RNP Page 50
Page 50
"Go and look around for land or other ships. If you find any useful floating objects, bring them all back."
"Yes sir!"
Hans's blank face suddenly brightened. He saluted, grabbed the oar, and then, with a bulge of his muscles, his clothes burst open. He swung the oar and paddled hard, and the lifeboat jerked up, speeding across the water like a speedboat.
"I'm super..."
Latis stared in utter shock at the lifeboat bouncing on the water, feeling as if his brain was boiling.
"Owner……"
The ship girl's slightly aggrieved voice made him turn around. He saw a hint of fear and melancholy in the girl's eyes, as she softly asked:
"Master, do I have a name too?"
"Hey, don't you have a name?" Latis scratched his head, looked at the ship girl who was on the verge of tears, and said seriously:
"Then you can call yourself Friday."
"Huh?" The ship girl stared blankly at Latis.
"Just kidding, just kidding, I'm not Robinson Crusoe." Latis gently stroked the ship girl's head and said:
"Let's call it Thursday."
……
On your first night in the vast ocean world, your loyal and powerful super-crew member, Hans, swims back with a ship full of trash, telling you there are no islands or land within twenty nautical miles where you can dock. You find a soaking wet blanket in the lifeboat; it seems you can barely survive the cold night at sea.
[At the same time, you witnessed the ship girl's upgrade for the first time. Thursday carried a piece of driftwood from the lifeboat and returned to the raft to your astonishment. The raft instantly filled with water to the top. Thursday told you that her strength was equal to the raft's carrying capacity. After saying that, she began to gnaw on the driftwood like a hamster. You looked at her chubby face and were about to laugh at her when you were surprised to find that an extra piece of wood had grown on the raft.]
After eating a piece of driftwood on Thursday, the raft's carrying capacity increased by fifty kilograms, and its overall area increased by one square meter—enough for you to rest your head on her lap and fall asleep peacefully.
But you can't sleep. Silence is the mournful sound of parting. You realize Hans has already left. Watching the lifeboat sink, burdened by too much garbage, you can't help but wonder if he really brought back everything he saw.
The ocean was cold and noisy at night, the roaring waves keeping you awake. Looking at Thursday, nestled beside you in a deep sleep, and the blankets dried by your body heat, you suddenly had some thoughts about the source of fresh water.
The next morning, you summoned a new Hans. The Hans marked with the number "1" on the lifeboat responded listlessly to your command. You watched Hans, who paddled one meter only to be pushed back two meters by the waves, and scratched your head in confusion.
[But before you could think it through, as the sun rose, you soaked your blanket, placed a pot lid you'd found in the trash over your head, and, wrapped in the blanket, distilled and collected 500 milliliters of water. When you opened your eyes, you were suddenly startled.]
"I'm super!"
Latis looked at the pile of driftwood crammed together and his own pitiful raft trapped inside, and couldn't help but complain:
"Wait, whose driftwood is all this? There's way too much of it! Can you please stop littering with unwanted driftwood?!"
“Master…” Thursday struggled to bite through the wooden stick that had been stuffed deep into his throat, crying as he spoke:
"I really can't eat anything on Thursday..."
[You then realize that the raft beneath your feet is a full ten meters long and five meters wide! This can no longer be called a raft; it's practically a forest raft! You could dance with a ship girl on it!]
[You immediately performed a "Hero is Dead" dance, and seeing Thursday's adoring gaze, you couldn't help but burst into laughter. You then asked her if you could upgrade other features, such as more cabins or more drums. You were always worried that when you were doing your business on the raft, the drum would get wet from the waves. While there was nothing inherently wrong with it, it would still be a little unseemly if others saw it later.]
"Ah, Master, it's like this!"
After hesitating for a while on Thursday, he said:
“Making structural adjustments is easy, but it will require much more material than normal expansion. However, if you want to make industrial products like toilets, you might need to go to the seabed to find materials…”
She sighed and said:
"Materials from fish or underwater ruins are both acceptable, but there are many dangers underwater, so I don't recommend going there yourself on Thursday! The safest way is to find a nautical chart and then go to the nearest ship type gathering place."
"Sword Tomb Gathering Place?" Latis exclaimed in surprise. "What is that? It sounds so abstract!"
[After Thursday's explanation, you learn that the so-called ship type distribution center is a super-large port built by the ship girls and their captains under the leadership of an aircraft carrier, providing the ship girls with modification and fuel resources.]
[While the port doesn't force ship girls to go out on missions, their daily survival still consumes certain resources. You then learn that although the ship girls' true form is a ship, they still need to eat regularly to replenish their nutrition and maintain a good mental state.]
[You can't help but wonder, will the ship girls... will they form factions? Thursday tells you, it's rumored that each mothership is a power leader, and in wartime, they'll rally all the ship girls in the distribution center to engage in endless battles.]
However, she didn't know the specifics either; her inherited memories didn't cover any further details. You became curious about Thursday's origins and past, but since you weren't very familiar with each other, you hesitated to ask.
[During the conversation, Hans and his No. 1 lifeboat returned. Looking at his empty cabin, you couldn't help but wonder if he had actually done any work on this trip.]
“Yes, sir…”
[Hans listlessly pulled something resembling a gondola from the lifeboat and gestured to show you that, seeing that rowing only moved the boat backwards, he had simply stopped rowing and spent the whole day fishing, only to catch this gondola.]
“Wait…” Latis calmly asked, picking up a fishing rod without even a hook from the lifeboat:
"This is your fishing rod?"
"Yes sir!"
Hans nodded, looking utterly exhausted.
"Damn it, you're just slacking off, not fishing!"
Latis slammed his fishing rod on the ground and complained bitterly.
"Master, wait a moment..."
