Just as Dorn had once toyed with Space Marines, now the gap left him stunned. He'd thought a bigger body would make Rhodes slower, but he'd even seen afterimages from Rhodes's attack!
That kind of move, from a body as big as a Titan!
And that energy shockwave—the red bull's head—wasn't psychic at all, but a force of the physical universe.
For there to be such an attack in the physical cosmos—equal to or greater than psychic power—was unimaginable. If the other Primarchs gained such power, he couldn't afford to fall behind! He had to defend Holy Terra, the Imperial Fist, whose home world was Terra itself.
"Right! I need to prepare you a cosmic phantom beast. What kind do you want?" Rhodes returned, asking Dorn for his preference.
He was about to get Dorn his own cosmic phantom beast and wanted to know what kind Dorn preferred.
"I can choose?" Dorn asked.
A cosmic phantom beast must be incredibly rare, right?
"We're pretty wealthy now, so tell me your preferences: defensive, offensive, or any special attributes—cosmic phantom beasts all have attributes.
Mine's fire, my wife Elena's is ice," Rhodes explained.
"In that case, I want a defensive one—and if possible, can it be gold-colored? I like gold," Dorn replied after some thought.
"No problem! I'll get you an earth-attribute beast, with a golden motif!"
Rhodes nodded. As expected, Dorn liked gold—just like the Emperor!
There were plenty of golden monsters, including one called the Golden Monster Goldon, 60,000 tons, 65 meters tall—perfect!
Rhodes had almost all the fragments needed to synthesize it from previous draws in the system shop. He just needed to use 10 more monster fragments to complete it.
Recently, Rhodes's system currency had been rising non-stop—Orks and the demon ranches kept providing endless energy.
He spent 100,000 system coins on a shop draw, got 110 monster fragments, and completed the set for the Golden Monster.
He synthesized it in the system space—a gigantic, dragon-like reptilian beast appeared.
Golden Monster Goldon was incredibly strong in melee due to its size and mass, and could burrow underground. It was a native earth monster.
It hadn't been upgraded much: three upgrades for height, five for mass, and its attack skill was a golden ray fired from its dorsal fin that could shatter rock.
Its power was average, but it could be upgraded three times, costing a total of about 20,000 system coins.
At over 70 meters tall and 70,000 tons, its melee and defense were excellent. Rhodes began its cosmic phantom beast transformation.
A golden light enveloped Goldon, making its body ethereal and raising its intelligence.
Knowledge of phantom beasts and the Cosmic Beast Martial Arts Manual flooded its mind and fused with it.
"Welcome, new brother!" The cosmic Azure Dragon, cosmic Water Buffalo, and others congratulated the new arrival.
In less than ten years, several new phantom beast brothers had joined.
"My brothers, thank you for recognizing me."
After fusion, Goldon was about 100 meters tall, now a basic cosmic phantom beast, with earth attributes and a defensive focus.
"Thank you for granting me wisdom, great master," Goldon said to Rhodes.
As an earth monster, its previous intelligence was no more than an animal's. But after the transformation, not only its life level and energy rose, its intelligence soared—it was now a true super lifeform, not just a monster.
"You've just become a cosmic phantom beast. Spend time learning from your seniors, and develop your own martial arts style. In a month, you'll fuse with Dorn as his beast," Rhodes said.
There was no rush to fuse Dorn and Goldon—better to let Goldon master the basics and develop a signature fighting style.
Unique cosmic phantom beast martial arts greatly increased fighting strength. Once fused with a Primarch, the beast's energy would radiate from them, allowing nearby mortals to learn basic beast martial arts.
This martial art was already spreading among the Space Marine chapters. For those without a Primarch's beast, Rhodes would summon them to Terra or his fief, letting them train on the new cosmic beast planet.
Rhodes had already chosen the planet—a terrestrial world three times Terra's size, undergoing transformation.
By the phantom beasts' request, there would be no industry to pollute the environment.
So, the planet was being made into a paradise. Besides training Marines, it could even serve as a tourist spot for nobles.
Maximum safety, plus cosmic beasts and Marines to see.
Two beasts now lived there permanently, letting mortal regiments learn the martial art.
Rhodes planned to station 10 beasts there in the future, so the planet would be saturated with beast energy.
Now, Huron had moved there as his home world, and Rhodes planned to send Lelith and Yvraine as well so their beasts could emit energy and they could rest.
He needed to return Dorn to Holy Terra soon.
He couldn't take the Eldar girls along for now, but the goddess Isha now had her own body and could act independently, while Lelith could rest.
"Don't worry, master. We'll take good care of our new brother and help him perfect his martial arts," said the cosmic Water Buffalo.
There were over 20 cosmic phantom beasts now, and the number would rise. Serving their master was their honor.
"I understand, great master. I'll learn cosmic beast energy control diligently," Goldon said.
Rhodes nodded and returned to his cabin to rest. Tomorrow, he'd finish dealing with the clone bodies.
Lying in bed, he checked his system panel.
After several draws, he had enough fragments to summon another basic shop monster—a special one.
This was the Ancient Soldier Monster Zoiger.
Height: 55 meters, weight: 48,000 tons.
Flight speed Mach 8.5, strong in close combat, and could shoot giant fireballs from its mouth—overall stronger than Melba.
When Rhodes went to synthesize it, the system prompted: male or female Zoiger?
He frowned—this was the first time a monster had a gender option.
Checking the data, he was surprised: the Zoiger species served the evil god Gatanothor as dark monsters, arriving from a dark galaxy. They could reproduce, so had males and females with different appearances.
Males were for combat: standard height and weight, fierce and fearless, extremely strong.
Females were even bigger: about 60 meters tall, 60,000 tons, a bit less powerful in combat but bulkier.
The female Zoiger had a special ability: they could breed small Zoiger offspring (2.2 meters tall, 110 kg).
Rhodes remembered these offspring could even take human form, as seen in the final battle of the Dyna movie.
So, should he choose a male Zoiger for combat, or a female Zoiger for breeding? Could the offspring grow into adults? If so, that opened up interesting possibilities!