"Holy crap???" the instructor couldn’t help but blurt out.
Even the scattered students outside noticed the golden light blasting out from Building 107, and within seconds, people started drifting over, first out of curiosity and then at that panicked speed that only shows up when soone realizes they might be watching history unfold in real ti.
"Did soone just pull a gold on day one?"
"No way, gold doesn’t show up this early."
"I swear I saw it, it was gold, not purple."
The hallway that had been half-empty a minute ago suddenly got crowded, with students pressing closer while staff tried to keep them from blocking the path.
A few people who had already finished their tests, still holding their results with stiff faces, stood frozen as they watched the light spill out, looking like they wanted to be happy for soone and angry at the universe at the sa ti.
Room 108’s door slid open right then, and a student walked out with a shipgirl at his side, his face still stuck sowhere between pride and shock from his own success.
His shipgirl looked calm, like she had already accepted her commander’s personality as a lifelong problem.
The mont he saw the light from 107, his expression cracked.
He had gotten a white rarity, which for most people was already decent, but compared to gold, it felt like showing up to a knife fight with a spoon.
"Oh co on," he muttered, and then louder, "Are you serious?"
He turned and slapped the wall with his palm as if it could sohow fix reality, and his shipgirl just sighed softly, already tired.
More doors opened down the hall as teachers and assistants who had been resting between shifts caught wind of what was happening and started moving toward Room 107.
Even the staff who normally kept the construction wing quiet had to step in, waving people back and trying to keep the walkway clear.
Inside Construction Room 107, it was quiet in the way it only got when sothing big was about to finish.
The construction pod’s surface was glowing so brightly it looked like a small sun trapped inside a tal shell, the gold light flooding the room and reflecting off the floor.
The hum of the machine deepened, steady and heavy, as it tried its best not to explode.
The instructor, anwhile, had lost his expression as he looked out at the light, his eyes wide with astonishnt, for this was the first ti in his career he had seen the birth of a gold-tier ship girl.
And Aurelian, who was the cause of this spectacle, didn’t move.
He stood there with his hand lowered, calm on the outside, but the feeling in his chest was sharp and clear, like a door had just opened sowhere deep inside him.
It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t a surprise either.
It felt like so kind of acceptance.
The last few seconds dragged in a way that made ti feel annoying, and then the pod released a clear chi as the glow peaked.
The front of the construction pod split open.
Warm air rolled out, carrying a faint tallic scent, clean and unfamiliar, like the inside of a brand new shipyard.
The light inside dimd just enough to reveal a silhouette, tall and still, stepping forward as if she had been waiting for the world to stop making noise.
She erged slowly, one foot then the other, and the mont she was fully out, the room felt smaller.
She was tall, almost as tall as Aurelian’s shoulder line, with a body that looked like it had been designed with one idea in mind: strength that didn’t need to be loud to be obvious.
Broad hips, thick thighs, a heavy chest, and a steady core that made her posture look effortless, like she could stand through a storm without being pushed an inch.
Her skin was pale ivory, but under the gold light it carried a faint tallic sheen, subtle but unmistakable, like there was sothing not quite human about her, no matter how human her shape was.
Her hair was midnight-black and long, thick and loose, falling down her back in a smooth curtain, the kind of hair that looked expensive even when it was just hanging naturally.
Her eyes were crimson-violet, calm and predatory at the sa ti, like she could look at you and decide your fate without needing to raise her voice.
Her outfit was formal naval dutywear, fitted to her body without looking cheap or flashy, with clean lines, a high collar, structured sleeves, and a look that scread authority.
It wasn’t armor, but it didn’t need to be. She looked like the type who would walk through a battlefield in heels if she felt like it.
And as soon as she steadied herself, she looked straight at Aurelian.
Aurelian felt it then, the mont his commander network woke up, as if it had been waiting for a key to turn.
It wasn’t visible, but he could sense it clearly, like invisible threads snapping into place between them, locking in and tightening until the connection felt permanent.
At the sa ti, a wave of ntal feedback hit him, sharp but controlled, not painful, just intense, like suddenly gaining a new sense you didn’t know your body could handle.
In that blank space inside his mind where there had been nothing but potential, sothing ford.
A star.
Not a real star, but a clear symbol in his new commander network, deep and bright and heavy with aning.
Gold.
Only gold-rarity shipgirls gave this kind of feedback right away, and even among commanders, the ones who got it on their first day were rare enough to beco stories.
Aurelian kept his face calm anyway. He didn’t let it show too much.
The shipgirl stepped closer and stopped a short distance in front of him, her expression steady, her eyes unblinking.
Then she knelt.
One knee to the floor, back straight, head slightly lowered, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Her voice was low, mature, and clear, as if she had been speaking to command crews for decades.
"Astra Valerith," she said. "Reporting for duty."
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