The figure brought its hands together, and the five orbs of light furiously spun, collided, and fused.
Ultimately, they coalesced into a mass of chaotic, indescribable brilliance—a light that seemed to embody the most beautiful, resilient, and radiant aspects of the human emotional spectrum.
[Trait Fusion Complete]
The figure gently pushed the orb of light toward Zeke.
Zeke opened his arms. He offered no defense, no resistance, allowing that brilliance to sink into his chest.
BOOM!!!
In the material universe, inside the operating room.
Schrödinger Bro and the others watching through the one-way glass were suddenly greeted by a shocking sight.
Without any warning, blinding light erupted from Zeke's body as he lay on the operating table!
It wasn't the light of psychic energy. It was a light of absolute essence—sublime, carrying the very weight of conceptual existence!
"What the hell is going on?!"
Tax Bro nearly pressed his face flat against the glass.
Cogboy's mechanical eye flashed furiously, waterfalls of data scrolling across his vision.
"Energy readings are spiking... breaching the measurement threshold... Biometrics undergoing drastic changes... Psychic fluctuations are generating!"
Zeke levitated into the air.
Beneath his skin, the Black Carapace had fully matured, revealing faint, grid-like patterns. But right now, those patterns were being dyed a pale gold.
His height increased once more. Two point three-two meters... two point three-five... two point four... finally stopping at two point four-five meters. His physique became even more perfectly proportioned, every inch of muscle harboring explosive power and absolute control. (TL/N: roughly 8 feet and 1 inches)
His psychic level skyrocketed like a rocket.
Faint level? Broken through instantly.
Low-Tier, Official, Mid-Tier, High-Tier, Master-Tier—in a mere three seconds, he crossed the thresholds that ordinary psykers needed decades, even centuries, of agonizing training to reach!
And it was still climbing.
Storm-Tier... It finally stopped right at the threshold of Gamma-level.
An S-Rank All-Rounder Psychic Talent meant he didn't specialize in a single discipline; he could learn and master the techniques of all psychic schools.
Biomancy, Pyromancy, Divination, Telepathy, Telekinesis... Given enough time and training, he could attain mastery in all of them.
The Perfect Respawn Trait activated.
This meant that from this moment on, Zeke's respawn mechanics would be entirely different from the other players.
Upon death, he would reconstruct at a designated safe point in the exact same state he was in prior to dying—retaining all enhancement progress, skill mastery, and memory integrity without a single drop of degradation.
More importantly, the Champion trait began to manifest.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Deep within his left pupil, a miniature, crimson sun was rising—the emblem of Crimson Dawn.
Deep within his right pupil, a continuously rotating geometric shape appeared—the symbol of the five great traits fused together.
Zeke touched down, his feet landing silently on the floor, as if gravity had lost all meaning to him.
He raised his hand and looked at his palm.
With a mere thought, a cluster of warm, golden flames ignited in his hand—the outward manifestation of the Hope trait.
The flames shifted into a gentle green—Compassion.
Then morphed into a somber red—Resolve.
Blue—Pioneering.
White—Wisdom.
Five great traits, shifting at will, under absolute, perfect control.
–
Deep within the Warp.
Lucian's energy body let out a long breath, even though energy bodies didn't need to breathe.
[Total Consumption: 34,200,000 units of physical energy]
[Breakdown: Bestowing Champion Status 33.2M, Earth Original Body Storage & Preservation 1M]
"That really bled me dry..."
Lucian muttered.
He looked at the fully metamorphosed Zeke in the projection of reality, genuine anticipation gleaming in his eyes.
He had borrowed the Emperor's recruitment playbook and Tzeentch's seductive rhetoric, but his core intent was entirely different.
The Four Gods bestowed the title of Champion to corrupt, to use, and to place pawns on their chessboard.
Lucian bestowed the title of Champion to give trust, to grant power, and to... invest in a possibility.
"Don't let me down, kid."
He murmured, then issued a command.
[System Announcement Published]
[System Shop comprehensively updated]
[Effective immediately, the Shop's redeemable item catalog has been expanded to encompass all known technology and creations within this universe.]
[New Monthly Anomalies Section added: Every month, five items or fragments of knowledge not belonging to this universe will be refreshed. These may originate from other sci-fi, fantasy, or even unknown dimensional universes.]
[This update is effective immediately]
As the announcement rang out in the minds of every player, Lucian took one last look at Zeke.
Using the last of his spare energy, he completely shielded and encrypted Zeke's aura, disguising it as natural background psychic dissipation.
Then, he faded deep into the Warp.
–
Outside the operating room at the base.
By the time Schrödinger Bro and the others rushed into the room, Zeke had already changed into a plain grey combat uniform retrieved from his inventory—standard casual wear.
"OI' Zeke, did you..."
Tax Bro opened his mouth, unsure of how to even ask.
