ACC Chapter 48 Serpent's Dream

Serpent was a beautiful woman. Her mother had given her everything a woman would need to attract males. Of course her bust was modest compared to Livia's, but her entire form was what I wanted in a woman.

"Shuttles from a certain city were attacked by a storm spirit. You know what happens after that, right?"

"Were there any survivors?" Lily asked with a pale expression with my thoughts also shifting upon the seriousness of the matter.

"Zero, all dead. Now, onto more important things. It would be better if all these people went outside the city. This concrete jungle will prove inconvenient for the evacuations."

"I will inform them." The city Lord answered in a curt voice before heading back to his office via the staircase that had allowed our ascension to the roof, vanishing in under a second.

Barely a minute later, he appeared, taking away all the others and even Lily to help. I would have volunteered to go along, but a Nascent Soul was still an important personage. Solving the crises in the city had been all and well, but personally helping with the evacuations would be pushing it.

Besides, the city lord had given me a subtle nod, probably wanting me to keep the Admiral company.

The blue light emitted by the engines of the ship couldn't beat the light of the sun, but the sun hadn't sunk enough in the western horizon to chase away the shadow. Though, I could see the progress it had made in that direction, since part of the city was being bathed within the orange glow.

"Mr. Mumaso, did you like what you saw?"

The question threw me for a loop as the Admiral stepped before me, her eyes digging into mine in a glare that I found uncomfortable.

'Awwwww... Now I wish I had gone with them!'

"I don't follow." I did my best not to break eye contact.

"My sublime beauty ofcourse!"

"And why would you need to ask such a question." I frowned as annoyance took over. If she was just some crazed bimbo, then she was off the list.

"...you are no fun. Actually, why I have always wanted to meet with you is because of a project."

"Oh!" Those words piqued my interest.

"I want to build a certain vessel...but I have very little funding. Some time ago, I previewed my designs at a little gathering, but no one committed. I don't want to come off as the begging type, but if that's what its gonna take to get my dream off the ground, then that's what I'll do."

"I remember you saying that your time was limited. This proposal of yours feels like it will require a lengthy conversation." I reminded her even though I was eager to speak at length.

This was going to be my first time speaking with a person requiring my funding for their goals. It was going to be an interesting talk. Though, if her idea wasn't going to be helping the Legends Guild, I would send her to Mawar later.

"Time is relative. Besides, I didn't want to stay in the company of so many unfamiliar people."

'Same as me.'

"Anyway, let's take a seat and discuss. This evacuation business will take upwards of 4 hours."

"Isn't that too short an estimate?" I asked while pointedly gazing at the lines far below heading towards the southern direction of the city since it was the only place with a large enough clearing.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The western direction rose the moment the land surpassed the city limits, cresting into a hill. The northern reaches were much the same, while the eastern had that depression that had once been a lake.

"These people, from the youngest child to the elderly, are all cultivators. And since all are at least at the Spirit Gathering stage, they can board the shuttles far faster than mere mortals. Thank you, by the way, for inventing such a magnificent talisman."

I scratched my head at the unexpected gratitude, which brought me some small measure of embarrassment.

"So, pitch to me this idea of yours." I asked, wanting to move the conversation along.

"Ever since a young age, I have always loved ships, mostly space faring vessels. I could almost name every single ship the Federation has ever built, from freighters to warships. And from that young age, I had a dream. It was to build and captain a ship of my own, possessing the most advanced technology the Federation had to offer."

Her gaze appeared distant when she had spoken about her childhood, but the smile of excitement that graced her lips had me mesmerised for a moment.

"Sentimentality isn't your strongest suit." I commented despite the fact that she had enraptured me for a moment.

"Should I try seduction then?"

She leaned in close, causing my breath to hitch at the abruptness.

"...okay! Okay! I can see that you aren't at ease with either of the methods. Besides, I have no use for such tactics. Instead, I would like us to have an intellectual conversation."

"...your dream is to build yourself a ship. But what about after you accomplish that? What will you use it for?"

"Exploration. The Federation is good and all, but its restrictions on spatial travel are... Too restricting. Something like the Sect's autonomy doesn't work, but there needs to be some way for people like me to be allowed some modicum of freedom."

She wasn't dancing around an issue. From what I could tell, she was simply failing to explain what she really wanted honestly, but I surmised it to be freedom of some sort.

"What sort of places would you like to explore?"

"Space. I want to have an installed warp drive, allowing me to go wherever I want without any oversight from the Federation."

"That has me interested. There is a little something I have been planning myself. In order to get it off the ground, we need to recruit a few people."

""We?""

"My secretary, Lily. Now though, we are more like partners. But first I want to at least get a look at the schematics."

"Okay."

Serpent's divine sense queried me and I accepted, causing a flood of information to enter my mind.

"I have been refining the designs with every new technology the KIWA has been experimenting with. That's the reason why there are many unfinished ideas. Also, some technologies haven't really been brought into reality, like the warp drive and the spatial displacement shield, but I believe that in less than a year, they will be available."

Though she was a Nascent Soul, with plenty of life experience, I could still pick out some nervousness within her tone of voice due to the minute changes. She must have put plenty of effort within these schematics.

Though I couldn't understand them deeply, I still gained a general impression of what she wanted to build. But I still had a question that needed to be answered.

"Most of this technology you want is in the hands of the Federation. And I believe it to be important enough for them to let it leak into the public, or even the private sectors. How do you plan to go around these walls blocking your path?"

A sliver of light from the sunset, scratched at my face, attracting my attention towards the west in the distance as I waited upon her answer.

The partial appearance of the sun at the edge of the warship, signified that the time had moved enough for its light to reach here. Though it had already bathed most of the city with its light. But since we were on top of the monolithic tower, we were the last to get a glimpse of the beauty brought about by the sunset.

The chaos was still ongoing down in the city, with even the water leak I had managed to temporarily solve having slipped the runes I had placed upon it.

Flames, crumbling buildings, streets pulling themselves apart from underground infrastructure destroying itself, and many other incidents entered my gaze from this high up.

Then my eyes caught a blur heading in my direction, swinging from building to building with such speed that it was like a shadow.

A few seconds later, it clambered up the walls of the monolith to reach me.

"Now, this is a splendid view. I must admit, you seem to be enjoying the life, Reed- Wait?! A mademoiselle!"

With that exclamation, Paul ditched me to appear by a bewildered Serpent.

"Who...are you?"

"He's my symbiote. A fortuitous encounter caused him to become intelligent." I explained before she could take some hostile actions.

"Since he has interrupted us, you may give me your answer to that question another day."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Reed! Man! You shouldn't try to create a harem this early! Women will suck the life out of you, killing your drive to reach the Deity Transformation stage!"

"Paul, could you please shut up?" I asked while releasing my aura in a threatening way.