Chapter 71 - Debut of the KANSEN

(I admit the pacing for this chapter is a little odd. At first I wanna make interaction between Adam's companions with the shipgirls but halfway through I thought making an entire chapter just about that is kinda not good since I'm in middle of building a hype for KANSEN official appearance in that world which is more important than what I initially planned. Well, I will try add more interactions and whatever happened in the background later when we are done with the important stuff.)

(150 Pwr stone special release)

According to standard protocols, naval base that accomodate KANSEN shouldn't have any unauthorized human within. That authorized few only include the messenger and the Commander himself.

The reason is quite explanatory. First is the KANSEN themselves, a humanoid weapon though most don't. In the first place, the rumor about KANSEN being dangerous was circulated from the Germany lab because of a certain KANSEN that is quite unstable and prone to kill her Handlers. Second, the research itself is top secret and the less people know about it, the more likely the secret will stay buried.

However, in the US naval base. The base has other 'humans' that shouldn't be there since they aren't even part of the military. Also, it's quite obvious that they aren't normal by any means. They aren't even hiding it.

"San Diego!" X5

Five Alices popped up from under the table to give San Diego a surprise but San Diego didn't react as she usually would. Instead, her head remained laid on the table, dozing off under the shade of the garden pavilion and the gentle wind blowing from the sea.

"San Diego?" x5

The five worried pairs of eyes look at San Diego, worried if something bad happened to her.

"Oh, Alices… Sorry. I'm too tired to play today. Commander put a curse on me to feel exhausted all day." San Diego lifted her head up and revealed her lethargic face.

"Master? Why?" Alices is curious why Adam would curse San Diego and also couldn't believe Adam is doing something that evil.

"To test a new weapon or something. I went a little overboard and drained my energy to shoot down planes. Haah…" San Diego sighed exasperatedly. "I don't even feel sleepy. Just no energy to move. It feels like I'm turning into a sloth."

"So, San Diego needs energy?" Alices figured San Diego is low on power and needed a quick recharge since the symptoms she described is like Low Power Mode that T-Dolls also have.

"Yes." San Diego sighed defeatedly.

"Alice understands!" Alice said before one of them left and returned minutes later with Tina.

"Help charge San Diego up with a Dust battery?" Alice requested Tina's help.

"Er… not that I didn't want to help. But I don't exactly understand a KANSEN's physiology. They are not exactly gynoid like Alice and Agent. Or a human. I don't think trying anything without Nii-san supervision is a good idea." Tina tried discouraging Alice from trying to zap San Diego to death with a Lightning Dust battery made for T-Dolls.

Alices immediately looked depressed and upset because she couldn't help San Diego.

"Ah, what about if we ask for Sister Jeanne's help? Maybe she can do something?" Tina tried suggesting another alternative after seeing Alices become sad.

Alice immediately becomes cheerful again upon hearing the suggestion. Tina sighed in relief because Alice is too simple minded almost like a real puppy which made it unbearable to see her in that kicked puppy state.

Although Tina doubts Jeanne has a solution for this. Maybe Adam does. But he is currently away with Agent again to collect materials he said and won't be back for quite a while.

———

Jeanne is in the cafeteria's kitchen preparing lunches for everyone when she notices a group of people enter the cafeteria outside of meal time.

"Hmn? Alice? Tina and… San Diego right? What brings you girls here? Did you all get hungry and need snacks or something?" As kind as always, with a sisterly voice she asked the guests that entered her kitchen.

"San Diego said Master put a curse on her to make her feel tired. Please help, Sister Jeanne!" All five Alices huddled on to Jeanne's thighs and begged her for help.

However, Jeanne became confused instead. "Curse? By Master?" She sounded skeptical for a good reason. First, she cannot sense any curse from San Diego. Second, as far as she remembers, Adam can't use magecraft or magic which includes casting curses.

Jeanne looks at Tina, who is carrying San Diego on a piggyback ride. Tina shrugs, having absolutely no clue. But Alice is very insistent and Jeanne could only give in.

"Alright, let me do a check." Jeanne said and asked Tina to put San Diego down on a chair.

Jeanne used her mana to probe San Diego's body and found literally nothing wrong with her except, well, no energy. Like her body had entered a low power mode to conserve energy. This isn't something that she could fix.

"How is it, Sister Jeanne?" Alice asked immediately when Jeanne was done.

"There's no curse. She is just tired and needs a long and proper rest for the day." Jeanne said.

"So, Master didn't put a curse on San Diego?" Alice said in relief.

"Of course not. Master will not do such a thing. Also, I need to have a few words with Miss San Diego alone." Jeanne said with a threatening smile which made San Diego stiffened and look panicked while Tina already dragging Alices out for a moment to give Jeanne the privacy she needed to teach San Diego about wordings around Alice.

—————

Meanwhile, with Adam.

Adam and Agent is once again in the GFL world. But instead of his usual Goblin Looting spree, he is breaking through numerous facilities all across the world to copy various blueprints of naval ships, military aircrafts, weapons which will be stored in a database as his reference for his work.

Those data will be used in his pursuit to upgrade the WW2 ship of the KANSEN's rigging to modern standards and higher.

For his quest, he needs to Accelerate the development of project KANSEN. Which means to wake most of the shipgirls up from the Wisdom Cubes.

To do that, he needs to obtain most of the Cubes. But the Cubes are in the hands of the government for now. The ten Cubes he obtained is what the government handed to the Admiral to be developed. The rest is still in the hands of the government and Adam needs them to give all those Cubes to him.

The problem is, the government didn't really see the need to have that much active KANSEN because the threat of Siren was still relatively small. Also, they see KANSEN as a dangerous living weapon. Not heroes that will save them from the Siren threat.

