"Clack, clack, clack!"
"Zzzzt!"
This was absolutely the last thing Babata had ever dreamed of seeing.
A spaceship that had been hidden underground for fifty thousand years.
And now, thanks to the arrival of a capybara, it was facing a terrifying crisis of destruction.
"Babata, I'll ask you one more time. Are you handing it over or not?"
The ancient, sturdy hull of the Meteor Starship.
Under the terrifying gravitational pull of the black hole, fifty meters in diameter, it let out a teeth-grinding metallic groan as it twisted!
Some of the less important protruding parts on the ship's surface had already begun to break apart and fall away.
They became streams of metal and were sucked into the unfathomably dark vortex!
The entire underground space shook violently, while rubble and dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.
The ship's energy shield activated automatically, flickering erratically.
But against the black hole's domineering power, which acted directly on the very foundations of matter and space, it looked perilously close to failing!
"Stop! Stop right now!"
Babata's panicked shriek came from inside the ship, its voice breaking into sobs.
"You lunatic! Stop! You'll destroy everything here!"
The capybara floated in midair, with a massive black hole slowly rotating behind him, radiating an aura of destruction.
In Babata's eyes, his round body was no different from the most terrifying demon.
His mental power was cold and unyielding, like a final ultimatum:
"Babata, I'll ask you one last time.
Will you hand over Hu Yanbo's inheritance or not?"
"You... You're a robber! A scoundrel!"
Babata shrieked in fury. "The master's inheritance was meant for talented people who met the requirements, not for a bastard like you who uses brute force to threaten people!"
"The requirements?"
There was a trace of mockery in the capybara's voice.
"Who set them? Hu Yanbo? He's been dead for fifty thousand years!
You're in charge here now! Rules are dead, but inheritance is alive!
You've waited fifty thousand years. Have you found anyone more suitable than me?
My potential, my abilities—which part of me isn't worthy of this inheritance?"
As he spoke, he deliberately increased the black hole's power!
"Vmmm—!"
The ship's hull twisted even more severely.
A huge armor plate threaded with energy circuits was ripped free and swallowed by the black hole in an instant!
Alarms wailed inside the ship!
"Ah! My ship! My home!"
Babata let out a heartbroken wail as it watched the ship being steadily destroyed on the monitor.
The threat that the Inheritance Land might be ruined for good finally shattered its psychological defenses.
"I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you! Just stop!
You damn robber! Bandit! Scoundrel of a capybara!"
Babata's voice cracked as it practically roared the words.
Almost the instant he finished speaking,
the capybara stopped the black hole behind him with a thought. Its gravitational pull ebbed like a receding tide.
All that remained was the ship's hull, twisted beyond recognition—a testament to the horror that had just unfolded.
The underground space fell quiet again, broken only by the occasional crackle of unstable energy from the ship.
And by Babata's faint, aggrieved sobs.
A moment later, a beam of light shot out from the ship's control room.
It gathered before the capybara, forming a complex, three-dimensional contract made up of countless strange symbols.
It radiated an ancient, boundless surge of soul power.
"This is... a soul contract?"
The capybara could sense the binding force it contained.
"Hmph!"
Babata still sounded indignant and unwilling, but mostly resigned.
"The master's Core Inheritance can only be fully passed down through a soul contract.
It ensures the inheritor won't betray the Yunmo Star Lineage... You're getting a bargain, you bastard!"
Ye Xiu carefully "read" the contract, making sure its key terms required the inheritor to avenge Hu Yanbo when he had the ability to do so, and forbade him from harming the interests of the Yunmo Star Lineage.
After confirming there were no problems, he separated off a sliver of his soul power and imprinted it onto the contract.
"Vmmm!"
The contract blazed with light, then turned into specks of starlight.
Some entered Ye Xiu's soul; the rest returned to the ship.
The next moment, an immense flood of information poured into Ye Xiu's mind!
Soul Seal, Ten Thousand Heart Soul Control Technique...
The Yunmo Star Lineage's core spiritual force master techniques, Hu Yanbo's insights into the laws of space and time.
An enormous wealth of knowledge about the Universal Language, pharmacology, forging, and countless other supporting fields all opened up to him!
He also sensed three enormous bank accounts belonging to the Master of Yunmo Star, each in a different tier of the universe!
The overwhelming rush of information made him dizzy, but he gritted his teeth and quickly sorted through the most important parts.
"There! I've passed on the inheritance! You robber! Happy now?"
Babata's voice brimmed with hurt and resentment, as if someone had defiled an innocent maiden.
Ye Xiu slowly opened his eyes, his heart filled with joy as he took in the vast sea of knowledge and techniques in his mind.
He looked toward the ship and sent a trace of goodwill through his mental power.
"Babata, thank you. You won't regret making this choice today.
In the future, the name of the Yunmo Star Lineage will once again resound throughout the universe because of me."
"Hmph! Easy for you to say!"
Babata responded with a huff, though some of its resentment seemed to have faded.
In its place was a complicated feeling... like it had simply accepted its fate.
"Heh, don't worry. Stick with me, and I won't let you down!"
Seeing how heartbroken Babata was, the capybara reached out a forepaw as though he wanted to pat its head and comfort it.
But the gesture seemed to remind Babata of something.
"Wait a minute. I need to give you a makeover. A successor to the Yunmo Star Lineage should at least know how to walk on two legs, right?"
No wonder Babata had felt something was off.
Even though this capybara had received the inheritance,
he still looked like a little monster.
And the four-legged kind, at that.
He was covered in brown fur and had no equipment whatsoever.
That look was utterly embarrassing.
"Uh, you mean walk on two legs? I can probably get used to it!"
The capybara was already the strongest Beast Emperor.
Changing his posture from a crawling animal's to a human one was no problem at all.
Besides, he had originally been human, so walking on two legs posed no difficulty.
But Babata seemed to have even higher standards.
It also wanted to tailor a set of armor for the beast.
"Wait a moment. Let me think. Your build is a bit like the demon race's. I think I remember having a set..."
There was no denying it.
The ship had a lot of stock.
It was all part of what Hu Yanbo and Babata had collected over the past few million years.
That included a set that would fit the capybara!
It was armor once worn by a demon warrior.
The size was just right.
They only had to adjust it a little, and he could wear it right away.
Before you continue