Chapter 501: Ego's Gene Sample—Creation and Star Devouring

In an unknown interstellar warp lane, the Ocean Rose was traversing through a jump state.

"Princess, it's truly astonishing that Her Royal Highness Klein has actually become the Empress," several female fish-people chirped around the Mermaid Princess.

Olivia leaned against a soft silk chair, a large area of her fair skin exposed, with only key areas covered by a few scales. Her tail soaked in the water as she let out a soft chuckle.

"You guys have been astonished for days now. Have you still not processed it?"

"It's just hard for me to connect that blank-faced Klein with the current Empress," one fish-person said.

"You absolutely must never say that again. The Empress of Return Star is not someone you can gossip about," Olivia cautioned.

"It's a pity that a riot broke out in that small star system earlier, sealing off the route. Otherwise, we could have made it to the coronation ceremony," another fish-person lamented.

"Yes, I heard many major cosmic figures attended."

"And there's also Li Yu, who had a scandal with our Princess before. Now he's the famous 'Star Destroyer' with a whole bunch of nicknames like 'God Slayer'..."

"By the way, Princess, why did we suddenly change our course? Weren't we supposed to go on a concert tour in the Northwind Galaxy?"

Olivia flicked her tail, splashing a few drops of water, her dazzling scales shimmering with a faint light. "I was entrusted by a friend to pick up a few people, and then we will head to the Star Glory Empire."

"The Star Glory Empire!?" Several fish-people paled in shock. "There are several high echelon figures in the Star Glory Empire who are still coveting you. Won't it be dangerous for you to go back?"

"Don't worry, I have already notified the company in advance. My tenth-anniversary debut concert will be held in the Empire. My mentor—Lord Vissa—will also be going. At that time, the eyes of more than half the interstellar community will be focused there. I am very safe."

"The Voice of the Universe—Lord Vissa will also come!" Several fish-people immediately let out exclamations.

If the universe had a voice, it would undoubtedly be Vissa's voice.

This was a compliment to the Voice of the Universe, Vissa. He was not simply an interstellar idol, but more like a symbol.

His prestige could even determine the rise and fall of a small civilization.

His singing possessed a mysterious charm. His most astonishing achievement was pacifying a direct conflict between two large civilizations.

Both sides had already drawn their battle lines and were about to start fighting, but they were soothed by Vissa's singing and stopped the war.

"If Lord Vissa is there, even the Star Glory Empire will have to consider the repercussions. You are indeed much safer."

"Which friend made you change your original plans?"

Olivia smiled but did not answer, her eyes deep.

The Other-Dimensional Camp—this faction that suddenly appeared in the interstellar space, yet was undeniably powerful, was mysterious to the extreme.

Countless people were apprehensive of them while also wanting to establish a connection with them.

Because the last person to establish a connection was Klein, and she was now the Empress of Return Star.

Olivia hadn't expected Li Yu to seek her out. Although what he instructed her to do carried some risks, it was worth a try.

Bang! Bang!

A knock came at the door, accompanied by a guard's report:

"Princess, we have already made contact with that person named Anthony. We will be able to rendezvous very soon."

...

Five days had passed since discovering the truth that God's Throne was manufactured by the Empire, and Li Yu had already embarked on the path toward Meditation.

He brought his Black Pupil Fleet along. This fleet was nearly becoming his private army; no one else would deploy them, making them exclusively his.

However, what he was currently riding in was not the main ship of the Black Pupil Fleet, but a massive warship with an irregular shape. It didn't have a specific form, instead resembling a gigantic meteorite.

The Eye of Palpatine, a warship nineteen kilometers long, was far larger than a conventional main ship, and its mounted firepower also surpassed that of ordinary main ships.

Originally, the alloy materials he had collected were not enough to construct this super warship.

However, he utilized the Reality Stone to manufacture a massive amount of alloy materials. This kind of raw material placed almost zero burden on him, allowing him to forcefully construct this super warship.

And the reason today was remembered by Li Yu amidst numerous desolate periods of travel time was due to a message from the system—

That damn One finally had news!

[Task - Obtain the genetic sample of Star-Lord's father - Completed - Time - 476 days]

[...You arrived in this world and didn't stay on Earth for too long before heading directly into the universe. You kept the task requirements in mind and headed to the Sovereign Planet to wait for the arrival of the Guardians of the Galaxy...]

