Megacruiser Arena, VIP Lounge.
An eerie red light flared across the floor, teleporting Lucian to this place.
"Huh? Where are Ben and the others?"
Lucian frowned in confusion. There was no sign of Ben or Kevin. It seemed he was the only one brought here.
He slowly looked around.
The room was spacious and brightly lit, spotless and orderly, lined with all kinds of training equipment. It was leagues better than the chaotic cafeteria.
Crystal dining tables were piled high with delicacies from countless planets: dragon meat, death worms, charcoal-grilled demon serpents, deep-fried tentacles, and more, all releasing rich, mouthwatering aromas.
Beside the tables stood a row of… beauties?
There were bunny-eared aliens in black stockings, cat-eared girls dressed in Lolita fashion, dragon beauties in blue-and-white sailor outfits, mature fox women in tight red dresses, and white-haired, red-eyed, doll-like girls. Around forty or fifty in total, each with a completely different style.
Lucian was completely stunned.
What the hell is going on?
Wait. Don't tell me this is the treatment for becoming the Grand Champion?
Unlimited food, surrounded by all kinds of beauties. This was absurdly luxurious, practically the life of an emperor.
For a brief moment, Lucian didn't even want to go back to Earth.
Just give up, lie flat, and drown in this intoxicating life…
?
The instant the thought surfaced, Lucian shook his head hard. He couldn't let himself sink into that kind of decadence.
Staying here meant becoming nothing more than a puppet of Slix Vigma. The former Grand Champions were proof enough of that.
Suddenly, a three-dimensional hologram appeared in front of him.
Slix Vigma stood there as usual, hands clasped behind his back, staring at Lucian with a teasing gaze.
"Greetings, my Grand Champion," Slix Vigma said with a sinister smile.
"You brought me here. What do you want?" Lucian asked calmly.
Slix Vigma raised both hands. "Isn't it obvious? This is a lavish gift I prepared to celebrate your victory as Grand Champion."
"A lavish gift?" A hint of disdain flashed through Lucian's eyes. He went straight to the point. "Just say it. What do you actually want from me?"
There was no such thing as a free lunch. Even in outer space.
"As expected, you're still as sharp as ever, Earthling." Slix Vigma sighed, then broke into laughter. "What I want is very simple. I want you to swear eternal loyalty to me, just like Extinction Lord and the others."
"Of course, under normal circumstances, I won't give you any orders. Only in very special situations, or when my robots can't handle a problem and need you to intervene."
"As long as you obey me, I can seize for you the finest food, women, or rare treasures from any planet. How about it? That's a pretty good deal, isn't it?"
Lucian's eyes flickered as he put on an excited expression. "Really? Any planet at all?"
"Correct." Slix Vigma replied confidently.
"Then what about Vilgax's planet?"
Slix Vigma's eyes widened, nearly popping out. Realizing he'd overreacted, he quickly cleared his throat. "Ahem… that one doesn't count. Pick anything else."
"Well, that's a shame." Lucian sighed. "Then how about Anur Phaetos? That should be fine, right?"
Slix Vigma staggered, almost losing his footing. "Ch-change it… pick another one."
"Why change it again? Are you even capable of this?" Lucian asked.
"Change it again. Don't worry. Aside from those two planets, everything else is well within my grasp." Slix Vigma straightened up, confidence returning.
He refused to believe there was any planet other than Vilgax and Ghostfreak that he didn't dare provoke.
"Then…" Lucian said suddenly, "I want the Queen of the Celestialsapien race."
"No problem…" Slix Vigma started confidently, then froze mid-sentence. His expression turned strange, then outright terrified. "W-what? The Celestialsapiens? Are you trying to get me killed?"
Was this a joke? He was supposed to abduct someone from the Celestialsapiens, and not just anyone, but their queen? Was this Earthling truly clueless, or just pretending?
"But I just want this one. Didn't you say everything except the first two planets was fair game?" Lucian put on an innocent look and continued,
"Please, Slix Vigma, I only want the Queen of the Celestialsapien race. That should be a small matter for you, right?"
Just want it? A small matter? Shouldn't be hard?
Listen to that. Is this even something a sane person would say?
Slix Vigma nearly crashed on the spot. Internal components spun at high speed, rapidly venting heat before he barely managed to stabilize.
He turned his head, his expression grave as he reassessed this Earthling.
Just a few sentences had nearly made his CPU overheat. Terrifying.
"Pick another one," Slix Vigma said.
"Huh? Again?" Lucian scratched his head. "Then how about the planet of the Tetramand people? You can grab their princess and bring her over for me to take a look, right?"
All these questions were really just probing Slix Vigma's bottom line. Which enemies he couldn't handle, which ones he could, all to piece together a rough answer.
If Slix Vigma truly was overwhelmingly powerful, then Lucian would have to plan his escape carefully. No mistakes allowed. One slip, and it would be total annihilation.
On the other hand, if Slix Vigma's strength was about the same as in the original story, then escaping wouldn't be difficult at all. Lucian had plenty of options.
This entire exchange was meant to test Slix Vigma's true capabilities.
After a moment of thought, Slix Vigma nodded slightly. "Fine. I can capture the Tetramand princess for you. But… what do you want her for?"
"I'm interested in her. Is that not allowed?"
Slix Vigma's gaze turned strange. "As far as I know, Tetramand females are far stronger than their males."
"With that small body of yours, can you handle it?"
What a joke. After finally cultivating a powerful Grand Champion, if he ended up getting crushed to death by a Tetramand princess, who would Slix Vigma even complain to?
Lucian's mouth twitched slightly. He hadn't expected Slix Vigma to be this… thoughtful.
He waved his hand. "Just go get her. Don't forget, I can transform."
Only then did Slix Vigma relax. "True. Your transformed Vaxasaurian form is indeed extremely sturdy, and it can even grow to enormous size… If the two of you were to produce offspring, I wonder what they would look like."
Lucian nearly got struck dumb. "So even you don't know the result, Slix Vigma?"
"My database contains no recorded cases of Tetramand and Vaxasaurian pairings," Slix Vigma replied, suddenly turning serious as if running rapid calculations.
"However, based on my projections, there is a high probability of producing… a four-armed Tyrannosaurus-like humanoid. It would inherit tremendous strength and astonishing jumping ability, while discarding the weakness of clumsiness…"
Slix Vigma muttered to himself, tilting his head as his CPU ran at full speed.
Lucian wiped his forehead. He could practically hear the whirring of internal fans, loud and constant, like a desktop computer.
Thinking about it more carefully, though, it all made sense.
In the original story, Slix Vigma was a robot to begin with. He was the core of the control room, overseeing everything aboard the ship and controlling all electronic systems.
As long as he wished, he could access the ship's cameras at any time and observe every movement.
He controlled all the red robots and an arsenal of weapons, an absolute ruler with complete authority.
"Alright," Slix Vigma said with a sinister smile. "I've agreed to capture the Tetramand princess for you. However, the ship will still need several days to reach that planet."
"So," he continued, fixing Lucian with his gaze, "what's your answer?"