For the next three days, while the repairs to the ship were being made, Sharon and I spent the time in our room, enjoying the fruits of our labor. No, we were not passionately embracing one another, though we were both sitting on the bed. Instead, the two of us were deep inside the grove, doing our best to catalog what we could in order to increase our abilities for what was to come.

In order to make sure that our findings didn’t overlap, the two of us picked two separate galaxies to investigate. Even on the remote chance that creatures evolved similarly, there shouldn’t be much that ended up exactly the same. The odds were high that neither of us would even find a planet with intelligent life before the time was over.

In order to maximize my ability to search, I partitioned my mind into five segments. Each segment would quickly scan one particular region of a chosen planet, before compiling the information all together in one neat list. Normal plants and animals were of no interest to me. I only wanted the exceptionally powerful, or those with abnormal abilities.

Thankfully, being the master of the grove made the search proceed much faster than normal. However, it still ended up taking roughly ten minutes per planet. Though on a side note, I did manage to find one particularly impressive scene during my brief look at the galaxy. A pair of lunar titans, giant constructs like golems which originally took the shape of a planet’s moon. Earth’s own moon became one like that. But no, neither of these were that titan, obviously. I even did a brief check to make sure that the galaxy did not even look vaguely similar to the Milky Way.

When I found the pair of lunar titans, they were violently clashing in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Every now and then, one would rip chunks off the other to devour, causing one to shrink and the other to grow. Out of curiosity, I accelerated their battle to watch it in fast forward, and it seemed to last for three full weeks before one titan had completely devoured the other, growing to twice its original size.

Now that would be a great weapon to throw at the New Human Empire, if I could control it. I made sure to note down the existence of the titan for Sharon, to see if she could do anything with it. Unfortunately, its only real strength I could see was its size, and there was no way that I could become something that big, even with my insane amount of mana. You can only stretch a person so far.

Anyways, for the planets I visited, I only targeted those that had life on them. Out of the galaxy I selected, that was still over a billion planets. Even without sleep, I was only able to barely scan and compile lists for over two hundred planets within the first day and a half. I could have spent the rest of the time continuing to scan, but Sharon and I had agreed to only spend half the time searching, and the rest of the time sharing notes about what we had found.

“So, how many did you manage to get?” I asked Sharon as I saw her opening her eyes shortly after me. She gave me a bitter smile in response, shaking her head.

“Around a hundred and twenty, I guess? I stopped counting the boring ones. And, there were only a few creatures that actually seemed interesting. You?” She asked, looking at me a bit hopefully.

“Two hundred and thirty-seven.” I replied, looking at the list I had compiled. “And, there were a few that I thought you should look at too. Most importantly… I found a lunar titan.” Her eyes lit up when she heard that, and she quickly placed her hands on my shoulders.

“Tell me where!” She grinned broadly, no doubt thinking of the kind of transformation she could achieve if she merged with a lunar titan.

I chuckled faintly, nodding my head. “I tagged it, so you should be able to spot it pretty easily.” Something that I had found out during my search was that I could imbue a special type of mana into a creature or location, and then it would light up in my senses whenever I went to look for it again. I didn’t know what to call this type of mana, though, so I just labeled it as tagging.

She looked at me confused for a moment, before nodding. “Alright, I’ll take a look at that region later. Hopefully, I can make a deal with it.” Her words caused me to faintly shudder as I recalled her method of getting creatures to be her animal companion… and now she had the power of a god to back it up. “On my end, I found two creatures that really screamed ‘share with John’.”

She furrowed her brow, lifting her hand up and causing an image to appear above it. The image depicted a creature that looked like an armored golem, skin made entirely of reflective metal. Otherwise, it was bipedal with two arms and two legs. “This one I almost mistook for an elemental at first, until I saw one getting killed. They are actually organic creatures that have developed a layer of flexible metal on their skin. This metal changes from case to case, and seems to be based on their diet, since they actually eat ores.”

At first, I wasn’t sure why she was showing me this, until she finished with that last detail. If the metal is changeable, then that opens up a variety of possibilities. I could easily find nearly indestructible metals within the universe to substitute, which could give me a perfect armor. “Okay, what’s the other one?” I hurriedly asked. Sharon smiled slightly, before changing the image.

