[Level: 151]
[Golden-Furred Primate Possessed by "Heliobus": A member of the Golden Ape Tribe possessed by one of the Antimatter Legion's Extinction Lords — Phantylia. Granted power beyond his kind, now wielding the might of a "Messenger."]
Nolan looked at the golden-furred Fragments of Abundance before him, his eyes widening slightly in surprise.
He hadn't expected this guy to actually be Phantylia, one of the Extinction Lords of the Antimatter Legion!
Ever since he entered the interstellar society, Nolan had, of course, looked through the Galactic Peace Network to check which beings were absolutely off-limits — entities he should never provoke under any circumstance.
Among those names, the Antimatter Legion's Extinction Lords were high on the list. They were among the few known Messengers of the Aeon of Destruction — Nanook himself.
That kind of existence was clearly not something he could handle.
But to think that behind these so-called "Abundance Folk" was an Extinction Lord from the Antimatter Legion — and not just any of them, but Phantylia, the one about whom almost no information existed.
According to the Galactic Peace Network, the only thing known about Phantylia was that her form was ever-changing — she had a thousand appearances and could be anyone, anything.
No one truly understood what her original form was, or that it was this creature called Heliobus.
Nolan himself had never even heard of such a species, so he took out his phone and searched "Heliobus" on the Galactic Peace Network.
The result told him that a Heliobus was a rare, incorporeal lifeform — a being of pure energy with no fixed shape, which preferred to possess others and act through their bodies.
To resist possession by a Heliobus, one needed extremely powerful mental strength.
Learning this, Nolan felt slightly relieved. If this creature's main strength lay in spiritual power… then it wasn't as terrifying as it sounded.
After all, he had the permanent state of "Divine Maiden's Purity," which rendered him immune to any negative effects whose power level was below the sum of his and Shenhe's combined levels.
Nolan was now Level 116. Shenhe, after her own dedicated training — much like the other girls — had long since reached Level 99.
That meant that any negative effect under Level 215 couldn't possibly affect him.
Phantylia might be Level 151 and possess mental strength far superior to his, but if she tried to possess or mentally control him — or drag him into an illusion — she would find it impossible.
Of course, if she didn't directly target his mind but instead distorted the environment, causing him to receive false information, then she might be able to make him experience something similar to being trapped in an illusion.
Unfortunately for her, he still had cute Amy's "Golden Eye of Judgment."
That ability didn't just reveal one's strength — it could also perceive weaknesses and pierce through illusions.
The effectiveness of that ability scaled with the sum of his and Fischl's levels.
Amy aka Fischl often trained with him back home — always sticking close — and had already reached Level 99, nearly 100. With just a bit more effort, she would reach a level comparable to a god.
In that case, unless Phantylia condensed her psychic power into a physical form and attacked directly, any mental or illusion-based ability she had would be practically useless against him.
And if she really did attack physically, Nolan could still use Keqing's affinity skill to transfer the damage to a marked piece of clothing.
Even if the strike could destroy an entire universe, the only casualty would be one of his cheap shirts hanging on the rack — specially marked for damage redirection.
That didn't mean he was entirely invincible, though. After all, he could only mark a number of garments equal to the sum of his and Keqing's levels.
If Phantylia managed to obliterate him over two hundred times in rapid succession — before he had time to teleport away — then yes, he'd really die for good.
Unless he could mark an ultra-durable suit of armor — something even a "Messenger" couldn't destroy. The cursed armor he had once commissioned from Ei was far from sufficient; what he needed was a material truly indestructible, even before the power of an Aeon's emissary.
Only then could he stand undefeated against Phantylia.
Surely in such a vast universe, materials capable of withstanding a Messenger's strike existed — though they were no doubt exceedingly rare.
Perhaps the Galactic Peace Corporation might even sell such things. Nolan decided he'd have to get himself a defensive outfit of the highest grade.
After all, that was the key to surfing the galaxy without fear!
Thinking this through, Nolan didn't intend to reveal himself and confront the Extinction Lord head-on. He knew perfectly well he couldn't win against a Messenger.
