All the Treasures from That World Are Here!

"Then, the objectives of this expedition have all been achieved."

At dusk, in the grand conference room of the administrative center, Setsuna gave a simple summary of the expedition's journey and results.

From landing in the museum and fighting Scourge and Terrorcons,

to meeting the gorilla captain, heading to Sector Seven in search of the AllSpark, and the grand melee involving Transformers, Gundams, Terrorcons, Beast Wars units, and Angeloids...

To finally subduing Megatron and bringing about a grand reconciliation between the Autobots and Decepticons.

The Spirits and Heroic Spirits who hadn't joined the expedition listened with amazement.

They had received a bunch of Teigu earlier and had been obsessing over their new gear, but now it felt like they had missed an epic event.

Even if they couldn't pilot a Gundam, it would've been fun to go and match spells against Transformers.

"Husband should have brought me along."

Mio sat beside Setsuna, flashing a sweet smile.

"You're... kind of too overpowered."

Setsuna thought about it—bringing along this humanoid cheat code would've stolen all the thunder from Gudako piloting Barbatos.

Sure, Mio could easily destroy Decepticons units, but it still took Sirens and Bulins on the tech side to rebuild or convert them.

"As for the spoils from the Transformers world..."

"These are the main ones."

After wrapping up the story, Setsuna took out the Transwarp Key and the AllSpark.

He didn't dare touch the AllSpark too much—carefully placing it on the table, afraid he might accidentally absorb it like the Wisdom Cube.

It was one of a kind. Getting another would be a major pain.

"This is the Transwarp Key?"

Kayo Senju cradled the metallic spearhead in both hands.

It was nearly half a meter long and quite heavy—calling it a "key" was a bit of a stretch.

Intricate patterns were etched onto its surface, and the moment she gently ran her fingers over it, the Transwarp Key let out a low hum.

"Cybertronians can use the Transwarp Key to open space-time gates, enabling long-distance instantaneous jumps through the universe."

"But its origin, method of creation, and technical principles have all been lost. Transformers only know how to use it, not how it works."

Setsuna spoke with some regret.

"It's fine. We'll study it."

Kayo Senju pulled out a handheld scanner and began scanning the Transwarp Key in earnest.

"Based on Onii-chan's description, this is a directional jump device. We've needed a physical model to study, and now we finally have one."

"Once we understand how it works, we should be able to create a stable lightspeed—no, faster-than-light starship."

"Things like warp drives and stargates might also be possible."

The Starbase's science lolis had long ago been tasked by Setsuna with researching lightspeed and FTL technologies.

Unfortunately, this was far beyond human knowledge—even the theoretical framework had to be built from scratch.

Kayo Senju and her team had run over 600 experiments and scrapped countless ships, yet still failed to produce a stable lightspeed engine.

Now, with a real prototype in hand, many research hurdles could finally be cleared. FTL was within reach.

"Hiss—"

Setsuna and the shipgirls were all stirred by Kayo Senju's words.

Speed was the most critical factor in space exploration.

To evolve from a planetary civilization to a true interstellar one, FTL was a mandatory step.

The distance from the Sun to Earth is 150 million kilometers—it takes light eight minutes.

The solar system's radius is 20 billion kilometers, close to a light-day. Voyager 1 took over 40 years just to get beyond Neptune's orbit.

The nearest star system—Alpha Centauri—is 4.2 light-years away. Without FTL, a ship would need more than four years to get there!

And for massive clusters thousands or tens of thousands of light-years away?

Without warp or FTL ships, you wouldn't reach them in a lifetime.

Once an FTL ship is built, the efficiency of universal development and exploration will skyrocket.

"..."

"I'll leave the Transwarp Key to you. Start your research as soon as possible, and let me know if you need anything."

Setsuna nodded to Kayo Senju.

He thought of something else:

To leave the solar system and see what this universe really looked like.

From what they'd seen before, this Earth was a lost world where humanity had gone extinct.

So what about the other star systems?

Among the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, could there be other alien civilizations?

What would it be like in the Andromeda Galaxy or the massive Perseus Nebula, hundreds of thousands of light-years away?

All of this could finally be explored with FTL technology.

The speed of civilization's expansion and exploration would reach an unprecedented level.