Zeke turned around, a calm smile on his face.
That smile carried the heaviness of having just lived through a decade of agonizing hardship, and the profound clarity of acquiring the power of a Champion.
But at its very core, he was still the same Zeke who had organized the rescue of the workers in the industrial zone.
"I picked up a hidden quest," he said simply. "The rewards are pretty good."
Then, he opened the System interface, pulled up the shop, and found an item that had been listed for a long time: the [ID Rename Card]. Price: 100 Imperial Coins.
Confirm. Purchase. Use.
[Please enter a new ID]
Zeke stayed silent for two seconds, then entered a single word:
"Paul Dawn."
Confirm.
[ID changed successfully]
[Player "Eternally Loyal to the Emperor" has been renamed "Paul"]
He closed the interface and looked at his comrades.
"From today onward, I am no longer 'Eternally Loyal to the Emperor'. My name is Paul Dawn."
"As for why..."
He walked to the window, looking at the workers laboring in the base, looking further out toward the faint outline of Red Town on the pitch-black wasteland, and finally, looking at the Chaos-corrupted sky at the edge of the horizon.
"I will spend my entire life fighting for the freedom, equality, justice, and happiness of the Imperium's citizens, until the final dawn arrives."
His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed clearly throughout the operating room.
Schrödinger Bro was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "Alright, Paul it is. You're still you, anyway."
Tax Bro scratched his head. "Paul... that name sounds familiar?"
Blood Angel chimed in softly. "How the Steel Was Tempered. The protagonist is named Pavel Korchagin. Paul for short."
"Right!" Tax Bro slapped his thigh. "Paul Korchagin... damn, Zeke, picking a name like that—you've got some massive ambitions!"
Paul—formerly Zeke—smiled, choosing not to explain that the name actually came from the illusionary life he just lived.
He simply looked at Schrödinger Bro. "The shop updated. Did you see?"
"I saw it." Schrödinger Bro pulled up his interface, his eyes shining. "All known technology and creations within this universe... that scope is insanely huge and the Monthly Anomalies. The first five items for this month have already spawned."
He read off the list:
"1. Foundations of Psionic Theory (Protoss Simplified Edition) Fragment. From a certain interstellar warfare universe. 300,000 Coins."
"2. Force Field Generator (Cybertronian Tech) Blueprint Fragment. From the Transformers universe. 250,000 Coins."
"3. Force-Sensitive Meditation Guide (Jedi Padawan Edition). From the Star Wars universe. 180,000 Coins."
"4. Beginner Spiral Energy Resonance Guidance Technique. From the Gurren Lagann universe. 500,000 Coins."
"5. Magical Girl Transformation Device (Damaged State). From a certain magical girl universe. 1,000,000 Coins."
Everyone listened, exchanging bewildered glances.
"What the hell is all this..." White Scars' mouth twitched.
"A Magical Girl Transformation Stick?"
"Why not throw in a Spark Lens?"
"Why not an Emperor Armor Summoner?"
Cogboy, however, was so excited the blue light in his mechanical eye was flashing erratically. "Cross-universal tech trees! Even if they're just fragments and torn pages, the thought processes and foundational principles within them could bring subversive inspiration to our current technological trajectory! Especially this Force Field and Psionic Theory. If we combine them with our current promethium energy and psychic tech, we might actually invent something entirely new!"
Paul nodded. "Buy them."
"The funds will come from the Chapter account. Prioritize the tech items. Give the psychic-related ones to Blood Angel and his crew to study."
He paused, then added, "Also, notify all the players. In two days, we will hold a general assembly."
"It's time to lay out the next phase of our plan."
"The target!"
He pointed at the small town marked with a red circle on the map.
"Red Town."
–
Paul stood alone atop the highest watchtower of the base, the night wind fluttering his grey combat uniform.
In the palm of his left hand, a cluster of golden flames burned quietly.
In the palm of his right hand, an orb of moon-white light slowly rotated.
He looked up at the sea of stars.
The galaxy flowed above him, countless stars flickering in and out of existence. Who knew how many of them were currently staging tragedies just like Aurelian IV?
"The Path of the Champion... Save the humanity of the universe..."
Paul softly repeated that quest—a quest so grandiose it bordered on the absurd.
And then, he smiled.
"Then we start with Red Town."
"We start from this very first corner of this cesspool world."
"Clean up the trash, establish order. Send those who deserve to die to hell, let those who deserve to eat eat, and let those who deserve to live live."
Paul turned and walked down the watchtower.
Deep within the Warp, Lucian sensed the complex cocktail of emotions radiating from Paul—resolve, hope, compassion, pioneering spirit, and rationality. He stretched out his energy body in deep satisfaction.
"Yes. Exactly like that."
"Hold on to your humanity. Walk your path."
"As for whether you become a hero or plunge into the abyss in the future..."
"I'll be watching closely."