A couple of days later...
âThe transport carrier was raidedâ½â
Harrisonâs team, who were still waiting at the hotel, suddenly stood up, furious, and stared at the remote projection of the worker that had come to inform them of the matter.
âThatâs right. A group of galactic pirates discovered our secret transportation route and attacked all the disguised spaceships that we used to transport the items.â The auctioneerâs face was also ugly.
âWhat about your guards?â Harrison could not help asking that. âI heard that you have ties to the Beast Ancestor...â
Hearing his words, the workerâs expression turned dark. âAfter the Beast Ancestor got captured, we lost our backer. We could only employ mercenaries. This group of galactic pirates has long been watching us, and they bribed our mercs, launching a raid from both the inside and outside. All our newly hired guards died in that battle.â
At this point, the auctioneer could not help but release a sigh.
If Gorutan was still present, they would have had the shelter of the Beast Ancestor, which was enough to frighten most people in the Ancient Star Desert.
But now that their backer had fallen, the new upper ranks were still slowly absorbing the black market organization of the Beast Ancestor. They were most vulnerable and had turned into fat sheep surrounded by wolves.
âThen, what about our things?â The captain showed a wary expression.
This black market had maintained a good reputation in the past, so he had chosen to return to sell his things. However, with such a big chance, he was not sure if the other party would rescind their original promises. The order of the black market was fragile, and it mainly worked on the stronger eating the weak.
âWe will assemble a team to search for the whereabouts of this group of galactic pirates and retrieve our items.â
âAnd if it cannot be retrieved...â
âThen the auction house will compensate according to the starting price.â After this sentence, the worker did not continue speaking, choosing to end the conversation immediately.
They exchanged looks.
âOur starting price was only 4,000 Enas, but the final price was 13,800!â
âJust be satisfied that they are willing to even pay compensation,â the captain replied helplessly. âThe probability of obtaining compensation through a black market auction is less than ten percent. They are probably only doing so because they deem our item worthless. If it was a price of hundreds of thousands, they would have found some way to deny any responsibility and not pay up.â
Hearing this, the group collectively sighed. They already thought that their trip was quite bad this time round, but to even lose the item that they had painstakingly slogged away for, this was truly a wasted trip.
Harrison felt a little restless. His intuition was still sending out warning signals.
He had this premonition that the robbed item would still bring him quite a bit of trouble.
...
Somewhere within the Ancient Star Desert, the galactic pirate fleet dragged the logistics ship that was their loot and moved slowly within the universe.
âThis is quite the fruitful harvest this time.â
Within the cabin, the leader of the pirates placed his arms on his waist as he arrogantly walked in front of the captives and the spoils piled up into a hill.
âBoss, the ammunition is all perfectly intact.â One of his subordinates was ecstatic.
There were all kinds of items within the war loot. Not only various ancient blueprints, technological creations, and antiques, but there were also various types of arms from the advanced civilizations. The auctions from the black market sold practically everything, and compared to the antiques, the galactic pirates naturally preferred the arms.
As he strolled through the loot, the eyes of the leader stopped at the triangular device.
âWhat is that?â
âLeader, this is a safe from an unknown civilization that an archaeological team dug up.â
âWhatâs inside?â
âWe donât know. It seems like itâs not worth a lot.â
âOpen it.â The leader lifted up his foot, jabbing it toward the device.
Reality had proven that opening a sealed box was something that everyone loved to do. The mechanics within the pirate team took out their equipment to tinker with the device, while the pirates gathered in the surroundings to watch.
The triangular deviceâs socket was connected to an energy transmission line to activate the password interface. One of them then took out a deciphering device, connecting the triangle to the quantum network, and the interface of the cracking device quickly bounced with various garbled codes.
After a moment, the triangle let out a âdingâ sound, indicating that it had been unlocked.
Ka ka ka!
The display screen used to enter the password was then retracted, and the whole device began rotating like a Rubikâs Cube.
Everyone, including the leader, craned their necks to see what was stored inside.
