THE COSMIC BLACK MARKET

A glowing map of the city floated above the cracked, dirty tiles of the subway station.

Kaelen Cross stared at the pulsing blue line cutting straight through the ruins.

It was the Vanguard Guild’s main supply route.

"You're begging for a death wish, old man," Nyx muttered.

She sat cross-legged on the floor, chewing her gum aggressively as her fingers danced across a floating keyboard.

"I'm not talking about the guards with guns," she clarified.

Red warnings and numbers popped up next to the glowing blue track.

"I'm talking about the wind."

Nyx pointed to the digital model of the sleek, bullet-shaped train.

"This thing doesn't use wheels. It floats over the tracks. And because it floats, nothing slows it down."

She looked up at Kael, her glowing green goggles reflecting the cold light of the map.

"It moves at five hundred miles an hour. Do you even understand what that means?"

Kael didn't blink.

"It means the air isn't just air anymore," Nyx warned, her voice dropping all its usual sarcasm.

"If you drop onto the roof of that speeding train, the wind won't just push you. Hitting air at that speed turns it into a solid wall of razor blades."

She popped her gum, the sound cracking like a whip in the quiet station.

"It will literally strip the meat clean off your bones."

Nyx swiped her hand through the hologram, dismantling the train model to show the sheer force involved.

"It's like jumping face-first into a giant, invisible meat grinder," she concluded grimly.

"Normal armor can't handle the heat of slamming into the atmosphere that fast. You'll be a bloody smear on the tracks before you can even take a single step."

Seraphina frowned. Her golden eyes stared at the impossible math.

"Can you hack the train's brain?" the Paladin asked, her hand resting heavily on the hilt of her greatsword.

"Make it slow down before we jump on?"

Nyx shook her head.

"If I even poke the train's system, the Vanguard bosses will know instantly," Nyx warned.

"They'll drop bombs on us from the sky before Kael's boots even touch the roof."

Kael didn't say a word.

He just stared at the glowing blue route. His mind raced, playing out a thousand different plans in a fraction of a second.

Nyx was right.

Normal human tools were useless here. A standard grappling hook would snap like a dry twig the second it caught a train moving that fast.

He didn't just need a way to stick to the metal. He needed to completely cheat the laws of gravity.

"Human gear won't cut it," Kael finally rasped.

He looked up into the empty air. His silver eyes locked onto the invisible camera of his stream.

Taken from NovelPhoenix, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

[Current Viewers: 1,602,400]

[Total Cosmic Credits: 371,500]

A slow, predatory smirk spread across his scarred face.

"Chat," Kael whispered into the dark.

"Where do the gods go shopping when they want to hide their dirty secrets?"

The chat, which had been trying to solve the deadly math right alongside Nyx, instantly exploded.

[User 'Star_Dust_69': OH MY GOD! IS HE ACTUALLY GOING TO THE DARK WEB?! 😱🌐🚨]

[User 'BloodGod': YES! THE BLACK MARKET! BUY THE HIGHLY ILLEGAL STUFF! 💀🩸🔥]

[User 'Weapons_Nut_44': KAEL! You need a shady underground broker for this! The normal System shop will never sell you gear that straight-up cheats the laws of physics. The space cops banned all of it ages ago! 🛠️🚔🚫]

[User 'Zark': Hahaha! This man is literally about to commit cosmic tax evasion! 😂💸🏃‍♂️]

[User 'Bet-Master': I am putting 10,000 credits on the line right now. I bet he robs the black market merchant entirely blind! 🎰💰🤑]

[User 'Lore_Keeper': Entering the unregulated abyss markets without hiding his digital footprint? The sheer disrespect for universal law is staggering. 🧐📜🚫]

[User 'Galactic_Simp_42': A criminal who completely ignores the galactic police? I am swooning so hard right now! 🤤😩💖]

[User 'Mecha-King': Go to the fourth sector of the market. Find the merchant with four arms. Tell him the Iron Lord sent you, or he will try to scam you out of your entire wallet. 👑⚙️⚠️]

[User 'DragonBoredom': Do not just buy their toys, Kaelen. Show the rats of the underworld exactly who holds the leash. 🐉🍷]

Kael read the dwarf's frantic message.

