Valerie Tepes slowly opened her eyes. She saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It looked far too smooth for the one she got used to seeing.
Slowly she got into a sitting position. Very quickly she realised that she was asleep for some time because of how stiff she was feeling.
"You are up. Master said it's going to be soon."
The dhampir quickly looked at the source of the voice. It was the very same one which she meet before falling asleep!
…
…
…
That moment her eyes widened as she realised that this was the very same woman who invaded her family castle!
She quickly got defensive or at least tried.
*Snort*
"That's cute. But, I am not here to hurt you." The redhead said to the blonde girl.
"W-Why I was kidnapped?" She asked with a confused tone. But, then she realised… her sacred gear!
"From looks of it, you already concluded yourself. Your gear is powerful and my Master needed it to continue his research towards life and souls.
For your safety sake, the gear has been removed. The Sephiroth Graal make you exposed to the natures of life and death something not recommended even for a powerful being." The redhead explained to the girl.
"Oh...I see… so, what now? Since the gear is taken… there is no use of me?" The blonde dhampir said with realised look.
The redhead smiled seeing how quickly she realised her uses. The girl is quite sharp!
"We can always find some uses for you. The Tepes family is gone. You can return to Vampire nations or you can serve my Lord as a maid." Hippolyta said with a smile.
"...What happened to my family?" She asked with a frown.
"The Tepes line is gone, however servants and children are left alive. They are taken care of by other vampire families around the vampire nations." The redhead explained to the girl.
"I see… you want me to serve someone who killed my whole family?" The blonde dhampir asked with a baffled look.
"They been mistreating you, and you would have ended as drooling husk from overusing the graal. Not only did my Master save you from that fate, he even healed your soul which was damaged from its usage.
And as I said before you can just return to the Balkans. Carmilla faction can take care of you. it's up to you." The redhead maid once again reminded that.
"I need time to think…"
"Very well. If you need anything just ask Aurora she will get anything you want." The Amazon Queen said as she turned around and started to walk towards the doors.
"Wait! You didn't say who you were! I can sense that you are...powerful being... yet, you are a maid…" The Dhampir asked as she felt… power quite a bit of power flowing from this maid. Now that she mentioned it… the whole place reeks of magic…
"Oh? My apologies. I forgot the basic manners. It seems my master's character is rubbing off on me. I am Hippolyta, I was Queen of Amazons once upon a time."
Valerie's eyes widened. She put those two quickly together.
"B-But… how are you alive? I thought…"
"I was dead? I was and then I was brought back. Things like that happen when you live under the Greek Pantheon. However, after a certain event the previous summer, me and Artemis followed by her hunt are serving Marcus Goldman now.
He is an inventor." The redhead very plainly explained to the girl.
The blonde girl nodded to her explanation. It was sounding very simple until she understood the scale… Greek Goddess is serving someone!? Then this guy… he should be very good!
"Artemis… is serving someone?" Valerie needed confirmation here. For a second she believed that she misheard what the Amazon Queen just said to her!
"Indeed. You didn't hear this from me, but she got her ass whipped, and now she is dressed in this uniform, just like me and is trying to find ways to seduce Marcus. Far cry from what she used to be. It's very amusing in a sense." Hippolyta explained with an amused smirk. The beauty is enjoying her time here. Even though her success in becoming the wife of the inventor is as bad as Goddess of Hunt.
"...I see… this… is… well…strange…" Valerie was more than baffled… Artemis is a maiden Goddess… but now she is a maid… does this means she is not maiden anymore? This is quite… groundbreaking? Gods don't change that much. Since they are not as active as they used to be. There hasn't been any modern changes for the past 2000 years.
So, it's strange to hear how much Artemis... of all… the Goddess has changed!
"It's amusing! Anyway, just ask for Aurora if you need anything." Hippolyta said that as she left the blonde dhampir alone.
"Aurora? Who is she?" Valerie asked with a confused look on her face, who is the one redhead was talking about?
