Alas, haste makes waste. The "flattery squad" had nearly jeopardized Hikaru's entire naval district; if a single shipgirl had sunk during the rescue, Hikaru might well have vented his anger on the Summit Nation(US).
Fortunately, the outcome was good.
Clicking his tongue at the thought that Alaska—big brows, bright eyes—turned out to be an agent, Hikaru remembered someone else and asked, surprised, "You and Blücher are Alaska's companions. How did Saint George end up mixed in with you?"
Deutschland mimicked Saint George's tone perfectly: "I wanted to see for myself what 'number one under heaven' really means!"
Hikaru blinked. So Saint George had come to weigh just how much there was behind Tirpitz's title—maybe even to beat Tirpitz and claim "number one" for herself.
He looked to Bismarck. "You just said—what happened to Saint George again?"
"Heavy damage. Nearly blown in half at the waist," Bismarck said, lips quirking. "Would you like to see her now and tell her what 'number one' really means?"
That was pure hotheadedness. Hikaru waved it off, exasperated. "Let her take her time repairing. What's the situation on the Abyssal side?"
"They've pulled back for now. We're keeping close watch."
"Then keep running the military affairs. I won't meet Alaska and the others for the time being—no need." After a few brief instructions, Hikaru turned to Moskva. "Time's tight and the fighting's urgent. Your welcome banquet will have to wait until after the war."
Moskva passed him a glass of hard liquor. "To your health, comrade."
Hikaru took a sip and winced. "Don't call me 'comrade.' It sounds weird."
"Then down the glass."
Watching him toss back the throat-scorcher in one go, Moskva smiled in satisfaction. "Good man, Comrade Commander."
Hikaru rolled his eyes, set the glass down. "I'm going to perform a summon."
"Dun-dun-dun!"
U-47 popped out from a corner, hoisting a scythe-like purple horn high and showing off. "Commander, look what this is!"
Hikaru focused—and lit up. "Yamato's horn—you really managed to bring it back?"
"I grabbed it myself, I did, I did!"
"You get a major merit."
Hikaru ruffled U-47's hair and took the purple horn—cold as iron—from her.
It weighed like steel, too.
Bismarck asked, curious, "What's with this horn? Do you know?"
Behind her, Yamato herself nodded again and again.
Hikaru, of course, didn't know—but just then the Collection task ticked over to complete.
[Collection task complete: Yamato's Horn. Reward: 100 Diamonds]
[Tip: Mount this horn as décor in the Trophy Gallery to slightly increase the Naval District rating. The special power within can be extracted and purified. Pay 200 Diamonds to raise any shipgirl at level 100+ to level 110; or pay 100 Diamonds to raise any shipgirl below level 100 to level 100. Single-use only.]
Hikaru hissed in a sharp breath.
A straight "level-up" option—basically a cheat code.
Raising a shipgirl from level 1 to level 100 took at least six or seven years at the fastest. A truer example was the unluckiest man alive, Masaki: his Wilhelmina took nearly twenty years to reach level 100.
Masaki had it rough—twenty years with only a destroyer, and single destroyers are notoriously hard to train; there aren't high-intensity battles near the coast. Yet that's exactly the kind of example that reflects reality. Cases like Saint George—less than ten years old and already in the nineties—are rare.
She never lacked resources and fought on the Abyssal front line day after day.
Every admiral spends ages on training at first. Only after they gain experience and strength, raise their risk tolerance, and their naval district grows do they finally hit the fast lane for leveling shipgirls.
Even then, for an "old salt" to raise a shipgirl from 1 to 100 will still take roughly ten years.
And the Yamato's Horn before Hikaru wiped out those ten years of combat and cultivation—and all the resources burned—instantly, safely, cleanly. Terrifying, when you think about it.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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