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Chapter 292: A New Trading Dimension
🕑 Added 2025-04-05 15:21:03 +0000 UTC"Huh? So you know about symbiotes?" Yuri asked, surprised to see Josh's expression.
"Yes, I know about symbiotes, but the ones I know seem a little different from these," Josh said, frowning at the three symbiotes in front of Yuri.
"Besides, is it really okay to just leave them out like that?" Even though Josh knew Yuri was good at mind control, he still warned him out of instinct about how dangerous symbiotes could be.
"Ah, I see now. The ones you know of must be the primitive type symbiotes. If they are, then yes, they are dangerous. But these are from the Justice Faction, so you don't need to worry," Yuri explained quickly.
But...
Primitive type? Justice Faction? What kind of nonsense is that? Josh couldn't help but wonder.
Wait a second... Factions? Symbiotes of Justice? Venom?
Josh suddenly remembered the movie Venom 2, which had just come out before he crossed over, and the parasitic seed inside the cop.
"Can you tell me more about the Primitive and Justice factions?" he asked after thinking about it.
"Of course," Yuri nodded. "Actually, symbiotes are quite intelligent, but they have no culture of their own. When they are born, they don't understand good or evil, and they just act on their instincts and desires. If no one teaches or guides them, they stay that way. From an ordinary human point of view, that behavior looks evil. And when they connect with an evil or spiritually weak host, they easily fall into evil ways. That's what we call the primitive faction.
But if a symbiote meets a kind and good host soon after it's born, then it will be influenced by that host and tend to do good things. Coincidentally, the original hosts of these three symbiotes were from the Pangorian race—the civilization that built that spaceship—and they’re a very kind and just race..."
"So that’s how they became justice-type symbiotes? That sounds like raising kids!" Josh raised an eyebrow.
"You could say that," Yuri nodded. It really was like raising human children—they’re shaped by the people around them. "I found these three through telepathy, and after reading their memories, I learned all this."
Toughness, patience, courage, and one more—light.
No wonder their names sounded like something out of a knight's code.
"What a shame..." Josh said as he looked at the three symbiotes and shook his head.
"Shame? Why?" Yuri asked, confused.
"...Shame they're not a good match for me... I mean, I don't think 'justice' suits me very well," Josh admitted honestly.
Yuri was speechless. From a general point of view, neither of their actions were pure evil, but they definitely weren't the good guys either.
If Josh or Yuri bonded with them, the symbiotes might one day see what they were doing and decide to leave.
So compared to that, the primitive or even slightly evil symbiotes might actually suit them better.
Especially since Yuri had read the memories of the three symbiotes—their former hosts, the Pangorians, were basically a saint-like civilization before they were destroyed.
That made things a little awkward.
Of course, this wasn't really a problem for Yuri. With his mind control abilities, dealing with these symbiotes was easy.
But for Josh it wasn't so easy.
"Actually, I think they can still be used," Yuri said, stroking his chin. "Even if you can't use them directly, you could have some idealistic people who are easy to manipulate use them to work for you. Also, I can try to create new symbiotes based on these three."
"Good idea!" Josh quickly understood.
Basically, it was about manipulating people with a strong sense of justice to do his work—just like what he did with Carter.
Even though it was a solid plan, Josh was a little disappointed that he couldn't use the symbiotes himself.
Aside from a few obvious weaknesses, they were nearly perfect living weapons.
In the end, Josh only took one—Patience. The other two, Toughness and Courage, were left with Yuri for further study, to see if they could create new primitive symbiotes or modify the ones they had.
Why did he choose Patience? Because it was blue—which matched Josh’s taste. Low-key and not flashy. White and red were too eye-catching. Simple as that.
"Oh right, besides the symbiotes, I also found something else in their memories," Yuri said after finishing the symbiote talk. He then told Josh what he had learned from their memories about the Celestials, the Eternals, the reason for the extinction of the Pangorians, and the shard of Knull on the ship.
So that's how it is!
After hearing Yuri's explanation, Josh suddenly understood why a single alien spacecraft had attracted big names like Odin and the Ancient One.
Turns out it involved the Celestials and Knull, the god of the symbiotes.
Damn, now that’s some serious trouble.
Josh scratched his head, feeling the weight of it all.
"From what I saw in the symbiotes' memories, we don't really have a way to destroy the Knull shard. Even the Pangorian technology couldn't get rid of it completely. But the anti-barrier device I just built works a lot like the prison system on their spaceship—it can hold it. Unless you have a better idea, let's just keep it locked up for now. Or we could store it in system inventory. It may sound dangerous, but considering we can trade it, that means our system and inventory are way more advanced than it is," Yuri said.
"Yes, that's all we can do for now. We'll deal with it properly when we find a better solution," Josh nodded.
"Oh, by the way, do you want the Pangorian ship?" Yuri asked just as Josh thought the discussion was over and was about to hang up.
"Hmm? Don't you want to study it?" Josh asked, surprised at Yuri's offer. With such advanced technology, he thought Yuri would definitely want to dig deeper.
"I do want to study it," Yuri admitted, "but to be honest, that Kree ship you mentioned earlier was still manageable—its tech has some similarities to human technology. But the Domo and this Pangorian ship… their level of technology is way beyond what I can understand. And it's completely different from our human system.
