On Planet 50, the sky was the color of dried blood, but the ground smelled like roasted lamb and fresh potatoes.
Inside the dark obsidian halls of the Crimson-Moon Palace, the strongest ruler in the Broken Star Belt—the Blood-Moon Monarch, a terrifying Rank 8 Mid Star-Realm tyrant—stood in the middle of his royal treasury and trembled from head to toe.
His three-thousand-year-old vault, which had once held a hundred million tons of high-grade Spirit Stones, was completely empty of gems. In their place, thick golden vines as wide as water barrels burst out through the cracked iron floor tiles. Plump, five-pound Meat-Potatoes grew in clusters along the walls, pushing aside ancient blood-banners and popping off the heavy brass doors of his private safes.
CRACK-POP!
Right in front of the Monarch’s nose, a giant yellow potato swelled up inside his ancestral crown display case, shattering the crystal glass and rolling across his boots. It let out a puff of hot, savory steam that smelled just like Old Guo’s braised mutton stew.
“Potatoes...” the Blood-Moon Monarch whispered, his voice shaking as blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. “My Spirit Stones are gone. My banks are bankrupt. My outer four worlds defected last night without firing a single arrow. And now my royal vault is growing free lunch for the peasants!”
