This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

With her mission accomplished, Serena found an excuse to leave—much to the dismay of Roman. He leaned back in his chair, a glint of frustration barely masked by his smirk as she rose gracefully from the table.

"Leaving already, Lily? The night's still young," Roman called after her, probably in a tone that he considered charming, but was just irritating to Serena and clearly showed his possessiveness.

Serena didn't falter, her mask concealing any hint of discomfort as she turned slightly, offering a polite but curt smile. "I've seen enough for one night. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Silverhart."

When it seemed Roman might stoop so low as to gesture for one of the guards to block her path, Kain acted swiftly. Through the split now connected to Roman, he had Bea subtly control the man's thoughts, redirecting his attention. Roman's hand, which had been halfway to signalling at a guard, fell back to his lap, his gaze growing momentarily unfocused.

"Suit yourself," Roman muttered after a beat, brushing off the moment with a slightly slurred voice, as if the various substances available in the club were finally getting to him.

The ease with which Roman relented surprised even his entourage, who exchanged confused glances. Kain, watching from a distance, smirked faintly.

Seeing how surprised his entourage was, Kain and the others could tell that he is not one to typically take no for an answer from women. Although surprised, the members of Roman's group chose to not mention it to spare his pride.

Once he and Lina had left the club and met up again with Serena, Kain turned his focus to the information transmitted by Bea.

Now connected to Roman's mind, Bea was sifting carefully through memories to uncover anything of value. Scenes flickered past like shards of glass—parties, meetings with other elite figures, clandestine exchanges of information... and then something more significant.

The image of a polished laboratory flashed vividly. Roman had stood in the center of a high-tech room, his usual swagger replaced by an almost reserved attentiveness of a student before their professor as a scientist presented their findings to him.

Apparently, unlike Heather, Roman was offered a "sponsor's showcase" where the laboratory would present its most recent results to Roman. This was enough to confirm what Kain had already thought, for whatever reason this organization seemed to value Roman a lot more than they did Heather. She was a lower-level pawn that never got the opportunity to see anything related to the research.

Kain dug deeper. The showcase was an event scheduled two weeks from now, an opportunity for Roman to witness firsthand the results of the research his generous funding had enabled. Therefore, as long as Kain and the others waited for this so-called showcase, they would be directly brought to the laboratory.

When Kain resurfaced from Roman's thoughts, Bea relayed the new intel to the group. "We have a solid lead," she said. "But the bad news is... we're stuck waiting for two weeks. Roman has no way to naturally make direct contact with the lab until the showcase."

The team groaned collectively. Two weeks of idle waiting while people could be experimented on and dying was frustrating.

However, back at their base, Kain was determined not to waste the downtime. "I'm going to use this time to break through to four-stars," he declared, his determination clear.

Lina perked up and nodded happily. After all, she wasn't meant to be the main combat force of this mission, so the stronger her partners were, the better and safer it was for her.

Seeing her agreement, Kain turned warily toward Serena. Her icy glare met his gaze, her crossed arms radiating silent fury. Clearly she had not let go of him using her as bait…

He cleared his throat, opting for diplomacy. "Serena... I'd appreciate it if you refrained from any acts of vengeance while I'm breaking through."

Her lips quirked into the faintest smirk before she rolled her eyes. "Relax, Kain. I know when it's the appropriate time to settle personal matters. You're safe... for now."

Her response, though not entirely reassuring, was enough to allow Kain to focus.

He went to the room previously used by Lina, since he would be too easily disturbed if he were to remain in the living room. Lina, likely intimidated by Serena presence, offered to take the couch instead of pushing her way into sharing the other bedroom with Serena.

Closing his eyes, his consciousness sank into his star space, where the shining light of three stars in a row plus a fourth dimmer planet were silently suspended in a triangular formation, with the sole planet acting as the single point far from the base composed of three stars.

During his previous breakthrough, the planet Kain believed to be related to his gift had formed. He wondered if this breakthrough will also bring any changes to it.

