Chapter 206: New Changes With The System 2

Aurelian went through the options one by one without buying anything yet.

Doing that now would be stupid.

He still needed proper repair reports, full damage checks, updated material counts, Eirenne’s analysis, Meridian’s engineering review, and Astra’s opinion on what the fleet actually needed most.

The Destiny System could give him answers, but it was still his job to ask the right questions instead of wasting points chasing shiny things.

So he held back.

He closed the upgrade section and moved over to the clue listings instead.

Those had changed, too.

Blue-grade clues were cheap enough now that he could buy them regularly if he wanted, though not so cheap that he should throw points around carelessly.

Purple-grade clues had opened as well, but those were expensive enough to think more about before buying them.

The shipgirl clue section had also expanded.

Now he could filter by hull tier, rarity, role, and even historical status, though each added filter raised the cost.

Aurelian stared at the purple-grade shipgirl section for a while.

It was tempting.

Very tempting.

But he still didn’t buy one.

Not now.

There was already too much sitting in front of him. The Thornwake cruisers still needed work.

The sealed warship in the bastion still hadn’t been awakened. The fleet upgrades weren’t finished.

The new defense systems were still being built. Haven was still absorbing workers and supplies from the raid.

The Kharov situation was still unstable. And on top of all that, there was still the question of whether he would pull his family into this growing frontier territory.

Adding another major shipgirl lead now would only split his attention further.

So he moved on.

The ruin clues came next.

Mournveil had several new entries available now that more of the nebula had been mapped properly.

Some clues looked minor. Some focused on resources. A couple looked more interesting than the others, but none of them screamed immediate danger or opportunity.

The Pale Wound Corridor has been updated, too.

That made him look at it for a while longer, as it is still an important place for him.

The system clearly recognized it as important.

But it didn’t flag it as urgent, which means there is something he might like that isn’t time-restricted, giving him a bit of leeway.

Right now, the Kharov were still the main pressure. Mournveil remained both a hidden road and a future expansion zone.

Helion Bastion Twelve was becoming the industrial backbone of the March, while Haven was slowly turning into its real center.

The Pale Wound could wait.

At least for now. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Finally, he checked the monthly clue section.

Each cycle allowed a small number of lower-grade clue draws and one higher-grade pull at a higher cost.

Random, but still useful in some sense. The system also confirmed that unused clues wouldn’t vanish immediately if left untouched, which he liked.

There was no point buying ten new directions while half the old ones were still unfinished.

After a while, Aurelian closed the Destiny System entirely and sat quietly for a few moments.

The room slowly settled back into reality around him with dim lighting and low displays.

The distant sound of work crews moving through the bastion.

For a little while, he just let himself think about what had changed.

Tier III wasn’t only personal advancement.

It changed everything around him too.

Now he could seriously start building toward a real Tier V future for the fleet. It meant his standing within the Arcturus family would change once the details became known.

Although it won’t be a massive change, as his parents alone have a lot of say in the family, along with his grandparents, who are considered ancestors and guardians of their family.

Still, with his rapid advancement, these new places can also boost the progress of other new commanders.

From the little he’d heard through Yelena and Lucian, his family’s own situation wasn’t simple either.

Someone had apparently come looking for him, and his parents had wanted word passed along. That problem still sat unfinished in the back of his mind.

He would need to deal with it soon.

Not tonight.

But soon.

Because once the March fully absorbed everything gained from the raid, his position would shift again.

He could offer access to a frontier region filled with weakened enemies, hidden routes, old ruins, a functioning bastion, and room to grow without clawing through crowded core systems for scraps of influence.

That wasn’t small.

It was the kind of thing an entire branch of powers could be built around.

Maybe even something larger later.

Aurelian didn’t smile, but part of his expression settled a little.

That was future work.

Right now, repairs mattered more.

The next morning started with shipyard reports.

Solenne’s losses were heavier than the raw numbers first suggested because several of her aircraft had taken serious internal damage.

The carrier systems themselves were fine, but rebuilding her operational stock would take time.

Rhoswen’s armor had held together during the raid, but inspections showed stress fractures across several major impact zones.

Nothing dangerous yet, though enough that Aurelian extended her yard time despite how much she hated it.

She complained loudly.

He ignored her completely.

Lysara’s heat systems needed recalibration after the sustained firing during the first garrison strike.

She accepted the problem without complaint and spent most of the process reviewing combat records from the raid while technicians worked around her.

Neris’s new engine remained stable too, though her support systems still needed tuning after the long operation through Mournveil and Kharov space.

The Thornwake sisters remained in long-form maintenance.

Selvarin was recovering the cleanest.

Veylora and Liora were progressing steadily.

Maelis still required the most work, though Meridian sounded confident enough that Aurelian didn’t worry much about it.

He trusted Meridian’s judgment.

Later that day, he visited the yard himself.

The repair sections were busy, filled with drones, automated frames, workers, and moving equipment.

Heat from welding lines mixed with the low mechanical noise of active repair systems. Even with all the activity, the place felt organized instead of chaotic now.

That alone showed how much the March had changed recently.

He eventually found Maelis sitting near her repair frame, watching drones move across sections of her hull through a nearby display screen.

The moment she noticed him approach, she tried to stand.

"Stay seated," he said.

She stopped immediately.

Around them, repair drones continued moving steadily over the damaged Thornwake cruiser while the shipyard kept working without pause.