This time, what appeared seemed to be a clump of mist. For a moment, I thought she had simply not finished forming the image, until she began speaking. “I almost overlooked this one, thinking it was a weather pattern. Their bodies seem to be a cluster of airborne cells that communicate with each other over short distances. I thought it might be good for stealth or avoiding deadly attacks.”

I nodded my head, agreeing with her. “Yeah, it would. Probably not as useful as the other one, but it would definitely work.” If I can copy the ability of the metallic skin, and find a suitable metal to use for it, then I will have a guarantee of being able to survive the upcoming plan. “I made a list of creatures that I thought you might find interesting in the grove. You should be able to find it pretty easily. I’d tell them myself, but… there were surprisingly a lot.” She had less requirements for something suitable to use, after all. Though, I was curious to see how she would react to a dead planet being turned into a giant stone tablet.

Since I had tagged all of the creatures that would be of interest to her, we decided to have her first show me where the ‘cloudkin’ and the ‘steel skin warriors’ were located. Once we found them, I quickly tagged a few as well before coming out of the grove. Celeste, I called out into my mind.

“Huh? Done already?” She asked curiously, her voice ringing inside my head. She still sounded excited after the display from the other day, though she was evidently trying to calm herself. “Did Sharon not manage to find anything?”

No, she did. I just need to ask you to check something for me. If you don’t have the information in your records, then check the market for it instead. After I said that, I could feel her curiosity piqued. I want to know the strongest metal in existence. As close to indestructible as possible, and I need to know the conditions it appears in.

“Uhm… Alright. Give me a minute to run down to the temple, and I can give you an answer. I don’t have absolute records for things like that.” She quickly denied, though there was a bit of confusion in her tone. “Are you wanting to reinforce the hull of the ships of something?”

While that was certainly possible, I was not experienced enough to do so without damaging the ships themselves. No, Sharon found an… interesting creature. If you can find me that information, I will have a hundred percent assurance in the battle later.

If ever there was a moment when one could hear exclamation marks, this would be it. Without even seeing her, I could tell that she was now moving much faster. It was only another minute before a report came in. “John, I need two hundred and sixty thousand gold coins for that information… Double that payment if you want a top five list instead, though… there is a secondary payment method instead for the list.”

“Oh? What is it?” I asked, curiously.

“Your staff. Quite specifically, ‘John’s Staff of the Minor World’, signed Malthan.” She explained.

“So, half a million gold coins, then?” I confirmed. I had some things that I wanted to try with the staff before I was just willing to give it back like that.

Aww, come on man. The staff is useless to you right now, isn’t it? Your grove is as evolved as it can get, there’s no benefit for you to keep it anymore for that.

The way you word that makes me think it might have another use. I responded mentally, before pulling the staff from my inventory. It’s true that I didn’t need it to evolve my grove anymore, but I still wanted to keep it around. Maybe melt it down and--

No! Absolutely not! Did you already forget the warning label!?

My thoughts were interrupted by Malthan, reminding me of something that I had originally seen a long, long time ago. Which wasn’t really nearly as long ago as it sounds.

Staff of the Minor World

This object was created as a collaborated effort by all of the elemental gods. If you melt it down for scrap, you will have their wrath to deal with. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Special effect: Elemental mana source(All)

Okay… so the combined wrath of every elemental god. Noted, don’t melt the precious staff. Can I do other things to study it, at least? Maybe I could figure out how its enchantments worked, so that I could increase my own understanding.

Not gonna help, man. That thing was made with god energy. It doesn’t even follow the same laws of enchanting that you’re used to, so unless you were willing to devote the next thousand or so years staring at it, I doubt you’d find anything.

...You’re just making excuses to get me to return the staff now, aren’t you? Well, at least he wasn’t asking for the ring back… that one had quite a bit more sentimental value to it.

Maybe, but they are still true! And we don’t want your engagement ring.

