Read The Legendary Mechanic - Chapter 1065 - The Wolf Is Besieged and Annihilated online free - Novel Full
Ending his long-range projection, Han Xiao opened his eyes within his palace, his emotions overflowing in joy.
"Seven Calamity Grades joined, with one of them even being a Beyond Grade A seed. This wave of talents is good quality."
He had only been interested in the resources accumulated by the Beast Ancestor and did not covet the latter's offspring because both sides were enemies after all. Even if he were to forcefully accept the troops and force the descendants to work for him, there would always be resistance.
There was also a chance that they would not put in their best effort, and their numbers would allow them to pollute the army and form a faction, which would become a ticking time bomb.
A melon that is forcefully plucked will not be sweet.
The losses would outweigh the gains. Furthermore, the Black Star Army was already part of the Lawful Faction, so they could not go too overboard. At the same time, they did not lack manpower in the army at the moment, so he was not interested in poaching the manpower of the Beast Ancestor.
That being said, if it was those who decided to voluntarily pledge themselves to the Black Star Army, he naturally would not reject them.
"The majority of people from the rebel faction are still waiting, and Jotina's batch is only the first wave of guinea pigs. There will definitely be more of them in the future. Even I don't know the exact number."
Han Xiao did not wish to capture all these people in one go, as each individual had their own ambitions. Some of them might not necessary chose to defect to him if they were to betray the Beast Ancestor Organization. Some would choose to resign completely, burying their lives and living in a low-profile manner.
Shaking his head, Han Xiao temporarily put this matter aside and summoned Phillip.
"Notify Herlous and Sylvia. Tell them to mobilize the soldiers of the Shattered Star Ring to send a fleet over to the Beast Ancestor's base to free all the slaves and to destroy his offspring cultivation assembly line."
Due to the high difficulty level of the mission [Ending the Darkness, he could not progress in it at the moment. In contrast, the other missions were quite simple, and since he had already given the other party his word, Han Xiao swung into action. With Jotina joining him, he would also have sufficient reason to send out troops.
Furthermore, since Gorutan had brought out a large number of elites, his base was quite empty. Thus, it also reduced the difficulty. As long as the fleet brought along his own avatar as a guarantee, there should not be any accidents.
This group of guys who had forsaken the darkness for the light brought Han Xiao plenty of good news. However, there was one detail that made Han Xiao sit up and take notice.
He always felt that the look Jotina had in her eyes seemed a little bit too eager…
It was like how he normally looked at Feidin.
In the stronghold of the Beast Ancestor's base in the Emerald Star Cluster, after Jotina and her group broke out, the atmosphere became silent and cold. There was less chatter. They were obviously brothers and sisters, but the looks they exchanged were filled with vigilance, and more thoughts were hiding behind their poker faces.
As the people's hearts changed, the undercurrents surged.
Jotina was the first defector, and there were still many more of the cautious rebels watching the situation. Seeing that she had a good start, more of them started to get ready to move.
Within a secret room, a group of people from the rebel factions gathered together quietly. Their leader was a prestigious Calamity Grade officer, 'Boa Constrictor' Schneider. While he was not at the level of the four major officers, he was still one of the more influential officers, an elite combatant who combined his Pugilist skills with his innate toxin talents.
"I believe you know my purpose behind gathering all of you." Schneider looked around, his eyes stopping for a while on the stronger officers before continuing, "There's news from Sister Jotina, she says that Black Star has already accepted them. They have found a good home."
No one present spoke, waiting for him to finish.
Seeing this, Schneider said, "The loyal faction fought with Jotina and suffered heavy losses. They probably no longer wish to waste any more strength in dealing with the defectors. It's about time for us to leave as well. I know that there are a few among us that do not wish to defect to another organization and wish to be independent. All of this can wait for when we leave. For those that are unwilling to follow and walk your own paths, we will meet again somewhere in the universe and reminisce about our familial ties then."
After he was done, the room remained quiet for a moment before someone finally spoke out.
"That's right. It's time for us to leave. In another few days, it will be my troops' turn to patrol. This is our chance, and it's best to avoid any conflict with the loyalists."
As soon as the silence was broken, everyone spoke in a rush. Everyone with some influence in the audience offered suggestions, brainstorming for the rebellion.
Meanwhile, a few of the loyalists were also having a secret meeting.
"Did you hear? It seems like the group of traitors from Jotina's side joined the Black Star Army."
"Where did this news come from? Is it reliable?"
"Many people saw their spaceship headed toward the stronghold of the Black Star Army, and after entering, they never came out. Furthermore, among that rebel faction that has a lot of hidden thoughts, there has been quite a bit of intelligence leaking out, so it should be accurate."
One of them said in a deep voice, "If it's true, then we can implement a bold plan. Let our people pretend to defect and enter the Black Star Army. We'll find a chance to rescue Lord Father."
"But… Black Star is a Beyond Grade A Mechanic. It's hard to even be able to steal anything under his nose. Furthermore, there is no solution for the Spacetime Amber; even the three Universal Civilizations are left befuddled."
"Lord Father has so painstakingly raised us. He's our respected patriarch. Only we can help him now, so even if the odds are slim, we still have to try," someone else replied firmly.
"Alright… but there's still another problem. The defectors definitely know our allegiances, and the loyal factionists who attempt to defect will definitely be seen through."
"This is a good question. After being together for so long, one cannot just break into the group of rebels…"
Everyone hesitated.
Jotina's incident had provided hope to the loyalists. Some of them wanted to stage a rescue of Gorutan, who was made into a specimen. After all, he was just sealed and not dead yet.
At this time, the sound of a communicator rang, breaking the stale atmosphere in the room like a roar of thunder on a sunny day.
The leader looked at his communicator and said, "Byram has gathered all the officers to discuss our future plans."
Everyone did not feel any surprise. After Gorutan's fall, this sort of meeting had been held many times. Without a decision maker, the affairs of the organization could now only be decided by a large majority of the officers agreeing. However, everyone had their own plans, so there was no unified opinion.
The group of loyalists left the room, rushing toward the large conference room.
At this moment, the conference room was almost full of people. All those present were officers with a certain amount of influence, and the scene was as rowdy as a scene in a marketplace. The three factions of loyalist, rebels, and neutrals distinguished themselves clearly, all looking at each other with cold glares.
This group of loyalists immediately spotted Schneider and glared at him before finding their places.
Schneider did not care about their attitude. He had also heard the news when he was in his secret meeting and rushed over.
After waiting a while longer, all the officers were finally present. Byram was the last to enter, and he closed the door to the conference room. Under everyone's gaze, he slowly walked up to the rostrum before looking down from his vantage point at everyone.
"What happened, for you to convene us again?" one of the officers demanded. The person in question was one of the Four Generals.
"We haven't finished discussing the previous topic, so today, we'll continue to discuss the future of our organization." Byram calmly smiled before he changed the topic. "However, before that, let me introduce someone to you."
Everyone frowned. From Byram's attitude, they noticed something was wrong.
It was at this moment that a wave of magic appeared in the room, and a blue circle representing a transportation door appeared beside Byram.
Hum!
A foot slowly stepped out of the portal, and a strong sense of oppression soon followed. The air in the room seemed to freeze instantly.
The Secret Master walked out before waving a hand to close the transportation door. With his hands behind his back, he gazed at everyone present with an expression of indifference.
The entire room turned silent.
At this time, Byram broke the silence with a smile in his voice.
"I believe everyone is familiar with the Secret Master, who is also a patron of the Galactic Black Market just like Lord Father.
"Byram, what's the meaning of this‽"
The group of loyalists immediately stood up, suppressing their anger as they questioned him.
In reality, everyone understood that Byram, who was part of the neutral faction, had already initiated a relationship with the Secret Master. Under the guise of a meeting, he had gathered all the officers so that the Secret Master could catch them all at once and control everyone.
He was going to present this stronghold and all the officers present to the Secret Master!
Byram only smiled in response. His gaze shifted to the Secret Master, and he explained, "Since Lord Father was captured, countless organizations have been watching us, wishing to divide us. Without a Beyond Grade A holding the helm, we've been a mess. Secret Master is an old friend of Lord Father, so he has decided to grant us asylum to help us weather our difficulties."
Yes, spin, continue to spin your story!
Everyone cursed in their heart. The neutrals were surprised, the rebels had heavy hearts, and the loyalists were enraged.
The Secret Master took in everybody's expressions before coldly speaking. "The situation is as thus. Gorutan and I have been partners for a long time, and I cannot just watch as his descendants split. I'll temporarily take in the Beast Ancestor's organization, and when the situation stabilizes, I'll hand the rights back to you."
F*ck your mom, what sympathy and what partners? Do you think we all have amnesia‽
Everyone gritted their teeth.
The Secret Master did not have an organization of the Black Star Army's scale, so the warriors under the command of the Beast Ancestor were one of the resources he wished to gain.
Because he was not a direct enemy like Black Star, he would not need to worry about the issue of them taking revenge. Furthermore, he was also a patron of the Galactic Black Market, so it was more reasonable for him to receive the Beast Ancestor's organization. His own organization already consisted of many mixed forces, belonging to the gray side, so there was no need to worry about suffering from indigestion from being unable to digest the Beast Ancestor's troops.
This was merely an excuse for the Secret Master to embezzle the power of the Beast Ancestor, but even if the loyalists were angry, they dared not stand up against it.
The Secret Master had already spoken.
If you still do not know what's good for you, then you won't even have time to regret if this pinnacle Beyond Grade A here destroys you.
Thus, no one retorted after the Secret Master finished speaking, as though they all silently agreed.
At this moment, Schneider slowly stood up, attracting the eyes of everyone present, including the Secret Master.
He took a deep breath before speaking in a respectful tone.
"Many thanks to Your Excellency Secret Master for your generosity. Your asylum is something we urgently need, and I agree that you have to take over Lord Father's organization for the time being."
"Hmm, not bad."
Secret Master nodded, feeling that this kid was on the right path.
However, this impression was destroyed by Schneider's next sentence. "However, I've already grown tired of this kind of life, and I don't wish to continue fighting in the universe. Now, I just wish to live the life of an ordinary person. Your Excellency, I'm not going against you, but everyone has their own ambitions. Please allow me to retire."
Secret Master did not think much about it, replying, "You're blessed with a Calamity Grade level combat power. To retire just like that would be a pity. I hope you will continue to find the passion in your current post. I'm optimistic about you, so don't talk about resigning anymore. Sit down."
Schneider gritted his teeth before mustering up the courage to speak again. "Your Excellency Secret Master. I wish to take a period of leave. My sister has defected to the Black Star Army, and I wish to tell her not to worry about things back home."
Once this sentence was spoken, it could be considered as stating his stand. He implied that he did not wish to work under Secret Master but rather wished to lean toward Black Star.
Secret Master narrowed his eyes and stared at him. The pressure within the room got steadily stronger.
Only when Schneider started to sweat did Secret Master finally reply.
"I feel that there's no need for that. When I formally take over, the universe will naturally receive the news. There's no need to take unnecessary steps."
Hearing this, Schneider as well as the people in the rebel factions all sighed in their hearts.
The attitude of Secret Master was clear. Even if he knew that they wanted to go over to Black Star, he still chose to detain everyone, not allowing any officers to leave in order to control them.
"Ha…" Schneider sighed before sitting down, an expression of regret on his face.
If he had known of this development, he would have acted more aggressively and taken action with Jotina. He was a step late.
The faces of the rebels were ugly, and their current emotions could be described as 'being there in body but not in spirit'.
Secret Master publicly placed a magical imprint on all the officers to monitor their actions before speaking in a high-handed manner, emphasizing how deep his relationship was with Gorutan, and after spending so much time together, how they were practically brothers.
The crowd secretly rolled their eyes as they listened to the bullsh*t Secret Master was spouting. When the end of the meeting was announced, they could not wait to get up and leave the room, as though they were fleeing.
Soon, there were only two people left in the conference room. Byram came up to the Secret Master and smiled.
"Your Excellency Secret Master, congratulations on absorbing the troops of the Beast Ancestor."
"This is only the first step. The Beast Ancestor still has many other camps and Star Fields."
"I understand, but most of the people he has brought over to the Flickering World are important officers, and since you're controlling them, you're basically controlling almost half of the Beastman Organization."
"Hmm. Anyways, you've done a good job. When this matter comes to an end, I'll definitely reward you for your achievements." The Secret Master nodded.
Hearing this, Byram's smile grew wider.
After Jotina defected, Byram also decided to find a way out. It happened that Secret Master was also plotting on taking over the Beast Ancestor's army, so both sides started communicating with each other and hit it off. Byram thus decided to assist the Secret Master.
The reason he did not choose Black Star was partly because the loyalist faction would never agree to submit under Black Star. Also, if he presented such a gift to their enemy, when news got out, his reputation would be ruined. Considering both factors, it was better to work with Secret Master instead.
Byram walked away in excitement, and after sending him off, Secret Master's lips curled up in a sneer.
"Humph, merely a person who goes whichever way the wind blows."
Shaking his head, Secret Master took out his communicator to contact Sorokin.
After three rings, the call was connected. Sorokin's visage appeared on the screen, carrying a meaningful smile.
"Your Excellency Secret Master, have you managed to absorb the Beast Ancestor's troops?"
"The initial steps are done." Secret Master nodded. "However, it seems like Black Star has already stepped in. There are people who wish to defect to him…"
Sorokin smiled in response. "Relax, Black Star's commanders are plentiful like the clouds, and he definitely will not target the Beast Ancestor's troops so desperately. Anyway, there's no reason not to be afraid to offend him. If you still feel unsafe, after absorbing the troops, just give Black Star suitable compensation, and he will not pursue this further."
"Let's talk about this when it comes." Secret Master did not agree or disagree.
He was a mature person and wished to befriend Black Star. However, he also wished to obtain the Beast Ancestor's troops, seemingly wanting to have his cake and eat it too. Since Black Star was not hard up for these people, he was not picking someone else's fruits.
Sorokin paused for a moment before changing the topic. "So, about my suggestion, what are your thoughts?"
Secret Master narrowed his eyes. "You wish to use the position of shareholder in the Limitless Financial Group that was vacated by Galactic Black Market in exchange for the position of Protector of the Galactic Black Market. This idea is not bad at all."
"Hehe, I'm a businessman and will only talk about business. Since Gorutan has fallen, I'll require a new partner." Sorokin smiled faintly.
During the time he worked with Gorutan, Sorokin had already penetrated many different industries within the Galactic Black Market. If he had the identity of a Protector, he would be able to officially open a business within the Galactic Black Market and could incorporate the entire Galactic Black Market into the business empire of his Limitless Financial Group. This was a huge profit that was simply incalculable!
Even Sorokin who sat on astronomical assets could not help but move!
Thus, no too long ago, he had gotten in touch with the Secret Master and proposed a deal in which the wolf would be besieged and annihilated—the original shareholder position would be handed over to the Secret Master, while the other party would aid him in obtaining the status of Protector in the Galactic Black Market.
After he proposed this transaction, Secret Master did not immediately reject him, but he did not agree either.
From the perspective of Secret Master, without Gorutan, he would be able to gobble up more shares of the Galactic Black Market. If he introduced a financial giant like Sorokin, it would be equivalent to attracting a wolf into the room. After all, no one knew what Sorokin intended to do.
However, if he exchanged it with the identity of a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group, this would involve more legitimate businesses, and his profits would also increase. Thus came the Secret Master's dilemma.
Hearing Sorokin bring this up again, Secret Master snorted.
"I'll be honest, although the condition to become a Protector is to be a Beyond Grade A, with your strength, it seems hard for you to obtain the identity."
Sorokin smiled mysteriously. "Wouldn't this be better for you?"
Secret Master remained silent. It seemed as though he agreed with the statement.
He pondered for a while before speaking. "I can try to help you deal with and persuade the other two Protectors, as well as the administrators…"
Sorokin's eyes lit up, knowing that this was the start to their partnership. His smile grew wide.
"Many thanks to Your Excellency Secret Master. I'll keep the vacant seat of shareholder for the Limitless Financial Group open for you."
"Hmm." Secret Master answered indifferently before hanging up.
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Ka la ka la…
The sound of machinery being assembled reverberated in the private workshop, and the flashing Mechanical Force was like flexible blue tentacles, manipulating the robotic arms to create a totally new King mechanical suit.
Han Xiao was fully absorbed, watching the details of the mechanical suit in his hands step by step.
When the last piece of outer armor plate was attached to the chest area of the King, his interface pinged as a notification appeared.
You have built a Gold Grade equipment (Universal Treasure).
"Huu…"
Han Xiao's tense expression finally eased up, and he slowly exhaled.
This was the second Gold-grade mechanical suit of the King. With his successful experience from the last time as well as the bonuses granted by [Universal Treasure Creator] and [Spirit Instrument, he still had to attempt it five times before succeeding. Still, that was much better than his previous attempt.
Han Xiao intended to pass this second mechanical suit to Hila. While this was exclusive equipment for Mechanics and Hila could not enjoy the bonuses attached, Han Xiao only wanted to utilize its transmission function to provide a safety guarantee for Hila.
Moreover, he was not intending to stop at two. Han Xiao had to create a few spare sets for himself and maybe also one set for Ames. The manufacturing time was not the limiting factor now. Rather, the cost was.
The King was equivalent to the cost of an entire fleet, and if it did not reach the Gold Grade, it would be a huge loss. He currently could not guarantee that he could churn out a Universal Treasure Grade each time and would inevitably waste a lot of Enas. Even if the Black Star Army was rich and powerful, the cost pained him.
Han Xiao could not help but sigh. "As a Mechanic, you can't not know how to make money."
He glanced at the Attribute Panel. Because it was his second time creating the King, the [Spirit Instrument] did not award him with new God's Trait Transformation points, nor did it unlock a new layer of bonuses for him. There was only the benefit of a reallocation for his Attribute Points.
Furthermore, due to it being the same blueprint, the efficiency of attribute point reallocation had also decreased, from the previous 200 points to 160 points. It was a pity his Luck did not get reallocated this time, but he received a reallocation from his Charisma, which was not too bad. Anyway, he had always been shameless… He did not care about his face.
The 160 Free Attribute Points were put on standby, and Han Xiao stuffed the second King into a maintenance box for mechanical suits, sending a random mechanical soldier to give it to Hila.
It was worth mentioning that this special maintenance box was already Orange Grade equipment, which served to nurture the mechanical suit. Placing a mechanical suit inside it for a long time would improve a certain basic attribute of the mechanical suit. As a pinnacle Beyond Grade A Mechanic, everything that Han Xiao used was only the best.
After completing all his work, Han Xiao rubbed his eyes and stretched his waist. He did not have anything to do in camp, and other than dealing with daily tasks, he was only in the workshop repairing his Apostle Weapons and building Universal Treasures.
"Time to relax. I shall go and watch the others play cards."
Just as Han Xiao was about to walk about, his communicator rang. The indicator showed that it was a call from a high ranking official of the Crimson Dynasty.
"The dynasty is finally willing to contact me. Have they finally come to a conclusion on how to deal with me?"
Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he accepted the call. A remote projection of a high-ranking official appeared. This was the person-in-charge of contacting Han Xiao, so he was already familiar with them.
"Your Excellency Black Star." The official nodded. "It's been a long time."
"Good day to you too." Han Xiao nodded, and he asked as if unaware, "What do you have for me?"
"Heh, I know you like things to be handed directly, so I shall not waste your time. The dynasty's upper echelons are planning to release a plan related to you, and I would like to obtain your opinions and negotiate."
"What sort of plan?"
"The dynasty intends to temporarily open the sales of the Evolutionary Totem to the universe, no longer limiting it to her allies. However, because the Evolution Cube is its energy source and it's in your hands, the dynasty wants to know your attitude toward this matter." The official smiled.
Han Xiao's heart skipped a beat, and an expression of joy spread across his face.
While he knew that there was this probability, having it confirmed gave him a lot of excitement.
All the while, the Crimson Dynasty had controlled the sales channels of the Evolutionary Totem and did not allow it to enter the free market, only allowing her allies to purchase it. This was an agreement between Han Xiao and the dynasty. If these restrictions were lifted, every civilization in the universe would become his customer, which would bring him immense profits.
Furthermore, this was not a one-off sale. The Evolutionary Totem could run for up to twenty years, after which it had to be recharged with the Evolution Cube, just like refueling it. Thus, the subsequent maintenance costs could be considered a steady stream of huge benefits, which was like a business opportunity of endless profits.
The Crimson Dynasty had jammed the rights to publicly sell the Evolutionary Totem, wishing to control this income. The only way to do that was to get the Evolution Cube from Han Xiao, as it was unwilling to allow a non-direct ally to control such an important strategic treasure. Thus, both sides had been wrangling over this issue, and their relationship had soured.
Now, the dynasty was finally willing to open up the purchase channels of the Evolutionary Totem and finally made a concession, taking the initiative to ease the relationship between both sides. The reason behind their action was no doubt due to the influence of Black Star's Godlike Battle. They were thus willing to temporarily hand over the huge profits to Han Xiao.
While excited, Han Xiao still caught a key point. "Temporarily? So, how long would that be?"
The official shook his head. "I don't know about such exact details. Even the upper echelons probably have not set a date."
That meant, the moment he did something wrong, this could all end…
Han Xiao knew that the dynasty's move was not only a win-win situation but also an indirect method of control. The moment he got used to the huge gains or the rapid expansion, or when his army could no longer separate itself from the capital flow brought about by this business, the dynasty would have a new way to manipulate him. He also understood this point. After all, the dynasty was a Universal Civilization and would never allow themselves to back off. Now that they were willing to make concessions and show respect, it was good enough for him.
"Alright, I have no objections. When do we begin?" Han Xiao agreed.
"The duration has yet to be determined, but the duration it takes to implement this should take about half a year to a year to prepare. However, within the time of three days to half a month, this decree will be announced to the universe, so we have to quickly agree to a benefits distribution plan," the dynasty official stated.
Because the previous cooperation mainly dealt with the dynasty and her allies, there were many preferential discounts. For the sales to the rest of the universe, be it Han Xiao or the dynasty, both wished to inflate the price significantly to fleece the outsiders. Therefore, distribution plans had to be reformulated.
Han Xiao thought for a while before replying. "In that case… I'll have the business team under me contact you directly, and we shall strive to negotiate a suitable result as soon as possible."
The Germinal Financial Group under the army had raised a group of business negotiation experts, who could come in handy regarding this matter. Furthermore, he had Iapetus, who was an executive of the financial group and a master in this field.
Because he was holding onto the Evolution Cube, the majority of profits would belong to him, but the dynasty still had to obtain a cut. After all, it had helped to bear the pressure for so long, so he could not act as though they had done nothing. Moreover, the Crimson Dynasty would still provide him assistance in logistics, transportation, and the supply of raw materials in the future. After all, the market of the entire universe was too huge, and the current Black Star Army could not cover the entire universe alone.
Both parties discussed a little more before they hung up. The moment Han Xiao thought of how the army was about to obtain a huge profit channel with a steady stream of money, his good mood took a turn for the better.
Suddenly, a past thought flashed across his mind, and Han Xiao's eyes gleamed as a ridiculing smile surfaced.
"The moment the Crimson Dynasty announces this decree, I can go to the Limitless Financial Group… Heh, you thought that by taking back your commercial suppression on me, everything would go back to normal? How could there be such a good thing in this world!"
In the Emerald Star Cluster, within an actual combat training ground of the Beast Ancestor's stronghold…
Boom!
The fist with fingers curled up like the claws of a leopard was entwined in a black energy glow, and it directly connected with the abdomen of a body. The skin and muscles ripped in a ring due to the tremendous force, and the resulting shock wave blew the target away like a cannonball, hitting the wall of the training ground heavily with a bang.
Schneider withdrew his fist, and the toxic energy circling him also faded. He indifferently said, "Let's stop here."
He did not even look at his opponent from the loyalist faction, who had challenged him to a spar but gotten easily defeated. He only picked up the windbreaker he threw to the side before walking out of the training ground.
Ordinarily, Schneider would not even bother to respond to the challenges of others, but right now, he was in a bad mood and was venting his frustrations.
Schneider lamented the fact that everyone was now controlled by the Secret Master and forbidden to leave the stronghold.
Beep beep!
At this moment, his communicator rang. He saw that it was a call from his elder sister Jotina.
The moment he connected, Jotina yelled in dissatisfaction, "When I invited you to leave the Beast Ancestor Organization together, you said to wait and see. Now, even after so long, you haven't brought your team and left yet‽ What's going on‽"
Schneider revealed an expression of resignation, and he softly replied, "Big Sis, it's not that I don't wish to leave. There's been a small incident."
"What incident?" Jotina frowned.
"It's His Excellency Secret Master…" Schneider hesitated upon recalling the imprint that Secret Master put on them, but he resolutely decided to speak the truth. "He has expressed his intention to help manage the Beast Ancestor's troops, and make us work for him. Now, none of us can leave the stronghold, and I've also been trapped."
Jotina was furious as she expected better from him. "I told you to leave sooner, but you just refused to listen. Now look what happened! You're useless! A shame to me!"
She ranted on and on, and Schneider could only mutely accept her cursing.
Because the rebel faction's source of hatred was based on the miserable experiences of their birth mothers, they appeared far more humane compared to the other two factions. There was a true brother-sister bond within the people of the faction, and it was the case for Schneider and Jotina. They had grown up together, and Schneider had been afraid of her since he was a child.
Jotina continued to curse for a while before finally holding back when she saw Schneider's sullen look. She asked, "If you're unwilling to work under Secret Master, you should find a chance to escape."
Schneider shook his head and sighed. "The Secret Master has already said that escaping without authorization will be regarded as betrayal, and he has also left a magical imprint on us. Even if we could escape, how could we outrun a Beyond Grade A?"
Toward the siblings that she recognized, Jotina had a soft heart and could not bear to see Schneider's plight. After struggling for a while, she suddenly said, "Are you willing to join the Black Star Army?"
"Of course, but there's no more chance for me now." Schneider sighed.
Hearing this, Jotina gritted her teeth. "Don't lose hope yet. I'll go and beg the Army Commander for help!"
After she spoke, she did not even wait for Schneider to reply, immediately hanging up.
Schneider held onto the communicator with the busy dial tone, a helpless expression on his face.
"Beg Black Star for help? How is that possible/"
He sighed, not holding any hope at all.
Just thinking about it, as people previously under the flag of the Beast Ancestor, defectors at that, why would Black Star offend another pinnacle Beyond Grade A for Calamity Grades like them?
The former palace of the Beast Ancestor was now converted to a resting place for Secret Master.
Gorutan's huge throne had been placed in the Secret Master's alchemy storage bottle as a war prize, and he had replaced Gorutan's seat with his own throne.
At this moment, Secret Master sat on the throne, browsing the information regarding the officers in the organization, whilst Byram stood at the side, ready to answer a question if needed.
His communicator rang, and when Secret Master glanced at it, his facial expression turned solemn.
His expression as though he had met with a life-threatening situation stunned Byram, and he secretly began guessing who was on the line to cause the Secret Master to show such a drastic expression.
At this moment, Secret Master waved his hand and coldly remarked, "Leave."
Hearing that, Byram could only bid his farewell in resignation and leave despite his curiosity. While he considered himself the new confidant of the Secret Master, he did not dare step beyond the rules.
When he was left alone in the room, Secret Master connected to the communication channel with a solemn expression.
"Black Star, what are you calling for?"
Han Xiao's hearty laughter came from the communicator.
"Hahaha, Secret Master, you seem to be a little nervous."
"You're thinking too much."
Secret Master's brain was overclocking at the moment. While he wished to befriend Black Star, he could not help having a somewhat guilty conscience.
Han Xiao smiled. "While we had a conflict on the issue of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, the matter has been resolved. Furthermore, there's no enmity between us. If we must say, I also gave you quite a big boon."
"What boon did you provide?"
"You still need to ask? It's the Beast Ancestor. Didn't you warn me the other time so that I would get rid of Gorutan? Both of you were Protectors, so there would definitely have been a conflict of interest. Helping you get rid of him means that you can take over his markets. Isn't that doing you a favor?"
"Indeed, you have indirectly helped me." Secret Master did not refute it.
"Since I've helped you, you can help me with a favor that I require now." Han Xiao blinked before saying in a meaningful tone, "I heard that you've taken over the Beast Ancestor's troops. Don't worry, I'm not interested in them. As a twisted melon will never be sweet, I leave it to you to handle them. However, it seems like there are a few who wish to defect. I'd like you not to restrict those who wish to defect to me."
Secret Master's eyes changed slightly. He was a little unwilling to part with these Calamity Grade officers just like that.
Furthermore, if he chose to give such a concession, there would definitely be other officers who used defecting over to Black Star as an excuse. At that time, should he let them go as well? In this way, his gains from taking over the Beast Ancestor's organization would be reduced substantially, and many of the Calamity Grade talents would also be lost.
But since Black Star had called, it meant that he knew of him detaining the Beastmen. If he did not agree, he would end up offending Black Star, and with the latter's current tough stance, it might result in conflicts. He still wished to befriend Black Star, but he was not willing to lose too much for it.
While he found it a pity in his heart, Secret Master did not hesitate much. He was not willing to offend Black Star for a few Calamity Grades. "Alright, I'll only release those who wish to defect to you."
"That's great!" Han Xiao burst out into a genuine laugh.
The two of them suppressed their inner emotions, pretending to be good friends and brothers, chatting for a while more before hanging up.
The moment he put down the communicator, Secret Master's expression collapsed. He summoned Byram and ordered, "Bring Schneider's group over."
Byram was a little confused, but he did as he was told.
