The Naval Base of the Unnamed Ship Girls

"By the way, what have you been doing all this time, Adun?" Tidu asked, a little annoyed that she had been ignored.

"The Headmaster is just wondering why there are crystals she can't analyze, so she's trying to copy them." Zhang Shengwang, the maid who has been transformed into an immortal ship girl, knows what Adun is doing.

"Is it strange that it can't be resolved?" Ti didn't understand why Adun was so concerned about this.

“It would be very strange for the High Priest if he couldn’t analyze it.” Since many of the Protoss technologies are based on Kedarin crystals, they are practically experts in crystal technology. Naturally, they would be very concerned if they encountered a crystal that they couldn’t analyze.

"No, although I know a little bit, I can't do a complete analysis." After tossing and turning his counterfeit crystal sword back and forth several times, Adun said somewhat speechlessly.

"So... have you deciphered the text on it? By the way, that's text, isn't it?" Charlotte's attention was more focused on the origin of the sword.

"This is obviously text, there's no need for analysis..." Adun said, holding the crystal sword that Xiao Bei had picked up.

"This sword is named Brillant, the Crimson Sword of Blazing Flames."

As soon as Yaton finished speaking, the crystal sword suddenly turned bright red, and then with a "whoosh," it was covered with a layer of burning flames.

"..."

"..."

"..."

All the admirals and ship girls present, including Adun, had a strange feeling, as if the art style was off.

---------------

First of all, let me state that this book is a pure ship girl novel, ahem.

Most of the odd-looking things that appeared were related to ship girls... um...

Never mind, I'll just stay up until 3 AM today.

☆, Chapter 117 The Correct Use of the Great Sword

"Oh, I see, so that's how it is..." After seeing the crystal sword in his hand turn into a bright red flaming crystal sword, and touching the still burning blade with his hand, Adun thought for a moment and spoke.

"Adon, have you figured out what?" Ti asked, startled awake by Adon's question, still confused by the strange atmosphere.

"I don't understand. I just think the maker of this sword has a good idea." In fact, a really good idea. Why would the key used to unlock it be shaped like a sword? Ardon was speechless at the maker of this crystal sword that had been emitting strange messages since it started burning.

"Do you understand or not?" Ti was a little confused by Yadun's explanation.

“If it’s about the mechanism of action, then I think I understand.” As Adon spoke, the crystal sword she had made started to burn. “Unfortunately, because there are too few things to refer to, I don’t know what this sword is for.”

All Ayton knew was that the crystal sword, which still emitted messages through its burning, was a key used to unlock or activate something, and not even a complete key.

Through a rough analysis of the emitted messages, Adon learned that there should be a few more of these sword-like keys, perhaps two or three. He could find out if he could find something that needed to be opened, but unfortunately there was nothing to open at the moment.

At least Aden did not receive any response to this inquiry regarding the activation message.

"But we still don't understand the materials." All Adun could determine was that the material used to make this crystal sword was a synthetically processed crystal, even though the Protoss Ark could use its own crystal technology to imitate materials with similar properties.

However, without the most basic analytical data, it cannot be said that Adon can replicate the exact same material.

Adun felt an urge to smash the sword and examine it closely, but remembering what Xiao Bei had just said, he took out some materials and crafted a Protoss-style scabbard. He then inserted the still-burning sword into the scabbard and fastened it to his waist, saying:

"Anyway, thanks!" He then patted Xiao Bei's head, which drew a snort of displeasure from the deep-sea heavy cruiser: "I'm not a destroyer, I don't need to be patted on the head!!"

"Anyway, there's no difference in my eyes." Adun spoke the truth. Under the projection of the Protoss Ark, all the ships in this world, whether they were aircraft carriers, battleships, or even the Omega Yuriko, a versatile war fortress five times the size of the Prince of Wales's Glory ship, were small boats in Adun's eyes.

"Hey, that sword is still burning! Aren't you afraid it'll catch fire?" Tidu couldn't help but remind Adon when he saw that Adon was completely oblivious to the burning crystal sword.

"That wasn't actual burning; it was just a way of conveying a message, probably to prove that it was a sword of fire." So Ardon thought the designer who created this crystal sword was very insightful.

The technology is clearly quite good, yet they still insisted on creating something that resembles magic; the creator certainly went to great lengths.

Through a brief analysis, Adun can clearly state that this blazing crystal sword is essentially technological and has nothing to do with magic, so there is no issue of the art style being off.

As for why Adun is so skilled, it's because in many relatively primitive worlds, the Protoss, who wield psionic power, are considered a mysterious race capable of controlling mysterious magical forces.