Even if she couldn't kill him in one blow, there was no point showing up just to get smacked and teleported away.
He wasn't that stupid.
But since he was already here, he wasn't about to leave empty-handed either.
After a moment's thought, Nolan activated the affinity skill he'd obtained from Ningguang — "Moonveil Tianquan" — to probe what valuables these Abundance Folk's bio-warships might hold.
First target: the command room. There was quite a lot glowing within its range of perception.
Remaining cloaked, Nolan wasn't worried. Even if Phantylia sensed something amiss, she couldn't hit what she couldn't see. Area attacks wouldn't help her either.
That meant he could safely and boldly take whatever he wanted.
On the left wall of the command chamber, an embedded glass display case held a collection of relics — a rusted greatsword, a silver axe broken clean in half, and various other weapons that must have looked magnificent when whole.
Under the senses of "Moonveil Tianquan," they all emitted a violet glow — the equivalent of four-star quality weapons by Teyvat standards.
Most likely, these were trophies collected by the leader of this group of Abundance Folk.
Nolan's gaze swept over the rest of the display and found similar artifacts lining the entire wall — though unfortunately, none radiated a golden light.
Still, he wasn't about to complain. He extended his hand, using "Moonveil Tianquan's" power of treasure dominion to quietly transfer them all into his Void Star Sea.
One by one, the items within the case vanished silently.
Yet even such noiseless theft could not escape a being's instinctive perception of its surroundings.
The moment the first item disappeared, the Golden Ape leader possessed by Phantylia whipped its head around sharply.
"Who's there?!"
Her voice echoed through the command room — but no one answered.
The treasures continued to vanish one after another.
Phantylia's brows furrowed. With a flick of her hand, an invisible wave of psychic energy rippled outward, instantly enveloping every corner of the command chamber.
After a few seconds, Phantylia detected nothing unusual.
"Your Excellency, with such vast divine power, why would you steal these worthless trinkets?" she said through the body of the golden ape, speaking in his rough tone.
Among the Antimatter Legion's Extinction Lords, her direct combat power was not the highest, but in terms of mental strength, she was among the very strongest.
Even if someone hid deep within a subspatial layer, they couldn't escape her perception—unless their psychic power surpassed her own.
But how could that possibly be?
Hearing her words, Nolan almost wanted to reply that these things actually had decent value—but since she couldn't hear him while he was cloaked, there was no point wasting breath.
He simply continued quietly taking the items from the display case.
When there was still no response, Phantylia's face darkened. Anger welled up within her—she, a Messenger of "Destruction," one of the most feared Extinction Lords in the entire cosmos—had never been ignored like this before.
Someone was stealing from right under her nose, and with strength this great, there was no way they hadn't noticed her presence.
Not knowing who the intruder was left her extremely irritated.
"Are you one of the Masked Fools? Or a Remembrancer of the Garden of Recollection? You've really got guts, playing your games on me!"
As she spoke, Phantylia expanded her psychic field, spreading her awareness outward.
She had already confirmed earlier that this stellar system—where Baihuang Star was located—contained no other Messengers or beings of comparable power.
Even if such a being existed, they couldn't possibly hide from her—unless they were a Remembrancer from the Garden of Recollection, or a Messenger of "Elation."
Remembrancers could manifest anywhere as memes—forms of pure information—making their concealment unmatched across the universe.
Even she might overlook one if not careful.
But Remembrancers only cared about memories; they wouldn't lower themselves to petty theft.
If, however, this was a Masked Fool from the "Elation" faction, that would make perfect sense. Those lunatics did anything for amusement—they'd probably stick firecrackers into a pile of dung just for a laugh.
For the sake of "fun," the Masked Fools possessed countless bizarre means of entertainment. If her unseen opponent was one of them—and a Messenger at that—then it wouldn't be surprising that he could conceal himself even from her.
Sorry, wrong guess, Nolan thought, quietly chuckling to himself. Watching an Extinction Lord looking so baffled was genuinely entertaining.