Very quickly, Schneider and the rebels were gathered in the palace, staring at Secret Master on the throne with a complicated, helpless, and unhappy expression.
Secret Master was expressionless. "Who here wishes to defect to the Black Star Army?"
A commotion occurred in the crowd. Everyone looked at each other. What was Secret Master trying to do?
Could this be a test, to kill the chickens in an attempt to warn the monkeys, in order to ward off further rebellious thoughts?
Everyone suddenly turned vigilant, feeling that they had stumbled onto the truth, and rushed to show their loyalty.
"How could that be? We're willing to accept the protection of Secret Master."
"We're all siblings and can communicate easily. I love this place so much, so how could I defect elsewhere?"
Seeing this scene, Secret Master only felt a growing headache.
If it was someone, he could use their current words as an excuse to give a perfunctory response, but Secret Master did not intend to play any tricks on Black Star, so he was currently a little depressed.
The current situation could be described as akin to a drama.
Underlings: "Secret Master Father, we really do not wish to go to Black Star."
Secret Master: "No, think about it again. Quickly scram to acknowledge your true father."
Taking a deep breath, Secret Master regained his calmness. A surge of momentum was released from him, and he solemnly said, "Less bullsh*t. Those who wish to defect to Black Star, I will not stop you, nor am I toying with you. Those who wish to leave, hurry up and scram."
Those people who were still professing their loyalty suddenly felt an irresistible pressure and discovered that the Secret Master was not trying to test them. They all stopped in their tracks, stunned.
What's the matter? Didn't you restrict everyone a while ago. Why are you suddenly freeing us?
Is Secret Master that fickle?
Byram's eyes flickered, and he thought about the call that Secret Master had received previously. He came to the conclusion that it was likely Black Star.
To actually sway Secret Master with just a few words, could it be that Secret Master was that afraid of Black Star?
Byram was secretly surprised.
Within the crowd, Schneider suddenly thought of his call with Jotina two hours ago.
"It can't be wrong. Black Star must have played a part in this, or else there's no other way to explain it…"
He discovered that Secret Master's expression was quite ugly, as though he was unwilling to do so.
In Schneider's view, Jotina had just joined the Black Star Army, and she could not have much sway. For Black Star to help her so unhesitatingly, it had to be because he placed some importance in them.
While he did not know if his conjecture was right, Schneider could not help but feel moved, and he had the urge to even die for Black Star.
It seems like Jotina's right. Black Star is indeed a worthy figure to defect to.
Because it was a private deal, the departure of Schneider and the rest did not cause any waves.
It was only seven to eight days later, when the government of the Crimson Dynasty issued a decree without warning, that the entire universe suddenly erupted!
The content of the decree was simple. The dynasty had decided to open up the right to purchase Evolutionary Totems to the entire universe, starting in one year!
The fight between the three Universal Civilizations for the Evolutionary Totem was not a matter that had happened a day or two ago. Thus, when this news was released, it caused massive waves and an uproar. Countless civilizations went crazy.
The dynasty had finally thought it through!
The entire universe, however, knew that the Crimson Dynasty would not make such a move without any motives behind them. For them to come out with such a decision, it likely had to do with the recent matters.
And everyone knew that the recent major matter at the universe-level was Black Star's Godlike Battle!
Everyone understood the cause and effect of the two events.
Being shocked by Black Star's record, the dynasty had finally compromised and actively given in, allowing Black Star to control the Evolutionary Totem business with his Evolution Cube!
A Universal Civilization, especially a stubborn boss such as the Crimson Dynasty, actually compromised for a Beyond Grade A!
When had this last happened‽
When they figured this out, the countless Galactic Civilizations and residents were shocked beyond words.
But on the other hand, the Arcane Church and the Federation of Light were delighted.
By showing his prestige, Black Star had moved the Crimson Dynasty to open up the Evolutionary Totem sales. For this reason, it was worthwhile for them to have lost a few Beyond Grade As.
We were walking on the wrong path all along!
If they had known that putting pressure of the dynasty would not be of use, they would have just sent a bunch of people over to Black Star, allowing him to rack up an incredible battle record. Then, they would have gotten their desires that much earlier!
The dynasty's decree set off a wave of public opinion across the universe, further skyrocketing Han Xiao's records and personal prestige. He alone now overwhelmed the rays given off by all Beyond Grade As.
While the news and rumors were spreading like wildfire throughout the universe, the Limitless Financial Group's branch within the Flickering World welcomed an unexpected guest.
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1067 An Offer You Can"t Refuse
This was a large commercial planet located in the Dawn Star Cluster. The sky was filled with anti-gravity flying vehicles, like a river of steel diagonally hanging in the air.
There were many tall buildings located at the center of the planet's capital city. One of the buildings stood out from the rest, towering into the clouds, and its structure was akin to the double helix structure of a gene sequence. The outer wall of the building was pure white, and its corners would occasionally flash with blue lights. It exuded a sense of technological advancement and art.
At the top of the building, there were eight anti-gravity suspensions holding up a helipad, similar to a floating island, shielding the '' shaped signboard in the middle. It was the emblem of the Limitless Financial Group. This was a subdivision of the Limitless Financial Group. Unlike armed forces, unless there were special circumstances, commercial organizations would not build bases everywhere like the warlords.
A small aircraft from the atmosphere slowly descended on the helipad of the Limitless Financial Group branch. Han Xiao got out of the cabin, stepping onto the platform.
"Welcome, Your Excellency Black Star."
Not far away, the receptionist who had been waiting for a long time quickly came up to greet him. Black Star had notified the Limitless Financial Group of his impending visit. Thus, they had arranged for a receptionist to guide him.
Han Xiao hummed in response, his face remaining expressionless. "Where's Sorokin?"
"His Excellency Sorokin is already awaiting you in the reception room. Please follow me."
The reception staff respectfully responded, leading the way.
Han Xiao followed him into the subdivision of the Limitless Financial Group, taking a private elevator to a certain floor.
When the elevator doors opened, a spacious area came into view. In the center of the room was a sofa and a table, and the four corners of the room were surrounded by exotic blue and green plants. The walls were completely made up of floor-to-ceiling windows. No other furniture was present, as though this entire floor was only used as a reception room.
Sorokin sat on the sofa, waiting. As Han Xiao approached, he stood up with a smile on his face. "Your Excellency Black Star, please have a seat."
The elevator doors then closed, leaving only the two of them in the room.
Han Xiao sat down opposite Sorokin, and only then did Sorokin return to his seat. He smiled. "What a rare visitor. When you spoke of visiting me, I still didn't dare believe it. For someone as busy as you, why would you suddenly come over to my place?"
"Why, am I not welcome?" Han Xiao tilted his head.
"Haha, you must be joking. Of course, I welcome you." Sorokin maintained his smile, but he was secretly sizing up Han Xiao. It was a pity that he failed to notice anything.
On the surface, he put on a warm and hospitable look, but Sorokin was full of suspicion and doubt in his heart, speculating about Black Star's intention to visit.
Recently, the rumors of the dynasty's concession to Black Star had spread madly. Sorokin had naturally heard about it. Although he was surprised, there was no shock, as he had already anticipated this would happen the moment Han Xiao repelled the others in the rescue of Hila. His surprise came more from the fact that the dynasty really did concede.
Right now, Black Star was extremely popular within the universe. For this guy to suddenly run over at this juncture, he most likely had some scheme prepared. Could it be that he wished to cooperate on the issue of the Evolutionary Totem?
It was unlikely, and the dynasty also had no reason to let outsiders intervene. Furthermore, the Limitless Financial Group and the Black Star Army had been having commercial struggles for so many years. Even though both sides never mentioned it, they definitely remembered it in their hearts.
Sorokin was thus very vigilant at this point.
Han Xiao's behavior was very relaxed, as though he had come to reminisce about the past. He softly smiled. "This is the first time I've come to visit you, and it's very prosperous. It seems that the Limitless Financial Group has developed very well in the Flickering World."
"This is all thanks to the business partners." Sorokin picked up the liquor bottle on the table, opening it before pouring a glass for Han Xiao.
"Wow, good wine. This seems to be a high-end product from the federation, only given to select people." Han Xiao raised the glass, swirling the amber liquid within and hearing the pleasant clink of ice cubes. He casually said, "Speaking of which, we can also be considered business partners in certain territories."
"That's right." Sorokin nodded.
Han Xiao did not get straight to the point but rather spoke about routine matters first. Thus, Sorokin could not tell his intentions and could only follow alongside the conversation.
After taking a sip of the liquor, appreciating the mellow taste as it flowed down his throat, Han Xiao savored the aftertaste as he smacked his lips. He then sighed.
"Sigh, even to this day, I still regret that I almost became a closer partner of the Limitless Financial Group. Unfortunately, you chose Bloodshed Land instead."
"Hehe, the matters of business have always been inaccurate. Compared to the Black Star Army, which has already matured and formed its system, the Limitless Financial Group is more willing to invest in a force that has huge potential but is unable to realize it. It's not that the Black Star Army is lacking but rather that the Bloodshed Land needs us more. I find it truly pitiful as well that our cooperation could not be reached."
Sorokin gave a long and passionate monologue but grumbled in his heart.
He had invested in Bloodshed Land mainly to support them in going against Black Star Army in the commercial sector, robbing the army's businesses. Black Star had no reason not to know this, so bringing the partnership up but not mentioning the commercial battle, Black Star likely had something up his sleeve.
Let me try playing nice and see what he's up to, Sorokin thought.
At this moment, Han Xiao suddenly raised his head, smiling as he spoke. "In fact, this is what I came for today. Today is different from the past, so I would like to represent the army and provide an opportunity to cooperate with the Limitless Financial Group."
Hearing this, Sorokin narrowed his eyes as he quickly calculated. He suddenly came to a realization.
I understand, so it turns out that Black Star had such an intention.
After the Evolutionary Totems were released to the world, the Limitless Financial Group need not continue to put pressure on the Black Star Army's business any longer. The obstacles between them both had been cleared, and business cooperation could now be carried out normally. With the Limitless Financial Group's size and the Black Star Army's prestige, if they cooperated, it was indeed a win-win situation, mutually benefiting both parties.
For this reason, Black Star no longer pursued the conflict of interest from the past twenty years and took the initiative to talk about cooperation.
This mentality of abandoning former grudges and making money together was very suited to Sorokin's taste. He thought that he had already guessed Han Xiao's intentions and relaxed. The smile on his face was no longer just for show but rather a genuine smile.
"Your Excellency Black Star, your suggestion is exactly what I was thinking. Right now, there are plenty of opportunities to shine with the Flickering World. If the two of us work together, we'll be invincible and occupy the bulk of the market in the Flickering World!"
"Since Your Excellency Sorokin also thinks that way, things will be easy!" Han Xiao slapped his thigh. "Then, let's decide on the date for me to officially become a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group."
The next moment, the air within the room instantly solidified.
Sorokin's smile froze on his face.
What, shareholder position? Weren't we talking about normal business cooperation? How did we get to this part?
Seeing the playful look in Han Xiao's eyes, Sorokin's heart thumped violently. He began to realize that he had mistaken Han Xiao's intentions.
"Your Excellency Black Star, forgive me if I'm being too offensive, but the cooperation you're suggesting is…"
"The opportunity that I'm providing to cooperate with the Limitless Financial Group is to allow me to be a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. Didn't you just happen to have a vacant position?" Han Xiao smiled meaningfully. This was his true intention.
Sorokin's eyes narrowed, finally confirming that Han Xiao did not come with good intentions.
Taking advantage of the fact that Gorutan's position was now vacant, Black Star wished to replace him? Did he think that the shareholder position was some trophy that he could claim? Whether he could take it or not, only Sorokin could make the decision!
For this empty shareholder position, Sorokin had already formulated a detailed strategy to allow him to break into the galactic black market. The position was a bargaining chip used for trading with Secret Master, so he would naturally not give this position to others. This was related to the blueprint of his business empire in his heart, and being a Protector of the Galactic Black Market was a critical step, with no margin for error allowed.
Sorokin's smile faded, and he carefully said, "Then I'm truly sorry. While Gorutan indeed suffered from an accident, since he's still alive, he can still be considered a shareholder. Even if he died, his shares would be transferred to the financial group to await withdrawal. I have no intentions of establishing any new shareholders for the time being. If you wish to discuss any other sort of cooperation, I'll be happy to accompany you, but the shareholder position is off limits."
Han Xiao did not take it to heart, only smiling. "If I didn't remember wrongly, this is the second time you have rejected my request to be a shareholder."
Hearing this, Sorokin remembered, and it seemed like Black Star had mentioned the same time once when they first met more than twenty years ago.
"That's right, I rejected you at that time. Today, the answer is still the same," Sorokin indifferently replied. "The Limitless Financial Group's foundations are huge, and any change in its shareholders have to go through the consent of all other shareholders. At the same time, the three Universal Civilizations each only have one shareholder within the Limitless Financial Group, to ensure check and balance. Right now, with Kant among the shareholders, the federation and the church will not allow another ally of the dynasty to enter this circle."
Han Xiao blinked, before speaking in a knowing tone, "Sorokin, twenty years have passed, and times have changed now. I'll make you an offer you can't refuse."
"Oh?"
"Haha, firstly, regarding consent of all shareholders… do you think the others will support or reject me?"
Sorokin was taken aback for a moment, and his brows then wrinkled sharply.
He suddenly discovered that for Black Star, this issue no longer posed any problem.
Black Star was no longer what he used to be, and his position in the universe far exceeded that of twenty years ago. He was also responsible for building a shared battlefront for the Beyond Grade As. Based on this alone, he would be able to obtain the support of both Manison and Kasuyi. Kant, as a fellow ally, was even less likely to oppose him.
Sorokin suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
At this point, Han Xiao smiled and slowly said, "As for the checks and balances between the three Universal Civilizations… Do you think the federation and the church are more willing to allow another dynasty shareholder to appear, or do you think they value the Evolutionary Totems more? In other words, do you think they will openly oppose me at this moment?"
Laying out his cards!
This was the only thought running through Sorokin's mind.
His expression also sank.
Since the dynasty had opened up the sale of Evolutionary Totems, temporarily dissolving the hostility between the federation and the church, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of this decree, and Federation and the church might turn into boot-lickers, not just to please the dynasty, but also to please Black Star who held the Evolution Cube.
Furthermore, Black Star had their allies as captives, and he had enough chips to force both civilizations to compromise. If he insisted on including the conditions of being a shareholder inside the redemption clause for the captives, then both the church and the federation would not stop him. In the end, Black Star would still become a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group!
At this moment, Sorokin suddenly noticed a detail he had ignored previously. Once the problem of the Evolutionary Totem was settled, he would obtain the benefits provided by the church and the federation as a result of completing the transaction, but he would also lose their protection at the same time.
This means that if Black Star wished to be a shareholder, he, as the head of the financial group, did not even have the veto power anymore!
Either he closed both eyes and allowed Black Star to become the shareholder, giving him an astronomical amount of dividends for nothing, or waited for the three Universal Civilizations to help Black Star sanction the Limitless Financial Group in the commercial field and force him to submit.
He could only say yes or yes!
Thinking to this point, Sorokin looked deeply at Han Xiao.
What an impeccable move, completely utilizing his influence. Could it be that Black Star had predicted such a point long ago?
Han Xiao only smiled, slowly savoring the liquor with a nonchalant expression, awaiting his answer.
Seeing this, Sorokin's expression warped many times before he slowly spoke.
"Black Star, this hand of yours… was beautifully played."
"Then, what will you choose?" Han Xiao playfully replied.
"… Do I have a choice?"
Hearing this, Han Xiao laughed, putting down the glass and stretching out his hand.
"Then… I wish us both a happy cooperation?"
Gazing at Han Xiao's offered hand, Sorokin deeply breathed in, suppressing the feeling of having stepped into sh*t, and squeezed out a smile, gripping Han Xiao's hand.
"Hope we have a pleasant cooperation."
Seeing the derision in Han Xiao's eyes, Sorokin almost could not hold back his urge to attack, but he quickly quenched the thought.
He recognized the reality. Since he could not resist, he could only take the lesser of two evils. Even if it meant carving out a piece of his flesh, he decisively promised and yielded to Han Xiao.
"Hmm?"
Han Xiao could clearly feel the killing intent released by Sorokin in that instant. It was as though he was faced with a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The pressure was even stronger than Hila's, and it was not possible to obtain such an aura without reaping the lives of millions if not billions.
This old fogey was indeed once a cold-blooded murderer…
However, Han Xiao did not put it to heart, smiling as he withdrew his hand. He knew that Sorokin was used to pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, only knowing how to bully the other party but not daring to take action.
After all these years, Han Xiao had sort of understood how Sorokin behaved, and he did not care one whit about his personal reputation at all.
If one took the initiative to attack, Sorokin would definitely pretend to lose and get himself beaten up, then make use of public opinion to add fuel and jealousy to let the whole universe know of your unreasonable attitude. It would lower his reputation, and the chance of obtaining the shareholder position would be forever lost. Even without the support from the federation and the church now, his identity as the head of the Limitless Financial Group was still a shield of sorts for him. After all, he did not belong to any random organization or a gray area but rather a legal galactic business. Using violence against such people would have huge repercussions, which will definitely appear in headlines.
Now that Han Xiao had gotten what he wanted, he stopped teasing Sorokin but wiped his smile off his face. "Since we have reached a consensus, please announce this to the universe as soon as possible. I won't bother you any further."
"Alright, have a nice trip back." Sorokin reluctantly smiled, sending him off.
The moment Han Xiao left the room, Sorokin's expression sank thoroughly.
He got wrecked this time!
This was not as simple as the shareholder changing from Gorutan to Black Star. It had also undermined Sorokin's business strategy, causing him to miss the opportunity to enter the Galactic Black Market.
As a businessman, watching an important business opportunity slip through one's fingers was a pain that could not be described in words.
Moreover, with Black Star guarding against him, he would not sincerely cooperate with the Limitless Financial Group. Thus, it would be difficult to obtain any benefit off this shareholder. He could only give Black Star the dividends in vain and maybe even need to deal with any potential backlash from Black Star's end.
Just thinking about it made Sorokin upset.
For a long time, the Limitless Financial Group had been using commercial means to hinder the development of the Black Star Army and had only recently stopped their attacks. However, their circumstances were actually flipped over, to get suppressed by Han Xiao now.
Ka-cha!
The glass of liquor he was holding shattered, the shards falling all over the floor.
Sorokin however did not wipe his hands, allowing the amber liquid to drip between his fingers.
His expression was ugly as he muttered, "I hate these Beyond Grade As…"
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1068 Extortion
As the spaceship left the Limitless Financial Group branch, Han Xiao looked through the window as the building diminished in size before pulling back his gaze and smiling.
"I've hit at a good time. Sorokin has finally compromised…"
By his estimation, there was a seventy-percent chance of the negotiation succeeding. Even if he had the right time and place, he dared not speak with absolute certainty that Sorokin would yield to him.
Fortunately, his judgment of Sorokin's character was not wrong, and the final result was favorable to him.
If it was another Beyond Grade A with a temper, they would most likely have fought. However, Sorokin was good at enduring, and it was probably not the first time he had dealt with such matters. After weighing the benefits and costs, he immediately chose to compromise.
"Speaking of which, Sorokin is so shy about showing his strength. There must be a lot of factors within…"
Han Xiao stroked his chin as he pondered.
This guy was not like the other Beyond Grade As, who relied on their own personal power to influence their organization's development. He had almost no record worth mentioning, and his business was run through the normal and legal way.
The advanced civilizations had always been alert to any non-allied Beyond Grade A organizations. As the top financial group in the universe, the stronger their power, the more jealousy they would attract. Commercial organizations were not armed forces and had their own set of industry rules to follow. The moment they were targeted by the three Universal Civilizations, it would be hard for the financial group to maintain stable footing. If Sorokin decided to retaliate, others would know that he had been hiding his strength, and the civilizations' fear would increase.
This was only one of the reasons. Han Xiao still remembered some of the information displayed about Sorokin on his interface. This guy had probably changed his skin many times and had been living in the universe with different identities.
But no matter how many times Sorokin changed his skin, his ability would not change, so he avoided any form of conflict so as not to be recognized. Maybe he had committed some huge offense, so he deliberately kept his name incognito.
"This guy is full of mystery." Han Xiao shook his head. This was all speculation, and maybe Sorokin had another reason to do so.
No matter what those secrets were, he had squashed Sorokin this time and avenged the suppression he had suffered over the past two decades.
Shareholders would receive huge dividends from the Limitless Financial Group every year. This was no small amount, and while it was not too huge of a loss to Sorokin, Han Xiao could finally obtain some interest.
Under normal circumstances, such huge dividends would not be taken for free. Every shareholder position given by the Limitless Financial Group was coveted, and they would form another business cooperation with the Beyond Grade A organizations, mutually benefitting both parties.
But Han Xiao naturally would not allow the Limitless Financial Group to partake in the army's business channels, otherwise it would just be a gift to Sorokin. He had made up his mind to only take the money and do nothing, just like a dog in the manger, deliberately creating trouble for Sorokin.
"The Evolutionary Totem is being released to the universe, and I'll also obtain the shareholder position of the Limitless Financial Group. With these two sources of income, the abundant funds are enough to support the continued expansion of the army. The stock price of the Germinal Financial Group will also skyrocket."
Han Xiao was overjoyed. He took out his communicator to send messages to the contact points of the three Universal Civilizations.
It was only the initial step for him and Sorokin to come to a consensus. He still had to file it with the three Universal Civilizations regarding this matter for their support. Because of the Evolutionary Totems, this was not a difficult task.
After sending out the news, Han Xiao let out a deep breath.
Once the dynasty, federation, and church had all expressed their opinions, Sorokin also folded, which meant that the follow-up affairs of Black Star's Godlike Battle had almost come to an end. There was nothing left to do except to take care of Traveler and the Super Star Cluster Civilization behind him.
Traveler had already hidden himself, but Han Xiao knew which Super Star Cluster Civilization he belonged to. However, he had no plans to deal with the civilization behind the scenes at this moment.
On the one hand, the Super Star Cluster alliance was currently developing as a group and steadily expanding in the free competition zone, not creating any trouble, so there was no opportunity for him to take action. On the other hand, the three Universal Civilizations would not sit back and watch the Super Star Cluster develop in the Flickering World. Thus, they would definitely take action. Han Xiao decided to wait for the time the three Universal Civilizations launched an attack to cooperate with them, which would achieve twice the results with half the effort needed.
"Things are almost settled. The establishment of a platform for the Beyond Grade A united front should be placed on the agenda." Han Xiao rolled his eyes in deep thought.
Both Manison and Kasuyi, one director and the other the actor, did not come to urge him after the incident. No matter what they had done before, at least he owed them a favor during the Hila Rescue mission, so he still had to put in some effort to maintain a united front.
"The purpose of this platform should be to take advantage of the opportunity of the Flickering World to unify all the Beyond Grade A organizations, allowing everyone to have a communication platform, binding all Beyond Grade As together. It cannot be hidden from the eyes of the three Universal Civilizations, yet it cannot be done with too much fanfare… united front… hang on, united front‽"
Han Xiao suddenly had a eureka moment and hurriedly recited a few phrases from the socialist mantras before deriving an ingenious idea.
At the same time, Secret Master in the faraway Beast Ancestor stronghold received a communication application from Sorokin.
"Sorokin, what's happening?"
"Your Excellency Secret Master, I have a piece of bad news for you." Sorokin sighed.
"Speak."
"There's now a problem in our previous deal."
"What exactly happened?" Secret Master hurriedly asked.
"I promised to leave you one of the shareholder positions, but Black Star came over just now and used his current influence to threaten me. You also know, with the sale of the Evolutionary Totems, the three Universal Civilizations will surely support him. Thus, to reduce my losses, I could only agree to his request."
"You mean Black Star stole my reserved shareholder seat?" Secret Master's expression changed.
"Sigh, it's indeed like that. I can actually create a new major shareholder seat, but I need to dilute the equity of the others, which is more troublesome. It will take a lot of time to carry out some commercial operations and complete the capital increase. Otherwise, the other Beyond Grade A shareholders will not be happy." Sorokin could not take out his share, otherwise it would be painful if he lost control of the entire financial group.
"… Alright then. Let's proceed with the deal when you're done."
Secret Master was helpless. While he said he would cooperate in the future, he had actually already planned to cancel the trade in his heart.
This Sorokin was obviously too unreliable.
I'm obviously first in line here…
Secret Master had no anger toward Han Xiao snatching his lollipop. After all, in his opinion, Black Star did not know about their private transaction and did not specifically target him.
A couple of days later…
"Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union?"
In the Black Star Palace, Sylvia looked at the prototype of the plan that Han Xiao had handed over and could not help but show some surprise.
Han Xiao placed his feet on the table, raising his eyebrows as he replied, "Any problems?"
"The problem is so big that I'm speechless. The dynasty will never agree." Sylvia had an expression of helplessness. "To boldly unite all the Beyond Grade A organizations, isn't this taking the initiative to anger with the three Universal Civilizations?"
"What are you talking about? The Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union is a non-governmental organization that aims to deal with the contradictions between the Beyond Grade A organizations involved in the expansion of the Flickering World. It's always better to solve problems through negotiation rather than violence and jointly maintain the public security of the Flickering World. This is a good thing that will benefit the entire Star Field, and it is also an idea I developed after experiencing the previous incident. I'm worried that there might be more Beyond Grade As that will fall into my hands." Han Xiao spoke with an expression as though he totally believed in his lies.
Sylvia was speechless. She waved the document in her hands. "You do know that such bullsh*t will not get past the three Universal Civilizations, right?"
Hearing this, Han Xiao stopped his scholarly act, rolling his eyes.
"Well duh, but what else can I do? If I wish to integrate the Beyond Grade As, I'll need an excuse. Whether the three Universal Civilizations believe it or not, we still have to sugar coat it to prevent us from getting caught in an embarrassing situation."
Sylvia still had a worried expression. "To have our Black Star Army be the pioneer, won't this be too eye-catching? Especially in the eyes of the dynasty…"
"That's why this is only a draft. I'll still have to pull in more people to establish this union. Those who joined in the Meeting of the Gods with me will probably tacitly choose to join." Han Xiao shook his head.
While the Beyond Grade As had similar unions, there had never been a union of such scale, akin to the Mercenary Association, Pharmacist Association, or even the Superheroes Association. While the name of this organization was called the Development Union, in the eyes of discerning people, this would be an association that gathered all the Beyond Grade As in the known universe.
So long as most of the current Beyond Grade As joined this organization, they would be able to drive the membership rate of any new Beyond Grade As in the future. Its scope far exceeded that of The Ancient Ones to encompass all Beyond Grade As.
And if one utilized the appeal of this organization to continue to expand the range of members included, it could even evolve into a Super Association for the entire universe. Such a scale would be terrifying because such associations were generally only established by the three Universal Civilizations.
"Having such non-governmental organizations will never put the three Universal Civilizations at ease. They will inevitably ask for their own personnel to settle in. By that time…" Sylvia interjected.
"I know what you mean. 'Beyond Grade A' has a special meaning, and the three Universal Civilizations do not wish to have an association of such a nature… But because we're Beyond Grade As, they can only express their views, and they cannot go all out to prohibit it," Han Xiao countered.
He was clear that once such an organization was created, the Beyond Grade As would no longer exist as a tray of loose sand. The three Universal Civilizations would also become wary, but at this moment, this organization only served to aid communications, nothing really major. Thus, while the three Universal Civilizations would feel apprehensive, they would not take any action.
However, this might not be the case in the future. The problem of the united front was that it could not circumvent the affiliation of each Beyond Grade A's allied faction. This was the shackles created by the three Universal Civilizations, and they would not allow the Beyond Grade As to get rid of it.
Furthermore, what the Mechanic Emperor wanted to do was unite the strength of all the Beyond Grade As, whilst Han Xiao only wished to reduce the number of Beyond Grade A casualties, accumulating high levelled combat powers in the explored universe. Their goals were different, and there would be differences at some point in time. Furthermore, the Beyond Grade As were not of the same mind.
"Army Commander, you're playing with fire."
Sylvia had a worried expression. Her mind was full of the information regarding the Tragedy of the Pinnacles, and with the increasing popularity of the Black Star Army, she did not wish to see the three Universal Civilizations clear out all Beyond Grade A organizations. If that happened, the Black Star Army would inevitably enter their list.
Why did the three Universal Civilizations have an unbreakable dominance? It was precisely because when combined together, they had the ability to manipulate the entire explored universe! She had no doubt that the three Universal Civilizations would be willing to pay any price to kill off all disobedient Beyond Grade As in the universe, including their own allies.
Without the backing of a Universal Civilization, a Beyond Grade A would still be a Beyond Grade A. But in the same line, a Universal Civilization would still be one even without its Beyond Grade A allies.
"You're thinking too much. Everyone has their own scruples, and it might not reach such a stage. Right now, I'm just testing the waters." Han Xiao sighed. "The topic of Beyond Grade As is just too sensitive, so we can only take a step and observe, to see what how the Universal Civilizations react."
"Alright then… I'll go and improve on this plan."
Sylvia could only accept it. After all, Han Xiao was the boss.
She got up and opened the door, only to find that Feidin was waiting outside. The two of them passed each other.
Seeing Feidin, Han Xiao's eyes sparkled. He straightened and spoke with a smile. "Aren't you practicing your song at the moment? How do you have the time to visit me?"
"I found out everything. You actually want me to go and be an actor." Feidin had a resigned expression. "Couldn't you have discussed it with me beforehand?"
"It's just being a star. You're back in your old line. Furthermore, the army needs you. You can't possibly reject this." Han Xiao chuckled.
