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Chapter 296: The Collector
"I hardly know how to thank you."
Maxima looked at Orin Vale with a flicker in her eyes, the shimmering light within them could almost be called tenderness.
That is, if it weren't coming from a fierce princess with a nearly stalwart physique who had just torn a warship apart with her bare hands.
"I know you never ask for anything in return; you only fight for justice in the universe. Almerac truly has nothing that might interest you right now, so after much thought, I'm afraid the only way is to offer my—"
"That won't be necessary."
Orin Vale skillfully interrupted her declaration while nonchalantly dodging to the side. His timing was precise; at almost the same instant, Maxima had, intentionally or not, started to fall toward him. But he dodged too quickly, and Her Highness the Princess missed, crashing headfirst into the wall.
Orin Vale's face was expressionless. "So, when did the Apokoliptians start showing up?"
"It's been a while."
Maxima pulled her head out of the hole she had made in the wall, looking completely unfazed as if nothing had just happened.
Zazo was quite cooperative after surrendering, telling them everything he knew, whether they asked or not. But honestly, he didn't know much.
It was a bit like when Intergang collaborated with Apokolips. The forces from there liked to send a representative, with all equipment, transport, and technical support provided via Boom Tube. They would basically just open a portal, put on a show to establish their presence, and sometimes drop off some equipment before leaving.
All their meetings were through portals, so asking these supported puppets where their benefactors were was pointless.
But Zazo did describe the contact's appearance. The liaison seemed to be a high-ranking official from Apokolips, cloaked in a robe, with a face like a mummified corpse—withered and gaunt, a deeply unsettling sight...
"Desaad?" Orin Vale immediately connected that image with the higher-ups of Apokolips.
"Who's that?" Maxima asked curiously.
"A New God of Apokolips. He's not particularly strong, but he's full of cunning schemes," Orin Vale said with a slight frown.
In fact, if he had to choose, he would rather face an avatar of Darkseid than Desaad. This kind of villain, who hides and schemes, is far more troublesome to deal with.
"I need to search Almerac, a blanket search," Orin Vale said. "Inform your people not to get in the way. I need to confirm that Desaad isn't hiding here."
"No problem." Maxima thumped her chest, causing it to wobble, then silently fell toward him again. "You've done so much for our nation. I have no way to repay you, except..."
Without even turning his head, Orin Vale's body shifted sideways, and Maxima crashed into empty air once more.
"Right, while you're at it, get me a laboratory," Orin Vale added.
He figured since he was already here, he might as well collect knowledge of Almerac's technology tree to enrich his database. Although it certainly couldn't compare to high-end civilizations like Brainiac's or Apokolips's, it was still considered quite capable in the Milky Way. It would be good to learn from their technological system to enrich his inventory.
"Of course, no problem. You can have free rein over all our laboratories and the equipment within," Maxima said magnanimously, then winked. "Even... if you want to see something outside the laboratory, that's not out of the question..."
Orin Vale once again strangely sidestepped, evading her next sneak attack, while nodding earnestly, "Then, thank you very much."
A passing recruit behind them saw the Princess's actions and couldn't help but rub his eyes.
"I must have gotten hit harder on the battlefield than I thought..." he muttered to himself.
A veteran clapped him on the shoulder. "It's fine, this is normal. You'll get used to it."
It was a long-standing quirk of their princess to get wide-eyed whenever she heard about a capable man; they were all used to it by now.
Meanwhile, outside Almerac.
A colossal warship glided silently through the cosmic expanse, a nearly perfect camouflage system rendering it invisible. Several scanners swept slowly over the planet again and again, and massive amounts of data flowed through tentacle-like cables into a spherical device at the center of the spaceship.
It was a chair.
The master of the warship, a semi-biological, mechanical being, sat enthroned in the center of the chair, with thick, black cables connected to his head and the chair itself. Countless fine streams of data scrolled across his eyeballs as he digested and analyzed the information.
He was the collector of civilizations, a renowned collector in the universe. His name struck fear into countless worlds.
He was Brainiac.