When Li Yu read this part, he was still somewhat gratified. One had finally grown up and knew to prioritize tasks.

However, when his gaze swept downward, his expression darkened once again.

[...You met the ruler of Sovereign. The Little Golden People were very respectful of your powerful strength. They used genetic engineering to produce offspring and scoffed at mating...

...You believed that this way of thinking was very wrong, so you decided to correct their mindset, starting with the Empress...]

Damn it. Li Yu was speechless, having almost been deceived by this kid. No wonder he headed straight into the universe—it turned out he had his eyes on the Little Golden People.

However, that Empress, the ruler of the Little Golden People, did look pretty good.

Wait, this kid wasn't jealous because of Klein, right? So he felt he also had to find an Empress.

Li Yu rolled his eyes in exasperation and flipped past large sections of 'useless descriptions,' finally finding the truly critical part.

[...The ruler of Sovereign became very infatuated with this novel feeling until their batteries were stolen. They decided to hire the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had recently gained fame in the universe...]

[...You knew it was finally time to get to the main point. To avoid your petty main body giving you a hard time, you pulled yourself together and prepared your plan...

You didn't enter the fray rashly. Ego's strength shouldn't be underestimated. You decided to observe first...]

[...Because you didn't intervene, the plot proceeded normally. Star-Lord discovered the truth and engaged in a great battle with Ego. Outside the planet that was on the verge of collapsing, you silently watched everything...

When the final moment arrived and Yondu descended, ready to save Star-Lord, you knew it was time to make your move. Otherwise, if Ego was blown to pieces, no one could say for sure whether his genetic tissue would still be useful...

...A golden flame descended from the sky, crashing deep into the planetary core. Under everyone's stunned gazes, you found the core of the heavily injured Ego and forcibly tore off a large chunk of his genetic structure.]

[Task Completed—Avatar has been recalled. Cooldown time—100 days]

[Special Item Obtained—Ego's Gene Sample: Celestials are a complex race. As creators, they also range from strong to weak. Ego, without a doubt, is not considered a powerful Celestial.

But he still possesses astonishing abilities—Creation and Star Devouring]

[Special Ability—Creation—You can turn yourself into a planet and freely adjust the material forms and lifeforms on the planet's surface.]

[Special Ability—Star Devouring: You can separate your genetic structure and place it on a certain planet. When there is enough power to support it, your genetic structure can multiply infinitely to devour the entire planet, bringing you a powerful amplification.]

After waiting for so long, Clone One had finally completed the task. A heavy stone in Li Yu's heart finally fell to the ground.

Actually, he had always been worried that Clone One's task would fail.

Not only because of the powerful strength of a Celestial, but also because of Clone One's unreliable personality.

Fortunately, although this task had some risks, it was completed safely. One had ultimately not betrayed his trust and had completed the task.

Although Ego seemed to belong to the Celestials, his strength was actually not that great. Compared to other Celestials, he was much easier to deal with.

At the same time he obtained the genetic sample, he also obtained two special abilities converted by the system.

However, although 'Creation' sounded awesome, it was actually quite useless. How could he possibly turn himself into a planet?

'Star Devouring' was somewhat interesting, but the specific effects would have to wait until after integration to test out.

As soon as the white genetic tissue was taken out, it writhed continuously in the cabin, even showing signs of self-multiplication, leaving Li Yu with no choice but to store it back in the system space.

He had the warship stop, and after the space stabilized, he took out a circular special device.

After opening it, a spatial wormhole formed, and Li Yu walked inside.

This was a single-target teleportation channel that led directly to Gensokyo, making it convenient and fast.

"Master, welcome back..." Claptrap's projection appeared. Li Yu briefly greeted it and then went to find Peyton.

A large number of engineering robots were building a prototype experimental base here.

When Li Yu left Return Star back then, he had emptied a large laboratory, and many high echelon figures tacitly chose not to mention it.

Because of this, many experimental equipment no longer needed to be purchased separately, saving a lot of trouble.

As for some higher-tech instruments, Li Yu was currently having Peyton compile data so he could directly manufacture them using the Reality Stone.

