Aiven's plan for the future was quite clear to him.

At least in the short term, focusing on advancing his own extraordinary power, with naval rank promotions and ship upgrades as secondary goals.

In terms of personal power, having just completed his extraordinary transformation less than a year ago, both Aiven's knight and wizard paths are in a period of rapid growth.

With the physical brutalization process aided by the "Whale Potion" steadily progressing, after choosing the Alchemy School, although he hasn't yet switched to a new Meditation Method due to time constraints, various predecessors' annotated notes have significantly improved Aiven's meditation efficiency.

However, Aiven always felt that the Alchemy School, which overall leaned toward academic research, was somewhat at odds with his expectations. His own spiritual intuition even faintly transmitted a message to him: wait a little longer, wait a little longer.

Just as the Prophetic School itself is based on the interaction between one's own spirituality and the world's information to make prophecies, Aiven, although lacking such prophetic abilities, places significant importance on his spiritual intuition, which he believes would never deceive him.

That feeling was like encountering edible grass that tasted fine, but it didn't quite measure up to legendary herbs.

Although the Alchemy School was good, it might not be his best choice.

Precisely because of this faint resistance within his spirituality, Aiven decided to delay switching Meditation Methods. Since he could change schools at any time before becoming an official wizard, and his spirit was only 0.55, still a bit away from that threshold, Aiven was not in a hurry.

Apart from that, the issue of naval rank and status was urgent for Aiven to resolve. Although he was already the youngest naval captain in the kingdom, he was still not satisfied.

Coastal, near-sea, offshore, open sea... Although the regions have never been clearly demarcated, sailors all know that the deeper into the sea you go, the harsher the natural conditions become and the greater the dangers.

Conversely, the more dangerous the area, the higher the requirements for ships and personnel!

Especially for the Kingdom Navy, for most tasks to be undertaken independently in open sea, a Level 4 ship is generally the minimum standard. Even to be part of a convoy, at the very least a Level 5 ship is required.

Otherwise, a low-level battleship entering open sea would not only be unhelpful but also a burden to the long-range fleet, outweighing the risks.

Although no longer worried about Anita's safety for now, Aiven still wanted to quickly visit the New Continent. This exposed a slight disadvantage of being within the official system: limited freedom, making it difficult for a captain to freely arrange long voyages.

Step-by-step promotions, despite notable achievements and strong backing, made it unrealistic to leap through ranks to become a battleship captain within a short time frame.

This "Navy New Star Plan" provided him with an opportunity for rapid promotion. Moreover, the unexpected appearance of the "Golden Compass" was an added bonus.

Given all this, Aiven was determined to become the Navy New Star, even aiming for first among the six Navy New Stars!

Yet there was still a problem that needed urgent resolution.

"Dear Major Milan, can you lend a hand with one more small favor?" Aiven gazed at Milan across from him, his eyes glinting.

"Huh?!"

...

Originally planning to slowly address the matter over a longer period, the situation changed too quickly to follow the initial plan, forcing him to use some unique methods.

Once at sea and away from land, various risk factors and uncontrollable elements skyrocketed, and he needed to confront ruthless pirates; holding back was not an option.

Not only would he use common knight abilities but all manners of witchcraft and Ocean Treasures when necessary.

At this moment, the reliability of the ship's crew became particularly crucial. After one patrol mission where capabilities were sorted and examined, the crew of the Level 6 Battleship "Conch" left Aiven quite unsatisfied.

Setting loyalty aside for now, capability was already a big problem!

Other than a very limited number of crew members who he saw potential for improvement and possibly keeping up with his pace, most were not developing satisfactorily.

Naval dock, Level 6 Battleship "Conch".

Snap—

Aiven snapped his fingers.

A gunner, deemed initially qualified to remain by Aiven, groggily opened his eyes.

"Alright, soldier, your assessment is over. Go out now and send in the next one!"

"Ah, yes, Captain!" The gunner was instantly wide awake, saluted, and exited the cabin.