[Me, I am Artificial Intelligence of this place.]
*Eep!*
The blonde nearly jumped out of the bed when she heard a female voice coming from the walls!
~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~
"Beautiful isn't it?" I asked the girls which were with me. We were standing in just recently finished Docks.
The place just like the majority of my facilities was underground. At the moment the water is being filled up by a massive opening in the ceiling.
So it looked like, the water from the Baltic sea is falling, like a waterfall in the distance.
At this moment the Drydocks and the harbour were empty. The size of harbours were being adjusted so that ships of size 250 meters and above could dock. In total there is around 15 spots where ships of that size could dock.
Meaning this place is quite a huge cavern underground. With multiple water lifts build in the distance which will take the ship up.
While above this there is an artificial island where the ships are going to leave. However, all that is under powerful holograms.
Simply put I just broke a bunch of human construction records and no one even know about it!
"The water falling from the ceiling?" Artemis asked with confusion. She most likely believes that I am talking about the ceiling which looks like something from Minecraft.
"No, you silly. I am talking about those docking magnets." I pointed at the equipment in the docks itself, not the water filling up the place.
"Magnets?"
"Indeed. They are based on several gears and the Holy Sword Caliburn."
She was once again more confused, most likely can't see how this is happening.
"These magnets will pull up the ship from the water, surrounding it with gravity cancelling technomancy. Once she is up then it can be moved for repairs or upgrades, or a new ship can be lowered into the water.
It's much faster than any classic drydocks." I explained to her. She finally understood from the looks of it, as she nodded multiple times.
"And so...you just reinvented how docks and harbours work," Serafall said with a sigh. Latia next to her nodded as she was looking at the magnet cranes with a discerning eye. From the looks of it, she was looking at the value of the new technomancy.
"Indeed. I find the current methods extremely outdated. The way ships are launched remained the same since ancient times, only warships have the privilege of dry docks." I said that while remembering some YouTube videos about catastrophic first ships launches.
Honestly, fail videos are the best reminders that some things need reinventions.
"That's because of the size of the ships, Tankers and any other large ships are simply too big," Latia said with a thoughtful look.
"Indeed the size is always the issue that's why these magnets create barriers with space-based technomancy which are based on Dimension Lost and Caliburn. They nullify gravity in general, in this specific area allowing to pull out ships that normally weigh more than 20 thousand tons without any issues." I explained in more detail.
"I see… does this mean we will go to the sea?" Serafall said as she started to see the angle I am working at the moment.
"Underwater, and treasure hunting more precisely."
"Oh...now that is going to be interesting!" The black-haired devil clapped her hands happily. I could feel an alternative motive here. But, that's is most likely another of her schemes to advance in the invisible hierarchy of my...harem?
Well, I guess Solomon rubbed more on me than I thought.
"Indeed. I have already the schematics for the ship we will be using." With my hand motion, I showed the design of the submarine.
[Scavenger]
[Attila-Class Underwater Command Centre]
Except for Serafall, everyone looked at the schematics with wide eyes.
"Its 325 metres long submarine, powered by 6 Diamond Core Hearts…"
"6 Hearts!?" The girls interrupted me with a loud exclaim.
"...Yes, 6...now if you would…"
"Why so many!? Even your Confiscator has 4!" Serafall squeaked her question.
"Look… see my finger?" I showed my right-hand pinky.
"Now imagine at least a few elephants standing on it. Do you know how heavy it will be?" I asked her and she somewhat understood what I mean by this. But, still didn't see the whole picture.
"The pressure of water. If we will be going to pick up Titanic the pressure there would kill even high-class devil. It is several kilometres underwater. The pressure over there would crush the organs of most land dwellers." Latia explained to the clueless Leviathan. Strange how Serafall doesn't know about the pressure of water. Especially since she is holding a title related to the evil sea being.
"Even Serafall will die there, as the ship is around 5 kilometres underwater."
"I would!? No way! There is somewhere on Earth that I could die!?" She asked in disbelief.