In about ten seconds, the safe was finally completely unlocked. The last layer of protection was peeled off, exposing the core, which was around ten cubic centimeters in size.
The next moment, a surge of energy fluctuations burst out from within!
Boom!
Before the group could see what was inside, they were thrown away by the shock wave. Even their leader, who was at the Calamity Grade, was not exempted.
The next second, the surroundings of the triangular device turned into an empty zone, and the loot in its surroundings was all strewn around the area, turning the place into a mess.
âOuch...â
Everyone rubbed their butt as they got up, only to find out that there were no other injuries on them.
The leader immediately turned to look at the safe but found it empty.
âWhereâs the item inside? Why is there nothingâ½â
The leader was furious, feeling as though he had been played.
Could this just have been a prank?
Who would store a fart inside a disposable safe!
At this moment, the cabin door opened, and operators of the spaceship ran in with anxious expressions.
âLeader, what just happened? The location we were in just now became the origin of a cosmic energy surge. The energy fluctuations broke through the peak in an instant, and our detection radar burned out. Thereâs no matching energy model for this surge in the database at all!â
Hearing this, the pirates received a shock.
Cosmic energy surge?
What joke was this? It only caused them to fall on their asses, but this sort of power was considered a cosmic surge?
Just as this group was in confusion, in a world that the naked eyes could not see, a unique information package was duplicating wildly, centered on the galactic piratesâ fleet, spreading rapidly along the links of their quantum network.
In the face of this information signal, the firewalls of the artificial intelligences in all devices were rendered useless.
...
There was a dimly lit palace, supported by pillars that rose up to no end. Below every pillar was a fire brazier, with pale flames dancing on it as the only source of light.
A man dressed in black robes hovered in midair, the edges of his robes seemingly burning, releasing strands of black mist.
Below him, Law and Fay were bowing as they reported the result of their mission to the upper echelons of the Holy Accord. The both of them were Beyond Grade As, yet they did not dare look up at the figure above.
â... Youâre saying, thereâs no way to obtain the Holy Light Particle?â
A voice sounded directly in their hearts. While the tone was neither soft nor heavy, both of them trembled unconsciously.
Law gritted his teeth and said, âThatâs right. Weâve already ambushed Black Star once, so he will definitely be prepared this time round. If we act rashly, the organization will be exposed to much greater risk. Black Star announcing in such a high profile that he possessed the Holy Light Particle is likely him deliberately trying to lure us out. According to the data, Black Star is extremely vengeful, and he definitely wishes to get his revenge on us...â
By the side, Fay said, âWhile Black Star has found a host for the Holy Light Particle, he is likely also prepared. During the attack on Hila, Black Star displayed an ability to perform an unrestricted teleportation. He has no reason not to use it for the Holy Light Particleâs host, so it is likely a decoy.â
The man in black lowered his head, looking down at the two as he fell silent. After a while, he slowly said, âI understand. Donât act on the Holy Light Particle for the time being. The agreed date has also yet to arrive, so we still can continue to wait and see.â
Seeing that their boss did not intend to blame them, Law and Fay secretly sighed. The awe they had for the man in black robes permeated their very soul.
This guy was the leader of their Holy Accord organization. His name was unknown, and he went by the code name âOathkeeperâ. He was the teacher of all the current Beyond Grade As in the organization.
Even during Law and Fayâs childhood, Oathkeeper had been the leader of the organization. No one knew how long he had lived, and his strength was unfathomable. Even if the two had grown to the Beyond Grade A realm, they could not hope to put up a fight in the face of Oathkeeper.
At this moment, the anxious remote projection of an officer appeared next to them. âYour Excellency Oathkeeper, thereâs an abnormal reaction with the Destinyâs Child!â
Whoosh!
The moment his words came out, Oathkeeperâs figure vanished and reappeared the next moment within a secret sealed room.
