We arrived at Andraid’s office and received the money for the Ironback.

“Now for the rewards for saving me and my crew” (Andraid)

Now he looked a little more serious, but with this I may be able to procure my own little bit of land to develop the required facilities.

“What do you want, if it's within my abilities, I can reward it” (Andraid)

“A bit of land, enough to have the barracks for my crew, and a dock, preferably a harbour” (Me)

Andraid’s eyes sparkled, as though he was expecting something steep, wait, now that I think about it, this means I’m obligated to help him protect his land, well I did plan on cozying up to him as he is a person with power, this is a mutual benefit.

“That's all?” (Andraid)

Not what I expected to hear, but that basically means, you can have more if you want, right?

“Access to naval history books, all of them” (Me)

Since my XP and TP increase when I read books, it's a great way to grind up to the next era.

“Very well, even restricted naval history books, considering the value, that should be fair, but you cannot copy nor trade them” (Andraid)

Fair enough, was expecting something like this, pretty reasonable.

“Alright, seems fair, was gonna give them back once I’ve read them” (me)

We shake our hands in agreement to the terms, with this, he has secured powerful mercenaries and I have an XP source and a powerful ally.

“So who exactly are you and…’what’ exactly are you?” (Andraid)

I jolt from the second question, which he noticed, shit, my cover is blown. I look to the other people in the room, which Andraid gestures to leave, Momoi leaves too out of obligation

“I am Septaria Atima, I am an Anchorkin” (Me)

“Anchor kin? I have never heard of that race” (Andraid)

“Technically speak, as you saw, I summoned that ship out of the ocean, I and the ships are 1 and the same, the first ship was myself, but during that time I was just the ship” (Me)

“Which explains why the pirates fished out a lone girl and not 1 other crew member was found” (Andraid)

“Correct, but after that fight, i have gained many abilities, such as the ability to have both a human, and ship form, plus that second ship, is also me, the crewmembers are not required, but a giant ship sailing into docks with no crew but a captain would be suspicious, thus I summoned them” (Me)

I know spilling my cards like this is stupid and dangerous, but I saved this guys life, so long as he treats me as an equal we have no issues, and in the long game I can become immortal in a sense.

having someone to lean on whilst im in my early stages would be beneficial to my growth, so long as I help him in defensive wars or escort him, he will help me grow.

“So I’m guessing as you grow stronger, you will have more strange and powerful skills?”

(Andraid)

Eek, straight on the point!

“Y-yes” (Me)

Not good, i'm scared of sharp people, will he see me as a long term threat and kill me off now?

Or will he see the benefits?

“Are you a threat to humanity? Or an ally?” (Andraid)

Eeeee I used to be human. I'm an ally! I'm an ally!

“I’m an ally, I would rather co-exist with them, gaining benefits of growth whilst I protect them in return, I also sometimes mistake myself as one, but as I said before, I’m an ally to humanity”(Me)

*keh*

“You read my mind on coexisting for mutual benefits, I’m guessing that is why you asked for a plot of land?” (Andraid)

Aaah~ give me back my days, I've never been so terrified in my life, I’ve definitely lost a few days there.

“Indeed” (Me)

“Very well, I will make construction arrangements immediately” (Andraid)

And thus I would come to appreciate ‘Pristine self control’ for the god tier poker face I had through that meeting.

Over the week the barracks was built, the place where the harbour would be was beginning to be cleared out.

During that time I went on a naval history book binge. There were some amazing stories, and the benefits for reading them were showing too.

From just 10 books I gained 30,000XP and 10TP!

While I was reading a book, Andraid and a nervous looking man were heading my way.

The nervous man was your typical looking lanky scientist, short black combed hair, stubble, glasses, but one hell of a fancy mustache, like damn, that mustache makes up for the rest.

“Hello there Septa” (Andraid)

Who gave you permission to give me a nickname? Oh well it’s probably much easier

“This man here is named Arthin, he is the chief of ship design here and he wishes to have a team examine certain systems of your ship, he has money ready to pay for any fees necessary”

(Andraid)

I see, Ironclads are seen as next generation military technology, if they can recreate Ironclad warships, not only would they be a sort of super power, it would be a huge income for the city in terms of arms trade, seeing this, they couldn’t miss the chance.

Well, I'm going to have early battleships soon, so this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, I can even cozy up to the lord even more with this opportunity.

“Does he know about ‘Me’ in particular?” (Me)

“Not quite, only that you are the captain” (Andraid)

“Is this man trusted?” (Me)

“Is he not trustworthy to you?” (Andraid)

The other fellow started to get scared, thinking I suspected him of being a spy, well seeing he is trusted by Andraid, there shouldn't be an issue in boosting ironclad technology, to me it’s era is just around the corner yet already obsolete.

