They gathered for a moment to discuss what to do.

"What should we do?"

"What do you mean, we sell it. We’re in a hurry for a ship right now."

"That’s true, but isn’t it a waste? With this one thing, we could buy another ship like that..."

"I am Groot."

"Groot’s right. If we hold onto it too long, it’ll become a problem. Even if we wanted to sell something this good, it would take time."

"Then how about this? So... whisper whisper..."

When the discussion ended, Quill came over and said.

"Alright! We’ve decided to sell. But we want an extra 100,000 units. We’re going to be on the run for a while, so we need the funds."

These guys had made a lot of money from the Ronan incident before, so they didn’t really need that much money. They were probably just upset they couldn’t sell the Anulax batteries at full value. But there was one thing they didn’t know. The ship I said I was selling was worth about 10 million. It was a ship for the wealthy, so they definitely weren’t getting a bad deal.

"50,000 units! I can’t go any higher. I’m not the one in a hurry."

"Whoa~ Jin, that’s harsh. Is this how you treat your friends? You’re making good money these days!"

"50,000 is not a small amount either. You’re the one being greedy. If you don’t like it, we can call the whole thing off."

"Ah, fine fine. Let’s do 50,000 then."

And so the deal with Quill was struck. I immediately handed Quill the ship keys and a 50,000 unit chip, and Quill gave me one Anulax battery in return. The Guardians members then began transferring their belongings from their old ship (the Milano) to the new one.

"Pleasure doing business. And obviously, this deal stays between us."

"Got it."

"Are you leaving right away?"

"Yeah, gotta go. They say a lot of people are looking for me, right? Can’t stay here forever. Since we’re leaving anyway, want a ride to a nearby planet?"

"No, I already called for another ship."

Quill seemed quite disappointed.

"Ah, what a shame. I was going to say I’d give you a ride and then ask for another 50,000... Anyway, see you next time."

"Right, sure."

And so they left the planet. I sat down for a moment and examined the Anulax battery with my own eyes, and the results were astonishing. The Anulax battery couldn’t generate energy on its own, despite its name, but the amount it could store and its charging speed were incredible. This made me understand why the Sovereign kept these batteries on top of their buildings. It was probably to charge them using the power of lightning.

’Wow... I had no idea so much energy could be packed into such a small battery... This really is technology the entire universe covets.’

This was an unexpected gain for me too. With Anulax battery technology, I could now greatly reduce the battery space required for each device.

Actually, I had obtained a similar item in Konosuba before. It was called ’Coronatite.’ But since Coronatite was in ore form, the Anulax battery was superior for providing stable output. So for use in devices, the Anulax battery was more suitable. However, when it came to energy compression performance, Coronatite was a step above.

’For magical weapons and accessories, Coronatite would be better, but for devices, the Anulax battery is superior.’

After finishing my analysis of the battery, I used my restoration ability to restore the Milano, put it in my inventory, and teleported back to Knowhere. I had already ordered Ronan to contact me immediately if anything happened to the Guardians, so I decided to just wait.

I spent a few days in Knowhere tending to business, then stopped by Mars to help fabricate parts needed for assembling the space station. I had also sent a clone to Earth, so there wouldn’t be any problems. In a world where so many incidents happen across such vast distances, the clone ability was incredibly useful.

’I’m really glad I went to the Naruto world.’

As I was spending my time like that and the space station was nearing completion, I received a call from Ronan. He reported that they were currently fleeing from Sovereign warships. It seemed the Guardians members had finally been discovered after hiding for a while. It was a bit surprising that they got caught by the Sovereign before Yondu’s family.

I decided to wait a little longer. Since the future had changed, I couldn’t predict how things would turn out. Maybe this time they’d escape safely and lay low somewhere for a while.

But this time, the situation was a little different. I received another urgent call from Ronan—they were under indiscriminate attack from Sovereign warships and their ship was on the verge of being destroyed.

’The ship I gave them was pretty expensive. They wrecked it again.’

I slowly got up and prepared to depart. Either way, I needed to save them.

But just then, I suddenly lost mana and Ronan returned to my shadow. I quickly summoned him again, and he knelt down and explained the situation.

[I have failed my mission. I was suddenly attacked and my body was destroyed in an instant, so I have been revived from your shadow, Master.]

This was definitely Ego’s doing. Even in the Marvel universe, there weren’t many beings who could easily dispose of a formidable fighter like Ronan.

"Tell me in detail what happened."

[Well...]

Ronan began to explain everything that had happened.

The Guardians members had been avoiding Yondu’s family for a while, staying on a remote planet far away, repairing their ship and taking a brief rest. During that time, there had been some internal conflict within the team.

Quill had been complaining that all the trouble they were going through was because Rocket had needlessly stolen the Anulax batteries from the Sovereign. Rocket couldn’t hold back either and fired back, and the two had a huge argument. After that, they hadn’t spoken to each other for a while, creating a cold atmosphere.

Then came the idea to go down to a nearby city to buy supplies and parts they were running low on. The members went down to the city and purchased the necessary supplies, but someone must have tipped off their location, because Sovereign warships suddenly appeared.

The Guardians rushed back to their ship and tried to escape the planet. But the Sovereign must have been lying in wait, because they had already surrounded the area with numerous warships.

The ship they were riding had decent performance, so they managed to break through the encirclement and flee, but in the process of forcing their way out, the ship was heavily damaged. Eventually, their speed dropped and they were surrounded by Sovereign warships again, coming under concentrated fire.

