Near the Starport Construction Area.
Aurelian kept walking toward the starport lanes, and Astra stayed close behind him without drifting too far from him, but she was looking all over the place like a kid, which made Aurelian smile as he slowed down his speed to let her spend more ti looking at these new things.
The academy’s starport sat on the edge of the main district like a separate city, with wide transit paths, stacked docking towers, and rows of construction docks that were already running hot from early morning.
Shuttles ca and went in clean patterns, and overhead screens flashed schedules for dock usage, resource intake, and construction queue tis.
As they moved through the lane, Aurelian glanced sideways at Astra, partly to keep things normal and partly because he needed one answer before they got to the dock.
"So," he said in a casual voice, trying his best to show a calm deanor, "what tier is your hull blueprint, and don’t tell you’re going to surprise with sothing I can’t build yet."
Astra’s lips curved slightly, that sa quiet confidence from earlier still sitting in her eyes. "It’s within the limit for a new commander," she replied, then paused like she was enjoying the fact that he had asked. "Tier IV."
That was a relief, even if he didn’t show it. Tier IV was basically the ceiling for initial builds at Polaris, and anything above that would have forced him to either delay her hull or find a temporary workaround until his commander network stabilized and leveled up enough to handle a higher-tier construction.
But what he didn’t know was that the ceiling was not Tier IV but instead Tier III. This is because of the souls of the commanders, which limit the Tier that they can handle, and as one of the few who had an elevated soul level, Aurelian was above the rest of the commanders.
And to add on, his cultivation manual is a specially procured masterpiece that helps him not only with his physical and ntal health but also with his soul, which is why he is able to handle Tier IV ship girls from the start.
He nodded as if it was expected. "Good. Makes today easier."
Astra fell into step beside him for a mont, close enough that her voice stayed private even in the crowd. "If you want, I can make it easier in other ways, too."
He glanced at her and caught the faint amusent in her expression, which made him smile as he raised his hand and flicked her forehead.
"You’re doing it again," he said while showing a slight smile that appeared subconsciously.
"Doing what?" She asked with an innocent expression as she rubbed the part of her head where he flicked her.
"Flirting like it’s a normal part of duty."
Aurelian’s smile sharpened just a little. "Is it? Or is it just normal for you because you got a handso commander like ?"
"Uhh.." Astra was stumped by this question, as there is so truth in what he said, but she cannot admit that, or that will be her social death scene.
Aurelian let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh, then looked forward again before she could push him into saying sothing that would stick in his head for the rest of the day.
They reached the dock assignnt desk, where staff were moving quickly, checking identities, and pushing people through as fast as the system allowed.
The mont Aurelian’s commander status registered, the atmosphere changed slightly as the information contained that he had awakened a gold-tier ship girl, which is a shocking thing.
This caused so of the staff to look at them for a few more minutes before returning to work.
A staff mber scanned his wrist ID, then looked up briefly. "Construction Dock C-17 is available," they said, voice still professional but a little tighter. "You can start a Tier IV hull build imdiately."
Aurelian didn’t waste ti. He led Astra through a wide gate and into a private dock lane where a long construction platform stretched out, surrounded by robotic arms, material feeds, and shimring scaffolding fields that would shape the hull over the next few days.
Near the control panel, Astra held out a slim data case, then placed a single blueprint card in his palm.
It looked ordinary, but he knew what it was. A rapid-build blueprint, the kind designed for new commanders during the qualification event, ant to let a shipgirl get her hull without waiting months or burning personal resources on public shipyards.
He slid it into the scanning machine.
The machine whirred, and a holographic outline of the ship appeared above the dock, a long, imposing silhouette with layered armor geotry and a spine that suggested heavy firepower and command stability, the kind of hull that felt like it belonged in the front line and in the center of a fleet.
Aurelian kept his expression neutral, but he could not deny it felt good seeing it.
A bill printed out from the side slot a second later, and even he raised an eyebrow.
"Two thousand three hundred units of blue source fragnts," he read out, as his eyes widened a little, just impressed in the way you got when soone handed you a price tag that was both ridiculous and honest.
Astra leaned in slightly to look, her hair falling forward over one shoulder. "That’s high?"
"For a Tier IV hull," Aurelian said, tapping the paper once, "it’s way above what most students see."
He knew the basic math because every commander did sooner or later. Source fragnts were the main currency once you stepped into this world, because they weren’t just money, they were fuel for everything that mattered.
You could use them to activate shipgirls from normal hulls, upgrade ship equipnt, repair damage at docks, and convert them into certain materials that only shipgirl hulls could use properly.
The fragnt level matched the ship tier one-to-one. Tier Three builds needed cyan fragnts.
Tier Four needed blue. Tier Five needed purple. Tier Six needed gold. It was clean and brutal, which was why people took Rarity so seriously.
A Tier Three frigate hull could sotis be built with around a hundred cyan fragnts if it was cheap and barebones, while the average Tier Three battlecruiser sat sowhere in the range where it hurt but didn’t destroy you, usually under thirteen hundred unless you were paying for sothing special.
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