[Task Reward: 200 points of Star Energy, Star Sea Gene experience points, 1 random Awakening-stage star sea beast clan illustrated manual fragment.]
[Failure Penalty: None (However, excessive exposure may lead to the host being dissected and studied by Vought International or other factions).]
Su Kai twitched the corner of his mouth.
“Hide the existence of the system…
avoid attracting attention too early…”
He repeated in a low voice, his gaze falling on the door through which Starlight had just left.
Did that just now count as attracting attention?
It certainly did, but it was still just the usual disgusting attention directed at that scumbag, “The Deep.”
However, this might actually be the best cover for Su Kai.
Who would suspect that a piece of trash, someone with a head full of dirty thoughts who only made it into The Seven by talking to fish, was hiding a massive amount of energy inside his body?
“I need to test the waters first.”
Su Kai made up his mind and looked back at the three points of light, locking his intent onto the [Void Jellyfish].
“You’re the one, but I can’t summon you here.”
He looked at his surroundings.
The meeting room he was currently in was too conspicuous; summoning it here would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble.
So, he immediately got up and left the meeting room, took the elevator to rush out of the Vought International tower, and returned to a secret base from the original body’s—’The Deep’s’—memories.
Looking at the familiar yet strange surroundings, Su Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief and decisively issued the unlock command.
[Consume 70 points of Star Energy to unlock and summon the ‘Void Jellyfish’.
Confirm?]
“Confirm.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Su Kai felt a portion of some energy being drained from his body.
At the same time, the air in front of him rippled like water, emitting a faint hissing sound similar to glass rubbing against glass.
Then, a tiny, pitch-black fissure with purple electric arcs flickering at its edges appeared out of thin air.
The fissure was only the size of a palm, but through it, Su Kai seemed to see a bizarre, magnificent space that could not be described in words.
“Is that the Aether Sea…” he muttered to himself.
He saw a translucent “creature” that emitted a soft, blue-white glow slowly float out from the fissure.
It had no fixed shape, like a mass of continuously flowing, color-shifting light mist, with a few light spots at its core flickering in a rhythmic pattern.
It was about the size of a basketball and was currently floating quietly in front of Su Kai.
It had no aggression at all and even conveyed a vague feeling of curiosity and friendliness.
[Summon successful, rewarded 10 points of Star Energy.]
“Oh, nice, there’s even a reward…”
Su Kai had a flash of inspiration and tried to command the Void Jellyfish in front of him in his mind:
“Scan this room and the situation within a…
fifty-meter radius outside the room.”
The flickering frequency of the light spots at the core of the Void Jellyfish suddenly increased.
Immediately after, a strange flow of perception poured into Su Kai’s mind.
That feeling was neither an image nor a sound; instead, it was like a three-dimensional “map” marked with various energy intensities and life reactions.
The structure of the room, the layout of the electrical circuits in the walls, the empty corridor outside the door, and a few passersby chatting in the distance.
The indicators representing weak life reactions, the ordinary humans, were presented clearly in his mind.
Even the electromagnetic signals from the mobile phones in their pockets, a mouse crawling through the ventilation ducts overhead (a weak heat source of life), and so on…
Everything was under his control.
Su Kai grinned.
“The Deep?”
He muttered to himself,
“From today on, there will be no more scumbag The Deep.
There will only be me, Star Sea Su Kai.”
As he said this, he seemed to have thought of something and continued:
“Though for now, I still need to use the identity of ‘The Deep’ as a disguise.”
After calming his mood slightly, he leaned back on the sofa and stopped moving.
The system panel in his mind was still lit, and the illustrated manual information for the [Void Jellyfish] slowly faded away.
The brief excitement from the system awakening and successfully manipulating Starlight had also slowly faded away.
A realistic problem quietly presented itself before him.
He, Su Kai, was still “The Deep” for now.
A member of Vought International’s The Seven, a scumbag who, on the surface, could only talk to fish, had the lowest status in the team, and had just done something super shitty.
The system was awesome, but it had a huge flaw: unlocking summonable beasts required “Star Energy.”
He glanced at the panel.
[Available Star Energy: 40]
The novice gift pack gave 100 points, summoning the Void Jellyfish cost 70, the first summon rewarded 10 points, and now this was all he had left.
“I need to get money…
No, I need to get Star Energy.”
Su Kai muttered, sat up straight, and focused his mind to “browse” the detailed instructions on obtaining Star Energy in the system.
A stream of information flooded into his mind.
[Summary of ways to obtain Star Energy:]
[1.
Successfully summon a star sea beast clan.
(The first summon of a specific species grants a fixed Star Energy reward; subsequent summons do not.)]
[2.
Command summoned beasts to engage in combat and kill hostile targets.
(Settled based on target strength and scale of combat.)]
[3.
Devour and absorb the energy of powerful enemies or special energy substances.
(Including but not limited to energy within Superhumans, high-concentration energy potions, special radiation sources, etc.)]
[4.
Complete specific tasks issued by the system.
(Rewards vary.)]
Su Kai’s gaze stopped on the third point.
“Devour, absorb special energy substances…
energy potions?”
Four words immediately popped into his head.
Compound V.
Vought International’s lifeline, the little blue potion used to mass-produce Superhumans—wasn’t that thing the purest and most readily available “special energy substance”?
“That’s right!”
Su Kai slapped his thigh.
“Vought’s warehouse must definitely have this stuff, and maybe the laboratory even has higher-purity stock solution…”
Moreover, as someone familiar with the plot of The Boys, he clearly knew that there was also a type of first-generation Compound V potion.
His eyes lit up suddenly, but quickly dimmed again.
But the problem was:
How to get it?
He was currently “The Deep,” a contracted superhero for Vought International, a “superhero” on the surface.
The company paid him, provided him with costumes and promotional resources, but also kept a tight watch on him; there was even a tracking device inside his own body.
Under the nose of Vought headquarters, he didn’t even have the opportunity to remove the tracker.
And his authority, based on the past, was at most to wander around the headquarters building, go to the training room to practice his lousy underwater breathing, or go to the aquarium to chat with fish.
Steal it directly from the laboratory?
That wasn’t realistic either.
Vought International’s headquarters building was heavily guarded, and there were so many superheroes stationed there; stealing it would be too risky.
After thinking about it, it would be simpler to just wear a mask and rob them directly.
“There’s definitely no chance through official channels.”
Su Kai shook his head.
“It seems I can only rob them, but even robbing requires a strategy; I can’t just go in head-on.”