Standing in the midst of the dust and the large crater more than large enough to hold an ocean on Earth, Alex straightened his body.
"This will take forever to settle."
He looked at the floating dust and still-falling debris and waved his right hand out. Instantly, a powerful gust of wind broke the sound barrier as all the dust and debris cleared out.
In a five-kilometre radius around Alex, the area became devoid of all dust and rock fragments. It was exactly what he intended to do, but even he was surprised by the results.
"I must admit, I didn't see myself becoming this strong so early."
He may not be very clear on how capable Class B to Class S hunters were, but he believed they were capable of performing similar feats.
"Yet, they live among the masses like normal beings."
Retracting his helm, Alex spread his arms out, closed his eyes and took a deep breath from the fresh air that replaced the vacuum he created.
"Ah… I've missed this."
He muttered and opened his eyes with a smile. But then, he discovered another ability he had.
"Flight too?"
The moment Alex took a deep breath, he lifted off the ground, floating a meter above, completely untethered.
It came as natural as breathing to him, almost like something he was born with.
"Hehehe… Let's test it out!"
Like any being, acquiring the power of flight was a surreal experience no one would put on hold. They would want to explore the skies with their own abilities.
With a thought, Alex took off with a boom, instantly reaching the boundary of the planet. But he didn't stop there as he broke through the atmosphere with ease.
Alex took a risk when he broke through to outer space. But recalling his ability to survive in the veiled space, outer space should be nothing right?
His guess paid off as even when he left the gravitational bounds of the rogue planet, he had no issues of discomfort or suffocation.
'If I recall correctly, surviving in a vacuum is something only Class A and above are capable of. With me doing the same…'
He didn't have to complete that thought as he knew what that meant. Then again, it could be a result of his ability to survive in the void.
'Probably a plus of using void energy.'
He blazed through the vacuum, performing high aerial stunts like they were common skills to pick off the ground.
A few grins and smiles later, he came to a stop in space and faced the planet he just took off from.
'It's many times larger than Jupiter.'
Even being a rogue planet, it was still teeming with plant life and magical beasts. Yes, Alex could see from that distance and could even zoom in if he wished.
'The mana surrounding the planet makes this possible'
Mana wasn't only useful to humans and animals. Planets took their own share and could sustain themselves with that energy even if they were displaced from their stars and orbit.
There were a whole lot of things on the planet and this time, he planned to get some for himself.
He didn't know his family's situation after so many years, and though he knew Julia wouldn't leave them, he knew his father very well.
The magical beasts on the planet were entirely different from what he knew of—they were much bigger and vicious-looking.
Then he turned around to look at the surrounding space. He was too excited to pay attention initially, but after coming down a bit, he could now observe more carefully.
'This entire domain is a mess of chaotic energies and cosmic mana waves.' Alex furrowed his brows. 'There is no way anyone would venture into this area.'
He could even spot some void creatures millions of kilometres in the distance. Then a ding from his system woke him from his thoughts.
"Xex! You're back online!" Alex smiled as a wave of relief washed over him. "I thought you were dead!"
Stuck in the void without his companion was difficult on him and if it weren't for his cultivation taking his focus, he might have gone insane.
In fact, to Alex, everything felt like only a few days, maybe weeks had gone by.
He quickly put his helm back and focused on his HUD.
[I apologize, Alexander. Where you ended up was not suitable for my program to run. But I'm back now, I'll attempt sending a signal out.]
The AI knew exactly what Alex needed as a quick run of the system told him how long Alex had been away from civilization.
It didn't miss the fact that Alex was floating in the void of space with no problems.
"Haa… Yeah." Alex exhaled. "But will you be able to get a signal through this shitstorm?"
[No quit, what I can do is send a wide net SOS message for any antennas out there to detect. The empire has many deep-space antennas floating in random areas in space. If we're lucky, the signal can reach one of them.]
"Do it!"
It was their best shot and Alex didn't care about a maybe. There was a bit of light at the end of his tunnel, and no matter how far it may seem, it was a way.
Flying out of here might take years on end. Only a spaceship with a hyperdrive could reach this place in a shorter time frame.
Then again, getting here might also be a challenge. Not impossible, just challenging. The rampaging energy storms and void creatures might prove to be a problem.
[Of course. You can record a message in the SOS as well…]
Xex included knowing full well what Alex might be going through. It may be a program, but it wasn't insensitive.
"Absolutely!"
He smiled brightly and then turned towards the planet, reaching the surface in a split second. His control over his explosive strength had increased as he landed in a large clearing with a soft thud and sat down.
He noticed how the magical beasts immediately bolted away the moment he arrived but paid no mind.
"Okay, I'm ready." He took a deep breath as Xex popped up a recorder on the screen.
"To anyone out there who receives this message. My name is Alexander Gray… and I'm alive..."