"Leave this subordinate of yours here with me. I'll tell him something about the Primarchs, and he can also be my sparring partner," Horus said.
Transforming into the Dark Giant for battle truly required a powerful opponent. But just fighting an incarnation of the Emperor wasn't quite enough for him—if he added this bio-weapon into the mix, it would be about right.
In Horus' mind, all those cosmic beings summoned by Rhodes were just biological weapons.
After all, what kind of cosmic race—or xenos—would possess such enormous and fantastical abilities? If there was only one, sure, but if every individual was like that, the galaxy would be in chaos.
"No problem! He's the combat type anyway. Just go easy on him when you're fighting. Your transformed Dark Giant is final boss level—terrifyingly strong," Rhodes replied.
"Don't worry! With the two of them fighting me at once, I'll have some fun. Plus, it'll help me get more used to the power of the Dark Giant," said Horus.
Whether fighting himself in human form or giant form, these two would both be excellent opponents.
The Emperor's incarnation would also give him a sense that his father was always by his side.
This incarnation of the Emperor must be related to his father; it had to be his father who helped Rhodes develop such a powerful bio-weapon.
Rhodes nodded. Telling him about the Primarchs was just an excuse—the real reason was to find a suitable sparring partner!
As for the Emperor's incarnation, Horus probably wouldn't go all out fighting him.
A total of 1.3 million system coins had been spent; now Rhodes still had 400,000 system coins left.
Out of these 400,000 coins, 100,000 would be reserved for a 100x draw at the basic shop.
250,000 coins would be used to enhance the powers of Mefilas stationed at the Orks Ranch for a third time, making its psychic abilities even stronger.
Mefilas was the fourth monster Rhodes had chosen to enhance. Its psychic powers were just too useful—whenever Rhodes had spare coins, he would prioritize enhancing it.
For the 100,000 coin draw, Rhodes chose mechanical monsters. The basic system shop didn't yield a mystery gift box, but it did complete his set of two mechanical monsters: one was Ultra Seven, and the other was a new King Joe robot.
This King Joe robot could itself be enhanced into a terrifying giant over 100 meters tall, and it also came with its own Pedan spaceship.
Moreover, it was upgradeable, able to reach the level of the most powerful motherships.
This King Joe was a worthwhile draw.
Rhodes considered the future—he'd let Belisarius Cawl, the Archmagos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, take a look and see if it was possible to fuse two top-level motherships into a single ship.
If they could combine, the resulting ship should be about the size of the smallest Eldar craftworld.
This time, the Ultra Seven he drew wasn't made by the Yapool people, but by the Salomeans.
It stood 40 meters tall and weighed tons.
Except for some mechanical features on the waist and legs, the rest looked almost identical to the original Ultraman Seven, with all stats equal to the TV version of Seven.
It could use Emerium Ray, head boomerang, and beam cluster techniques!
Its ultra armor could be upgraded five times, with each successive upgrade costing more; the final upgrade cost 10,000 coins and boosted Ultra Seven to about 60 meters tall.
Ultra Seven had two beam skills that could be enhanced: one was the Emerium Mother Ray and the other was a powerful cluster ray.
The Emerium Ray, fired from the head timer, was a relatively low-consumption skill and could be upgraded three times—each upgrade increased its power and range. The first upgrade cost 2,000 coins, the second 5,000, and the third 10,000.
The cluster ray was a heavy consumption, killer move type skill, upgradable three times: first time 10,000 coins, second 20,000, third 30,000.
The first upgrade didn't increase power or range but reduced its energy consumption so Ultra Seven could use it more than twice in battle.
The second upgrade increased power and range; the third reduced cluster ray's consumption to normal beam levels, with a massive power and range boost.
The head crest could be enhanced twice, costing 5,000 coins—it could be imbued with energy, greatly increasing its cutting power and speed. The second upgrade costs 10,000 coins and let the user control the crest freely by thought.