"Alright, forget about the acting part, but why am I even the main character?" Feidin was speechless. "And my role is you‽"
Feidin's role was to be Black Star in the new film.
Lucky people would still be the main characters even when acting.
"This arrangement is very appropriate. Only you are as handsome as me. This is in line with the facts. Just take a look over here. If we meet with a stranger, they might even say that we're twins!"
Feidin had no words.
Han Xiao laughed to himself. before waving his hand. "Alright, I won't joke anymore. The main reason is because no one dared act as me and bear the consequences after. You're someone close to be who used to be a star, so the director arranged it that way."
"But it's been so long since I last acted. Won't this be too weird for me?" Feidin was still hesitating.
"Haha, it will only be a hit if you're in a leading role. You're also a Calamity Grade, and a Psychic at that. How is acting difficult?" Han Xiao encouraged.
Han Xiao persuaded Feidin a while longer before sending this doubtful person off.
Shaking his head with a laugh, he took out his communicator to check on the latest news.
After swiping for a bit, he stood up in shock. A piece of internal news from the dynasty was reflected in his pupils.
The Dark Lord had resigned from his position!
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1069 Confession
"'Dark Lord' Clotti has temporarily resigned as the Guard Captain of the dynasty Ruler, and his position will be temporarily assumed by 'Quantum Demon' Judith…"
Han Xiao focused, browsing through this internal intelligence. He could not help but fall into deep thought.
The three Universal Civilizations each had a pinnacle Beyond Grade A as their Guard Captains. For the Crimson Dynasty, it was [Dark Lord] Clotti; for the Federation of Light, it was [Golden Ring] Oulou; and for the Arcane Church, it was the [God's Chosen] Wuornos. All of them were Beyond Grade As of direct relation to the civilizations.
In the dynasty's Beyond Grade A circle, the Dark Lord had a transcendent status and was also well known for not mixing and socializing. Throughout his years of contact, coupled with the memory of his previous life, Han Xiao had a good understanding of what Clotti's personality was.
This was deathly loyal to the dynasty. If there was no special reason, he would not step down as the Guard Captain.
In his past life, this incident did not occur during this particular time period, so the possibility of settling his private affairs could be ruled out. It should be because Clotti had accepted some sort of special mission.
"This should be the butterfly effect I've brought about. Maybe it is related to the Evolutionary Totem or even the Hila Rescue Mission…"
To be honest, he was a little apprehensive regarding this news.
Based on his memories, some of the Beyond Grade As that were directly related to the advanced civilizations were often loyal and dedicated, placing the needs of their civilization above those of the Beyond Grade As, and the Dark Lord was undoubtedly one of them. These people would not be part of the Beyond Grade A united front and might even turn against them.
To allow such a monster to move freely in the outside world, it was unknown what sort of changes would occur. This might hinder the construction of the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union.
However, it was useless to delve too deeply. Because of Han Xiao's existence, many of the fate lines for the characters had been altered, and he could only adapt as he went on.
As for the 'Quantum Demon' Judith, who replaced Clotti, he was a Virtual Mechanic coming from the Crimson Dynasty. He was the person in charge of guarding the Heroic Soul, the main Artificial intelligence of the dynasty, and had relatively strong combat ability.
"Speaking of which, the direct line of Beyond Grade As from the dynasty really do not mix around much with the allies." Han Xiao's eyes flickered.
Within the Beyond Grade A circle in the dynasty, only the allies liked to gather together and mess around. As for those directly related to the dynasty, they mostly chose to remain isolated.
Unlike allies, those directly related to the dynasty would always have official positions. Some guarded the secondary dimensional outposts, some served as instructors, and some were fleet commanders. They were not as free as those who were allies. Only those semi-direct allies such as Kohler would be so relaxed…
Of course, it might be because the dynasty thought of him as too weak.
Just as he was thinking, countless particles surfaced in front of his eyes, coagulating to form an image of Phillip.
"Master, hum… Jotina and her party have arrived. It's time to check up on them." Phillip blinked his big eyes. This was a reminder set by Han Xiao.
"Oh, take them to the lobby of the inner ring. Also, summon Hila and the other Calamity Grade officers to meet the newcomers."
Han Xiao took up, putting on his Army Commander jacket before walking out of the room.
Jotina and her party followed the receptionist all the way into the lobby, and many of the army officers slowly trickled in. They were curious about their future colleagues, but without the approval of the Army Commander, none of them engaged in any conversation.
This party not only included the seven Calamity Grades that defected with Jotina but also the second wave, including Schneider. The total number reached eleven. They waited in the center of the lobby, also looking over at the officers.
Both sides stared at each other, and after a while, Han Xiao and Hila walked in.
"Greetings to Army Commander Black Star and Deputy Army Commander Hila."
Jotina and her group stood up to salute.
Han Xiao was all smiles. "Everyone is here. You're welcome to leave the shadows and join the light. After joining the Black Star Army, you'll be part of our family."
"Yes, welcome." In front of everyone, Hila did not smile, keeping her words short.
Eleven Calamity Grades could be considered a strong fighting force, enough to carve out a territory in a corner of the universe. Now that this group had joined the army, the high-level combatants belonging to the army had increased quite a bit. Furthermore, there were also elites such as Jotina and Schneider.
Han Xiao had to personally review every advanced combatant that joined the army. This was also the reason why these original officers of the Beast Ancestor had come to the Black Star Palace.
"Regarding your positions, I have yet to arrange them. If you have any requests, do tell me. I'll take them into consideration." Han Xiao smiled.
Hearing this, everyone expressed their intentions, saying that it did not matter as long as they could serve the army. Only Jotina put forth a different suggestion.
"Your Excellency Black Star, if possible, I would like to join your personal guard."
"Eh?" Han Xiao curiously looked over. "Why is that so?"
Jotina raised her head, looking straight at Han Xiao with a fiery gaze, not bothering to hide anything. "The body does not lie. I have strong feelings for you, and I hope to always accompany you around. If there's a chance, I hope that some chemistry can spark between us."
The moment she spoke, the entire room turned dead silent!
"Hmm‽" Hila eyes narrowed sharply. She was originally distracted and inattentive, but she suddenly seriously sized up Jotina from head to toe.
The officers around all thought there was something wrong with their ears. All of them adopted incredulous expressions. They did not think that this woman would be so blunt and speak out so honestly.
Even Schneider and the others were frightened, finding it unbelievable that their own elder sister would speak like this with a straight face.
F*ck me, we just joined the army, and you're already expressing the intention of mating with a Beyond Grade A in public‽
Aren't your guts too big!
Even if you really feel something for Black Star, you should proceed step by step.
To actually be so direct… indeed, only you can do so!
Han Xiao was stunned in place, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He waved his hands.
"Alright, I'm not interested in stuff like this. I'll do my best to consider your job requirements, though. Let me first get started by getting a preliminary understanding of your strength. Walk up to me one by one and take a punch of mine so that I can judge your abilities."
He lightly skipped over this topic, and Jotina did not insist either.
The conversation returned to normal, but a weird atmosphere lingered.
Everyone constantly shot weird glances toward Han Xiao or Jotina, cautiously moving around them while staying clear of Hila, whose eyes were firmly locked onto Jotina. They were afraid of being caught in the crossfire.
A line of Calamity Grades stood in front of Han Xiao. Nanoparticles rushed out behind Han Xiao, fusing into a silvery black humanoid machinery, floating beside Han Xiao like a stand-in.
This humanoid body sent a powerful iron fist to every officer originally from the Beast Ancestor, dealing some damage.
The attributes of each Calamity Grade were displayed on the combat information interface, and Han Xiao quickly scanned everyone's abilities.
Among this group of people, the most powerful was naturally the Beyond Grade A seed, 'Claw Empress' Jotina. She was outstanding even among the Pugilists in the Calamity Grade, adept in claw arts and the pugilist arts of the Beast Ancestor. Her strength and agility were on point, and her damage output was high. She was more of an all-rounder fighter, and her combat power ranked in the forefront of the Army's Calamity Grade officers. A good gauge would be third or fourth place.
As for 'Boa Constrictor' Schneider, he was an elite Calamity Grade. Among this group, there were two of them who were quite close to each other in terms of combat power, standing out from the rest.
Out of the eleven of them, nine were Pugilists, and the other two were Espers.
Because the Beast Ancestor Organization was one where they were muscle tyrants, not adept at using their brains, no one liked to learn. There were practically no mechanics or mages there.
Han Xiao intended to let all of them become combatants, while a small portion would be filtered into the Black Star Guards. Most of them would be commanded by Herlous as senior officers for the different fleets.
After some encouragement, Han Xiao left the scene with Hila, leaving the officers to mingle with this new group of colleagues.
As the two left the hall and walked through the corridor, the army members they passed nodded and saluted. Hila did not care while Han Xiao smiled as usual.
After walking for a bit, Hila suddenly opened her mouth. "You're actually quite popular."
"Are you referring to Jotina?" Han Xiao laughed. "In any case, I'm standing at the peak of personal power, so it's normal for people to treat me like their idol. Don't you worship me as well?"
"Nonsense, when did I ever worship you?" Hila snorted and avoided his gaze.
"Well, when you were surrounded and attacked, you were the one that personally admitted you had admired me for decades. It's no use trying to deny it. I still have the recording."
"Damn, you want to fight?" Hila was so embarrassed and angrily glared at Han Xiao.
"Hehehe…"
Hila's forehead bulged with veins before she took a few deep breaths to regain her tranquility.
After being distracted by Han Xiao, she no longer felt depressed. Instead, she frowned and asked, "So, how are you going to handle Jotina? Are you really going to place her among the Black Star Guards?"
"Her ability speaks for itself, so why not? Are you afraid that a Calamity Grade can do anything to me? I'm a Beyond Grade A." Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"Humph." Hila turned her head away.
While she did not like the brazen Jotina, Hila would not use her position to trouble others. She was not someone who would engage in small tricks and would not interfere in Han Xiao's decisions.
Seeing that Hila was silent, Han Xiao thought for a while before suddenly saying, "Anyways, the army is expanding very quickly these days, and there will be a new batch of people every three to five days. As a result, there are many members of the army that are not familiar with each other and do not know the officers. There is a sense of distance, which will not be conducive to the unity of the army. So, I was thinking that we should hold some large-scale events to promote camaraderie."
Hila looked over. "What are you planning?"
"I'm thinking toward some internal competitions, such as a military parade or a sparring competition…"
As he spoke, Han Xiao's eyes began to gleam.
As of now, the Black Star Army already had a large number of groups and a large number of talents under its command. There were sufficient resources to host large-scale internal events, allowing members of the army to participate in such events outside of their work. This would be conducive to increasing the sense of belonging and promoting the camp culture.
Han Xiao's idea was to create a league of his own. The Pro League was an internal game for the players, but he planned to create a large-scale event organized by NPCs under the Black Star Army's name, not only for the players but for all members.
Sparring would be one of the focal points. He could separate them based on their ranks, and the elites of each rank would be selected from the competition. There would be prizes, and it would also allow the normal members to witness the officers displaying their strength.
In addition to competitions, a variety of events could also be held, such as sports or technical skills such as piloting and commanding. Even the Wayne Cards could be used as a separate leisure event.
In Han Xiao's vision, such an event could be turned into something similar to the Olympic Games for the army, held every few years as a celebration and also to showcase their strength to the outside world.
If this could be carried out, the scale would be many times larger than that of the players' Pro League, which would serve as a carnival for everyone.
Just thinking about it made Han Xiao excited.
"But holding such an event seems like it would need a lot of money…" Hila hesitated.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Are we lacking money?"
Shortly from now, the sale of the Evolutionary Totems would be opened to the universe, and he would also become a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. At present, the Great Mechanic Han was bloated from the amount of money and could be considered to have fully entered the realm of a Rich Daddy.
If this money could be used to improve the faction cohesion and attractiveness, it would be quite profitable for him.
The more Han Xiao thought about it, the more he felt that this was something he could do. After he returned from the secondary dimension and settled the affairs of the Beyond Grade A union, he would have a lot of time to plan and hold such celebrations.
But it would be good to propose a prototype for Sylvia to perfect.
He had people to take care of his chores, so there was no pressure on him. Squeezing his own Chief Administrative Official had become a habit of Han Xiao's.
He had no other choice. Who made Sylvia so good looking and capable, making him so pleased with her work?
Sylvia's efficiency was high. She only took a day to perfect the draft of the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union.
Han Xiao revised it before sending it to Manison to discuss the matter together. While they had conflicts of interest, they had to cooperate for this matter.
"This Development Union… the idea is not bad. While it is an excuse, it is reasonable enough to pass through the eyes of the three Universal Civilizations."
Within the encrypted channel, Manison made comments while browsing the draft.
"Oh, this is just a cover," Han Xiao explained. "On the surface, the scope of cooperation will be limited to the Flickering World. In fact, as long as this union is created, the conflicts of the Beyond Grade A in other Star Fields can also be resolved through this platform, and at the same time, the Beyond Grade A organizations can form a network of interests throughout the universe, providing each member with a place to exchange and cooperate with each other. This will achieve the goal of uniting power."
Manison pondered. "This is similar to how The Ancient Ones operate, but to achieve this, most of the Beyond Grade As will need to voluntarily accept such cooperation, linking their organizations in the interest network. But if there's no benefit, most people will be unwilling to cooperate, and then there's still the obstacle of different factions…"
Han Xiao interrupted him. "That's why we have to declare that this union is completely neutral by nature, just a loose one similar to The Ancient Ones. We have to organize it as much as possible so as to weaken any possible opposing influence from the factions. As for benefits, we will need the larger Beyond Grade A organizations to lead by example, by becoming the leader of the interest network and actively taking out cooperation shares. That way, the other Beyond Grade A organizations will be willing to join."
"Who are the confirmed initiators leading this?"
"Only you and I." Han Xiao shook his head. "In terms of influence, we can be considered behemoths in the Beyond Grade A circle, enough to serve as an example. The fact that we are willing to cooperate should attract a lot of people, but well… just two of us isn't enough. We need more leaders, preferably the pinnacle Beyond Grade As. Otherwise, we cannot hold on to the crowd."
"I understand what you mean." Manison agreed. "We'll need organizations with sufficient influence in various fields. On my side, I can try to lobby all the ancient ones, and the Protectors of the Galactic Black Market should also be brought in to take the lead. At the same time, we cannot forget about the neutral Beyond Grade As. Oh yes, there's also Sorokin who controls the Limitless Financial Group. His money is very important."
In the Beyond Grade A circle, Sorokin was recognized as a top dog with one of the highest assets. While the majority did not care much for his combat abilities, no one underestimated his power to make money.
At this time, Han Xiao's eyes gleamed.
"I have a question. With so many pioneers… who will be the Chairman?"
Hearing this, Manison narrowed his eyes.
Since they wished to form a union, this problem could not be avoided. The Chairman of this union was of great significance, equivalent to the position of the leader of the martial world, the nominal chief of the Beyond Grade As.
Thus, be it strength or influence, it had to be convincing. The prerequisite was to be a pinnacle Beyond Grade A. Manison would definitely be a hot candidate, and Han Xiao was also eligible to compete for the Chairman position.
The position of Chairman came with a risk, that he would become the main target of the advanced civilizations, attracting their firepower. However, with great risks came great rewards.
Manison was staring at this position naturally out of interest, but as the main initiator of this project, Han Xiao had no reason to actively hand over the position.
After silence reigned for a while, Manison spoke slowly, avoiding this sensitive topic.
"There's only two of us now. It's too early to discuss such a matter. Let's bring in all the members before we decided on this."
"Okay."
Han Xiao nodded slightly before ending the call and letting out a sigh of relief.
Because this was a Beyond Grade A union, everyone present would be big bosses of an area. Thus, it would be impossible to make this into an area where only one person's word mattered.
Thus, persuading other Beyond Grade As to join would be tantamount to pulling supporters for himself. Only with enough Beyond Grade As supporting himself could he justify becoming the Chairman of the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union.
Simply put, this was a matter of fighting for face. Just his strength was not enough.
"My network is quite extensive, but compared to Manison…"
Han Xiao shook his head.
He was confident in his relationship side, but Manison had been around for far too long, and his relationships were definitely much deeper than Han Xiao's. It would be difficult to compete.
If he wanted this position, he could only start with the benefits part. He had to let people see that whoever served as the Chairman would bring about greater benefits.
"What a difficult task. I'm afraid this will be another uphill battle…"
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Chapter 1070 The Dark Lord"s Targe
After assessing the plan's feasibility, both of them separated into their own teams.
The pinnacle Beyond Grade As that Han Xiao was most familiar with were the three oldies of the dynasty, and the others were mostly acquaintances.
In contrast, Manison knew many more people, including those from the Federation of Light, the Arcane Church, Galactic Black Market, and even the neutral pinnacle Beyond Grade As. All of them were left to him to lobby.
Since his network was not as good as the other party's, Han Xiao did not stop Manison from doing more work. Instead, he made up his mind to compete from another direction.
Only the dynasty's side was left to Han Xiao. He sent out the proposal of the union to both Milizaus and Kant, inviting them both to participate in this grand event. As for the Dark Lord, Han Xiao did not invite him.
Thanks to the consensus reached in the Meeting of the Gods, the majority of the pinnacle Beyond Grade As readily accepted and agreed to build a Beyond Grade A platform in the form of a development union. However, a small portion of them hesitated, worried about the reactions of the three Universal Civilizations. Overall, it could still be said to have gone well.
The direct line of Beyond Grade As from the advanced civilizations was not included on the invitation list. They would not be issued any sort of invitation until the union was completely established. After all, most of these Beyond Grade As placed their own civilization above their personal interests, and while admirable, not everyone thought the same way.
Kant and Milizaus were both allies, and while agreeing to the invitation sent by Han Xiao, they raised their own concerns.
"Black Star, the relationship between you and the dynasty has just eased. If you take the lead now in forming the Beyond Grade A union, the dynasty will be dissatisfied with you again."
"There are no rulers who wish to see any unstable factors in their jurisdiction, but there's no way about it. Everyone has different positions," Han Xiao replied.
"You still have to be careful," Kant urged him again. "Manison's objective is to seek for profit. He wants to tie all the Beyond Grade As together as a bargaining chip. You're too young, don't let him use you."
These Beyond Grade As actually knew that Manison was using them, but because they could see the longer-term benefits that they could obtain, they saw no reason to reject this proposal.
"I'm aware of his intentions, but only through this can the Beyond Grade As benefit. If this can be realized, it can reduce the infighting between the Beyond Grade As caused by factions' differences." Han Xiao wished to preserve the vitality of the Beyond Grade As and intervene in the Calamity of the Supers as a chess player rather than a pawn.
"If I must say…" Kant spoke in an uncertain tone as he lowered his voice. "If the Beyond Grade A union can be fully formed, it will solve the problem of excess individual power. The moment Beyond Grade As grow to a certain extent, we will internally liquidate and kill those not from any of the factions, which is better than the three Universal Civilizations taking action in person."
Hearing this, Han Xiao could not help but glance at him.
This was a way to seize the power of liquidation from the hands of the three Universal Civilizations and use the ordinary Beyond Grade As as a price to maintain their pinnacle Beyond Grade A status.
If they continued developing normally, the union would indeed likely evolve to this final form. When the Beyond Grade As circle was strong enough and had succeeded in stabilizing their position, the union would definitely actively control the number of Beyond Grade As to prevent this circle from becoming too strong and attracting a bloodbath from the three Universal Civilizations.
The Beyond Grade A union would take the initiative to prune the branches, keeping the number of Beyond Grade As at a level that could threaten the three Universal Civilizations but not force them to take action. This way, they could decide who to kill and how many to kill, keeping the initiative. This loss was naturally much smaller than having the three Universal Civilizations take action.
It was estimated that among the pinnacle Beyond Grade As, there were many who thought in the same manner as Kant. This behavior of taking away the ladder once he climbed up to the top of the wall himself was not a fresh concept… After all, when the number of Beyond Grade As reached a certain level, the nature of their circle would gradually change as well. This posed more disadvantages than advantages to them.
While these pinnacle Beyond Grade As agreed to join the union, their ideals were all different. Han Xiao narrowed his eyes but did not say anything.
In general, there were no many problems in pulling people on board, so the action was quickly implemented. The organizations of the many leaders cooperated to mobilize materials and to select a site in the Flickering World to build the base camp for the development union.
Naturally, it would be impossible to conceal such actions from the other organizations, and the leaders themselves saw no need to conceal it. After all, the nature of their union was no secret, and the three Universal Civilizations should have already learned about it.
Of course, the news also travelled to the dynasty.
Pa!
"Black Star is taking a yard for every inch we give!"
In the Ruler's office, Bekorodi's face was contorted in anger as he smacked the table.
He pulled along several of the upper echelons from the hawk faction, berating Han Xiao in front of Urranrell.
"Just look at Black Star's recent actions. He acts with no respect for the dynasty at all! He has just eased his relations with the dynasty, and he dares to do something like this. Does he regard the opening of sales for the Evolutionary Totems as our weakness?"
Urranrell rubbed the center of her brows. "Then, what do you think I should do?"
"I feel that we should warn Black Star," Bekorodi bellowed. "If he continues to act as he wills, then the dynasty will withdraw the decree to open up the sales of the Evolutionary Totem."
However, Urranrell did not accept or reject his proposal. "If we rescind the decree, what do you think the federation and the church will do?"
"Humph, while they have coveted the Evolutionary Totem for so long, they are still clear on what is important. For this problem, both the federation and the church have to choose a stance, and they will not side with Black Star."
Bekorodi had a confident tone, quite sure of his judgment.
Urranrell knocked on the table before slowly replying, "You are right, but after the Meeting of the Gods, we anticipated this situation. Just targeting Black Star will not help as this is the general trend."
When she discovered that Black Star and the others intended to integrate the Beyond Grade As, she had already predicted that the hawk faction would attack and make things difficult.
In all fairness, Urranrell did not like seeing the Beyond Grade A union, but this issue was sensitive and involved many factors, so she could not make any hasty decisions.
As such, she could not easily withdraw the decree regarding the Evolutionary Totem sales and blame Black Star as Bekorodi suggested.
His suggestion was rejected, but Bekorodi was not angry. He had known that the Ruler would give such a response, and his goal was just to express his negative attitude. He pretended to grunt before leading everyone else away.
Only Urranrell was left in the room. She shook her head before opening the star map of the Flickering World, analyzing the situation.
Ever since the Flickering World was opened, the power patterns in the universe had started to change, and the dynasty was aware of this. First was the Super Star Cluster Alliance, and now the Beyond Grade A union. The changes were slowly surfacing.
"The price of exploration and expansion is turbulence, as every class wants to redistribute benefits…" Urranrell sighed.
Currently, the development union was still a grassroots team. Only a group of pinnacle Beyond Grade As were making the preliminary preparations. During this period, they would inevitably have to negotiate with the three Universal Civilizations, and it would take a few months for them to formally establish themselves.
This matter did not require much effort, so Han Xiao had a lot of free time and was immersed in repairing and strengthening his mechanical army.
After many failures, he had finally created an Emperor's Cape at the Gold Grade in his workshop.
This was the second Universal Treasure to be created by his hand. His [Spirit Instrument] skill unlocked the second layer, and at the same time, he obtained a new God's Trait Transformation point.
The second layer increased his basic success rate of manufacturing Gold Grade equipment, as well as research and development benefits. The increase was the same as that of the first layer, 2.5% and 1.2% respectively, but it also had a new attribute that increased the possible mutation rate of a Universe by 0.2%.
Reading through the introduction, Han Xiao discovered that this was the probability bonus for generating unique mutations in the process of making Universal Treasures. Such treasures would generally be stronger than normal Gold Grade equipment and might develop some 'unsolvable' abilities.
As for the God's Trait Transformation point, Han Xiao added it into the Mechanic path, and his [God's Trait Transformation—Machinery] unlocked the effect of its third layer.
Third Stage: [Apostle Mechanic] and below classes will have 3 to all class skills, 50% to speed of assembly line production, 10% Assembly line product quality, and -25% cost of materials. In addition, 1,500 INT, 30 Potential Points.
"The levels of my basic mechanic skills have gone up by quite a bit, and there's an increase in assembly line production skills, as well as Intelligence and potential points. It's not too bad."
Because Han Xiao had skills that could raise his Machinery Affinity based on his Intelligence, 1,500 points would bring about a 400% increase in his Machinery Affinity. The thirty free Potential Points could also be used to upgrade his Ultimate Knowledge skills by a level.
Though the effects of this third stage seemed to be a little mixed. They synergized quite well, especially the 3 to all class related skills, which brought a considerable bonus to him. After all, there were many Machinery Affinity skills in the low-level class skill list.
This time, the attribute targeted to be optimized was his Dexterity. Because of the amount of work needed, the difficulty in creating the Emperor's Cape was higher than that of the King. His points were thus optimized by 375 points, all of which were converted into free attribute points.
"I finally finished this equipment."
Han Xiao felt refreshed and put away his Emperor's Cape.
Everything that he needed to do was done. He could now make a trip to the secondary dimension.
The Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union was still in development, and this was no overnight event. The three Universal Civilizations would definitely oppose it, so it was a good time for him to hide from the dynasty's fatal calls. He did not even need to guess what the dynasty would say to him if the call connected.
Furthermore, Ames had already been there a long time, so he should not make her wait too long.
In the Crimson Dynasty's Constellation Corridor, within a large interstellar military fortress, a gigantic spacetime gate that was several times larger than a normal stargate stood in the center of the base. It lay in a dormant state, merely resembling an oval arch.
There was a figure hovering in front of this spacetime gate. It was 'Dark Lord' Clotti, who had removed his Guard Captain uniform and put on a special lightweight mechanical suit.
The respectful voice of the base commander came through the helmet communicator.
"Your Excellency Clotti, this mechanical suit is specially used for shuttling in the secondary dimension. It can anchor the coordinates of the main universe, and there's also a spare portable anchoring device within it. Please do not damage or discard it, else you might be lost within the stacks of secondary dimensions…"
"No need to explain further. It's not my first time going to the Secondary dimension." Clotti's tone was indifferent.
"Alright, we're about to open the portal. His Excellency Guzar, who is manning the outpost over there, will welcome you."
The moment he finished speaking, the giant spacetime gate gradually opened, and bright rays of light emerged from within the gate, quickly forming a whirlpool of light.
Quietly watching as the spacetime gate warmed up, Clotti called out the secondary dimension database list that was built into the mechanical suit. This stored the secondary dimension profiles that the dynasty had explored over the years, recording the spacetime coordinates and the energy frequencies.
The secondary dimension was very different from the main universe, so this database was equivalent to a map. Tracking devices could be used to remotely mark each location, which was equivalent to a navigation route.
Browsing through the database, Clotti quickly focused on one particular secondary dimension and marked it as a target location.
This secondary dimension was called [Evil Convergence]!
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Chapter 1071 The World of Secondary Dimensions
The space of the secondary dimensions was a bizarre world composed of various planes, and its rules were different compared to the main universe. Most of them were not suitable for the survival of creatures from the main universe. Some were formed naturally, while some were created from the fantasies of high-ranking mages.
If the main universe could be described as the branches and roots of a tree, then the secondary dimensions would be the leaves and fruits, and there would be a nutrient connection with each other—energy.
Researchers in the universe had created a world view model for the secondary dimensional space, which looked similar to a picture of countless bubbles stacked. Each bubble represented a secondary dimension, and the space wall of each bubble was much weaker compared to the main universe; one could jump and shuttle around frequently.
The advanced civilizations had always been keen to explore the secondary dimensions. Not only could they obtain certain resources, they could also develop new technology through studying the phenomena of the different secondary dimensions. The three Universal Civilizations had achieved a lot of results in this area, and to a certain extent, the strength of each civilization's technology came from this area.
Thus, the three Universal Civilizations had a large number of outposts and research stations in the secondary dimension space, and they stationed different troops to protect scholars and workers. In most cases, they were dealing with the attacks of the secondary dimension creatures.
The outpost A0000 was the largest barracks of the dynasty in the secondary dimension. It was set up within a secondary dimension that was suitable for survival of creatures. The dynasty had completed the exploration of that entire secondary dimension and transformed it, hoarding all the troops here. The dynasty's army was stationed in their base camp of the secondary dimension, which also served as the gateway for the dynasty to enter the secondary dimensions.
As soon as Clotti stepped into this place, a magnificent scene greeted him.
He saw a patch of endless reddish-brown land, stretching out of his line of sight. The dynasty's base also sat there, seemingly endless, like a forest of steel.
There were no stars in the sky, only gradual color tones just like the bloody glow of the setting set. There were light rays that resembled the wind at one moment and clouds at another, flowing in the sky and scattering the fog-like scene. The sky at this place seemed to contain some kind of invisible light source, forming a Tyndall effect as it emitted a misty and dreamy path of light.
Clotti was familiar with this dreamy scene, but he had not seen it for so many years, so he could not help but stop and admire it.
At this moment, a thunderous laugh shook the air.
"Hahaha, Clotti, you finally got a holiday?"
Just as the voice fell, a bolt of turquoise lightning shot out from within the base. It stopped in front of Clotti in the blink of an eye, revealing a burly figure wearing the uniform of a Senior Dynasty General.
Seeing this man, the typically stoic Clotti could not help but smile.
"Guzar, it's been a long time."
"Haha, I didn't expect you to look for me the moment you got a vacation. You're indeed my good brother!" The burly figure laughed again.