Okay… fine… I’ll return the damn staff. I said with a groan. It was easier than making half a million gold currency from my grove. With a sigh, I opened up a portal that led me directly to the temple, where I met a surprised Celeste.

“Did you get the money already?” She asked, her eyes wide. Even with an entire universe at my disposal, getting that many coins was unreasonable that fast. Though, I should set up an automated line for it somewhere to create a nice sized stockpile. After the war is over, I’ll think about it.

“No, I’m using the staff as payment.” I grimaced as I said it. In fairness, the staff was likely worth far more than a half million gold coins. But to me right now, its value was low. Celeste, hearing that, nodded her head and backed away to let me at the temple statues.

To no surprise, the most prominent statue placed in the center, surrounding by blue mood lighting… was the statue to Malthan. This was not my choice, as the statue kept appearing again every time I tried to change it. Anyways, I opened the market and quickly found what I was looking for.

List of Almighty Metals - Top Five

By purchasing this item, you will receive information on the top five most indestructible metals in all creation, as well as the areas they typically appear in and their special traits.

Price: 520,000 Gold

Alternate Price: Your Staff.

“For the record, I do this under protest.” I said as I offered the staff up to the statue, whereupon it glowed with a bright light and shattered into nothingness. At the same time, information began rushing into my mind, causing a light headache as it did. Thankfully, I did not ask for the top hundred, or else I might be unconscious. Anyways, after the headache was over, a blue screen appeared in front of me, summarizing the knowledge that had been given to me.

1. Dark Steel

Metal formed in the heart of a black hole after absorbing countless materials. One cubic inch of it weighs as much as an entire planet. However, the metal is completely indestructible, possessing almost absolute density.

2. Blue Silver

A special metal formed in the heart of a galaxy. Each galaxy produces only one vein of Blue Silver, located at the innermost planet. This metal has absolute resistance to energy, making it impossible to forge. Its resistance to physical attacks is also among the best.

3. Chaos Heart

This metal exists at the very heart of the universe. Once taken away, there will never be more of it. Chaos Heart devours any and all energy or matter that it comes into contact with. Including its user. Especially its user. DON’T CHOOSE THIS ONE.

4. Lifeblood

The most common among the top metals, but nonetheless difficult to obtain. Lifeblood is found in the core of every planet. However, removing it will cause the planet to slowly crumble and break apart. Each planet holds roughly ten grams of Lifeblood, and this metal has the ability to survive a supernova.

5. God Steel

You can forget about obtaining this one. We put it on the list because it exists, but only in the items that we personally hand down. The only significant portion of god steel in the universe was your staff, and now you don’t have the temptation to melt it down anymore.

Malthan… was I just trolled?

Nope, it was all entirely true. The market doesn’t lie. It’s not allowed to.

So, I should choose the cha--

John, I swear to me if you choose the chaos heart, I will go down there and bitch slap you so hard, your children will inherit the bruises for generations to come.

Fine… But it’s not like I was going to melt down the staff anyways! Okay, maybe I was, but not for the materials! I justified mentally, before looking over the list. Dark steel was immediately out. Finding it wasn’t the issue, but its weight would be a problem. If I created a layer of that over my own skin, I would no doubt crush myself into a fine paste under its weight.

That left only blue silver, and lifeblood. As for blue silver… I was wary about its ‘absolute resistance’ to energy, worried that might include the mana used to disable the transformation. I would not want to go through all that trouble just to wind up permanently in that form. Which naturally left only one metal.

“Let me know when the repairs are done, Celeste.” I nodded towards her with a smile, before moving back towards my room with another portal. Although the information given about the five metals was quite comprehensive, it did not include their auras, which was what I actually needed in order to do what I wanted.

Still, I had no shortage of planets that I could burn to get a sample. And it didn’t take long after I entered my grove again to find a dead rock floating through space. With a thought, it crumbled into dust, and with a slightly harsher thought the dust scattered into nothing. Soon, all that was left was a small red shimmer, a stone the size of a grain of rice. I am really glad I’m not taking the time to actually make something out of this. Now, all that was left was to memorize the aura patterns I needed, and I would have a truly unstoppable battle form.