At this moment, Thursday suddenly spoke up:
"This looks like the energy core of a ship girl, a ship-type reactor!"
"what?"
Latis silently looked at the Gonzalco in his hand, exhaled, and calmly looked up at the sky.
"How should I put it, I've actually gotten used to it for a while now..."
"Yeah, right!" He clenched his fist, then angrily raised his middle finger to the sky.
"I, someone, will never be assimilated by this abstract world!"
Chapter 66 Crazy Thursday: Slightly Wet from Lying Down (Part 2)
[After Thursday's explanation, you finally understood that the ship girl has five sockets: the left and right arms, the left and right legs, and the core in the abdomen. These correspond to the surface and underwater firepower of the ship's port and starboard sides, as well as the core's energy.]
[On the high seas, countless steel reactors—no, they should be called ship-type reactors—drifted, though the vast majority were of the lowest grade, but still usable to a limited extent.]
"What? There's an even higher-grade Gansai? What does it look like?" you couldn't help but ask; you were genuinely curious.
But Thursday didn't know either. Looking at her innocent and bewildered face, you couldn't help but recall the idiom "If you don't know, you're ashamed." You quickly dismissed these thoughts and once again upheld your male virtues.
In the blink of an eye, Hans the First disappeared. Looking at the empty lifeboat he had deliberately capsized, you begin to suspect that Hans's departure was related to the lifeboat's condition.
On Thursday, he picked up the reactor, lifted his long shirt to reveal his smooth belly and southern hemisphere, and planned to temporarily upgrade the core energy to improve the ship's modification and travel speed. After all, you don't even have a sail right now; you're just a large raft drifting with the waves.
"and many more!"
Latis looked at the round hole in Thursday's lower abdomen and suddenly had a thought.
"Huh?" Thursday asked, clutching his long robe in confusion. "What's wrong, Master?"
"Let me help you install it! I'm really good at installing plugins! When my female classmates asked me for help before, I could solve it with just a remote control!"
Latis excitedly took the reactor from Thursday's hands, held her waist, and gently squeezed the reactor in.
Bo~
Thursday's face flushed slightly. Sensing the sudden surge of energy, she released her grip on her clothes, struggled to sit up, and said:
"Thank you, Master, I can feel it..."
Boo!
A wave of emptiness washed over him instantly. Thursday collapsed weakly back into Latis's hands, looking blankly at the removed reactor, and asked weakly:
"Why……"
Bo~
Boo!
Latis repeated the insertion and removal actions with a serious expression, trying to verify a hypothesis about talent!
"Master, what are you doing...?"
Thursday was a rollercoaster of feelings, a mix of fulfillment and emptiness. She could no longer control her body. Looking at the captain so close to her, she silently prayed:
"Waaah, I have to hold it in! I can't let my master see me in such a pathetic state!"
"7777!"
With a ferocious grin, Latis roared, and as the reactor was successfully installed for the seventh time, a huge golden light suddenly burst forth and shot straight into the sky!
"Woooooo!..."
Before he could pay attention to the suspicious cry, Latis immediately saw the record from the simulated text.
[You subjected the poor ship girl to seven inhumane tortures, and then, in a golden light visible to the entire world, you rolled the maximum multiplier: 7, upgrading the ship's reactor quality from "Common" to "Legendary"!]
"As expected!" Latis laughed heartily, hands on his hips. "With this ultimate skill, I will surely dominate! Just wait, the martial world! Your bloody storm is coming!"
He laughed wildly for two minutes, almost laughing himself to death. He shook his head and looked down at Thursday, who was lying on the deck.
Thursday, with a suspicious blush on his face, turned his head away, seemingly looking somewhere. Latis suddenly heard the sound of water. He scratched his head, clung to the stern, and peered curiously at the source of the sound.
At the top of the driftwood that made up the raft, water began to seep out from within the wood, something seemingly out of the ordinary. Latis, shocked, widened his eyes, jumped up, and patted Thursday on the shoulder, shouting:
"Look, it's Thursday! Your driftwood is wet!"
On Thursday, she broke free from Latis's grasp, hugged her knees in embarrassment and anger, buried her head, and shouted loudly:
"Baka!"
After some subtle probing, you learn that the ship girls' physiological reactions can also manifest on the ship itself. Hearing this, you can't help but wonder if performing maintenance on the ship would affect the ship girls.
Looking at Thursday, who was burying her head in the sand like an ostrich, the answer was obvious to you. A surge of pride welled up within you: faced with the allure of becoming a ship's captain, even the girl form of a ship girl paled in comparison! You, Latis, as the toughest man in the world, will use your steely body to clash fiercely with the most powerful aircraft carrier!
[The night passed, and when you awoke again, you found yourself on a wooden boat. On Thursday, dressed in brand-new clothes from who-knows-where, you excitedly told her that the ship's reactor was incredibly powerful, making her feel energized and increasing her work efficiency several times over.]
[Looking at the faint outline of her abs, you were taken aback. How could a ship girl gain such a muscular physique simply by plugging and unplugging reactors? This is unfair!]
Anyway, the boat has started sailing. You look at the rapidly spinning propeller at the bottom of the boat and marvel at how amazing this world is. Although it's just a small wooden boat with an all-wood structure, it can travel as fast as a yacht.
You summoned Hans, intending for him to serve as your escort vessel, patrolling around Thursday.
Hans, the boat marked with the number "3," appeared. He energetically accepted your command and routinely rowed around you. Observing his condition, you sensed that Hans's strength seemed to be related to the number on the boat.
Nearly a week has passed quickly. During this time, although you haven't found any more reactors, your ship has been fully upgraded to the highest level achievable by wooden ships. For a while, you even considered calling yourself Zheng He (Lao Sanbao). However, considering Zheng He's inability to perform sexually, you abandoned the idea.