Xyrin Empire

In a spherical space encompassing a small half of the Constant Star System, countless colossal starships shrouded in shadows are gradually reviving. At the center of the fleet, an Eternally-class flagship conspicuously modified for special missions stands as the epicenter of this revival. Its originally dim hull gradually exudes a cold metallic sheen after being charged, the energy patterns beneath the armor layer becoming even brighter as the warship initiates. The lights on the warship stream like water from bow to stern, and within seconds, the once lifeless corpse of a ship breathes life anew. As this special flagship activates, all of the ships begin to swiftly operate. The light signifying the activation of the warships radiates rapidly from a single point to all directions, and in the blink of an eye, this place once mockingly called "mortuary" is filled with the aura of "rebirth."

Seen from outer space, this spherical space base resembles a crystal ball igniting with sparks from within. At its center, a small spark bursts forth, and in the next instant, it transforms swiftly from a pitch-black and somber black crystal into a dazzlingly brilliant pearl in space.

"At least a hundred and thirty-seven lighting control codes were violated..."

Watching the base activation scene transmitted through the long-range probe, Sandora murmured to herself in front of the holographic projection. We had already left the Eternally-class warship where PL-15 resided, and now everyone was positioned in the largest control tower at the center of the base. This place lacks a warship dispatch center essential to a normal space base; thus, this control tower serves as a temporary warship dispatch center.

"It takes some understanding, this new mode of existence needs some time to get accustomed to."

I patted Sandora on the shoulder, softly reassuring.

"I hope they can get used to this," Big Sister's voice sounded a bit low, "even though it's better than the previous state of just being a piece of data, but... from now on, it will just be like this, equivalent to still having no body. I really don't know if this will be good or bad in the long run."

When Big Sister said this, the control tower's broadcast channel to the fleet was open, so immediately after her words fell, the voice of Samar, one of the former four now three Governors of the Revenge Army, came through the communicator: "Madam, please do not worry. We are Imperial Soldiers; our existence serves the purpose of devoting loyalty to the Queen, fighting for the Empire. This mode of existence achieves that mission, so having a body or not makes no difference. We should thank the Queen; she gave us value once again—to a Xyrin Apostle, losing value is a punishment more terrifying than death. Fortunately, we have been pardoned."

Samar's words made me briefly silent. I knew there was some truth to what he said, especially concerning the life philosophies of the Xyrin Apostles. They perhaps truly believed that as long as they could continue serving the Empire, whether as an individual or as a ship, it made no difference. But the example of Gaia proved that even for a Xyrin Apostle, permanently losing one's body is not a pleasurable event.

However, no one pursued the topic any further. In any case, today should be a celebratory day: the Revenge Army finally obtained new life, and a hundred thousand soldiers returned under their Queen's command. This is what holds the most meaning.

Sandora gazed for a long time at the fleet scene outside the porthole, where countless Imperial Battleships were slowly adjusting their positions. The newly reborn Revenge Fleet was acclimating to its new bodies, carrying an indescribable sense of oppression since its appearance. This likely stems from the supernatural phenomenon triggered by the convergence of those mutated souls. One hundred thousand warriors of the Revenge Army, one hundred thousand mighty Holy Temple Battleships, now merged into one. This soul-possessing fleet undoubtedly becomes the New Empire's most elite force. Without considering special units and just counting regular warships, even my and Sandora's Royal Fleet is probably no match for them, clearly evident: no weapon can be as powerful with a soul as with their presence. Even the operation method claiming the highest control coefficient, directly replacing warship hosts with the Xyrin Host, would not be more effective than letting the warship itself possess a soul.

Yet this elite fleet comes at a significant cost.

Initially, the fleet dragged from the enemy's base during our return from the Big Nebula almost entirely underwent transformation to become carriers of the Revenge Army souls, leaving just about a thousand small spare spaceships. Now I am quite thankful for my frugal approach back then, though not too long ago, I thought preserving these ships was a waste of electricity. Looking back, it's fortunate we collected all of those Holy Temple ships; otherwise, such a large-scale transformation would truly have been a problem. The only dissatisfaction is that these warships seized from the Holy Temple Guard Army vary greatly. There are very few mother ships of the Eternally-class type, as their mother ship formations were wiped out when the Celestial System Fleet attacked the Big Nebula. And the remaining Expedition Class and Frontier-class Main Battle Ships number only a few thousand. Not only do they pale in comparison to the Revenge Army Fleet at its peak, but even the New Empire's fledgling main force fleet has far more than them. The majority of the Holy Temple Ships parked here are small ships like Assault Ships and Interceptors. It's not that small ships aren't good, but converting them like this seems somewhat wasteful to me.