The latter was a hybrid from the dynasty human race and the Silver race, but from his appearance, there was not much of the gracefulness that the Silver race was well known for. He had a rough and masculine appearance, with a wild beard and braids. If Han Xiao was there, he might have mistaken this guy for Zhang Fei [1. Zhang Fei is one of the major characters in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a general and the sworn brother of Liu Bei.].
'Peals of Thunder' Guzar was a Beyond Grade A from the direct line under the dynasty, and his Esper Ability involved the manipulation of plasma currents. He had served as the guardian of the secondary dimension for many years.
The qualifications of the two were similar, with the time difference between their enlistment only around five years. They had known each other since they were young and weak, and they had maintained a good relationship.
Clotti shook his head. "I didn't come here for a holiday. I have a mission."
"No wonder you temporarily resigned from your post." Guzar nodded and curiously asked, "Is this a direct order from the Ruler? What does she want you to do?"
"Pursue and kill a Beyond Grade A. The target is hiding in the secondary dimensions, named Traveler. He is suspected of participating in the war within the Flickering World not too long ago. Do you know about that matter?"
"Haha, I'm of course aware of this. There's no entertainment here, so I can only watch the news all the time. I heard that Black Star repelled twelve Beyond Grade As in total, including Kasuyi and Sierron. This is really amazing and makes me want to spar with him a bit. Unfortunately, I cannot even meet him personally."
Guzar's tone was laced with regret. Guarding the secondary dimension, he had no chance to leave his post.
"There'll be a chance in the future," Clotti reassured him.
Guzar did not linger in the topic, smiling as he said, "I think that this Black Star is a good kid. When you officially retire, he'll probably be the one to replace you in threatening the rest of the universe."
"It's a pity that he's not of direct lineage to the dynasty." Clotti did not agree with him or say otherwise, only changing the topic. "The secondary dimension is your territory. I will need your help in pursuing Traveler."
"No problem." A cold arc of lightning shot through Guzar's pupils. "These last few years, the rats hiding in here have been rapidly increasing. It's time to teach them a lesson."
Somewhere within the secondary dimension, Traveler was wrapped in magic, flying forward like a comet.
Suddenly, he paused, and a hesitant look crossed his face.
"Strange, why do I feel so restless?"
As a mage, he would never ignore his intuition, so Traveler stopped and took out a crystal ball, activating his divination spell.
Holding the crystal ball with both hands, a little bit of light floated from his palm to merge with the ball. Soon, the crystal ball rippled, showing a mirror image, similar to looking at a calm lake.
Clotti's face flashed briefly before dissipating.
"Dark Lord? What relationship does he have with me?"
Traveler's expression changed.
His role during the attack on Hila was just to pretend to go to Black Star for a spar. He did not participate directly in the battle.
In his opinion, even if the Black Star Army was suspicious of him, as long as he took refuge within the secondary dimensions, the other party would not waste energy to look for him to fight, but he did not expect the dynasty to sacrifice so much and send a huge killer weapon over to him. It felt like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer… In front of the Dark Lord, he could only admit that he was no better than a chicken.
"If I meet against the Dark Lord, I definitely won't be his match."
Traveler felt depressed. Even if he managed to master his Evil Convergence skill, he did not feel that it would be enough for him to stand against the Dark Lord. The latter was someone who had reached the pinnacle of dark energy and dark matter. Even 'Golden Ring' Oulou, who had reached a similar level to the Dark Lord, still ultimately lost to him in the secondary dimensions. Traveler did not think that he could surpass Oulou at his current level.
After thinking about it, Traveler's eyes lit up.
"I showed off the Evil Convergence, so the Dark Lord will definitely use this as a clue to pursue me. If I don't appear, they will definitely do something with the Evil Convergence dimension… It seems like I can only seek helpers to ambush the Dark Lord."
The time he had spent in the secondary dimensions was not for nothing. Not only did he develop good relations with a bunch of strong biological creatures, he had also gotten to know a bunch of Beyond Grade As who lived within the secondary dimensions…
Some of them were not even recorded within the list of known Beyond Grade As in the universe!
In a hidden secondary dimension, a portal suddenly appeared, and several small battleships flew out. Their outer armor showed no insignias, and the model of the battleships was top of the line, even equipped with navigation for secondary dimensions. Due to their additional components, the overall appearance looked heavy and bloated.
In the command room of the flagship, many of the operators bustled about in their positions. Everyone wore a full mechanical suit set, covering their appearance.
Standing in front at the porthole were two figures, wearing masked hoods and robes. Both had special equipment to hide their appearances, and only their height difference could be seen. One was short and stocky while the other tall and slender.
They were the leaders of this trip and belonged to the same organization. They were on a special mission.
One of the operators, who looked like the overall commander, reported to the both of them. "Your Excellency Law, Your Excellency Fay, we've already arrived at our destination. Please instruct us on our next step."
The duo were known as 'Law' and 'Fay'. Those were not their real names but codenames in their organization.
The short and stocky person was named Law. He nodded as he spoke in a deep baritone. "According to the plan, the divination shows that Black Star will enter the secondary dimensions with the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy in the near future. Activate the detection radars for all biological creatures to the maximum range and set the target life strength to the pinnacle Beyond Grade A level."
The cold and clear voice of Fay rang out as she said, "The secondary dimension is our home field, and our mission is to seize the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. Black Star has powerful combat abilities, and we need to avoid any sort of frontal conflict. The leader has allowed us to have many technological weapons that can be used to temporarily trap Black Star."
She paused for a while before adding, "If conventional methods cannot reveal him, the leader will allow us to use the Esper Ability of Destiny's Child once."
In Black Star Palace, Han Xiao called Ames over to the live combat training room.
"Busy guy, you finally have time for me?" Ames raised a brow, her tone joking.
"Official duties, I cannot escape from them." Han Xiao joked back before taking out a compressed orb and lobbing it over. He explained, "This is a special mechanical suit designed for survival in the secondary dimension. I built it myself. Try it out."
Buzz!
With a spark of Mechanical Force, the compressed orb transformed into a jet-black mechanical suit, covering Ames' body in a snug manner.
She moved around a bit, searching for any lag or discomfort, before clicking her tongue as she commented, "Very fitting. It seems like you know my body measurements very well. Good observation skills."
That's because I touched it before… Han Xiao coughed to hide his embarrassment.
Anyway, the nano-optimization feature exists, so no matter what sort of body shape you had, the suit would adjust to fit you. Why the fuss?
Even though he was vomiting in his heart, he did not show it in his movements, taking out the improved version of the Mysterious Energy Host.
Seeing the mechanical suits, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy excitedly called out, "Black Star, are you ready to set off?"
It could not wait to gather with its old friend once again.
Han Xiao nodded before turning to Ames to explain, "The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy is able to shuttle through the secondary dimensions. With it leading the way, we can save ourselves a lot of energy."
In the five major classes, only the mages and mechanics could stably enter and exit the world of secondary dimensions. Both of them, however, had different methods of entry.
As for the Espers, theirs was a random factor. In contrast, the dimensional shuttle capability of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was more convenient, and their search for the Holy Light Particle would also require its help.
This was not Ames' first time going to the secondary dimension. However, the ordinary procedures were troublesome, so with the help offered by Black Star and the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, things were a lot simpler. She curiously asked, "Then, where will our first stop be?"
"The dynasty has quite a few outposts in the secondary dimension, but I don't wish to disturb them. Since you also have the Void bloodline, let's go to the Void Dimension first."
Han Xiao grasped the arm of the Mysterious Energy Host, gesturing for Ames to do the same.
"Alright." Ames did not have any objections, but she did not hold onto the Mysterious Energy Host, instead choosing to latch herself on Han Xiao's shoulder.
An ordinary person would have to make thorough preparations in order to go to the secondary dimension, but both of them were Beyond Grade As, so they did not require any sort of precautions.
The next moment, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy activated its ability, and a surge of crimson energy rushed out, enveloping their bodies.
Swoosh!
A bright light flashed, and the three of them disappeared without a trace.
Their vision blurred, and the scenery in front of their eyes suddenly changed. They were no longer inside Black Star Palace but within the familiar Void Dimension.
"This is really fast." Ames was shocked.
"This is its innate ability. For it, returning to the secondary dimension is akin to going home, just like a fish in water," Han Xiao replied.
The Mysterious Energy Host had strong combat abilities, and at the same time, it also possessed plenty of convenient abilities and effects. It really was like a handyman.
Ames took a deep breath of void energy, feeling the excitement in her cells. She chuckled. "What are our travel plans?"
"Let's finish what we came here to do. We'll have plenty of time to explore afterward."
As Han Xiao spoke, he turned to look at the Mysterious Energy Host and asked it, "Do you know which secondary dimension the Holy Light Particle resides in?"
"I'm not sure what it's called in the main universe, but I can identify its energy fluctuations and track it down," the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy explained.
Hearing this, Han Xiao nodded. He had previously inquired about the dynasty's exploration records of secondary dimensions based on the description given by the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, but they could not find anything similar. This probably meant that the place where the Holy Light Particle could be found had not been discovered yet.
Upon thinking about it, this would make sense. If the advanced civilizations managed to locate its lair, then the Holy Light Particle would not be able to laze around. Thus, at this moment, they could only depend on the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to guide them.
"Let's go quickly. I can't wait to teach it a lesson."
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was eager and proactively urged the others. It could not control the host by itself and had to have Han Xiao's approval.
Hearing this, Han Xiao could not help but laugh. He estimated that the Holy Light Particle would probably be upset at this 'friend'.
Brat, you brought all these enemies over to my area‽
As he shook his head, Han Xiao was about to speak, but his expression suddenly changed.
Boom!
At this moment, an anomaly occurred as the void energy in their surroundings began to tremble.
Ames felt the same sensation, and she narrowed her eyes as she gazed off into the distance. Her tone was solemn. "Seems like something's coming!"
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Chapter 1072 Milestone: Void Conqueror
The Void Dimension was a chaotic and misty world, with gray and blue the predominant colors. Its space was filled with thick and viscous void energy.
Suddenly, the two of them seemed as though they had been put into a blender; the surrounding void energy formed a large vortex, with Han Xiao and Ames at its center.
Han Xiao raised his wariness, getting into a battle-ready state. The next moment, a mental fluctuation burst out, sweeping past the both of them, and a solemn, archaic voice spoke in their minds.
"What sort of alien creatures are you, to dare barge into my territory‽"
Just as the voice rang out, a powerful aura burst out in their perceptions. Rays of light flickered all around as countless figures appeared out of thin air, seemingly endless. They surrounded the duo.
These creatures had strange appearances, but they all carried the characteristics of a void species and wore specially-made armor.
Sweeping a glance, Han Xiao felt a sense of familiarity.
He was no stranger to these strange-looking creatures.
There were Void Prowlers and Chaos Observers as the Reconnaissance Troops, riding Void Hunters, Void Star Pursuers, and Void Walkers. Lined up in ranks were the Void Disciples, the Void Executioners, and the Magomado Blades. The ranged troops consisting of Void Witch Spirits and Chaos Arcane Bodies were placed at the back. These were all the race options he had encountered with each promotion.
In the center of this army was the behemoth troop. There were ten huge Margola Void Beasts, covered in armor and carrying countless void creatures. There were even three Void Dragon hatchlings, of which the three strongest void creatures rode on them.
Their leader was a Void Duke, about a few hundred meters in height, his body covered in a tangible blue-violet energy. He was covered from head to toe in huge black armor and held onto the reins of the void dragon with one hand, a mysterious black longsword in the other. Void Dukes could change their forms at will, and this Void Duke was currently assuming a humanoid form.
This was a Void Army Regiment!
"It seems like we accidentally ended up in the territory of a Void Duke."
Seeing the group, Ames furrowed her brows.
She was an old visitor to the secondary dimensions, so it was not the first time she had encountered such a scene.
The Void Dimension was a naturally formed secondary dimension, and it spanned across an extremely vast area. The difference in dimensional attributes compared to the main universe had resulted in the spawning of the countless void species. In addition to naturally growing, the void species could strengthen themselves by swallowing each other, thus forming a complete chain of weak and strong. In this situation, the higher void creatures eventually segregated their territories, forming armies to fight against each other.
The Void Duke was one of the top void creatures, boasting their own powerful army. Their goal was to swallow other Void Lords or Void Dukes. Not only did they thrive on war, but using the unique features available to them, they had developed a special technology applied to the Void Dimension.
The Void creatures not only fought against each other, they were also hostile toward foreign life forms. One reason was because foreigners usually tended to kill them for materials, and secondly, the Void Corruptors could use their blood to convert the foreigners to become a new source for their troops. Thus, when encountering visitors from different dimensions, they would not be lenient.
"They treat us as prey."
As countless malevolent gazes landed on them, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes before releasing his Beyond Grade A aura. His momentum swept the area around him like a gale.
Boom!
The tyrannical aura caused the void army to stagnate.
The Void Duke's longsword slashed outward, sending a spiritual message filled with shock.
"Beyond Grade A creature of the main universe‽"
The prestige of Beyond Grade As resounded even within the secondary dimensions.
Han Xiao revealed his identity. "I'm an ally of the Crimson Dynasty, the leader of the Black Star Army. I go by Black Star."
"Black Star? Never heard of you."
Because information exchanges between the main universe and the secondary dimensions were limited, most of the void creatures were not concerned about the news from the main universe. However, the big names like the Crimson Dynasty were still known to the Void Dukes, as the reputation of the three Universal Civilizations had also spread throughout the secondary dimensions. The higher beings of the Void Dimension had considerable wisdom and knew to not provoke the three Universal Civilizations.
"Outsider, I'm the Void Duke Kirkmond. Leave my territory immediately." He pointed with his longsword, indicating their expulsion.
The Beyond Grade A life forms from the main universe were not so easy to provoke. Although the Void Dimension had successfully killed some invading Beyond Grade As before, they were all done by the strongest Void Dukes. The casualties on both sides were equally heavy, which resulted in those Void Dukes being swallowed by others instead. Kirkmond was merely a Void Duke in the middle ranks and did not want to get himself into a conflict with a Beyond Grade A for nothing.
Seeing this, Ames did not wish to blow up the matter any further and patted Han Xiao. "Let's go. There's no need to entangle with them."
Sweeping his gaze across the vigilant Void Army, Han Xiao suddenly had an idea and switched to his Void Form. The aura around his body changed completely.
Seeing this, Kirkmond jumped up in shock.
"You're also part of the Void‽"
"That's right. I'm not a creature from another dimension but one of your kind."
After Han Xiao entered the Beyond Grade A realm, he had transformed into an exclusive race, but the void bloodline he originally had did not disappear, merely merging into the exclusive race.
According to his degree of evolution, Han Xiao's Void creature ranking was high. He had reached the level of the Void Archangel, which was similar to the rank of Void Duke.
Kirkmond's attitude took a 180-degree change, filling up with envy and greed while hiding behind a fawning attitude.
When encountering a Beyond Grade A of another species, even if they killed the other party, there were no benefits to them. However, if the other party was a Beyond Grade A void creature, then he could swallow their bloodline and obtain an evolutionary boost.
However, the difficulty in killing the latter was also greatly increased. The void dimension was the home of the void creatures, and the higher one's void dimension life level, the higher their degree of control over the Void Energy. Han Xiao was akin to a fish in water there and would not be affected by the suppression of void energy.
The power system of the Void Dimension differed from the main universe. The void life forms possessed various racial talents, and through continuous evolution, they would activate their innate abilities to exert a great combat strength. This sort of strength could not be replicated by others, so it could not be classified as one of the major Super systems and only classified as a special life form.
However, the void creatures could also take the initiative to master the super system of the main universe, and their representatives were relatively well known.
"Do you know Kasuyi?" Kirkmond could not help but ask.
"We're quite familiar with each other." Han Xiao nodded.
Hearing this, Kirkmond felt proud.
Kasuyi was a celebrity within the Void Dimension, publicly recognized as one of the strongest void creatures to exist. He had raked up vast achievements while still within the void dimension, conquering a large number of Void Lords and Void Dukes and ruling a vast territory in the center of the Void Dimension. No one could contend with him then, and while he was generally more active in the main universe, his reputation within the Void Dimension still remained unmatched.
And right now, Kirkmond had encountered a new Beyond Grade A void creature who was even familiar with Kasuyi, piquing his interest. After all, Kirkmond himself did not possess the qualifications to even come into contact with Kasuyi.
"Black Star, come over to my place to be my guest." Kirkmond directly issued an invitation. There were few formalities within the Void Dimension, so they did not beat around the bush.
"Alright, I'll go and have a look." Han Xiao had similar intentions. Since he had managed to meet this Void Duke, it would be good to exchange some intelligence. Furthermore, since he planned to travel and explore this time, he was not afraid of having his time delayed.
The Void Dimension had many good things, such as the Void Maharaja that Austin had once given him, allowing his bloodline to be purified further. While Han Xiao had already reached the pinnacle Beyond Grade A realm, there might be something that could help him strengthen his void talents. There was no harm in trying his luck.
Speaking of luck, Han Xiao could not help but think about the luck halo [Caretaker of the Stars] that Ames had.
While he did not bring Feidin this time, Ames' had pretty good luck as well, which could be able to carry him forward.
"This is a guider. Follow me."
Kirkmond shook his fingers, sending out a cloud of void energy that contained the information on the coordinates over to Han Xiao.
The next moment, the surrounding void army all flickered and disappeared. In the Void Dimension, none of the inhabitants flew normally. They had all mastered the craft of Void Travel.
Seeing this, Ames shook her head in resignation. "You actually exposed your identity to the Void creature. The last time Hila and I came to the secondary dimension to train, neither of us dared to do so, or else we would not have made it back."
"Those with skills have bigger balls," Han Xiao joked.
While the secondary dimension still posed some risks to ordinary Beyond Grade As, it was not much to a pinnacle Beyond Grade A.
The duo then followed the guider and shuttled through the void, soon arriving at Kirkmond's base camp.
This was a magnificent city that was suspended in space. The entire body of the city was made out of translucent crystals, and its radiant internal energy core could be seen, surrounded by a rich layer of gray-blue void energy.
Within the Void Dimension, natural materials were scarce, so crystals were generally obtained through special techniques of refining the omnipresent Void Energy. To build a city like this, the expenses were naturally gargantuan.
This huge city had many barracks, so rather than calling it a city, it would be more accurate to call it an army camp. Han Xiao and Ames went to the main hall in the center of the city, and Kirkmond greeted the both of them.
He had shrunk his body to match Han Xiao's size. After they sat down, he impatiently asked, "Black Star, where were you born?"
He thought that Han Xiao had grown up as a native of the Void Dimension. However, Han Xiao did not hide it and explained that he was someone who had acquired a void bloodline and had always been active in the main universe.
The two of them chatted with each other, exchanging information. Han Xiao talked about the situation in the main universe, while Kirkmond talked about what the Void Dimension was like.
In his previous life, the players had a limited understanding of the secondary dimensions since they only came into contact with it in the later versions. Furthermore, many of the secondary dimension life forms did not have a habit of recording their history, so Han Xiao also lacked information about the void dimension in the current era.
After some exchanges, Han Xiao developed a general understanding of the current power balance of the void dimension. It was not ruled by a single entity but by many strong powerhouses.
The Kasuyi family dominated and occupied the entire central area but had no intention of unifying the void dimension, nor did they possess the ability. Powerful Void Dukes constantly sprang up like bamboo shoots after a downpour, fighting each other in separate areas. In addition, there were a large number of chaotic areas such as the wilderness, where chaos reigned, constantly breeding new void creatures that would freely hunt each other in the area.
After chatting for a while, Kirkmond finally came to the topic of Han Xiao's reason for going there.
"I actually have no goal. I just intend to roam a bit around the secondary dimensions. My first trip was to the Void Dimension, and I coincidentally met you." Han Xiao spread open his hands.
Hearing this, Kirkmond thought for a while before saying, "Since you have nothing to do, you can help me out."
There was no such thing as politeness or etiquette in the Void Dimension. While it was the first time they had met, Kirkmond did not bother standing on ceremony with them.
"What do you need?" Han Xiao was curious.
"I've always wanted to kill Bagdora. He's also a Void Duke, his territory similar to mine. We've already had more than a hundred battles against each other. If you're able to help, I can eradicate him, swallowing his core and taking over his army troops."
Han Xiao raised his brows. "Then, what can you repay me with?"
"I can give you half of the cores of the Void life forms left on the battlefield. In addition, if you need any specialties of the Void Dimension, I can find them for you." Kirkmond waved his hand, giving his bottom line without any attention for negotiation skills. "Furthermore, you can obtain my friendship. When you need help in the main universe, you can open a Void Path, and I will bring my army to help you fight."
Hearing that, Han Xiao was excited.
When he previously evolved into the [Void Pathfinder, he had obtained the racial talent of [Void Path, which could temporarily open a door to the Void Dimension.
He had never utilized this ability before because the summoned void life forms would not differentiate between friend or foe. However, if he could form an agreement with Kirkmond, then he would be able to use this ability to summon a void regiment to fight for him.
The same was true for Kasuyi. He could use his natural ability to call out the Void army under his command. This was where he had obtained his moniker [Void Overlord, but he seldom used this ability since his true body was too strong and did not require reinforcements.
While Han Xiao was not a summoner, this talent could also achieve the effect of a summoning.
At this moment, a notification popped up on Han Xiao's interface.
You have triggered the mission: Void Duke's War Employment!
Mission Introduction: Void Duke Kirkmond has taken a fancy to your combat abilities, and hopes to hire you to fight for him and eradicate his enemies.
Mission Requirements: Defeat Void Duke Bagdora's Army
Reward: 12 billion experience, 3,000 Kirkmond Favorability, 1 Character Summon Card
Additional Reward: Triggers the Milestone Mission: Void Conqueror
Void Conqueror: Milestone competition conditions: Destroy eight Void Dukes and their organizations (void life forms at the same life form level are accepted). At the same time, achieve a Favorability rating of Respect (3,000 Favorability) in at least four Void Dukes' factions. Reward will be given after Milestone is completed.
Milestone Completion Reward: If you possess Void abilities, their base effects will have a slight increase, and you will obtain 500 – 2,000 Free Attribute Points. You will also obtain 1 Legendary Point, 20 Favorability on all void life forms, and 1 God's Trait Transformation Point. This will only be given if the [God's Trait Transformation] talent is activated.
Han Xiao's eyes sparkled.
The rewards were pretty good this time. He could even obtain a God's Trait Transformation point. After creating both Universal Treasures, he had thought that he would have to wait till he underwent another Promotion to obtain more points.
Looking at the introduction, it seemed like only those Beyond Grade As who had reached the level of God's Trait Transformation would then trigger this extra point reward. If other people accepted this mission, they would not see the last message.
Han Xiao was overjoyed.
Not only did he manage to obtain a mission, he could even get a large number of Void specialties promised by Kirkmond. This sort of business could be done. To Han Xiao, it was just going back to his old mercenary days.
"Deal, I'll help you." Han Xiao smiled. "However, now's not a good time. I still have things to do, so let's put this off until I return."
He had already decided to accept the employment, but his priority was still to obtain the Holy Light Particle. This was non-negotiable; thus, he would only come over to help Kirkmond after he was done obtaining the Holy Light Particle.
"No problem!" Kirkmond was overjoyed, immediately agreeing.
Since he had fought the other party for so many years, waiting a while longer was not a problem.
Ames was not interested in their conversation. After growing bored of listening to them, she took out the revive token to fiddle in her hand. She had also obtained this from Hila.
At this moment, Kirkmond glanced over subconsciously and suddenly froze, his gaze fixed on the revive token.
"Huh?" Ames' brows rose, and she clenched her fingers over the token. "What are you looking at?"
"Er, could you pass the thing in your hand to me for a look? I felt a very familiar aura from it." Kirkmond was not polite at all, his tone carrying a little suspicion.
Han Xiao realized something, quickly taking his own token out and asking, "I have something similar. Does it have the aura you're familiar with?"
"Yes, but it's very weak. Could you pass it over to let me scrutinize it?" Kirkmond nodded.
Han Xiao thought about it before flicking the token over.
Kirkmond's palm transformed into energy to envelop the revive token. After carefully looking at it, he replied with an uncertain tone, "I seem to have felt a similar energy fluctuation within one of the secondary dimension layers…"
Han Xiao's expression changed immediately.
This revive token contained the effect of [Death Rejection—Awakening]. Based on his inference, this was a new ability developed by Hila. Using delicate power control, she had combined Aurora's life energy with her own Power of the Dead to form an entirely new type of energy.
Hila had also mentioned that when she was attempting to form a remote connection with Aurora, she experienced some difficulty in that a secondary dimension layer kept absorbing most of the energy transmitted between both of them. Hila initially planned to do a field trip to the area, but she did not have the time to come this trip.
So, is it a coincidence that I came across the target Hila was looking for?
Han Xiao could not help but look at Ames.
Compared to Feidin, I think touching you might be better now…
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Chapter 1073 Encounter
To come across a clue right after they entered the secondary dimension, this could only be attributed to luck. Most likely, it was Ames' [Caretaker of the Stars] Luck Glow that shone down on them. Could it be that the Goddess of Luck had changed her sexual orientation?
Speaking of which, since the act of rubbing Feidin for luck was called 'Touching the Willy', what then should he term the act of rubbing Ames?
Should he just go with 'Coiling Dragon[1]'?
Since his luck was good enough to run into the clues that Hila was searching for, Han Xiao had no reason to let it go. He pressed on. "Do you remember which secondary dimension that was?"
Kirkmond thought for a while before he nodded. "I have a faint impression. That secondary dimension seems to be pretty well known as well and was famous for a period of time. It was once blocked off by a certain type of power but occasionally emitted strong vitality that could actually stimulate the potential of various life forms. Later, the blockade lifted by itself, but when the curious secondary dimension life forms went over, they discovered that nothing was within it, and the entire space even lacked the energy to maintain itself. It slowly declined and shrank, and in recent years, it's been close to collapse. It may disappear at any time."
Hearing that, Han Xiao was excited.
Most secondary dimensions did not exist forever but would collapse and disappear over time, just like leaves withering and fruits rotting. The secondary dimension world was disorderly and chaotic, which would constantly give rise to new secondary dimensions. Most of them were like bubbles, small and short lived, and only a few could exist stably for a long period of time.
Advanced civilizations and mages could also create artificial secondary dimensions. However, the form of such artificial secondary dimensions was different from the naturally occurring hyper-stable plane of the void dimension.
As for the blockage of such secondary dimensions, there were several possibilities. The most likely would be that the secondary dimension was a creation of some powerful life form. In which case, it would make sense to seal it from the outside world to prevent intruders.
"If this secondary dimension was the subsidiary space of a Beyond Grade A, then the reason for its decline should be the death of the Beyond Grade A creator, causing the space to lose its energy supply, gradually shrinking and collapsing," Han Xiao guessed.
"I'm not clear on that." Kirkmond threw the revive token back to Han Xiao. "I call it the Land of Dead Silence. If you wish to go, I can send you the coordinates."
"If you could. I have some interest in that place." Han Xiao smiled.
Kirkmond casually squeezed at the void energy, burning the information of the Land of Dead Silence within before throwing it to Han Xiao. He added, "The space wall of that secondary dimension is riddled with holes, and countless space storms surge within. Be careful, the space might collapse and disappear at any time, and if you are swept away by that turbulent space, you might end up lost in the endless layers of the secondary dimensions."
Han Xiao received the energy clump and read through the information before standing up. "Noted. We'll make a move now."
This was an unexpected harvest of the trip. He had planned to take a gander after he was done with his business to help Hila search for what she wanted.
"Then, I'll wait for you to return so we can start the war." Kirkmond nodded back.
Having reached an agreement for the war employment, Han Xiao did not delay and once again summoned the Mysterious Energy Host.
"Let's go. Lead the way. We'll find your old friend."
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy got the instruction and performed another dimensional shuttle, taking Han Xiao and Ames with him.
Meanwhile, Law and Fay were slowly patrolling a vast white space within one of the secondary dimension layers.
On the bridge of the flagship, a star map of the secondary dimension was suspended in the air, but its appearance was very different from the detailed 3D map the main universe had. It looked like a model of countless bubbles piled up together, and at first glance, it looked like a bunch of grapes. Every bubble represented a secondary dimension that was recorded.
Because new secondary dimensions were constantly being born, the terrain of the secondary dimension changed every moment. This map was only used as a reference, and the anchor point coordinates of the different layers were used as guiding markers.
Law and Fay stood next to the secondary dimension world model, silently observing. At this moment, a red dot suddenly lit up inside one of the bubbles, and a circle of red ripples appeared within the model.
"Cross-probing radar has discovered a target, marked as pinnacle Beyond Grade A level!"
"Our target is separated by thirteen secondary dimensions… The route simulation is complete. Expected to encounter our target after eight jumps."
"Your Excellencies, awaiting your command."
Hearing the reports from the subordinates, Law hummed in agreement before commanding, "Lock the anchor point, start the dimensional jump!"
Once the command was issued, these warships immediately activated the secondary dimension engine, turning into streams of light as they accelerated wildly. The shuttle device loaded on the battleships began to operate, oscillating at the space walls with a special frequency.
The moment the battleships' speed reached its peak, a space wall shaped like a honeycomb appeared in front of it. A crack was quickly created, and the other end was a scene of the next dimension.
The spaceships flew straight in, and everyone heard a crisp 'pop' sound, as though the shock outside caused the air within the spaceships to react.
Their vision blurred, and the next moment, they had arrived in another secondary dimension. In just a few seconds, the crack within the space wall closed and disappeared without a trace.
This was the conventional way of shuttling between secondary dimensions. The scenes of the secondary dimensions changed rapidly outside the porthole as the fleet jumped many times in succession before finally coming to a halt.