He'd read about every Aeon's faction on the Galactic Peace Network, and he knew plenty about the Masked Fools—those who roamed the cosmos causing mischief in pursuit of pleasure.
And now, he was starting to understand their kind of joy.
Soon enough, all the weapons in the display case had been collected. In the next moment, his attention shifted to the holographic projector on the control console.
It wasn't a rare treasure by any means, but it was still valuable—and thus fell within the domain of Moonveil Tianquan.
As the projector vanished, so too did the ship's main display—leaving them blind to radar feedback.
Phantylia's suppressed fury was about to erupt. She was now absolutely certain the culprit had to be a Masked Fool.
"Very well," Phantylia muttered darkly.
At once, the ceiling, the floor, even the space itself began to twist and warp violently.
Oh? Couldn't hold it in any longer? Nolan thought, suppressing a laugh.
Just as he expected her to obliterate everything in the room, the distortion abruptly ceased.
Puzzled, he looked up—only to see a surge of emerald spirit flame rising from the golden ape's body.
He had read about the "Heliobus" before—an energy-based lifeform without a true body, its essence glowing green.
So this flame… was Phantylia's true form.
As she emerged, the golden ape staggered clumsily, nearly falling over. When he finally regained his footing, Phantylia's voice echoed within the room:
"Fight back with all your strength. Aren't the Xianzhou your sworn enemies?"
With that, the green flame flickered out of existence. A glint of emerald light flashed briefly in the golden ape's red eyes, and without a word, he began transmitting orders to the other commanders—commanding a full counterattack.
Hmm? Where did she go? Nolan frowned slightly.
To prevent her from striking the spaceport directly, he decided not to linger or continue looting. Instead, he used the Void Star Sea to teleport back immediately.
—Aboard the Luofu, inside the command room.
The "Sword God" standing silently in the corner raised her hand and sliced open a rift in space. Nolan stepped out from within it.
Tingyun, who had been monitoring the battle, turned toward him with bright eyes and exclaimed,
"As expected of the Herta Space Station's Security Advisor! Mr. Nolan, your performance on Baihuang Star—this little woman saw it all! Truly… truly astonishing!"
The situation on Baihuang Star had been dire. Numerous Louyue behemoths had fallen into the state of Demonic Yin-Toxin, tying down the planetary defense base's support.
But Nolan had resolved the crisis in less than half an hour—far faster than she could have imagined—allowing the ground forces to reinforce the spaceport in time.
Now, there was little need to worry about the Abundance Folk causing further damage to the planet.
[Tingyun Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (10/500).]
The system prompt appeared on his personal interface. Storing away the Sword God avatar, Nolan smiled modestly.
"Well, this job does demand a certain amount of strength. Anyway—"
He was just about to mention that one of the Antimatter Legion's Extinction Lords had been behind the attack when suddenly, a surge of psychic power swept through the room.
At once, Tingyun's gaze went blank. The other officers froze as well—their hands motionless mid-action.
"An illusion?"
Nolan's expression changed, startled. Instinctively, he reached out to tap Tingyun's cheek to wake her—
But before his hand could touch her, a wisp of emerald flame flickered to life behind him. He froze, then turned slowly.
The moment he saw it, his pupils constricted.
"Oh? What a surprise… someone who isn't affected by my illusions."
The green spirit-flame of Phantylia spoke, her tone filled with genuine astonishment.
She had noticed that the Xianzhou's reinforcements had yet to arrive—and that these freelance contractors she'd encountered were far stronger than expected, having resolved the ground conflict so quickly.
With the planetary defenders now reinforced, her pawns among the Abundance Folk wouldn't last much longer. So she'd decided to slip into one of the Luofu merchant ships carrying supplies, intending to quietly ensnare its crew in illusion, possess someone aboard, and infiltrate the Luofu once they returned.
But she hadn't anticipated that someone could completely resist her illusions.
She, an Extinction Lord, ignored twice in a row—her power defied by mortals.
Now this, she thought, is getting interesting.
(End of Chapter)