The refit of the Eternal Snowfall was progressing slowly but steadily.
Over a million Bulins had gathered at the orbital shipyard in a short span to construct this Juggernaut-class starship—its size rivaling that of a small asteroid.
With the extensive application of new technology, its internal structure had become nearly incomprehensible.
Each small module's blueprint was dozens of times more complex than that of a typical shipgirl hull.
Just as Grey had said, this was an unprecedented upgrade.
From a roughly 10-kilometer-long battleship, it was being upgraded into a spaceborne mobile fortress larger than the moon.
It wasn't just a starship—it also inherited functions like a shipyard, repair facility, and mobile combat platform.
A true super-complex of interstellar fortress + starship + planet-killer colossus.
For a civilization that had just mastered FTL travel and recently reached space, building such a thing was pure fantasy.
—According to the normal development trajectory in Stellaris, most civilizations at this stage would've just unlocked space destroyers.
Forget a Juggernaut-class—having even one cruiser would already count as rapid development.
But Bulins didn't care.
If they believed they could build a Juggernaut larger than the moon, then they would build it.
"Buli!"
"This is a major project entrusted to us by the Commander—buli!!"
"Everyone, work hard! No slacking off—burin!!!"
Rainbow Bulin wielded her Meow-Meow Hammer, operating on the skeletal frame of the Eternal Snowfall.
The native shipgirls who had also undergone refits were initially shocked by these hammer-wielding Bulins.
How could anyone build a spaceship with bare hands?
But they quickly submitted when they saw the Bulins assembling keels and forging hull plates at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Bulins were truly the foundation of the Starsea Empire!
...
"Ah—"
"The sun is so white—wait no, so soft."
Inside the main building of the stellar base, in the bedroom,
Setsuna lay on his back, dazedly staring at the ceiling.
Thanks to the transparent dome, the vast starry sky stretched overhead, making it feel like he was floating in space.
"The Commander is amazing even without rigging bonuses~"
Chen Hai sat up beside him, brushing her long black hair.
Her wine-red eyes were gentle like water, still tinged with a hint of drowsiness.
"I thought since your rigging was under refit, we'd get to take the lead for once..."
"Of course not. That's a separate matter. I can't manifest my rigging temporarily, but it's not like I can't lift a rifle."
Setsuna chuckled.
He gently stroked the cheek of the silver-haired girl lying beside him.
Belfast was sound asleep, having completely forgotten her maid duties of rising early to care for the Commander.
Waiting for the Eternal Snowfall's refit to finish was a bit dull.
The massive project would take a long time, and Setsuna still needed to make time to discuss technical details with the Bulins and Grey.
In his spare time, he could only spend time bonding with shipgirls.
Without the party function available, the oath-bound shipgirls had adopted a rotation system—drawing lots each day to decide who would accompany him.
Last night, it had been two gentle Dragon Empery shipgirls, plus the ever-tender Royal head maid. Truly a night to remember.
He was still feeling the aftermath this morning—sore waist and a touch of sleep deprivation.
Chen Hai yawned softly and began dressing with a few garments from the nightstand.
A short black qipao that perfectly accentuated the figure of a carrier-class shipgirl while embodying the reserved beauty of the Dragon Empery.
It was Chen Hai's favorite casual outfit, and it even boosted the Commander's attack speed.
Sometimes, wearing it was more seductive than not wearing anything at all.
However, when she picked up her black stockings, she frowned slightly.
"Hmm, oh right, I tore these yesterday."
Holding the torn pantyhose between two fingers, she casually tossed them into the nearby trash bin.
She poked Setsuna's cheek.
"Commander, you owe me a new pair. That one was freshly made."
"You tore it after just a few days."
"Alright, alright—"
Setsuna agreed without hesitation.
"I'll contact the Angeloids later. I'll have them make you more sets—black ones, white ones, pantyhose, all of it."
"These things are consumables."
"..."
Chen Hai gave his cheek a little pinch.
"Commander, please be serious."
...
After getting up, Setsuna opened the holo-interface to check on things.
A Juggernaut-class starship, plus the hull upgrades for all the shipgirls, had nearly depleted their alloy stockpile.
And that was with over a dozen vassal worlds supplying resources.
"Sure enough, building across tech tiers comes at a cost."
"We'll need to speed up resource extraction from exoplanet systems, or I'll have to raise taxes on the vassals."
He reviewed the development reports.
The Bulins and Angeloids had already fully developed the Solar System.
