Chương 30: Resolution & Formation

Nyx spent some time cultivating, mainly absorbing the energies of the healing spirit stones he held until Syrin and Max woke up. Once they were up, he went over to her vehicle to speak with her. But before entering, he overheard her conversation with Nirun.

"Why were you so hell-bent on not giving up the majority share, girl?" Nirun asked. The room remained quiet for some time until Max broke the silence.

"What kind of question is that, Uncle? Of course it's because of her ability. She can earn money while staying safe from danger, plus she seems to have an unusually good knack for picking people with useful abilities. She can expand and grow the fleet herself while keeping all the power that comes with it, instead of sharing it with that bastard."

"Is that the case?" Nirun asked Syrin again.

"Sort of, but not really." She sighed.

"You see, I wouldn't deny that I crave the power that comes with a growing fleet. But I'd also love to be independent. I've seen how fleet captains treat those under them. The captain of the Green Ghost Fleet is a good enough example, I believe. I don't want Nyx or anyone else to turn me and my crewmates into useful puppets instead of the people we are." Max's voice came as a surprise.

"That's a tad bit deeper than I'd assumed. To be honest—""You always assume the wrong things! You jumped in and attacked him, even tried to kill him. What if he'd killed you first, huh?" she burst out at Max, and the room descended into chaos. Nyx took a step back from the RV. His head hurt just from hearing that.

"Seriously? I'm being lumped in with that Julius?" he said, shaking his head in exasperation. Guess my way of trying to force the agreement was similar to his methods. Okay, maybe calling it similar was a bit much, because all he'd done was scare them. He hadn't tried to kill them, nor maim them. In fact, if he were being honest in reviewing his own performance, it had been terrible and largely unsuccessful because of it.

He understood now well enough that threatening people into agreement required more than simple lies, and he was very much unwilling to go beyond simple lies. He'd even injured Max mainly because he'd forced him to spam Spatial Motion, which was draining his mental energy reserves fast. As for the reason behind Syrin's refusal, that made his headache even worse. What do you mean I'd take away your independence, girl?

All I want from you is to build me a strong fleet so I have a better chance of resisting the demons coming after me! Even forcing her to concede the majority share had been necessary, because otherwise the chances of the crewmates rebelling against him and her in the future would increase drastically. He couldn't possibly allow such a major weakness to remain in the fleet he was building. He was certain she knew the value of that too. Restricting her freedom? Why would he do something so unnecessary?

His hands were full increasing his power and dealing with his ever-growing list of enemies. If anything, she was going to keep leading the fleet anyway. He just wanted to use it whenever he really needed it. Otherwise, he had hardly any interest in ruling over them like some Yakuza boss. He'd rather spend that time on his cultivation and levels! He went back inside his vehicle and took a shower to freshen up and calm himself.

After an hour, he returned to Syrin's RV and explained his intentions behind taking the majority share. He had a lot of enemies. The Heavenly Demon was after him, and she'd kill him the moment she found him. There was also the most dangerous fleet, the Green Ghost Fleet, which was surely plotting something against him. The Heavenly Fleet was after him too. The majority of the plains' top forces were after him.

Naturally, he didn't reveal all that, and instead kept things vague, revealing just enough for them to get the gist of his situation. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. He asked Syrin's teammates to leave her alone for a bit. He wanted to discuss the later points privately.

"Look, Syrin, while I'd hold the majority ownership, you'd be the actual Captain ruling the fleet and making most of its decisions on a day-to-day basis. I promise not to restrict whatever freedom you want in your decision-making. Just consulting me on the major ones would be sufficient." Her gaze still held uncertainty and, frankly, distrust. He'd admit they weren't very close. While she trusted him enough to come along, it was also out of her own self-interest. Him saving her could only breed so much trust.

She wasn't some naive person who'd turn into a yes-woman after being saved just once by a stranger. So Nyx actually had little to sway her with, and she seemed really stubborn about yielding the share because of her internal fears. After some contemplation, Nyx came up with just the right mechanism to deal with her uncertainty.

"How about this?" he called, and she looked up.

"I'll sign multiple of those system contracts, and you can write in the clauses you need. Define your freedom with your own hands. That way, we wouldn't have to forgo the features by splitting the fleet fifty-fifty, and you'd have concrete reassurance!" She sat quiet for a while, her eyes contemplative. After a bit, she finally nodded.

"Hmm, okay. I'm willing to go with the deal in that case." Nyx extended his hand, and she shook it to confirm the deal, smiling ear to ear. Afterward, Nyx left her in the RV with the system contract to write whatever freedom clauses she wished to cook up, while he returned to his own RV, wholly ignoring Max's provocative glare. Despite having a protective unique skill, the guy is all about throwing hands. ….

After several more hours, during which Nyx focused solely on absorbing more and more of the Healing Mana from the Spirit Stones, he finally felt the distinct hum in his lower abdomen grow in intensity. He'd so far consumed all the energy from the Healing Spirit Stones he'd found in the Bronze treasure chests, and was now working through the several other healing spirit stones he'd found in the Black Stone Mountains.

The pinkish ball of energy rippled in his lower dantian as he finished absorbing the last of the Healing Spirit Stones.

"Now comes the harder part." It was condensing it until a qualitative change took hold. The process was simple: he focused his mind's eye on the ball and, using the spiritual energy of his soul, pushed at it from all sides. The energy resisted the pressure fiercely, and the hum in his lower abdomen transformed into a twisting, extremely painful sensation. Nyx gritted his teeth harder, until he felt they might crack. But letting go of the control wasn't an option.

That would cause the concentrated energy of the ball to rebound, and with all the tension he was putting into it, the rebound could very well cripple his cultivation base. His dantian. So the struggle continued as he pushed harder and harder. Sweat seeped from every pore, and his breath turned ragged. He clenched his hands, crushing the emptied spirit stones to powder.

The process continued as he pressed on, compressing the ball of energy more and more, clashing against its resistance with all of his spiritual power, until suddenly the resistance gave way all at once. Simultaneously, the pain that had been coming in waves from his lower abdomen vanished. The transition was so jarring that it made him open his eyes immediately.

"Whoa." His body was glowing faintly with light pink energy that wafted off him, carrying a faint, extremely pleasant rosy scent. He reopened his mind's eye and viewed his lower dantian. He paused for a second, admiring its beauty.

"Success!" There in his dantian sat a gleaming ball of pink. It shone like the most polished of diamonds, perfectly round and spherical, illuminating the otherwise dark space of the lower dantian. Nyx leaned back on his sofa and stretched his tired muscles. Then he got up and fetched a can of chilled cola from the small mini fridge in his vehicle. It came from an upgrade he'd made after the vehicle advancement, It hadn't cost much, but it had added a level to his vehicle overall.

Now he was just one upgrade short of taking his vehicle to level ten. Coming back to the sofa, he drank from the can, celebrating his accomplishment, when suddenly he saw a face in his vehicle's window. He immediately recoiled in fear at the suddenness of it. The face disappeared, followed by the sound of something falling over. Nyx went over to check, his heart still beating furiously. Opening the window, he found Syrin lying on the ground, being helped to her feet by Max, while Nirun laughed his head off.

"Hahaha, serves you right for peeking into other people's private space."

"Uncle!" she protested, puffing up her cheeks. Max tugged at her, pointing toward Nyx. She turned around and immediately bowed in apology. Nyx just smiled. These guys were going to be his teammates, huh. Life's about to get a bit more chaotic, I guess.