Chapter 6

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Translator: Silver Dragon

Chapter: 6

Chapter Title: Fapping (1)

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“Uwaaaah!!!”

After learning a truth I really didn’t want to know.

I closed the gallery and returned to reality.

“Fuck… This place is way shittier than I thought.”

It was utterly horrifying.

To have to live alone in this vast universe.

For thousands of years, no less.

I could even understand why some gallery users had turned into Xenos.

‘I absolutely can’t end up like that.’

But I vowed I would never become like them.

I had no intention of surrendering my human dignity to mere loneliness.

Of course, that didn’t mean I planned to become an alien hater either.

“Guess I should get some rest first.”

After a hectic day, I was utterly exhausted.

Fortunately, unlike the first floor, the captain’s quarters on the fifth floor had a nice bed.

The Eggies must have noticed I wanted to use it, because they’d already cleaned the captain’s quarters, letting me fall asleep comfortably.

Even while I slept soundly, the Eggies kept diligently cleaning.

Weeeeng!

And the result? By the next morning, the entire ship gleamed like new.

“Cleaning’s done!”

The Eggies were huddled together in front of my bed.

They looked like they were waiting for praise.

“Good job, kids.”

I patted their squishy heads and headed to the bridge.

Just yesterday, these computers had been spitting out nothing but black screens like they were dead.

Now, they were operating perfectly normally.

As the auxiliary computers began to glow, the main computer in the center of the bridge responded in kind and powered up.

The screens that had been dark lit up one by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one.

The flood of information pouring from the computers was still full of stuff I couldn’t understand.

The largest panel in the center displayed the galaxy.

One point in the galaxy glowed red.

When I tapped it with my finger, the screen changed.

I snapped a screenshot of the screen and posted it to the gallery.

The ships the gallery users rode were several times bigger than mine.

My patrol ship was 1.1KT, so High Nick Ragna’s ship was roughly 24 times larger.

A reply came right away.

Come to think of it, I remembered hearing that yesterday.

That you could strengthen your ship and Eggies through level-ups.

‘So I can upgrade the ship’s class by reinforcing it.’

So how do I level up?

As I turned my head with that thought—

“Hello, Captain?”

“Uwaaaah!”

A woman had suddenly appeared right in front of me out of nowhere.

I screamed and fell clumsily backward.

“A-Are you okay?”

A beautiful woman with alluring blonde hair.

She looked flustered as she extended a hand to me.

Seeing me panicking, unsure of the situation.

She offered her hand.

“Y-You’re a machine?”

I’d first thought she was human.

But after seeing her metal legs, I realized she was a robot.

I took her hand and stood up.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am the ship AI, ‘Orca.’”

“Ship AI? So you’re the ship’s main computer?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

I carefully examined her mechanical body.

Her form was astonishingly human-like.

Especially the artificial skin, which made her feel even more lifelike.

‘Wait, more importantly, is it okay for an AI to be this gorgeous?’

Maybe because she was so human-like?

Looking at her, my face felt inexplicably hot.

Regardless, she continued without minding me.

“I oversee all aspects of navigation from this bridge. Feel free to call on me anytime you need anything.”

“Like a vice captain or something?”

“Exactly.”

Not just her appearance—her facial expressions and voice were impressively natural too.

Of course, her mechanical nature gave it a slight unnatural edge.

But that was easy enough to ignore if you didn’t focus on it.

Amazed by her, I looked around the bridge.

Seeming aware of my gaze, she spoke up.

“Do you have any orders, Captain? The ship is currently stationary.”

“Orders? Nothing specific. Oh! Hold on a sec.”

I immediately opened the gallery to report the situation.

The comment section immediately devolved into chaos.

The gallery was in complete ruins.

Curses flew everywhere, and posts railing against their jealousy poured in.

The truth I learned belatedly was this:

Ship AI appearances are randomly generated.

Usually, they come out looking very mechanical.

But by sheer luck, mine had rolled a historically gorgeous one.

That was why the gallery was flipping out.

Lusting after an AI robot.

Well, after living alone for hundreds of years, I could see how that might happen.

The gallery users vented their jealousy while rolling the topic around.

Then someone raised this question.

Somehow, the mood had shifted to where I had to grope her chest.

Pushed by the gallery mob, I stood before Orca.

“...?”

She kept tilting her head as I stood there blushing furiously.

“Captain, is there something I can help with?”

“Uh, well… um…”

Even if she was an AI, it wasn’t easy to blurt out groping her chest on first meeting.

After hesitating forever, I finally managed to open my mouth.

“B-Boobs…”

“Pardon?”

“L-Let me touch your boobs!”

Shocked by my absurd demand right off the bat?

She looked flustered too—her robotic eyes were flickering.

“C-Captain? There might be an issue with my auditory system… Did you just say boobs?”

“You heard right.”

I said it again firmly.

“I need to check something. It’s really important. Other friends are curious too.”

I spun some bullshit logic, gaslighting the AI.

She still looked baffled.

But she couldn’t bring herself to flatly refuse.

The awkward silence didn’t last long.

Soon, Orca spoke up.

“Just once… I suppose that would be okay.”

As I reached out, she stopped me.

“But only once, okay?”

“Got it.”

Only after I promised did she lower her hand.

Finally, my hand touched her chest.

“This is…”

I squeezed her breast firmly.

The gallery’s near-riot mood finally calmed down.