In spring, Bulin and Manjuu planted seeds; by autumn, they could harvest tens of thousands of bags of grain.
Ikaros planted a single watermelon in spring and harvested an entire melon field by summer.
Setsuna... planted a loli in spring—wait no, he rescued a whole bunch of them.
A year later, the first batch of lolis was ready for harvest.
Early morning.
In a corner of the capital, on a university campus.
This was the most prestigious institution in the city, where shipgirls, Spirits, and even Bulins taught cutting-edge knowledge from various worlds.
The curriculum was insanely advanced—engineering, physics, chemistry, Type-Moon magecraft, magic, even things like jujutsu. A normal person would struggle to complete even one subject in their lifetime.
Even top-tier scientists from Earth would be baffled by things like cognitive cube technology, supergravity cannons, and holy sanctuary magecraft.
But the students here? All little girls.
Thousands of lolis in black academic gowns and caps had gathered in the grand auditorium for their graduation ceremony.
They looked a little nervous—many couldn't even touch the floor with their feet while seated.
As the elite first batch enhanced by dolphin factor, their average IQ was over 220. Geniuses among geniuses.
Their peers around the same age were still in elementary or middle school, while these girls had completed elementary, middle, high school, university, and even the most advanced professional courses within a single year.
Even the instructors—shipgirls and the Seitenshi herself—had admitted that in terms of theory, they had nothing left to teach. These girls had learned everything that could be taught.
In the front row sat familiar faces like Midori Fuse, Enju Aihara, and Kayo Senju.
Midori Fuse boldly showed off her cat ears. Here, there was no need to fear being looked at strangely.
Soon, Setsuna entered along with teaching shipgirls like Chen Hai and Hai Tien, as well as the Seitenshi and Miori Shiba.
He glanced over the rows of neatly seated lolis and was slightly surprised.
"Oh? This many?"
"These are just the first batch of graduates, Commander. There will be many more in the future."
Hai Tien smiled warmly and handed Setsuna a list.
Over 6,000 genius lolis had completed their studies and passed the graduation assessments.
With their knowledge, any one of them could make Earth's pre-space-age professors look like amateurs.
Only the rarest, top-tier scientists could compare to them now.
It was time for the super-powered lolis to shine.
"First of all, congratulations on completing your studies and graduating."
"I'll be presenting your diplomas."
Setsuna cleared his throat and stepped onto the stage.
Feeling deeply emotional.
These were the very girls he had gone to great lengths to save from the Black Bullet world, and nurtured ever since.
Watching them transform from starving, barely clothed waifs into what they were now filled him with immense pride.
Chen Hai, Hai Tien, and the Seitenshi handed out red diplomas bearing the Starsea Alliance emblem to each loli.
Each certificate listed the girl's name, ID number, and major.
There were no fixed three- or four-year systems here. Once you completed all courses and passed the tests, you could graduate.
Then, one by one, Setsuna moved the tassels on their graduation caps from front to side.
A symbolic act representing their transition from students to full-fledged scholars.
A moment full of ceremony and meaning.
In his past life, the graduation tassel was flipped by the school head. Now, he was the one flipping tassels for a group of little lolis.
"Waaah—"
"Onii-chan! Onii-chan!"
"Thank you, Onii-chan! Thank you, Teacher Hai Tien!"
The lolis in their academic gowns were bursting with excitement.
They called the shipgirls and Spirits "Teacher," but still called Setsuna "Onii-chan."
In their hearts, Onii-chan was the supreme idol.
After the graduation ceremony was complete,
It was time to assign the lolis to their new jobs.
Outside the capital, Bulins had built a massive research institute—practically the size of a small city.
Inside, departments were divided according to fields of study: Physics Institute, Engineering & Mechanics Division, Life Sciences Department, Magic Department, and so on...
The genius lolis were sorted into departments matching their specializations.
Physics and engineering were overseen by Akashi, Daedalus, and a few Fleet of Fog shipgirls; Life Sciences was headed by Sumire Muroto.
Magical research was delegated to Mio and a few of the more reliable Heroic Spirits.
Initially, they had some doubts when they first met the lolis.
Could this group of tiny girls really handle such advanced work?
But after just a few days, Akashi, Sumire Muroto, and the others were over the moon.
Bulin were smart, yes, and masters of mysterious fabrication methods—but they weren't particularly good at research.
Until now, all R&D work in the base had basically been handled by just Akashi, the Siren girls, and a few others like Sumire Muroto.
For a civilization with over 7 million people, that was far too few.
Now with a team of super-genius lolis on board, research productivity had increased more than tenfold.
They were brilliant, obedient, broadly knowledgeable, and able to apply interdisciplinary insights to solve complex problems.
On top of that, they were passionate about their work.
As long as Bulins and universal angels handled their daily needs, the lolis could focus entirely on their research.
"Geniuses!!! They're absolute geniuses, meow!!!"
Akashi reported excitedly to Setsuna.
"Commander!!! Assign me more lolis, meow!!"
"I swear, they're going to design a stellar base soon—and FTL and warp drives are right around the corner, meow!!"
Even Sumire Muroto, who normally preferred to work alone, sent in a message:
"Excellent assistants. Please send more graduates to the Life Sciences Department in the future."
"..."
"Looks like the lolis are a big hit, huh?"
Setsuna glanced over the incoming reports from each research department—the lolis were red-hot commodities.
A few days later, after assigning jobs to all the graduates,
He brought the shipgirls along to tour the research facilities.
Inside the massive institute, the ones bustling around were mostly lolis.
He remembered visiting Earth's Academy of Sciences before—most of the researchers had gray hair and aging faces. Even someone in their forties was considered a "young scholar."
But here, in the Starsea Alliance's research base, the youthfulness was downright excessive.
Everywhere he looked were 10-year-old girls, or Bulin with similar petite builds.
Anyone who didn't know better would never believe this was a top-tier research facility—they'd probably assume it was some sort of elementary school outing.
Some lolis were buried in theoretical work, surrounded by piles of books and writing equations on holographic screens.
Others were conducting experiments, tinkering with test tubes and equipment.
Their hands moved with precision—no hesitation or clumsiness—like seasoned researchers with years of experience.
A little girl wearing a long-sleeved dress and sporting short blonde hair greeted Setsuna.
"Onii-chan, we've officially begun our research work now."
Kayo Senju gave Setsuna a small hug and led him on a brief tour of their activities.
"Don't underestimate us because we're small—we want to use our strength to help Onii-chan too... Everyone is very confident in their knowledge."
"A lot of us are really interested in astronautics. We believe that with our current level of technology, FTL travel and building stellar megastructures are totally possible..."
"The engineering department is already drafting the design plans for Sky Pillar Fortress, including Titan Assembly Plants and Colossus Construction Facilities. As for the actual construction work, that'll be handed over to Bulins."
"Some of our classmates are already diving into research on Sentry Arrays and orbital habitat station theory..."
As Setsuna walked along, he suddenly had a realization:
In the future, the entirety of the Starsea Alliance's scientific research might just be supported by this group of genius lolis.
They had sky-high IQs and a vast knowledge base.
And more importantly, they were still so young—with vibrant imagination and creativity, unburdened by dogma or conventional thinking.
Research needs inspiration—and children are never short on inspiration.
"Ah, lolis—they are the cornerstone of the Empire, the hope of our future!"
"A strong loli makes a strong nation; a wise loli makes a wise people..."
Setsuna couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
"The Commander is absolutely right!!!"
From the back of the group, a Royal Navy shipgirl in a leather jacket nodded wildly.
"Ah, the Commander really is a master of loli cultivation—I must learn from him..."
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