The next morning, Liam woke with a small smile on his face. His sleep had been blissful, which was remarkable considering he didn't actually need sleep anymore.

That was one of the stranger consequences of his transformation. His body no longer required rest in the traditional sense. He could go days, weeks, possibly even months without closing his eyes and suffer no degradation in mental or physical capability.

But he chose to sleep anyway. There was something deeply human about the ritual of it. Climbing into bed, letting consciousness drift away, experiencing dreams that were becoming increasingly strange and vivid.

Liam stood from the bed and walked to the bathroom, with the morning light streaming through the windows cast everything in warm gold tones.

When he emerged from his bedroom fifteen minutes later, he was wearing dark jeans and a simple black shirt. He picked up his Lucid from the nightstand, putting on the smart glass.

"Good morning, master," Lucy's voice greeted him. "How was your night? How are you feeling this morning?"

Liam smiled as he walked toward the bedroom door. "Good morning, Lucy. I slept well. Feeling good, ready to handle things today."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lucy responded. There was a brief pause before she continued. "I've completed the compilation you requested last night."

Liam's expression shifted slightly, his smile taking on an edge. "Nice. Show me."

His vision filled with names, dozens of them, organized into neat categories with detailed information beside each entry.

The list contained everyone who had been harassing his friends over the past month.

Lucy had been thorough. Each name came with supporting evidence—call logs, email transcripts, social media messages, even physical surveillance footage in some cases. It also had patterns of pressure, any leverage attempts and any foreign affiliations. The documentation was comprehensive enough that there could be no dispute about intentions or actions.

Liam scrolled through the list slowly, his jaw tightening with each name he saw. Some of these people had been genuinely aggressive in their approaches. Others had been more subtle, but no less predatory in their attempts to use his friends as stepping stones.

"Forward this to Daniel," Liam said, his voice carrying quiet steel. "Have him send it directly to Whitlock with a message. Tell him these individuals are interfering with my private life and personal security. He'll understand what that means."

"Understood, master."

Liam knew exactly what would happen next. Whitlock would receive the list, recognize it for what it was—a formal declaration that these people had crossed a line—and the machinery of consequence would begin turning.

JP Morgan's CEO had connections that ran deep through every level of American society and beyond. A word from him, backed by the implicit threat of Nova Technologies' displeasure, would be enough to ensure these opportunists faced very real consequences for their harassment.

And the best part of having Whitlock handle it, is that none of it would trace back to Liam directly.

There was one thing Liam absolutely hated, and that was people going after what he considered his. His friends fell squarely into that category. They'd been loyal, genuine, accepting of him despite everything. The fact that opportunists had been making their lives difficult for the past month because of their connection to him was unacceptable.

The flies were about to discover that some people should never be bothered.

Satisfied that the matter was handled, Liam picked up his phone from the nightstand and headed downstairs. The mansion was quiet this early in the morning, with only essential staff moving through the halls.

As he descended the grand staircase, Liam unlocked his phone and opened the group chat with his friends. A new message notification sat at the top—Matt had tagged him about ten minutes ago.

Matt: Good morning fams! And good morning to my one and only super-powered best friend! 🚀

Liam chuckled, shaking his head with genuine amusement as he typed his response.

Liam: Morning Matt. You're up early.

The reply came almost instantly, as if Matt had been waiting by his phone.

Matt: Couldn't sleep much. Too excited about yesterday. Speaking of which—any chance you're planning to go flying today? Because I'm still calling dibs on being your first passenger.

Liam smiled as he reached the bottom of the stairs, typing as he walked toward the dining room.

Liam: I'm going to be busy for a while, taking care of some things that need attention. But after I've handled everything, we're all going to have a lot of fun together. I promise. And yes, I'll take all of you aboard the spacecraft.

Matt's response was so fast Liam suspected he might have actually squealed out loud wherever he was.

Matt: SPACECRAFT?! Like, your actual spaceship?! The one from the livestreams?!

Matt: Okay, okay, I'm going to try to be cool about this. I'm totally cool. Not freaking out at all.

Matt: (I'm completely freaking out)

Matt: But seriously, don't stress yourself too much with whatever you need to handle. We'll be here when you're ready. Take your time!

Liam's smile widened at his friend's enthusiasm.

Liam: Thanks Matt. I appreciate it. We'll talk later, alright?

Matt: Yeah, later! Can't wait!

Liam reacted to the message with a thumbs-up emoji and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Matt's excitement was infectious, and it reminded Liam why he valued these friendships so much. Despite everything they'd learned yesterday, they still wanted to be part of his life. That meant more than they probably realized.

He entered the dining room where breakfast had already been laid out on the long table. Evelyn stood near the sideboard, supervising the final touches.