Such rapid shuttling brought a heavy load to the spacecraft, and at this time, the spaceships were all shrouded in violent space energy, distorting their very environment as though the engines were overheated.
On the star map, the fleet showed that they were finally on the same secondary dimension as the red dot, and the target was rapidly drawing closer.
Seeing this, Law quickly came to the front porthole, looking in the direction of the red dot. "Prepare to engage. Ready the Dimensional Exile Bullet."
As both of them stared out of the window, finally, a figure appeared and flew closer.
Just as he was about to initiate the attack, Law took a close look at the person and immediately changed his command.
"Wait, don't fire! This person doesn't look like Black Star. His aura is different from the one in our records."
Clotti was wearing a mechanical suit, covering his facial features, but he did not hide the energy fluctuations coming from his body.
The Energy Attribute of an Esper and a Mechanic were worlds apart, so at close range, Law discovered the significant difference in energy fluctuations.
Sensing the group in front of him, Clotti slowed down before coming to a stop in front of the fleet. He opened the wide area communication channel as he coldly spoke.
"Who are you guys? Why are you stopping me?"
"We're just a secondary dimension exploration team. We're not blocking you but rather happened to come across you." Law sent a reply back.
Observing the space energy distortion caused by the rapid jumps around the fleet, Clotti knew immediately that this group was lying, but he did not expose them. "Which organization does your exploration team belong to?"
"We're from a small civil organization and have come over to collect some specialties here. Seeing that you're shuttling through the secondary dimension alone, you must be a famous pinnacle Beyond Grade A. I wonder if we can have the honor of knowing your name," Law humbly said.
"I'm just an ordinary Beyond Grade A," Clotti blandly replied.
Law cursed in his heart.
F*ck you!
To think that a pinnacle Beyond Grade A like you is trying to pretend to be weak!
Law and Fay felt a headache coming. Both of them were Beyond Grade As, and if not for the fact that the detection radar was able to tell them their opponent's combat power, they would not be so humble.
This cross-plane life form detection radar was a device dedicated to the secondary dimensions, but its accuracy was quite lacking. The search conditions were already harsh enough, but both of them did not expect themselves to have such bad luck to run into another pinnacle Beyond Grade A.
The two of them were still unaware of Clotti's identity and did not wish to cause any problems.
"Your Excellency Beyond Grade A, if we accidentally offended you. We express our apologies. If there's nothing else, we'll take our leave first."
He did not even wait for Clotti to reply, immediately steering the fleet to turn around and move away.
Looking back, the duo discovered that Clotti did not chase them but rather stayed there and watched them leave.
"It seems like he's not planning to attack us." Law sighed.
"Most likely, he's not interested in us." Fay was secretly relieved.
"Let's get out of here." Law turned back to instruct the crew, "Mark this target, and don't bump into him again on accident. Reset the cross-plane detector, and search for another pinnacle Beyond Grade A signal."
The two of them were not interested in Clotti's identity at all. In the secondary dimensions, there were many crouching tigers and hidden dragons. The two of them were not there to cause trouble. Everything was done for their mission.
Clotti watched the fleet fly away without chasing them.
The secondary dimensions hid a lot of organizations that operated in secret, avoiding the rule of the three Universal Civilizations. They were a group of rats in the eyes of the three Universal Civilizations.
In Clotti's eyes, it was likely that this group was one of these hidden organizations. They had pursued the wrong target and ended up bumping into him instead.
The goal of his trip was Traveler, and since these guys knew how to back off, he could not be bothered to pick on them.
Glancing one last time at the direction the fleet departed, Clotti chose another direction away from them to travel, continuously shuttling.
Before long, Clotti stepped into his destination, the secondary dimension of Evil Convergence.
Looking around, the area seemed to be filled with a corrosive purplish-green energy. It moved lazily in waves, like the folds on a stomach wall. Bubbles of purple green gas occasionally popped out like flooding stomach juices, and it gave off the impression of being in the stomach of some weird creature.
From one of the inner walls of the Evil Convergence dimension then popped out a male's upper body, covered with purplish green mucus. This person was Traveler.
His skin was pale, and he exuded an evil and crazed temperament, as though he had entered a manic mode that prevented him from being rational.
The lower half of Traveler's body, which was still engulfed, continuously emitted energy rings that could be seen with the naked eye. The rings travelled through the purplish-green inner walls and were absorbed by the Evil Convergence dimension.
Clotti frowned. With his insight, it was not difficult to see that Traveler was spreading the essence of his own genes. He was technically having sex with this secondary dimension that almost seemed alive.
"Dark Lord Clotti, what a rare guest… I'm not sure why you're looking for me. Are you here to join the party? I certainly don't mind." Traveler laughed hoarsely.
Clotti remained stoic, indifferently replying, "You took part in the campaign to encircle and suppress the allies of the dynasty, committing a crime. I'm here today as your arbiter."
"So, you're here to kill me?" The corners of Traveler's mouth hooked upward in an eerie smile.
At this moment, from the inner walls of the Evil Convergence dimension emerged countless figures, forming an endless army.
The majority of them were dangerous characters from various dimensions. Among them, there were three figures exuding the aura of a Beyond Grade A, obviously helpers called forth by Traveler.
After divining that he would come across a formidable enemy, Traveler had used his contacts in the secondary dimension to set up an ambush.
"This is the Dark Lord of the main universe?" At this moment, one of the assisting Beyond Grade As stepped out with his arms folded and casually spoke. "Doesn't seem to be much, if he's that careless."
The other Beyond Grade A looked toward Traveler and solemnly said, "Remember our agreement. This time, we'll only help you drive out your enemy and not kill the Dark Lord. Otherwise, the Crimson Dynasty will pursue us."
Hearing this, Clotti realized that the three Beyond Grade As were powerhouses he had never seen before, and everything became clear at once.
It was impossible for the three Universal Civilizations to monitor the birth of every single Beyond Grade A; there would definitely be some who were unwilling to be recorded. As long as they kept concealing their identity and strength, not creating organizations or making a name for themselves, the three Universal Civilizations would not be able to discover their existence.
Quite a few of them also hid within the secondary dimension, never appearing in the main universe.
Some were neutrals that were worried about being persecuted, and there were also secret combatants belonging to other advanced civilizations, such as the Super Star Cluster Alliance. After the Tragedy of the Pinnacles, the Super Star Cluster Civilizations did not dare show their Beyond Grade As on the surface. Thus, their allies would all be sent into the secondary dimension to hide, preventing their existence from being discovered by the three Universal Civilizations.
At this moment, Traveler opened his arms wide, looking at Clotti as he laughed crazily.
"Hahaha, Dark Lord, you have immense combat strength in the main universe, but this is my home field. Can you even kill me?"
Clotti's expression remained calm, but his eyes glowed with a dark light.
He lightly lifted his arms, and dark energy gathered. He slowly said, "Since that's the case, I'll have to smash you apart with your home field."
Following the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, Han Xiao and Ames shuttled through various secondary dimensions one by one, seeing all kinds of bizarre sights. After a long time, they finally stopped moving.
"We're here. This is the nest of the Holy Light Particle," the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy excitedly said.
Han Xiao wandered around and saw that this was a dazzling world, with boundless land, mountains, forests, and rivers. But all of it was made out of materialized light, shiny and colorful.
The towering mountain peaks looked like blocks of shining giant gems, and the river was flowing with something resembling liquid light. Everything in this world was pure and flawless, just like a fairy tale.
"It's rather pretty. This is the first time I've come across such a secondary dimension." Ames could not help but rub her eyes in helplessness. "But it's a little piercing to the eyes."
"It is indeed." Han Xiao smirked before asking, "How do we find it?"
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy laughed. "Haha, it's either sleeping or doesn't want to be seen. Leave it to me. It's very sensitive to my energy. So long as it senses me, it will become mad, so I can release my aura and arouse its natural reaction to take the initiative to come over.
Hearing this, Han Xiao could not help but glance at the Mysterious Energy Host in a weird manner.
What's with this tone? It sounds like you've trained it like a pet…
[1] The author wrote the actual characters for Coiling Dragon (the novel) inside, so I translated as such. Not sure if there's supposed to be a sexual connotation to it but Coiling Dragon could also mean someone whose talent was hidden, ie Ames since Han Xiao never discovered that she was so lucky.
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Chapter 1074 New System from the Holy Light Particle
The air was filled with light energy. In a Mage's words, the density of light element was extremely high in this place.
Han Xiao and Ames landed on a shallow land beside a river, the soil was made of colorful sand and felt just like a normal beach.
Ames squatted down, picked up a sand particle, and curiously observed this irregular-shaped solid subject. She then used a tiny bit of force on it. This sand particle cracked open and turned into fog-like light dust, slowly rising up.
Looking up, the sky was covered by a large sea of clouds, all formed by gaseous light particles. It was dreamy. There were light particles ascending from all places occasionally, and once a certain density was reached, this sea of clouds would turn into rain and pour the light dust onto the ground, forming new terrains. This process had constantly been repeating itself.
"It's beautiful," Ames complimented.
Han Xiao came to the river and lifted up a pond of liquid light particles. Looking at the gold-like liquid flowing through his fingers, he could not help but say, "This place is heavily light polluted."
"… Did you have to break the atmosphere like that?" Ames said with resignation.
"Come on, I'm just telling the truth."
Han Xiao's lips curled up. He summoned a few industrial mining devices and said casually, "This place is very unique and has high research value. I'm going to bring some materials back for experiments."
As he was speaking, he recorded the coordinates of this secondary dimension in the database so that he could come again. After some pondering, he decided to call this secondary dimension 'Nation of Light'.
After Han Xiao was done with all that, he then deployed some space stabilization anchors to prevent the Holy Light Particle from escaping. He patted the Mysterious Energy Host and said, "Okay, it's time to force the Holy Light Particle out."
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy had been looking forward to this for a long time. As soon as he received the order, he instantly released waves of red energy into the ground without hesitation, forming an enormous expanding spider net.
When Han Xiao silently counted to 221, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy finally reacted and said with an evil tone, "I've found it. It's sleeping as expected. Watch me wake it up!"
As soon as the sentence ended, Han Xiao and Ames felt the ground under them tremble.
The next moment, the entire space started trembling, mountains and all.
Boom!
Before the two of them could start to observe the surroundings, an enormous light fountain gushed out from under the ground, turning into a holy-looking mass of gold light. At its core was a blindingly bright sphere, as if there was another sun in the sky.
At this time, a red stream of Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was inside this white gold sphere of light. Like cold water poured into boiling oil, it triggered extremely violent reactions.
With the appearance of this mass of light, a furious and irritated energy impact expanded instantly.
"Mosanil! You attacked me again in my sleep! I'm definitely going to kill you today!"
"Narusus, doesn't my energy taste good? Did you miss it?" The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy chuckled.
Hearing this, Han Xiao's mouth twitched.
From this exchange, it sounded like this was not the first time…
Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy turned to look at Han Xiao and said with a smile, "This is the Holy Light Particle you guys talked about. It's in a bad mood after waking up. I'll leave the rest to you."
Primal Esper Ability Entities were all ancient and had their own names. 'Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy' and 'Holy Light Particle' were just the names the outside world assigned to them.
The Holy Light Particle hastily approached and finally realized the others. Seeing the Mysterious Energy Host, its rage vanished, switching right to joy.
"Hmm? You've been made into a puppet again? Hahaha, karma! You deserved it!"
"Don't be too happy. You're next." Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy smiled coldly.
The Holy Light Particle looked at Han Xiao and Ames. He then said with a displeased tone, "Humph, you're low as always, helping the enemies obtain my body, hoping to drag me down… The two of you kids from the main universe, I don't care how he tricked you, but I'm not interested in playing with you. Get the hell back to the main universe and stop bothering me."
Han Xiao did not mind. He took out a tin shaped device, tilted his head, and said, "Are you going to come in yourself, or do you want me to help you?"
Hearing this, the Holy Light Particle instantly became much brighter, giving off a tsunami-like energy shockwave as if it was giving its all. The entire space trembled slightly. With an over the top confident tone, he said, "I'm no weakling like Mosanil Are you prepared to face the consequences of trying to catch me‽"
Thirty seconds later…
"Stop stop stop, it hurts. I admit my defeat."
The Holy Light Particle had shrunk countless times and was contained in the tin like a pool of gold liquid. The containment device was buzzing with an electromagnetic field.
Han Xiao shook the device and made the Holy Light Particle stagger a few times.
"That's it?" Ames was speechless.
She had thought that the Holy Light Particle was very strong and was already prepared to fight. To her absolute surprise, after one slap from Han Xiao, the Holy Light Particle was already done for. It was way too weak.
Han Xiao, of course, was not surprised. In the face of a peak Beyond Grade A, Primal Esper Ability Entities would not be able to do much. He only found the fact that the Holy Light Particle was so confident strange.
Seeing his old friend get beaten up, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was now the one gloating. He moved beside the containment device and chuckled. "Welcome, with you as my company, I won't be lonely anymore."
"Mosanil! I'll murder you sooner or later!" The Holy Light Particle was in despair.
Han Xiao tapped on the glass of the containment device and interrupted them. "You'll have plenty of time to communicate in the future. Answer my question first. What abilities do you have?"
The Holy Light Particle said with rage, "I'm telling you, I won't give in as easily as Mosanil. Even if you torture me, I won't…"
Thirty seconds later…
The Holy Light Particle obediently lay at the bottom of the containment device, shivering while explaining his abilities.
"My most basic abilities are physique enhancement, superspeed flight, and dimension crossing. I can also give others the power of holy light. I have the ability to attack as well. My host can use me to punish evil. There are two criteria for judging what or who's evil. One is the belief of my host, and the other is the target's own conscience and understanding of their crimes. The more severe the crime, the stronger the power of the punishment will be… Also, I can purify filth, helping the target to get rid of related negative states, as well as heal to a certain extent…"
The Holy Light Particle poured everything out.
As Han Xiao nodded and listened, he also complained about the Holy Light Particle in his mind. From just his name, he thought this guy would be pure and virtuous, only to realize he changed his attitude instantly after he got beaten up. He was just as shameless as Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. Was it because they had lived too long?
In terms of punishing evil and purifying filth, the abilities of the Holy Light Particle did indeed match its 'holy' style. However, the criteria were quite emotionally dependent. Its strength would only be maximized when its host was a person of justice with strong beliefs.
Compared to all that, what Han Xiao cared more about was its ability to gift others the power of holy light. After some questioning, he was pleasantly surprised.
Holy light itself was considered a type of multi-dimensional energy. It was not rare and could be used by both high-level Mechanics and Mages. It had mind energy characteristics. However, although holy light was not rare, it was not something ordinary people could use.
The Holy Light Particle, however, could gift any intelligent species 'Holy Light Seed'. As long as the target trained hard, fertilized the seed with beliefs and determination to make it blossom, the target would have control of holy light energy, which could be further enhanced. This meant that the Holy Light Particle could provide an extra class with growth potential, allowing ordinary people to have power from nothing, and Supers could obtain this ability.
However, since the requirement was that one had to obtain 'Holy Light Seed' and the gifted energy could be retrieved by Holy Light Particle, it had limited uses and was not included in the five Super classes. It was more like a subclass.
From the Holy Light Particle, Han Xiao came to know that back when the Holy Light Particle had a host, it used a method to enhance its host's strength—it retrieved the matured Holy Light Seed from others. This was equivalent to taking the fruits of hard work from others and making all of their hard work its own.
After hearing its experience, the way Han Xiao looked at the Holy Light Particle became much friendlier.
Not bad, didn't expect you to be in the leek industry too.
Han Xiao believed in 'seeing is believing', so he told the unwilling Holy Light Particle to use this ability on him. A stream of warm gold energy flowed into his body, and a notification popped up on the interface.
You have received ability [Holy Light Seed].
[Holy Light Seed: Passive ability. This is the base of the power of holy light. It has to be nurtured by belief. After maturing, you can awaken subclass [Holy Light Emissary]. Belief Value required 0/5000. (Belief Value can be increased through meditating, mind training, punishing criminals, and so on.)
I see… This ability has a very high strategic value. If the energy given out isn't retrieved, I can turn many ordinary people who don't have the talent to become Supers into holy light warriors. This way, the fundamental combat capability of the army will increase tremendously.
This was a surprise. Maybe he could even sell this to the players. It seemed to have quite a high potential.
However, Evans did not display this ability in his previous life, so it probably had some limits.
After some questioning, Han Xiao got the answer.
As expected, every Holy Light Seed was a tiny bit of core essence granted by the Holy Light Particle, and its core energy recovered at a very slow speed. If he used too much, he would be heavily damaged together with its host.
"I seem to have a way to make its energy recover quickly…" Han Xiao pondered.
He had some ideas, but this was not the time to test them, so he kept the containment device.
Han Xiao also told the Holy Light Particle to take back the Holy Light Seed in him. He only asked for it to test it; he did not need this subclass himself.
According to his original thoughts, he wanted to also make a host for the Holy Light Particle. However, the way he looked at it now, that might not be the best choice.
Han Xiao looked at the interface. [The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's Arch Enemy] was already shown as complete.
He received 2.4 billion EXP and two Character Summon Cards. As expected, they were from the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and Holy Light Particle. The abilities were not too rare; they were the ability to suck the energy out of a planet's core and Holy Flame Judgement. Although the two of them were already in his hands, these two Character Summon Cards were better than nothing.
What Han Xiao was more concerned about was the newly activated milestone mission [Primal Esper Ability Collector].
[Primal Esper Ability Collector (Unactivated): Activation requirement—Have at least 4 Primal Esper Ability Entities. Current progress 2/4.
Effects: When you fight Espers, all your attributes will increase slightly. 12% – 20% damage reduction from Espers.
Reward: [The Third Sanctum] Ability Fragment * 1
Han Xiao was stunned.
The Third Sanctum? What on earth is this? I seem to remember that I also have the Ability Fragment of the First Sanctum? Could these be connected?
This question had been troubling him for quite some time, but he had not found any clues.
He suppressed the curiosity in his heart and looked at the effects of the milestone. It was targeted at Espers and was quite useful.
The mission requirement is to have four Primal Esper Ability Entities, which means I will need two more. That is quite difficult, mainly because they're hard to find. I'll just try my best…
As he had expected, dealing with the Holy Light Particle was a piece of cake. Once business was done, Han Xiao went sightseeing with Ames in the Nation of Light for a while, and when he had collected enough sample material, the two of them left this secondary dimension and headed for the next stop—Land of Dead Silence.
As lights flickered, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy brought Han Xiao and Ames to the Land of Dead Silence following the coordinates from Kirkmond.
After seeing the environment there, Han Xiao could not help but exclaim, "Wow, this place really does look quite scary."
This secondary dimension had only dark colors, the spatial wall had countless holes. Violent chaotic space streams continuously invaded and raged. The sky was filled with infinite space storms flickering in dark blue and purple. Below them was a black desolate desert. Many places were devoured by chaotic space streams and turned into the void. This land was torn into separated broken islands.
Having felt something, Han Xiao took out the revive token he had been wearing and realized it was heating up—it reacted to this place as expected.
"This means that the Land of Dead Silence really is connected to Hila…"
Han Xiao released his senses and searched the entire secondary dimension, only to find nothing special.
Just as Kirkmond said, this secondary dimension was close to dying. There was nothing there.
This time, Ames shook her head and said, "Looks like Hila will have to come here personally to notice something."
Han Xiao nodded in agreement. Hila's ability probably had some resonance with the Land of Dead Silence and might be able to activate some unique event. Although he was stronger, he clearly did not meet the requirements.
"At least we investigated the place for her, so it'll be easier for her to come next time." Han Xiao recorded the coordinates of this dimension in the database.
Just as the two of them were about to leave, a powerful life energy source suddenly appeared out of nowhere and entered the range of their senses.
The two of them looked over and saw a silhouette covered in wounds falling out of a chaotic space stream, coincidentally into the space wall hole of the Land of Dead Silence.
Ames blinked and wondered, "Hmm? This person looks somewhat familiar…"
At the same time…
"Your Excellencies, the radar has locked onto the target!"
Inside the spaceship command room, Law and Fay quickly looked at the map.
"This isn't the same person we met earlier, right?"
"No, he's in another secondary dimension. This is the second peak Beyond Grade A signal detected."
After making sure they were not mistaken, Law instantly ordered, "Okay, lock onto the new target and advance at full speed!"
In Evil Convergence…
God only knew what violent treatment the space wall received. Like a balloon, it expanded and cracked from within, causing this secondary dimension to lose all its defenses. The green evil energy everywhere that was full of life earlier looked like it had lost all energy as it was blown away by the chaotic space stream together with all the bodies here, disappearing without a trace.
This special secondary dimension that gave birth to lives had now turned into a wreckage with only silence and death. It was quickly dying.
Clotti shattered the head of the last Beyond Grade A, turned up to look at the space storm raging around him, and frowned. He was not satisfied with his performance.
"It's been too long since I've fought. I've really gotten rusty and accidentally used too much strength. He managed to escape with the chaotic space stream."
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"Hahaha, I've escaped!"
A green ball of light floated in the space storm. It was Traveler, who was protecting himself with a magic shield.
At this point of time, he was no longer in the state of madness affected by Evil Convergence. Although his skin was still pale, he did not give off an evil vibe anymore. His mental state had also returned to normal, only filled with fear and frustration.
In order to ambush Clotti, Traveler had gathered the friends he had made in the secondary dimension in the past. He had thought that with a total of four Beyond Grade As, with the help of the fact that they were in the Evil Convergence secondary dimension, they would be able to force Dark Lord away at the very least.
However, reality slapped him right on his cheeks.
Clotti was way too strong. He had a Super High Risk Esper Ability to begin with, and it had evolved to a very high level. His area damage was explosive. Through simulating the phenomenon of a mini big bang with his dark energy, he thrashed the entire Evil Convergence secondary dimension and broke the space wall from within.
If he was just powerful by himself, the four of them would still have had the chance to escape. However, what gave Traveler the most despair was the fact that Clotti had not just one but many Universal Treasures!
As a peak Beyond Grade A directly under the dynasty's command and the personal guard of the Ruler, Clotti was not short on Universal Treasures. To make his mission easier, the dynasty had given him many Universal Treasures to use.
Before executing the mission, Clotti had taken five Universal Treasures from the dynasty's stash, increasing his strength by a large extent. When he went all out, he easily killed three Beyond Grade As who had yet to surpass the 52,000 Energy Rank.
Traveler was the only one who had escaped with the help of the chaotic space stream when his wife, the Evil Convergence secondary dimension, was being murdered.
Without Evil Convergence, his strength had plummeted back to the level of ordinary Beyond Grade As. His hard work over all these years had gone right down the drain. His heart was hurting so much it felt like someone was suffocating it.
However, one good thing was that the enemy could no longer track him using Evil Convergence. As long as he hid well, he would be safe.
"As long as I'm alive, it means I still have a chance."
Traveler's heart was filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
Furthermore, there was still hope of rising again…
Traveler lowered his head and opened his palm. An irregular shaped greenish-purple fragment lay quietly in his hands like a piece of glass.
This was the core fragment of Evil Convergence. As long as he planted it in another secondary dimension with a special method, there would be a chance for it to regrow into a new Evil Convergence. Only, it would take a very long time.
"All I have to do is avoid the Crimson Dynasty's pursuit. When they give up, I'll have more than enough time to recover. Looks like I'll have to hide in the secondary dimensions for decades or maybe even a century… Fortunately, I still have a long life span."
Traveler breathed a sigh of relief, cleared the shadow of failure, and motivated himself.
Surviving a disaster meant that fortune was ahead!
At this time, inside the space storm, three cracks in the space wall suddenly appeared. It was unknown which secondary dimensions they led to.
Inside space storms, space wall cracks were the only exits, or one would be forever lost inside chaotic space streams.
"What a surprise to see exits so soon. Looks like my luck is about to change for the better." Traveler's eyes sparkled. Without hesitation, he directly chose one of the cracks and flew right in.
The next moment, the world in front of him changed into a secondary dimension filled with countless holes. Inside it were countless shattered black islands. It was dead silent.
Traveler passed through the space wall and fell into this secondary dimension. Before he could be glad about escaping death, he immediately saw a man and a woman inside the secondary dimension looking up at him. They were not wearing helmets.
When he saw their appearances, Traveler's smile turned stiff on his face, and sweat ran down his forehead.
Black Star and Dragon Emperor!
What the hell? Why are the two of them here?
I just escaped from one, now I've run into two more‽
Traveler's eyes almost popped out. Before he could think of anything else, he immediately stopped his falling body and quickly returned the way he had come from, toward the chaotic space stream above.
"Don't run!" Ames reacted instantly. She reached out and pulled. A powerful force field grabbed onto Traveler's body and pulled him to her.
Traveler was heavily injured to begin with. Furthermore, losing Evil Convergence had damaged him even more. He was in an extremely horrible state at this point and could not escape Ames' force field at all.
"I can't fall here!" Traveler ignored all consequences and used secret techniques to stimulate his exhausted mind and body. He forcefully started to generate magic energy and cast spells.
A teleportation gate started appearing beside him.
However, before he finished casting the spell, a sudden movement restricting force field interrupted his channeling.
Below him, Ames' eyes that were usually lazy turned sharp and stared at Traveler. A force field overflowed from her brows.
Buzz!
Force Field: Gaze of the Dragon!
Traveler's body was instantly fixed in midair!
Before he could respond, in the blink of an eye, Ames appeared before him using Void Travel. She raised her hand and softly pressed on his forehead.
The next second, a raging force field gushed out from Ames' palm into Traveler's body.
Force Field—Stress Tear Down!
The force field inside Traveler's body pulled him in all directions, forming countless forces that reacted with each other.
Snap!
Countless sounds of bones cracking and muscles being torn apart sounded in Traveler's body. An immense sense of agony erupted and flooded every single one of his nerves, so much so that he could not even control the contorted expression on his face.
Hong!
Flowers of blood exploded from every part of his body. He let out silent screams with his mouth opened wide as he bathed in blood.
His heavy injuries immediately got even worse.
This time, with coldness in her eyes, Ames raised one leg. A highly condensed force field formed an extremely sharp cutting force on her calf as she slashed down.
Force Field—Dragon Axe!
Swoosh!
Ames's long leg slashed down from Traveler's shoulder. Like a hot knife cutting through butter, Traveler's entire arm was cut away!
She did not give Traveler any chance to respond. Following the momentum, she stepped on Traveler's neck and dashed down, falling onto a shattered black island below, pressing the barely alive Traveler under her foot.
Only this time did Han Xiao slowly fly over and look at the fearsome expression on Ames' face with surprise.
"How come you're so violent all of a sudden? It's not like you."
Without turning around, Ames stared at the Traveler below her foot and coldly said, "When Hila was being attacked, he came to attack Black Star Palace. I did not know what was going on; only afterward did I roughly guess that he wanted to lure your Lord's Avatar out to divert your energy. However, you planned ahead and told me to stay in Black Star Palace, which prevented it from happening."
Facing Traveler, Ames did not hold back at all. Not only because Traveler was on the side of those enemies who tried to kill Hila but also because these people had forced Han Xiao to pay the price of burning his potential. From the way she looked at it, Han Xiao did not talk about it because he did not want Hila to feel bad. Ames understood Han Xiao's intentions, but she never forgot it.
In her eyes, this trip to the secondary dimension was mainly to stroll with Han Xiao, but part of it was also to look for Traveler and make him pay.
Once they met, Ames immediately went all out without hesitation.
Han Xiao tutted, looked at the heavily injured Traveler on the ground, and chuckled. "Yoho, what a lucky day it is today. I was just thinking about looking for you, but you came right to me."
Veins were exposed on Traveler's frustration- and hatred-filled face.
After finally getting out of Dark Lord's nightmare, he came right to Black Star's barrel.
He had escaped a tiger's den and entered a wolf's nest!
After such extreme fluctuations in his mood, Traveler was completely exhausted and did not even have the energy to complain about how unfair fate was to him.
Being so unlucky, he had nothing to say and could only let out a long sigh in his mind.
This means the world wants me dead!
Han Xiao looked at the wounds caused by Dark Lord on Traveler's body and asked curiously, "Who did you meet? How did you end up so heavily injured?"
Traveler kept silent and looked like he was not afraid of death. When he was not affected by Evil Convergence, he was quite sane. Since he knew he would not have the slightest chance of surviving, he was not planning to beg for mercy.
"Yo, you've got quite the backbone." Han Xiao chuckled. "However, I wonder how the Star Arc Civilization will react to your death. You don't have to deny it. Since I can accurately name the civilization you work for, I'd have enough proof for it.
The moment Han Xiao said that, the expression on Traveler's face changed drastically into disbelief as he looked at Han Xiao.
When he moved in the outside world, he had always disguised himself as a neutral Beyond Grade A who accepted hires from different civilizations, all to cover the fact that he belonged to a Super Star Cluster civilization. His true identity had always been a secret. The Star Arc Civilization was indeed the Super Star Cluster civilization he secretly worked for, and the outside world had no idea.
This way, no matter what he did, nothing would be connected to his civilization. This was also the reason he could mess around without having to worry.
However, the identity he had always been hiding was suddenly exposed by Han Xiao. He immediately lost his cool and panicked.
Subconsciously, he wanted to deny it, but having heard Han Xiao's certain tone and seeing his expression, it was clear that this was not a trick. He did indeed have hard proof.
"H-how did you…"
"How did I know?"
Han Xiao finished his sentence, smirked, and said, "Sorokin told me."
Initially, he was just throwing the blame on someone else out of habit. However, Traveler's reaction surprised him.
