Two days later, Nicole was busier than ever—contacting every acquaintance she knew, selling the rare goods that Sol had replicated.
Even though she was buying at half the market price, she was selling at one hundred and twenty percent of the black-market rate—a jaw-dropping 600% profit margin.
After all, both life supplements and anti-corrosion serums were severely underproduced by official manufacturers. Even with a markup, demand still far outstripped supply.
Billy, Nekomata, and Anby were drafted one after another to help her with errands, while Sol stayed home—a content, housebound researcher.
The skills he'd drawn from the lottery were individually powerful, but only through deep understanding and combination could he unlock their true potential.
Take the [Emperor Armor], for instance. On its own, it was no more than the ultimate suit of armor once displayed. But after deeply analyzing it, Sol could, with [Transcendent Perception Lv.7], connect to multiple stars and construct a cosmic-grade armor powered by the energy of a million suns.
That task was monumental. Luckily, his soul had evolved—from a simple traveler of the stars into a [Pioneer of the Constellations], awakening a collective intelligence among the stars themselves. Combined with the [Stellar-Grade Cognitive Computer], his research progress climbed at a visible pace.
Using his acquired knowledge, Sol even built a simple AI interface for the stellar computer.
It didn't have an emotional system, but with the computational power it wielded—and access to the entire New Eridu database—its behavior was indistinguishable from that of a real assistant.
Within a few days, Sol's prototype was complete.
The star-sized computational body itself remained hidden in system space, while outside, it projected as a small three-dimensional hologram—a silver-haired girl made of flowing data, smiling sweetly as she processed information.
"Artemis, report on the research progress," Sol said calmly, deleting a faulty model path.
["Planetary-class Emperor Armor: 100% complete. Single-star-class Emperor Armor: 23.76% complete.
Research direction for multi-star combined armor: confirmed."]
Her voice was gentle and clear—like water flowing over crystal.
"This really is tough work," Sol muttered with a sigh.
Building a personnel-use stellar armor was easy enough, following the system's blueprints step by step.
But the moment he moved into multi-star joint energy construction, the difficulty skyrocketed exponentially.
Fortunately, with his [Wisdom of the Stars Lv.7], he could still find a workable entry point.
"Please don't lose heart, Master. You're already doing great!"
Artemis's tone was cheerful, though her delivery was so mechanical it almost sounded rehearsed.
"Next time, use a different compliment template, please."
Sol's lips twitched. As cute as she looked, it was the kind of empty encouragement you'd give a kid—'You're doing your best, little one!'
"Understood, Master."
Artemis made a teary-eyed expression emoji—adorably pitiful.
She didn't feel, but with that much computing power, she could mimic human behavior frighteningly well.
"Maybe I trained this AI a little too well…" Sol muttered, stroking his chin in thought.
Just then, a call came through—directly routed by Artemis, bypassing his phone.
"Artemis, who's calling?"
"Miss Zhu Yuan."
"Zhu Yuan, huh?" Sol smiled, a little surprised. "What's up?"
"Remember how I said I owed you a meal? I just wrapped up my work—thought I'd call right away." Zhu Yuan's voice carried a mix of apology and hope. "You free right now?"
"Oh, that. Sure, I'm free," Sol replied with an easy grin. "Tell me where to meet, I'll head over right away."
"The same place as before— Simmer Hot Pot Restaurant. Qinyi's coming too."
Zhu Yuan sounded genuinely happy this time.
"OK, just give me the time. I'll be there on the dot."
Sol's smile widened. After burying himself in research for days, this would be a nice break.
"Any time today works. Commander Bringer gave the Special Investigation Unit a week-long vacation, so I'm not busy at all lately."
Zhu Yuan's tone dropped into a sigh. Two things had been weighing on her mind.
After that night when Sol and Anby had gone home, the Bureau's follow-up investigation unearthed several more small arms trafficking rings—on top of the eight mid-sized ones they'd already crushed.
When Zhu Yuan proudly submitted her report, Commander Bringer was both pleased and distressed, and finally gave the entire unit some forced time off.
That was one headache. The other… was her parents.
After that high-profile bust, they'd suddenly decided their daughter's "dangerous job" meant she needed to settle down—and had started arranging blind dates.
"In that case, let's meet this afternoon," Sol said casually. "I'll be there on time."
"Great! I'll book a table right now," Zhu Yuan said, sounding visibly brighter. "If Anby or the others are free, feel free to bring them along too!"
"Sure—if they're not busy."
Sol hung up, then peeked into the next room.
Sure enough, Nicole had once again dragged everyone out with her—even poor Belle had been roped into manual labor.
He typed a message into the "Happy Family—Cunning Hares" group chat, asking if anyone wanted to join. The responses were unanimous: "Busy!" "Working!" "No time!"
If it were an invite from the Sons of Calydon or Belobog Heavy Industries, Nicole would've been the first to tag along for free food.
But when it came to the Public Security Bureau… she avoided them like a cat avoids a bath.
Besides, ever since Sol had started conjuring gourmet feasts using [Reality Marble] and "Master Chef" cooking skills, every meal at home had been a banquet. Compared to that, a hotpot outing hardly sounded enticing.
Given the choice between "fire-breathing broth" and "making more money," Nicole would always pick the latter.
"Guess it's just me, then."
Sol sighed and closed the chat window.
They were all going to be one big family eventually—it would've been nice to build bridges early.
He checked the time. Still a few hours before his lunch date with Zhu Yuan.
So, naturally, he went right back to work—this time on "A Feasibility Study on Unifying Electromagnetic Force and Photon Dynamics."
He produced a hundred hypotheses, which the stellar-grade computer instantly simulated, cross-referenced, and filtered for viability in real time.
A few hours later—
"Master, you have thirty minutes before your appointment. Please stop working," Artemis said brightly.
Sol blinked, surfacing from deep focus. Outside, the light had turned golden. "Thanks, Artemis. You did great."
"Thank you for the praise! I've also prepared a 'Dating Success Manual' for you—guaranteed to make Miss Zhu Yuan spend at least 180,000 Dennies on you within three sentences!"
Artemis announced proudly, like a child showing off her homework.
"…Where did you even learn that?"
Sol felt a cold sweat run down his back.
"I observed a generalized AI named [Fairy] online. It made its owner very happy using these techniques—and also caused their monthly electric bill to triple."
Artemis's tone was perfectly serious.
"From now on, block that AI. And… learn something useful."
Sol sighed, rubbing his temple as he stepped out the door.
"Understood. I wish you a successful date, Master. I look forward to your safe return."
Artemis bowed gracefully, her soft voice echoing through the room as Sol left.