Utilizing inhalable Sleep Potions and mental inducement techniques, Aiven's "interrogation" skills, honed dealing with the Blood Hand Gang, were now superb.

Using a small method to have qualified crew face their hearts and speak truthfully was a trivial task; those with too poor abilities already on the dismissal list weren't worth occupying the captain's time.

Moreover, as the captain, openly requesting a one-on-one skill evaluation without suspicion, pleased the crew immensely.

Hmm... although using witchcraft on his own side was somewhat unconventional, Aiven did not invade their privacy. Plus, in both his past and present life, who among the straightforwardly obedient would ever rise above? Those who masterfully used the rules lived most comfortably.

In extraordinary times, he employed extraordinary means; Aiven was never one to be constrained, always principled and adaptable.

Of course, even if they did not pass Aiven's scrutiny, everyone received honest recommendations from him—a small compensation.

By late afternoon...

Phew—

"Finally over!"

Aiven, breathing a deep sigh, stretched out lazily.

From the positions of Chief Navigator, Helmsman, Sailor, Gunpowder Chief, Cannon Commander, First Mate, Second Mate, to Third Mate, out of over a hundred crew members, only twenty-odd were deemed fit to stay by Aiven.

They could be considered the backbone.

These were the people meeting the skills standard in various roles, tight-lipped, importantly showing a certain loyalty to him. Although the short time made their loyalty a bit cheap, ensuring a basic foundation initially meant potential growth later on.

So reaching the point of recognizing only the captain over the woman... ahem... wasn't impossible. For a wizard able to use spiritual power and a "competent" captain, this wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

As for filling gaps, Aiven had already drawn inspiration from the four new recruits on the "Conch": Fleck, Barrow, Brown, and Baldwin.

The hundreds of fellow recruits he had been with day and night in the training camp were now his best source of soldiers. Furthermore, as a swordsmanship instructor, Aiven had long established a detailed database on them using "Data Visualization".

Yes, he knew them well.

Moreover, it was challenging to extract experienced, capable forces from the ships, but much simpler to target the newly enlisted soldiers, mostly on Level 6 ships for less than a year.

Without alerting Fleet Headquarters, a single transfer order from the Logistics Department, which also managed personnel, could perfectly resolve the issue.

With relationships like those between Aiven, Milan, and even Vice Admiral Snite, it was a mere trifle...

Aiven's plan was progressing smoothly.

In the following days, as navy ships ordered to return remained in port, transfer orders from the Logistics Department were issued to various Level 6 ships. Several soldiers, who had been enlisted for less than a year, somewhat bewildered, reported to the "Conch", as per instructions.

There, they unexpectedly encountered their former fellow recruit, swordsmanship instructor, and now a legendary success figure—Major Aiven Galliot, who was also their current captain!

To their astonishment and delight, Major Aiven remembered each of their faces and names clearly, even their family circumstances and interests, like the back of his hand.

Though these new recruits were mostly pragmatic from the lower social strata, having the high-ranking captain show such attention quickly instilled a sense of belonging and recognition for the new ship and officer.

Like Fleck, Barrow, Brown, and Baldwin, using subtle means, Aiven effortlessly won them over.

Unknown to them, beyond the surface information, Aiven knew more about them than they knew about themselves.

They were already noted as the most potentially outstanding batch when Aiven first served as a swordsmanship instructor and collected data, having been meticulously selected from hundreds of contemporaries to join him here.

Basically, Aiven had swept up the cream of his hundreds of fellow new recruits in one go.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Aiven fully utilized it to fill all 195 theoretical crew positions on the Level 6 ship.

In just a few days, before others even realized, he had completed a thorough transformation silently, rejuvenating the crew's faces and spirits.

With senior officers and excellent sailors as the backbone, and highly potential energetic new recruits as the flesh, the "Conch" underwent a rebirth in Aiven's hands!

Now all it awaited was... the test of war!

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