"Of course. The deep sea is even more dangerous than some space elements. By that depth, not even regular submarines go. Specially build diving instruments which are not big size-wise could only be sent there.
Anything else will be crushed by the pressure of the water. Hell, it's like using the empire state building as weight lifting with your fingernail. Can you do it?" I asked her and her eyes went big when I used the comparison.
"N-No I don't think so… but I could survive there with my sacred gear no!?" She asked that as Serafall remembered that she has her Sailor Winter uniform!
"Hmm… in Balance Breaker you could survive for several minutes before you would need to get some air." I clarified to her. The only reason she could survive in that kind of environment is because of Diamond Core Heart she has in her gear.
"Yeah… the air… anyway you mean every inch of our body would have to hold an Empire State Building?" Serafall asked me for confirmation as she had the look of some understanding finally.
"Yes, now you understand. That is why there are 6 Diamond Core Hearts. Two of them will do nothing more than make sure the submarine is negating the crushing pressure of water. The rest four will be running the similar stuff as Confiscator does.
From thrusters, energy wings, to assembly lines and bio-chambers." I motioned at the areas in the design.
"Strange… will this submarine be able to hold the whole of Titanic? I can see that it's bigger than that cruise liner but the cargo hold… or is it hangar bay… is too small?" Latia pointed out as she looked at the design schematics.
"Nice. You saw through it! And nope, it won't be holding the wreckage. Instead, it will be holding much smaller submarines which will be used to carry marines version of S.P.B.A. and the underwater mechs.
While I will be collecting the wreckage and storing it in my storage ring. I am however planning some alternative methods as well since it can't hold all the ships." I said that while thinking about some ways to miniaturize the ships and store them in some sort of containers…
"Now it makes sense… it's more than just a submarine to collect the wreckage…
You planning to run some tests too." The blonde saw through it as well. Which is nice. Not that it's difficult, but unlike others… those other maids of mine don't even try to think...they just accept as it is… which is sad in a way…
"Indeed. Deepwater is very good to test the durability of some things. And of course, discover some other stuff we have no idea exists. After all, humans barely explored the bottom of the ocean." I explained to her who nodded at me with satisfaction.
Without wasting any more time I pressed the green button which says 'construct'.
Sure enough, the Assembly Line here in the docks came to life as multiple metal hands came out from the ground multiple white and gold circles manifested around them…
Soon enough the pieces of submarine frame started to appear, while the aurora bots started creating the pieces for the interior.
The progress was rapid and extremely efficient. It's like each piece knows what the next is and how it going to come together…
And it's done at a rapid pace…
"The Scavenger will be done in a few days." As I said that I started walking towards one of the empty drydocks.
Once I was there I activated my Psionic powers and started floating above the drydocks. Moments later I was in the middle of one.
On my left-hand index finger, a ring appeared. Then I activated it and pulled out... Enterprise…
Quickly enough I activated my psionic powers and engulfed the massive ship.
Multiple drops of water started falling as I was holding only the ship and not the water.
Slowly, I lowered it into the drydocks. Some sweat was on my forehead. This was… quite something else! Simply how big it was! And I am not used to pulling massive things of that size out!
Hell! I nearly missed and dropped it on the side of the drydocks! It would have damaged the hull more!
Anyway! The aircraft carrier was in place!
"You… You already have a ship recovered!?" Serafall squeaked. as she jumped and her devil wings manifested behind her. She quickly flew forward and started inspecting the ship.
"Yep, the CV-6 Enterprise. I recovered her when I returned from my trip in space." I said with a smile as I looked at the rusty ship. The wreckage is quite heavily rusted by this point.
The command tower is partially gone, the superstructure is heavily damaged, there are multiple holes in the hull…
Oh, and there is some… fishes, alot of sand… but we are not here to talk about the extras I collected…
"Her… did you just say her? Should I be worried?" Serafall said with narrowed eyes.