"I knew it!" Traveler clenched his teeth. "He noticed something. The upper echelons shouldn't have worked with him!"
Hmm? Sorokin really is involved in this too? Han Xiao was the one who was slightly shocked this time.
He had thought that it was the Super Star Cluster civilization that wanted to escalate the conflict between the three Universal Civilizations. He did not expect Sorokin to be related to Traveler coming to attack Black Star Palace.
Looks like I've accidentally discovered some interesting information…
On the surface, Han Xiao's expression remained the same as he smiled and said, "Since I know your identity, you'd better tell me everything from the beginning. Otherwise, you know the consequences. The Star Arc Civilization will be blamed for all of this. I, however, might be able to help you with that."
If Traveler was all alone, he would be able to face death without any worries. However, according to the information Han Xiao had from his previous life, Traveler was absolutely loyal to the Star Arc Civilization. Now that what he cared about most was exposed, Han Xiao had control of his weakness.
Furthermore, Traveler hated Sorokin deeply for telling this to Black Star and was worried he might tell even more people. Hence, he told the truth about the agreement he had with Sorokin.
This was not just compromising. He was also trying to use this to direct Black Star's hate toward Sorokin. He was hoping this would indirectly lead to Han Xiao killing Sorokin.
Traveler explained everything truthfully from the start. Only then did Han Xiao see the full picture of this incident. He caressed his chin and said with a deep voice, "Sorokin… so you're the one who convinced the Super Star Cluster Alliance. Plus, you're on the opposite side of the united Beyond Grade A battlefront…"
Connecting the information Traveler gave with the limited information he had from his previous life, Han Xiao roughly understood Sorokin's true intentions.
All that about maintaining balance of the universe and Beyond Grade As knowing when to be satisfied, he was just hiding his own ambition.
There were two paths to higher power. One was to become stronger and step into the higher territory; the other was to reduce the number of competitors. Sorokin took the latter approach. From the way Han Xiao looked at it, this guy would love for the universe to have fewer than ten Beyond Grade As. He basically wanted to have all the power alone.
The fewer high-level combatants, the less resistance he would face, which led to him wanting to reduce the numbers of Beyond Grade As. Hence, he used factions' differences to trigger conflicts between Beyond Grade As.
Han Xiao had always been wary of Sorokin. Only, he never really knew his goals for sure. Now that he finally knew about Sorokin's goal, this meant that this powerful foe who was hiding in the dark plotting conspiracies was exposed, and he would be able to make more comprehensive preparations against him. Having thought of that, he was in a much better mood.
Putting all those thoughts behind him, Han Xiao pointed at Traveler's wounds and asked, "What about your wounds? Who's chasing you?"
Traveler glared at Han Xiao with sorrow and rage. He clenched his teeth and said, "Dark Lord from your Crimson Dynasty!"
"Hmm? He's here too?" Han Xiao was surprised. As he recalled that Dark Lord had just quit from being the captain of the Ruler's personal guards, it occurred to him.
It seemed the Dynasty Ruler was not happy about the temporary cooperation between the federation and the church. Plus, there were the issues surrounding the Flickering World and the Evolutionary Totems. She wanted to set an example for high-level combatants. Hence, she sent Dark Lord after the enemy to send a warning to those organizations with ulterior motives… Speaking of which, to peak Beyond Grade As at Dark Lord's level, the position of personal guard captain was more of a chain than a benefit.
Hearing how Clotti easily shattered Traveler's ambush, Han Xiao could not help but praise him.
Han Xiao thought for a while and activated the King mechanical suit's communication system. He found the Crimson Dynasty's A000 Outpost Station and called in.
Unlike the main universe, the secondary dimension was not covered by the quantum network, so many areas had no signal. However, Han Xiao took a super long-range quantum base station with him everywhere he went, so this was not a problem. Clotti also wore the dynasty's specially-made mechanical suit that was equipped with a fixed directional communication device that allowed him to contact the dynasty's outpost station any time. This also prevented him from going missing. Hence, Han Xiao decided to call the dynasty's outpost station and ask them to direct the call to Clotti.
Since Traveler was Dark Lord's mission target, Han Xiao felt that he had to notify Clotti about it, or he would think Traveler had escaped and would continue to waste energy in the secondary dimensions searching for him.
After a while, the communication finally went through. Clotti's remote projection appeared in front of him. He was frowning.
"Black Star, what are you calling for?"
They were both pillars of the dynasty, but due to the differences in their positions and identities, the communication between them had been very limited. The relationship was also not close, limited to just work colleagues.
"Traveler is here with me. I've captured him…"
Han Xiao briefly explained the situation.
After Han Xiao finished, Clotti replied with very few words. "I'll go there to confirm."
"Okay." Han Xiao paused and sent the coordinates to Dark Lord.
Clotti nodded and slowly said, "By the way, when Traveler escaped, he took a core fragment of Evil Convergence. Search carefully. It should still be in his hands."
Then, his remote projection disappeared as he hung up the call, showing no intention of chatting.
"How unfriendly," Han Xiao murmured. He then turned to look at Traveler, extended his hand, and said, "Core fragment, take it out."
Traveler clenched his teeth, reluctantly took out Evil Convergence's core fragment, and handed it over to Han Xiao like giving his wife away.
Han Xiao placed it in his hand.
This was the key for Traveler to summon Evil Convergence, like the lamp core of the Shadow Lantern. With the core fragment as the medium, one could use the special energy of the respective secondary dimension.
However, now the Evil Convergence was no more, this core fragment could only be used as the tinder. However, knowing the crazed state Traveler was in when he used it, he had no plans to become the new husband of Evil Convergence.
Han Xiao kept this loot and thought about how to deal with Traveler.
According to him, the best was, of course, to seal him in Spacetime Amber. However, Dark Lord's mission was to kill him, and it did not seem like Ames would be satisfied with that result either.
Buzz!
As he was thinking, the senses of all three of them felt the appearance of a new signal.
The three of them looked over simultaneously and saw that the space wall in the distance had cracked open, and a small fleet came out of it.
Before the three of them had time to think, this fleet briefly adjusted its direction and turned right toward the three of them. It was clear that they were not there on friendly terms.
Inside the main ship command room, Law stared at the confused Han Xiao on the screen and yelled, "We're correct this time. That's Black Star! All fleets, lock onto the target. Prepare to fire!"
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Chapter 1076 An Organization That Should Not Have Appeared in This Era
"Did these people just happen to pass by, or are they here for us? Who are they even?"
Han Xiao looked at this quickly approaching fleet. There were no organizations' symbols on their spaceships, so their identity was unknown. Han Xiao was confused.
Seeing that the enemies did not plan to stop, Han Xiao was prepared to fight.
However, as he was just about to attack, a crack opened at the space wall not far away again—Clotti had arrived.
The next moment, this fleet stopped moving.
"What's going on with this fleet?"
Han Xiao looked at this fleet wondering. This time, Clotti flew over, so he turned to him and greeted him.
"Your Excellency Dark Lord."
"Hmm, Black Star." Clotti nodded slightly. He then turned to look at the barely alive Traveler under Ames' foot and asked, "How did you meet him?"
"Just a coincidence…"
Han Xiao briefly explained what had happened.
After Clotti heard the story, even his eyes slightly twitched on his usually expressionless face as he softly said, "Well, that's really unfortunate."
After he thrashed the Evil Convergence, he had lost track of Traveler. He was just thinking about how he was going to continue chasing after Traveler, but to his surprise, Traveler was so unlucky he met Black Star right after.
He was not curious about why Han Xiao was there. Clotti was not concerned about other Beyond Grade As' private matters.
"I heard your mission is to kill him?" Han Xiao asked.
Clotti nodded. "Traveler is just one target. The Ruler's order is to kill if capturing isn't possible. If captured, he will be publicly executed, which will be broadcast live to the entire universe… Oh, and also interrogate who hired him."
"You have other hunting targets too?"
Clotti glanced at him and said, "Just some neutral Beyond Grade As who like to be mercenaries."
"Are they related to the attack on Hila?" Han Xiao was curious.
"Whatever the dynasty says." Clotti's tone was completely carefree.
Han Xiao was speechless. Those neutral Beyond Grade As who were marked as targets were most probably innocent in this matter, but unluckily for them, they became the dynasty's tools to set an example.
Dark Lord was indeed loyal to the dynasty; he showed no care for it at all. The difficult environment these neutral Beyond Grade As lived in could be seen clearly from this matter.
Han Xiao then thought of the Super Star Cluster civilizations and understood. The targets the dynasty had chosen were probably those who were hired by the Super Star Cluster Alliance. Using the attack on Hila as an excuse, the dynasty clearly decided to intimidate the others and cut away the Super Star Cluster Alliance's feathers.
At the same time, they might hope to imitate the Tragedy Of The Pinnacles to reduce the number of Beyond Grade As using the incident as an excuse.
Han Xiao shook his head, changed the topic, and said, "I interrogated him earlier and got the identity of who's behind this."
"Who?"
The communication between the two of them was not private; Traveler heard it too. His expression changed instantly as he stared at Han Xiao nervously, afraid he would spit out the Star Arc Civilization.
However, he saw Han Xiao give him a look.
Traveler instantly understood and hastily interrupted him.
"Sorokin! He hired me to attack Black Star Palace to divert Black Star's attention and provide indirect assistance to the federation and the church!"
"Him? Isn't he just a pure businessman?" Clotti frowned and was a little surprised. He glanced at Han Xiao and said, "Do you think that's believable?"
"I think it's quite believable. Traveler is just a neutral mercenary; he wouldn't attack me out of nowhere."
Han Xiao smiled.
The Star Arc Civilization was indeed related, but Han Xiao had signaled Traveler to hide his identity and blame everything on Sorokin. This way, the dynasty's hatred would not be diverted and would all go to Sorokin.
Anyway, Sorokin was actually involved, so there would definitely be proof.
Although the Great Mechanic Han was a soon-to-be shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group, he would not help Sorokin just for the sake of dividends. Furthermore, he only just knew that he was secretly plotting against him.
Hence, he wanted to borrow the Crimson Dynasty's power to cause some trouble for Sorokin, at least make the upper echelons be cautious about that guy.
"… I'll tell the Ruler. However, I'll still have to take Traveler back for further interrogation," Clotti said.
Han Xiao nodded, turned, and patted Ames' thigh, signaling her to raise her leg. Then, he took out the Spacetime Amber and sealed Traveler up.
While doing this, Han Xiao pointed at the fleet not far away that was trying to stay unnoticed.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask, are they your troops?"
Hearing this, Clotti was stunned for a moment. "I thought they were your men."
He noticed that this fleet was the fleet he had just met earlier as soon as he arrived. Seeing that Han Xiao was together with this fleet, he had thought they were on the same side and that he misunderstood earlier, so he did not pay much attention.
However, from Han Xiao's perspective, he only gave the coordinates to Dark Lord, and this fleet arrived right before Dark Lord. Hence, he thought this fleet belonged to him.
Both of them had thought this fleet belonged to the other person. Only then did they realize it was a third party.
Having realized that, Clotti opened the public channel and yelled, "Who are you? Why are you following me‽"
From the way he looked at it, having met them twice, the only explanation was that they were following him.
At this time, inside the command room of the fleet, Law and Fay were both going mad.
Initially, they had locked onto Black Star and were just about to attack. However, to their absolute surprise, the first peak Beyond Grade A they marked on their radar moved at the last second and arrived in this secondary dimension.
This sudden situation messed up their plan. The two of them hastily told the fleet to stop and did not dare fire.
Seeing that Black Star was on the same side as the other peak Beyond Grade A, the two of them realized how tough the situation was. If they attacked, things would become much more difficult, and there would be a lot of uncertainties.
They only wanted to attack when Han Xiao was alone, so they wanted to make an excuse and retreat to find another opportunity.
Hearing Clotti's question, Law had no choice but to use the excuse he gave when they first met.
"Your Excellency Beyond Grade A, we didn't expect to meet you again. We only came here to explore because we detected special energy here, but we never thought it would be you again. We'll leave now."
Then, Law was just about to tell the fleet to turn around and leave, but this time, Clotti stopped them and said with a cold tone, "Never mind one time, but this is the second time, and you're still using the same excuse. Do you think I'll believe you?"
Clotti did not believe in coincidences. He had already suspected their identity earlier, but back then, his focus had been on the mission, and he did not want to get involved in meaningless trouble. Now, however, Traveler was already dealt with, so he did not plan to let this mysterious fleet go again.
"It really is a coincidence. We're just a civilian exploration team…" Law had no choice but to continue faking it.
"Then it'll be easy. Stop your ships and let us search them. If there really isn't a problem, I'll let you leave," Clotti said with a deep voice.
Hearing this, Law and Fay exchanged looks and communicated with each other telepathically.
"What should we do now? They won't let us go easily. Are we really going to let them into our ships?"
"You know that's impossible."
"Then it looks like we have no choice…"
The two of them were both in an extremely bad mood. They completely did not want to attack in this kind of situation.
However, they had already exposed themselves, and there was no way they could let them board their ships.
Law clenched his teeth and slammed the table.
"Fire!"
After Clotti proposed to board and investigate, this mysterious fleet suddenly stopped responding.
After waiting for a few seconds, seeing that they were still silent, Clotti said with an even more serious tone, "This is your last warning. If you do not reply within ten seconds, I will crush you!"
Han Xiao was watching Clotti communicate with this mysterious fleet. He thought that they had come for Dark Lord, so he just watched on.
Hearing Clotti's warning, Han Xiao thought about it and said, "No need to attack. I can hack into those spaceships and control them, search through their database, and find out who they are."
Clotti pondered for two seconds, nodded, and said, "Alright, then I'll trouble you too…"
Before his sentence finished, a sudden change occurred!
The few battleships suddenly fired without any warnings. Cone-shaped solid bullets shot out and headed to the few of them, dragging long paths of flame behind.
"Solid bullets?"
Although the regular weapons at his level had already become dark energy and psionic energy blasters, Han Xiao did not underestimate solid bullets. This was because since they had the ability to travel between secondary dimensions, the gunpowder inside those solid bullets would definitely not be ordinary.
Seeing this, Ames raised her hand and locked all the bullets in midair with her force field.
Seeing that the opponents had attacked, Han Xiao immediately activated Virtual Intrusion and attacked the database of these spaceships without hesitation.
However, the instant Han Xiao's data needle penetrated the spaceships' artificial intelligence, an invisible force flowed into his brain through the quantum network connection.
Boom!
A powerful shock exploded in his mind, his memory palace suddenly collapsed. Countless sheets of paper representing memories turned into tornados and spun violently.
From Han Xiao's perspective, countless memory fragments flashed past his mind, and he could not maintain his usual thoughts.
At the same time, a notification popped up on the interface.
You have been hacked by [Memory Formatting Virus—Quantum Network Type].
Your class is detected to be [Virtual Mechanic].
[Memory Formatting Virus—Quantum Network Type] has 200% damage on you.
"This is…"
Shocked, Han Xiao felt like the world was spinning.
This virus had entered his quantum soul. It was no ordinary debuff. It had messed up his mind on the virtual level, as if an ill-mannered kid had come into his house and flipped around all of his neatly arranged stuff. Han Xiao had no choice but to focus on resisting it.
Seeing his situation, Clotti's eyes became serious. Dark energy gathered as he launched an attack.
However, the next moment, the tons of [Dimensional Exile Bullet] that were fixed in midair by Ames exploded, releasing expanding chaotic space streams, and devoured Clotti's attack, transferring it to God knew where.
Not only that, but those chaotic space streams were also tearing the space wall of this Land of Dead Silence, creating more holes.
Seeing this, Ames immediately targeted her force field at those spaceships.
However, the next moment, Fay acted from within the main ship. A fog-like protective shield expanded with her in the center and guarded the fleet, blocking Ames' force field, clashing with Ames' strength. Ames was unable to instantly destroy the spaceships.
The next moment, a special disc-shaped device extended from the head of the main ship that was prepared since long ago. It looked like some kind of radar to enhance a certain waveform. It suddenly shook and released a ring of shockwave.
Buzz!
This shockwave passed through Clotti, Han Xiao, and Ames. The three of them suddenly became stiff. The energy they could manipulate any way they wanted usually suddenly started to riot, making controlling their own body much more difficult. It was as if every single cell in their body was fighting against their mind.
You have been affected by [High Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave—Beyond Grade A Frequency Type].
Your total level is detected to be Lv.320.
[High Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave—Beyond Grade A Frequency Type] has a 320% effect on you.
"It worked. We don't have much time!"
Law raised his arm, and his sleeves slid down, exposing an arm guard style metal device on his wrist. This was a special device made to capture Primal Esper Ability Entities. He then pointed it at the Mysterious Energy Host.
Ka-cha!
As if it had suddenly gained a ton of energy, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy suddenly expanded and destroyed the Mysterious Energy Host from within, instantly escaping.
However, before it could move, an invisible force grabbed onto its body, and it flew uncontrollably toward the fleet.
On the other side, the spaceships were also doing something. The second wave of Dimensional Exile Bullets was shot toward the three of them. Clotti barely used his Esper Ability to form a shield around his body.
However, the chaotic space stream devoured Clotti entirely together with his shield, and he disappeared.
At this crucial moment, Han Xiao barely suppressed the virus in his mind, tried his best, and grabbed Ames' arm. He activated Void Travel and got out of the range of the Dimensional Exile Bullets.
The next moment, he raised his hand and released a restraining force field, grabbing onto Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's body.
Hu!
Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was like a piece of cloth being pulled from two opposite directions.
Law's tone became hasty. "Black Star is recovering. We can't linger any longer, or we'll certainly die. Take as much as possible!"
Then, his hand sign changed as he activated another function of the device on his wrist, slashing off a small part of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's body.
Like being absorbed by a black hole, this portion of energy flowed into Law's arm guard.
"Quickly, go!"
After this, the fleet shot one Dimensional Exile Bullet that exploded as soon as it left the barrel. The chaotic space stream devoured the fleet, and it disappeared without a trace.
Only after close to a minute did Ames slowly start to regain control of her body. She took a deep breath and said with a shocked tone, "What were those attacks?"
"They are all special technology invented through Primal Esper Ability Entities…"
Without exterior interference, Han Xiao had already cleared out most of the virus and rearranged his memory palace. He was looking grave.
From the very start, all this fleet used was technology, yet the three of them were forced into an extremely passive state. Han Xiao had a very heavy impression of this special technology, as it had appeared in his previous life.
Be it the Memory Formatting Virus, Dimensional Exile Bullet, or the High Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave, they were all invented through studying different Primal Esper Ability Entities. They had many different uses.
Among them, the Dimensional Exile Bullet had no effects in the main universe, since the space structure of the main universe was completely different from the secondary dimensions. However, in the secondary dimensions, this was powerful technology that could be used in many ways, including splitting up the battlefield, escaping, and damaging secondary dimensions.
The Memory Formatting Virus was a technological product that affected one's mind. It came from Primal Esper Ability Entities and was improved to be used through the quantum network. It was specially targeted at Virtual Intrusions and took effect when Han Xiao was taken by surprise.
The High Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave mainly targeted strong individuals. The higher the target's Energy Rank, the more effective it would be. It was basically using an enemy's own energy against them. However, Beyond Grade As had very high adaptability, so the effect of the High Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave would decrease every time it was used on the same target, as the cells in their bodies had adapted to its effects.
The enemies were focused on studying Primal Esper Ability Entities, so their containment ability was more advanced. Through stimulating Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, the Mysterious Energy Host was broken, and they were able to snatch part of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's energy.
No matter how strong Supers were, they were still life forms. Since they were life forms, there were ways to deal with them. No one could be considered invincible. Although the technology of the three Universal Civilizations differed, they all had targeted technology for high-level life forms. For example, the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter was one of them. Even the peak Beyond Grade A Milizaus could not take many hits from it. As advanced civilizations developed further, there would only be more technology of that level.
In a direct battle, be it Han Xiao or Dark Lord, they would be able to easily shatter this fleet. However, the enemy were prepared for this while Han Xiao and Dark Lord were not. Through all kinds of targeted attacks and technology, they had taken them by surprise.
Even Clotti fell for it and was exiled into the chaotic space streams. It was unknown when he would return.
However, being able to restrain the movements of the three of them at once was the most they could do. They did not have enough means of attack to hurt the three of them.
"These people's target isn't Clotti. They're here for me."
Han Xiao contained the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy again. He had a tight frown on his face.
Ames caught what Han Xiao meant in between the lines and asked curiously, "You know who they are?"
"I do indeed."
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.
"This is a group of people who shouldn't have appeared in this era…"
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"Not in this era?" Ames said with a weird expression. "Why do you say that?"
Han Xiao paused and did not answer this question. He changed the topic and said softly, "This is a secret organization focused on studying and inventing Esper Ability technology. They're also a mysterious arms dealer. Their products occasionally appear on the black market, and now they've set their eyes on the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy…"
Han Xiao could not give a lot of information to Ames, so he only briefly explained it while being shocked inside.
In his previous life, the first time this organization appeared publicly was during the World Tree Civilization War. As members of the explored universe, they joined the war and fought against the World Tree Civilization's invasion, using their technology in the war.
However, it was only Version 4.0 Flickering World now, many versions before the World Tree storyline. These people should not have appeared in this era, hence his shock.
The name of this organization was 'Holy Accord'. It was extremely mysterious even in the very late versions in his previous life. Most of the people who knew about this organization were the offspring of Beyond Grade As.
Other than this Esper Ability technology, there were also many renowned Beyond Grade As in the history who were already confirmed dead who joined the World Tree war together with the Holy Accord. It was as if they had revived and come back to the universe. There were even extremely famous Primordial Ones among them.
This organization, which had a new type of technology, and those high-level combatants became powerful reinforcements to the losing side back then, causing a lot of damage to the World Tree Civilization.
The revival of these Beyond Grade As was a humongous boost to everyone's morale. However, the reason for their revival was still an enigma to the players. The advanced civilizations locked the information down, so the players had no way of finding out anything about it. Therefore, even Han Xiao did not know the truth behind it.
However, although the Holy Accord organization's first appearance was during the World Tree war, it was not the same for the Primordial Ones. During as early as the Calamity of the Supers version, there was already a batch of Primordial Ones who had awakened and become the triggers of the Calamity of the Supers.
Back then, the explanation these Primordial Ones gave to the outside world was that they faked their death during the exploration era and had been sleeping in advanced life-sustaining cabins ever since in order to avoid the bloody exploration era warfare and not die for nothing. They hoped to awaken in the future and conquer the universe in the new era.
However, something seemed to have gone wrong. The place they were sleeping in was also devoured by the flames of war. Their life-sustaining cabins floated in the universe and landed on a desolate island. At the same time, the life-sustaining cabins malfunctioned, causing them to not be able to awaken at their intended time. Hence, they had no choice but to spend countless years in that sleeping state. Although the specially made life-sustaining cabins could slow down the degradation of their body and soul, they were still slowly heading toward their demise.
Coincidentally, when they were close to their end, a research team happened to dig them out and reactivated their life-sustaining cabins. Only then did they awaken from their long sleep. After that, they spent a very long time recovering back to their peak performance.
At that time, the only thing the outside world was sure of was the revival of these Primordial Ones. As for the flaws this explanation had such as how could Beyond Grade As be restrained by these tiny life-sustaining cabins, since there were no ways to prove if that was true, the public had no choice but to believe them.
In conclusion, in the later versions in Han Xiao's previous life, there were two batches of different Primordial Ones who awakened at different timings. Once during the Calamity of the Supers, once during the World Tree war.
The first batch of Primordial Ones who awakened in the Calamity of the Supers version did not seem to be related to the Holy Accord organization. However, whether they really had nothing to do with the Holy Accord organization or not, the players in his previous life had no way of knowing. Hence, Han Xiao did not know the connection between them.
If these two events were related, the first batch of Primordial Ones who awakened during the Calamity of the Supers probably lied. They might not have returned from life-sustaining cabins.
"The Holy Accord organization…"
Han Xiao pondered over their intentions.
It was clear that this organization had existed for a while but had never interfered with the outside world. Now, they had suddenly attacked him. This meant that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was extremely important to the Holy Accord organization, so much so that it was worth attacking someone who stood at the peak of the universe. According to the characteristics of the Holy Accord organization, could they be planning to invent some dark new technology with the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy?
If that was the case, the Holy Accord organization might have done something similar in his previous life… Han Xiao's eyes sparkled.
Assuming this was true, the Holy Accord organization might have worked with EsGod in his previous life by splitting up other Primal Esper Ability Entities in exchange for the resources in EsGod's hands, including the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.
This meant that some of those Super High Risk Esper Abilities EsGod possessed in the later versions might have been provided by the Holy Accord organization…
It would not have mattered if Han Xiao did not know, but since he knew that the Holy Accord already existed at this time, he could not help but become deeply interested in them.
"The Holy Accord organization fled right after attacking, thinking they would not expose their identity. They couldn't have guessed that I knew their identity all along."
Han Xiao raised his brows and was in a much better mood.
Compared to this huge discovery, suffering a small loss was nothing.
"The dynasty's Clotti was taken away by the chaotic space stream. Will he be okay?" Ames asked curiously.
"Don't worry, he's just lost. With his strength and the Universal Treasures in his hands, he will be able to escape very soon."
Han Xiao did not worry about Dark Lord. No matter where Clotti ended up, he would be at the top of the food chain in that secondary dimension.
However, since the chaotic space streams could not be tracked, he had no way of fishing Clotti out. This was also the reason the Holy Accord organization used the Dimensional Exile Bullet to send themselves into the chaotic space streams.
Since the Virtual Intrusion had been interrupted by the virus, Han Xiao could not leave any markings in their spaceships. However, he would be more alert next time and clear the virus before it infected him. This kind of trap would not be very useful then.
Han Xiao looked at the containment device of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. This guy was extremely mad and kept bashing the inside wall of the container while screaming in agony.
"Ahhh! It hurts so much!"
Seeing this, Han Xiao pitied him.
In his previous life, it was also torn apart by others. He had thought that since EsGod had been dealt with, the same thing would not happen to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy again. Surprisingly, it happened all the same, as if he was fated to be torn apart.
Furthermore, he might have been treated even worse. After all, in his previous life, EsGod simply used his abilities and never tortured him or anything. The Holy Accord organization, however, would definitely study him, which meant that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would feel all kinds of pain from that part of his body that was taken away.
Han Xiao pitied him even more and asked, "By the way, how did it feel earlier? Were you unable to control your body?"
"That's right. I don't know what method they used. They stimulated my core and caused me to lose control of my body before using an irresistible force to drag me over."
Han Xiao then asked, "Can you feel the location of that part of your body?"
"Of cou…" Before the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy finished, as if he was suddenly shocked, his entire body shrunk as he yelled, "Ah! My senses are blocked!"
Han Xiao raised his brows but was not surprised.
After all, they were professionals in studying the Primal Esper Ability Entities. There was no way they would leave such an obvious clue to let others chase after them.
"Hahaha!" The Holy Light Particle was rolling on the ground laughing. "Karma! The day has finally come!"
Filled with sorrow and hatred, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy said, "Black Star! Black Star! You have to help me get my body back!"
Han Xiao's mouth contorted slightly.
Why does it feel like I took away Evans' screen time?
At this time, as usual, a notification popped up on the interface.
You have triggered the mission [The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's Request for Help]!
Mission Introduction: A mysterious organization has taken away part of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's core energy from you. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy hopes you can help him take it back.
Mission Requirements: Retrieve the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's missing core energy.
Reward: 15 billion EXP, 1 Random Reward, 60 Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy Favorability, 1 Holy Light Particle Favorability, [Primal Esper Ability Entity Affinity] talent.
[Primal Esper Ability Entity Affinity: It's easier for Primal Esper Ability Entities to accept you.
Remark: This mission might cause unknown consequences. Please accept with caution.
"A mission as expected…" Han Xiao started pondering.
The rewards of this mission were nothing extraordinary, but dealing with the Holy Accord organization seemed to be an opportunity to complete [Primal Esper Ability Collector].
If he had to find Primal Esper Ability Entities without owners, it would take God knew how long to find four. Now, however, he had met the Holy Accord organization, which professionally studied Esper Ability technology, so they definitely had some inventory. If he could snatch it, this milestone would be completed easily.
Han Xiao made his decision and responded.
"Alright then, I give you my word. However, they won't be so easy to find."
"It's fine as long as you're willing to help me." The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was overjoyed.
Black Star was not his master and only saw him as a tool, so he had no right to ask for his help. Even without a part of his body, he would still be useful. Therefore, he had actually been quite afraid Han Xiao would not agree to help him.
Han Xiao comforted the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for a while. Then, he took out a spare Mysterious Energy Host and stuffed it in, not giving it much time to recover from its psychological wounds.
This time, Ames looked around at the raging chaotic space streams around, frowned, and said, "The chaotic space streams these people released caused heavy damage to the Land of Dead Silence. If left alone, this secondary dimension might shatter before Hila comes in the future."
Han Xiao looked around as well. The already broken space wall of the Land of Dead Silence had even more holes in it.
This secondary dimension was related to Hila, so the two of them could not leave it to shatter. Han Xiao summoned lots of space-related devices to stabilize the dimension.
The thickness of the space wall depended on the core energy of the secondary dimension. Only with enough energy would the space wall regenerate itself and continue to expand. The only thing Han Xiao could do now was guide the chaotic space streams that the Dimensional Exile Bullets created out and reduce the pollution.
This was a tough progress. The two of them spent quite some in the Land of Dead Silence before Han Xiao finally got rid of the chaotic space streams inside.
At this time, the two of them suddenly realized that the revive tokens they were wearing became hotter at an extremely quick pace.
