus's comment on Milly made the pair a bit surprised.
'Wait, she did say she was part of the Education Department. So she is responsible for this?'
This revelation caused the CIC girls to see Milly in a different light!
"I never thought that she plays such a large part," Christina commented, recalling Milly acting like a normal girl when they spent time travelling around the world.
But now it made sense, the blonde woman was preparing to leave for the Empire, so she checked out the entire world.
"Surprised? She is still an Empress." Leila shook her head. It would seem Milly has trolled these two– three girls.
"She might look eccentric and all that, but in the end of the day she is an Anaheim. Part of the Imperial Family that runs the Empire of Humanity." Leila slightly smirked. She was surprised by how well Milly played with these girls.
"I guess, at some point, I did forget that. She never behaved like an Empress." Christina said with a small frown.
"That is because she should not behave like one in this world." Leila showed them a strained smile.
"We have something called 'Royal Face'." As she said that, her aura changed all of a sudden, and she had a poker face; her back straightened.
"This is how you behave in the Imperial Senate." The Empress said in a majestic tone.
"...Ugh… It feels like a drag." The brown-haired hacker CIC girl groaned as she realised that this was literally acting and making appearances.
"Because it is. Though Marcus loves it." Leila looked at her husband, who, by this point, was checking the reactors and their state.
"...Hmm? You said something?" He looked at them. The Emperor was pondering on GN reactors and their creation. He lost the girls the moment they started talking about Milly and what she does.
"Nothing. Are the reactors ready?" Leila smiled at him as she walked over to her son and husband.
The little prince was checking curiously what his father was doing.
"Indeed. Now watch closely, it's one of the most beautiful technological things I've ever seen." As the Inventor Emperor said, he pressed a button on the holographic screen, and the reactors roared to life, rapidly spun, turned red, and then the GN reactor released a large burst of green particles.
Soon enough, it became a green cloud that spread through the whole workshop. There were some sort of glistering particles mixed with the cloud, making it look… cosmic in a sense.
"Whoa, so cool! Does it mean the Gundam can do something like this, Dad!?" Trajan asked, and instead of getting a reply, he got an image directly in his mind. In fact, all of them got it, as Marcus, an Innovator, was able to share it easily because the cloud had augmented their brains at that moment.
"W-What was that!?"
"I can see images!?"
"I am sharing with you all." Marcus voice rang in all five of them.
"Is this… telepathy?" Leila asked, with a pensive look.
"Indeed."
Marcus focused on her as he walked to her side. At that moment, the blonde's eyes widened as she felt something familiar. It was like her Geass!
She could feel his emotions!
And it made her blush!
"I-I knew something like this would happen!" The woman's cheeks turned deep red; she got tricked!
"Hmm? Mom, are you okay?" Trajan looked confused.
"Don't worry, Troy, your mom is simply getting showered by your dad's love."
"Good, maybe she will be less grumpy afterwards." The Prince seriously nodded at his dad.
When other girls heard that, they began to giggle, embarrassing the Empress in the process.
"You!" Leila exclaimed in deep embarrassment! How dare he say that in front of everyone!
"Hahaha, that's my son!"
Everyone could feel his smugness; it made Trajan puff his chest. Getting praised by his father is the best.
"You two! I will remember this!"
"Relax, I will make you less grumpy later in the afternoon."
"I don't need any of this!" The woman declared with deep embarrassment.
With that said, she walked away to the resting area, summoned her console and began to tinker. The Empress wanted to understand how this Earth and its world government worked.
A few moments later, the TRANS-AM session ended.
"It's over?" The Prince complained. It was too short in his opinion.
"We can do it after around 30 minutes. In the meantime, why don't we check your Gundam?" Marcus winked at his son.
"Oh! D-Do you think we can build it!?" The boy was ecstatic at the idea.
"Umm… Isn't he too young for one?" The trio walked over.
"Why not? He can have one. Just no weapons. Not before we properly educate him in its usages." Marcus shrugged at them.
"I began building my first mobile suit-like machine around a similar age." He reminded them before looking at his son.
"Just remember that it's not a simple toy. A Gundam symbolises something. For some, it's destruction, for others it's salvation, but for those who build it, it's their ideology given physical form.
If you can't understand that, then well…" The Emperor looked away, hinting at something specific.
"I know!" Trajan sharply nodded at his father. Ideology is something he has been studying as much as he was studying drawing and engineering.
As weird as it sounds, Marcus was adamant in teaching the 'core' tenets of what a Gundam is.
Leila would constantly roll her eyes at his weirdness, but it's what made the blonde kid come up with Unicorn Gundam.
"Good. Then bring your drawings." The Emperor nodded at his kid.
"On it!" The Prince turned into a missile as he dashed towards the lift.
"Umm… are you sure… it is a huge machine." Wang Liu Mei asked him; she is concerned about what it could lead to.
"You don't understand." Marcus shook his head at her.
"You already concluded that he will have it." He pointed out. " But do you realise how big a gap there is between a piece of paper and reality?"
Their eyes widened. The Inventor Emperor was right!
"Oh!"
"You are going to start teaching him how hard it is to make a mobile suit!" The Heiress was swift on her feet.
"Precisely. I want to show him that chasing dreams is not the easiest of things, and I am doing this, the sooner the better." The Emperor motioned with his hand.
"Sadly, I don't have that much free time so that we could start from the very beginning, like turning scrap into materials for a Gundam.
But that's a bit too much." Marcus chuckled at the idea.
He should make something like that a ritual for his kids and maybe his grandkids, since he will be around for a long time.
"I see… I suppose you want to see how long your son's attention span is." Feldt slowly nodded. She understood this very well; children usually don't have a great attention span. Hell, even adults sometimes have that as well.
"Indeed, and believe me, it's not just one or two days to make a new Gundam." The Emperor nodded, he knows very well how long it can take, especially if he doesn't want to rush and abuse his AI and its abilities.
"I will require you two for some help as well. We are going to make an OS that helps the mobile suit transform."
"Sure thing! It will he fun. We haven't worked on a mobile suit development yet." Christina clenched her fist; she could tell such projects are interesting on their own.
"You do know that next week we're going back to our Earth? There is a Jupiter expansion project going on." Leila burst their excitement bubble from the resting area.
She was listening to the whole thing.
"I know. Designing work can be done all over the place." He said to his fun-destroying wife.
"At least you are aware." The blonde replied as she returned to her studies.
Not long after, Trajan returned with a huge grin on his face. He was holding his sketching book.
Marcus was smiling as well, but it was a slightly different smile. A smile to the obvious ones that he is about to show his son the ropes, and if he can 'survive'.
"Let's go, Dad!" Trajan rushed over, holding the book.
"Sure thing."
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
Join my Discord: Discord.gg/denoffanfics
More Chapters (Chapter 95 is up!)
Extra Stuff (Chapter 76.5 Euphemia Lemon) is up on Pat.
P.a.t:re.on..c.o.m/DragonsFics