Seeing the Abyssal army retreat, should they take the initiative and strike first? Was the enemy just preparing something nasty?
Just as Bismarck hesitated, Glowworm came running back, bouncing with excitement.
Saratoga, quick as a flash, scooped the little destroyer up by the scruff and gave her a playful spanking.
"I told you to hurry back! What took you so long?"
Of course, Saratoga was just playing around. Unlike Helena, Yat Sen, or Fletcher, who could actually contribute with anti-submarine and anti-air support in coastal defense, Glowworm didn't even have ASW equipment equipped. In the current battle, she really had no role to play.
"It's not my fault! Let go!" Glowworm wriggled free. "Guess who the Commander just summoned to the base? Super amazing!"
Last night, Hikaru had sworn to the shipgirls that he'd give them a surprise.
And he wasn't bluffing.
Because yesterday ended, and today was the first day of December.
That's right—last month's monthly mission rewards had been issued!
Unlike September and October, when Hikaru had only completed the bare minimum, November had been different. First came the South Sea Defense Battle, where Lexington and Tirpitz together sank four level-100 Abyssal flagships and several hundred thousand Abyssals.
Later, at the end of the month, Bismarck led a northern task force in a counter-trap, sinking tens of thousands of Abyssals and three more Abyssal flagships.
So November's monthly rewards were extraordinarily generous, giving Hikaru massive confidence.
Last night, while helping Bismarck with her cooking, the system notification came through. Hikaru had been so excited that he grabbed Bismarck and kissed her twice on the spot—leaving her frozen in embarrassment.
[Rewards: 7x Random Shipgirl Summon Tickets, 7x Shipgirl Construction Blueprints, 7x Equipment Development Blueprints, 7x Instant Repair Tools, 2x Elite Damage Control Fairies, 26x Carrier Remodel Cores, 83x Battleship Remodel Cores, 33x Cruiser Remodel Cores, 18x Destroyer Remodel Cores, 4x Submarine Remodel Cores, and 1,160 Diamonds.]
An unprecedented haul.
The only thing not at maximum was the Damage Control Fairies—only two instead of three. Everything else, from instant repairs to blueprints, was maxed out.
Hikaru had worked out the math. Shipgirl Summon Tickets had a guaranteed minimum of one per month, as long as you scored 100 sortie victories. Even if it was just farming 100 newborn level-1 Abyssal destroyers, you'd still get the baseline reward.
But four level-100 Abyssal flagships? Each had to be worth at least one extra ticket. Then three sub-100 flagships together would add another. That was already six. And the monthly mission "Come to Me" calculated based on the strongest 100 Abyssals defeated in the month—factoring in the other ninety-three kills, the reward naturally capped out at seven.
So Hikaru had scored big.
The 1,160 Diamonds, he wasn't sure how the system calculated. Maybe a hundred thousand Abyssals were worth a hundred or two hundred Diamonds, and a fully leveled flagship might be worth a hundred-plus each. That was just speculation.
Then there were the ship cores.
There were only five categories of remodel cores, each tied to a class of shipgirl:
Battleship Cores (for battleships, battlecruisers, heavy artillery types)
Carrier Cores (for light carriers, armored carriers, fleet carriers)
Cruiser Cores (for light, heavy, and torpedo cruisers)
Destroyer Cores
Submarine Cores
Naturally, the largest share were Battleship Cores, since most of the Abyssal flagships sunk had been battleships—Abyssal Barbarossa, the Abyssal Cat sisters, Abyssal Heavy Artillery Monitor, and so on.
Carriers included the sinking of Abyssal Akagi and Abyssal Kaga. Cruisers included Abyssal Kitakami. Since those hadn't yet reached level 100, the related core rewards were slightly higher, but only by a bit.
The rarest were Submarine Cores. Abyssal flagships never included subs, and even among normal Abyssals, submarines were scarce. Fletcher had blown up a batch during the South Sea campaign, and Helena had sunk some while escorting Bismarck north, but the numbers were minimal.
In any case, November's monthly rewards were a massive boost, giving Hikaru the confidence to face over a million Abyssals.
So after choking down Bismarck's disastrous cooking last night, Hikaru hadn't even gone to sleep. He went straight to the Construction Dock to build through the night.
The most important, of course, were the shipgirls.
And Hikaru's very first December construction turned out to be a jackpot—over five hours build time. That meant a capital ship.
The only question was… who?
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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