Malrick emerged from his inner world, glancing at the massive black egg floating beside him.
"It looks like something from the Starry Sky Torch Beast species," he muttered. "But that race isn't exactly impressive."
He had no interest in ordinary lifeforms. What he wanted were unique, powerful beings. But, like everything here, there was a cost—and the Source Will had charged him two and a half years' worth of time for this clone. Not exactly a bad deal.
He tapped the egg's shell with his right hand, sending a wave of psychic energy inside. Through his mental link, he perceived the embryo within—golden horns, piercing gold eyes, a body armored in razor-sharp scales, and iron-like wings folded across its back.
"Jinjiao Torch Beast?" Malrick narrowed his eyes. "Why this thing?"
He recognized the creature. This was the same monster that, in the original timeline, had been destined for Luo Feng—a genetically engineered powerhouse. But Malrick already possessed the creature's most valuable trait: the Clone talent. It was linked to his inner world and couldn't be duplicated or stacked.
Which meant this thing was… redundant.
"No wonder it only cost me two and a half years," he muttered. "This egg was already drifting toward Earth. They just handed it off early."
He sighed, trying to negotiate.
"Can I swap it out for something better?"
No. The Source Will's voice offered no room for debate.
Malrick called again. No answer.
With a shrug, he stored the egg in his inner world. It wasn't completely useless—just unnecessary.
"Maybe I'll give it to Luo Feng later, as a favor," he said aloud. "He's going to become a powerhouse eventually. Might as well build goodwill now."
Turning away, he accelerated toward Earth.
---
Two hours later
Malrick entered Earth's atmosphere, descending from Saturn.
His super hearing activated, and instantly, the cries, screams, and gunfire from across the planet filled his mind.
His brow furrowed. "Again with the chaos," he muttered. "Why is it that every time I arrive somewhere, it's already falling apart?"
He halted above the cloud line, activating his enhanced vision.
During his transformation, the Source Will had upgraded his super vision with spatial enhancements. Now, even lead shielding couldn't block his sight—he could see through anything.
His gaze swept across the globe, and he immediately locked onto four unusual locations:
A tower-shaped spacecraft hidden beneath the Bermuda Sea
A buried warship beneath the Pacific Ocean
A massive hive cloaked in mist deep within Shennongjia
A damaged, silver-white vessel lying dormant on Fog Island, off Australia
But what truly caught his attention was the state of the surface.
War.
All five continents were engulfed in violent conflict—but this wasn't a human war. Earth's cities were under siege by monstrous creatures.
Malrick detected only 23 human settlements across the entire planet—fortified cities standing against wave after wave of mutated beasts. These monsters descended from mountains, oceans, and skies, tearing at humanity's last defenses.
He listened to radio chatter.
June 16, 2018.
That placed him roughly 20 years before Luo Feng's birth in 2038.
He'd arrived far too early.
This was the Great Cataclysm, the darkest era of the Starry Sky Earth.
A few years earlier, the RR Virus had swept the globe, killing millions and triggering a forced evolution. While humans scrambled to adapt, beasts surged ahead. By 2015, swarms of mutated animals had begun attacking cities en masse. Some were immune to weapons. Others adapted after nuclear strikes.
Humanity was pushed back again and again, until only 23 fortress cities remained. Everything else had been abandoned.
Even then, survival was barely manageable.
What Malrick saw now were the daily horrors Earth's defenders faced—monsters pounding the walls, death a constant presence.
He sighed. "So I get to save the world again?"
Then he paused. "Wait. That's not how this universe works."
The core law of this world was evolution through struggle. Interfering too much would disrupt the balance.
Still, he could make it easier for them.
"Let's get rid of anything above Apprentice 7th Rank," he said, floating lower. "The rest… they can handle."
His Bio-field surged outward.
In the blink of an eye, Malrick accelerated to speeds surpassing tens of thousands of Mach.
He became a streak of ghostlike motion, flashing across continents.
Above China, twin beams of crimson light rained down—each blast vaporizing monsters where they stood.
In Europe, creatures over a hundred tons were ripped into the sky, crushed by invisible force mid-air.
Across the Americas and Africa, the pattern repeated.
In less than thirty seconds, Malrick had eliminated every high-level monster on the planet.
The remaining creatures, lacking intelligence and leadership, faltered. Their ranks collapsed, their advance stalled.
The human front lines surged forward.
The beast tide began to retreat.
Malrick, satisfied, slowed near the Yangtze River.
Moments ago, he'd noticed a man fighting a massive, tiger-like dragon. The warrior possessed strength exceeding twenty tons and was risking his life to protect a retreating crowd of over 100,000 civilians.
Malrick had stepped in, saving him at the last moment.
Now he stood silently on the river's surface, watching as the man continued leading the people to safety.
He remained still, calmly destroying any monster that dared approach from the water.
---
Half an hour passed.
More than a dozen fighter jets appeared overhead, fanning out across the sky.
They hovered just above the riverbanks.
From each, figures descended—over two dozen individuals, all measuring beyond Apprentice 7th Rank. Some were even nearing the Planetary threshold, with strength exceeding 500 tons.
Yet as they approached, they halted.
Malrick stood alone, unmoving, but the pressure emanating from him was suffocating.
They couldn't speak. They couldn't step forward.
It wasn't fear in the normal sense—it was something deeper. Something primal.
To their minds and bodies, he was not a man.
He was a god.
Even glancing at him felt like staring into a collapsing sky.
In the Starry Sky World, this kind of fear was imprinted at a genetic level. A lower lifeform instinctively knew it could not challenge a higher one.
Only after Malrick cloaked himself in a suppressive field, hiding his presence, did they collectively exhale.
The weight lifted.
Finally, a cold-faced man in black and a broad-shouldered bald man stepped forward.
The one in black bowed slightly.
"Sir… thank you for your help."
---
Thanks for the Powerstones....send more <(￣︶￣)>