Chapter 398: Awakening Begins

Time flew by; November passed in a blink, and when December came, a single sentence from Guanghui left Qin Ge and the other shipgirls overjoyed.

"Guanghui, did you have a dream?" Qin Ge exclaimed happily to Guanghui standing before him.

"Hmm, Commander, I don't know why, but last night while I was sleeping I dreamed that I had become a huge battleship sailing across the ocean. That scene appeared only briefly, then I woke up." Guanghui said to Qin Ge.

"Does this mean the awakening has begun?" Qin Ge asked Guanghui doubtfully, "Do you feel anything abnormal elsewhere?"

"No, not at all." Guanghui said, shaking his head.

"I think this is largely a sign of awakening, right? Didn't Mikasa Senpai say something like that before?" Nengdai said, looking at Guanghui, a hint of envy flashing in her eyes.

"What about Akagi and Kaga—have they come to the Reception House today?" Hearing Nengdai mention Mikasa, Qin Ge suddenly recalled that his fleet also had two awakened shipgirls, and that Guanghui had first shown signs of awakening when they discovered them; if they were at the Reception House, we could clearly see whether Guanghui had begun awakening.

"Akagi and Kaga haven't come over yet; they usually only show up after morning training is finished." Lie Kexingdun said to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge nodded involuntarily, "So it seems we can only get a definite answer after they arrive."

"Hmm." All the shipgirls nodded, also confirming Qin Ge's view.

Sure enough, after lunch, Akagi and Kaga came together to the Reception House. Originally they would have gone straight to Tiancheng's room as usual, but when they reached the second‑floor lounge they saw Qin Ge and the others already sitting there waiting for them.

"Huh? You didn't go on a mission today?" Akagi, a bit curious after going upstairs, said, because every time she came Qin Ge had already taken the Royal shipgirls out of the Reception House, and this was the first time in a month she had seen Qin Ge.

Qin Ge shook his head, "I didn't go on a mission today; I have something very important I want to ask you about."

"Oh, something very important you want to ask us?" Akagi instantly perked up, asking Qin Ge, "What kind of thing is it? Can you tell me now?"

Qin Ge said to Akagi, "Guanghui had a dream last night."

"Having a dream—what's so strange about that? I often dream too." Akagi said nonchalantly, but as she spoke she suddenly glanced toward Guanghui.

"The awakening has started?! How can it be this fast?"

Hearing Akagi's surprised words, Qin Ge's face filled with excitement, "So does that mean Guanghui has already begun awakening?"

Akagi's face grew solemn, and Kaga beside her wore an expression of astonishment: "That's right, the awakening has begun, and this speed is a bit too fast."

"The speed is relatively fast—how so?" Qin Ge asked doubtfully.

"Commander, do you know how long it took us, from the first signs of awakening to the actual start of awakening?" Kaga asked Qin Ge.

Qin Ge shook his head; of course he didn't know these things, since information about awakening rarely spreads among commanders, and only high‑echelon faction members are aware of it.

"Back then we spent four years—exactly four years—before we began awakening, and we were still the first batch of awakened shipgirls. But since the last time we detected awakening traces in Guanghui, only a few months have passed."

"So you understand why we're shocked, right? The gap between four years and a few months is a chasm as vast as heaven and earth!" Kaga exclaimed.

Qin Ge exclaimed in surprise, "Does it really take that long? But why is Guanghui progressing so fast? Could it be because he is my shipgirl, or due to some other reason?"

"Unclear; perhaps only after learning about your two experiences can we judge whether Guanghui's awakening this time is directly related to you."

"If there is a direct connection, then the awakening success rate for the shipgirls in our fleet will greatly increase, and the awakening time will be shortened." Kaga said.

Qin Ge nodded, "Hearing this puts my mind at ease, but I still have a question: Guanghui has begun awakening, yet she feels no change in her body—are you the same?"

"To truly feel a substantive change in the body requires a long time, but for Guanghui we dare not draw a conclusion now, because she has far exceeded our expectations."

"However, one thing is certain: when Guanghui successfully completes a full dream, her body will undergo a substantive change." Akagi said to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge nodded, "I see, so as the dream deepens, the person's awakening will also become deeper, right?"

"Exactly." Akagi nodded and said.

"Then that's fine—at least we can confirm a relatively clear piece of information and no longer need to guess." Qin Ge nodded, smiled at Guanghui beside him, and said, "Guanghui, keep working hard from now on; let me know immediately if anything happens."

"Don't worry, Commander." Guanghui smiled.

Seeing this, Akagi's eyes rolled, "So how is your collection of combat data going? How much more does the Project Ship Cube need?"

Qin Ge smiled in response to Akagi's inquiry, "Don't worry, the Wisdom Cube still needs a period of time—at least about two more years."

"Two years? That's actually pretty quick—wasn't the earlier estimate that it would take considerably longer?" Akagi exclaimed in surprise.

"That was just the previous estimate; now I don't know why, but the number of Siren fleets in the Donghuang sea area has increased compared to normal, so we're fighting more each day."

"Plus, due to coordination with the Maritime Affairs Bureau, I'm constantly dealing with emergency missions; combat has become routine for me, which is why things are moving faster." Qin Ge said.

"Coordination with the Maritime Affairs Bureau? It seems the Donghuang side also takes this Project Ship seriously." Akagi said with a meaningful tone.

"Isn't that natural? Which of the Nine Major Factions wouldn't take this seriously? After all, this is a shipgirl that has never appeared before, and is even called a scrapped project." Qin Ge said.

"What about Xinong then? After all this time, has Mingshi researched anything?" Akagi asked.

Qin Ge shook his head, "I just went to ask Mingshi a few days ago; progress is still slow, so we can only take it step by step. But I believe I can summon Xinong, and then naturally we'll find a way to break through her—it's just that the timing isn't right yet."

"You're remarkably calm." Akagi gave a faint smile.

"I'm used to it."