Chapter 57 Project DDE Musashi...
"Now talk" Said Ddraig with a stern voice as he glared at issei with a glare that promised punishment if the truth was not told right this moment.
"When we first arrived here and went to explore I found a scroll, it said that I can make a wish for a random sacrifice so I decided to go for it because I don't think the seals will be removed any time soon and I can't magically obtain more power out of nowhere even if I do train and level up, I had a feeling that it won't be enough so this sacrifice was my only option.
Of course, I will train and try to level up the ritual was a huge bonus" Explained Issei.
There was a moment of silence before Ddraig stood up and started to walk away.
"Buddy?" Called out issei out of confusion.
"Do whatever you want, I don't care anymore, just....don't die on me alright?" Said Ddraig before leaving.
Ddraig knew that if Issei decides to do something it will be hard if not impossible to change his mind plus he always did the impossible possible, becoming one of the strongest dragons and still only getting stronger from a mere human pervert was one of the biggest proofs.
" 'Sigh' I guess I'm off the hook from the big grumpy dragon," Said issei with a chuckle.
He then looked at Eclair and saw a new side of her.
He thought he had already seen her angry once but this time....that was the power of women that was used against him a lot.
It almost seemed that she started to manifest a malicious aura around her that made issei sweat.
Her eyes were piercing right through his soul and sent cold shivers down his spine, his blood turned to stone.
He probably wasn't that scared in his life....now he started to imagine what will happen once he returns to his world to his mates.....yeah nothing good but pain and suffering...
"Issei...." Called out Eclair with a cold and ominous voice.
"Yes ma'am!" Answered issei immediately, he surely didn't want to experience her full wrath.
"Do. You. Have. Any. Idea. HOW WORRIED I WAS!?" Shouted Eclair.
The outburst made Issei flinch but not because of her shout or words but because she started to cry...
Issei felt bad and didn't want to see her cry but...
"I'm sorry but....it had to be done....or at least I thought....." Said issei as he broke the eye contact and just looked away.
Eclair remained silent.
"I thought I had to do this to obtain more power to protect everyone.... but...I don't feel any more powerful.....my level stayed the same...and I didn't obtain any new skills, I think that was a fake ritual or something...all I got was a singular dream and I don't know if that was real or just my imagination and that's bothering me a lot because I made a promise to her..." Explained Issei.
"Made a promise? to who?" Asked Eclair as her gaze and voice softened.
"Her name was Musashi...she said that we were in her grave....she was all alone there, sad, and broken, it hurt me just watching her be like that so I promised to bring her back with me.....but...I don't know if that was real, I don't know where she is exactly....and I don't know how I would help her at all!?" Shouted issei as he held his head from the frustration.
Eclair understood how issei felt as she always thought the same way that she was too weak to protect and always strived for more strength so she decided not to make it harder for him.
"I understand..... but at least you could've told us about it... you made us worry there" Said Eclair as she stood up.
"Yeah I know...but you would've stopped me if I had told you about the ritual" Said issei as he stood up too and started to walk off until he took flight.
Eclair just watched as Issei flew down the mountain.
"Dummy" Whispered Eclair before walking off to find Ddraig.
With issei.
He landed on the beach at the base of the mountain.
He needed to clear his mind so he slowly walked by the shore.
"I did everything for the ritual to work but I don't feel any stronger.... was that just a waste of time and hope?" Asked issei himself.
"Wait.....the precaution scroll that gave me fifty percent chance of survival.... the cost was that I won't get exactly the thing I want.....but.....all I got was that dream..." Said issei all the time looking downwards.
After a couple of minutes of silence passed the frustration came back.
"This is just great! what am I supposed to do now!? will the training with Ddraig even help me now?! I wasted so much of my time for fucking nothing! and the worst thing is that I don't have the slightest idea of what I sacrificed for that single dream!" Roared issei into the skies.
But as he raised his head to look at the sky he momentarily saw something that made him freeze in place.
He slowly lowered his head to check if he wasn't going mad.
And then he saw..... the same battleship he saw in his dream.
The ship was damaged the same as in the dream and on the beach driven into the sand, tho he didn't see the woman.
"Don't tell me...that this was what I got from that sacrifice" Whispered issei.
"I did wish for more firepower..... so I got a battleship that has the firepower..... tho will it be of any use? I mean can the bullets hurt the monsters?...what am I talking about? of course they can! I can repair this ship! and even possibly upgrade it!" Said issei as a newfound determination and hope lit up in his very soul.
"I mean I did find a shit ton of gunpowder and metal I can work with" Said issei as a craze smirk appeared on his face.
"I'll call this project Musashi 2.0 Restoration" Said Issei.
"Then let's not waste any more of the time we have left!" Roared issei and he started to run towards the ship.
As he arrived at the ship he started to inspect it.
"It looks more damaged up close..... hmm. no matter I will fix this beast and it will serve to good use for sure with the upgrades I already have in mind" Said issei.
