Su Luo looked at the energy stone in his hand. Following Akashi's instructions, he closed his eyes and focused on trying.
Akashi sat to one side and watched. For the sake of game balance, if her ability was support-oriented, then the Commander's ability should be combat-oriented.
She just did not know exactly what form the ability the Commander had received from the Super Game Maker would take.
Akashi was somewhat dissatisfied with the ability she had been given. As a ship under the Commander's command, it was only natural for her to protect him and fight for him. Though she was merely a repair ship, with no other ships present, she had to shoulder the responsibility of protecting him. So, if possible, she hoped the Commander would not have to face those dangers himself.
Akashi planned to study the Super Game Maker again later and see whether she could use backend permissions or something to swap their abilities around.
While Akashi was worrying, something happened on Su Luo's side.
The ability stone, which emitted strange energy, flowed into Su Luo's body at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before long, the energy stone had completely vanished.
The moment the energy stone disappeared, Su Luo opened his tightly shut eyes.
"Commander, how did it go? Did you activate your ability, nya?"
Su Luo nodded, though his face carried a hint of confusion.
"What is it, Commander? Is there a problem, nya?"
Su Luo's expression was strange, but this time, he did not remain silent.
"The ability activated, but... it's a little strange."
"Akashi, when you activated your abilities just now, did you get an accompanying explanation?"
"Yes. It said something about a Super Gene System being activated by an unknown energy source... That voice also told me what my ability was and asked me to give this Super Gene a name or something."
Su Luo nodded and pressed on.
"Didn't you think the voice giving the explanation sounded familiar?"
Akashi shook her head.
"The voice I heard was a synthesized mechanical voice. Wasn't that what the Commander heard too?"
"I... think I heard TB's voice!"
"Navigator Miss TB, nya?"
"Yes, that's right. It was TB!"
As though recalling something, Su Luo looked at Akashi and suddenly asked,
"You just said that voice asked you to name that Super Gene thing?"
"That's right, nya. I couldn't be bothered to think of a name, so I just told it to call itself Akashi."
"Then why did my explanation call me Commander right away? Why wasn't there any part about naming the Super Gene System?"
Akashi thought for a moment, as though she had remembered something, then replied.
"Commander, when I repaired the Super Game Maker, I once had Navigator Miss assist me in refining some of its code. So perhaps, because of that, the Super Game Maker became a vessel for Navigator Miss? Then, when the game maker granted the Commander this Super Gene System, Navigator Miss moved over to the Commander along with it."
"Tch, is that how it is?"
"After all... Navigator Miss was originally an artificial intelligence developed to assist the Commander. She's basically the Commander's adjutant."
Su Luo nodded and said nothing further. It was not that he objected to TB appearing within the Super Gene System in his body; he just had not expected TB to come along as well. Still, it was good that she had come. This Super Gene System...
Wait, the Super Gene System...
Su Luo finally remembered that TB had not mentioned this when she introduced the situation inside the genetic system in his body. When Akashi first brought it up, he had been too surprised that TB had come along to notice. Now that he understood TB's situation, he finally became doubtful about this somewhat familiar term.
The Super Gene System... Could it be the one I was thinking of?
Before his stroke of luck had brought him to the naval base, was it that thing he had seen in an anime back home?
If it was, then with a Super Gene System, was there also that so-called Dark Plane?
Thinking of this, Su Luo cautiously called out to TB in his mind.
"TB, can you check the information in my Dark Plane?"
"Attempting to connect to the mainframe... Unable to connect to the mainframe. Insufficient computing power!"
Su Luo shook his head. Offline TB truly could not be of much help.
He could only make his own guesses. Still, if it really was what he thought it was, then... were the ugly creatures Akashi had shot down with her anti-aircraft guns before demons?
Su Luo made a guess in his heart, but without more conclusive evidence, he could only keep the matter in mind for now and slowly verify it later.
"Commander, let's put the other matters aside for now. Can you use your ability yet? What kind of ability is it, nya?"
Seeing that her Commander was no longer dwelling on the Navigator matter, Akashi asked.
"Ah, that... To be honest, I'm not sure either. TB is offline, and without a connection to the mainframe, she isn't as intelligent, so she didn't explain it to me in much detail. I only saw many glowing orbs within the Super Gene System. Those orbs felt very familiar. TB said my ability was related to them."
"Glowing orbs? I didn't see any in my Super Gene System, nya!"
"There weren't any in your Super Gene System, Akashi? I saw a lot of glowing orbs, and they felt very familiar! Facing those orbs... it was like..."
Su Luo thought for a while before finally figuring out what it felt like.
"It was like being together with everyone at the naval base."
"Like being together with everyone at the naval base?"
Akashi repeated it, then looked at Su Luo and asked,
"Then, Commander, did you try touching those glowing orbs?"
"Mm... no. I'll try."
Su Luo closed his eyes and entered the Super Gene System once more. Looking at the glowing orbs, he roughly scanned them, chose the largest one among them, and reached out to touch it.
"I'm a ghost... Even ghosts can't be touched whenever you feel like it—"
A young girl's playful voice sounded beside Su Luo's ear.
Then Su Luo opened his eyes. Seeing Akashi staring at the space beside him in surprise, he turned his head and immediately spotted Nagato, a girl with long black hair and a thoroughly homebody aura.
However, this was not Nagato's actual body at the naval base. The Nagato before him was somewhat illusory, and her face bore no particular expression. Su Luo reached out to try touching her, but his hand passed through her body in an instant. His guess had been right; the Nagato before him was indeed a phantom.
"Is it a phantom, nya?"
Akashi had seen it clearly from the side. After confirming that Nagato was a phantom, she tilted her head and looked at Su Luo.
"Commander, does this Nagato have any combat ability? If she's just a phantom..."
Hearing that, Su Luo glanced at Nagato before him. With a thought, Nagato appeared outside the door in the next instant, then manifested her ship rigging. Immediately afterward, bombers took off and flew into the sky.
The girl standing outside was curious about this older sister who had suddenly appeared.
After circling the skies several times, the bombers dropped their bombs on the other side of the village.
Then... the bombs hit the ground and exploded. The instant they exploded, Su Luo felt some of the energy he had just absorbed decrease.
The sound of the explosion frightened the girl. She ran over, buried herself in Akashi's arms, and hugged her tightly.
Akashi held her and signaled that she need not be afraid. Only after the girl was less tense did Akashi look toward the direction of the explosion.
This explosion did not resemble one caused by bombs dropped from bombers. There was not even the smell of smoke from exploded explosives around the blast site.
It was more like... a pure mass of energy had simply been detonated.
After comparing the power of the bombs dropped by Nagato's phantom with the Nagato she knew, Akashi shook her head. The phantom was far weaker than the real Nagato.
"Commander, is that all the power it has? Can it be improved, nya?"
Akashi asked.
"It can, but it costs more energy! Right now... I can't afford to spend energy like that!"
Akashi nodded. If that was the case, then it was still acceptable.
"Commander, besides summoning our phantoms, do you have any other abilities?"
Su Luo sensed it and nodded.
"Yes!"
(The Nagato voice line above was her special activation line after retrofit.)
Before you continue