After the science loli took the Transwarp Key away, everyone's attention shifted to the AllSpark.

It was a cube, about the size of a palm.

Made of metal, with intricate dark gold patterns etched on its surface.

"Uh..."

"I thought the AllSpark would be, like, actual fire?"

Jeanne Alter, Jeanne d'Arc, Nero, and a few other Heroic Spirits stared at it for a while.

It looked nothing like what they expected.

Just another pure technological artifact.

"What does it do?"

Gudako poked it and voiced the question that was on everyone's mind.

"It can supposedly give machines souls? Similar to the Wisdom Cube, maybe?..."

Setsuna replied uncertainly.

According to Transformers lore, the AllSpark was a mysterious artifact born at the dawn of the universe.

Its composition was unknown. Internally, it contained space-folding structures and massive amounts of source code. It was both the origin and the final destination of the Transformers.

The AllSpark could provide them with energy and give mechanical beings life.

In many ways, it resembled the Cube.

"HO~~?"

Observer drew out the sound and extended a tentacle from her ship rigging to bring the AllSpark close for inspection.

"So it gives life to machines? This thing could probably even animate a microwave, vending machine, or toaster? Talk about not being picky."

"...That's actually accurate."

Setsuna nodded. In the movies, the AllSpark did cause its share of chaos.

It could turn everyday appliances into mechanical lifeforms.

Cool in theory, but not something he needed.

He already had plenty of mechanical life at the base—half the shipgirls counted, not to mention the mass-produced Siren Executors and Angeloids. All powerful and easy on the eyes.

Why the hell would he want to turn rice cookers, microwaves, or fridges into robots? Those newly born mechanical beings weren't even properly controllable.

If he were to build Transformers...

They couldn't compare to Angeloids. Battle-class Angeloids were smaller, more agile, and each shipgirl's rigging could hold thousands.

Clang clang clang—

Observer tapped the AllSpark with her tentacle, producing a crisp, metallic chime.

"Well, it's still a treasure from the Transformers universe. Let's see if we can analyze it or create a replica."

"It also provides power, right? Maybe we could issue one to everyone someday."

"So we all become AllSpark-powered warships, huh... Quite the imagination you've got."

Setsuna handed the AllSpark over to the Siren shipgirls to take back for study.

"Hiss..."

The shipgirls looked hopeful. After the second retrofit turned them into starships, and the third brought Sea Fog tech upgrades,

they were excited to see what kind of surprises the Transformers loot would bring.

...

By the time they left the administrative center, it was close to midnight.

Kayo Senju, hugging the Transwarp Key, immediately boarded a return shuttle to the Starbase under escort from several shipgirls.

Her mind was fully consumed by her research—she couldn't wait to share this treasure with her team.

The two Siren shipgirls carrying the AllSpark returned to the Siren military port.

"Master, Master."

Jeanne Alter quietly poked Setsuna, watching the excited shipgirls.

"Is this haul another exclusive for the shipgirls? Got anything for us?"

She felt the gap between herself and the shipgirls was widening. Back when they first met at the singularity, she could still hold her own against Richelieu or Formidable.

Now? One hit and she might be toast. And once the Transwarp Key and AllSpark were fully implemented, who knew how powerful the shipgirls would become.

"The Transformers world was tech-sided. Of course the loot is all tech-based."

Setsuna chuckled at Jeanne Alter's pouting.

"If you want something more your speed... we can hit up a magic world next. There's a great candidate on the star map."

He glanced at it—the Overlord world seemed like a perfect stage for Spirits and Heroic Spirits to shine.

"Hmm, sounds good."

Jeanne Alter thought for a moment.

"Next time, take me. And bring her too."

Pff—

Setsuna knew she meant Jeanne d'Arc. Even if the two got along reasonably well, Jeanne Alter always had this strange competitive streak toward her.

"Honestly, the two of you could've settled things today."

Setsuna cleared his throat.

"What? We've already sparred so many times. No need for another match."

Jeanne Alter didn't catch on.

"Of course I meant another kind of skill match."

Whoosh—

Setsuna pulled her close and projected his starship form in the air.

"After dealing with metalheads for so long, I'm dying here."

"Eternal Snowfall, launch!"

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