He then flew up onto the deck and checked out the damage there.
There wasn't any better just more job and effort on rebuilding the ship but Issei was just thinking about the result and how it'll benefit in the battles.
He then explored the whole ship and it took him a couple of hours to just explore it.
He didn't find much but what he did find was useful.
He found blueprints of the ship, cannons, air defence system, and so on.
It was weird to Issei because the ship was....modernized...as if it was used in modern days but he will make it even better, a whole lot better.
He found two boxes with lock, but he had no key so he just melted one with his flames and there he found some kind of strange blue cube.
"The hell is this?" Asked issei himself.
Not getting any answers by just staring at it he closed the box and put the boxes into his inventory.
The last room he didn't check was stuck so he bashed the door and went in.
It was dark like in many other rooms he was before so he used his holy aura to light the room up.
He found it to be an office with papers all over the place, and behind the table, on the ground, he saw a.....woman.
The same woman he saw in his dream.
He was so shocked to see her that he almost tripped on something while walking over to her.
He crouched down and checked if she was alive but....she wasn't breathing and her body was really cold.
Issei thought of burying her but then he remembered his promise...
"That's right... I made a promise to you...I don't know how yet but I'll definitely bring you back" Said Issei as he picked her up and left the ship.
It was getting dark and he spotted a cave near the ship so he decided to spend the night there.
He entered the cave and laid the body of Musashi down.
He left the cave to bring some firewood for the night.
As he returned he lit up the wood and contacted Ddraig through the mental link.
"Ddraig tonight I'll be sleeping elsewhere so don't wait for me" Said issei.
"Alright, whatever brother" Replied Ddraig.
Issei cut the link and made one last glance towards Musashi before falling asleep.
The next morning arrived rather quickly for Issei as he woke up after only four hours of sleep.
He decided to divide the time between rebuilding the ship and training.
Both of those things consume a ton of time so he will only take power naps from one to three hours.
As he woke up he removed his shirt and put it into his inventory as he didn't want it to be drenched in sweat.
He walked towards the ship and took another look at the damages.
He created a plan in his mind and took a sandwich out of his inventory.
He wanted to eat a quick breakfast before the hard day.
As he was eating he decided to check the blueprints.
He read the blueprints and the system copied them and merged issei's ideas into one to make it a lot easier for him.
As he looked at the new blueprints on the screen a huge smirk appeared on his face.
"This will be one hell of a beast" Said issei.
He snapped his fingers and chains wrapped the ship before lifting it slightly into the air.
"Well let's get started" Said Issei.
He started by removing its outer surface by using his flames like a torch to cut through the metal.
First came to the main guns and everything that was on the deck including the captain's/commander's bridge was removed.
He put all of the metal from the ship on the beach for later.
This took him a little more than half a day to do, but that's probably because he was using his physical strength to move the heavy stuff around.
He thought it was a good idea to rebuild the ship and train at the same time.
As he finished with the bridge he went onto the inside and started to remove everything in there, from the storage rooms to boiler rooms.
after two days of removing the damaged parts of the ship and training with Ddraig, the ship was..... well actually there was no ship left..... Issei completely scraped it as it was impossible to repair without doing so.
So he decided just to scrap it all and rebuild it completely after all he had the materials and the blueprints to do so.
As issei was only taking power naps he was more tired than usual.
He wasn't getting enough sleep after such hard work plus training with Ddraig was hell because Ddraig was still mad for what issei did with that sacrificial ritual.
Today he woke up way later than he planned and overslept completely.
"Shit better hurry up" Said Issei as he shot out of his spot and sprinted out of the cave.
*Suggestion! Master should try combining his time manipulation abilities with territory creation to create some sort of territory where the time accelerates*
"Not a bad Idea but my gear can only stop time not slow it down or accelerate it" Said Issei.
*During the last wave your gear has levelled up and evolved, gaining new skills*
Oh, then I really should try this, thanks system" Said Issei.
*No problem master, but you should at least give me a name by now*
"What? you keep evolving or something?" Asked Issei.
*That is correct, I slowly evolved from being just a system to an AI thanks to my master's influence, memories, actions, and so on, now you should give me a name already!*
"I think I don't influence you at all, you remind me of Eclair's angry and pushy side more than myself" Said Issei.
*Name selected Claire, changing voice. Complete, Welcome master to your new AI system, my name is Claire*
Suddenly the system rebooted and her voice changed to feminine and addressed herself as Claire.
"Um, sure...Claire" Replied Issei completely shocked.
*Now stop wasting the time and create the time territory!*
"Don't be so pushy like Eclair too" Grumbled Issei.
*To use territory creation you have to imagine what the territory looks like and what it will have, it all depends on your imagination, after using the territory Master should be able to load the selected territory whenever he desires, current limit five territories*
"Okay, here we go, Territory creation! time Workshop!" Shouted Issei and suddenly a normal door appears in front of him and large white gates in front of the materials.
