[Bonus Chapter]
"Waaaaah! I got scammed by a veteran! I built three times, ate three kinds of cursed food, and nearly puked my gallbladder out. I almost died, you know!"
"You seem pretty alive to me. If you can cry and shout like this, it couldn't have been that bad. Just suck it up," Hikaru replied, looking unimpressed.
Masaki's lips quivered as he cried out his grievances with tears and snot, "I ate mosquito meat patties! They grind over half a million mosquitoes into a paste and fry it into a patty! The taste... I won't even describe it. But I told myself—if I could eat that, I could build like a true Commander. So I went for two more builds."
Hikaru took three steps back, both intrigued and disturbed. "And then? What did you eat next?"
"Six-month fermented shark meat and a patty stuffed with over a dozen stink bugs."
As Masaki finished describing it, he gagged again at the memory.
Sharks, Hikaru knew, excrete urea and toxins through their skin, turning their meat into a natural ammonia sponge. Letting that rot for six months…
Just imagining it made Hikaru nauseous. He grabbed Lexington's hand and started walking away. "Nope. I'm out. Can't handle this."
"Waaah! I did all that and still failed! Heaven is blind! Heaven is blind!" Masaki wailed.
Something clicked in Hikaru's mind. A crazy idea sparked to life.
He fished through Fletcher's gear bag and pulled out a blue sheet of paper the size of his palm.
The faint outline of a ship shimmered on it, hard to make out clearly.
"Honestly, I'm not even that lucky. The biggest prize I've ever won in my life was a free drink from a bottle cap. So why do you think I was able to build California, a powerful battleship, right off the bat? Ever wonder why?" Hikaru said, holding the blueprint up dramatically.
Masaki glanced at the blueprint, then at Hikaru, his face twisted with skepticism. "You're trying to scam me too, aren't you? I've heard it all before."
"Believe or don't, your choice. I'm going to summon another shipgirl right now. Watch closely. Whether you believe afterward is entirely up to you. I won't pressure you into anything."
Masaki glanced at Lexington, Fletcher, and California, then gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'll trust you one last time."
He got up to step closer to the blueprint, but Hikaru held up a hand to stop him.
"Whoa there. Stay at least five meters back. Just thinking about what you ate makes me want to puke. Let's keep this civilized."
Masaki looked wronged but nodded. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"
"Follow me. You still have enough resources, right?"
A flicker of ruthlessness crossed Masaki's face. "I've got three million credits earmarked for equipment procurement. I'll spend it all on building today. I can earn it back by running damage tests on humanoid targets for the military later this month."
Hikaru gave him a thumbs-up. "Nice. You're even crazier than I thought. Forget houses or savings—nothing beats getting a living, breathing shipgirl. There's no comparison!"
California smacked Hikaru on the shoulder, unimpressed. "Commander, can you stop running your mouth like that?"
"I'm just hyping him up," Hikaru replied with a grin. He waved Masaki toward the supply office. "Go buy the best resource package. Meet me at the plaza."
Masaki shot him a deep look, then ran off to the administration desk.
"Commander, are you sure about this? What if he really is cursed to never build anything…" Lexington voiced her concern.
Hikaru smiled faintly. "People who are cursed can't even waste resources—they simply can't resonate with the ship's steel memory at all. But Masaki can. I suspect it's not him—it's Wilhelmina. Her innate trait lowers the luck of those around her. You get what I'm saying?"
Fletcher tugged at Hikaru's sleeve and pointed behind him.
Wilhelmina, Masaki's shipgirl, stood there silently with her big round glasses reflecting the sunlight, making her expression unreadable.
"Ahaha… hey, Wilhelmina, what a coincidence!" Hikaru gave an awkward laugh. "I mean, you were probably born to exhaust Masaki's luck for three lifetimes…"
Wilhelmina snorted and raised her tiny fist. "You better not be scamming my Commander! Or else—"
She nodded to Lexington and the others before waddling off to catch up with Masaki.
