At dusk, as the city lights flickered on, the grand banquet hall of the capital's administrative center shone with golden splendor.
The three-tiered hall was packed with base mbers—shipgirls, Sirens, Spirits, and Heroic Spirits—all gathered to celebrate another victorious expedition.
Unlike before, the diversity of species in the hall had greatly increased.
Shipgirls clustered together: elegant carriers and battleship onee-sans sipped red wine at a few tables, while destroyer-class girls drank fruit juice together. The Northern Parliant girls and Harbin huddled together, downing vodka like there was no tomorrow.
Heroic Spirits and Spirits mingled freely, and the Siren girls sat with their Executors in a corner.
Artificial angels had replaced Bulins and Manjuus as servers and chefs, gracefully carrying trays through the hall.
Their programming included perfect dostic skills—their elegant movents were so refined that even Royal Maids felt a bit self-conscious.
However, due to the angels' absolute obedience and borderline groveling deanor, many shipgirls were caught off guard and overwheld by the attention.
"Master, here is the red wine you requested. Please enjoy."
A ponytailed angel landed beside Yat Sen with a tray.
She knelt on one knee, bowed her head, and raised the tray above her as if serving a master.
"Ah—why are you kneeling?! Please get up—"
The gentle Yat Sen quickly reached out to help her.
"Master? Did I do sothing wrong?"
The angel's eyes filled with guilt.
"No, no, don't worry. Just stand properly."
Yat Sen had the angel remain at her side and began patiently teaching:
"Etiquette is different here compared to your world. Don't do that again, okay?"
"Apologies received. I will adjust my behavior protocol accordingly."
The angel gave a polite bow.
Harbin simply reached out, pulled the kneeling angel up, and handed her a bottle of vodka.
Then added a chair beside her.
"What's with the groveling? Co on, drink with us!"
"Yes, Master."
The angel picked up the bottle and began chugging.
"Don't call Master!"
"Yes, my lord."
"...Don't call 'my lord' either—people will think I've got a weird kink."
"Understood, milady."
"... Try again."
The angel paused in thought, then recalled how the shipgirls addressed Setsuna.
"Then, may I call you Commander?"
Smack—
Harbin slapped her own forehead.
"I'm not trying to steal the throne, okay?!"
Other shipgirls, Heroic Spirits, and Spirits encountered similar situations.
Those who were once kings in life—or had haughty personalities—like Nero, Artoria, Jeanne Alter, and Ägir, could accept the angels' service without issue.
But the more bashful ones—like Chang Chun, Tai Yuan, and Javelin—had already entered an apologetic loop with the angels.
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have ordered you around! Please stop kneeling!!!"
"Master, my deepest apologies! If my service failed to satisfy you, I shall imdiately initiate my self-destruction sequence upon your command..."
"Waaahhh! No, no, please don't—!!!"
The little shipgirls, already pure-hearted, were completely overwheld. So nearly knelt down themselves to beg the angels to stop.
One side thought they had failed to serve properly, while the other feared the angels might take their own lives out of guilt.
...
Once everyone had settled in a bit during the banquet, Setsuna gave a brief recounting of the expedition—what they experienced in Synapse and what they had discovered.
However, certain details about the Master of Synapse were omitted—Setsuna only ntioned that he had been imprisoned in a virtual world.
The state of Synapse left the shipgirls amazed.
"To think that such an advanced civilization ended up like that—utterly absurd."
Formidable shook her head.
"No desire, self-destruction... Is this the final stage of a civilization's developnt?"
"We'll never end up like that. There are so many worlds in the multiverse—we can go beat up aliens if we get bored. Sounds fun."
Gudako thought if one universe got dull, they could always cause trouble in another. She was very much looking forward to eting powerful opponents in the future.
"As for this expedition's spoils, I believe everyone's received theirs."
After summarizing the mission, Setsuna clapped his hands with a smile.
"We brought back Synapse's top scientist and over three thousand cha-girls."
"And we now have the technology to manufacture angel units."
Daedalus stood up and greeted the shipgirls.
She was extrely curious about these strange beings from other worlds—shipgirls, Spirits, and Heroic Spirits were all completely new concepts to her.
"The universal angels are Synapse's most important remaining technology. They co in types: combat, dostic, entertainnt, dical, etc."
"The combat types include Ikaros, Nymph, and Astraea."
"There are long-range, lee, and support types—all of which can work alongside us in future battles."
