"What the hell is this?!"
A group of people stared wide-eyed as they surrounded Schwi, watching her make an outrageous perverted declaration.
"Vermin! New vermin!!!"
Taihou became emotionally agitated and was jointly restrained by several carrier shipgirls.
"Analysis: the target dislikes this personality mode. Switching to another personality."
Schwi paused for a moment and began selecting other modes from the Starsea Empire's data.
She opened her arms toward Setsuna and spoke in a gentle, magnetic voice:
"Welcome to your arrival, my child. Go ahead and act spoiled toward me, more, even more..."
"???"
"Who is this supposed to be?! Change again!!"
The Iron Blood shipgirls felt an intense sense of déjà vu.
"I don't want to join the Starsea Empire at all. Let me say this first, I only appeared here because the Commander, that idiot, was looking for me, that's all."
Schwi turned her head away with a tsundere huff.
"?"
"...Tsundere is outdated. Change again."
"Confirmation: switching personality module."
Schwi stood up from the sofa and made a silly face:
"Small fry~, small fry~."
"Commander-chan is small fry, Angeloids are small fry too~, you're all small fry~."
"???"
"Hah?!"
The shipgirls were full of question marks.
"Bratty Schwi?! Wait, Nymph, what kind of data did you upload to her?!"
"Just the Starsea Empire's general info. This little one learns pretty fast. She analyzed the characters that appeared in the data, then mimicked them. She can grasp the essence in just a couple tries."
"There are all kinds of people in the capital, right? You could even let her switch to a personality like Grey or Gudako."
Nymph ate her lollipop and spread her hands, almost laughing out loud.
"What, bring out another embodiment of human evil?!"
"Wow..."
The shipgirls were shocked by Schwi's learning and imitation ability and crowded around her.
Chang Chun pointed at Enterprise:
"Can you switch to a personality like hers?"
"Analyzing..."
Schwi nodded and spoke with a serious face:
"Tatakae. Ichi-motsu tatakae." (Fight. Let your thing fight)
Puhahahaha—
The little shipgirls burst into laughter, while a certain Eagle Union shipgirl's mouth twitched.
"Where's Akashi? Where's Akashi?"
"...Analyzing..."
Schwi stretched her hand toward Setsuna and spoke in a shopkeeper's tone:
"Commander, please give me some pocket money, meow."
"???"
"..."
After switching through tsundere, bratty, onee-sama type, imouto type, kuudere, and every personality commonly seen in the capital.
Setsuna surrendered.
He stepped forward and patted Schwi's head.
"Restore factory settings."
"Question: does the Commander dislike those personalities?"
Schwi tilted her head and asked.
"...They don't suit you."
Setsuna held it in for a moment.
"Request received."
"Confirmation: personality mode reset to base form."
Schwi returned to her original state.
After Nymph's data transmission, her database had loaded most of the Starsea Empire's information.
Thus, there was no need for introductions. Schwi could accurately identify everyone present and roughly understand the situation.
"By the way, you don't have a name yet, right? From now on, you'll be called Schwi."
Setsuna pinched her cheek.
"?"
"This unit has its own name. Code designation c207Pr4f57t9. Unable to understand the need for a new name."
"...Your code is too strange. In the Starsea Empire, you need a new name, just like everyone else."
Setsuna rubbed his forehead.
"Confirmation: request accepted."
"Schwi has been set as this unit's name."
Schwi nodded.
Then she leaned close to Setsuna, staring at him blankly:
"Commander, Schwi wants to analyze the concept of the heart."
"Question: within the Starsea Empire, there are many mechanical lifeforms like Schwi. Do they understand the concept of the heart?"
After analyzing the Starsea Empire's educational materials.
Schwi became even more confused.
Her logic could not explain the existence of the heart.
At the same time, Schwi discovered that although beings like Ikaros, Nymph, and Astraea—the Angeloids—as well as Grey, were also mechanical lifeforms like herself, their thinking and behavior were completely different from hers.
"This is a higher-level thinking mode. Once you have your own thoughts, you'll have a heart."
Grey yawned.
"Only when artificial intelligence evolves into sapient AI, possessing emotions like humans, can it truly be called intelligent. Otherwise, it's just a tin can."
"My own... thoughts?"
Schwi touched her chest.
She could simulate tens of thousands of different personalities, with an extremely high degree of restoration.