"The Research Center has established a research base here, and henceforth I will organize personnel to focus on replicating the autonomous systems of those Holy Temple ships," Taville's mass projection stood behind Sandora and me, reporting her work plan, "Understanding their principles entirely might be difficult, but replication only requires some time—it's theoretically feasible."

"Then convert a batch of Imperial Mother Ships into such autonomous ships and transfer the Revenge Army souls currently on small ships into them?"

I slightly tilted my head, showing interest, "Is this soul transfer easy?"

"For a normal soul, transferring to a new body might incur some damage, but for the Revenge Army soldiers, it's not an issue. They are now merely logical data. Insert the core storing their essence into a new spaceship, and they will quickly acclimate. Theoretically speaking."

"Ah Jun, don't just think about placing all Revenge Army warriors onto giant ships," Sandora gently coughed, a reminder, "A moderate amount of small warships is indispensable. Besides—our combined main force fleet doesn't even have ten thousand Eternally-class ships available for conversion, right..."

I scratched my head: "You know my level..."

The newly formed fleet needed a name, but Sandora thought there was no need to think much about it. She still named it the Revenge Army — of course, it's now also called the Revenge Fleet. Although these battleships are few in number, they will undoubtedly become one of the ace armies of the New Empire. After all, it's easy to manufacture battleship cores that can think, but ships with souls are a different story. Here, I want to thank the Holy Temple Guard Army that once made me headache; their transformation into autonomous spaceships now benefits us. These ships are more or less the result of reasonable optimization, usually boosting performance by about thirty percent compared to the production model battleships of the same level in the Empire. This is mainly reflected in their shield and energy systems. This targeted reinforcement might be due to the lack of intelligence of the Holy Temple Guard Army back then; they couldn't deploy sophisticated tactics, so they stacked defense and power—like a tank with hardly any mana, because their weapons were more than enough to bully the various races of the universe at the time, with no need for enhancement. Taville believes we can call this phenomenon "evolution," and the "evolution" phenomenon produced by the autonomous ships of the Holy Temple Guard Army is still a hot research topic in the center—okay, I've digressed again.

PL-15, Samar, and Lu'en, the three generals Sandora trusted most in the past, known as the Three Governors, have their souls now housed in the three most powerful Holy Temple ships. These are three specially outfitted Eternal Mother Ships spanning hundreds of kilometers long, the most powerful warships we can find for modification. These mighty ships underwent tests, showing a surprising battle power boost: a shield system with a fifty percent increase in capacity, able to achieve perpetual shield recharge speed when fighting a single Galaxy Main Gun (truly worthy of the name Eternal), nearly double the power output of the same level warships. While these are normal, even more exciting is their astonishing maneuverability; not even the best driver can make a car respond as swiftly as their own legs—unless they're a cripple or driving a Bumblebee, a situation akin to the current Three Governors who can make every doorbell on this colossal starship as nimble as their fingers—my goodness, that's a lot of fingers!

It wasn't wise to let Qianqian watch the testing; this girl's influence is too strong, and now my mind isn't quite in tune.

In short, the excellent qualities displayed by these ships make me feel they deserve a separate categorization, at least those Eternal-class Mother Ships need new naming in line with the Xyrin Empire's consistent military habits: equipment with revolutionary technological ascension will receive a brand-new series name.

I named them Revenge Angel Level.

Revenge Angel-class Super Heavy Carriers, massively optimized from the Eternal-class baseline blueprint as T2-class vessels, being even larger than their prototype ships, they possess stronger firepower, sturdier shields, longer-lasting power, and a revolutionary autonomous thinking operation method. These features make them a milestone for the New Empire's new generation of warships. Although harsh manufacturing requirements prevent mass production of these evolved warships, the technological innovations they bring to the Empire's regular fleet are replicable. Taville gained much inspiration from the optimization method of these new ships and began modifications on existing regular Eternal-class battleships in the Empire. She summarized it well: nothing understands the ship's condition better than the ship itself, especially when it uses a soul instead of AI; now, we can discuss with these ships about how to modify their shields.

Following this logic, two other warship types received new series names; those evolved from the Expedition Class template were named "Catastrophe Class." While maintaining the agile and long-enduring combat style of the original, they significantly enhanced their movement speed—a progress obtained after the souls of the Revenge Army controlling these ships successfully discovered a brand-new engine drive process. Now, these giant warships possess the ability to traverse the battlefield like a breeze, accelerating from zero to light speed in just six point eight seconds, assuming they have gears.