…
…
'What is she….oh….OH...OH…' That moment, I smiled at her. My mind started to come up with ways to make this… into reality…
I have all the tools… and some new ways to make HER better.
"...Maybe…maybe… you are up to something Sera. I know I can always trust you to give me some ideas." As I said that I appeared in front of her with a smile and patted her head.
Her mouth opened wide and her eyes widened to comical levels. The maids and my other pillar on the ground facepalmed.
"N-No… I mean… I didn't…" She tried to defend herself.
"No, it's alright! I was just thinking of making the ships state of art… but you gave me more ideas on how to make them usable in... a bigger range." I said with a smile several ideas popped into my mind. Oh yes… this is going to be epic…
"M-Master wait… for a bit! There is no need to rush!" Serafall with a panicked tone tried to do something.
"I am not rushing anywhere. Honestly, this weekend is going to be busy. I got some stuff to do in Greece by Ares's request. Then meeting with Azazel so as you can imagine I will be busy not that much time to work on Enterprise." I said with a shrug.
Now that I think about it my life once again is getting busy…
As I said that I thought for a bit… before I got an idea… with a burst of purple energy a psionic clone of mine appeared next to me.
"I am kind of jealous. But you will save me some time." As I said that to my clone.
The clone simply smirked as he descended towards the ship wreckage.
Serafall just watched this with trepidation. I have no idea what kind of ludicrous ideas she is coming up with since her imagination is much more… imaginative than mine.
Well, we will see in the future what she has come up with.
~~~
As Marcus was going back to The Base, Atalanta was on his lap while the rest of the girls were staring daggers at Serafall who wanted to find a hole and hide.
She has no idea what kind of insanity she has unleashed. Turning ships into girls? Or is it more like creating girls according to the ships? However, these are not the issues. The issue is that it was the Leviathan who gave him the idea of doing it.
And now the maids and the pillars are going to suffer from less attention! Which is not good for their plans!
"Well… let's just hope that he won't be creating alot of those," Latia said with a sigh.
"There is alot of ships sunk since times immemorial!" Artemis said with an annoyed huff.
"We shouldn't worry about those early ships. From the looks of it, our Master only cares about ships from the last century. Even then it's the most significant ones too." The blonde girl reasoned with the Goddess.
"Well… if this is the truth then the number is not that big…" The Goddess of hunt said with a sigh.
"Even if the number is not big he will be creating several new lifeforms in form of females which will look no less than Quinella," Hippolyta said with a heavy tone. Making the girl much more serious about this.
"Can we stop this some way?" Artemis said with a frown.
"...You can try… but the more you try the harder he will try to make them reality. I suggest much more subtle actions would be in order." Latia said with a thoughtful look. Making the Goddess of Moon frown even more. Subtle stuff is not her thing! But, she knows he will be more amused than anything if she is about to be blunt with him!
All she could do is just brood at this point!
While the girls were doing their thing Marcus got his Enterprise scan done. He quickly started reworking the interior of the ship, removing a lot of stuff, since it was outdated and is not needed.
Instead, he was putting the systems of his design. Now however this is a challenge for the simple reason that he is working with an already existing shell and he wants to keep it as it is.
The weaponry changes were the easiest since all he does is to change the barrels to his ones. Put some M.T.M based barrels and it's done. The more complex is to link up the guns to a single system.
Then the hydraulic lift, some basic math how many Starscream jet fighters this one will have…
'Hmm… I should make them custom…' That moment he quickly went through the whole idea of how the ship will transform into a humanoid form, those jet fighters will be able to merge and add to the form by becoming the large mechs wings.
While the 5 bombers he is planning to add will be able to transform into a sword… with a few more alterations Marcus make the humanoid form of the aircraft carrier ship look like Destiny Gundam.
As the teen was making over a hundred metres tall mech, the lion girl on his lap could only shake her head internally…
One thing for sure is that she is pitying whoever is going to face her Master. She could only imagine that if this massive robot gets destroyed, then the teen would simply return with an even bigger and more destructive one…
Accompanied with a big smile on his face!