"Good morning, sir," she greeted him with a slight bow that was becoming more pronounced since his transformation.

"Good morning, Evelyn," Liam replied warmly, taking his seat at the table. "Everything looks wonderful, as always."

The breakfast spread was impressive—fresh fruit, pastries, eggs prepared three different ways, bacon, sausage, toast with various spreads. Far more food than one person could reasonably eat, but that was standard for the household.

Liam ate methodically, taking his time despite knowing he had things to handle. The food was excellent, and rushing would have been disrespectful to the staff who'd prepared it.

Twenty minutes later, he set down his napkin and stood from the table. "Thank you for the meal, Evelyn. Please pass my compliments to the kitchen."

"Of course, sir," she replied with another slight bow.

Liam left the dining area and walked down the hallway toward his study. As he moved, he activated his exosuit with a thought.

But he never reached the study, as halfway down the corridor, he simply vanished.

***

He reappeared in lunar orbit, the gray surface of the Moon's far side spreading below him. From this height, he could see the Lunar Base Sanctuary sprawling across several kilometers.

Liam descended toward the section dedicated to spacecraft assembly. The facility was enormous, easily the size of several football fields, with massive frameworks holding partially completed ships in various stages of construction.

Lucy stood near one of the main construction bays, her attention focused on a holographic display showing assembly progress. She wore her usual appearance—the form of a young woman in practical office attire, looking very elegant.

Liam landed beside her silently and reached out, patting the top of her head. Lucy's eyes closed briefly at the contact, and she leaned her head against his arm in a gesture of contentment.

"I'm here to give you the perfected FTL drive," Liam said gently.

Lucy's eyes opened, her expression lighting up with excitement. "Thank you, master."

Liam smiled and opened the system store, and he saw that several notifications awaited him at the top of the screen.

[System Store has successfully merged items from all three universes. All items are now available for purchase regardless of the host's current location.]

[Host may now purchase items using any system-supported currency.]

Liam read the notifications with interest. The currency flexibility was genuinely useful. He could spend Earth money or cultivation resources interchangeably depending on what he had available. That kind of versatility would come in handy, especially when operating across multiple universes.

He navigated to the system store's search function and typed in a simple query: FTL drives.

The results populated immediately. Dozens of different drive systems appeared, each with detailed specifications, performance metrics, and compatibility information.

The variety was impressive—hyperdrives, jump drives, fold-space engines, dimensional tunneling systems, and more exotic options he'd never heard of.

But Liam knew exactly what he was looking for.

Lucy had created a warp drive prototype that functioned by bending space-time around a spacecraft, allowing it to effectively move faster than light without actually violating relativity.

It was brilliant work, especially considering she'd done it with minimal reference material. But it wasn't perfect yet. The power requirements were enormous, and the navigation systems required refinement.

A perfected warp drive would solve all those problems.

The warp drive is the best option, because it's more flexible than the others, and it's easier too. Also, he has the dormant network of naturally formed, stable wormholes, that connects the entire galaxy. He intends to activate the wormhole network later but to that, he will need a couple of perfected warp drives.

Liam scrolled through the options until he found what he needed and he made the purchase, exchanging $850 million for 85,000 System Points.

After making the purchase, the drive materialized.

It appeared in the space directly in front of them—a massive cylindrical device roughly the size of a small car. The exterior was smooth metallic gray, covered in intricate patterns that might have been decorative or might have been functional components at scales too small to distinguish.

Liam caught it with telekinesis before the moon's gravity could pull it toward it's surface. The drive floated there, suspended by his will.

Lucy reacted immediately. She sent a silent command through her connection to the facility's systems, and a dozen construction drones detached from their current tasks. They flew toward the floating drive with perfect coordination, their manipulator arms extending to grasp it gently.

Liam released his telekinetic hold, allowing the drones to take the weight. They descended slowly, carrying the drive toward a specialized examination bay where Lucy could begin studying its design.

Lucy turned to her master, her expression carrying genuine gratitude. "Thank you, master. This will accelerate my research significantly. With a working example to analyze, I should be able to identify the flaws in my current design and correct them."

Liam smiled and patted her head again. "Keep me updated on your progress with everything."

"I will," Lucy promised. She tilted her head slightly, enjoying the head pat for another moment before continuing. "I've already begun work on the defensive and offensive orbital platforms while simultaneously expanding the Lunar Base production facilities."

"Good," Liam said. He gave her one final pat, then stepped back. "I'm going to take my leave now."

Lucy nodded, a small smile on her face. "Take care of yourself, master."

"I will,' Liam smiled. He patted her head one more time and vanished.

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