"Steal from the Contained Villain?" Earth Star turned silent in response. When he faced Compass Carburettor before, he already couldn't sense the depth of the other party's strength.
And once he came to learn of the other party's existence as the legendary Contained Villain, he couldn't believe his eyes. But, if that had been all, when Stencil gave him a mission to steal Compass Carburettor's wristwatch, he would have accepted it without a change in expression.
With his latest enlightenment, he was confident enough to at least steal without alerting the other party. But once Stencil had revealed her full backstory, he wasn't confident anymore.
'This is the entity claimed as the most terrifying Main Character to date.' He thought and stared at Stencil, 'Even in the presence of so many terrifying entities, he still managed to protect her with limited strength. That's beyond terrifying. It's straight-up nightmarish.'
'And I need to steal from him?' For a moment, his head spun as he felt like all the blood in his brain had rushed into his toes, urging him to just up and run away from all this.
"Will he know about this mission?" He then asked after regaining his bearings, "Would he be okay with me stealing his item?"
"He'll probably try to kill you once you attempt to steal the wristwatch." Stencil said casually, "After all, it's an important item given to him by Hazen. It is the catalyst he's preparing to cure my curse of infinite regression, you see. Stealing it is akin to preventing my cure from being developed."
"So, I'll definitely die. He seemed like someone that could see through everything with a mere glance." Earth Star sighed in response, "I think he would figure out my motives the moment I go anywhere near him."
"Yup, that's child's play for him. But," Stencil smiled in response, "You need to be able to steal from him for you to protect this world from our enemies. If Arnark were to arrive, my dad would be engaged in a battle with him and wouldn't be able to protect us. A Grade 3 System would take all my attention, which would mean…"
"There won't be anyone else to protect this world." Earth Star completed her sentence, "I understand. I'll try my best to steal the wristwatch and survive."
"Good," Stencil nodded before sighing as she said, "You see, my dad, he's always worried about my well-being. Even when I possess this much power, he still wishes to solve my problems."
She arrived before Earth Star and patted him, "But, if you're able to succeed, it'll be the best way I can prove myself to him. I can finally say to him,"
"You needn't worry about me, dad. I can protect myself."
"So," She stared at Earth Star, "I hope you succeed. I want my dad to live a life for himself and not endlessly sacrifice his everything just for my sake."
Earth Star kneeled in response, "I'll do everything in my power to succeed, Lady Genesis."
"Stencil." She corrected him, "When we're alone, just call me by my name."
She let out a cheerful smile akin to a teenager—which she currently was at the moment—as she patted his shoulder, "I'll pray for your success."
"Yes," Earth Star nodded in response when his dragon plushie brought him back to the Hero Association Headquarters.
"So, what do you think?" The dragon plushie asked, nudging him on the shoulder, "Are you satisfied now? You're the only person to know this much. Even Platinum Head only knows about the existence of Systems and her body condition. You're the only one to be aware of her past too."
"It is a burden, but one that I'm willing to shoulder." Earth Star said before closing his eyes to focus, now able to sense countless energy waves.
Light, heat, sound, gravitational waves, electrostatic and electromagnetic radiation, etc. Every single type of radiation a planet or star was capable of, he tuned into them, using his expansive senses to observe the various energy fluctuations around him.
Gradually, he came across a starlight stream, extending his hand to grab hold of it, watching it collapse like a sand castle and be absorbed by the world. 'I see, my innate power is to be a celestial entity myself as well as harness the power of the universe around me.'
He got up and followed a Mental Energy stream to its source, noticing it vanish after a second. He was confused at the start before recalling Stencil's words regarding it, 'Mental Energy is generated by thoughts. So, as the targets change, the Mental Energy moves accordingly too.'
Thinking as such, he arrived at the crowded reception of the Hero Association Headquarters, staring at the thousands of Mental Energy streams flashing all around him. At that moment, he observed an intern rushing through the lobby with a stack of papers, tumbling to the ground when he lost balance.
Upon feeling that the content was precious enough to be damaged by the fall—as it would be stomped by the people moving in a hurry—in this lobby, Earth Star unleashed a wave of gravity that acted against the intern, cancelling the momentum that would result in his fall.
"Hmm?" He noticed a stream of Mental Energy flow out of him and slam into the intern. But as the target didn't have the means to absorb Mental Energy, it simply dissipated a few moments later.
But that allowed him to understand, 'So, my thoughts would generate Mental Energy towards the target. Those specialised in observing and processing it would understand all my thoughts easily.'
'No wonder the Systems are terrifying. But,' He closed his eyes and focused on the Mental Energy streams, using his power to harness the universe around him. And since Mental Energy was an innate component generated by the people living on the earth, he was eventually able to interact with them.
Following that, he unleased a gravitational flux, gently morphing it around his body as he directed a thought towards the intern, watching the Mental Energy stream gush out of his body and travel towards the intern, its path smudging a bit within the gravitational flux, 'It seems to be effective.'
He then altered the gravitational flux and unleashed another Mental Energy stream, watching it distort a little this time before reaching its target.
"Interesting," He smiled at the result and continued to experiment.
