"High-energy laser cannon! Electromagnetic cannon!" Looking over the destroyer's detailed specifications, Jason Kin's heart skipped a beat.
Most of the other weapons didn't surprise him. After all, he had played Azur Lane for a long time, and things like twin-mounted 127mm dual-purpose guns, improved twin-mounted 105mm SKC anti-air cannons, and quintuple 533mm magnetic torpedo launchers were all fairly common gear. He had seen plenty of them before. But a high-energy laser cannon and an electromagnetic railgun? That was rare.
In his previous life, those weapons had still been in the early stages of development, stuck in experimental trials. Most had never seen live combat, and some were still just theoretical designs. Even in the highly advanced Marvel Universe, such weapons were unusual. Just from the fact that Iron Man's laser weaponry could devastate enemies, one could imagine the sheer destructive power these had.
Once he understood what kind of equipment a Tier 6 Flying-class destroyer came with, Jason Kin's attention shifted to one particular skill: Mechanical Life Awakening.
[Mechanical Life Awakening]: Consumes Faith Points to grant any machine life, giving it the appearance of a human female. The original mechanical body transforms into "ship equipment," worn on the humanoid form, which can be summoned or dismissed at will.
"Summonable or concealable ship equipment? Sounds a lot like ship rigging from the Shipgirl world. Forget it, I'll just awaken this destroyer and see for myself," Jason Kin thought. With that, he floated up from beneath the Tree of Life and drifted toward the destroyer.
"Let's begin the awakening," he murmured. With a thought, he activated the Mechanical Life Awakening skill.
[Target]: Benson-class Destroyer
[Target Tier]: Tier 6 Flying-class
[Faith Cost]: 100,000 points
Awaken? Y/N
"Tsk tsk… as expected of a Tier 6 Flying-class destroyer, 100,000 Faith Points just for the awakening? Good thing the starter gift pack came with exactly that amount. Otherwise, this would have been a real headache."
Jason Kin gave a wry smile. He had expected it to be expensive, but not this expensive. Still, the arrow was already drawn, and he had no choice but to loose it. If he wanted to grow stronger, he needed followers, and a mechanical shipgirl born from awakening would be a direct Apostle, extremely rare. Like a business investment, the initial cost was steep, but the return would be massive.
Without further hesitation, Jason Kin selected "Yes." The moment he made his choice, the Benson-class destroyer in front of him was engulfed by a series of rotating, high-tech-looking blue rings. The glowing halos spun faster and faster, wrapping around the ship. In less than a minute, a female form slowly took shape within the light.
[Log]: Host consumed 100,000 Faith Points to awaken a Tier 6 Flying-class Benson-class destroyer.
[Log]: Shipgirl's personality randomly generated using the Azur Lane character template. Awakening successful.
[Log]: You have acquired a Tier 6 Flying-class Shipgirl Laffey.
[System]: Critical Awakening bonus triggered! Strength increased tenfold. Land Combat Boots acquired.
[System]: You have acquired a Tier 7 Epic-class Shipgirl Laffey.
"Holy crap, I can even trigger a crit bonus from this? Jackpot!" Jason Kin was elated. A Tier 6 Flying-class was already enough to crush most surface-level superheroes and villains. Now she had jumped straight to Tier 7 Epic-class, a tenfold boost in combat power. Under normal circumstances, going from Tier 6 to Tier 7 would take unimaginable effort, but thanks to the system's crit bonus, it had happened instantly.
"And she even got Land Combat Boots on top of that? That means Laffey can fight on land and at sea? That's basically a full-on mod!" Jason Kin chuckled. He had worried that a shipgirl might be handicapped by environmental limits, but clearly the system could patch that without breaking a sweat.
He opened Laffey's status panel:
[Type]: Azur Lane Shipgirl
[Faith]: Apostle of the Lord of Life
[Tier]: Tier 7 Epic-class
[Talent]: Ship Rigging Destroyer
[Skills]: Solomon War God, Annihilation Mode, Exclusive Barrage
[Standard Equipment]: Twin 127mm Dual-Purpose Guns, Improved Twin 105mm SKC AA Guns, Quintuple 533mm Magnetic Torpedoes
[Enhanced Equipment]: High-Energy Laser Cannon, Electromagnetic Cannon, Land Combat Boots
[Strength]: 880
[Constitution]: 900
[Agility]: 950
[Spirit]: 900
Solomon War God: Increases Firepower, Reload, and Maneuverability by 40%.
Annihilation Mode: Doubles reload speed for standard armaments, enabling powerful barrage fire.
Exclusive Barrage: Fires 15 consecutive main gun attacks.
Jason Kin was stunned. As expected of a Tier 7 Epic-class shipgirl, her stats were outrageous. A normal human's combat power was around 10. Even most surface-tier superheroes only scored a few times higher, maybe a few dozen at best. Laffey's stats were nearly a hundred times greater than a normal human's.
With an Apostle like this, Jason Kin could walk sideways through the Marvel Universe without lifting a finger himself.
"Commander, reporting in! I'm the highly anticipated Benson-class destroyer Laffey. It's an honor to finally meet you!"
While Jason Kin was still admiring her attributes, a white-haired girl with twin ponytails, a short skirt paired with white thigh-highs, and an adorably aloof expression appeared before him. This loli was none other than Laffey herself.