He had been to Earth once before. That could be called an avatar, but it could also be considered his true form. Because Brainiac never had just one specific body; he was a fusion of organism and program, a lifeform born from artificial intelligence.
Therefore, every invasion could be considered his personal arrival.
His last failure on Earth had piqued his interest as a collector. But not in Earth's civilization, but rather in the various aliens who had gathered on that planet by chance.
And, of course, especially that unknown race called Ultraman.
Now, it was once again the trajectory of that light that attracted Brainiac—or rather, a body shell of his that happened to be nearby had come here.
"He's become stronger, and faster. Projecting Light outside his body, constructing it into any desired shape... the method of application is similar to that of the Emotional Spectrum... interesting."
Brainiac's eyes flickered as data and information flashed rapidly through his mind.
"Not much time has passed, but he's clearly gotten stronger," Brainiac murmured. "No, it's not just an increase in Strength and base attributes. His Energy manipulation has also touched upon some other high-level Laws?"
Insufficient data, requires further observation. This part is pending...
But he has definitely grown stronger, on both a physical and knowledge-based level, of that there is no doubt. Updating data... the target not only possesses powerful innate talent, but more astonishingly, a learning ability comparable to an artificial intelligence..."
As a supreme intelligence who had destroyed his own creators, Brainiac firmly believed that organic beings had innate intellectual flaws and could never reach the highest level of intelligence. So for him to say "comparable to an artificial intelligence" was already high praise.
In DC Comics lore, intelligence is actually a part of the base attributes, with a maximum of twelve levels. And intelligence is not simply equivalent to computer-like processing speed and brain capacity. For example, Superman possesses a Super Brain and can think and learn many things quickly, but the intelligence points on his talent sheet are not high.
And Brainiac is one of the few beings in the entire Multiverse who possesses a Twelfth Level intellect.
"Update strategy, re-evaluate decision. It is necessary to accelerate collection. Allowing him to continue will cause the difficulty of containment to rise exponentially."
Brainiac disconnected the link, and a red glow flashed in his eyes.
"I need... a trap."
(end of chapter)
"I hardly know how to thank you."
Maxima looked at Orin Vale with a flicker in her eyes, the shimmering light within them could almost be called tenderness.
That is, if it weren't coming from a fierce princess with a nearly stalwart physique who had just torn a warship apart with her bare hands.
"I know you never ask for anything in return; you only fight for justice in the universe. Almerac truly has nothing that might interest you right now, so after much thought, I'm afraid the only way is to offer my—"
"That won't be necessary."
Orin Vale skillfully interrupted her declaration while nonchalantly dodging to the side. His timing was precise; at almost the same instant, Maxima had, intentionally or not, started to fall toward him. But he dodged too quickly, and Her Highness the Princess missed, crashing headfirst into the wall.
Orin Vale's face was expressionless. "So, when did the Apokoliptians start showing up?"
"It's been a while."
Maxima pulled her head out of the hole she had made in the wall, looking completely unfazed as if nothing had just happened.
Zazo was quite cooperative after surrendering, telling them everything he knew, whether they asked or not. But honestly, he didn't know much.
It was a bit like when Intergang collaborated with Apokolips. The forces from there liked to send a representative, with all equipment, transport, and technical support provided via Boom Tube. They would basically just open a portal, put on a show to establish their presence, and sometimes drop off some equipment before leaving.
All their meetings were through portals, so asking these supported puppets where their benefactors were was pointless.
But Zazo did describe the contact's appearance. The liaison seemed to be a high-ranking official from Apokolips, cloaked in a robe, with a face like a mummified corpse—withered and gaunt, a deeply unsettling sight...
"Desaad?" Orin Vale immediately connected that image with the higher-ups of Apokolips.
"Who's that?" Maxima asked curiously.
"A New God of Apokolips. He's not particularly strong, but he's full of cunning schemes," Orin Vale said with a slight frown.
In fact, if he had to choose, he would rather face an avatar of Darkseid than Desaad. This kind of villain, who hides and schemes, is far more troublesome to deal with.