Just then, an unidentified white, round-shaped ship appeared. What was unusual was that a man was standing calmly on top of it.

The man waved his hand lightly and then fired powerful energy at the Sovereign fleet. In the blink of an eye, numerous Sovereign warships exploded in succession, and the entire fleet was annihilated in an instant.

However, the Guardians’ ship was already severely damaged. It could no longer continue its voyage, so they had no choice but to crash-land on a nearby planet.

The mysterious figure who had wiped out the Sovereign fleet followed them down to the planet. He looked at Quill for a moment upon seeing him, then said, "There’s a strange one attached to you," and attacked with powerful energy—that was Ronan’s last memory.

"You’ve worked hard. Rest in the shadow realm. And from now on, instead of ’King,’ just call me ’Master.’ Pass that on to the others as well."

[Understood, Master.]

At my words, Ronan bowed respectfully and disappeared into the shadows. The shadow soldiers called me by different titles depending on their origins. Some called me King, some called me Lord, and others called me Master. With so many different titles, it was often confusing, so I decided to unify them all into one. From now on, everyone would call me Master.

I immediately took out the restored Milano from my inventory and rode it to the location Ronan had told me about. Once again, I realized that not being able to use [Jack Sparrow’s Compass] in space was quite inconvenient. Rather than inconvenient, it might be more accurate to say I had grown too accustomed to such an easy method.

’I wish there was an ability to find what you want even in space. Does such an ability even exist?’

With such thoughts, I piloted the Milano and arrived at the coordinates Ronan had given me.

This was also an unnamed planet. Looking around the planet, I could see the ship I had given the Guardians members crashed and damaged. So I landed nearby and got out of the ship.

"Oh, it’s you. But you already repaired the Milano?"

The other members were nowhere to be seen, and only Rocket, Groot, and Nebula were guarding the ship.

"Really... How long has it been since I sold you that ship, and you’ve already wrecked it again. I just transported the Milano and had it repaired because it would be a waste to leave it."

"Oh~ really? Nice to see it again. Honestly, that ’fully-loaded luxury ship’ you sold us just didn’t suit us. Still, luckily the defense was good so we survived."

It seemed the high-end ship I sold wasn’t to their taste.

"Where did the other members go?"

When I asked, Nebula answered this time.

"They followed Ego, the one claiming to be Quill’s father. The Ego you warned us about."

"I see..."

Nebula still hadn’t repaired her left hand, and was wearing a claw-like prosthetic hand. I wondered why Gamora, who had money, had left her sister’s hand like that. Maybe they just never had the chance to find a place that sold suitable prosthetics. The Guardians members were always causing trouble, after all.

"You’re Nebula, Gamora’s sister, right?"

"Yeah. I’m Nebula, Gamora’s sister."

"Come here for a moment. Let me see your arm. I happen to have a good prosthetic. Let me check if it’ll fit."

"Really? That’s good news."

Nebula, probably concerned about her hand as well, immediately extended her claw hand to show me.

"Hmm... It looks like it’ll roughly fit. Wait a moment."

I went back to the ship, took an implant from the Cyberpunk world that would fit Nebula from my inventory, copied it, and brought it out. Then I matched it to Nebula’s arm and checked.

"How about this? If you like it, I’ll attach it right away."

"Okay."

Nebula seemed to like it, so I brought out my tool kit and attached it. Nebula moved her new hand around to test it.

"Not bad. How much?"

"Forget it. It was just an extra. I don’t charge for things like that."

"Lucky."

Just then, I spotted a plant called ’Yaro’ from the movies, packed in a net, inside the damaged ship. Honestly, I was a bit curious about the taste. Especially since Nebula had tried to eat it like crazy in the original.

"Oh, that’s Yaro root. Haven’t seen that in a while."

Since it would be awkward to say I’d never seen it, I pretended to know, and Nebula said firmly.

"It’s not ripe yet."

"Really? That’s a shame. I was going to try some since I haven’t seen it in a while."

"It’ll take a while to ripen."

"Then let me take three. Consider it payment for the prosthetic."

"Fine."

I picked out three good ones and put them in my inventory. I’d have to ripen them later with the [Ripen-Ripen Fruit] ability and give them a try.

"By the way, do you know where Quill and the others went?"

"No idea. They didn’t say. Ego wanted to show off his planet, so I assume they went there. They said they’d come back, so they’ll probably return."

Nebula didn’t seem to know where they went either. But Yondu’s family had taken a job from Ego before, so they would know the location.

’I’ll just wait here then. Yondu’s family will come here chasing the Guardians members.’

Yondu’s family would have already heard news of the Sovereign fleet. It probably wouldn’t take them long to arrive here.

"We should start getting ready. I think we’ll have guests soon."

Rocket knew that too and gathered various equipment to set up in the forest with Nebula. I moved the Milano and put it in my inventory so it wouldn’t get damaged in the fight.

"But aren’t you going back to Knowhere?"

Rocket asked me as he set up mines.

"I want to make sure the members who went with Quill are safe before I leave. No matter how much trouble they cause, friends are still friends."

"See, you’re a good guy. Even if you do act like a merchant sometimes and it’s annoying."

At that, I chuckled. Rocket said that uncharacteristically—he must have been through a lot and, with the conflict among his teammates, seemed to have gotten a bit sentimental.

’This guy, acting all tsundere.’

Anyway, I helped set up the booby traps too. When evening came, I had dinner with them and was resting for a while when suddenly an alarm sounded from the ship.

"Finally here."

When Rocket said that, I looked up and saw Yondu’s family’s ship flying nearby.