| 013 | A Week following the establishment of the United Navy

A week has passed since Abraham's transmigration into the lone island in the middle of nowhere. After summoning the Port of Dawn and the UNS Light Bringer, life has been somewhat busy for the Fleet Admiral of the United Navy.

Signing documents was his everyday duty, and it wasn't unfair to say that it was boring. Although, there were some big decisions here and there. Most of it was for logistics applications.

Other than writing his signature on various documents, he also went through some hellish training with the Marines. 

His disappointing strength mustn't be ignored, so when he was finished with his duty as the Fleet Admiral. He mostly spent his time training. 

As said before, he had no desire to stay weak for the rest of his life. After all, with Systema and the Naval Gacha System, he was bound to reach the peak he formerly could never have dreamed of. 

And to reach the peak of this world was bound to its own perils and challenges. He might possibly die, and to lower such chances, he needed to become stronger.

The hellish training was simple. It was the usual training of the Marines times ten. With his indefinite recovery, his strength would continue to grow as he broke his body apart.

So, a harsh training regimen was in order to use the perk of indefinite recovery to its full potential.

This brought out an unexpected result that changed Abraham. Before, he was on the skinny yet healthy side of the spectrum. But after going through the horrific training, he became better.

His strength advanced leaps and bounds. Lifting 150 kilograms wasn't a problem, and he could even run 10 kilometers with it before collapsing into the ground.

As such, his stamina was also monstrous when compared to the average.

For some reason, Abraham also grew taller. His former height was 5.7 feet, but now… He was 5.9 feet. Growing 2 inches for the duration of a week was a blessing for the middle-aged man.

How many had wished to grow taller, but couldn't because of the limitations of human potential. Once they reached their twenties, their height would be set in stone. 

This meant that there was no hope for middle-aged men like him. But fortunately, with his indefinite recovery, he had some potential left to continue to grow.

But, the hellish training wasn't without any problems. The pain lingered over his body as he strained his muscles, sprained his joints, or cracked his bones for the sake of growth.

The feeling of getting stronger at a rapid pace was somewhat addicting for the middle-aged man. However, he never let himself be consumed by such addiction.

It was hard to curb the addictive feeling, but he had self-discipline, which was aided by Systema's remarks and opinions.

She also brought out a good point during his training. Other than physique, his brain also needed some exercise.

With this in mind, Abraham decided to go on a reading session after his grueling training with the crayon-eating cavemen. 

During the reading session, Abraham learned that his brain could understand concepts much easier than before. It was as if it was running in its earlier version, not the old and barely-working one. 

From economics, politics, general knowledge, military studies ranging from tactics and strategies, and finally logistics. What interested him the most was logistics.

Logistics was the engine of the machine called the United Navy. It kept everything running and made sure that needed things were delivered to their destination.

Abraham also knew that logistics could decide the battle. If your logistics were fast, efficient, and simple. You would practically steamroll an army with ease.

The superpower in his former world was the greatest in logistics. Delivering military or utility supplies from across the world in mere days was something that couldn't be underestimated.

His second favorite was military tactics and strategies. It helped him a lot in understanding the ways of warfare. 

It also gave him some ideas about how things like the last operation of resource inspection could be avoided.

There were also the naval strategies which discussed various strategies used in different eras. From the age of exploration to the industrial age, the early 20th-century era, the Cold War, and lastly, the modern age of naval warfare.

Since the foreign world might be a fantasy world, he placed his attention on the age of exploration and the modern age of naval warfare.

Abraham's warships were modern war machines of several nations in his past world. As such, he needed to know what they could be used on.

The age of exploration was merely to understand the strategies of the locals that might appear sooner or later on the high seas. 

From what Abraham could tell, the only thing he needed to do was maintain distance. Medieval ships required close to mid-range adversaries to fight effectively.

Staying 10 kilometers away from wooden ships should be a sufficient strategy. 

At any rate, Abraham learned a lot during his reading session that spanned hours in the afternoon and evening. But he wasn't the only one that grew.

The Port of Dawn was expanding its influence throughout the fairly large island. Naturally, it was far from truly encompassing the island's true entirety. However, the United Navy already had a topographic map of the landmass.