The advanced model of the Frontier-class is named "Hate Class," an impressive name full of Revenge Army style. These reborn souls of the Revenge Army christened themselves with such a name to express their uncontainable desire for vengeance, longing to return to the battlefield and engage once more in deadly battle with the rebels who destroyed the Queen's territory back then. The name "Hate Class" fully embodies this militaristic thought. Now, these round and cute starships finally equipped with a super-range attack main cannon: initially given a super-spec energy system by the Holy Temple Guard Army for their Frontier-class ships, Taville subsequently modified these systems based on PL-15's suggestion, connecting them to a super space-time firepower output device. This device now grants the Frontier-class battleships, originally only used for defense, the capacity to bomb the universe's end. I find this really impressive; back then, Sandora must have been so militaristic to foster such a group of war gods.

The only regrettable thing is that the new "Hate Class" battleships still haven't solved the issue of their movement speed. This is because the significant energy interference caused when their numerous shields activate simultaneously greatly suppresses the power of the ghost energy thrusters commonly used on starships. The power generated by the thrusters is wasted on the spatial distortion phenomenon created by dozens of shield layers. Currently, this problem cannot be solved by simply increasing engine output, and replacing them with more powerful Class Coordinate Engines...

The cost is not justifiable.

In addition to continuing to study new technologies from these new ships, Taville's next step is to research more efficient Soul Upload Devices. For New Empire, these souls from the Revenge Army are invaluable treasures, especially for Sandora. The loss of even one on the battlefield is an irreparable loss for us. As they have become one with their warships, once the warship carrying them is destroyed in battle, these souls cannot evacuate the frontline using escape pods. Thus, the only way to increase their survival rate on the battlefield is through soul upload technology.

Conquering this technology should be somewhat simpler, at least compared to having Taville research how to give those from the Revenge Army a new body. Hence, the glasses-wearing girl seems quite confident this time. She solemnly promised to ensure "that the Empire's soldiers will have more guaranteed soul preservation technology before the next war," to which I could only sigh. Why do the girls around me always think about when the next war will break out? Isn't it nice to relax at home for a few days?

In the following days, Sandora and I often interacted with the Revenge Fleet members undergoing inspection at the base to learn about any changes they've experienced in their new life form. However, we both knew our expertise in this matter couldn't compare to that of an ordinary Imperial Technician. We simply wanted to visit. Sandora engaged in conversations about the past with her former subordinates, while I approached them with a sense of respect: For these Imperial heroes who would remain loyal to the Queen to their last breath, my feelings were purely of admiration.

During these days back home, the various young ladies in the household seemed to have returned to their normal routines. Apart from Sandora and me being exceptionally busy, the rest quickly adapted, resuming their daily lives focused on household matters. Big Sister still rightfully serves as the chief household manager, overseeing everyone from Little Baobao to Xu Qianqian, who never seem to grow up. Pandora and Visca have also become idle again, but the storm of bullets and blood they experienced over the past month provided them with great satisfaction, ensuring they wouldn't need to worry about planting bombs at the Pentagon for the time being. The demons from Fantasy Country, who participated in the recent actions (if their participation can be called that), had the longest-lasting effects. They remained in an unusually excited state even after returning to Avalon. Wenwen's newspaper evolved from a weekly to a daily publication, progressing further to an hourly report, ultimately eager to release a new edition every 15 minutes to express her exuberant journalist spirit. Thus, I taught her how to use Weibo. Yakumo Lan seemed to have vanished for several days, not appearing sunbathing on the streets of Shadow City. After inquiring with Yukari Yakumo, I learned that she was in seclusion to quickly regrow the fur on her tails. Recently, Lin Xue started freeloading meals at home, now undeniably considered part of our big family, though I still describe her behavior as freeloading. Nonetheless, waiting for her at the dining table before meals had become a habit of mine, often leaving Sandora starved enough to cry out, prompting me to remind Lin Xue to arrive earlier for the safety of our house. What a situation this creates.

Today, the sunshine is bright, just like the entire past week, and winter is about to end. Although there is still no warmth in the air, I feel like spring is truly coming because Dingdang finally got over her jet lag and started being active during the day. She energetically jumped around on my head, making me feel like this little thing just finished hibernating: even the Goddess isn't hibernating, isn't that a sign of spring's arrival?

I sat next to the floor-to-ceiling window, enjoying the winter sunlight, watching the passersby wrapped in coats hurriedly moving along. Behind me sat two individuals, one was the chattering Lilina, and the other was Fina, visiting our home.

The latter was quite a rare guest—not because Fina wasn't close to our family, but rather because this former queen rarely took the initiative to leave the house. She's typically someone with unbelievably low life needs. As long as she doesn't starve or freeze, you could confidently and boldly shut her in a dark room until doomsday with no hint of depression. I thought Fina's peculiar personality needed improvement, so I regularly invited her over, hoping to let our family's joyous spirit of spiritual pollution... um, infection, reach this emotionally indifferent Mechanical Queen. It seems my efforts were bearing fruit, as today, she unexpectedly visited of her own accord. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)