Chapter 378

Chapter 378. Ship Storage Service ‘Beehive’. (3)

Anyway, after spending such a chaotic day, the next day came.

…And after another day passed, our fleet finally overcame a significant turning point.

And that turning point was none other than…

“Commander, Commander, Commander.”

“What, what, what, what, what, what.”

“The construction of the Dreadnought is complete!”

“…Finally!”

Yes.

A while ago, due to a lack of points, we had to discard the Bayern-Class to the outside.

And it was when I happened to see the Bayern-Class, still in its packaging, that the trend of ship storage services began.

It was the completion of our fleet’s ‘first’ Dreadnought.

And as soon as Jessica’s report came in, as if we had been waiting for it…

Outside the large glass window of the command center, something that could no longer be simply described as ‘huge’…

A Dreadnought, so large and beautiful that the word ‘huge’ seemed insufficient, was passing by leisurely.

Of course, the Dreadnought was so big that…

If you looked closely, it wasn’t moving by its own engines but…

-“Tugboat 3, secure the anchor properly.”

-“Aye, aye, aye.”

Even at the smallest estimate, it was similar in size to a Class 1 Kraken (satellite-sized) or slightly larger.

So, dozens of tugboats, each capable of towing a destroyer effortlessly, were struggling to pull it along.

But with so many tugboats attached, it looked a bit grotesque…

“…What a glorious sight.”

“I think so too.”

“Now that I’ll be commanding a fleet with that ship… I feel my heart swelling with pride.”

“Of course.”

As Belial, who came as today’s escort and assistant secretary, reacted, the Dreadnought’s appearance was truly the epitome of the term ‘big guns and big ships.’

The quadruple turrets, four each on the front upper and lower sections and two each on the rear upper and lower sections, had barrels so large that their diameter alone was bigger than the hull of a typical destroyer.

Even the ‘secondary guns,’ densely packed like a hedgehog, were comparable in caliber to the main guns of a decent heavy cruiser.

And the VLS (Vertical Launching System) was so numerous that parts of the surface were completely divided into a grid pattern reminiscent of a chessboard.

But the Dreadnought had a special feature that made even such powerful firepower pale in comparison.

That was, quite literally, an ‘all-around thick armor’ reminiscent of a fortress.

And among that, the particularly reinforced frontal armor stood out.

-*Beep!*

“Hmm, I’m looking at the Dreadnought’s data now… The frontal armor thickness is thicker than the crust of some satellites, isn’t it?”

“Indeed, only ‘mobile fortresses’ or ‘super Dreadnoughts’ would have thicker armor than that.”

Of course, there are even more absurd things out there, but those are really for clan-level operations.

Since we can’t build those right now even if we wanted to, I decided to keep those thoughts neatly tucked away.

After all, we don’t have the luxury to dwell on such things right now.

“Anyway, so the Dreadnought is currently heading to the docking facility, right?”

“Yes, due to its size, it has to go through the main gate, not the small gate.”

“Has the handover been completed?”

“Yes, well… It was built at our shipyard, after all.”

After getting one final confirmation from Jessica, just in case, I nodded at her words.

I immediately retrieved the Bayern-Class stored in the ‘Beehive’ and proceeded to create a fleet that exceeded our fleet’s point limit as planned.

And the result…

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Fleet Status

Total Points: 988/950 Points

Dreadnought: 1 ship, 90 points each = 90 points

Aircraft Carrier: 3 ships, 70 points each = 210 points

Special Battleship: 2 ships, 65 points each = 130 points

Battleship: 4 ships, 40 points each = 160 points

Aetheric Submarine: 1 ship, 50 points each = 50 points

Light Aircraft Carrier: 0 ships, 40 points each = 0 points

Cruiser Battleship: 5 ships, 30 points each = 150 points

Heavy Cruiser: 2 ships, 10 points each = 20 points

Light Cruiser: 20 ships, 6 points each = 120 points

Destroyer: 0 ships, 3 points each = 0 points

Escort Ships: 0 ships, 1.5 points per ship = 0 points

Patrol Ships: 3 ships, 1 point per ship = 3 points

Resource Mining Ships: 30 ships, 1.5 points per ship = 45 points

—————————————-

“Hmm, yummy.”

Even though there was a slight miscalculation in the process, leading to the scrapping of one “General-Class Heavy Cruiser” I had previously built and the need to replace it with a new one—a minor but annoying hiccup—it all worked out in the end. So, whatever, it’s all good.

And while I was receiving the Dreadnought and Bayern-Class ships and deploying fleets for the weekly quests, I stumbled upon a fact I hadn’t known back when this was just a “game” in my past life.

Turns out, the “Super Large Warp Gate,” the alpha and omega of the “Tanhoizer Gate Fortress” where I’m docked, isn’t exclusive to me. To be precise, anyone can use it as long as they’re not set as “hostile” toward me.

How did I find this out? Surprisingly, it was related to the aforementioned “Beehive.”

==========

The situation was incredibly complicated, but according to a gallery post I checked to make sense of it, here’s what happened:

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Title: The Ultimate Long-Distance Expedition ON.txt

Author: Orion Belt

Content: [A long journey from the northernmost tip of the ‘Pirate Alliance’ to the southern corner of the ‘Xenobia Empire’.jpg]

Situation Setup: Some members of the ‘AKAN’ clan, part of the Pirate Alliance, made a contract to use the ship storage of the ‘Bambi’ clan, which belongs to the Xenobia Empire.

But then the Bambi clan straight-up stole all of AKAN’s ships.

Since the distance was so vast, they thought AKAN wouldn’t be able to retaliate, and with it being a long-distance expedition, they assumed there’d be no way to counterattack.

So, AKAN, absolutely furious, mobilized their entire force and embarked on an ultra-long-distance expedition to where Bambi was.

But being mad doesn’t make the distance shorter, right?

So, what AKAN did was first use their base’s teleport network to move their fleet to the nearest “gate” base.

Then, they asked the clan controlling that gate base to let them use the gate to travel to a gate in the Pirate Alliance’s border zone.

From there, they used another gate to move from the border to the Central Zone.

But the Central Zone automatically attacks any clan-level forces that enter, right?

So, AKAN went to the neutral Icarus’s Tanhoizer Triangle, fought off Icarus, held their ground, and as soon as the cooldown ended, they moved straight from Tanhoizer to a gate base in Xenobia territory.

Normally, the player controlling the Xenobia base wouldn’t allow AKAN through, but since Bambi’s actions were so outrageous, that player opened the gates to let AKAN deliver some “educational justice.”

At this point, the Bambi clan realized things were going south and tried to delay AKAN and negotiate with other clans, but since Bambi had betrayed everyone’s trust, other clans and players ignored them, leading to their utter downfall.

In fact, as more details came to light, AKAN’s fleet reached Bambi’s location in less than a week—a distance that would normally take at least half a year to a year under regular travel.

Comments:

– [Why didn’t you write the outcome, you idiot?]

– [It’s in the gallery, go look it up.](Author)

– [Tell me!]

– [If you really want to know, AKAN taught Bambi a lesson and captured a ton of ships, both their own stolen ones and Bambi’s original fleet.](Author)

– [<A con that heals all aching hearts>]

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So, because of this determined pursuer passing through Tanhoizer, I ended up experiencing something I never expected, leading to some very chaotic days.