And it was intriguing, to say the least. 

As said before, the island was a quarter of the size of Britain. It was gigantic, but far from the biggest. For better comparison, it was more or less the same size as Ireland.

However, what mattered to Abraham wasn't its size, but its unique shape.

The island, although a bit rough around the edges, resembled a crescent shape. The interesting shape faces the northeast, unlike the Port of Dawn overlooking the southwest.

So, one could consider it a crescent-shaped island. Though, it would have been perfect if not for the wide beach in the southwest where the Port of Dawn dwelled. 

It was as if someone had taken a bite off the crescent moon.

There was also its terrain. The beach where the Port of Dawn resided was the only place where one could enter the island with ease. All of its coasts were riddled with cliffs and rocky ridges.

Its waters were also dangerous as one could get into a shipwreck if they weren't careful enough. 

This was the circumstances of the northeast, which was unlike the calmness of the southwest.

This was a piece of good news as there was no need for the United Navy to defend every coastal front. With the Port of Dawn acting as a gateway, the island was practically secured for the United Navy.

Anyhow, as the island was without a name, the Fleet Admiral was given the honor to name it. Fortunately, although rather basic, Abraham managed to give it an uncommon name.

After all, one would usually name it Luna, for the sake of simplicity.

The island's name was Crescere, simple, easy to remember, and hard to forget. Its given name became a part of the official records in the United Navy. 

This would mean that later in the far future, Crescere would still be its original name.

Such official records were maintained by the branch office of the Port of Dawn. And with it being the current headquarters of the United Navy. Crescere would be embedded in stone.

Speaking of the Port of Dawn, its expansion meant two things for the United Navy. 

The creation of a quarry located on top of the northern plateau and the acquisition of an oil field settling in the eastern grassland.

At the moment, the Port of Dawn was busy setting up the outpost for the construction project. The first thing they needed to do was build a highway connecting the Port of Dawn to the two resource acquisition sectors.

The highway didn't need to be concrete. It can be a big dirt road leading to the northern plateau or the eastern grassland. 

Its job was to aid the development and logistics of the construction project. After all, using helicopters as delivery trucks during the entire construction operation was inefficient and costly. 

The northern highway was planned to be about 35 kilometers, while the eastern highway was shorter with a length of 20 kilometers.

Since clearing the trees and foliage in the way of the road was the only thing they needed to do, the highway wasn't expensive and was swift to make.

Currently, 68% of the highway project has been completed. The remaining percentage would be completed in three to five days. 

Other than the highway, several facilities were also constructed with some factories already in operation. Naturally, this caused a problem of dwindling supplies.

However, according to Lieutenant Commander Morgen, it would take three weeks before they zeroed their stored supplies. It was enough to try to mitigate and stabilize the consumption and start resource collection.

So… Both Abraham and the United Navy were working hard to grow. And since a week had passed. It was time for the long-awaited operation. 

The maritime-security mission.

――<● >――

It was early in the morning, and the golden sun rose from the lines of the boundless horizon. As its radiant sunlight pierced through the heavens and the earth, a new day began.

In the Fleet Admiral's office was Captain Lux of the UNS Light Bringer and Lieutenant Commander Morgen of the Port of Dawn. Before the two officers were the highest of naval command, Fleet Admiral Abraham Shepherd.

The two high officers of the United Navy had been called upon the Fleet Admiral's office for an important meeting.

After a week of growth and development, Abraham was assured of the Port of Dawn and the UNS Light Bringer's capabilities to handle the upcoming Naval Task.

In simpler terms, it was time.

The Fleet Admiral had a sharpened gaze while gazing at his officers. He looked much bigger and more intimidating than before. The result of his hellish training gave him a subtle dominating aura.

His raven-colored hair was lustrous, brimming with vitality. While the Fleet Admiral's jet-black eyes were as cold as the frozen Arctic, giving others a sense of oppression.

After some time staring at his subordinates, he finally opened his mouth. A deep yet calm spoken voice escaped his lips.

"Are your forces ready?"