"System," Kael commanded. His voice was completely flat.

"Connect my mind to the Interstellar Dark Web."

[WARNING: Accessing the Unregulated Cosmic Black Market.]

[User safety is not guaranteed. Transactions are final. Bounties may be placed on your head.]

[Do you wish to proceed? YES / NO]

Kael mentally selected yes.

The reaction was instant.

He didn't just get a simple pop-up menu in front of his face.

His physical body stayed behind in the dirty subway station. But his mind was violently ripped right out of his skull.

The cold, wet air of the real world vanished.

It felt like being sucked through a massive pipe filled with blinding neon lights.

When his digital body finally appeared, he was standing in a place that made absolutely no sense.

It was a massive, endless black market floating in the middle of deep space.

Giant, glowing neon signs flashed aggressively above crowded, dirty alleyways. The words were written in a thousand alien languages he couldn't read.

The air smelled like burnt metal, heavy alien drugs, and raw magic.

Aliens of every shape and size brushed past him in the massive crowd.

Giant, bug-like warlords were shouting deals with glowing beings made of pure energy. They were trading crates of stolen spaceship engines.

It was an overwhelming wave of pure, unfiltered cosmic crime.

Kael looked down at his own hands.

His digital body looked exactly like his real one.

He wore the same heavy leather coat. He had the same jagged scars across his face.

And he had the exact same terrifying, silver eyes of the Phantom Vanguard.

[User 'Weapons_Nut_44': Okay, Kael! Listen to me! Go to the fourth sector of the market. Look for an alien broker named Xen. He is a sleazy bastard, but he sells the absolute best gravity gear. 🛠️👽]

Kael followed the dwarf's advice.

He walked through the chaotic, glowing alleyways. His steps were calm and cold, like a deadly predator strolling through a cage of harmless pets.

A few cheap alien thugs tried to size him up. They sensed he was just a human.

But one look into Kael's dead, silver eyes sent them running right back into the dark.

He finally reached a dark, heavily guarded stall hidden in the corner of the fourth sector.

The creature sitting behind the floating digital counter looked like a scam artist straight out of hell.

It was a Glaxian.

The alien had four long, creepy arms. Its skin was covered in oily purple scales.

It wore a wide smile full of sharp, needle-like teeth that practically dripped with pure greed.

"Ah!" the alien rasped. The translation system fed the words directly into Kael's brain.

"A human! And a brand-new top-tier streamer too!"

Xen leaned forward. He rubbed all four of his hands together like he had just struck gold.

"Welcome to my shop of the impossible, my fleshy friend. I saw your little trick with the sky beam. Very flashy! Very expensive!"

All four of Xen's eyes locked onto Kael.

"What can I do for the rising star of that primitive dirt-ball planet?"

"I need to jump onto a train moving at five hundred miles an hour," Kael said flatly.

"I need gear that kills momentum. And I need something that sticks to metal like glue."

Xen's creepy smile grew even wider.

He looked at Kael and just saw a human. A primitive ape who had stumbled into a massive pile of cosmic cash and had no clue how the real universe worked.

He was the absolute perfect target to scam.

"Five hundred miles an hour? Child's play!" Xen laughed, waving one of his lower hands like it was nothing.

The alien reached under the digital counter. He slapped a pair of heavy, glowing metal boots onto the table.

"Behold! The Aero-Tread Hover Boots!" Xen announced with massive, fake drama.

"Military grade! Used by the famous flying knights of Nebula Prime! These beauties will glue you to a speeding comet if you want them to!"

Xen leaned in close and lowered his voice, acting like they were sharing a deep secret.

"For a famous hero like you? I will let them go for a massive steal. Two hundred thousand Cosmic Credits."