"Thank you for the praise, but this is still only a flawed creation. Its existence is unstable. Even after integrating the genes of the Star-Devouring Whale, my calculations show it can only exist for ten minutes.
"Unless it is sustained by feeding it planets. But the cost would be far too great and completely disproportionate to its value. There is no need for that."
Ruan Mei gazed calmly at the cultivation tank before them.
"True." Nolan nodded.
Through Yae Miko's affection skill, he had already seen that this pseudo Starcrusher Swarm King required planetary energy to maintain its existence.
And as an Emanator-level entity, the amount of energy it required would certainly be enormous. There simply were not that many planets to consume.
It felt as though even the Interastral Peace Corporation would struggle to afford raising such a creature.
"In ten minutes, the Starcrusher Swarm King will awaken. Then you will fight it. Try to prolong the battle as much as possible. I will ensure that nothing happening here leaks out," Ruan Mei said as she looked at him.
"No problem."
Nolan nodded.
Although Ruan Mei had noticed that he had grown much stronger, she likely believed he had not yet reached the level of an Emanator. Otherwise, she would not have asked him to drag the fight out.
If he simply crushed it with mental force, it would be obliterated in body and soul.
But if he did that, Ruan Mei would gain nothing from her research. Nolan decided he should hold back a little. Otherwise, the experimental subject might be gone before she could collect any useful data.
Soon, ten minutes passed.
As expected, the deep blue insect inside the cultivation tank slowly began to move.
"Please be careful," Ruan Mei said, offering a rare note of concern.
"I am quite confident in my strength. Next, I will let it live out its entire life."
Nolan smiled.
The moment his words fell, the Starcrusher Swarm King beat its wings, instantly shattering the cultivation tank. The buzzing of its wings echoed throughout the chamber.
Even as an artificially cultivated lifeform, its instincts were no different from those of the true Swarm.
It rejected all other life and regarded everything besides itself as resources.
Thus, upon sensing the only two nearby lifeforms, it did not hesitate to launch forward. It became a blue afterimage, so fast it was almost impossible to see clearly.
With a single thought, Nolan fixed the distance between himself and the insect.
Ruan Mei then saw the Swarm King, still accelerating, suddenly appear five meters in front of Nolan as if blocked by an invisible barrier.
A closer look revealed that it had not stopped at all. Its wings were still vibrating furiously. Yet the five-meter gap seemed infinitely stretched. No matter how it flew, it could not bridge the distance.
"Oh? This ability…"
Ruan Mei looked at the insect in slight surprise. She sensed no spatial fluctuations, yet the distance itself had been extended. It seemed to be a far more mysterious method.
"Do you need to study its flight posture or anything like that?" Nolan asked.
"Very few have ever been able to observe a Starcrusher Swarm King in motion at close range. It is indeed worth recording," Ruan Mei nodded slightly.
Previously, she had only observed it in a dormant state within the tank. Once awakened, it would certainly not obediently allow itself to be studied.
The insect soon sensed something was wrong. Before Ruan Mei could observe for long, it attempted to change direction and escape.
However, the distance between it and Nolan had been fixed. No matter whether it moved up, down, forward, backward, left, or right, it felt as though infinite distance lay in every direction. Escape was impossible.
As a Propagation Emanator, even a replica reacted swiftly. Realizing it could not flee, it opened its mouthparts and launched a blue sphere of light.
Because Nolan's distance manipulation targeted only the insect itself, the attack, once separated from its body, was treated as a second target and thus was not affected. It shot forward unimpeded.
But Nolan's reaction speed was equally astonishing. The instant he saw the sphere, he manipulated the distance between it and himself.
In an instant, it entered the same state as the insect, still in motion yet seemingly frozen in place.
Seeing its attack fail, the Swarm King unleashed the "Celestial Disintegration Ray," a deep blue beam that shot straight toward Nolan from its mouth.
"I'm sorry, but that won't work either."
Once again, Nolan altered the distance between the beam and himself.
Unless an attack could surpass the speed of his thoughts, nothing would ever reach him.
The insect refused to give up. In the less than ten minutes that followed, it tried every possible method of attack, but all were futile.
While every assault failed, this was excellent news for Ruan Mei. She was able to perfectly collect and record all of the insect's biological data changes in a combat state.
The harvest far exceeded her expectations.
As the ten-minute mark passed, the Starcrusher Swarm King reached the end of its lifespan and naturally began to disintegrate.
It dissolved into countless blue points of light, scattering like drifting raindrops.
With no target remaining, Nolan released his control over distance. He turned with a faint smile to the elegant and composed woman beside him.
"Miss Ruan Mei, how was it? Was this commission satisfactory?"
"It exceeded my expectations. If I cultivate it again next time, I am confident I can create a Starcrusher Swarm King with fifty percent of the original's strength. The only unresolved issue is its duration of existence."
Ruan Mei's fair face remained as calm as ever, but her tone suggested she was quite satisfied.
She looked at Nolan and continued,
"As compensation for your assistance, if you ever need my help in the future, so long as it is within my capabilities, I will do my utmost to assist you."
[Ruan Mei Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 830 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (550/600)]
Seeing the notification pop up on his character panel, Nolan felt secretly delighted. Level six affection meant Ruan Mei now regarded him as more than just an ordinary friend.
Excellent. With a bit more effort, reaching maximum affection and unlocking her affection skill would not be far off.
After thinking for a moment, Nolan realized he had nothing he needed her help with for now.
"It was just a small matter. In the future, if you need my help, there is no need to be polite. We can simply consider it mutual assistance between friends."
"Friends…" Ruan Mei pondered briefly, then nodded. "In that case, you may simply call me by my name. There is no need to add 'Miss'"
"Mm, Ruan Mei. Then you may also call me by my name," Nolan replied in kind.
Ruan Mei inclined her head lightly in agreement before speaking again.
"Then, my friend, there is something else I would like to ask of you."
(End of Chapter)
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