Nova Corps Headquarters Training Facility
Richard stood calmly in the center of the training ground, observing Centurion Farrugia of the Nova Corps positioned more than ten meters away. Nova Prime Blanco, Kaguya, and other senior officers watched from the sidelines.
While the sparring proposal had come from Blanco, it wasn't his decision alone—all present Centurions had agreed to this test. Simply put, they didn't entirely accept the Worldmind's arrangement regarding Richard and Kaguya's authority.
However, regardless of their personal feelings, none dared openly oppose the Worldmind's decisions. The supercomputer wasn't just the Nova Force field's creator but also held supreme energy distribution authority. In other words, the Worldmind could strip Nova Prime Blanco and others of their Nova Force at any time, reducing them to ordinary civilians.
Farrugia, a battle-hardened veteran in his forties, studied Richard with a stern expression and decisively mobilized the Nova Force within his body.
At that moment, Richard's voice rang out clearly.
"Fighting one by one wastes time. Come at me together."
Richard turned toward Nova Prime Blanco and the other officials, speaking with complete calm.
Compared to ordinary Xandarians and regular Nova Corps soldiers, Blanco and his fellow Centurions were indeed formidable. But to Richard, they were simply slightly stronger ordinary people.
As he'd predicted, both Farrugia standing before him and the officials beside the training ground displayed obvious displeasure at his words.
"Mr. Richard, there must be limits to joking," Farrugia said with obvious irritation.
"I'm not joking. Come together so we don't waste everyone's time," Richard continued.
On the surface, his attitude appeared arrogant. But he was stating simple truth. Not only could he handle Blanco and the others simultaneously—even if the entire Nova Corps attacked together, they wouldn't pose a threat. Otherwise, the Worldmind wouldn't have proposed conditions for him to protect the Nova Corps and Xandar.
Farrugia suppressed his rising anger. If possible, he would have preferred to tear Richard apart immediately.
Within seconds, Nova Prime Blanco's voice cut through the tension.
"Since Mr. Richard is so confident in his abilities, we'll gladly accommodate him."
After speaking, Blanco took the lead entering the training ground. Seeing him advance, the other Centurions followed suit, positioning themselves alongside Farrugia.
Just as Blanco prepared to speak again, Richard addressed them all. "If you can last one minute, you win."
The moment he finished speaking, Richard activated his internal magic power before their eyes, then used magical materialization to create a long sword identical to the Masamune blade—except this version lacked a cutting edge.
Witnessing this display, Blanco and the others didn't hesitate. They mobilized Nova Force within their bodies, causing their forms to shine with silvery-white light.
Released Nova Force enveloped them like silver lightning, dramatically enhancing their physical capabilities while granting flight and energy projection abilities.
Whether Nova Prime Blanco or Centurion Farrugia and the others—after releasing Nova Force, they all radiated powerful auras far beyond ordinary humans, resembling invincible warriors.
Richard observed them briefly, then casually swung his sword.
The next second, he vanished from Blanco's sight.
Octaslash!
Richard appeared before Blanco like a lightning flash, using the bladeless magical sword to execute the Octaslash technique. Though he wasn't wielding the Masamune, he still performed the eight-strike combination with fluid precision.
Enhanced by Nova Force, Blanco's physical attributes had been strengthened far beyond normal human limits. Even so, he couldn't track Richard's movements clearly.
By the time he reacted, eight strikes had already connected, sending him flying.
The bladeless magical sword hit him like a series of metal clubs. The lightning-fast eight slashes not only easily overwhelmed his Nova Force defense but also caused significant internal injuries and fractured several bones.
Bang!
Nova Prime Blanco flew backward like a cannonball, slamming into the training ground's wall and creating an impact crater several meters in diameter. Spider-web cracks instantly spread across ten meters of solid surface.
Richard ignored the fallen Blanco and materialized beside Farrugia like a phantom.
Earth Mover!
Like Blanco, Farrugia couldn't track Richard's blade work at all. By the time awareness returned, four devastating strikes had connected, sending him flying with the same force as his superior.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Over the next ten seconds, Richard used direct action to demonstrate the vast gap in their respective abilities.
In less than twenty seconds, Blanco and his fellow Centurions had lost all capacity to resist, staring at Richard in the training ground with undisguised shock.
Several Minutes Later - Initial Reception Room
Blanco and the others, having barely recovered mobility, stood before Richard in complete silence.
"I'm not here to humiliate you," Richard began. "This morning, Corps security forces arrested four individuals in Nova Prime. One of them is a Ravager nicknamed 'Star-Lord.' I want to know their current status."
Hearing his words, Nova Prime Blanco quickly replied, "Please wait a moment."
Soon after, he used the smart computer worn like a wrist guard to access all information about the four prisoners, reporting Star-Lord's group's details to Richard.
They haven't been transferred to Kyln High Security Prison yet?
Richard noted mentally before continuing, "Send them to Kyln High Security Prison."
Though curious about Richard's interest in the four prisoners, Blanco didn't inquire further and immediately replied, "Understood. I'll arrange their transfer."
"Nothing else for now. I'll contact you again if needed."
Richard stood up, approached Kaguya, and embraced her slender waist.
Teleportation.
The next second, he vanished from Blanco's sight, appearing at the Nova Corps headquarters entrance.
