As soon as he arrived in this world, Jiang Jiang and his Wisdom Cube began collecting, analyzing, and attempting to crack various Ship Girl technologies. The Wisdom Cube and Construction Machine, as the core of construction, were naturally no exception.
Although research on the Wisdom Cube stalled due to equipment limitations and official control preventing sample acquisition, and the cracking progress for the Construction Machine was slow, there were still some results.
Now, Jiang Jiang's biggest reliance for construction was the Wisdom Cube's discovery regarding the Construction Machine: after Jiang Jiang managed to come into contact with the Construction Machine, the Wisdom Cube found that when the Construction Machine operated, it produced different energy fluctuation frequencies, and these frequencies had a certain impact on the construction of Ship Girls.
To understand the pattern of these frequencies, Jiang Jiang observed other Commanders' constructions multiple times, having the Wisdom Cube record and analyze them. Because no one believed the Construction Machine could be cracked by a maintenance worker, and no one knew the secrets of its wavelengths, they were completely unguarded against Jiang Jiang, which made the Wisdom Cube's work exceptionally smooth.
Even now, the Wisdom Cube cannot guarantee 100% success in construction, but compared to before, the probability of successful construction has increased at least dozens of times.
Jiang Jiang created a second carrier for the Wisdom Cube precisely so that it could influence the Construction Machine's fluctuation frequencies via a frequency emitter, thereby increasing the success rate.
The Wisdom Cube is the crystallization of all human and Ship Girl wisdom, gathered during the war against the Siren.
Research has shown that the Wisdom Cube can achieve spatial compression, matter-energy form changes, memory, and even has the power to fully materialize things from nothing. The reason for its existence in the world remains unknown.
Although Jiang Jiang knows that the Wisdom Cube's origin must be related to the Siren, he has been frustrated by the lack of a physical entity; even Uncle Li's Wisdom Cube is carried with him, only to be seen, not touched.
Now that Jiang Jiang has finally obtained a Wisdom Cube and a physical entity, he believes it is only a matter of time before the Wisdom Cube cracks its secrets.
As the line grew shorter and more new students emerged, people's joys and sorrows were not truly interconnected. Jiang Jiang watched the new students, each with varied expressions, and observed the Commander accompanied by his Ship Girl Kent.
Although a smile graced his face, his eyes revealed three parts confusion, three parts unwillingness, three parts self-mockery, and a trace of relief.
That look alone showed at least twenty years of experience in the entertainment industry. Alas, he probably used up most of his resources to construct just one Ship Girl, Jiang Jiang mused inwardly.
In contrast, another Commander had a smile like Hatsuharu, and a somewhat awkward, crab-like gait. The Denver and Jamaica by his side clearly indicated that this Commander was a symbol of a 'double-yolk' European Emperor.
Tsk tsk tsk, so arrogant. Didn't he see the previous Commander's murderous gaze?
Just then, a very powerful aura suddenly spread. A Commander and his Ship Girl Oklahoma emerged from a construction room, the oppressive aura filled with a gray, somber feeling.
Seeing this Commander, who looked as if he had lost a parent, even the previous Commander with Kent showed a sympathetic look. Hiss~ This person's start was practically hellish!
Seeing this, Lin Ye, whose turn was next, became even more nervous. He stammered to Jiang Jiang, "Brother, if I fail, please take the xxx from my computer. The password is xxxxxx. We're brothers, treat it well."
"Get lost, who wants your stuff? What are you panicking about? It's not like decades ago when resources ran out and that was it. Now, you'll at least construct one, it's just a matter of how much you pay. Relax—"
Jiang Jiang's calm demeanor restored much of Lin Ye's confidence. So, he straightened his neck, said "I'm going in," and entered the construction room without looking back.
Jiang Jiang watched, shook his head, offered a silent blessing, and then walked into another construction room.
The construction room was not small. A multi-faceted Construction Machine stood in the center, and a gray-haired Royal Maid stood nearby, handing Jiang Jiang a set amount of resources and saying to him:
"Alright, stop standing there foolishly, hurry up and start. Your construction success rate won't increase just because you make the Construction Machine shy. And the feng shui here is fine, no problems. If you don't get anything, go check your family tree, maybe you'll find the reason..."
Jiang Jiang's eyebrow twitched. An acquaintance! Sheffield. Her sharp tongue hasn't dulled with age, but she doesn't seem to recognize me. Jiang Jiang thought while quickly taking the construction materials, muttering, "Okay, okay, building now..."