The outermost mining stations now extended to Neptune's moons.
The entire star system was thriving and full of energy.
As for more distant zones, preparations were underway for expeditions to nearby star systems such as Alpha Centauri and Eridanus.
"Hmm... once we've fully unlocked FTL technology and can efficiently develop other systems, resource shortages won't be a problem."
He thought for a moment. Right now, most of the resources came from vassal tributes.
In the future, they could perform full-scale development across the territories of those dozen-plus vassal worlds.
As long as there were enough Bulins and Angeloids, resources would be practically infinite.
"While waiting for the hull refit... maybe I should do something else."
Bored, Setsuna opened the star chart for a look.
Some high-difficulty worlds would have to wait until they were fully prepared.
Most base affairs and routine worlds didn't require that much effort.
His space-piercing skill still had a short cooldown.
If he wanted to visit the Horse Girl world, he'd need to wait a few more days.
For now, Setsuna decided to check on the Siren girls and handle some internal matters.
The Sirens from the experimental unit were always the tech backbone of the base, working alongside Akashi, Daedalus, Grey, and the gloomy loli to form a top-tier research team.
Ever since returning from the Transformers world, the Siren girls had been holed up in the port researching the Allspark, refusing to come out.
Only Tester and Observer occasionally emerged to tease the younger shipgirls.
After handing Abyssal Yamato over to them not long ago, the Siren girls had shut themselves in again—completely out of sight for days.
Setsuna mulled it over and decided it was time to investigate what those girls were up to.
"Come to think of it... the other day I saw Observer using tentacles to drag Abyssal Yamato away..."
"Surely you're not doing something weird, are you? You wouldn't... right?!"
...
Clack—
A silver-white starship descended onto the waters outside the capital.
"We've arrived, Commander."
Aurora smiled sweetly and opened the hatch for Setsuna.
While the Eternal Snowfall was undergoing refit, he naturally had to ride in someone else's ship.
This first shipgirl equipped with an FTL engine had volunteered to transport Setsuna herself.
Her ship body was petite and delicate, just like her own sweet and charming appearance—Setsuna quite liked her.
"Thanks. The bridge is well-kept."
Setsuna patted Aurora on the shoulder, making her blush slightly.
"I... I'll wait here for you, Commander. I won't go bother Purifier or Observer..."
Just as he stepped into the shipyard—
Setsuna witnessed a bizarre scene.
Observer, the little loli, sat atop her octopus-like rigging wearing a school swimsuit, while Abyssal Yamato stood beside her.
The former high-and-mighty leader of the Abyssal Fleet now stood upright, obedient and proper, with even a hint of fear in her eyes.
"Should we try summoning another Abyssal Princess?"
Observer was operating a holographic interface on her rigging while tapping Abyssal Yamato with a tentacle.
Whoosh—
As she placed her hand over the water, a wave of dark energy spread outward.
Black mist twisted and warped beneath the surface.
Soon, a pale-skinned Abyssal shipgirl with white hair and heterochromatic eyes emerged.
She wore a deep teal gown with a black, metal seashell-like hat atop her head.
Expressionless, she lowered her head in greeting to Abyssal Yamato.
"Abyssal Destroyer Princess?"
Setsuna recognized her as one of the elite types among Abyssal destroyers.
Her rigging had changed significantly since their last encounter—not just turrets now, but even things resembling anti-ship missiles.
"No, no, no! That's not right!!"
"Make her fly! She needs to fly! Thrusters, reactors, understand?! Didn't I teach you this just yesterday?!"
"Build her an ion thruster already!!!"
Observer shook her head and slapped the ocean surface with a tentacle in frustration.
Abyssal Yamato looked apologetic.
"I... I don't quite understand what you mean..."
"???"
Setsuna blinked. This was his first time seeing a Siren teaching the Abyssals.
And it looked like Abyssal Yamato had been thoroughly tamed.
"Yo, Commander? Rare of you to come visit."
The little loli's previously irritated face lit up with delight upon seeing him.
She jumped off her rigging and bounced over in a few light steps.
"Been a while, so I thought I'd stop by."
Setsuna rubbed her head. The Siren girl's body was cold, like the sea itself.
"What are you guys up to?"
"We're studying the power of the Abyssal shipgirls. They can revive infinitely in the ocean and evolve their equipment, right?"
The white-haired, yellow-eyed loli looked up at him.
"So I wanted to see if we could grow starships straight out of the sea. Wouldn't that save a ton of trouble later on?"
