Chapter 339: Its Own Teleporter

After summoning the Singularity Eagle, Axel didn't dally.

He flew toward the entrance, sealed shut, and quickly tapped the panel beside it. After that, he had to hold his hand over it for a while until the computer finished registering his biometrics.

While basking in excitement, he waited patiently until, a minute later...

[Registration complete. Welcome aboard, Captain Axel Walker.]

The artificial intelligence aboard the ship announced his name. Its voice sounding near-realistic despite a hint of being synthesized.

Without missing a beat, the entrance slid open, revealing a long pathway into darkness. One by one, the lights turned on, as if inviting Axel in.

"Cool!"

Of course, he didn't falter at all.

It was his ship. Something he'd made, upgraded from the mothership they'd painstakingly reverse-engineered. So much so, in fact, that he'd almost become an expert on it, memorizing the design, the parts, their purposes, and their weaknesses.

As soon as he flew a few meters in, the door behind him closed, followed by the high-pitched sound of an airlock activating.

Axel couldn't feel it, since he was still covered by layers of his spells, but the space he was floating in was already undergoing pressurization—enough that even without his spells, he should now be able to breathe normally.

After about a hundred meters of flying, Axel finally reached the end of the narrow passage.

It was sealed by an aperture gate that quickly spun outward, opening the path further in within seconds.

As soon as it did, light flooded Axel's eyes.

It was so bright that he groaned, squinting, before slowly acclimating to the brightness and flying further in.

The place he arrived at was a large plaza.

It was barren at present—nothing but metal parts and light could be seen. However, it was vast.

He estimated that the plaza could hold millions of people, even as a conservative estimate. Standing there alone, he almost felt like an ant lost in the middle of a grand stadium.

But of course, that wasn't all.

At even intervals, he could see raised platforms scattered about.

"Those are..."

At first, he was puzzled as to what they were. But after approaching one, he quickly realized what they were—mostly thanks to the AI that automatically spoke to him upon approach.

[Welcome, Captain, to Teleportation Sub-Array No. 19288884. Where do you wish to go?]

"A teleportation array?" he gasped. "So the ship even has something like this!"

Of course, the reason he was surprised was that Trismus's mothership design didn't have anything like this.

But that might be natural too, since their ship was barely a thousand kilometers long.

Compared to this ship, spanning several tens of thousands of kilometers across, going from one end to another on foot alone would definitely take time.

Weeks, or maybe even months.

It was like a giant house with a different time zone for the living room and the kitchen!

"Then take me to the cockpit!"

[Affirmative.]

[Teleporting Captain Axel Walker to the cockpit through Sub-Array No. 00000001.]

The AI responded.

The next moment, Axel's body was covered by a brief flash of purple light. When he blinked, he was already at a different location. He was standing at the bottom of a large space, like an auditorium, with enough seats for hundreds of men.

At the top, in the middle of it all, was a special seat made just for him—the captain.

Axel jumped once, reaching the seat, and sat down comfortably. The softness of the backrest and the firm response of the foam under him drew out a satisfied groan.

"This... really is worth the 1 quintillion in materials..." he whispered.

Of course, despite how big and complicated the ship was, it was actually designed to be flown by just a single pilot—the captain himself. This was because the ship's AI had control over all sectors.

Meaning all he needed to do was command the AI to move, steer, or stop the ship, without needing to lift a finger.

"A perfect design..." Axel sighed with a smile. "Definitely a great investment!"

After having his fill of the captain's seat, he quickly turned to the giant monitor overhead and called out.

"AI, what is your name?"

[Sorry, Captain Axel Walker. Currently, I am not registered under any individual name.]

"No name? Then..." Axel paused, pondered, then nodded. "I'll call you Travis. Is that fine?"

[Registering name, Travis... Complete.]

"Great!" he cheered, before clearing his throat and asking, "Now, Travis, I want to install an interdimensional teleportation array to connect the ship to Axevaria Kingdom and other places. Is that fine?"

[Negative.]

"...Huh?"

But the response was the opposite of what he'd expected.

He hadn't thought the AI would refuse him permission! However, he soon realized the reason wasn't what he'd expected either.

[The ship is already equipped with its own Interdimensional Teleportation Array, along with its own coordinate bank, so there's no need. Captain Axel should simply input the coordinates of the target and lock them in to use it.]

Axel paused, then smiled stiffly.

"Oh... that's convenient..."

He'd thought the ship only had small teleportation arrays to move around its own bulk. He'd never even imagined it already had its own Interdimensional Teleportation Array!

Still, this was for the best.

After all, the Kalbi-model Interdimensional Teleporter he had was a hot potato, with Kalbi being one of the "debt collectors" after him. If they blocked coordinate access for the teleporters he had, he'd be locked out of teleporting to other dimensions.

But now, he could teleport using his ship's own system instead.

Not only was it foolproof, it was even safer!

Without delay, Axel registered the coordinates for the Witcheria, Axevaria, and AZF dimensional teleporters. Later, he planned to replace them with the same teleporter model as the one on the ship.

But for that, he'd first need to find the teleporter's blueprint somewhere within the list.

It wouldn't be an easy task, that was for sure.

As soon as registration was done, Axel turned to Travis and gave another command.

"Travis, activate stealth mode and orbit this planet at a safe distance for now. I'll return through this teleporter, so keep it open."

[Command received. Please have a safe trip, Captain.]

Axel wasn't worried about the AI going rogue or implementing the command incorrectly. After all, it was an "upgraded" AI. If anything, it might even match Roamer's level of intelligence now.

This was another boon from spending three upgrade tickets in one go!