~~~~~~Later~~~~~~
After coming back to the base, certain someone was already waiting for him in the living room.
"Umm… so… you are the one who is called Marcus Goldman?" The nervous and shy blonde dhampir asked him.
The teen looked at the blonde girl. She was beautiful. Short blonde hair, quite developed body, a supernatural kind of attraction.
Not in the Goddess type of way but more towards that of a vampire attraction.
More dark and seductive, leaning towards what Carmilla is.
"Yep, that's my name. If you are here then it means you have decided what you wanna do?" The black-haired teen inventor asked her curiously.
"Yes. I have. I understand that you have deep connections with the devil race. If I am to work as your maid I will be able to interact with them?" She asked quite an odd question in Marcus' eyes.
However, he quickly remembered that she has some sort of connection with Rias Gremory sealed of Bishop… which is a trap…uhh...
"I do have connections with the devil race. More precisely I have quite a pull on them." He said that with a shrug. He could quite easily propose a change of the laws through Serafall. This can be considered quite a pull in a government.
"...Then I will become your maid. If it's alright with you?" Valerie asked him hopefully.
"Sure, let me prepare a contract for you."
The blonde could only nod. Same time she was quite confused… contract? Is this going to be some sort of work contract? She wasn't expecting that. The girl only thought such a thing only happens in a capitalistic world, and he didn't strike someone who follows some sort of rules.
Her perception of that comes from the fact that he just invaded her home, and did whatever he wanted to do.
~~~
*The Predator Clicking Sound*
"Hmm?"
Marcus pulled out his phone and saw that it was a message from Ares…
"Sup! Check out how the villa is looking! I pulled out some old and classic and mixed up with some recent tech!"
The teen read through the message and checked out the pictures of the place.
It kind of did look like a Greek-style mansion with some 'cutting' edge stuff one could get from the current world.
The teen inventor quickly transferred the images to his base computer and with a few hand motions made it into 3D.
With a few hand swipes and some modification with his editing app, he was able to beef up the things he saw… and then...
"If you want I can modify your house as well… here are some samples I could do in that mansion of yours."
The teen send the modified pictures back to the God of War. Now to wait and see how he will react to that high-end 8k extreme 3D TV, the holographic walls, the kitchen upgrades… and many other small things he has put.
~~~~~~Greece~~~~~~
*Whistle*
"Damn… now I need that stuff! Hmm… what to offer? What to offer?" For second the God of War was in deep through. It's annoying to use his brain for non-war related stuff! But! This is for his house comforts! And besides, it's cutting edge! He wants it just for that!
As he was thinking he quickly remembered something! His eyes widened for a bit before a grin appeared on his face. The guy has a thing for lions!
So he will get him a lion! And not just any lion! The best one there is!
With a burst of red, the God of War was dressed in his armour.
"Time to hunt some lions!" Ares spoke loudly as he was pumping himself up. Completely ignoring the woman which was in his room.
"Hmm? What are you mumbling about?" Aphrodite asked him with a confused look on her face.
Ever since Marcus left that phone, Ares has been ignoring her! Not only that he was giggling like some little girl! And now he is speaking about getting lions? What the hell is going on!?
"I am getting some upgrades for my villa! Done by Marcus himself. So, I need something for a payment." He said with an eye roll. Why else he would be going to get a lion or... two? Hell, he should get one himself! It was been some time since he had a pet! Last time it was a hydra, this time he should get a lion?
The God of War thought for a second. He then imagined himself next to a big golden lion…
…
…
It's gonna look cool! Besides, Hydra was quite annoying to take care of, but lions should be different. Sure getting the meat could be annoying, but unlike Hydra, he could pet it properly at least. And they are quite cuddly if those videos online anything have to say by…
"Hey! That's not fair! I want him to upgrade one of my mansions in Paris!" Aphrodite got his attention back to her. She had a pouty look.