"She's suffering too," Elizabeth remarked out of nowhere, watching Wilhelmina leave.
"Today is the day we end Masaki's twenty-year curse," Hikaru declared, gripping the glowing blueprint tightly.
At the academy's central plaza, Hikaru sat on the raised platform with his girls casually chatting around him.
The platform was usually empty, but Hikaru's grand stance quickly drew a crowd of wandering students.
"Hikaru-sama, you trying to blind us with your presence or what?"
"Planning to take over the academy? I, Nephilim, won't allow it!"
"Down with the Euro-snob! Get out of our lands!"
"My lifelong dream is to drag Hikaru-sama down from his damn throne!"
"I wish I had Lexington… ugh, kill me now."
"Stop dreaming, dude. Your Commander doesn't even have Fletcher. Wake up!"
The banter and whining of these self-proclaimed "losers" always entertained Hikaru. But they reminded him—he still hadn't picked up his own resource package.
He called California over and handed her his ID and documents. "Go grab our stuff. Be quick."
Since his ID card blatantly displayed his LV143 rank, it always drew unwanted attention. He kept it tucked away unless absolutely necessary.
As California left, Hikaru spotted Masaki and Wilhelmina struggling to carry a heavy resource crate toward the platform.
Hikaru stood up and spread his arms theatrically. "Ladies and gentlemen, fellow wanderers stranded outside the gates of Europe! Today, you will witness a miracle. Today, you will see Masaki, who's been stuck in Antarctica for twenty years, set foot on European soil for the very first time! Rejoice and believe—for abyssal Technology reigns supreme!"
He raised the blueprint high into the air, sunlight glinting off its surface like a divine relic. This scene burned itself into the memory of every witness present.
Of course, right now, everyone just thought he was crazy.
Masaki had become a legend of failure, the living embodiment of what it meant to be cursed.
The smarter students thought they had it figured out.
"Hikaru-sama, you trying to give him a bit of hope just to crush it again? Damn, that's dark. Respect."
Hikaru smirked, not bothering to explain. He raised his arms like a god gazing down from the heavens.
"Speak the name of the abyssal Fortress Princess, and you shall be saved. Mark my words—abyssal Technology, number one under the stars!"
One of the students, chewing on sheep's eyeballs, choked and spat out a foul liquid. "Has Hikaru-sama lost his mind? He shouldn't be going crazy… he's the Sea Leopard King! Of all people!"
The academy had seen all kinds of stunts—cosplay, midnight streaking, breaking rocks on stage. And now? Suffering through cursed food to "cleanse the soul." But Hikaru's showmanship had everyone wondering if this time… it might actually be real.
"Could it actually work?" someone whispered.
The crowd immediately shut them down.
"Shut up, newbie! Only freshies don't know Masaki's legend. He's the lighthouse of Africa, our eternal flame! If he makes it to Europe, I will riot! But the thing is, he can't! He never will!"
While the crowd bickered, Fletcher leaned toward Lexington. "Don't you think the Commander's… different? He never used to act like this."
Lexington just smiled warmly, the very picture of a doting wife. "He's finally unburdened."
Meanwhile, Wilhelmina carved a path through the crowd with her tiny body, slamming the resource crate down in front of the platform.
Masaki stepped forward, glaring up at Hikaru. "I'm ready. Where's the blueprint?"
Hikaru didn't hand it over right away. "You want it? What's the price?"
Masaki gritted his teeth. "Name it."
Hikaru paced the platform dramatically before clasping his hands toward the ocean. "Thanks to abyssal Technology, I seized this from a captured abyssal supply ship. This artifact holds incredible power. If you're willing to risk it, you may have it. But if you fail, I'll take nothing in return."
The crowd jeered.
"Hikaru-sama's just scared of getting punched!"
"abyssal Technology, my ass. Who's buying this crap?"
[End of Chapter]
[50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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