The gates opened and black chains took all of the materials inside.
"That's so cool, now let's see if the inside is the way I wanted it to be" Said Issei as he opened the door.
As he walked in and closed the door, a bunch of lights lit up in a large room the size of a factory and revealed the scraped ship and a lot of different tools and huge robotic arms.
"This is perfect! it's just the way I imagined" Said Issei as he slowly walked towards a table that had a touch screen on it and showed the same blueprints and much more.
"Claire, do you have any control over the equipment?" Asked Issei.
*Yes I have full control over all of the equipment and I am ready to help you with your first project*
"Great then start by activating the acceleration," Said Issei.
*Sure, master. Locking the door and the gates.
Acceleration protocol active*
"Thank you Claire now let's get to work" Said Issei.
He started with the structure of the ship and now it has its frame.
Claire helped by holding the heavy stuff with robotic arms while Issei used flames on his finger to either cut or connect the parts.
He didn't use torches or anything like that because the metal that he found was too strong for the regular torches.
He decided to build the deck out of the cherry blossoms that were so many in the mountain of course he didn't plan on destroying all of the forests.
Ddraig helped with getting the wood later too.
He used the metal he scraped from the ship and melted it together with the metal he found in these mountains and some of his blood.
He melted the metals in four huge cauldrons and later used moulds to get what he wanted.
Once the metal cooled down it became black without any paint needed.
A week has passed outside the workshop while three weeks have passed inside of it and issei built a little more than half of the ship with the help of Claire.
Eclair hasn't seen issei since he started his Project.
Ddraig only told her that issei started a big project called Musashi 2.0.
Eclair didn't know what Musashi was and was confused but didn't ask any further
She thought it was something related to his dream.
He worried her yet again because Ddraig told her how tired he looked, he had dark bags under his eyes but still didn't stop training nor working on the ship at all.
Even if he was in the territory he still slept too little.
Eclair asked Ddraig to bring her down to the beach so she could finally talk with him.
Ddraig of course accepted her request and left her at the beach.
She didn't walk for too long before she saw a door just standing in the middle of the beach.
She slowly approached it but almost tripped onto something as she noticed him walk out the door without a shirt.
She saw his perfectly toned body covered in sweat that shone from the sun's light.
"H-hello iss-ei" Greeted Eclair with a slight stutter.
It wasn't easy for her to regain her attention from his upper body.
Issei turned to look at Eclair with a smile as he closed the door.
"Hey there Eclair, ya need something?" Asked Issei.
Eclair flinched because she saw just how tired he looked, it was way worse than she imagined.
"Issei let's go have a chat" Said Eclair.
"Can't right now sorry" Said issei.
"I said, Right. Now." Said Eclair more sternly.
Issei chose to comply as he didn't want her mad.
They walked away from the door that disappeared moments later a little before they sat down on the warm and soft sand.
"So what ya wanna talk about?" Asked issei.
"You need to rest issei" Said Eclair seriously.
"What? but I'm fine? I can go on" Said issei.
"What do you mean fine? just look at you, you have bags under your eyes and you barely can walk straight" Said Eclair more sternly.
"Just sleep for the night and tomorrow you can work on your project and train more efficiently" Said Eclair"
"Look Eclair I'm fine, really, so-" Said Issei but he didn't have the chance to finish as Eclair grabbed him and laid his head on her lap.
"Now sleep" Said Eclair.
Issei looked into her eyes for a couple of seconds before he closed his own.
He knew that he won't win that argument so he just did as ordered and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.
"You are such a dummy.... can't even take care of yourself properly alone" Said Eclair as she ran her fingers through his hair carefully.
She then felt tired too so she lifted his head up and gently put it on the sand before laying herself right beside him.
She hugged him tightly so he wouldn't go off at night to work on his project again and fell asleep just as quickly.
Eclrair didn't slack off, she trained hard every day as much as she could.
As the morning sun shone Eclair woke up to a still sleeping issei.
"Not tired at all, yeah right" Whispered Eclair as she stood up.
"Well, I guess I'll make breakfast for us" Said Eclair as she walked to the cave in the hopes to find some of his food supplies.
As she entered the cave she sure did find a bag of goods.
"Good now let's- " Eclair froze momentarily as she saw the body of a beautiful woman laying on the ground as if she was sleeping.
"What the hell Issei?" Asked Eclair.
Eclair came up to the woman and touched her hand, it was cold as ice and she was not breathing.
"Better ask him about this later" Said Eclair before leaving the cave.
She made some delicious breakfast and Issei was instantly awaken for it by the smell.
Issei and Eclair sat together and started to eat their breakfast.
"So did you sleep well?" Asked Eclair.
"Actually yeah...thanks for that" Said issei.
"No problem.....by the way, who is that girl in that cave?" Asked Eclair as she continued to eat her breakfast.
"I guess you found her 'sigh' okay listen up" Said issei with a serious gaze.
[To be continued]...