“Very well, follow me, and mr engineer, what you are about to see is ve~ry confidential” (Me)

I nod to Andraid, he seems to already understand what I’m Planning

Show skill tree

[No new skills available]

[Current available skills:]

[Damage control: 2000XP]

[Shipyard: 30,000XP]

[Lucky armour: 5000XP]

Buy shipyard, yes

[-30,000XP]

[you have gained the ability to summon multiple ships]

[you can summon ships using ship tokens, you can also summons ships you gained through XP]

[Ships summoned through Tokens are autonomous and will have their own crew]

[Current ship tokens: 0, you will gain 10 tokens a day, or 1 per kill, defeating larger enemies will reward more]

Well it's nice to know I can summon my own ships too, that was kind of the point behind this, and the experience lost will be recovered by time I read enough books to level up, so no issues there.

We walked for a while to a fairly remote side to the island, it was just us and my escorts

After that I summoned the Devastation class.

Both Arthin’s and Andraid’s faces dropped at the sight.

“S-s-so is this what you meant by confidential?” (Arthin)

I nod

“Good lord I thought that at some point you would summon fleets but to think so soon!” (Andraid)

He tried to laugh and joke to hide is awe, but that won't work on me~

“That is as advanced as ironclads go, keep it a secret if you want it to yourself” (Me)

I gesture to Arthin, to hint that if Im not a secret then he loses his deal

“To me, ironclads will outlive their era before it starts” (Me)

Andraid and Arthin jolt their face to me upon saying that.

“What do you mean outlive their era before it starts? They are state of the art!” (Arthin)

“The age of sail ships technology was just as simple as, make ships longer, add more guns, now how do you think things will change when new variables are added? If you want the ironclad to go faster, you need a better engine, and it isn't as simple as, bigger” (Me)

The main reason for all this is the naval arms race boosted the economy and technology by lightyears back on earth, many ships were obsolete before they were even laid down to sail.

“You mean that the development of ironclad ships will lead to rapid social and engineering development?” (Andraid)

“Correct, which is why you should be quiet about the research here, if someone finds out we are ahead, they will try and develop better ironclads, which will lead to others trying. To be honest i'm surprised it hasn't started yet but it's a house of cards right now” (Me)

“So why don’t you want them to find out?” (Andraid)

“If you want to keep the advantage with having me around, It’s better to always be 1 step ahead, and if they start that rapid development now, that gap will quickly close to even” (Me)

Although it would take many months to close the gap from their ironclad technology to early battleships, it's better to have several decades of technology ahead.

The bigger the gap, the stronger my advantage and the less likely I am to die.

1 close call is enough for me to go all out, sorry mister misfortune, I’m staying in this world for quite some time, wait now that I think about it, how long is my lifespan

[Anchorkin do not age]

Ah...sometimes I wonder if I’m an OP protagonist or not.

Several hours later, these books are quite big yet I read through them quickly, I’ve read through another 15!

That brings me up by another 45,000XP and 15TP

[Congratulations, you have gained enough XP and TP to Level Up!]

[You can now level up to True Steam Warships Technology]

[Level Up? Yes / No]

This is it, Battleships, Destroyers, Submarines, here I come!

Yes!

[Level up, congratulations!]

[Ship tech tree advanced, new ship types unlocked]

[Stats advanced]

[New Traits and Skills]

New traits? New skills?

Status

[Name: Septaria Atima]

[Age: 18]

[Gender: Female]

[Height: 135cm]

[Weight: 34kg]

[Race: Anchorkin

[Subrace: Pre Dreadnought]

[Form: Human]

[Magic: D-]

[Mana: 200/200]

[Strength: D-]

[Dexterity: D+]

[Overall Rating: S]

[Racial traits: No hunger, No thirst, Ship mimic, Blessing of the oceans, Bombardment Endurance]

[Skills: Telescopic sight , Doppelganger, Crew, Shipyard, Torpedo, Shell fire, Bombardment]

EXP: 21,400

TP:4

Flat upgrades to my stats, that nice, my new skills are torpedo, shell fire, bombardment and i have bombardment endurance as a new trait

What are these?

[Torpedo: Fire a torpedo within 100 meters of you, it has a 5km max range. Costs 50MP]

[Shell fire: fire 3, 300mm shells of AP or HE variant at an enemy, it has 10km max range, costs 30MP]

[Bombardment: Fires a 100mm shell , random on AP or HE, fires 1 for every 5MP, and fires more for more mana input]

[Bombardment endurance: when under sustained fire, your ships armour will increase slightly, will only apply to weapons that can damage your ship]

Whoa, now I can use my mana for something.

These skills though, I swear I'm becoming something straight out of an anime.

Well can’t argue, this means I can fight when on land

[New Skills available for purchase]

Oh god there's more.