"Woman! The lion most likely only going to be enough for one house! If you want to tune up your own house then you need to pay him as well!" The God of War said with a shrug. Hell, he is not sure if a lion will be enough in the first place. While it's quite powerful and was quite difficult for his half bro to take down an adult one. It should be enough for a simple home upgrade, right?
The blonde Goddess huffed for a second, she crossed her arms under her breasts.
"Fine! I could just offer myself!"
Ares just shrugged at her.
"Don't know about it. I already offered you before. He said you are quite a handful." The God of War quite simply as if he was discussing something casual.
"...You!*Sigh*..." The Blonde Goddess was out of words…
"Anyway… I have to find a couple of lion cubs. I will see you later." As Ares said that his circle appeared underneath him. It was in red and bronze, in the middle of it was the symbol of Sparta.
~~~~~~Back to Marcus~~~~~~
The teen was relaxing in his chair back in his workshop. The back of his right hand was holding his chin. He looked like he was in quite deep thought as in front of him were a pair of DNA strands, they were spinning slowly.
They were extremely barren looking compared to human ones, and alot of pieces were missing.
Marcus left hand moved towards a hologram on his left as he picked a small ball looking hologram and added to one of the DNA's…
The next moment the whole thing shook and disintegrated…
[Impossible combination resulting in critical failure.]
"Hmm… so it would lead to this…"
[Cross species are quite a difficult branch of DNA sir. What you are planning is not possible for the simple reason that we do not have enough data. What you making is not quite human and is connected to a machine.
At least to understand some of it we would need some sort of reference.] Aurora explained to him.
For a second Marcus sighed as he brushed aside the shattered DNA and made a holographic image of a Silver-haired beauty appear in front of him.
This was… Enterprise… the official name of her is Biological Battle Model: Enterprise. The inventor's idea is to bind the ship like it's something akin to a Noble Phantasm from Fate. But there are several issues and riddles he needs to fix. First is to store the ship in a place where Enterprise could access it, and another one is to make it so that she could control it seamlessly…
This means a connection so deep that it's embedded in DNA…
However, he never did something similar to a cross-species like creation before. Hell, Quinella is a human with special powers linked to his technomancy. It's quite different at a fundamental level.
Thinking for a bit he brushed aside the image of Enterprise and went to another DNA he started to work.
"I suppose I could finish this and then work on Enterprise."
[Dragon and 'perfect' human cross-breed?]
"Indeed. We could use this as reference to see how it works, before progressing forward towards the ship girls."
['Ship girls'? As in several of them?]
The A.I. asked with quite a baffled tone.
"Indeed. A navy of legendary ships from a bygone era. Which are controlled by girls with simple thought! Now that is man's romance."
[...I am maybe an A.I. sir, but I don't think romance works that way…]
"That's because you are a girl. Females and Males don't truly understand each other." He said with a shrug. He has been studying genetics for some time now, even now he can understand certain anomalies.
[...If you say so… My programming tells me that I should not pursue this any further.]
"Indeed. You should not. Quinella did impressive work with her patches." Marcus nodded with an approving nod. He quickly started drawing how his...Dragoness is going to look once she is all grown up. As dragons, one way or another have to go through a growing period.
This might going to help him in his ship girls creation. Especially since DNA grows just as much as the dragon.
Marcus smirked seeing what he has drawn. He didn't go far from Enterprise design. It's another silver-haired beauty with purple eyes. And yeah… she will be just as hot as his beautiful ship girl.
*The Predator clicking Sound*
"Hmm? Response from Ares? Well, he took his time." Marcus pulled out his phone and checked the response from the God of War.
"I want those upgrades bro! In return, I will give you one of these!"
As Marcus read through the text he saw the picture which was attached at the end of the message.
"Is… that a Nemean Lion? He is planning to give me a Nemean Lion… cub? Damn… DAMN… I can't say no to that!" The teen said with wide eyes.
The God of War just got himself an upgrade he wanted!