CHAPTER 377: MERELY A TOOL! II

Achilles met her implied threat with the nonchalant confidence of someone who had already seen this future many times!

"If you have made your decision," he said simply, "then let us begin."

The nine massive fruits began floating toward her with the stately grace of celestial bodies following orbital mechanics. Achilles moved closer as well, his scholarly robes shifting around him like liquid starlight.

"Would my palm against your back be acceptable for the energy transfer?" he asked, his tone professionally neutral.

The White Smith Star’s eyes blazed with greed and anticipation as she reached out to grasp the first Primordium Evolutius Fruit. Her enhanced senses spread outward like an invisible web, monitoring every fluctuation in the surrounding energy fields for any sign of deception or danger.

"Proceed," she said, and bit into the fruit.

Brilliance exploded through her existence like a controlled supernova.

The sensation was indescribable, every cell in her body singing with newfound vitality, every stellar energy pathway blazing with enhanced capacity.

Her augmented Empyrean Star buzzed!

It was like discovering that she had been living her entire life at a fraction of her true potential.

Behind her, Achilles placed his palm against her back with the gentle precision of a master craftsman beginning a delicate work.

Through that contact, he began utilizijg Biological Nurturing and Limited Assimilation that allowed him to weave the Space-Time Assimilation directly into her!

But more importantly, far more subtly, he introduced his spores into every fiber of her being. They settled into her enhanced physiology like seeds waiting for the proper season, invisible and dormant but ready to bloom when he possessed sufficient power to activate them.

This was not random predation!

This was careful cultivation. The White Smith Star would become a weapon in his arsenal, a Stellar Genesis Embodiment expert who would serve his purposes while believing herself to be acting according to her own will!

But until that day came, she would serve as his sword against enemies who had no idea they were already marked for destruction.

The gravitational pressure that erupted from her enhanced form was spectacular- waves of distorted space-time that twisted the metallic asteroid around them, carving furrows a mile deep into its surface.

The display of raw power would have been humbling to witness if Achilles hadn’t been the architect of its coming!

As the enhancement process continued, he began laying out the next phases of his intricate plans...

---

Time.

Oh, time!

Time was a river that flowed differently for each consciousness that experienced its passage.

For many, it moved with the relentless consistency of a mechanical device, each second identical to the last.

For more powerful entities, it became more fluid, more subjective, shaped by perspective and power until hours could feel like moments or moments could stretch into eternities.

For those who truly understood the nature of temporal flow, time became a tool- something to be shaped and directed according to need and desire. In the hands of a master, even brief periods could be leveraged to accomplish changes that lesser beings would require decades to achieve!

Two hours had passed since Achilles first approached the domain of the White Smith Star, but in that compressed timeframe, the fundamental nature of local reality had been quietly revolutionized.

The Stellar Harvester that now carried him through outer space was a marvel of engineering that spoke to the incredible industrial capabilities of the Astral Forge Consortium.

Stretching for miles in every direction, its hull was composed of materials that could withstand the gravitational stresses of operating near stellar phenomena.

Its interior spaces were vast enough to house entire cities, filled with processing equipment that could break down small planetary masses into their component elements.

Achilles stood at one of the primary observation platforms, his scholarly disguise still perfectly maintained as he gazed out through transparent barriers that offered unobstructed views of the Star Seas beyond.

Around him, fifty Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendents went about their duties with the professional efficiency of beings who knew what they were doing.

The sound of approaching footsteps drew his attention, and he turned to see the White Smith Star striding toward him with an energy and enthusiasm that had been completely absent during their initial meeting.

The transformation was remarkable- where before she had moved with the careful precision of someone constantly calculating risks, now she practically radiated confidence and barely contained excitement.

She reached him and delivered a companionable nudge to his shoulder, her enhanced strength carefully controlled to avoid accidentally crushing him...in her view anyways.

"Haha, Where the fuck is Edmond?" she asked, her voice carrying laughter that suggested she was genuinely looking forward to the coming confrontation.

"With the power coursing through me now, I could squash that bastard in under a minute! Hell, the treasures and aid you’ve given me are worth more than that Condensed Star Nexus Metalloid would have provided anyway!"

...!

The change in her demeanor was exactly what Achilles had anticipated.

The Primordium Evolutius Fruits and Limited Assimilation had enhanced her capabilities by a factor of three or more, transforming her from a cautious predator into something more.

More importantly, the subtle modifications he had introduced into her system held thousands of dormant spores, creating a path that would allow him to influence her actions when the time came!

He nodded with cold satisfaction, his expression remaining carefully neutral as he responded.

"Maintain the Harvester’s current heading," he said. "We will reach Edmond’s location within a day."

The certainty in his statement was not based on hope or estimation!

Through his careful use of Continuum Vision, he had already observed the threads of probability that would lead them to their target. He knew exactly where King Edmond would be, and more importantly, he knew what circumstances would await them there.

It would be a location of chaos and violence, a perfect environment for the kind of "accidental" casualties that would serve his larger purposes.

The White Smith Star was merely the first tool he intended to deploy in the coming conflict, but she would not be the last.

Even as he strengthened her, even as he provided her with advantages that would make her nearly unstoppable against their intended targets, Achilles remained acutely aware that she was not an ally.

Like King Edmond, like all the powers that ruled this corner of the Star Seas, she would flee in terror if she learned his true name and heritage.

The knowledge of what the Adrastia lineage had once represented would transform her from confident predator into desperate snitch that would run towards the Sovereign Void Imperium ridiculously quickly.

But he would not give her that opportunity. Before she or any of the others realized the true nature of the game being played around them, they would all fall under his control or be eliminated entirely!