If she didn't recognize him, then so be it. Better to avoid trouble. I don't want to relive those days of interrogation. As Jiang Jiang walked to the Construction Machine, he naturally pulled out his Wisdom Cube carrier, pretended to pray, and "casually" placed it next to the Construction Machine.
Sheffield ignored Jiang Jiang's actions. Nonsense, it was just some inexplicable metaphysical preparation. On a normal day, it might be a bit strange.
But today, with all sorts of bizarre rituals, there were people doing shamanistic dances, drawing magic circles, and lighting long incense sticks before construction. Sheffield had even seen people bringing offerings before. Jiang Jiang's actions were the most normal among them.
Jiang Jiang took a Wisdom Cube and 600 resources, put them into the Construction Machine, pressed the switch, and silently chanted, "Wisdom Cube! Proceed as planned!" "Received! Releasing frequency waves, adjusting Construction Machine wavelength frequency... Please wait!"
Afterward, light glowed within the Construction Machine's hatch. The light gradually expanded, but when it reached a certain threshold, it extinguished instantly, as if blown out.
The first construction failed. Jiang Jiang was not surprised; this was to allow the Wisdom Cube to collect data first, then precisely adjust the wavelength frequency. Jiang Jiang would not leave his fate to unpredictable luck. To be safe, he also decided to only construct small ships.
Afterward, Jiang Jiang invested resources again. With two sets of data, the Wisdom Cube had maximum confidence.
"Jiang Jiang the Great Demon King, the Wisdom Cube reminds you that although the success rate of constructing high-tier Ship Girls has increased, the Ship Girl faction cannot yet be influenced. Please choose rationally."
"No, that's enough. Wisdom Cube, begin. Construct!" Jiang Jiang knew the Wisdom Cube had already done very well for now. He would delve deeper into research later. As for the faction, it didn't matter, as long as it wasn't a Royal Maid. He refused to believe such a small probability would happen to him.
Jiang Jiang resolutely inserted the Wisdom Cube and resources for the third time. The light glowed again, but this time it didn't extinguish like before. Flashes of light flickered, and a string of numbers appeared on the screen at the top of the Construction Machine's hatch: 00:55:00.
"It succeeded?!" "Hmph, finally successful." Seeing the construction time appear, Sheffield and Jiang Jiang spoke at the same time. Looking at the displayed construction time, Jiang Jiang's heart trembled. No way, this time is!
Jiang Jiang quickly called up the Wisdom Cube's operating interface and checked for the Ship Girl associated with this construction time. After seeing the query result, Jiang Jiang nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Sheffield, who was beside him, also quickly recalled the Ship Girl about to appear in her mind, and was equally astonished. What kind of creature was this Commander?
Sheffield watched Jiang Jiang with a strange look, and for a moment, found this Commander somewhat familiar. Oh! It's him!
After careful observation, Sheffield finally recognized Jiang Jiang as an "acquaintance" and also saw Jiang Jiang's frustrated expression. Sheffield immediately cast aside her surprise at discovering an acquaintance.
What kind of expression is that?! Do you look down on Royal Maids? What did Royal Maids ever do to you? No, wait... A somewhat embarrassed Sheffield subconsciously recalled that, indeed, a Royal Maid had given Jiang Jiang a bad experience.
For example, the incident where Jiang Jiang was "scared unconscious," and also Sheffield was responsible for Jiang Jiang's interrogation afterward. Because it was an interrogation, some routine checks and interrogation methods were inevitably used. This caused Jiang Jiang to develop a considerable psychological aversion to Royal Maids.
Thinking of this, Sheffield's sharp tongue, which was about to unleash, had to be reined in. However, the honor of the Royal Navy Maid Corps could not be desecrated, and besides, this was definitely an excellent child. Sheffield's eyes darted, and she thought of a mischievous idea. She composed her expression and said solemnly.
"As a Commander, you cannot greet your initial Ship Girl with such an expression. Whether from a female perspective or a Ship Girl perspective, this is inappropriate."
Hearing the reminder, Jiang Jiang immediately reacted, smiled apologetically, and then quickly straightened his attitude, carefully picking up the quick construction tool and placing it in the groove below. As Jiang Jiang pressed the acceleration button, the construction time quickly reset to zero, a golden light shone through, and the hatch slowly opened.
Just then, Sheffield suddenly spoke, "Have you thought about how to greet her? First impressions are very important."
"Ah, ah!" Jiang Jiang was caught off guard by the question. Jiang Jiang hadn't expected such a step. Unprepared, Jiang Jiang looked at the fully opened hatch, momentarily flustered.
A figure entered Jiang Jiang's vision: short white hair, turning a faint pink at the tips, crimson eyes, a Royal Maid outfit similar to Sheffield's, white stockings, and an anchor ornament around her neck.