Countless researchers dressed in lab coats were surrounding a cylindrical transparent container filled with dark blue liquid. A pale Primal Esper Ability Entity lay within, and its energy body maintained a human-like structure but without facial features, floating quietly within the liquid.
Oathkeeper turned to look at the scientific research team leader next to him and asked, âWhat happened?â
âThe Destinyâs Child Primal Esper Entity that was deep asleep suddenly released a state of information disturbance, breaking through the seals of the container and leaking out. Weâre currently calculating now how many sub-bodies have been created by its disturbance throughout the universe...â The team leader was nervously sweating.
âSudden disturbance?â Oathkeeper paused. âYou did not actively awaken it?â
âThatâs... thatâs right. Weâre monitoring it and recording as usual, and the disturbance suddenly occurred.â
âAwaken it.â Oathkeeperâs voice was steely. âIt must have received some stimulation that caused it to fluctuate.â
The researchers could only comply, draining the liquid within the container. The Destinyâs Childâs humanoid shape immediately became blurry, as though it would disappear at any time.
âIncrease its binding force field and the stability anchor. Donât let it completely enter the high-dimensional information state and break through containment.â The scientific research personnel were sweating as they profusely worked.
Oathkeeper ignored the movement and put his hand on the outer wall of the container. His palm lit up in a cluster of flames, its color strange as it resembled a flickering starry sky. There was no temperature present, and it burned quietly, as though the world had no impact on it.
The Destinyâs Childâs body in the container was slowly attracted back and turned stable. It stretched out its hand curiously, pasting its palm where Oathkeeperâs hand was through the transparent container wall.
At this time, Oathkeeper finally spoke.
âTell me, what have you discovered?â
The Destinyâs Childâs tilted its head, and a wave of spiritual fluctuations bloomed. A childlike voice sounded in everyoneâs mind.
âProjection of an information state... new destiny... the call of The First Sanctum...â
Oathkeeper quietly listened before asking, âIs the agreed date still the same?â
âItâs moved forward... by... ten years... twenty years...â
Oathkeeper deeply inhaled before commanding, âInject the solution. Let it continue to sleep.â
Everyone immediately followed his command, and the dark blue solution filled the container once more. The Destinyâs Child seemed to struggle, but it quieted down in the end, falling into a deep sleep.
Glancing at the equipment, the research team leader could not help sighing. In the short amount of time that Destinyâs Child was awake, the amplitude of information state disturbance increased by another 6.4%, which meant that a batch of unknown descendants within the universe would evolve.
While the Holy Accord had already gained control of the main body of Destinyâs Child, because of its peculiarity, the Holy Accord had always used it with extreme caution.
Among the Primal Esper Ability Entities, Destinyâs Child was a special existence. When it woke up and activated its abilities, it would produce a phenomenon called âinformation state disturbanceâ. Random creatures in the universe would inexplicably awaken a weakened version of its abilities, which were mainly based on foresight. They were known as the children of Destinyâs Child by the Holy Accord.
The appearance of the âchildrenâ was irregular and not affected by time or space.
At this time, Law and Fay also hurried over.
âWhatâs the situation now?â
Hearing them, Oathkeeper turned around and said, âThereâs a change of plans. The agreed date is almost upon us. Iâll personally go and retrieve the Holy Light Particle.â
âYouâre making a moveâ½â
Both of them were shocked.
Law hurriedly said, âItâs too dangerous. Black Star is cunning and can fight. If anything happens to you, then we...â
Oathkeeper interrupted him in a low voice. âItâs not a must to fight. I will discuss it with him. What we need is only a part of the Holy Light Particle... Similarly, we can take out the parts of other Primal Esper Entities to trade with him.â
He patted the shoulders of the two, softly saying, âWeâve already gathered the key fragments needed to open The Third Sanctum, and only the fragment of the Primal Esper Ability Entity is left. While the ritual can be performed without the Holy Light Particle, it will bring about unknown risks. Since weâve already prepared for so many years, itâs best to eliminate any unstable factors possible, making this plan foolproof.â