But none of those were her.
"Your main control system is a bit outdated. When I have time, I'll give you a checkup. I'm quite interested in studying the Ex-Machina."
Grey shrugged.
"Hmm... by our standards, you'd probably count as a sub-unit of an intelligent machine."
"When you can truly be yourself, you'll have a heart."
Setsuna squatted down and looked at Schwi seriously.
"...Be myself?"
"Having your own joys and sorrows, things you like, things you dislike, and being able to express your thoughts according to your own way of thinking."
"No longer relying on imitation, but living using your own thoughts."
Setsuna replied.
"..."
Schwi did not understand this overly profound question and continued trying to analyze it.
"Command: search for the heart, and being oneself."
"Analysis: what is the self?"
"...Who am I?"
"Who am I?!"
Very quickly, she posed to herself one of the ultimate questions in human philosophical history.
A robot asking herself, "Who am I.".
"Error, warning! Warning! Logical error detected!!!"
Zzz—
Once again, a puff of white smoke rose from Schwi's head.
The light in her pupils extinguished, then lit up again, completing a rapid reboot.
Thanks to Grey, she did not directly get stuck in a deadlock due to a logic bug.
"Analysis failed. Question has no logical solution."
"Request: infer that the Commander possesses a heart. Requesting to observe the Commander at close range to verify this hypothesis."
Schwi extended her hand and lightly touched Setsuna's chest.
"Alternatively, engage in reproductive behavior with this unit to analyze the existence of the heart."
"...I can only agree to the first request for now."
Setsuna was covered in black lines.
"And if you're staying by my side, you must follow orders."
"Confirmation: request accepted. Permission granted to analyze this unit."
"Please adhere to disassembly protocols. Do not damage this unit's components."
After Schwi and Setsuna concluded the condition of "observing the Commander" in exchange for "obeying commands".
Grey was almost unable to wait before beginning research on this Ex-Machina girl.
Inside the engineering laboratory aboard the starship, Schwi shut down her body and lay on the main control platform, with Grey and members of the Research Division gathered around her.
Even Daedalus rushed over from the capital. As the creator of the Angeloids, she had an unusually strong curiosity toward another form of mechanical life.
Whoosh—
Everyone held detection instruments and conducted a full-body scan of Schwi.
"Hey, everyone, be careful. No destructive research. If anything happens to Schwi, the Commander will definitely dismantle me."
Grey muttered while reminding the others.
"Mm..."
Very soon, the super-dimensional scanner constructed a complete projection of Schwi's body.
A group of research lolis gathered together, carrying out complex calculations and analysis.
"Oh oh oh, her power structure is completely different from the Angeloids..."
"The Ex-Machina weapon system is shared by the entire race? It really is a bit more advanced than the Angeloids. If every Angeloid could use the Uranus system..."
If those participating in the research had not all been girls, a group of people surrounding a little loli and pointing at her would have looked a bit too gentlemanly.
Setsuna normally would not take part in this kind of research anyway. He could not understand it regardless.
However, after gaining control over the authority of the Herrscher of Reason, he had some other ideas.
As he gently brushed over Schwi's mechanically constructed body, a trace of almost imperceptible Honkai energy dispersed from his hand.
Soon, within his mind, a new structure gradually took shape.
Understanding, reproduction.
By using the shipboard AI to analyze the Ex-Machina, after understanding its structure, he could then freely create and modify it himself.
"Mm... interesting."
Grey and Daedalus clicked their tongues in amazement at the Ex-Machina.
"Commander, the structure of this kind of mechanical lifeform is very special. I believe they can form a perfect complement to the Angeloid forces."
"Although their current technology is somewhat outdated, the Ex-Machina do not rely on reactors for power. They use Spirits as fuel to obtain energy sources. It's more like a fusion of mechanical life and magical life?"
"The Ex-Machina possess nearly limitless evolutionary potential. As long as computational power allows, they can simulate almost anything they have seen."
Grey excitedly projected a mass of complex data in front of Setsuna.
The Ex-Machina are, in name, a mechanical race created by the gods.
The power system they rely on is not a reactor like the Angeloids use, but Spirits that exist everywhere in the world of Disboard.
By linking to the Spirit Corridor, they can borrow the power of Spirits to release magic.
