Alex spent his days mining and collecting all the resources he could take with him. Even he was surprised by how large a space he had for all the resources.
Only after harvesting more than enough to fun an entire system for years did he come to a stop, even then, there were still many more remaining.
He did manage to collect some of the minerals that only appeared in certain regions like the tundra and volcanic regions.
He also collected a few rare ones from the oceans after putting kraken-level threats in their place. He was more powerful than any creature on the planet.
Back in his humble abode, Alex was grilling fish for dinner while Xex made an estimate of the wealth he gathered.
[Excluding the materials you'll need for your armour and your friend's, that leaves you with a total wealth of 46.12 trillion empyrean points.]
Alex felt his breath hitch from the shocking amount. "That's a lot of money."
[Yes, for the average person. But for someone like you and the responsibilities you're bound to get as you grow stronger, it might as well be chicken change.]
"Seriously?"
Alex was flabbergasted. How was trillions of empyrean points chicken change?
"Are you sure you're not getting ahead of yourself?" He swallowed.
[It's clear that you'll be getting much, much stronger in the future as with your current abilities, you can venture into veiled spaces and cultivate whenever. That means, sooner or later, you'll be an S-tier hunter.]
"And that means probably getting a territory along with its responsibilities.
[Exactly.]
"Well, no one ever said I can't get more once I'm out." He shrugged. "Also, bringing in too much into the economy could cause problems."
[Glad you saw that yourself.]
Xex could almost feel pride surging in his program. It was akin to a father being proud of his son's achievement.
As the two continued their talks, Alex suddenly frowned and looked up, his vision breaking through the stones and piercing the skies till it settled on a large void creature coming straight for the planet.
He only noticed the creature coming because of its overwhelming aura that reached all the way to his hideout.
"We've got company." He muttered and swiftly put his armour on. In an instant, he reached outer space as he floated before the gigantic planet.
[Alex… That's an A-tier void creature.]
Xex pointed out, his voice almost sounding afraid.
"Mm. I can see that." Alex replied.
The thing was he didn't feel any danger from the void creature at all. A small smile graced his features.
'I haven't even faced a C-tier void creature but here I am about to face an A-tier. This is my chance to test my limit.'
For whatever reason, this Class A void creature was coming for the planet Alex settled on. The void creature was as large as Earth's moon and resembled a draconic monster with sharp claws and fangs.
Alex could tell the creature was staring right at him, its eyes glowing a bluish-purple along with its opened maws blazing with flames of the same colour.
*GROWL…*
'I can it growl even in the vacuum of space?' He was shocked.
"Xex, did you hear the creature growl?"
[Negative. But if you can, then it means you've become sensitive enough to detect the vibrations that travel via mana as a medium. It's an ability Class S hunters have.]
"I see… Another plus side of my new strength." Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised as if he could see all the way to outer space, hearing should be common sense.
[Though, I will advise you to be careful. Class A void creatures are monsters among monsters as only Class S hunters are able to deal with them.]
Alex nodded in understanding and abruptly dodged a powerful jet stream of blueish-purple flames that arrived from millions of kilometres away from him.
He watched in a state where everything appeared to have slowed down as the flame zoomed past him and headed straight for the planet.
*CRACKLE!*
*BOOOOOOOOOM!!*
The powerful flames tore right through the planet, engulfing it in a sea of flames that folded in on itself and eventually exploded in a powerful blast, sending large debris everywhere at incredible speeds.
The shockwaves and energy released whipped against Alex, but he did not budge from his position, taking in everything with a calm gaze.
'Impressive firepower.'
He turned towards the creature that moved towards him the moment it fired that attack.
Before the creature, Alex appeared as nothing more than a speck of dust; something too insignificant to matter.
'But…'
Alex conjured a spear from his abilities as his material weapon could only fare against F-tier to C-tier. He brandished the spear in his right hand and took a throwing stance in the void.
'You'll have to do better than that!'
In a split second, the void creature was almost upon Alex, leaving only a small distance of about 400,000 km between them.
The mana vortexes in his body spun faster and faster as he felt his physical strength increase exponentially and then unleashed the spear.
*WHOOSH!*
Even in the absence of air, the spear sounded like it cut through the atmosphere at insane speeds, reaching the flaming maws of the void creature.
The spear looked like an almost invisible streak of light against the creature and plunged right through into the void creature's mouth.
*ZING!*
Alex heard the sound of his light spear tear through the creature and came out from the back as the spear continued its trajectory to who knows where.
The spear left a gaping hole the size of a train tunnel, but against the creature, it might as well be nonexistent.
Even then…
*…GROWL…!!!*
The draconic void creature let out an agonizing growl that disturbed its charge. The attack was not enough to kill it, but it created the opening Alex needed to do a follow-up.
Another wave of his hand conjured a large sword that felt as light as a feather in his hand. He then burst with a speed that was almost akin to a teleport and arrived before the void creature.
Unfortunately for him, it was going to take more than a few sword skills to bring down Star Systems Destroyers.