Setsuna gave Ikaros a pat.
Universal angel tech was, at its core, an advanced artificial intelligence system—only, the robots were made to look like angels.
Mass-produced combat angels weren't as powerful as Ikaros, but when equipped with high-end weapons and produced in large numbers, they were a formidable force.
They moved with extre agility and could swarm targets both within the atmosphere and in near-Earth orbit.
Even large-scale airdrops for ground operations were feasible—like upgraded combat AIs.
Even better, the angels could be stored inside shipgirl rigging and deployed whenever needed for maximum chaos.
"Production isn't too difficult, ow..."
Akashi twitched her ears while reviewing Daedalus's blueprints on the holographic screen.
"Our Special-Grade Bulin can handle this. Hmm... the cost is even lower than building Siren Executors? Since these don't require Wisdom Cubes..."
"We could even replace the original rocket launchers and naval cannons with Super-Graviton Cannons—that'd boost combat performance..."
"?"
Daedalus was surprised that the cat-eared girl had already mastered the specs of universal angels within minutes.
"Sounds good. Make tens of thousands of them—long-range, close-combat, and electronic warfare support types. Equip every shipgirl with a few."
Setsuna waved generously and finalized the production plan.
"As for the dostic models... everyone's already received one. Get along well."
"We can produce another batch for odd jobs—after all, they're pretty easy on the eyes."
He thought for a mont more.
Angels flying around the city really did add a dreamy aesthetic.
In the future: Setsuna commands shipgirls, shipgirls command cha-girls—very logical.
"Commander, aren't these angels being a little too polite?"
"Umm, I'm really not used to them calling 'Master'..."
Yat Sen raised her hand a little awkwardly.
"Ah, that... just interact with them however you're most comfortable. Universal angels can understand your intentions."
Daedalus answered on Setsuna's behalf.
"You can treat them as friends, subordinates, or even slaves."
"Once engraved, the universal angels are absolutely obedient to their masters and will carry out any command without hesitation."
"Oh..."
Everyone reacted differently.
They couldn't help but marvel at this miraculous AI technology.
"What about the Wishing Stone Tablet, Commander? With your personality, I thought you'd have dug the whole thing out by now."
Jeanne Alter asked with one leg crossed.
"From your description, it sounds way more powerful than the Holy Grail."
"We'll send a research team to study the Stele later."
Setsuna replied.
"To be honest, I'm less interested in its wish-granting function than I am in how it operates..."
"If we can uncover the thod behind its construction, then integrate it with —or the Eternal Snowfall—giving it the power to manipulate the multiverse... heh, that's sothing to look forward to..."
The Wishing Stone Tablet, as it currently stood, only functioned within the world of Heaven's Lost Property. It had limitations, couldn't do everything, and sotis malfunctioned.
Setsuna had no desire to beco like the Synapseans—relying on the Stele to coast through life.
His ambitions were much grander.
To completely analyze the Wishing Stone Tablet and create an even stronger, universal wish-granting device capable of interfering with the greater multiverse—then rge with it.
He could already integrate the powers of other worlds, including Wisdom Cubes, Magecraft Command Seals, spiritual energy, and now Synapsean tech.
"Dissecting and rging with the Stele's power?! Isn't that basically becoming a god?! Omniscient and omnipotent?!"
The Spirits and Heroic Spirits were stunned.
"Hmm... More precisely, this would be a tech-side god. An artificial god."
Setsuna considered.
Whether magic or science, when taken to the extre, both paths led to the sa place.
—The ability to reshape the universe and its laws with sheer willpower.
From the science side: pre-space age humans could only alter planetary surfaces. In the space age, they could change star systems and galaxies.
The top-tier civilizations in Three-Body could manipulate universal laws. Synapseans used the Stele to create and destroy worlds.
From the magic side: an ordinary mage could conjure fireballs, retrieve objects from a distance, and turn objects into gold. Stronger beings like Mio and Tohru could alter laws with their will.
At the demigod level, one could overturn reality itself—create or erase worlds.
Both sides ultimately reached the sa peak—it was just a matter of thod.
Setsuna figured he might as well make the most of what was in reach.
With advanced engineering, physics, and Daedalus' support, he'd begin his path to godhood from the technological side.
"Hiss..."
Even Daedalus, along with researchers like Akashi, Observer, and Purifier, were stunned.
"Now that's what I call a monuntal project..."
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