The main screen changed, and one feed expanded to show the interior of the Tianshu's bridge.
On the bridge, the captain, pilot, weapons officer, and all the other officers had risen to their feet.
"Tianshu!" Elder Zhao called.
The captain on the screen raised his hand in salute and declared:
"The Tianshu, reporting with all officers aboard!"
The square erupted in enthusiastic applause.
"Heavenly Chief!"
"The Heavenly Chief, reporting with all officers aboard!"
"Tiangang!"
"The Tiangang, reporting with all officers aboard!"
"Heavenly Mechanism!"
"The Heavenly Mechanism, reporting with all officers aboard!"
The feeds on the main screen kept switching, showing young and mature faces alike saluting on their bridges.
Among them were former pilots, technicians transferred from the Underground City engineering departments, and newly trained pilots.
The thirty-six Underground City spaceships were named after Great Xia's Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems sequence.
They were not the isolated forces of thirty-six cities, but the first warships extending Great Xia's entire industrial, technological, and military systems into the stars.
At that moment, the squares of the thirty-six Underground Cities were also packed with spectators watching the launch ceremony on large screens, and their feeds had been connected to the ceremony site as well.
The residents of Celestial Pivot City watched the Tianshu, while the residents of other cities watched their own cities' spaceships from the observation areas in their respective Underground Cities.
To them, those were more than just warship names.
They were the Underground Cities they had once lived in, proof that they had not fallen during the Cataclysm.
The propulsion systems of the spaceships began warming up one after another.
On the screen, blue, purple, and white energy readings rose rapidly.
"Heavenly Retreat!"
"Heavenly Longevity!"
"Heavenly Sword!"
The roll call echoed across the square.
Thorin watched the runes gradually lighting up on