More precisely, beside their flying sports car.
After boarding the vehicle, Richard drove directly to their hotel.
Upon returning, they found various purchased goods scattered throughout the living room. While shopping at the mall, Richard had stored only his own purchases in his system space. Kaguya's acquisitions had been delivered to the hotel by individual stores.
Seeing the "trophies" in the living room, Kaguya immediately displayed uncontainable joy and began examining her haul.
Richard didn't disturb Kaguya's excitement and headed straight to the study.
Neither encountering Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon's group at the mall plaza nor visiting Nova Corps headquarters to fight Blanco's team had been in his original plans. However, he didn't consider these developments significant.
Both Star-Lord and Blanco were minor concerns. His only current priority was determining when to acquire the Power Stone contained within the cosmic orb.
Though this wasn't the movie universe, Richard was virtually certain that Ronan the Accuser, Thanos, and the Collector all coveted the Power Stone. Whether their subsequent actions would mirror the films remained uncertain.
After consideration, he decided to secure the Power Stone first, preventing potential complications.
Kyln High Security Prison
Star-Lord and his three companions, who wouldn't normally arrive so quickly, had been transferred early due to Richard's intervention.
As soon as they'd changed into yellow prison uniforms and been escorted to their cells by guards, Richard arrived at the prison aboard a Nova Corps vessel.
He hadn't brought Kaguya, nor had he requested Blanco or Farrugia's accompaniment. Instead, he'd asked Nancy—the attractive blonde officer with impressive figure and flowing hair—to accompany him.
While Richard had no intention of interfering in Nova Corps internal affairs, he'd decided having a female Corps officer as an assistant would prove beneficial. With dedicated assistance, his life on Xandar would become more convenient—he could simply relay needs through his assistant.
Regarding Richard's request for her to serve as his assistant, Nancy hadn't refused but had accepted the position enthusiastically.
She didn't know Richard's specific identity or understand why he possessed authority exceeding Nova Prime Blanco and Queen Adora. However, she understood one crucial fact: becoming Richard's assistant provided opportunity to become the first female Centurion since Nova Corps establishment.
In ordinary Xandarians' perception, Centurion appointments represented serious matters. In reality, who became a Centurion depended purely on Nova Prime and Queen Adora's preferences.
While they couldn't directly create Centurions, they were qualified to recommend candidates to the Worldmind. Their recommendations were generally approved by the supercomputer.
Unless recommended candidates were completely inappropriate, the Worldmind rarely refused such suggestions.
Currently, Richard possessed authority higher than both Nova Prime Blanco and Queen Adora. If he wanted someone appointed as Centurion, the process would be more convenient than theirs.
The Worldmind had directly granted him partial Nova Force field authority. In other words, he didn't even need to notify the Worldmind to directly appoint Centurions.
Nancy didn't realize Richard could directly appoint her as Centurion, assuming he only possessed recommendation qualifications like Nova Prime Blanco and Queen Adora.
After arriving at Kyln High Security Prison, Richard and Nancy proceeded directly to the prisoner personal effects storage facility.
"Retrieve all of Peter Quill's personal belongings," Richard instructed the Nova Corps soldier managing prisoner possessions.
"Yes, sir," the soldier replied without hesitation.
Soon after, the individual returned carrying a basket containing all of Star-Lord's personal effects: element gun, jet boots, battle suit, Walkman, cosmic orb, and other items—all placed within the container.
"You may leave," Richard said to Nancy and the soldier after examining the basket's contents.
"Yes, sir," both replied simultaneously before departing the room.
Once alone, Richard didn't immediately reach for the cosmic orb to extract the Power Stone. Instead, he picked up Star-Lord's element gun.
In the comics, Star-Lord's element gun could launch, control, and create the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Theoretically, the elemental energy the gun could project and generate was unlimited, as the weapon connected to a specialized universe and could extract and transmit these four elements from planets in alternate dimensions.
The element gun's limitations were determined by Star-Lord's willpower, imagination, and concentration.
Beyond firing individual elements, the gun could achieve additional effects by combining different elements.
After acquiring the element gun, Star-Lord had modified and upgraded the weapon multiple times, adding a voice chip system.
Furthermore, while battling corrupted Olympian gods, Star-Lord had absorbed divine power into the element gun, binding Olympian divinity to the weapon itself.
The comics' element gun was an extraordinarily powerful weapon.
However, after detailed examination of Star-Lord's element gun, Richard discovered this version resembled the movie universe counterpart—a more powerful blaster that couldn't compare to the comic version's capabilities.
After inspecting Star-Lord's element gun, Richard returned it to the basket and picked up the cosmic orb.
The cosmic orb appeared to be a single piece, but actually functioned as an extremely sophisticated "safe." With proper unlocking knowledge, one could extract the Power Stone contained within.
Though he lacked specialized unlocking equipment like the Collector possessed, opening the cosmic orb wasn't particularly challenging for Richard.
He first used super vision to carefully observe the orb's internal structure, then released magical power, completely enveloping the cosmic orb.
Under his control, the cosmic orb slowly levitated and rotated rapidly like a Rubik's cube.
Time passed gradually. Nearly a minute elapsed before Richard finally completed the unlocking sequence, allowing the Power Stone within the cosmic orb to appear before his eyes.