So, Adam's plan was really simple. Make his ship stronger so the Siren side will escalate their aggression and send more stronger Siren ships. Also, Adam is technically also playing in the Siren's favor by making the KANSEN stronger to combat the Deus X threat.

If WW2 shipgirls isn't enough then what about futuristic spaceships shipgirls? Because it's very much possible if what Adam remembered about the lore about them being a crystallization of a ship's history and what he learned about the nature of KANSEN from his experiments, creating a fictional ship like UNSC Infinity as a KANSEN is not impossible and certainly the same as his Orbital Fortress. The possibility is simply endless provided he can create Wisdom Cubes.

Anyway, back to the original topic. Adam is gathering the necessary information and materials for his plan with the shipgirls. However, he realized something.

Rather than taking this technology that is only advanced by a few dozen years, why not go to a world that is much more advanced and possibly have even better technology that he can use. But the problem with this plan is the world can't be too advanced either. It needs to be still somehow using the Modern day equivalent of technology level since his goal is to procure technology that can be used to improve the WW2 naval ships that the KANSEN use as rigging. His choice will be severely limited.

Due to the way his needs will influence the world he goes on his Interdimensional Contract, he could just jump blind and still get the world he needs but the con being he has zero idea what to expect because the world wouldn't be one he recognises.

So, after much consideration. Adam decided against it and just used what he could get from this world. To the best since no matter how he tried to upgrade the ship, in the end it didn't really matter since the ship will just be a rigging and a platform to accomodation the advanced weaponry he will make. Instead, he should work towards something like a force field barrier for the ship maybe or anything that can give his shipgirls an edge over the Siren and other KANSEN.

Once Adam is done borrowing in the GFL world. He returned to Azur Lane world and focused on his Commander work since he had a proper fleet. Up until now, Agent had been doing that for him since the only available work was to patrol the area around the base to maintain control over it and create a Siren free zone for the commercial and military ships to traverse.

———

Another week went by quickly as Adam fixed the issue that Enterprise, Cleveland and San Diego faced after equipping them with new weaponry. Enterprise got an improved and more powerful catapult to launch the jets and also the landing system. Cleveland and San Diego get an electric generator each which is powered by hydrogen fuel as an upgrade to replace their original diesel powered steam generator that generates around 50-60 KW while the new ones can generate easily up to 100 MW however they are very resource hungry. They eat through the hydrogen fuel very fast and it's expensive as fuck to buy but Adam can make his own hydrogen fuel soon once the electrolysis plant which design he borrowed from GFL world is completed.

Once he has the electrolysis plant, as long as he has the ocean, he will never run out of fuel to burn. He can even sell them commercially back to the mainland if he wanted along with the salt he will produce as a side product.

Anyway, with the new generator. Firing the Coil Cannon and railguns shouldn't be a problem. Although for Battleships which Adam planned to outfit them with electromagnetic railgun cannon will definitely need a nuclear reactor. There's no way the electric generator cam support 9 individual massive railgun firing simultaneously. Not to mention the secondary guns, the anti-aircraft guns and other weapon systems. Well, that's a headache for another day.

With the three modified KANSEN ready for deployment, a mission suddenly arrived from above about a massive fleet of Siren mass produced ships detected to be heading toward pearl harbor near Hawai to seize control of the base. The biggest ever mobilized by the Siren and the Admiral said it's possible that this is Siren's first step to seizing control of the sea from humans.

The only reason the Siren are attacking the west side of the Pacific sea instead of the east side is because the mainland has a more fortified shore lined up with coastal batteries which will offer fierce resistance while those small islands couldn't afford which most were evacuated and only few that are still inhabited were mostly naval bases or other military installations.

Also, Japan and Britain will be sending their own KANSEN to assist the defense as they are now allied nations with the same interest to defend humanity against Siren. Adam's base will be hosting these guests that came as support which give him the opportunity to observe the KANSEN from other nations according to the Admiral.

After reading the order, Adam cursed because he fucked up. He was doing everything at his pace and he forgot that technically, he is hired to run the base. If the higher up sees the shit he did around the base, they will start asking questions that he cannot answer.

Thank goodness most of the stuff he did is hidden underground to begin with which makes hiding things much easier like the improved weapon manufacturing facility and electrolysis plant. He can't let anyone know about those yet. He must keep his shipgirls higher and have more advantage over the others in case they dare stir up troubles like establishing the Crimson Axis or get chummy with the Siren.

Upon receiving the order, Adam summoned Enterprise and New Jersey to his office and briefed them about the mission.

New Jersey will be the flagship for the first and only proper fleet which will consist of Saratoga, Hornet, Indianapolis and Portland.

Meanwhile, Enterprise will form a special task force consisting of the three upgraded ships of herself, Cleveland and San Diego.

As for Yorktown and Vestal, they will be joining Adam in the side bench.

Adam expected some resistance to his order considering Enterprise would normally be the 'unofficial flagship' of Eagle Union in normal circumstances and he handed that position to New Jersey but Enterprise didn't make any reaction at all and seems to have expected that outcome.

As for New Jersey, she is just excited for the idea of a joint operation with three factions as her first sortie since her awakening as a KANSEN. Basically her virgin voyage aside from patrol since her awakening will be a major operation.

While the shipgirls will be fighting the frontline, Adam and the others will support back from the base and with the Orbital Fortress which gets clear and high definition visuals of the entire world at any given moment regardless of weather conditions. Which is a game changer since information advantage is the key to victory in basically any type of battle.

Well, the preparation on his side is done. Now he just needs to wait for the reinforcements from other factions to arrive.

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