If you threw Wo-chan, who has now been promoted to High Templar, into that kind of world, she would have no problem getting the title of Grand Magister of Lightning and Mental Arts.

"Oh, I see." Although she didn't quite understand what Adun was saying, Tidu at least realized that the overall tone of the story wasn't off. She glued her almost shattered worldview back together and asked, "And what about this sword?"

Tidu refers to the fake Flame Crystal Sword that was copied from Yaton Mountain and is still floating in the air burning fiercely.

"You can use it if you like. Don't worry about the fire; it's just a lighting effect. You can touch it if you don't believe me." As he spoke, Adun used his psionic powers to make the counterfeit crystal sword float in front of the two admirals who had regained their worldview.

At Tidu's prompting, Charlotte, being used as a guinea pig, cautiously touched the crystal sword that Adun had made with her finger. Surprised that she didn't feel any burning sensation, Charlotte exclaimed:

"It really is, and it's even chilly."

“Actually, heating it up would work too.” With that, Adun adjusted the energy parameters.

"Wow, it's so hot!" Charlotte, who had been tricked, blew hard on her burned fingers.

"However, this temperature shouldn't be a problem for a ship girl's physique." Yaton said that ship girls, being unscientific creatures, have a much higher tolerance for extreme environments than humans.

Especially since Adun possessed a sun within him, he was completely unconcerned about the temperature. He picked up his knock-off crystal sword and swung it twice before asking:

"Do you want some? I can mass-produce them; I'll just charge a small manufacturing fee."

"Um, I'm not a formal admiral yet, so I'm not qualified to carry a sword." Charlotte, who was somewhat tempted, said hesitantly, remembering the regulations for naval admirals.

"It's alright, I can make one for you first, and you can use it after you become an admiral. Just let me know if you need any special customizations." Adun's squinting smile made Charlotte's heart alarm bells ring.

Thinking of how Adun had swindled all her allowance because of the head maid's reputation incident, Charlotte immediately said, "I'm still a long way from becoming a full-fledged admiral, so don't worry about it."

"What a pity." Disappointed by the failed deal, Adun asked his admiral, "Do you want it? It's very handsome."

"Do you think I look that childish? People would laugh at me if I carried this sword out, and besides, I already have a sword," Tidu said, turning her head away, seemingly uninterested.

"Oh, should I melt it down? What a pity." Yaton turned her gaze to the other ship girls. The British ship girls from Naval Base 233 took out their swords to indicate that they didn't need them. Wo-chan also indicated that she had one. As for Xiao Bei...

Xiao Bei's answer was: "I hate fire."

Well, it's normal for deep-sea ship girls who have spent years at the bottom of the ocean to hate fire.

While hesitating about what to do with the counterfeit sword, Adun noticed the campfire on the beach that had been used for barbecues. Because Adun had infused it with a little psionic energy, it was still burning, but it was clear from the much smaller flames that the small amount of psionic energy was about to burn out.

"Let's just leave it like this." Holding the still-burning crystal sword, he walked over to the campfire in a few steps. After comparing the sizes, Adon stuck the counterfeit flame crystal sword into the fire. With a "whoosh," the fire, now fueled again, ignited once more.

"Adon, what are you doing?" Tidu asked, looking puzzled.

"Add more firewood to that fire, so we won't need to start a new fire when we have barbecues by the sea in the future." Adon said, quite pleased with his masterpiece, "With the psionic energy contained in this crystal sword, it should burn for hundreds of years without any problem."

"..."

In an instant, a subtle sense of unease arose in the hearts of the admirals and ship girls present.

Chapter 118 Long Live the Sun

As mentioned before, having ship girls in charge of engineering construction not only ensures quality and quantity but also takes very little time.

In just a few days, the dark gothic deep-sea style port building, designed and constructed under Rodney's supervision and with the assistance of Kokang, was completed.

When Rodney brought the admiral and the ship girls over for a nominal completion ceremony, the disgruntled Kogan was installing the last piece of glass into the clock tower.

As for why Kokang was unhappy, it was because their styles were simply incompatible. The hammer and sickle sculpture and the Stalin statue that Kokang had created were discarded by Rodney, who, as the chief engineer, had done so.

If, as Kogan hopes, these things are actually placed on a dark gothic-style building, the stark contrast and incongruity would be unbearable even for Tidu, who always goes against the grain.

Finally, to appease his initial ship's feelings, Tidu had no choice but to agree to put these things in other buildings in the future. As for what other buildings, the cunning Tidu didn't say.

