Grey Matter belonged to the Galvan race, possessing extraordinary intellect.
They were essentially the smartest species in the Ben 10 universe, and Azmuth, the creator of the Omnitrix, was a Galvan himself.
With a flash of green light, Yuri’s body began to shrink, stopping only when he was around fifteen centimeters tall.
His skin turned a greyish-blue, and his head took on an inverted triangular shape.
Large, round eyes sat on either side of his head, making him look like an upright-walking frog, albeit with a rather small mouth.
The physical changes were trivial compared to the earth-shattering shift taking place inside Yuri’s mind.
His capacity for thought, calculation, association, and deduction surged exponentially, allowing his brain to process trillions of data points in an instant.
While Grey Matter’s super-brain couldn’t instantly grant Yuri information he had never encountered, it could use the basic facts he already knew to deduce far deeper principles.
For example, if Yuri knew only the bare basics of electricity, his brain could automatically extrapolate fundamental laws like Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s Circuit Laws, Coulomb’s Law, and Faraday’s Law of Induction, before expanding further into the law of conservation of charge, the Lorentz force formula, and even Maxwell’s equations…
The entire process required no structured study—he could figure it all out on his own.
The more profound the underlying concepts, the longer the deduction took.
Unfortunately, Yuri was no scholar to begin with.
Even with Grey Matter’s universe-class intellect, he couldn’t instantly transform into a master of high technology.
Thus, he quickly faced reality: he couldn’t hack the Omnitrix to disable its fail-safes the way Kenny had, nor could he achieve what ten-year-old Ben couldn’t.
By Kenny’s time, Ben had acquired a deep understanding of the Omnitrix.
Grown up under Ben’s influence, Kenny naturally knew a great deal about it.
Furthermore, Kenny’s Omnitrix was a replica built by Ben, meaning its security protocols were far less complex than the original encryptions set by Azmuth.
Not to mention that Yuri was holding what appeared to be an upgraded, third-generation Omnitrix.
“It seems that if I want to remove the safety locks, I’ll either have to slowly unlock DNA profiles step by step to deepen my understanding of the Omnitrix, or rely on sheer coincidence to trigger Master Control like Ben did…”
Yuri thought helplessly, though he wasn’t truly disappointed.
Half a day ago, his grandest wish had merely been to eat a full meal.
Now that he possessed a measure of power to protect himself, what right did he have to complain?
Besides, he had other work to do.
He hadn’t hauled a whole truckload of spare parts back for nothing.
He was going to overhaul the Rustbucket!
Despite Grey Matter’s diminutive size, handling mechanical components was as effortless to him as manipulating his own limbs.
Amid a clatter of metal, Yuri renovated the Rustbucket at a staggering pace.
The dilapidated vehicle quickly took on a brand-new look.
Unfortunately, all the parts Yuri had purchased were second-hand without anything high-tech, so there was a limit to how much he could upgrade the RV.
Especially when it came to the engine: he could only refurbish the aging unit. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Boosting horsepower was out of the question, but he could at least guarantee it wouldn’t stall out of nowhere.
To power an eight-meter-long RV, the Rustbucket’s original engine was surprisingly solid.
It had just been horribly degraded by age.
From Yuri’s current perspective, he could hardly believe the thing was running at all!
“The power distribution box from the last century is terribly inefficient—redesign the circuitry!”
“Too much wasted space in the cabin—strip it and rebuild!”
Fix the broken air conditioner and refrigerator.
Replace the tires, brakes, clutch, transmission, radio…
swap out everything that can be swapped!
Ten minutes later, the transformation timed out.
Ten minutes of recharging, then transform again.
After a total of three hours, Yuri’s Rustbucket had undergone a complete transformation.
“Job done.
Time to sleep.”
Yuri lay down in the newly space-optimized over-cab bed and drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile, hundreds of meters beneath Central City lay a massive hidden base.
Encased in lead-lined super-alloys, the base offered formidable defense while preventing anyone with X-ray vision from peering inside.
This base was known as the Network, a black market dedicated to transactions among supervillains that had operated for fifteen years.
Nearly every supervillain in Central City and Keystone City had dealt with the Network.
Fencing stolen goods, money laundering, gambling, medical care, intelligence, purchasing gear…
everything was available here.
And the ruler of the Network—unbelievable as it might sound—was a woman who called herself Blacksmith.
Blacksmith never showed her face in public, focusing solely on running her business.
Thus, the name “Blacksmith” circulated only among supervillains.
Under normal circumstances, she likely would have spent her entire life without ever returning to the surface, but life was always full of surprises.
“Revenue this year has dropped by twenty-seven percent compared to last year!”
In her office, Blacksmith looked at the ledger handed to her by the accountant, her expression dark.
“Boss, ever since the Flash showed up, criminal activity across the Twin Cities has plummeted.
Everyone’s been struggling these past few years, and our business has taken a hit as well…” The accountant sighed, worrying aloud.
“If this continues, I’m afraid that in the future…”
Blacksmith slammed her palm onto the desk, leaving behind a deep, hand-shaped indentation.
“The…
Flash…” Blacksmith growled out word by word, intense hatred flaring in her eyes.
Cold sweat poured off the accountant, terrified that Blacksmith might swat him in her fury.
*Knock!
Knock!
Knock!*
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by a voice outside.
“Boss, that boy is back.
He’s asking to see you.”
Relieved by the timely interruption, the accountant quickly excused himself.
Having ruled the underground of the Twin Cities for fifteen years, Blacksmith was not one to let anger cloud her judgment, and she regained her composure in an instant.
“Send him in.”
Before long, a blonde young man wearing an eyepatch and an outlandish yellow-and-blue costume—dressed like a circus magician—stepped into Blacksmith’s office.
The second Trickster, Axel Walker.
Having run the Network for years and handled countless pieces of high-tech gear, Blacksmith instantly recognized Axel’s outfit as the gear used by the previous Trickster.
Blacksmith, whose mood had been foul, finally cracked a smile.
“You said as long as I became a real supervillain, I could join the Network,” Axel said with anticipation written all over his face as soon as he entered.
“Well, now—I’m the Trickster.
Blacksmith, time to fulfill your promise.”
“Look where you’re standing right now.
If you hadn’t joined, you’d already be dead.”
At her words, Axel’s face lit up.
“So that means I’m in?”
Blacksmith nodded.
“I see great potential in you, kid.
Unlimited potential.”
“I have a plan—a plan to eliminate the Flash and claim all the wealth of Central City and Keystone City for ourselves!”
Looking at the intrigued Axel, Blacksmith continued, “To carry out this plan, I need you to complete a task…”