"Unfortunately, Yamato's too dumb. I've been tutoring her on starship engineering for days, and she still can't summon ship-evolved Abyssal girls."
"?!"
Setsuna struggled to follow Observer's erratic train of thought.
It was true the Abyssal Princesses could draw strength from the sea and evolve endlessly, even revive indefinitely in the ocean.
But trying to grow a spaceship out of seawater? That was insane just to hear.
Not even brute force could make that happen.
"In theory, it's possible. If Abyssal Yamato could summon Abyssals that evolved without limit, eventually one might become a spacefaring ship."
"Otherwise, summoning them one by one and modifying them manually is way too much hassle."
Observer spoke with conviction.
"..."
Setsuna considered it—given the Starsea Empire's resources, building more ships wasn't a big deal. Once the Eternal Snowfall's refit was complete, production capacity would free up significantly.
He decided to let Observer continue her grand experiment.
Maybe after enough studying, Abyssal Yamato would eventually master starship architecture and actually summon a spaceship out of the ocean.
"They're called Abyssals at sea… so in space, would they be 'Starsea Princesses'?!"
...
After shooing Abyssal Yamato away, the little loli led Setsuna deeper into the Siren naval port.
All around were Executor-class mass-produced Sirens, patrolling silently in groups.
Unlike the bustling Azur Lane, Arpeggio, or Kancolle ports, the low-tier Sirens were controlled by higher ones—essentially war machines devoid of free will. They didn't chat or play with each other.
The entire Siren facility was eerily quiet, with only the occasional mechanical rumble echoing from the drydocks.
"Aside from Abyssals, we've been studying that Allspark you brought back."
"That thing's a treasure from the Transformers universe. It's complicated—mess it up, and things can go very wrong."
As they talked, the two entered a lab.
In the center sat the Allspark—square and etched with metallic patterns.
Tester stood nearby with strange devices, manipulating them around the cube.
Bzzzz—
The machine drew a stream of golden energy from the Allspark and transferred it into a metallic block.
The plain chunk immediately glowed, patterns and lights surfacing like it too had become an Allspark.
Noticing Setsuna, Purifier looked up.
"Hey, Commander—?!"
She got distracted.
BOOM—
A strange energy pulse erupted from the cube.
Instantly—
Every mechanical device in the room sprang to life. Instruments on the table, a smart trash bin in the corner—they all turned into tiny robots and began rampaging.
Just like in the original Transformers story, the Allspark gave life to machines, turning them into Cybertronian entities.
"$#@%!!!"
The tiny bots babbled in incomprehensible language.
Even the trash bin transformed and fired a mini energy blast at Observer.
PAK!
The Siren girl smacked down every one of them into scrap metal.
She called in Executors to pack them up and haul them away like garbage.
"Like I said, separating power from the Allspark can sometimes go haywire. It force-imparts consciousness into machines nearby and turns them into Transformers."
...
"Newborn Transformers are out of control—they go berserk and attack everything. Commander, is this Allspark from the Decepticons or something?!"
Observer teased with a shrug.
"You're trying to copy the Allspark?"
Setsuna wasn't fazed by the mini-riot. He studied the twin cubes on Tester's table.
They looked identical—not shards or fragments.
"Yeah. The Allspark itself is a top-tier energy source—its energy is comparable to a Wisdom Cube. For machines, it's got insane auto-repair potential."
"We can extract some of that power and make smaller Allspark replicas."
Purifier nodded.
"As for their use... hmm, maybe we can issue one to every shipgirl. Everyone becomes an Allspark-powered warship, driven by both Wisdom Cubes and Allspark energy. Super strong~"
"And surplus Allsparks can be used to build combat bots. They're not strong individually, but we can make tons."
Observer was all fired up explaining her latest brainstorm.
"Imagine activating Allspark energy on an enemy planet—turning every machine on it into Transformers. Wouldn't that be an instant AI apocalypse?!"
"..."
Setsuna thought, with the Abyssals in the mix, their zerg-rush capacity was more than covered.
"Alright, keep researching. Let me know what you need."
As he finished touring the Sirens' lab and was about to leave—
Observer tugged on his sleeve.
"Commander, don't go just yet... it's rare for you to stop by."
"Compiler was chatting with that nanobot the other day, and she got some new ideas about AI. She's working on a little guy right now."
"Think she's calling it 'Navigator-TB'? Wanna check it out?"
—
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