Steeling his mind, Kain drew in a deep breath and began. The process was familiar but no less daunting, especially due to the much greater amount of spiritual power that surged through his body.

The spiritual power, now a bright yellow only slightly tinged with orange, was far denser than what he had worked with during his third breakthrough. The strain was immediate, and Kain clenched his teeth as he guided the energy in his star space to a single location to begin the delicate task of condensing it.

He focused on gathering the energy at an equidistant point from his existing stars, aiming to form a stable fourth. But just as before, resistance emerged.

The same strange force originating from the planet that he'd encountered during his third breakthrough pulled spiritual power towards itself, complicating his efforts.

This time, however, the resistance was more aggressive, likely due to it being fully formed and much greater in power, compared to when it was just being born.

The spiritual energy he directed seemed to flow backward at times, dispersing chaotically and threatening to destabilize the entire process.

Kain didn't panic. He'd been here before. He just needed to stay focused. He adjusted his approach to the one reminiscent of what he'd adopted during the formation of his third star.

Yet the resistance only grew stronger as spiritual power kept getting drawn to the planet. The once-silent orb began to emit a faint hum, its surface glowing softly as streaks of spiritual energy coiled around it like tendrils of light.

'What now?' Kain grumbled already exhausted by this strenuous process that had already been going on for who knows how long. His frustration was mounting. But even as he considered ignoring the planet and focusing solely on the star, an instinctual voice in the back of his mind stopped him.

The planet was reacting to the spiritual energy, just as it had during his third breakthrough. This time, though, the reaction felt more deliberate, as if the planet itself was alive and...hungry.

Kain shifted his focus. Instead of resisting the pull of the planet, he allowed a small amount of spiritual energy to flow toward it. The reaction was immediate.

The planet absorbed the energy greedily, and its surface grew brighter, the swirling colours of white, green, brown and blue on the planet grew more vivid. Moreover, the resistance within his star space lessened slightly, enough for him to regain control.

Kain carefully allocated a portion of the spiritual energy to the planet while continuing to condense the core of his fourth star. The process was delicate, requiring him to balance the demands of the planet and the star simultaneously. Enjoy new chapters from empire

However, Kain was worried about the planet's demands for spiritual power would impact the size and quality of his fourth star. Thankfully, after allowing for a momentary laps in concentration to send a portion of his consciousness to his equipment, he was able to activate the instant refill of his spiritual power.

It looks like in the future, Kain would need to always have equipment capable of restoring his spiritual power nearby when attempting future breakthroughs due to the planet in his star space.

Hours—or perhaps days—passed in this timeless expanse. Kain's mind ached from the effort, his concentration was pushed to its limits. Yet as the fourth star began to take shape, the planet also underwent a transformation. It had almost doubled in size, and now somewhat dwarfed the stars meant to house his spiritual contracts.

With one last surge of willpower, Kain compressed the spiritual energy into a stable form. The fourth star emitting a brilliant glow finally stabilized, its bright yellow light pulsed rhythmically. The strain in the space vanished, replaced by a harmonious balance as the fourth star settled into place.

Exhausted, Kain turned his attention to the planet. The planet's massive size seemed to inadvertently have another effect on the space.

The smaller stars housing Bea, Eve, Aegis, and soon his fourth contract, orbited the planet in a synchronized dance, the various colours emanating off of them casting an aurora-like effect on the surface of the planet.

Moreover, he could feel a deeper connection to the planet than ever before. It pulsed faintly, almost as if acknowledging his presence…as if it had some slight consciousness.

For now, though, Kain was far too drained to delve further into its mysteries. His mind left the star space, returning to the physical world. As his eyes fluttered open, he felt the ache of his body from not moving for days. His surroundings were quiet, save for the muffled sounds of his companions in the living room.

He reached for a ration from his space ring and ate mechanically, before promptly falling asleep in an exhausted heap.