All in all, the upgrades were solid. Rhodes didn't plan to send this Ultra Seven to the Ork Ranch for now—he'd rather keep it on hand.
For now, he wouldn't upgrade it. Rhodes figured he'd wait until he found a Tyranid fleet to farm some points since the upgrade opportunities for Ultra warriors were precious and couldn't be wasted—they had to be used wisely.
The last 50,000 coins Rhodes kept in reserve for emergencies.
After exchanging for all the monsters, Rhodes opened his mystery gift box. After a flash of light, an enormous book appeared before him.
It was a massive book, about 15 meters tall and 10 meters wide—the kind that only giant beings could read.
The book was lavishly decorated, with a silver cover and golden trim, and an enormous bull-like cosmic phantom beast engraved on its face.
Its name was The Complete Manual of Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist, containing the training methods of every Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist technique.
The Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist was a martial art mastered by the phantom beast fighters of Planet D60 in the Draco constellation, renowned throughout the universe and practiced by many cosmic martial artists.
The basic level of the Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist was open to any humanoid lifeform, with no special requirements—if you wanted to learn, you could.
The intermediate level was for large-scale lifeforms.
Only cosmic beings capable of giantification could train in this martial art, which greatly enhanced their hand-to-hand combat skills and fighting power.
The highest level had strict requirements.
To train in the advanced Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist, you needed to sign a contract with the appropriate cosmic phantom beast—otherwise, you could only use the basic techniques and wouldn't be able to access the advanced forms or special abilities of the corresponding beast.
Several cosmic phantom beasts resided within the book. Only by earning their recognition could you perform their respective techniques.
No mistakes—each and every one was present in the book!
Currently, the book housed the Cosmic White Tiger, Cosmic Red Dragon, Cosmic Black Tortoise, Cosmic Phoenix, Cosmic Vermilion Bird, Cosmic Azure Dragon, Cosmic Phantom Water Serpent, Cosmic Frozen Leopard, Cosmic Flying Crane, Cosmic Giant Mantis, Cosmic Python, and the strongest: the Cosmic Giant Water Buffalo.
Rhodes was surprised—not only were the beasts from the original story present, but also several others!
This Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist was a newly introduced concept in the Ultra universe, first demonstrated by Little Taurus.
But honestly, Little Taurus's Power Break Bull Fist was a bit underwhelming, only comparable to some finishing moves from Tiga's enhanced form.
The other users of the Cosmic Phantom Beast Fist were also strong—even without the beasts' recognition, just using the basic techniques made them formidable.
Regulos, for instance, fused with several cosmic beasts and could use a variety of techniques, and the Leo brothers had also studied the Phantom Beast Fist on that planet in their youth—Leo's incredible martial arts skills were largely thanks to this training.
But the true essence of the technique was fusing with the corresponding cosmic beast.
Rhodes could already picture himself striking a pose before a Tyranid or Chaos fleet, then unleashing a Power Break Bull Fist and obliterating the enemy ships!
He'd better not embarrass himself by pulling a weak version of Little Taurus—destroying a city instead of a fleet would be pretty shameful.
Rhodes opened the book—the first half introduced the basics of the various techniques, while the second half contained the cosmic phantom beasts themselves; each one's corresponding technique would only unlock once they accepted a master.
Any being recognized by a cosmic phantom beast and inhabited by it would have its life level elevated, becoming a super lifeform with a lifespan of millions of years and the ability to become gigantic—their entire life level would be enhanced.
No way—getting a cosmic phantom beast's recognition grants you the ability to become gigantic and ascend your life level.
But thinking back, it made sense. On Planet D60, there were also some small-sized cosmic beings, but only the few recognized by the phantom beasts were giants.
As for those who came to study, apart from Regulos and Little Taurus, most never gained the beasts' recognition.
And the martial arts masters weren't just any cosmic race, but natives of that planet—these life-level-raising beasts were something.
When Rhodes touched the book, several pieces of information appeared in his mind—the cosmic phantom beasts inside had self-awareness.