If either of them had a complete foundational tech system on board, I could try to crack it. But the problem is, one’s just a transport ship, and the other’s a prison ship—both are practical ships, and they don’t have the kind of base-level tech data I’d need to learn from. There's just no way to even begin to study them."
Yuri sighed a little. "Besides, my energy is limited. Between the Eternals you sent me and the Kree tech, I’m already swamped. I don’t have the time to explore an entirely new system."
Was Yuri a brilliant all-around scientist?
Absolutely.
But no matter how skilled he was, he was still human—not a god.
With a gap that big and technology that didn't follow the same system, there wasn't much he could do.
Even Josh, who usually didn't care about technology, could understand that.
"But I have no use for this thing," Josh said. If even Yuri couldn't do anything with it, what could he do?
"I just said it can’t be researched right now. I never said it couldn't be used. I already gave you the key to operate it, remember?" Yuri replied.
Josh suddenly got it.
That’s right—they didn’t know how to fly the ship, but those symbiotes definitely did.
Still, to hand over such a high-tech ship to someone else to control? Josh looked at the container containing Patience and frowned slightly. (TL/N: Bro is sooooo paranoid)
But since Yuri said so, he figured he'd at least take the ship and store it for now.
After ending the call with Yuri, Josh still hesitated, wondering if he should give the symbiote to Carter.
After all, Carter was already strong enough—giving her a symbiote might make her harder to control.
He shook his head and stored the symbiote in the system inventory, deciding to wait and see. He didn't really need it right now anyway.
With the Yuri conversation done, Josh turned his attention back to Cailin to talk about the Jade Record.
"Perfect timing—I just brought Imhotep back to life. As an ancient Egyptian, I don't think anyone is better suited to study it than him," Cailin replied quickly when Josh explained.
"Be careful. This guy's not exactly the obedient type," Josh warned.
"Haha, don't worry. A man who would give up everything for a woman might be a bit ambitious, but he's easy to control. Besides, both the Book of Amun-Ra and the Book of the Dead are in my hands now. He won't cause any trouble. And if he does... well, we have our emperor to deal with it," Cailin said casually.
"Good. By the way, about the Book of Amun-Ra and the Book of the Dead..."
Seeing how confident Cailin was, Josh didn't push any further. Things were different now. With the Dragon Emperor behind her and the countless legendary items and resources of the Mummy Universe at her disposal, she wasn't someone he could easily control anymore.
Still, he couldn't help but be interested in those two famous magic books.
"Already prepared. These two are replica editions—I’ve had them tested. While they don't have the amplification power of the originals, most of the spells in them can still be cast with regular magic," Cailin said as she handed the two books to Josh.
They were, of course, copies—not the real deal.
Considering how powerful the original books were, it would have been surprising if she'd handed over the real ones so easily.
Josh wasn't thrilled, but he wasn't complaining. After all, the Jade Record he'd traded her was only a copy. (TL/N: Man, I forgot what name I used before for this(Jade Record), and now I can't find the chapter where this interaction happened. If anyone remembers, please comment so I can fix it.)
There was no denying that while Josh had profited greatly from his early investments, his relationship with Cailin wasn't as deep as the bonds he had with early powerhouses like Daenerys and Yuri.
And as the number of people he dealt with grew, this kind of detached partnership would only become more common.
He glanced at the system—less than two months remained before the next dimensional beacon would appear.
But strangely, what weighed more heavily on his mind... was that Margaret was about to give birth.
The problem was that he didn't quite dare return home.
What if some loose ends hadn't been tied up?
What if the Ancient One or Odin had tracked him down in Europe?
Still, worried or not, he couldn't just stay away.
After another week in Chennai, Josh finally gave in to his longing for home and returned to Europe, hoping that luck would be on his side.
Sure enough, just three days after his return to Neuschwanstein Castle, Margaret gave birth.
This time, not twins—just one very healthy baby boy.
Ben Kahn. That was the name of their new son.
Surprisingly, the entire process—and the days that followed—went smoothly. No unexpected visitors, no magical alarms.
This slowly calmed Josh's paranoia, and he settled into a peaceful domestic life with Margaret and the baby.
Two months passed like that, and soon it was time for the next dimensional beacon to refresh itself.
As usual, Josh locked himself in his study to prepare.
The moment arrived—and this time, the system was faster than ever.
Within seconds, the search completed.
Then…
A jagged, mechanical face appeared on the screen, glaring at him.
Josh frowned deeply.
"What is this thing? A dimensional trading system? And the other party is... a human worm?" the mechanical face said in a raspy, venomous voice full of contempt.
"You're... a Cybertronian?" Josh asked, staring at the familiar angular face.
“Oh? The little insect actually knows of Cybertron? Hahahaha! That's right! Standing before you is the mightiest ruler of the universe—Starscream, king of the Cybertronians! Bow before me, little bug. If I'm pleased, perhaps I'll throw you a gift."
Josh stared, a little speechless.
Starscream?!
What, did he actually succeed in taking over from Megatron, or was he just talking out of his metal ass again?
Josh wasn’t buying it—not one bit.
Starscream’s bragging came with a giant grain of salt.
Comments
Amaan Shaikh
I am ready for exam, I just had too much writing work pending
Amaan Shaikh
Man I took break cause of submissions and EID
incognito viewer
Wew, exam over already? No way
