Similar to Las Vegas, which was built in the desert on Earth, the planet Contraxia, due to its unique climate, isn't completely lifeless, but native creatures are actually very few.

Most of the population comes from various alien civilizations across the universe, and they mainly live in just one city.

Of course, this city is unusually large—so big that it covers nearly half the planet and houses hundreds of millions of people.

This kind of setup is normal in interstellar civilizations. In fact, many planets are just one giant city.

One example is Hala, the capital of the Kree Empire, which Josh and the others didn't get a chance to visit.

Coruscant from the Star Wars universe is also like that.

Mar-Vell sent Josh and the others to the southwest area of the city.

This area is a mid-level district in Contraxia.

Due to its unique characteristics, Contraxia resembles the future United States, which is divided into luxury, mid-level, and chaotic zones.

After taking them to the hotel she had booked and leaving most of her money with them, Mar-Vell hurried off.

"Should we go out and walk around to get familiar with the area?" Carter suggested to Josh and Margaret after returning to the hotel.

Then she saw the two of them exchange a smile, which confused her.

"Is something wrong?" she couldn't help but ask.

"There is a small issue. We do need to get familiar with the place, but not here—over there!" Josh smiled and pointed to the neighborhood outside the window, which was a luxury district.

Wow. Mar-Vell just told us that money is tight, and now you're talking about enjoying luxury?

"But..." Just as Carter was about to say something,

Boom! A huge crate suddenly fell from nowhere, landing right in front of her and crashing through the floor—one floor, two floors, three floors…

Now Carter was stunned, and even Josh and Margaret were frozen for a few seconds.

Oh no! The crate is too heavy! The hotel floor couldn't take it.

The next second, Josh disappeared on the spot. In less than a second, he reappeared in the room, holding the crate.

"Now we really have to leave," Josh said with an awkward smile.

"Fight our way out?" Carter raised an eyebrow.

"No need for that!" Josh waved his hand, and all three of them vanished.

When they reappeared, they were several blocks away.

Even though people were walking all around, it was as if no one saw them.

"Is this magic? So amazing," Carter couldn't help but say. Although she already knew that Josh and Margaret had become superhuman, this was her first time seeing Josh use his powers.

"You haven't seen the really amazing stuff yet. You'll get the chance later!" Josh smiled.

"By the way, what's in the crate?" Carter asked, looking at the crate in Josh's hand.

"Just a bit of gold," Josh replied.

"A bit? Something that heavy?" Carter rolled her eyes.

Yes, gold is indeed very heavy, but judging by the size of the crate in Josh's hand, even if it were completely filled with gold, it still shouldn't be heavy enough to crash through the floors of that hotel—especially since the building seemed pretty strong.

"Normally, you'd be right. But what if I told you this crate holds a hundred tons of gold?" Josh said, shaking the box.

"Are you kidding me?" Carter's eyes widened.

The crate wasn't big enough for that. If Josh said it held a hundred kilograms, Carter wouldn't be surprised. But a hundred tons?

"Alright, stop teasing Peggy," Margaret said, stepping in. "Peggy, it's not really gold. It's a type of star metal—but yes, it really does weigh a hundred tons."

That only confused Carter more.

"Star metal? What's that?" she asked.

"It's a compressed metal formed only in the cores of stars," Margaret explained with a smile.

"It's incredibly dense, extremely rare, and valuable. Based on what we've learned about currency values in this galaxy, this much star metal could buy all of Contraxia."

To be exact, this star metal is similar to the core material used in Thor's hammer.

The only difference is that Thor's hammer uses material compressed from a white dwarf's core, which is much denser.

Regular star metal, on the other hand, is extracted from normal stellar cores, so it's slightly less dense but still incredibly valuable. (TL/N: A stellar core is the dense, central region of a star where nuclear fusion occurs, powering the star's energy output)

According to Margaret, the amount of star metal in this small crate, not counting the financial assets of Contraxia's major corporations, is worth enough to buy the entire planet in terms of physical assets.

Wow. Carter had thought they were just super rich back on Earth—turns out they're super rich across the universe, too.

She couldn't help but question life for a moment.

Why are they so amazing, and I'm just... me?

Luckily, she had a strong mindset and quickly bounced back.

Having rich friends has its perks—she could enjoy the luxury, too.

"But why didn't you say anything while Mar-Vell was still around?" Carter suddenly asked, then immediately realized it was a dumb question.

"She's not from Earth, remember?" Josh replied, confirming Carter's suspicion.

"So I was right… You weren't just asking me to come for fun," Carter sighed.

Still, she didn't blame Josh.

After all, she had her own reasons for agreeing to this trip to the Kree Empire.

Yes, she and Mar-Vell had grown close—very close.

However, their feelings weren't strong enough for her to forget where she came from or abandon her position as a citizen of Earth.

On that point, Carter had a clear head.

After this little incident, the three of them reached an understanding and soon found a hotel in the luxury district to stay in.

Even though they had star metal worth a fortune, they still needed to exchange it for star credits before they could spend it.

So for now, they were using the money Mar-Vell had left behind.

After they got used to the area, they planned to find a chance to exchange some of the star metal.

However, the moment they stepped into the hotel, Josh realized he wouldn't need to spend any star metal at all.