Seeing how skillfully her admiral was fooling her initial ship, Adon was speechless. However, given the presence of so many ship girls from Naval Base No. 233, Adon didn't expose Tidu.

"I feel like something's missing?" Walking through the domed corridors characteristic of Gothic architecture, Tidu looked at the sunlight filtering through the glass and dappling the stone floor, and said, feeling like something was missing.

"It must be missing a lot of things. Gothic architecture aims for a religious atmosphere, but this building is just a framework now. The statues and paintings that should be there are not yet completed."

The veteran architect Nelson immediately saw the flaws in the Gothic church that Rodney had designed as a customs office.

"Religion, it seems strange that the garrison is involved in religious matters." Tidu felt that Nelson's words made some sense.

“Religion isn’t strange at all. My dad built a lot of churches in the naval base,” Charlotte said, indicating that there was nothing unusual about it.

Charlotte's father, that battleship fanatic admiral, did this because ship girls also have religious beliefs. For example, the Prince of Wales is a Catholic, as are Renown and Nelson. However, Rodney is strangely a Protestant.

The American ships, led by Washington, were Christian, while Veneto and Richelieu were devout Catholics.

Among those Japanese ship girls, some believe in Shintoism and some believe in Buddhism. However, the doctrine of prohibiting killing in these religions is basically ignored by the ship girls. Ship girls who are born as weapons cannot understand what it means to prohibit killing.

Some ship girls even converted to other religions due to their interests, such as the German battlecruiser Deutschland, who for some unknown reason became a follower of Taoism in China.

Despite their different religious beliefs, these ship girls are all family. At least in Naval Base No. 233, they didn't fight each other because of their different religious beliefs.

"Admiral, Admiral, I'm religious too." Hearing the topic had somehow shifted to religion, Kogan waved to make his presence known.

"Orthodox Christianity?" the Prince of Wales asked, in her eyes the Russian ship girls in the east should be Orthodox Christians.

"Kokang believes in communism!" Kokang raised its hand again to show that we Maoists don't believe in those mystical things; we believe in a materialist worldview.

"Okay, forget about that." Most of the admirals and ship girls present covered their foreheads after hearing Guo Gan's words, indicating that it was possible to do that.

"Adon, do you have any religious beliefs?" Tidu asked curiously, seeing that Adon hadn't spoken or reacted.

"Of course there is... wait, what's with all those expressions? Did I say something wrong?" As soon as she finished speaking, Adun saw the expressions of all the ship girl admirals around her, as if they had seen a ghost, and they were very confused.

“I didn’t think that civilizations in the interstellar age would have religious beliefs,” the Prince of Wales said, sounding quite surprised.

"Religious belief has nothing to do with the level of civilization development. It's just that at my level, religious belief is no longer just a simple spiritual sustenance."

In terms of both duration and depth of religious development, the Protoss surpass the religions of this world itself. Naturally, Adun's understanding of religion also far surpasses that of these native ship girls.

"For us Protoss, religious belief is more like a pursuit of truth, a belief in following in the footsteps of the Creator." Whether it's the Khala doctrine of the Khalai Protoss or the Xel'Naga doctrine of the Tal'darim, they are essentially the same thing.

"Huh, Adun, you also believe in a creator?" Whether a creator truly exists or is merely a figment of imagination is still a matter of debate on Earth even today. So, Ti was very curious when she heard Adun mention the creator so confidently.

Because no matter how long religions have been around, the overall viewpoint of human civilization, which has long entered the technological age, has gradually shifted from idealism to materialism.

"I don't know if this world has a creator." In fact, the Protoss have conducted in-depth research on how the world came into being, but because the worlds are different, Adun, not wanting to explain such questions further, continued:

"But we Protoss are certain that we were created by the Creator, so in our religion we all call ourselves the Firstborn Son of God."

To be precise, it was influenced by God, rather than created directly. However, this God... is not a good thing. When Adun thought of that Xel'Naga named Amon, his expression changed slightly.

"Oh, I see. I've never heard you mention this before, Adun." Aren't religious fanatics supposed to be the type to preach to everyone they meet? How come Adun's behavior is different from other fanatics?

"Because there is no need for it." This is something that both Adun and the other Protoss races understand very well. Their own civilization's religion is something that belongs to their own civilization. Forcing other races to believe in their religion is an extremely foolish act.

"...I have a feeling that you're hiding something, Adun." Through a woman's innate intuition, Ti felt that Adun was hiding something very important.

"Why worry about those details? Besides, even if I explained the doctrines, it wouldn't make a difference; they're completely different from this architectural style," Ardon said, changing the subject as he didn't want to elaborate.