At the same time, a golden light suddenly appeared on a shattered black island far away.
Han Xiao looked over and was slightly shocked.
An orange-gold silhouette suddenly appeared from the black desert. It looked like a spirit and had the appearance of a human female. Its clothes were exquisite. It looked charming, pretty, and rather young, but the look in its eyes gave a vibe that it was very old. It was looking at Han Xiao and Ames.
Seeing this, the two of them were both slightly surprised.
They had already scanned this entire secondary dimension when they arrived, and they were certain they did not sense any life form. Now, however, a strange silhouette had appeared out of thin air. It was clear it had avoided their detection.
Han Xiao was still on alert after the attack of the Holy Accord organization earlier. He was prepared to fight.
At this time, the revive token on the two of them shockingly started to float. This silhouetted pointed at the two revive tokens and sent a telepathic message.
"Tell me, what is the relationship between the two of you and the creator of these two coins?"
Inside the chaotic space streams, the Holy Accord organization's fleet was floating.
Inside the command room, Law held the containment device up and observed the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy fragment. Unsatisfied, he sighed.
"Sigh, Black Star's regenerative ability is too strong. These products given to us by the organization have very limited effects on him. Without enough time, this tiny bit of Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy is all we could get."
"Be glad. At least the minimum requirements are met and the synthetic materials are all gathered. If we were too greedy and did not retreat instantly, our spaceship might have been taken by Black Star," Fay said softly.
Although they had achieved the minimum goal of this mission, the two of them knew how close they were to being obliterated. They felt tremendous fear toward Han Xiao.
"This attack was a success, but it has made him cautious too. The next time we meet him, we won't be able to achieve what we did today. Furthermore, he'll most likely report the technology we displayed to the dynasty, which will bring some risks to the organization." Law was worried.
Fay, however, was more optimistic. "Luckily, the mission was completed. It doesn't matter if Black Star is cautious now. We won't have to deal with him in the future again. There won't be a next time."
"You're right."
After chatting for a while, Law put the containment device away. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, "By the way, I seem to recall that the information about the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy shows that it's the Holy Light Particle's arch-enemy and that their energies conflict with each other. Maybe we can invent a special sensor through this characteristic it has to find the Holy Light Particle."
"Hmm, you're right. The Holy Light Particle has been missing for many years. God knows where it's hiding. There are no clues about it at all. It's also an important synthetic material, so the organization will probably heed your suggestion and target the Holy Light Particle next."
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Chapter 1078 Underworld and Heritage
Inside the Land of Dead Silence, the two of them looked at the orange-gold spirit that suddenly appeared.
Han Xiao held onto the revive token, felt its vibration, and asked curiously, "What are you?"
"I'm the consciousness entity of the Underworld. Simply put, I'm the butler of this secondary dimension. You can call me by my name, Onicelu."
Dimensional consciousness entity… I thought that even if a near shattered secondary dimension had a consciousness entity, it would have already perished… Han Xiao was surprised.
A dimensional consciousness could only be born in extremely few secondary dimensions. Having one was equivalent to the secondary dimension turning from a lifeless dimension to a type of life form. For example, the Evil Convergence.
Dimensional consciousness entities were at an even higher level. It meant that the secondary dimension had ignited the sparks of intelligence. In comparison, the Evil Convergence was merely a beast.
Dimensional consciousness entities could control all the energy in the secondary dimension. In the eyes of some, they were basically like gods. Some religions even made sculptures in the image of dimensional consciousness entities and worshipped them as gods, which was one of the mainstream religions in the main universe.
No wonder they could not sense its existence. Despite this secondary dimension being close to perishing, it was still its territory. The dimensional consciousness entity was this dimension itself. If it was not willing to appear, no one would be able to sense it.
"Then, what is the Underworld?" Han Xiao had a rough guess.
As expected, this dimensional consciousness entity that called itself Onicelu looked down at the black island below it and calmly said, "As you can see, this secondary dimension that's heading toward its end is the Underworld."
Han Xiao understood.
The Land of Dead Silence was what that Void Duke Kirkmond called it. It seemed that the Underworld was the formal name of this secondary dimension.
He raised the revive token in his hands and said, "You should have noticed us long ago since you responded to the energy inside this coin. Why have you only appeared now?"
"I just wanted to be certain of your intentions." Onicelu's telepathic message was very gentle.
As soon as Han Xiao and Ames entered the Underworld, Onicelu had noticed them. She had been silently observing them. When the two of them helped her fix the environment earlier, only then did she confirm that they had no hostile intentions, so she decided to appear.
Onicelu also had to judge whether these two guys were friends or foes with the creator of these two revive tokens. This was extremely important to her.
Han Xiao wanted to continue asking questions but was interrupted by Onicelu. "I know you have a lot of questions, but I've answered enough of your questions. Before you tell me your relationship with the creator of these two coins, I won't answer any more questions."
Hearing this, Han Xiao stayed silent and started calculating the pros and cons.
The Hila sisters being related to this secondary dimension was strange. To begin with, now that this dimension had a consciousness entity, it was an even more sensitive matter.
This was because, according to Hila, this dimension was the obstruction between her link with Aurora and had always been silently absorbing the energy they were transferring. Therefore, this consciousness entity's goal was unknown, and he did not know if he should tell the truth.
However, since there was a dimensional consciousness entity, she would certainly know all the background stories, which meant that Hila would not have to investigate it herself. The only problem was, they had to be sure that she was not lying.
As Han Xiao was pondering, Ames, who was initially just listening, suddenly spoke.
"She's my student."
Onicelu turned to look at her and said, "Can you prove it?"
Ames looked at Han Xiao and gave him an eye signal.
"Oh well, since you've already told her, I don't have to think about it anymore…" Han Xiao shook his head with resignation and displayed part of Hila's information with virtual technology.
"It really is the Power of the Dead…" Onicelu looked like she was relieved. She smiled and said, "She should have an older or younger blood-related sister who has the Vital Energy Esper Ability."
"… That's right." Han Xiao's eyes sparkled, and he nodded.
Onicelu gave the two of them a deep look, placed her palms against each other, and said with a suddenly very serious tone, "I have a request. I hope you guys can bring them here as early as possible… The Underworld needs new inheritors!"
Inheritors?
Han Xiao and Ames exchanged looks of confusion.
"What does that mean? Tell me everything you know, and I'll relay it to them, but if you don't, I'll have no choice but to suspect what your goals are and stop them from coming here," Han Xiao said with a deep voice.
The term inheritors sounded good, but the Great Mechanic Han was wary this might be a trap, and he would end up putting Hila in danger, so he had to know everything.
"Since I've decided to show up, I never planned to keep secrets from you guys."
Through telepathy, Onicelu shared some of her memories like a grandma telling the story of when she was young.
"It all started as early as the exploration era. In the long war, the first batch of Beyond Grade As was born. History calls them the Primordial Ones. Among the Primordial Ones, there were a pair of sisters whose Esper Abilities synergized with each other perfectly, but they were not related by blood. They were the 'Controller of Death' Nerkese and the 'Mother of All Things' Eros. Using their abilities, they created this Underworld dimension…
"In the beginning, the Underworld dimension was nothing but a prison used to lock up the dead souls Nerkese had collected, as well as the followers of Eros. However, as the abilities of its two creators kept growing, the Underworld dimension obtained a new function—it became a world to the dead life forms where their consciousness could live forever.
"Since you're a Mechanic, in your terms, you can understand it as turning the memories and minds of those whose body died into data and uploading it into the virtual world, achieving a form of eternal life. The Underworld dimension is like the server. It stores the souls of countless life forms. Many powerful individuals in the exploration era chose to sleep in the Underworld. Because of that, Nerkese and Eros created me to manage the Underworld, as the grave keeper.
"The two extremely talented founders didn't stop there. Nerkese's ability made souls not disappear in the Underworld, and Eros used her ability to create temporary body containers, which allowed those souls to regain life. Then, using the special energy formed by fusing their energy together, they could make the targets have the strength they had when they were alive, till the vital energy acting as their fuel finished. Furthermore, even if their body container died again, their souls could still return to the Underworld. Using this ability, the two of them created an extremely powerful army. To them, the Underworld dimension was also an enormous army camp!"
Hearing Onicelu's explanation, Han Xiao's mouth twitched.
Damn, so this is basically Edo Tensei‽
What kind of luck is this‽
Aurora had once mentioned that the Hila sisters' abilities were rather similar to two of the Primordial Ones, so Han Xiao had done some research. He knew that the Mother of All Things was not as weak as Aurora. She had a ton of followers and had some kind of summoning ability. This was the first time Han Xiao had heard about the details of their abilities.
Basically, the souls of countless strong individuals were stored in the Underworld. Through some kind of revival energy fused from vital energy and death energy, they could carry out 'Edo Tensei' and turn them into an enormous army. According to what the dimensional consciousness entity said, it seemed like the Hila sisters could become the inheritors of the Underworld.
Did this not mean that the two of them could take the inheritance of two Primordial Ones? Fortune falling from the sky‽
Spending a lot of time with Feidin indeed led to good things.
While he was being pleasantly surprised, Onicelu's tone became sorrowful.
"Sadly, after the two founders died, the Underworld death energy had lost its energy supply and started to gradually wither. All the souls fell asleep, including me."
"How did they die?"
Han Xiao was curious. The cause of death of the two of them was not recorded. It only said they disappeared.
A ton of conspiracy theories appeared in his mind, but Onicelu's response gave him a big surprise.
"They committed suicide."
Han Xiao was stunned. "What… Why?"
Onicelu sighed. "They kept developing their abilities, and one day, they had a sudden realization. They had been calling themselves the controllers of life and death all this time, but they had never experienced true death and new life. In their eyes, this was the only path that could develop their Esper Abilities to a higher territory. Hence, they decided to walk into demise to search for the true meaning of life and death…
"Before their death, they told me not to grieve, that destruction is only the beginning of new life and that this is where they belonged. On that day, I watched them leave their bodies behind and end their own lives with my own eyes."
Han Xiao was puzzled.
Excuse me, what is there to search for when you're already dead?
Could it be that these two were extremists and never thought of this at all?
Maybe, only those with this kind of mindset could be the first batch of great individuals to break the limit of Beyond Grade As. Maybe this was what it meant to be the Primordial Ones.
As if she understood what Han Xiao's expression meant, Onicelu shook her head and said softly, "I know what you're wondering. Before their consciousness completely perished, there was a short moment where they were alive, dead, and in between. At that moment, I received the last message they had left me. They said they'd found the true meaning of life and death."
"And what's that?" Han Xiao was intrigued again.
"Heritage." Onicelu's tone was soft and gentle. "They said that heritage is the true definition of eternity, forming full circles in the enormous system of life forms."
Han Xiao was a little bit speechless. Doesn't everyone know that? You guys killed yourselves just to figure that out? You probably died for nothing!
However, although he really wanted to say that, he knew that knowing something was one thing and experiencing it was another completely different thing.
On many occasions, the key to a higher territory was that kind of sudden flash of insight. This was especially true the stronger the person was.
"Their deaths did not go to waste," Onicelu said. "They'll pass down this deepest understanding to the next generation."
Han Xiao was shocked. With disbelief, he said, "Are Hila and Aurora really the reincarnations of those two Primordial Ones?"
Ames looked surprised hearing this too.
However, Onicelu shook her head.
"Reincarnations? Not at all. They died completely. Their souls perished, and their bodies were also dissolved by me to supply energy to the dimension. Other than this Underworld, they left nothing. They put all of their experience in their Esper Abilities. The Esper Abilities are what's inherited."
"I still don't understand…" Ames was lost.
"After they died, they left the seeds of the Vital Energy Esper Ability and the Death Energy Esper Ability," Onicelu explained patiently. "These are neither physical nor energy-formed objects but of a higher dimensional data form. I don't know why that happened, but I know that if I had kept those seeds, no one in the entire universe would have awoken those two Esper Abilities ever.
"Therefore, to complete the dying wish of the two founders and to save myself, I sent these seeds back to the main universe. I knew that one day in the future, they would blossom on two new lives…"
Onicelu paused, smiled, and said, "Do you guys really think it's a coincidence that there is only one pair of blood-related sisters with Vital Energy Esper Ability and Death Energy Esper Ability in the entire universe?"
Having heard of such a secret, the Great Mechanic Han felt like his fragile heart was shocked.
This meant that Hila and Aurora had no direct connections with those two Primordial Ones at all; they were only chosen by the data-form Esper Ability seeds and became the Vital Energy Esper Ability and Death Energy Esper Ability owners of this generation.
The two Primordial Ones fused their understanding into the data-form Esper Ability seeds so that those who were chosen by them would slowly receive the information and experience within. This was basically indirectly increasing the talents of their inheritors.
No wonder it was so easy for Hila to acquire new abilities and talents!
"Data form…" Han Xiao could not help but have even more speculations.
He still remembers that during one of his Racial Evolutions, there was a [Multi-Dimensional Shadow] option that seemed to be related to data forms.
Before he could think further, Onicelu spoke again softly. "That's all I know. After the two founders died, the Underworld started to gradually wither and could no longer keep itself sealed from the outside world. Its size started to shrink, its space wall started to break, and souls fell asleep one after another. I had no choice but to store them all in the dimension core to prevent them from perishing. However, I've become weaker and weaker. I fell asleep as well. When the Underworld shatters completely, these souls will disappear.
"The energy source of the Underworld is the energy of the Vital Energy Esper Ability and the Death Energy Esper Ability. Not long ago, I finally obtained some of it when I subconsciously absorbed the energy from the sisters of this generation, which barely woke me from my long sleep. Only then did I stop absorbing their energy."
Han Xiao thought about it. "Not long ago… it should be when Hila and Aurora were studying their life link. No wonder the energy they transferred was absorbed. That makes sense. This means that the Underworld dimension is actually the medium of the life link between them…"
This time, Onicelu shook her head and said calmly, "The bodies of the two Primordial Ones helped me to last a very long time, but that depleted long ago. The Underworld needs stable, long-term energy suppliers. Please bring them here as soon as possible. I don't know how much longer I can last."
As soon as she said that, Han Xiao received a notification in the interface.
You have triggered the mission [Inheritors of The Underworld].
Mission Introduction: The Underworld is the heritage of the previous owners of the Vital Energy Esper Ability and the Death Energy Esper Ability. The dimensional consciousness entity Onicelu has realized that she is getting weaker every day. She hopes that Hila and Aurora can become the new inheritors.
Mission Requirements: Help Hila and Aurora inherit the Underworld dimension.
Reward: 50 Million EXP, 20 Onicelu Favorability, 1 Character Summon Card.
Bonus Mission Requirement: Help the Underworld return to its peak state.
Bonus Reward: 40 Onicelu Favorability, [Mark of The Underworld].
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"A mission…"
Han Xiao glanced at the interface and had a rough idea.
According to the basic rewards, he knew that helping Hila to take over the Underworld dimension would probably not be difficult. The only tough part was the bonus requirement—god only knew how much energy it would take for the Underworld to reach its original state, but even draining Hila dry would probably not be enough.
However, since it was an inheritance from the predecessors, there was no reason to reject it.
[Mark of the Underworld] was quite tempting for Han Xiao. Its effect granted him the right to control the secondary dimension to a certain extent, similar to the Mark of Evil Convergence, which Traveler had. At the same time, it would also increase his strength to some extent.
Furthermore, he could also dray the soul of the enemies he killed into the Underworld. This was equivalent to basically getting part of Hila's power as a part-time soul collector.
Along with the Favorability reward from this mission, it seemed that this mission was saying that he did Onicelu a great favor, so she was willing to let him use her body.
When he thought of it this way, it seemed quite exciting…
Han Xiao searched his memories. In his previous life, Hila did not display any ability related to the Underworld dimension, so the Underworld had probably perished before she discovered it.
After all, the main reason Hila discovered the Underworld came from when she tried creating a life link with Aurora. Without the energy the Underworld absorbed when they transferred energy to each other, Onicelu would not have awakened.
In his previous life, however, Aurora was long gone, and Hila was alone. Without Aurora, she most likely never discovered the Underworld dimension and missed out on the inheritance.
At the same time, even if Hila did obtain the Underworld dimension, without Aurora, they would not be able to summon or Edo Tensei anyone…
In conclusion, the Germinal Organization leader was truly a great man.
All kinds of thoughts flashed past Han Xiao's mind. In the end, he nodded at Onicelu and said, "Alright, I'll bring them here very soon to meet you."
"I'm counting on you." Onicelu smiled.
Then, she disappeared and hid away. She had already said everything she needed to, and with very limited energy that she had no way of recovering, she did not want to waste any of it.
Han Xiao and Ames were the only ones left. He turned around to look at her and saw that she was pondering. It was clear that she was shocked and had yet to recover.
This was not without its reasons. Initially, the two of them only wanted to come and take a look at the place for Hila. Never did they expect to run into this chain of incidents. First, they met Traveler and beat him into a pulp, then were attacked back an unknown fleet. Clotti went missing, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy became disabled, and in the end, they met the Underworld's dimensional consciousness entity and discovered this shocking secret. There was too much information to process.
It was said that every lucky guy seemed to run into trouble most easily. Why did he never notice that Ames was talented in this area?
However, overall, Han Xiao was more pleasantly surprised than shocked. He had captured the Holy Light Particle, triggered a few new missions, and obtained some secret information. The rewards of this trip were quite rich.
Although part of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy had been snatched away, it could still use its powers. When he put it this way, it did not seem like he had lost anything at all.
As for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's agony, Han Xiao was actually not really concerned. As a great man once said, everyone had different reasons to feel sorrowful or joyous, not to mention the difference between people and Esper Ability entities.
Dealing with the Holy Accord would take a lot of planning. The main mission now was to help Hila inherit the Underworld.
Having thought of that, Han Xiao patted Ames' shoulders and said, "Stop daydreaming. It's time to leave."
Ames regained focus and chuckled with joy.
"I never thought Hila and Aurora would meet something like this. I'm proud of my students."
"Yes yes yes, your students are amazing." Han Xiao interrupted her. "Having met something like this, we'll have to cut our schedule short. I'll have the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy take you back to Black Star Palace to bring Hila here, what do you say?"
"Of course, it's a great idea." Ames smiled.
Han Xiao nodded and ordered the Mysterious Energy Host to grab Ames. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's ability to cross between secondary dimensions was much more convenient compared to mechanical devices. It would not take long for them to return.
He was the only one there. After some thinking, he took out his communicator and called the dynasty's secondary dimension frontline station. This time, he contacted the dynasty's person in charge who was stationed there.
After some time, the communication went through, and Guzar's face appeared before his eyes.
The moment Han Xiao saw this face, he was stunned for a second.
Zhang Fei?
Yoho, I was mistaken. That sure startled me. This is way too similar to Zhang Fei's face…
This time, Guzar's loud voice sounded with an impatient tone.
"Black Star, we suddenly lost the location of Dark Lord. Where did he go?"
"We were attacked by a mysterious fleet. He was exiled into the chaotic space streams…" Han Xiao explained the process briefly with emphasis on the technology of the Holy Accord.
"These weaklings actually troubled him? Clotti is really getting rusty," Guzar murmured with dissatisfaction.
"It happens, it happens…" Han Xiao dry coughed trying to change to the topic.
Guzar caressed his beard and mumbled, "However, their technology is indeed unique. If taken by surprise, I might end up the same way too… Hey, Black Star, do you know their identity?"
"Nope. However, if you guys want to investigate them, I suggest you start with the records of the birth of the Primal Esper Ability Entities. This organization undoubtedly has more than one Primal Esper Ability. Other than that, there's nothing else I know."
Han Xiao had very limited knowledge about the Holy Accord organization in this era. Therefore, simply mentioning its name might not only be not very effective but also bring him more trouble.
"Understood, I'll relay your information up. They dare to attack the dynasty's man. We will certainly dig them out and teach them a lesson," Guzar said with a deep voice.
Han Xiao nodded.
Getting the dynasty to chase after the Holy Accord would at least cause them some trouble.
With the power of advanced civilizations, they might really be able to notice something.
Guzar complained for a while to vent his anger before he finally calmed down. He sized Han Xiao up and could not help but give him a passionate invitation.
"Black Star, I have always wanted to meet you. Come to my place if you have the time. We'll have to know more about each other."
"There'll be chances in the future."
Han Xiao agreed with a smile while being quite contented in his heart.
The fact that a powerful Beyond Grade A actively came to him meant that his networking skills were finally reaching their peak.
The Great Mechanic Han knew who Guzar was; he was a direct Beyond Grade A of the dynasty who was stationed in the secondary dimension. Before this, he had never come into contact with him, but in his memories, this guy seemed quite strong. Sadly, he died too early in his previous life, before the World Tree version.
Speaking of which, the secondary dimensions were one of the battlefronts during the World Tree war, and the battles there were just as bloody as in the main universe. The research labs and the outposts of the three Universal Civilizations were almost all destroyed. Compared to the stable spacetime of the main universe, the strange and unpredictable secondary dimensions seemed more dangerous to many.
They then chatted for a while longer. The conversation was quite pleasant, and they both gave each other a good impression.
When Han Xiao hung up the call, the space beside him rippled again. The Mysterious Energy Host had brought Ames and Hila back.
He turned and said, "Yo, you've come. Why didn't you bring your sister?"
"There's no need to bring Aurora to such a dangerous place. If her ability is needed, I'll just tell her to transfer it to me remotely," Hila explained. She then looked around at the Underworld dimension with curiosity and doubt. "You guys really didn't trick me together, right? Is this secondary dimension the inheritance of the Primordial Ones?"
"Let her explain it to you herself."
Han Xiao snapped his fingers.
Onicelu appeared again. She first gave Han Xiao a smile that seemed to mean she was very satisfied with how efficient he was before pulling Hila aside to speak to her.
Seeing this, Han Xiao told Hila, "Alright, go chat with her. Ames and I shall leave for now. I'll leave a mechanical army here. Notify me if anything changes. Anyway, you have the King mechanical suit. Tell me if you're in danger and I'll just teleport you back."
Hila turned to look at him but hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Alright, go have fun."
Han Xiao smiled at him. He told the Mysterious Energy Host to take the two of them away.
He was not worried about Hila's safety. After all, she was a Beyond Grade A. Plus, his army was with her. She had more than enough strength to protect herself in the secondary dimensions.
Looking at the direction the two of them disappeared in, complicated emotions appeared in Hila's eyes.
There was joy and disappointment.
Of course, she was surprised to come across the opportunity of becoming stronger through the inheritance of the Primordial Ones.
However, when she thought of the fact that the promise Black Star had made to travel with her alone in the secondary dimensions might be disposed because of it. She was somewhat disappointed.
Although she never spoke of it, she actually really wanted to go out with Black Star…
The Void Dimension.
With a flash of red light, the two of them appeared in Kirkmond's territory in an instant.
As the official business regarding the Holy Light Particle and the Underworld dimension was complete, Han Xiao planned to complete the milestone mission, [Void Conqueror]. Therefore, remembering his promise to Kirkmond, he rushed back.
However, when the two of them looked around, they were stunned.
The void crystal floating city that was originally filled with void creatures was now empty. The void army that was stationed there had vanished.
"That's strange. Where did they go? Field training?" Ames looked around.
"Let's ask a void creature about it."
Han Xiao led Ames to Kirkmond's palace. As expected, there were indeed some void creatures with no combat capability who were left behind. They had seen their boss invite these two guests here, so they approached them.
"Where did Kirkmond go?" Han Xiao asked directly.
"Master has taken the army out to war."
"Didn't I tell him to wait until we returned? He couldn't even wait for such a short time?" Han Xiao wondered.
The void henchman said with resignation, "Kirkmond did not start the war. We were invaded by another Void Duke. Kirkmond was forced to take the fight."
"Give me the coordinates of the battlefield then." Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and said softly, "It seems like we've come right on time."
At the same time, in a certain area of the Void Dimension, two enormous void armies were fighting.
In the middle of the battlefield, the two Void Dukes of the two sides were dueling.
One rode a young Void Dragon, holding an enormous void crystal shield and a black longsword. The other rode a Void Worm and held a greenish-copper short spear in all of its twenty or so arms.
Every clash of their weapons sent out a blue-purple void energy shockwave. A huge area around them was empty—no one dared interfere with the duel between two Void Dukes.
The one who used a sword was Kirkmond, who had a slightly lower hand in the fight. His control of void energy was not as good as the opponent, and his energy was not as strong. He was defending himself more than attacking.
The enemy he was facing was indeed his archenemy, as well as Han Xiao's mission target, Void Duke Bagdora.
Since they were both void creatures and had high resistance to void energy, long-range attacks had very limited effects. Therefore, when fighting against one of their own, most void creatures preferred close-range battles.
Clank!
More than ten short spears slashed down simultaneously. Kirkmond hastily raised his shield to block them. The clash sent out several rings of shockwaves as they competed in power.
"Can you feel my improved strength? You're no longer a match for me!" Bagdora laughed.
"You killed another Void Duke‽" Kirkmond was both shocked and enraged.
At their level, every slight increase in strength was very important. Their strength would only suddenly grow when they devoured someone at the same level as them or higher.
In all these years, none of them was clearly stronger than the other. Now, however, Bagdora was clearly stronger. The only explanation was that he had devoured the core of another Void Duke.
"Hehe, a newborn Void Duke just happened to pass by my territory. I turned him into my energy. This is fate, and fate dictates that I'll defeat you!"
Damn it! Kirkmond was jealous. Why don't I ever get this lucky?
Bagdora's short spears left afterimages behind. He seemed to be growing impatient. Kirkmond was already a very nutritious meal in his eyes, and he could not wait to eat him up.
"If I eat you, I'll be able to become one of the strongest Dukes. There's no use resisting. Become my food!"
Kirkmond could not hold much longer. His army was also showing signs of losing.
He knew that his defeat was certain is this went on, so he yelled furiously,
"Don't go over your head! I still have reinforcements!"
"So what? You think you can scare me away?"
Bagdora laughed out loud as he cut away a small part of Kirkmond's body without mercy.
"I'll eat your so-called reinforcements too. I'll take it as your gift to me!"
At this time, Han Xiao just so happened to arrive at the edge of the battlefield through hyperdrive. Hearing this, he turned to look at this Void Duke, and his brows twitched a little.
He released a public telepathic message that instantly covered the entire battlefield.
"You wanna try it?"
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Chapter 1080 Are You Here to Steal My Harvest?
Along with Han Xiao, the Beyond Grade A energy he had appeared too. He became an energy source that had an extremely dangerous presence, which instantly attracted the attention of all the void creatures around.
"Ha! My help is here!"
Strength appeared in Kirkmond's body all of a sudden. While Bagdora was still shocked, he slashed his sword down Bagdora's arms, instantly cutting away many of his energy-made arms.
Bagdora hastily retreated away from Kirkmond, regenerated his arms then looked at Han Xiao with a grave expression. The confidence he had earlier was nowhere to be found.
Beyond Grade As of the main universe were not easy to mess with. This was common knowledge in the secondary dimensions. He did not expect Kirkmond to have a connection with a stranger Beyond Grade A.
"Who are you? I'm warning you. Don't interfere with the matters of the Void Dimension. I'm master Kasuyi's subordinate!"
Bagdora immediately brought up a big name. Among the names he knew from the main universe, Kasuyi's name was the most impactful.
"He's not! He's just trying to scare you!" Kirkmond exposed his lie without mercy.
"Humph, don't trust him. Kirkmond is a liar! He's definitely just using you!"
"You're the liar!" Kirkmond was enraged.
"No, you!"
Even in this situation, the two of them did not stop arguing.
Han Xiao, however, had no plan to join the argument. Electric sparks appeared in his eyes as countless machines swarmed out. Then, an enormous net formed by Mechanical Force grabbed all the machines and pulled them toward him, quickly assembling.
This huge move caused all the void creatures on the battlefield to stop fighting and look over.
A Mechanical Deity formed very quickly. Since the opponent was just a Void Duke, he did not summon a lot of machines. Therefore, this Mechanical Deity was not too large, only about ten thousand meters tall.
The most conspicuous part of it was the enormous metal cape on its back. It was not soft like cloth but was completely mechanical. It looked extremely delicate and complex.
It was the Emperor's Cape, which Han Xiao had sent into battle for the first time.
"Mechanical Deity‽" Bagdora was knowledgeable enough to know what this was. His panic was clearly expressed from his fluctuating mind frequency.
If he had a face, his fear would have clearly shown on it.
Without saying anything, Bagdora immediately turned around attempting to escape. He disappeared in an instant and entered Void Hyperdrive.
However, Kirkmond was prepared for this. Being a Void Duke as well, he had all kinds of ways to prevent Bagdora from escaping. He swung his long sword sideways and slapped the space before him. Dense Void Energy exploded, sending out shockwave-like ripples. The space of this Void Dimension was easily sealed.
The next moment, Bagdora appeared again as he was forced out from hyperdrive by Kirkmond.
"You…"
Bagdora was frustrated. However, before he could try anything else again, Han Xiao controlled his Mechanical Deity and charged toward him. He was not planning to just watch on the side.
Seeing this, Bagdora did not even try to escape anymore. He quickly sent out long-ranged attacks with Void Energy at the Mechanical Deity, hoping to stop Han Xiao from getting closer.
Without slowing down, the Mechanical Deity grabbed a corner of the Emperor's Cape and pulled it to its front.
Buzz!
An energy shield appeared on the surface of the cape. It was extremely thick and strong. Countless Void Energy attacks landed on it, only to create tiny little ripples, unable to slow down the Mechanical Deity at all.
