The Naval Base of the Unnamed Ship Girls

They walked along, singing songs as they went.

She sang about the boy she loved most.

He treasured every single one of his letters.

Chapter 196 Prepare Several More Sets of Protective Suits

“So just modifying the main gun is enough, no need for a complete overhaul, really no need for a complete overhaul.” Vanguard, who had just exposed his fear of heights, said awkwardly to Adun and Hyperion.

"Main gun?" Upon hearing the Vanguard's request, Adun glanced at Hyperion.

"Hmm, looking at me won't help, the Yamato Cannon is too small for her." As Hyperion spoke, she dragged a few projection blocks into the air and sculpted them into a separate Yamato Cannon and fusion engine.

Then, after comparing this Yamato cannon with the Glory Projection of the Vanguard, it is clear that the Vanguard is not suitable for carrying such a cannon.

“If it’s a conventional gun assembly.” Adun naturally knew that the somewhat exaggerated Yamato cannon on the Hyperion was not suitable for Vanguard. Not to mention the strong magnetic cannon used to bind fusion energy, Vanguard couldn’t even fit the fusion engine that provided the energy.

After thinking for a moment, Adun, who remembered a certain type of main gun, said, "How about trying the kinetic matrix?"

As he spoke, Adun did the same thing as Hyperion had just done, shaping several projections into a crescent-shaped spaceship.

"A kinetic matrix? Are you sure? Hey, that's way too much." Hyperion, recognizing the crescent-shaped spaceship, shouted in a tone that seemed to say, "Are you out of your mind, Adun?"

"What is a kinetic matrix?" asked the avant-garde, who didn't understand what Adun and Hyperion were talking about.

“A relatively common interstellar engine for the Protoss,” Adun said, explaining the most common use of the kinetic matrix.

"Engine? Isn't it a cannon?" Upon hearing Adun's explanation, Vanguard immediately lost much of his interest.

"Don't listen to her nonsense. Not many Protoss use kinetic energy matrices as engines anymore." Hyperion, seeing Adun spouting nonsense, directly exposed her true colors, saying, "They all use these as the main gun power source for the Stormships."

"Main gun power?" Vanguard asked, his eyes lighting up at the mention of a cannon.

"Yes, that's true. Ever since a Stormship navigator discovered the Overload Kinetic Matrix, which can gather an extremely powerful and unstable energy mass, and by modifying the Stormship's power supply mode, this energy has been fused into an energy particle sphere within the ship's hull..."

As Adun explained the unconventional use of the kinetic matrix, the crescent-shaped stormship she had created appeared on the simulated battlefield that had just been used to test the data of the avant-garde body.

As Adun explained, a ball of unstable energy slowly converged into an energy particle sphere at the crescent-shaped opening of the Stormship.

"The considerable destructive power of this charged particle sphere has made the Protoss realize the correct use of the Kinetic Matrix and the Stormship."

As soon as Adun finished speaking, the Stormship in the simulated projection blasted out a charged particle ball with energy reaching its critical value, directly smashing and sinking a small portion of the deep-sea fleet projections that were engaged in a cannon battle with the Vanguard's main body.

"You should know that the Stormship was originally designed as a multi-purpose warship that utilizes speed for assault and landing."

Then, after discovering the superior destructive power of the overload kinetic energy matrix, the Stormship immediately transformed into the slow-moving aerial cannon it is today.

"Wow!" The avant-garde, seeing the power of this kinetic matrix cannon, asked in surprise, "Can I install this cannon?"

"..." Hyperion opened his mouth, wanting to say some of the side effects he knew, but seeing the more knowledgeable Adun beside him, he shrugged and didn't interrupt.

“Theoretically, it’s possible. The kinetic energy matrix is ​​much smaller than the fusion reactor on the Hyperion, and it doesn’t need a magnetic cannon.” Adun tapped the Stormship projection in mid-air, and the projection of the crescent-shaped spaceship immediately disintegrated into countless parts.

Adun pulled out the kinetic matrix module and stretched it to the same size as the projection of the Vanguard's Glory ship. He found that although it was smaller than the Hyperion's fusion engine, it was still larger than the Vanguard's slender hull.

“Hmm, it seems we need to remove a few parts.” After thinking for a moment, Adun also disassembled the kinetic matrix into several parts and asked Vanguard, “Do you need the kinetic matrix to increase your speed? If not, remove it; it takes up quite a bit of space.”

"I'm very satisfied with my speed, so we can remove that." As the vanguard of a high-speed battleship, she didn't know that the speed increase Adun was referring to wasn't the kind of ten-knot increase she thought it was.

"The self-repair module doesn't seem to be of much use either," he said, recalling the scientifically flawed repair channels and high-speed repair fluid of this world.

"Shield charging system, hmm, let's remove it." Under the completely clueless gaze of the Vanguard, Adun chopped the originally slightly bulky kinetic matrix into a rectangular prism, just like shaving a stick, which matched the Vanguard's size perfectly.