Because right there in the hotel lobby, the three of them immediately saw a familiar figure surrounded by a bunch of aliens.

That person spotted them right away, too.

"Hahaha, Josh! My friend! I never thought I'd see you here! What a delightful surprise!" The man laughed heartily as he quickly walked over to them and gave Josh a big hug in front of the stunned alien crowd.

"I feel the same, Vlad! I've heard you've made quite a name for yourself these past few years—'Blood Lord' sounds really powerful." Josh smiled and returned the hug.

That's right. The familiar face in the hotel lobby was none other than Dracula—the same one Mar-Vell had mentioned many times, who had caused plenty of trouble across the galaxy.

But why was Dracula here on Contraxia?

"Honorable Blood Lord, who is this?" While Josh and Dracula were catching up, a bizarre-looking alien approached with several underlings and politely asked Dracula.

"This is Josh Kahn, my best friend!" Dracula said, throwing an arm over Josh's shoulder. Then he pointed to the alien. "This is Kakamosi, a business partner of mine. My territory produces a kind of spiritweed—it's hundreds of times stronger than Earth's weed. It's very popular in the galaxy."

Josh instantly understood. So, after coming to space, Dracula not only got the nickname 'Blood Lord' and claimed a bunch of territory—he also started his own interstellar drug empire.

Josh could only shout in his heart, "Dracula, you're insane!"

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Josh Kahn," Kakamosi said, stepping forward to greet Josh after Dracula's introduction.

Of course, Kakamosi didn't actually know Josh's background. But being introduced as the Blood Lord's best friend was enough to earn his respect. Dracula calling him a business partner was generous. In reality, Kakamosi was just a small-time merchant with some influence.

However, to someone like Dracula, who was a rising power in the galaxy, Kakamosi's influence meant nothing.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Kakamosi!" Josh replied politely. Since he was with Dracula, Josh gave Kakamosi face.

"So, how did you guys end up here? Don't tell me your company's space technology has advanced to the point of interstellar travel?" Dracula leaned in and whispered to Josh.

"It was just a trip. Remember Mar-Vell? The Kree warrior who helped you escape Earth? She invited us to visit the Kree Empire. But something happened along the way—she got called back to duty and left us here," Josh explained.

"Oh, her? That makes sense. If she was summoned, it must have been because of the attack on the transport fleet, right? I wonder who had the guts to pull that off. The Kree are saying it was the Ravagers, but I don't believe them. It's not that they don't have the power—but they'd never go that far. Plus, from what I heard, almost all of the Ravagers involved were wiped out. Only their leader and a few others are missing.

As soon as Dracula heard it was Mar-Vell, he immediately understood. After all, they knew each other. As someone with growing power and influence in the galaxy, Dracula had access to a lot of information. The moment Josh mentioned Mar-Vell being summoned, Dracula thought of the incident where the Kree transport fleet was ambushed.

Dracula spoke casually, but Josh was already putting the pieces together.

The leader of the Ravagers and some of his people are missing?

Weren't all the Ravagers wiped out at the time?

Josh couldn't help but wonder to himself.

It looks like he'd have to ask Vereesa to look into what really happened.

"By the way, are you guys planning to stay here?" After briefly mentioning the Kree transport fleet, Dracula glanced at Josh's luggage and asked.

"Obviously. This planet seems pretty decent. In fact, I was thinking of setting up an entertainment resort here—consider this a scouting trip," Josh replied casually with a smile.

"A wise decision. I'm sure it'll be a huge success. But you don't need to stay at a hotel. You hosted me back on Earth—now it's my turn. I just had Kakamosi purchase a small place for me here on Contraxia. I was planning to move in soon, so while you're here, you can stay there too. All your expenses on this planet are on me!" Dracula said generously.

Running into an old friend from Earth, a "fellow countryman" in the vastness of space, made even the infamously cold and brutal Vlad the Impaler genuinely happy.

Naturally, Josh had no reason to decline.

This wasn't about freeloading—it was about connections.

With the Blood Lord's name backing them, everything Josh and his team did on Contraxia—and likely in many other places—would go much more smoothly.

Of course, there were downsides, too. The name "Blood Lord" came with a trail of carnage, and being associated with Dracula would surely attract enemies.

But would Josh care about that?

The Blood Lord's name was indeed useful—but Josh's own cards weren't any weaker.

If he hadn't been keeping Earth in mind and hadn't disliked drawing attention, he might have been even more high-profile than Dracula.

So, not long after, the group left the hotel and moved into Dracula's "small" residence.

This "small" residence wasn't in the same luxury district as before—it was in another luxury district altogether.

And why the quotation marks?

Because the place really was small—small in the sense that it was only a few times taller than Neuschwanstein Castle and about ten times bigger in area.

The entire building took up one-third of the luxury district it was in.

And the whole place was made of a ridiculously flamboyant blood-red crystal.

As flashy as flashy gets.

Tsk. Josh thought, Why don't you just change your name to Dracula Stark? That taste—it's exactly like that father and son duo's.

But back on Earth, Dracula wasn't like this. His castles were grand, sure—but never this gaudy.

So why the sudden change after leaving Earth?

Josh just couldn't wrap his head around it.

Maybe it was something he could never truly understand—what it feels like to finally be free after being suppressed by an old woman for centuries.

Wait… something about that didn't sound quite right.

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