At this moment, although her face was calm, her fervent eyes were fixed on Jiang Jiang.
"Greetings, Royal Maid Sirius, reporting for duty. From this moment on, I shall guard my Master's glory and beliefs until the eternal end—"
Jiang Jiang looked at the sincere Sirius, his mind drew a blank. He stepped forward and instinctively blurted out, "Can, can you speak Chinese?"
"Pfft!" Hearing this, even Sheffield let out a soft chuckle. But she immediately regained her expressionless face.
"...I heard it. I, I was just confirming if I could communicate fluently with Sirius, after all, communication is fundamental, and a language barrier is a big problem," Jiang Jiang explained weakly.
"Hmm, yes, that's right, but I didn't make any ungraceful sounds," Sheffield said dismissively, yet still stubbornly.
Sirius, who had been momentarily stunned by her Commander, heard the explanation and immediately responded, "Yes I can. My proud Master! Ship Girls and Commanders have a special connection, so I learned my Master's language at birth. My Master actually thought of this, truly worthy of being my proud Master!" Looking at the sincere Sirius, Jiang Jiang felt somewhat embarrassed.
Sheffield looked at Sirius. Even though Sirius was now truly standing there, the thought of Sirius being ultra-rare still made Sheffield somewhat incredulous. Yet, she saw Jiang Jiang step forward again and start a new construction. Jiang Jiang knew clearly that only one Ship Girl was not enough to cope with the upcoming new student trial.
New Student Trial: This could be said to be a benefit given by the school to novice Commanders. Because newly born Ship Girls, regardless of their rarity, have similar strength at this stage, the deciding factor is more about the Commander's quality and skill level. The New Student Trial will give excellent Commanders some extra rewards, and what Jiang Jiang was interested in was one particular privilege: the right to choose a port area, available only to the top ten.
For the right to choose a port area, two Ship Girls were necessary. Jiang Jiang pondered internally: aircraft carriers' aerial strikes were almost invincible in the early stages, but equipment was generally hard to come by; battleships had strong firepower, but their speed was a major drawback in reality; submarines' stealth and maneuverability were their biggest advantages, but their fatal flaw was short endurance, requiring replenishment; heavy artillery, transport, and repair ships were self-explanatory, with too low a probability; cruisers were a type of ship capable of independent operations.
Between light cruisers and heavy cruisers, Jiang Jiang leaned towards light cruisers. Heavy cruisers had stronger tonnage, armor, and firepower than light cruisers, but light cruisers were faster.
When everyone was on the same starting line, the hard condition of speed was more important. And no matter how high the firepower, it had to hit (cold knowledge: in fact, the hit rate of naval guns in WWI and WWII was very dismal, for example, the US Navy's naval gun hit rate in 1934 was only 5%), and the outcome of an old-era naval battle was often decided by a few successful hits.
Reality is not a game. Even if miraculous Ship Girls can improve projectile hit rates through training, most newly born Ship Girls are 'edge-painters.' So, Jiang Jiang inserted a Wisdom Cube and 600 resources, shouting in his heart.
"Please grant me an Iron Blood destroyer!" Yes, no kidding. Although destroyers generally have average firepower, their uses are very wide.
They can handle anti-air, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare, as well as tasks like patrol, vigilance, reconnaissance, naval blockade, and maritime rescue. They are hailed as the 'all-rounder' of naval combat.
From the current perspective, they are the most cost-effective Ship Girls, and Iron Blood faction Ship Girls also have very reassuring personalities. After all, who would refuse a cute and sensible destroyer?
But the Construction Machine didn't humor Jiang Jiang, and the construction went awry again. Jiang Jiang expressed understanding for this; although the Wisdom Cube had "manually" increased the success rate, it wasn't always effective.
Undeterred, Jiang Jiang inserted another set of light cruiser resources. This time, the light inside the cabin flickered again.
"Successful again?!" "Got one!" Sheffield felt she was surprised a bit too many times today, while Jiang Jiang stared intently at the screen, silently chanting, "Destroyer! Destroyer!" As the screen at the top lit up again, a familiar string of numbers appeared.
00:55:00.
Jiang Jiang's expression immediately changed, his face complex: (ﾉ ○ Д ○)ﾉ.
Looking at the numbers on the Construction Machine that seemed to be mocking Jiang Jiang, he slowly typed out a question mark.
This... couldn't be because it successfully summoned once before, so the Wisdom Cube automatically took it as a template, eventually leading the Wisdom Cube to adjust the fluctuation frequency to follow the previous one, and as a result...