"But where do you plan to put it?" It might seem like a good match, but when the Vanguard battleship was designed by ancient humans hundreds of years ago, they certainly didn't consider that one day it would be equipped with a kinetic matrix by a Protoss Ark.

So the Hyperion, who had experienced being forcibly stuffed with a warp engine even though there was no blank module, asked curiously.

"Where should I put it..." Realizing this was a problem, Adun carefully examined the Vanguard's glorious form for a few moments, and finally made up his mind to wipe everything clean, including the bridge, funnel, main guns, and secondary guns, above the Vanguard's horizontal deck.

"Ahhh!" Even though it was just a projection, the vanguard still cried out as if he had been chopped by Adun's hand chop.

"..." "..." Adun and Hyperion looked confused. Then, to show that the projection could not affect them, Hyperion even made a model of Adun's ship, and then crushed the projected ship model into pieces in front of Adun.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Realizing his lapse in composure, the vanguard quickly apologized to Adun and Hyperion, whose head was stuck in the ceiling.

"Hmm, what do you think of the results of this modification?" Adun nodded in apology to the avant-garde man and asked, pointing to a projection of a sea vessel in front of him.

"This...this is me?" Vanguard could barely make out that it was himself from the shape of the waterline armor in the projection, but the area above the horizontal armor had been completely transformed into something else, as if a smaller destroyer or cruiser had been turned upside down and placed on him.

“Well, when I was doing it just now, I remembered that the radiation from the kinetic matrix is ​​dangerous, so I added an extra protective shield.” Adun pulled down the projection in front of him, and the thing covering the Vanguard Glory form opened up from the middle, revealing the kinetic matrix inside.

"Radiation...?" Vanguard looked startled by Adun's words.

“Kinetic matrix is ​​very dangerous.” Hyperion, who had ripped his head off the protective plate, jumped down and said to Vanguard, “Even the Protoss who can traverse the universe in their physical form need to wear special protective suits.”

"Then... if it's modified like this, can I still let Young Master ride in it in the future?" Avant-garde still remembered how excited he was when he was ordered to activate his Glory form so that Young Master Charlotte could ride in it.

"..." Adon fell into an eerie silence.

"..." Hyperion also fell silent.

"Don't scare me!" Avant-garde seemed to realize that he needed to make a difficult choice between modifying the vehicle and making it available for the young master to ride.

“I can prepare several more sets of protective clothing for you,” Ardon offered a good solution.

"..."

Chapter 197: The Issue of Caliber

After much deliberation, Vanguard still couldn't give up on Adun's proposed kinetic matrix modification method, especially since removing the main gun and superstructure would save resources that could be used to make the shield thicker.

"But that means there are far fewer gunnery units." Vanguard said sadly, watching the warship, which had been transformed into a kinetic matrix, slowly firing destructive particle spheres one by one in the projection.

If the Adun is modified like this, all four old cauldron-shaped main guns and dozens of Bofors six-barreled 40mm anti-aircraft guns will be gone, and the Vanguard's Iron Curtain ability will be useless.

Although the diameter of this kinetic energy matrix sphere cannot be calculated, it is definitely larger than 88mm for a gun assembly.

“Hmm, as a seagoing vessel, one main gun doesn’t seem to be enough,” Adun said, resting his chin on his hands and crossing his arms when he heard the vanguard say that.

"That's simple. I'll just install a cannon on the Vanguard. Its power may not be as great as your kinetic matrix, but it has the advantage of being able to transform and is very useful."

Hyperion had a flash of inspiration and walked to the projection after the initial modification. He fiddled with it for a bit, moving the large outer armor used to seal the kinetic matrix and isolate radiation to the rear of the ship, freeing up the deck at the front of the avant-garde hull.

"You mean the main gun assembly of a siege tank?" When Adun heard that the Hyperion was going to install a transforming gun assembly, he immediately thought of the Terran tanks.

“It’s not a blaster, it’s an old-fashioned arc tank,” Hyperion replied as he installed a gun assembly in the empty deck area.

"Why use an old-fashioned one?" Whether it was a piercing gun or an arc gun, Vanguard couldn't understand what it meant, but he could at least tell that Hyperion wanted to install an old-fashioned main gun.

The Vanguard, which has been criticized for using outdated main guns despite being a cutting-edge warship, is very concerned about this.

"Isn't your special ability only effective on guns with a caliber of 88mm or less?" Hyperion asked the forward.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Vanguard didn't know why Hyperion suddenly asked this.

"The siege tank's gun assembly is divided into two types: one is a small-caliber twin-shot plasma gun assembly, used for self-defense and clearing out small enemies, and the other is a large-caliber shock gun assembly."

After briefly explaining the meaning of the gun assembly transformation he was going to install, Hyperion continued, "The latest siege tanks have a small-caliber gun assembly of 90mm, which is useless against your special skill, while the Arc Light's caliber is only 83mm, which is just right for your special skill."

