Michael's first goal was to attack the Genox Galaxy, one of the large galaxies under the Supreme Human Alliance's control. It didn't border the Altors Union directly but was separated by a smaller galaxy. The smaller galaxy, named Novix Galaxy, was neutral territory often conquered by Cosmos Beasts, pirates, and the like. Both the Altors Union and the Supreme Human Alliance tried conquering the Novix Galaxy and claiming it as their land, but they always failed. The SHA tried claiming the Novix Galaxy six times, yet it never worked out. After centuries of failed attempts, the Altors Union and Supreme Human Alliance gave up on the Novix Galaxy. Of course, that didn't mean they avoided it. The Hyumans and Altors Union still used the Novix Galaxy as their battlegrounds.

Michael chose to take advantage of that. He purchased a few Return Tokens from the Nest Leader and used a bridge to teleport to the Novix Galaxy.

It was one of the bridges Selena had installed more than a thousand years ago to support the Altors Union. It wouldn't be activated to help the Altors Union. Still, if Michael was going to wreak havoc in the rows of the Supreme Human Alliance's defenses, he might as well trick them into believing that the Altors Union attacked them.

Michael wasn't in a rush, but he didn't think about traveling by foot or using Cosmic Stride without any augmentations. He procured close to one million Superior Energy Stones over the course of several weeks, sucked them dry, and channeled their energy into the Compass Relic to use the relic at any time. Michael's plan was simple. He would travel through the Novix Galaxy near the border to the Genox Galaxy to check the borders and the defensive lines before attacking. Michael wasn't worried about being found since he was alone and capable of concealing his energy fluctuations nearly perfectly. The traces of energy he couldn't conceal may expose him as a Divine Lifeform, but that was not a problem.

Even the most precise radar would only detect him as an ordinary Divine Lifeform. If the Supreme Human Alliance chose to act against him, they may deploy a few ordinary Divine Lifeforms or one Elite to get rid of him. Michael could easily deal with that kind of threat.

His plan was simple, but Michael fleshed it out quickly. Once that was done, he used the bridge and disappeared. The Novix Galaxy was small but still a galaxy with nearly 4,000 planetary systems. That might not feel like a lot given that galaxies consisted of billions of stars, however, it was important to note that most stars were uninhabitable. Various factors made it impossible to civilize most stars by most races. Then again, many races could live in different environments than others. Thus, the number of uninhabitable stars in a galaxy depended on the race, their level of technology, and many other factors.

The sizes of the 4,000ish planetary systems in the Novix Galaxy varied greatly. Some systems had only three planets, while others contained up to several dozen. Important to note was that small tribes of Hyumans and members of the Altors Union chose to civilize smaller planets in certain systems bordering their homeland.

Well, maybe it was also important to point out that several meteorite rings swept through the Novix Galaxy, threatening to destroy all spaceships daring enough to get too close. The destruction of thousands of spaceships trying to cross the multi-layered meteorite rings was also one of the few reasons the Altors Union and Supreme Human Alliance stopped putting effort and resources into the Novix Galaxy. It was a calm placeor used to be.

Michael's arrival changed that.

He didn't approach the Altors Union or tell them what he was about to do. Instead, he traveled through the meteorite ring with Cosmic Stride and studied the constellation of meteorites, uninhabitable planets, and so forth. He discovered a manned fort near the meteorite ring on the Supreme Human Alliance's side and chose to have some fun with them.

The first thing he did was accumulate enough energy by using Swallow Domain to devour the surrounding energy in a radius of several dozen kilometers. The batches of meteorites in Swallow Domain's range were also consumed, but Michael didn't transform them into energy using Permute.

He kept them in the Swallow Domain storage, inched closer to the manned fortress, and used Cosmic Stride to unleash the stored meteorites. Michael gave the meteorites a little push with a massive burst of energy while increasing their durability using Greater Enhancement. The meteorites transformed into a massive, oversized cannonball that teleported tens of kilometers through space, only to appear a few kilometers away from the manned fortress of the Supreme Human Alliance.

The fortress might have been manned, but the guards weren't prepared for an attack. It had been decades since anyone crossed the meteorite ring. Even the Cosmos Beasts didn't bother attacking them anymore, knowing it wasn't worth the effort. But an unknown force attacked them out of nowhere.

The guards tried to respond, but something went wrong when the Hyuman Captain, a Divine Lifeform, appeared before the first meteorite. Energy coursed through his body like a brewing storm, but the moment he was about to crush the incoming meteorites with brute force, he froze.

Michael's golden eyes flickered like a predator's eyes. That was because they'd shifted into serpentine eyes. Michael had exerted Basilisk Eyes using Seer with Unlimited Enhancement. It consumed a tremendous amount of Soullife Energy and Soul Energy to use both Unlimited Enhancement and Basilisk Eyes, but the effect was notable. The Divine Lifeform froze and didn't crush the incoming meteorites. On the contrary, the meteorites crashed into the Divine Lifeform and continued on their tracks.

The batches of meteorites crashed heavily into the Hyuman Fortress, but a protection dome blocked most attacks. That was until Michael used Insert with a trace of Beast God Poison. He inserted Jormungandr's poison into the protection dome, shattering it instantly.

It was unknown to Michael how the guards in the Hyuman Fortress reacted, but he imagined them screaming and running around like headless chickens as the last meteorites of the batches pushed through the last layers of defense. They crashed heavily into the fortress, destroying everything in one go.

The meteorites impacted heavily and crushed the thick walls, protecting the fortress from harm from the outside. They could block smaller meteorites without sustaining major damage, but Michael's meteorites were faster and more durable than the norm. Their impact punctured the heavily reinforced metal, exposing the Hyuman Fortress to the dangers of the meteorite ring.

Watching his artificially created meteorite shower was interesting, but too many Hyumans survived the attack. The space might reap their lives in the near future, maybe a few days if they were lucky, however, that was too long. They could warn the Supreme Human Alliance, which wasn't something Michael wanted to happen.

He wanted the Supreme Human Alliance to find out about his attack soon. However, he didn't want the Supreme Human Alliance to know what Soultraits had been used to attack the fortress or how many people had attacked.

That was why he jumped into action, perfectly wearing a mask and concealing his curse power. He used True Extraction Domain once to extract the last remnants of his curse power usage before descending into the Hyuman Fortress.

The tale of the Lone Hunter was about to begin.