"I need to search Almerac, a blanket search," Orin Vale said. "Inform your people not to get in the way. I need to confirm that Desaad isn't hiding here."
"No problem." Maxima thumped her chest, causing it to wobble, then silently fell toward him again. "You've done so much for our nation. I have no way to repay you, except..."
Without even turning his head, Orin Vale's body shifted sideways, and Maxima crashed into empty air once more.
"Right, while you're at it, get me a laboratory," Orin Vale added.
He figured since he was already here, he might as well collect knowledge of Almerac's technology tree to enrich his database. Although it certainly couldn't compare to high-end civilizations like Brainiac's or Apokolips's, it was still considered quite capable in the Milky Way. It would be good to learn from their technological system to enrich his inventory.
"Of course, no problem. You can have free rein over all our laboratories and the equipment within," Maxima said magnanimously, then winked. "Even... if you want to see something outside the laboratory, that's not out of the question..."
Orin Vale once again strangely sidestepped, evading her next sneak attack, while nodding earnestly, "Then, thank you very much."
A passing recruit behind them saw the Princess's actions and couldn't help but rub his eyes.
"I must have gotten hit harder on the battlefield than I thought..." he muttered to himself.
A veteran clapped him on the shoulder. "It's fine, this is normal. You'll get used to it."
It was a long-standing quirk of their princess to get wide-eyed whenever she heard about a capable man; they were all used to it by now.
Meanwhile, outside Almerac.
A colossal warship glided silently through the cosmic expanse, a nearly perfect camouflage system rendering it invisible. Several scanners swept slowly over the planet again and again, and massive amounts of data flowed through tentacle-like cables into a spherical device at the center of the spaceship.
It was a chair.
The master of the warship, a semi-biological, mechanical being, sat enthroned in the center of the chair, with thick, black cables connected to his head and the chair itself. Countless fine streams of data scrolled across his eyeballs as he digested and analyzed the information.
He was the collector of civilizations, a renowned collector in the universe. His name struck fear into countless worlds.
He was Brainiac.
He had been to Earth once before. That could be called an avatar, but it could also be considered his true form. Because Brainiac never had just one specific body; he was a fusion of organism and program, a lifeform born from artificial intelligence.
Therefore, every invasion could be considered his personal arrival.
His last failure on Earth had piqued his interest as a collector. But not in Earth's civilization, but rather in the various aliens who had gathered on that planet by chance.
And, of course, especially that unknown race called Ultraman.
Now, it was once again the trajectory of that light that attracted Brainiac—or rather, a body shell of his that happened to be nearby had come here.
"He's become stronger, and faster. Projecting Light outside his body, constructing it into any desired shape... the method of application is similar to that of the Emotional Spectrum... interesting."
Brainiac's eyes flickered as data and information flashed rapidly through his mind.
"Not much time has passed, but he's clearly gotten stronger," Brainiac murmured. "No, it's not just an increase in Strength and base attributes. His Energy manipulation has also touched upon some other high-level Laws?"
Insufficient data, requires further observation. This part is pending...
But he has definitely grown stronger, on both a physical and knowledge-based level, of that there is no doubt. Updating data... the target not only possesses powerful innate talent, but more astonishingly, a learning ability comparable to an artificial intelligence..."
As a supreme intelligence who had destroyed his own creators, Brainiac firmly believed that organic beings had innate intellectual flaws and could never reach the highest level of intelligence. So for him to say "comparable to an artificial intelligence" was already high praise.
In DC Comics lore, intelligence is actually a part of the base attributes, with a maximum of twelve levels. And intelligence is not simply equivalent to computer-like processing speed and brain capacity. For example, Superman possesses a Super Brain and can think and learn many things quickly, but the intelligence points on his talent sheet are not high.
And Brainiac is one of the few beings in the entire Multiverse who possesses a Twelfth Level intellect.
"Update strategy, re-evaluate decision. It is necessary to accelerate collection. Allowing him to continue will cause the difficulty of containment to rise exponentially."
Brainiac disconnected the link, and a red glow flashed in his eyes.
"I need... a trap."
(end of chapter)
