Marvel: Hunter-Chapter 340: Safe Way

That didn’t mean Blaine could simply destroy Sakaar, take the star core, and walk away.

What Blaine feared was that if Sakaar were destroyed and no one intervened, Grandmaster would lose his home, and all those powerful figures imprisoned in the arena would be released.

If Grandmaster, in his panic, led those forces straight to Earth, then Blaine would truly be caught between laughter and tears.

Moreover, if he hadn’t been considering Grandmaster’s feelings at all, Blaine would have acted back in the arena—snatched the metal key and left leisurely. There would have been no need to wait until now.

"System, is there any way," Blaine asked, "to secretly take the star core without destroying the planet?"

There was no shame in asking. This was one of Blaine’s strengths. Besides, in a situation like this, giving up was impossible, so he turned to the system for a solution.

[Yes.]

"Yes? Really? Tell me, tell me quickly."

Blaine, who had been frowning with no plan at all, was caught off guard by the system’s answer. The Hunter System truly lived up to its name—it seemed to know everything. With it, Blaine was practically a walking bug in the Marvel universe.

[First, the host must enter the depths of the planet,]

[Reach the vicinity of the star core,]

[Because the star core’s energy is special,]

[The host must make direct contact with the star core,]

[Before transferring it into the Hunter’s space.]

After hearing the explanation, Blaine frowned again. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the system; he simply hadn’t considered using the Hunter space to store the star core.

He wasn’t sure whether the current Hunter space could accommodate a tenth-level star core. After all, the Hunter space was only version 2.0. To be honest, this version was already struggling to keep up with Blaine’s pace.

Another concern was what would happen once the star core was placed into the Hunter space. Would Sakaar suddenly lose its energy source? For a planet with a star core, the core was what sustained its existence.

If Sakaar collapsed instantly, or even turned into a black hole after losing the star core, it would be no different from Blaine’s earlier worries—Grandmaster, having lost his home, would tear off all pretenses and chase Blaine across the universe.

"System, what will happen to Sakaar after it loses the star core?" Blaine asked.

[Rest assured,]

[When the host transfers the star core into the Hunter’s space,]

[Sakaar will not collapse instantly,]

[It will slowly decline,]

[If it retained the star core,]

[Sakaar could survive in space for tens of billions of years,]

[But after losing the star core,]

[It will likely become a completely dead planet in hundreds of thousands of years,]

[And will no longer be suitable for habitation.]

After hearing the system’s explanation, Blaine immediately understood—and felt delighted.

He had originally expected the system to recommend some skill or equipment to counteract the negative effects, but it turned out he had worried too much.

What surprised him even more was that a tenth-level star core could allow a moon-sized planet like Sakaar to survive for tens of billions of years. Even after losing the core, it could persist for hundreds of thousands of years. This alone showed how terrifying the residual energy of a tenth-level star core was.

"That’s perfect,"

"Steal the star core and slip away quietly,"

"Without anyone noticing,"

"Hundreds of thousands of years later,"

"Sakaar will finally die,"

"No food, no water, extreme weather,"

"Forcing Grandmaster to abandon his homeland,"

"By then, he’ll probably have forgotten me long ago."

Thinking this, Blaine broke into a smug grin.

Just as he had said, when that time came, Grandmaster would never suspect Blaine. After all, so many years would have passed. Grandmaster wouldn’t be foolish enough to blame someone from thousands of years ago.

This was killing two birds with one stone. Not only would it prevent Grandmaster from sending assassins after him, but it would also allow Blaine to obtain the tenth-level star core. Simply perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Beautiful. Truly beautiful. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

As for Sakaar’s residents, those with ability would relocate and survive; those without would perish. Blaine had no intention of considering their feelings over the death of a planet.

Imagining the look on Grandmaster’s face when he suddenly realized, thousands of years later, that Sakaar was slowly dying filled Blaine with a sense of satisfaction.

Perhaps in the future, Sakaar would be erased from the Marvel universe because of Blaine, and the garbage transfer station would vanish into the long river of time. Or perhaps cosmic waste would still be dumped there, and over countless years, a true garbage planet would form once again.

"That said," Blaine continued,

"System, how do I reach the planet’s core?"

"You can’t expect me to dig a tunnel all the way down..."

With Grandmaster’s problem seemingly resolved, Blaine now faced a new one. Although Sakaar was relatively small—only forty or fifty times the size of Earth—the distance from the surface to the core was still thousands of kilometers.

In space, even thousands of kilometers would take Blaine only a few seconds at full speed. But no matter how fast he was, he couldn’t turn himself into a planet-crushing projectile and burrow through solid ground.

[After calculations,]

[The system provides two options for the host,]

[First: Item 283, [Dwarf Star–Brand Ground Drilling Machine]. Price: 80 billion. If you don’t buy it, you lose out. If you don’t buy it, you’re being foolish—you deserve it.]

[Second: [Energy Protection Cover]. Price: 150 billion. It can be upgraded. Recommended as a priority purchase.]

Just when Blaine thought the system would offer some ingenious solution, he was instead hit with a blatant sales pitch, catching him completely off guard.

To be honest, Blaine hadn’t visited the system mall in a long time. He almost missed the days when he spent money like water. Buying equipment occasionally, purchasing small skills regularly—there was a special satisfaction in it.

"In the end," Blaine sighed,

"It all comes down to one word."

"Poor."

"System, open the panel. Let me see how much balance I have left."

After not buying anything for so long, Blaine felt an itch. He had been wandering among the stars and hadn’t completed any missions. No—if anything, he had paid out of his own pocket.

No money coming in, yet endless trouble: a messed-up background, a mysterious metal key, and that high-level civilization. Blaine’s head was starting to ache.

Fortunately, beneath his feet lay a tenth-level star core. Once he obtained it, it would be a treasure beyond price.

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