After receiving any external attack, the Ex-Machina will analyze and copy the characteristics and elements of that attack, turning it into part of their own weapon system.
That is the False Epigraphy.
After fighting the Elves, based on Elven magic, they replicated armaments capable of projecting vacuum blades—False Epigraphy: Lauvapokryphen.
After battling the Dragonia Ruler, they replicated a roar equivalent to 43.7% of the original output—False Epigraphy: Enderpokryphen.
After fighting the Flügel, they can replicate the Flügel's ultimate move, False Epigraphy: Himmelpokryphen, and even include their spatial transfer ability, False Epigraphy: Shurapokryphen.
No wonder no race was willing to provoke the Ex-Machina. The variety and quantity of weapons they possessed could be called the undisputed number one in Disboard.
"...Then can they analyze rigging or our weapons?"
Formidable asked curiously.
"When we fight the Ex-Machina, will the enemy project a pile of ship rigging or other things?"
"For things that are not too complex, they should be able to analyze and reproduce them."
Grey shrugged.
"For example, small spacecraft, missiles, kinetic weapons and the like. With blueprints and structural data, even space-age humans can build them. Naturally, the Ex-Machina can as well."
"But things like the Allspark or Herrscher Cores, which are far too complex and involve powers from other worlds... the Ex-Machina currently can't analyze them. Their construction logic is completely different from Disboard's rules."
"Earlier, Schwi just tried to analyze Nyarlathotep, and she immediately got stuck in a deadlock and crashed. The other Ex-Machina are more or less the same."
"Oh..."
Nyarlathotep scratched her head. She did not really mind being analyzed or researched, it was just that no one had ever succeeded.
"We can apply this Ex-Machina trait to the Angeloids."
Daedalus said.
"Every Ex-Machina individual is connected to the entire race. Whether it's a combat unit, an analysis unit, or an observation unit, all of them can use the Lösen algorithm to access all Ex-Machina weapons."
"Compared to Angeloids fighting alone, it really is much more advanced."
Over the long course of history, the Ex-Machina replicated and created a massive number of armaments, algorithms, and skills in response to countless different situations.
Their linked armory stored more than twenty thousand weapons. Once the Lösen algorithm was activated, it was equivalent to connecting to the central armory and algorithmically materializing the weapons recorded in the data.
An Ex-Machina individual would release all available armaments and transform into a gigantic fortress form.
Even a weak analysis unit could use this to contend with higher races like the Flügel.
"Mm... if we use this technology to upgrade the Angeloids, then in the future the Angeloid forces could also gain a new Lösen algorithm, allowing them to project all weapons in a short time."
"It could even be applied to shipgirls and others? After all, I think shipgirls also count as mechanical lifeforms in a sense, so adding an algorithm wouldn't be difficult."
"As for ordinary people, just give them a portable device, like the Realizer from Date A Live."
"That way, in battle, everyone can call weapons from the Starsea Empire's central armory."
Grey rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment.
In the original Date A Live world, there was a type of technology that could use computer calculations to turn imagination into reality, reproducing magic through scientific means.
...The Realizer.
The Realizer and the Ex-Machina's Lösen shared similarities, and could be further improved upon this basis.
Even if the timeline had changed and the DEM Corporation had already been eliminated, it could still be recreated.
"Ah???!!!"
Nymph and several shipgirls, who had been watching the excitement, crowded over, shocked by such wildly imaginative ideas.
The Ex-Machina's Lösen algorithm was limited by the overall level of the Disboard world, and could only collect things from other races.
If the Starsea Empire could construct such a system, mixing weapons and magic from countless worlds together, every individual could unleash unimaginable combat power in a short time.
"I can use the weapons from the Eternal Snowfall? False Epigraphy: Fallen Star Lance?"
Yukikaze poked her head out, her face full of anticipation.
Even if the power was only a fraction of the original, it would be enough in most situations.
"If the magic academy works harder, they might even be able to cobble together False Epigraphy: Ain Soph, False Epigraphy: Rhongomyniad, and False Epigraphy: Chaos Grand Annihilation."
Grey yawned, looking like this was nothing new.
"Of course, the power would be a bit weaker than the originals. They're for emergency use anyway."
"Ooooooooh—"
Akame, Kurome, Kanae, and other ordinary people erupted with enthusiasm far beyond expectations.
"Please! Senpai of the Research Division!!!"