"Oh, I see." The vanguard, who had said it with an "I see" tone, suddenly remembered something and asked Hyperion, "What caliber is the main gun?"

“The penetrator is 180mm, and the arc gun is 170mm. If you need, I can try mounting the penetrator's main gun and the arc gun's secondary gun together, but it might look a bit awkward,” Hyperion replied to Vanguard's question.

"It's only this big," Vanguard said with some disappointment, because for battleship girls, both 170mm and 180mm calibers are considered small to medium caliber.

However, considering that this modification was based on the premise that Adun had installed a kinetic matrix cannon for her, Vanguard felt that using a 170mm or 180mm caliber secondary gun was still acceptable.

"You wouldn't compare the caliber of the Imperial siege tank's shock gun to your outdated gunpowder cannons, would you?" Hyperion chuckled secretly, noticing the Vanguard's expression.

"Ah, isn't it true that the larger the caliber, the greater the power of the cannon?" the avant-garde said, expressing the world's common understanding of the power of cannons.

"Hehe." Hyperion responded to Vanguard with a word he had just learned on the Kantai Collection website in the last few days.

"..." Avant-garde, who was also online, naturally knew what Hyperion meant. In other words, this interstellar ship girl didn't want to talk to him and threw back a "heh".

"What about the side effects?" Adun ignored the awkward conversation between Hyperion and the Vanguard and asked Hyperion directly.

"What side effects? Is it radiation again?" Vanguard didn't want to have a frame mounted on the back of its ship and another frame mounted on the front.

“Although the Arc Light Siege Cannon is an old product, it certainly doesn’t have radiation issues. As for the side effects Adun mentioned,” Hyperion thought for a moment and said, “If you want to activate the main shock cannon, you might need to slow down your speed to ensure the stability of the cannon.”

"Slow down the speed? By how much?" Vanguard was still very concerned about its speed as a high-speed battleship.

“Activating one will reduce your speed by about a quarter.” Hyperion pointed to the Vanguard Glory ship, which already had one Arc Light Siege Impact Cannon mounted in the air. Feeling there was still plenty of room, he moved the impact cannon back and squeezed in another one, saying:

"If both doors open at the same time, your speed will be reduced to a quarter or less."

"Huh? A quarter? Does that mean my speed is less than ten knots?" Vanguard did the math and realized that if that were the case, he would go from being a cutting-edge high-speed battleship to a sailing battleship.

“You can open one door at a time, but I can guarantee that opening both doors at the same time will be absolutely worth the price.” Hyperion looked with satisfaction at the Vanguard projection, which now featured two large discs on the forward deck after her modifications.

"Is this 180mm caliber gun really that powerful?" Seeing that the Hyperion didn't seem like a convincing ship, Vanguard could only come to this conclusion.

"Hehe, little girl, do you know why the name of the siege tank has the word 'siege' in it?" This time, Hyperion chuckled as he spoke, no longer responding with a 'hehe'.

"Siege? You mean this kind of cannon is used against fortresses?" Vanguard read it aloud, then suddenly remembered what those two words meant and asked in surprise, "But if it's used against fortresses, shouldn't the main caliber be at least fourteen inches?"

"So, different worldviews can't explain it. If you believe me, you'll know once I've finished modifying it and you can try it out a few times." Seeing that the avant-garde still didn't understand, Hyperion really wanted to add another "heh."

"Could a 180mm caliber gun really be used against a fortress?" Vanguard was very conflicted, because if Hyperion hadn't misled her, it meant that after the modification, Vanguard's secondary guns would be more powerful than the main guns of many battleships.

Moreover, there's the side effect of reduced speed. Combined with the kinetic matrix that Adun modified for her, is she going to be transformed from a cutting-edge high-speed anti-aircraft battleship into a low-speed arsenal ship?

Vanguard glanced at Adun with a skeptical look, seemingly waiting for a definite answer from this ship girl admiral who possessed the abilities of a governor.

Then Adun ignored the avant-garde's gaze and asked Hyperion, "Speaking of which, what's the caliber of your main gun again?"

"The Yamato Cannon?" Hyperion asked in surprise, not expecting the topic to turn to him.

"Do you have a second main gun?" Adun rolled his eyes.

"Actually, there were several Yamato cannons in the earliest design... cough cough, let me calculate." Seeing that Adun was about to use violence, Hyperion quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"You need to calculate the caliber of your own main gun?" Adun asked, somewhat puzzled. Vanguard was also completely bewildered. In Vanguard's mind, a ship girl might not know every part of her body, but she would definitely know the caliber of the gun barrels inserted into her body.

"The Yamato cannon's power isn't calculated by its caliber. Don't bother me, I'm doing the calculations. If we deduct the strong magnetic coil and the protective deck, it should be, um, 90, or maybe 80, it's around that number." Hyperion replied after obtaining the result.

"90mm?" Qianwei was somewhat incredulous. Such a powerful main gun had a caliber of only 90mm?

“The unit is wrong, it’s not mm, it’s m,” Hyperion said, waving his hand.