In a barren stretch of space, the Shadowglide hung motionless in the void.
There were no stars or planets nearby, and the nebulae were so thin they might as well not have existed. Fathomless darkness surrounded the ship.
Only a few dim red dwarfs in the distance gave off a faint, dusky yellow glow. The ship's hull was brittle with cold.
An extremely thin layer of ice crystals had formed on its surface. Sitting in the pilot's seat, Song Chen opened the system panel.
His killing value stood at seventy trillion, somewhat less than he had expected.
That was mainly because many of the young had been evacuated ahead of time, and the final death trap had closed in too quickly.
He had been forced to retreat before he could scour the entire planet clean. His original estimate had been at least a hundred trillion.
Still, seventy trillion was enough. He stared at the number for a while, then sorted out what he needed to do next.
Song Chen opened the exchange panel and first spent fifteen trillion to increase his star origin power, dropping his killing value from seventy trillion to fifty-five trillion.
An immense surge of silvery-white energy poured into his body, and his star core spun furiously.
His star crown expanded to its limit, his meridians stretched almost to the point of rupturing, and his bones gave off a series of faint crackles under the torrent of psychic energy.
He clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. He had endured this kind of pain many times.
Once everything settled, he looked at the panel again. His star origin power read 9,999.
He was just short of ten thousand, but once it reached 9,999, it refused to rise any further.
He tried exchanging for a little more,