The exterior of the ship had taken on a deeper overall hue, and the dragon-scale patterns that had once only been visible up close were now completely clear beneath the sunlight. The vessel had expanded to roughly one and a half times its original size, while its interior space had nearly doubled.
The enormous Blue Dragon wings curled along both sides of the hull had gained a layer of dark gold. Miss Illustrious's original figurehead had vanished, replaced by a massive brass cannon at the bow.
This was not a naval cannon used by the military. It was a top-tier Alchemy Weapon created through the Aurora Family's accumulated technical expertise over many years, combined with Miss Illustrious's own technology from the Fifth Epoch, and even precious metals drawn from the Witch Council's reserves.
Nearly three months had only been enough to complete the preliminary upgrade of the Radiance Messenger. According to Miss Aurora, the birth of Miss Illustrious and the Radiance Messenger had been an unrepeatable Miracle, and the ship's potential for modification was almost limitless.
She still had many ideas she had yet to realize. If she had not needed to attend the major event in Vesta Woodland, she would not have considered the first stage of the ship's upgrade truly complete until around this year's Year-End Festival.
But in Shade's view, transforming it to this extent in just over two months was already impressive enough. At that moment, beneath the deep-autumn sunlight of the woodland, he stood on the deck and spoke with Miss Illustrious, whom he had not seen in a long time.
The blue-eyed Ship Girl had black hair and was looking at Shade with a radiant smile. Among all the girls Shade knew, only Tifa surpassed her in figure, yet she also possessed a gentle