After multiple experiments, he discovered that if he had a relatively concrete understanding of the item being manufactured, the cost would be relatively low.

If it was purely fantasy, the cost would be extremely high, and the finished product would have a huge discrepancy from what he imagined.

For instance, with military-grade alloy, once he understood the general principles, he basically had as much as he wanted; the only thing consumed was time.

Of course, this was related to the fact that the manufacturing steps for alloy materials themselves weren't complicated.

The Reality Stone was absolutely not useless; rather, it had extremely broad applications, it just required careful study.

"You want me to modulate this thing into a gene chain for you again?" When Li Yu took out the genetic tissue, Peyton immediately guessed.

"That's right..." Li Yu shrugged.

"Alright..." Currently, Peyton didn't have much resistance to this kind of work. Quintessa's Scepter of Life was placed right there, and he studied it for over ten hours a day, feeling incredibly happy.

He had someone place this genetic tissue in an observation glass room and then glanced at the genetic structure to estimate the complexity and time required.

However, just a single glance caused Peyton to frown deeply. He stepped forward and instructed, "Turn on the gene spectrum analyzer and the micro-magnifying glass..."

A holographic screen popped up in front of him, displaying data and symbols that Li Yu couldn't understand.

"What a complex genetic structure, and moreover..." Peyton was hesitant, which was extremely rare for him. "Among all the genetic structures I have seen, its complexity is second only to the incomplete Titan gene map..."

"What do you mean?" Li Yu asked.

Peyton took a deep breath. "The more complex the genetic structure, the more troublesome it is to modulate. It requires more materials to adapt to its characteristics. On my own, I'm afraid I can't do it..."

"After saying all that, you just can't do it, right..." Li Yu was somewhat speechless.

Peyton's expression darkened as he said solemnly, "I can try, but the time it takes will definitely be very long. You need to be mentally prepared."

"A long time?" Li Yu frowned slightly and asked, "Is there any method to shorten the time?"

Peyton replied, "Find people. Find gene chain modulation experts at my level or even higher."

"Are there gene chain modulation experts even more awesome than you?"

"Of course there are..." Peyton gave him a baffling look, not knowing why Li Yu had this kind of confidence in him. "I am just relatively strong, not the strongest."

"Alright, I understand." Seeing that Peyton hadn't caught his teasing, Li Yu immediately felt it was somewhat boring. If it were Hunter, he would have definitely understood.

"Doesn't the Other-Dimensional Camp have experts in this field? Why don't you have them handle it?" Peyton was a bit confused.

He was purely curious about this question itself and didn't harbor any other suspicions.

Li Yu's expression remained unchanged as he said, "I stole this from the warehouse. If I let people in the organization handle it, wouldn't I be exposed?"

Stole it?

Facing Li Yu's honesty, even Peyton was somewhat at a loss for words at this moment.

But thinking about it carefully, for this kind of behavior to occur with Li Yu, he actually didn't feel any surprise.

Because this thing was quite strong, he stole it to make a gene chain; because he was afraid of being discovered, he didn't let people inside the organization handle it—it was entirely logical.

Peyton offered a word of caution: "Then you need to be careful. Based on my experience, this gene sample is probably very precious."

"If it gets discovered, you will definitely be in big trouble."

Li Yu shrugged. "That's why I need to quickly make it into a gene chain. When the time comes, it's not like the organization can kill me, right?"

Peyton was once again at a loss for words.

"By the way, when you have time, find me a relatively strong gene chain that is compatible with me," Li Yu then added.

Peyton nodded. "Mm, you are only a Second-Stage Evolutionist. There's indeed no need to use this gene directly. It won't be too late to use it when you reach your fourth or fifth stage."

He thought Li Yu wanted to temporarily use another gene chain as a substitute because the modulation time was too long.

"Uh-huh." Li Yu was noncommittal. In reality, he wanted to wait until the Superman Gene Chain was fully developed. When the time came, the Life Codex could still equip one more gene chain.

And this day would arrive very soon, which was why he had Peyton help him look for one in advance.

Returning from Gensokyo to the Eye of Palpatine, he added another line of text to his planning notebook—Find a gene chain modulation expert.

The warship entered the warp lane once more, vanishing into the starry sky of the void, continuing to head toward Meditation's territory to receive his spoils of war.

(End of Chapter)