Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2944: Merits

The Pritz.

This massive floating structure of black steel and silver alloy served as one of the designated Magus Alliance space stations within Sector 13 of the Alpha Quadrant.

Suspended silently above the void, the station resembled a colossal fortress drifting through endless darkness, its outer hull layered with defensive formations, observation arrays, and dozens of docking platforms extending outward like metallic wings.

Compared to the Nixar Station Emery once deployed during the Academy’s final examination, the Pritz was noticeably smaller and far older. Nixar had been built as a military-grade fortress capable of sustaining prolonged warfare against large-scale invasions. The Pritz, however, had originally been designed for surveillance, patrol coordination, and border defense. It was never meant to host a full-scale war mobilization.

Yet under the current circumstances, it was the best facility Sector 13 could provide on such short notice.

For the past several hours, as the station advanced steadily toward its designated target near Baeldum territory, ships bearing the insignias of countless factions had continuously arrived to join the growing convoy.

Massive military cruisers floated alongside smaller faction vessels while patrol ships moved constantly between docking zones directing traffic and scanning incoming personnel.

From the viewing platform of the Voidwolf ship, Emery could already see dozens of vessels surrounding the station.

Some belonged to powerful upper-realm factions. Others were unknown groups hoping to earn Alliance merits during the emergency operation.

Soon, the Voidwolf ship received docking authorization.

As the vessel slowly descended toward one of the outer platforms, Typhon suddenly spoke from beside Emery.

”My mission is only to protect you,” the Qilin hybrid said calmly. ”I’d rather not officially register myself for this operation.”

Emery frowned slightly in confusion, but before he could ask further, Typhon removed a strange bronze bracelet from his wrist and tossed it toward him.

”This is my beast bracelet,” he explained. ”I can remain hidden inside it and act as your contracted beast. Only call me out if you’re truly in danger.”

Before Emery could respond, the qilin hybrid transformed into a streak of light and disappeared directly into the bracelet.

Emery heave a deep sigh before stared at the item with visible interest.

It was no ordinary spatial artifact.

There were extremely few treasures capable of containing the complete physical body of a Three Cosmos existence. Emery himself had once encountered a rare Tier 7 spatial ring capable of storing such powerful beings, but such items consumed enormous spirit energy and came with some limitations.

Even Emery’s own inner domain had restrictions.

Although extraordinarily powerful, his inner domain could only sustain Grand Magus-level figures with compatible foundations of darkness and light for short periods before the internal balance became unstable. Trying to contain someone as powerful as Typhon directly within it would be impossible.

Yet this beast bracelet bypassed those limitations entirely.

Unlike ordinary storage artifacts, it was bound specifically to Typhon himself.

Emery remembered the qilin hybrid once mentioning of his past before achieving his beast metamorphosis. Back then, he had served a master.

Perhaps this bracelet had once belonged to that person.

Still, regardless of its origin, the artifact solved several problems at once.

Although hiding Typhon meant losing the enormous merits attached to registering a Three Cosmos expert for the mission, Emery was honestly more relieved than disappointed. As long as Typhon remained hidden within the bracelet, he would be able to travel through alongside him through Khaos waypoints.

With the matter settled, Emery disembarked the Voidwolf ship alongside Morgana and Fjolnir, while the rest of the former raider crew remained aboard the vessel awaiting deployment orders.

The trio headed toward the station’s central hall.

Even before arriving, Emery could already sense the overwhelming number of gathered cultivators through his divine sense. More than four hundred individuals had assembled within the station already, and nearly a third of them had reached Grand Magus realm.

Several among them were even able to evade his spiritual probes entirely.

Which meant there were definitely multiple Three Cosmos experts present.

As Emery entered the enormous registration hall, several Magus Alliance officers immediately approached them politely.

”Senior,” one of them said respectfully, ”please register your faction and the number of participants joining the operation.”

Emery was not surprised.

Although the invitations had initially been sent only to specific factions, this was still technically a voluntary Alliance mission. With emergency-level contribution rewards involved, proper administration and merit tracking were naturally necessary.

While registering his information, Emery glanced through the mission briefing displayed across the crystal panel before him.

The detailed merit rewards immediately caught his attention.

[Grand Magus Realm — Three Cosmos: 20,000 merits per day]

[Grand Magus Realm — Two Cosmos: 5,000 merits per day]

[Grand Magus Realm — One Cosmos: 1000 merits per day]

[Full Moon Magus Realm: 100 merits per day]

[Other Magus Realms: 25 merits per day]

As usual, these merits did not include combat achievements, kill contributions, or special mission bonuses, all of which would be calculated separately after the operation.

At first glance, the numbers still felt insignificant compared to the crushing five million merit debt Emery owed the Magus Alliance, a sentence he was expected to repay within thirteen years. Even so, after reading through the detailed calculations, he quickly realized the rewards truly were extraordinary by Alliance standards.

This emergency operation was offering around five times the normal merit rate.

To put it into perspective, the Earth faction forces he regularly deployed to Alliance operations—including Anpu and more than fifty Magus-realm warriors—barely generated around six to seven thousand merits per month under normal circumstances. Even after yearly bonuses and combat rewards, the total rarely exceeded one hundred thousand merits annually.

Meanwhile, one of Emery’s greatest recent accomplishments, the bounty merit of the infamous Chimera Sovereign, had earned him one hundred fifty thousand merits. The elimination of the three Midnight Brotherhood disciples had granted another combined total of eighty thousand merits.

Compared to those achievements, the current operation was quite lucrative.

Especially for Three Cosmos Grand Magus experts. Simply participating in the mission for five days without doing anything significant would already grant merits comparable to capturing a famous criminal of a similar realm.

As Emery mentally calculated the numbers, he could not help releasing a quiet sigh.

The sheer scale of his debt still felt overwhelming.

For a brief moment, he genuinely considered dragging Typhon back out of the beast bracelet and registering the qilin hybrid officially for the mission.

Unfortunately, the qilin hybrid was one of the hardest people to reason with. Emery secretly began thinking of ways to forcefully reveal him during the mission and claim the merits.

”...Sounds like a good plan.”

After completing the registration process, Emery, Morgana, and Fjolnir each received a personal Alliance bracelet connected to the mission system. Several additional bracelets were also handed over for distribution among the remaining Voidwolf crew aboard the ship.

With the formalities completed, Emery finally stepped deeper into the station’s massive central hall.

The atmosphere immediately grew heavier.

Hundreds of cultivators from different factions filled the enormous chamber, their powerful auras mixing together into an oppressive pressure that ordinary magus would struggle even to endure. Some groups stood together discussing strategy quietly, while others remained isolated, observing nearby factions cautiously.

There was tension in the air.