At the same time, the Emperor's Cape also increased the mobility and speed of the Machinery Deity by a large extent. At the edges of the cape, the space could be seen bent, which drastically increased the Machinery Deity's speed.
"Don't come any closer!"
Shocked, Bagdora wanted to back away, but Kirkmond stopped him from doing so. Unable to flee, he could only watch as the Mechanical Deity moved closer.
"Take this!" Han Xiao raised the Mechanical Deity's arm and punched forward.
Highly condensed psionic energy fused with all kinds of electromagnetic and shockwave force fields formed a light blue energy shield shrouding the Mechanical Deity's fist. It was extremely destructive.
Boom!
Bagdora's defense did not have much effect. His enormous energy formed body was flattened and pressed onto the Mechanical Deity's fist. His greenish-copper short spears were all shattered into atoms, and his Void Worm died right on the spot, not leaving even ashes behind.
Some time ago, Han Xiao had obtained [Machinery Control Master] through the few Beyond Grade A captives, which drastically increased the strength of armor-type equipment when used by him. Furthermore, his melee-range combat capability was also enhanced tremendously.
The power of this punch was way too much for a Void Duke like Bagdora. He was heavily injured instantly.
Void creatures had their own level system and were not included in the combat capability measurement standard of the main universe, so there was no clear comparison. However, at Han Xiao's level, he could easily estimate it.
With the advantage of fighting in its own territory, the Void Dukes could fight back and forth with ordinary Beyond Grade As for dozens of rounds, but that was all. Only the strongest Dukes and Void Lords, Void Ancients, could compete with real Beyond Grade As. As for peak Beyond Grade As, their power exceeded the upper strength limit of void creatures.
Basically, Bagdora was about as strong as his Apostle Weapons, which were between Lv260 and Lv280, basically almost Beyond Grade As. They would easily crush Calamity Grades but would be thrashed by Beyond Grade As.
With such a large difference in strength, the only reason Bagdora was not completely obliterated was thanks to the special physique of Void Dukes; his various resistances were extremely high.
Bagdora's flattened body stayed still for an instant on the Mechanical Deity's fist before shooting out the next moment like a rocket, creating an empty path on the battlefield.
The Mechanical Deity remained on the same spot. It extended two fingers and aimed at Bagdora, who was flying further and further away. Its fingertips turned sharp and became a barrel, blinding light appeared from within.
"Evil Perish Cannon!" Han Xiao gave it a ridiculous name for fun.
Xiu!
An energy beam shot out from the fingertips of the Mechanical Deity and caught up to Bagdora instantly, penetrating his body.
Bagdora's body suddenly became stiff. He started to evaporate from within like snow on a hot day, gradually melting.
Very soon, only a gray sphere was left floating. This was what was left of Bagdora—the core essence of a Void Duke.
"This guy is finally dead!" Kirkmond was overjoyed. Through hyperdrive, he jumped over and grabbed Bagdora's core. Feeling the lingering frustration emotion in it, he could not hold back his laughter.
As their master died, Bagdora's army fell into disarray. Most of the void creatures tried to flee in different directions and were chased; the rest stayed and surrendered. The situation became one-sided.
Seeing this, Han Xiao deactivated the Mechanical Deity and tutted like he wanted more.
This Void Duke was too weak. I didn't even enjoy it enough…
This time, Kirkmond held onto Bagdora's core and returned to Han Xiao. His tone was filled with joy.
"Haha, I knew I was right to trust you. To think you killed Bagdora so easily. You must be someone very well known in the main universe!"
"Not really, not really." Han Xiao gave a humble response.
"According to our agreement, half of the core is yours. We're friends from now on. If you need help in battle, just call me. This is my energy mark; you can contact me if anything happens."
Han Xiao received energy from Kirkmond, which turned into a mark on his arm. He already had a ton of enchantment tattoos on his body and looked like a gangster, so having one more was no big deal.
Han Xiao looked at the interface.
The mission was shown to be completed, and the reward was given. He obtained 12 billion EXP and one Kirkmond's Character Summon Card, and Kirkmond's faction's Favorability reached [Respect]. The Character Summon Card's ability was Void Lock, which was a quite useful controlling ability and could be used five times.
Compared to the low difficulty, this was quite a rich reward. However, only Beyond Grade As like Han Xiao would be able to deal with this mission so easily, so it made sense.
The milestone mission for [Void Conqueror] started too. His progress was at one eighth for the Void Duke forces he destroyed and a twenty-five percent for the void faction favorability he had achieved. He should be able to activate this milestone very soon.
This time, Han Xiao smiled and said, "Any interest in expanding your territory?"
"Oh? Do you plan to continue helping me?" Kirkmond paused, not pleased but surprised, and started hesitating.
The way he looked at it, what Black Star meant was that he wanted to make him his subordinate like Kirkmond. The reason that Kirkmond did not join Kasuyi was that he did not want to work for others, and now he was troubled.
Han Xiao understood what he was thinking from his hesitation. He thought about it and said, "Don't worry, I have no plan to learn from Kasuyi. Since you're willing to fight for me, making your forces stronger is basically indirectly helping myself."
The Void Dimension was Kasuyi's territory. If he came here to grow his forces, he would undoubtedly offend this void movie lord. Therefore, Han Xiao planned to help some Void Dukes in the form of hiring them as mercenaries.
As long as they agreed to be his spare tires… ahem, helpers, he would help them to take over the forces of other Void Dukes. This way, he could both complete his milestone mission and obtain more troops at the same time.
"That sounds good." Kirkmond was relieved.
Having seen Han Xiao's strength earlier, he knew that he was no match. If Han Xiao decided to force him, he would not be able to resist at all, so he felt that Black Star had no need to lie to him.
After communicating a little longer, Kirkmond went to the side to enjoy the essence of Bagdora. Ames, who only watched beside Han Xiao, suddenly shook her head and said, "You don't ever forget about increasing your forces, do you?"
"I'm used to it. After all, I'm a good faction leader…"
Then, Han Xiao gave Ames a look with unspeakable meanings.
"… What kind of look is that?" Ames's brows raised slightly.
"I'm appreciating your beauty."
"Humph, cheeky."
Over the next few days, Han Xiao took Ames to travel in the Void Dimension back, looking for new partners to work with and merging the forces of Void Dukes one after another. With his peak Beyond Grade A strength, the progress of the [Void Conqueror] milestone was very quick.
Such frequent movements also attracted more attention from the boss of the Void Dimension. When the news spread to Kasuyi's territory, the Void Dukes under his command reported it to him.
Somewhere in the Flickering World, Kasuyi frowned and narrowed his eyes. Looking at the kneeled void messenger in front of him, he felt alarmed.
"Black Star went to the Void Dimension and is now helping the Void Dukes there to take over the forces of their enemies?"
Could it be that Black Star had set his eyes on the forces of the Void Dimension and wanted to take over void creatures to form an organization like him?
From the way he looked at it, since Black Star had the blood of void creatures and was at the peak Beyond Grade A level, when his God's Trait Transformation reached a certain extent, it was very likely Black Star might develop new abilities related to the void.
Kasuyi was actually not interested in what Han Xiao was doing in the Void Dimension. As the Void Dimension was large enough and had more than enough energy, having one more person to share it with was completely harmless and would not affect him at all. Han Xiao would not be considered as a competitor.
However, he had a big problem with others putting their fingers on his void army. The Void Dimension was his headquarters, and all the void creatures were his own in his eyes. Black Star's actions made Kasuyi a little unhappy.
Never mind if you came to my farm to dig away some soil, but taking away my harvest is crossing the line.
The entire universe knows that the Void Dimension is my home. How can you just come to my home and cause trouble like this, Black Star? Have you ignored my existence?
Kasuyi thought about it and slowly said, "Go back and relay my decision to those Void Dukes. Tell them to get into contact with Black Star and obtain information about what his goal is. Also do the same with the other Void Dukes he helped."
The messenger received the order, shook his body, and returned to the Void Dimension, disappearing without a trace.
With Kasuyi's position, calling Han Xiao directly was the most convenient. However, that would mean that there was no room for any excuse or discussion. Hence, he hoped to take a gentler approach and ask about Han Xiao's goal through a middleman.
The so-called Beyond Grade A Association was about to be formed, and he did not want to mess with Black Star, who was leading it.
"Speaking of which, Manison seems very active recently and has been digging up his old connections. Looks like he really wants to be the one in charge…"
Kasuyi looked interested.
Kasuyi had no plan to do the same. He had never cared too much about the Beyond Grade A Association to begin with. He only saw that Beyond Grade As being in groups would become a trend in the future, so he wanted to obtain a senior position. As for the position of the president, he would not take it even if it was given to him for free. Sitting in that position meant being at the front of all issues. Anyone in that position would be heavily monitored by the advanced civilizations.
Some of the peak Beyond Grade As had the same thoughts as him; very few tried to become the president. Including Manison and Black Star, there were only four of them.
"Hmm, the association can only have one president, who also cannot be a direct member of the three Universal Civilizations, or it would go against its goal… I wonder what plans Black Star has. Although he's not as senior, as the star of the Flickering World and the key initiator of this project, his chances don't seem low…"
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[Void Conqueror] mission completed!
Milestone activated successfully!
Watching the last Void Duke get turned into a patty by the Mechanical Deity, Han Xiao finally heard the soothing notification sound from the interface.
In the past ten days or so, he had been taking Ames around to look for other Void Dukes for partnerships. He had been active in the various edge areas of the Void Dimension.
Since not everyone wanted to hire outsiders, the two of them wasted some time in between. However, overall, the mission was completed quite efficiently. As long as a partnership was agreed upon, Han Xiao would easily be able to wipe out the hostile Void Duke's forces.
"It's finally completed."
Han Xiao deactivated the Mechanical Deity and opened the interface to look at the reward.
The bonus from [Void Conqueror] was already in effect. His various void-related talents were all slightly enhanced. He received 1,600 Free Attribute Points and one God's Trait Transformation Point, as well as 20 starting Favorability with all void creatures. He also received a Legendary Point [Void Celebrity]. Its introduction was that the name 'Black Star' was now well known between the void creatures.
As usual, he stocked the Free Attribute Points up, of which he now had close to 4,000. As for the God's Trait Transformation Point, Han Xiao continued on the path of maxing one path first, so he used it on [God's Trait Transformation—Machinery] and unlocked the level four bonuses.
Stage Four: 3 Levels to abilities belonging to the [Apostle Mechanic] and [Emperor Mechanic] stages. 25% base success rate of inventing blueprints. 15% base success rate of improving blueprints. 3% base success rate of inventing Grade Gold blueprints. 1.5% rate of acquiring unique talents. 15% abilities of the sub-branches.
"Not bad." Han Xiao scanned through it.
The class abilities of the Apostle and Emperor stages were very crucial, so enhancing them was quite useful. According to the current trend, Han Xiao estimated that the next level would most likely enhance the abilities of the Lord and Throne Mechanic stages, which were even more crucial.
Overall, the bonuses of this level were mainly focused on enhancing his ability to innovate. After all, Han Xiao had no channeling bars like the players. At his level, innovating new blueprints from his class knowledges was common, same with improving the base quality of blueprints. The blueprints he used often nowadays were all enhanced and improved versions.
What Han Xiao was more concerned about was the unique talent. It seemed like those old men like Manison and Sorokin all had their own unique talents. Since the players did not have this in his previous life, Han Xiao had no idea about how to acquire them, nor did the interface give any tips. Therefore, he could only figure it out himself.
As for the enhancements of the sub-branches, they enhanced Han Xiao's Armed and Energy Branch abilities, basically almost all the Mechanic abilities not belonging to the Virtual Branch.
Han Xiao was still looking at the interface when his current Void Duke partner finished consuming the enemy's core and came to beside him.
"Black Star, a Void Lord under the command of His Excellency Kasuyi wants to see you."
"Finally, I knew he wouldn't ignore my actions."
Han Xiao had expected this, so he was not surprised. Following the Void Duke's arrangements, he met with the Void Lord.
The Void Lord's body was enormous and seemingly extended from the ground right into the clouds. Its body's color was deeper than even the Void Duke.
As soon as he saw Han Xiao, he felt close to him for some reason he could not explain. Somehow, Han Xiao looked very easy to befriend.
Despite the rather good first impression this Void Lord had of Han Xiao, it did not affect his attitude when carrying out the mission for Kasuyi. He directly said, "Black Star, we've noticed your recent frequent battles in the Void Dimension. Are you planning to rule the Void Dukes and build your forces here?"
"Don't worry. Tell Kasuyi that I'm just signing contracts with some mercenaries and have no plans of building a force. In fact, I've almost achieved my goal, and I'm planning to leave the Void Dimension in just a day or two."
Han Xiao knew what Kasuyi was worried about, so he expressed that he was not there to fight for territory.
"That's best. As long as you don't interfere too much with the internal matters of the Void Dimension, we will always welcome you. Do come to us if you need anything."
The Void Lord was quite well mannered. As a subordinate of Kasuyi, he had some basic knowledge of the powerful people in the main universe. He knew that Black Star was not someone he could mess with.
"Sure, we might have the chance to do business in the future," Han Xiao said casually.
Kasuyi's territory had a stable production line that produced all kinds of void specialties. It was quite a good business. If he had any needs, he would not mind working with him.
This time, the Void Lord took out a tube that was filled with a light blue liquid that was giving off a dim light and said, "This is master Kasuyi's special present for you. It's liquid-form Void Essence extracted for the core of the dimension. It'll help in enhancing your void bloodline."
Han Xiao raised his brows, accepted the tube, and said with a smile, "Thank Kasuyi for me."
Clearly, this was meant as a farewell gift to tell him not to stay too long in his house. Anyway, Han Xiao never planned to, so he had no problem with it.
After a successful exchange, the Void Lord left satisfied. Han Xiao kept the tube too, which would most likely increase the attributes he would gain during the next Race Evolution.
"Finally done?" This time, Ames giggled.
Over the past few days, Han Xiao had been very occupied with doing the mission and did not fulfill his promise to Ames of traveling with her. He could not help but feel he had wronged her. Now that business was done, with a relaxed mind and mood, he waved and said, "Let's go. I'll accompany you to travel the secondary dimensions all you want."
While the two of them traveled the secondary dimensions, the situation of the main universe kept changing.
Although the plan of forming a Beyond Grade A Alliance in the Flickering World was not publicized yet, the unusual movements of numerous peak Beyond Grade As attracted attention from many well-informed organizations.
After the initiators of the alliance gathered, they started the first meeting.
Inside the round table conference room of a spaceship, the remote projections of the various initiators gathered and sat in their chairs. Most of them were peak Beyond Grade As.
At the huge round table, only one seat was empty. It was Han Xiao's.
Manison clapped, signaling everyone to look over, and slowly said, "Black Star went to the secondary dimensions and isn't available. We're the only ones attending this meeting today."
"He's the main initiator. Growing the association needs the Black Star Army's help too. Is it suitable to not call him for such an important meeting?" Secret Master asked.
The rest agreed.
Currently, Han Xiao's position was quite high among the Beyond Grade As. Although he did not come, no one could ignore his existence. Furthermore, with the irreplaceable importance the Black Star Army had in creating the Beyond Grade A Association, the various Beyond Grade As present all recognized his significance. Even though he was not present, they would still speak for him.
"Black Star said himself he isn't coming." Manison shook his hand. "He has already made his stand. He suggests everyone should focus on the agreement we had during the Meeting of the Gods, and once we come to a conclusion, just inform him of it."
He would never lie about such things.
"Alright then." The rest nodded.
"Let's talk business," Manison said slowly. "Since we're decided to form the association, we'll first have to set down the rules, regularize the positions of the association, confirm the nature of the organization and its development direction, and decide on the laws its members must follow.
Kasuyi followed up and said, "That's right. Our core goal is to unite the strength of all Beyond Grade As, be it now or in the future. The Ancient Ones' structure is too lenient, and its entry point is too high, so this time, we can't repeat their mistakes. We must have a clear set of laws and regulations."
A peak Beyond Grade A said, "According to the proposal Black Star gave, the main use of the association is to solve conflicts between Beyond Grade As. I think that's a good path, and it's best we start there. For example, we can have the rule that members can't easily initiate physical conflicts with other members except for the purpose of sparring, to maintain the image that the Beyond Grade As are united. Also, members shouldn't be allowed to deliberately escalate the conflict and avoid peaceful compromises…"
Everyone started discussing their ideas one after another. The rules and regulations were being filled up very quickly.
This time, Sorokin, who was the major investor, suddenly said, "The rules are good indeed, but the biggest problem is to make sure the Beyond Grade As are willing to follow them. As everyone knows, Beyond Grade As all have their own pride and have been enjoying tons of privileges. It won't be easy to make them follow rules."
"That's right. This is a core problem," Manison said. "Not only must we make sure the members accept the restrictions from the rules, we also have to make sure that even after the outsiders see these rules, they'll also still be willing to join the association. Not everyone agreed with what we said during the Meeting of the Gods, so in order to prevent others from just ignoring us, as usual, it'll all come down to the use of intimidation and benefits. We have to let the other Beyond Grade As see the price of disobeying the rules while also understanding the benefits of joining the association.
"Intimidation is easy. We seniors won't have to do anything. We're a form of intimidation by ourselves. Benefits, however, must be displayed through many aspects. We shall build an interest network of Beyond Grade As, unite and share our resources, and provide help to each other through many means. As for the new members in the future, we can use our resources to help them to build their Beyond Grade A forces, as well as provide some guidance from the peak Beyond Grade As…
"Also, we can even include the Ultimate Knowledges of the five classes as a benefit."
Hearing this, everyone was shocked.
"Ultimate Knowledges? This is basically fighting with the three Universal Civilizations in the market of recruiting Beyond Grade A allies. They'll definitely object to it to an extreme extent. This isn't a small issue."
"Have you forgotten our initial goal so soon?" Manison said slowly. "If we can't break the forced monopoly that the three Universal Civilizations have on the Ultimate Knowledges, even if the Beyond Grade A Association is formed successfully, it'll still be controlled by the advanced civilizations. We'll have no choice but to continue working for them all the same."
Some nodded in agreement while more stayed silent. They felt that this was too big a step and too risky. Opinions were varied.
"Since you insist on doing so, the three Universal Civilizations will have a lot to say to us," Kasuyi said with resignation.
"Therefore…" Manison looked around and finally showed his true goal. "We need a leader. He must be able to take the pressure and never compromise, and I'm the only one who is able to take on that position."
Everyone glanced at him.
Someone started praising him and said, "Manison is strong. He has a lot of connections, a huge organization, and he's senior. He is indeed the most suitable candidate."
Quite a number of people there were invited by Manison, so they were going to support him from the beginning.
This time, another peak Beyond Grade A candidate said, "Who doesn't know what you're planning? We're all the initiators of the association. I think I'm more suitable than you."
Everyone there was a Beyond Grade A. One person speaking for everyone was impossible. Even the president would only be taken more seriously when it comes to making decisions but could never truly order around these people. Most decisions would still have to be made together by the elders. However, due to the unique nature of the Beyond Grade A Association, this kind of opportunity was extremely rare.
This time, Milizaus said slowly, "Although Black Star isn't here, he also intends to be a candidate. The forces the Black Star Army has in the Flickering World are unquestionable. Our organization will only be truly powerful with him as the president. Furthermore, the Evolutionary Totems will soon be sold to the public. At that time, Black Star will be much more important to the three Universal Civilizations. He's suitable as the lubricant between two sides and will be able to tremendously reduce the pressure the association will face… I vote for Black Star as the representative."
Han Xiao did not join the meeting because he wanted to let others settle the issue, but it was mainly because he was not willing to face the other candidates directly, including Manison. Since he could not compete with the others in terms of connections, all he could do was bring up the profit he could bring and let the others decide. This way, he would avoid direct conflicts with other peak Beyond Grade As. More importantly, he did not want to disrupt the Great Director Manison's plans.
"Black Star is indeed very useful, but he's far from experienced. I wouldn't want a youngster to stand above my head." Sierron snorted.
Everyone had different people they wanted to vote for, so they started arguing. Surprisingly, quite a number of people voted for Han Xiao, who was not even here.
After quite some time, someone said, "I think that the management structure should be balanced. The position of the president shouldn't be permanent. They need to be re-elected regularly."
This suggestion was agreed on by most. They only did not want to step up now, but it was certain that being the president would be beneficial once the association became stable. Also, in terms of maintaining balance, no one wished for one person to be the president forever.
This time, Manison looked at Kasuyi, who did not participate much in the discussion. He narrowed his eyes and said with a deep voice, "Vote for me this time. I'll fully support you in the next election."
Hearing this, for some reason, Kasuyi suddenly felt a chill up his spine.
Why do I feel like I'll have to keep my Psychic shield up at all times from now on?
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Chapter 1082 Return
Everyone there was standing at the top of the explored universe. They all had different forces under their command, such as armies, financial groups, and political powers.
These people did not like discussing nonsense, so the issues were solved very quickly. It did not take long for the rough structure of the association to be formed. On the surface, it was a platform to settle conflicts between Beyond Grade As, while internally, it served to unite the Beyond Grade As. The rules, regulations, and reward system all had a brief outline to be fine-tuned accordingly in the future.
At the same time, the official preparations for the organization were brought forward. These initiators started to relay the message to every Beyond Grade A to recruit members. At the same time, they had to choose a location to build the headquarters of the Beyond Grade A Association in the Flickering World, which needed the Black Star Army's help. Also, every Beyond Grade A would have to set up an agency in their territory to serve as embassies. It felt quite similar to the United Nations.
The preparations would have to take about several months. Before the official formation of the association, the management positions had to be decided. Currently, it was in the form of President, Vice President, and the Governing Council.
After their discussion, they decided to set the duration of one term for the president and vice president to be thirty years. One could only hold the position for three terms consecutively at most but would still be able to take on the position of director after stepping down. Once two terms had passed after stepping down, that person would be eligible to be re-elected for president or vice president.
The president had the most responsibilities. He had to both have appeal and the strength to take on pressure from the three Universal Civilizations. Currently, Manison had the most support, but no one would ignore Han Xiao and confirm the president before he returned.
As for the proposal Manison made to break the monopoly on Ultimate Knowledges, the opinions were currently diverted. In the past, the Ultimate Knowledges were only given by the advanced civilizations as a method to woo Beyond Grade A allies. Even if their allies learned them, they were not allowed to easily teach them to others. Han Xiao had experienced that in the past.
If the association turned the Ultimate Knowledge into one of their rewards, it would basically break the three Universal Civilizations' rules, which would cause severe responses from the three Universal Civilizations.
However, if it really worked, rights would be taken back from the advanced civilizations, and the Beyond Grade As would indeed be free from many limitations and become more independent.
This was an unavoidable step to increase the position the Beyond Grade As had in the universe so that the new Beyond Grade As in the future would not have to become allies of the advanced civilizations for Ultimate Knowledges. At the same time, the Beyond Grade A Association would be able to attract newbies much easier, which was extremely beneficial for those peak Beyond Grade As who had the full set of Ultimate Knowledges of their own class.
On this issue, what the people argued about was the timing. Some felt that this should only be carried out once the association had established a firm base, since this was basically directly confronting the three Universal Civilizations, and a new association would not be able to hold against such an intense conflict. Some felt that it should be carried out as soon as possible to regain their rights, emphasizing why this association existed in the first place.
There would be a lot of time to discuss these details. On the other hand, an excuse or opportunity for the outside world was needed to form this association. They planned to contact some Beyond Grade As to fake some conflicts with each other in the next few months and escalate the issues into physical fights. The key point of this plan was the impact it would bring. The Beyond Grade As involved would only be acting, but they would have to make sure that the conflict would damage different organizations.
Not only were they going to have a huge fight in the Flickering World, but they were also going to encourage their own organizations to cause friction in the various Star Fields, once again letting the other organizations realize how much the conflicts between Beyond Grade As could impact others. This way, the public would lean toward hoping the Beyond Grade As would stop fighting, which would set down the path to forming the association. This plan would both give the three Universal Civilizations pressure and face. Neither side wanted to expose the conflict of interests between them to the public.
After the bosses confirmed the strategy, they started executing it very soon. The Flickering World became even more boisterous than before, and the free competition zone became more chaotic. At the same time, Beyond Grade As started having conflicts with each other in various Star Fields at the same time.
Due to the appearance of this phenomenon, the three Universal Civilizations temporarily put their conflicts behind, and the upper echelons held a remote conference together to discuss how to deal with it.
In the completely secured conference room, the remote projections of the federation, church, and dynasty gathered.
The dynasty's Ruler Urranrell, the federation's President Bader, and the church's Pope sat in each corner of the triangular meeting table with their own upper echelons.
In usual times, the three of them fought each other in every way imaginable, but when the explored universe started to become unstable, these three sides would come together and decide the fate of this universe.
Bader looked around and said, "I don't even remember the last time the three of us hosted a meeting like this."
"Of course you don't remember. The last meeting wasn't during your term," the church's Pope said calmly.
Bader gave him a glare but had nothing to say.
The Federation of Light was indeed the one that changed their leader most often. The federation's president had already changed many times before the church's pope even changed once.
"Let's get down to business," Urranrell said expressionlessly. "The unification of the Beyond Grade As is pushed by the big picture. If our objection is too forceful, the Beyond Grade As will strongly repel it. In order to avoid the fate of becoming mere tools, there'll be more new Beyond Grade As in the future who will decide to hide their strength and live a low-profile life. In that case, our efficiency in recruiting allies will increase tremendously. At the same time, recording the total number of Beyond Grade As in the universe will become more difficult."
Bader nodded in agreement. "We have to not let the Beyond Grade As smoothly form that development union or whatnot but not use extreme methods. We'll have to work together. We can't target our own allies, so we shall target each other's. The dynasty will target my allies, I will target the church's, and the church will target the dynasty's allies. This way, we can cause some trouble to some of the Beyond Grade As, especially to those who are still undecided."
"That will only act as an obstacle and make forming the union more difficult. It won't solve the root issue," the Pope said calmly. "If the Beyond Grade As unite as one, they'll have a horrifying amount of influence on all Star Fields. They'll even be able to shake the structure of the entire galactic society."
Bader shook his head and said, "Sadly, it's not possible to clear out all the Beyond Grade As. Not considering how big a price we'll pay, we still have to make sure those extremely powerful individuals exist in this explored universe. They'll apply pressure to those Beyond Grade As who've hidden their strength and escaped to the secondary dimensions, as well as act as a form of insurance for when we explore unknown territories. We never know when we'll run into another unknown advanced civilization, and we can't give up this advantage we have."
"In the calculated model of the galactic society, this is a problem that was bound to show up sooner or later," Urranrell said with a deep voice. "It's just like how the workers formed worker's unions in the early days to protect their own interests. The situation we're facing now is similar, only the targets have changed into special individuals with great strength. Since the exploration era, we've been oppressing them way too much. This day was destined to arrive.
"Therefore, we have to make preparations on both sides. If the formation of the union can't be stopped, we'll have to try to divide them. At their management level, there'll certainly be Beyond Grade As with different opinions and interests, whom we can either bribe or woo to be our eyes and ears. We can then use them to affect the union's decision making."
The pope narrowed his eyes, looked at the two of them, and said, "Speaking of which, the Mechanic Emperor and Black Star are the main ones who initiated this. Their opinions are divided to begin with… Humph, seems like both of your people are difficult to deal with. My Kasuyi is the best as always."
"Manison is very, very ambitious," Bader said with a displeased tone. "In recent years, he's been doing a lot of things behind our backs. It's very possible he wants to be completely out of the federation's control. Frankly, we can't really control him now."
The Pope looked at Urranrell and asked, "What about the dynasty? Your Black Star loves to cause trouble too. Are you going to teach him a lesson?"
"You guys don't have to be concerned with that. We have our own plans for Black Star. The Evolutionary Totem will be sold to the public as promised. You don't have to worry about that," Urranrell said casually.
The dynasty planned on continuing to ease the tension between them and Han Xiao, so they decided to be patient and wait for Gaud to grow till they could solve the technical issue of the Evolutionary Cube. This way, they would be able to reduce Han Xiao's control over the Evolutionary Totem business.
Of course, Urranrell was not going to explain this plan to others.
Seeing this, Bader changed the topic back and said, "Other than dividing them, we'll also have to infiltrate them and not let our people be stopped outside their doors. They want to form the association, so they have to give us some high positions in return and let our people have a say in the management level of their association. Basically, they'll be open spies who'll inform us of what they're up to…"
The three of them discussed the matter for a while, made various proposals for the measures they should take, and slowly came to some agreements.
Time slipped by quickly while the structure of the universe gradually changed.
A few months later, in Black Star Palace…
Buzz!
With a flash of light, three people appeared in the army commander's office. It was Han Xiao, Ames, and the Mysterious Energy Host. They had returned from the secondary dimensions.
The two of their mechanical suits came off automatically. This time, a surprised voice sounded from behind.
"Hmm? You've finally decided to return?"
The two of them turned to look over. It turned out Sylvia was in the room and was lying comfortably in Han Xiao's chair. But now, she instantly jumped up like there were springs in the seat.
Seeing this, Han Xiao joked around and said, "Tsk tsk, not bad. Have you been sitting in my chair the whole time I wasn't here? What are you planning to do, take my position?"
"Of course not, I was just… just…" Sylvia's eyes spun frantically as she blushed trying to find an excuse. Stuttering, she then said, "Ahem, it's just that your chair is very comfortable to sit in."
As she was speaking, her expression suddenly froze as her eyes moved down onto Han Xiao's arm, which was wrapped around Ames' waist. Ames did not, however, reject it as Sylvia would expect. It was as if she was already used to it.
Noticing her look, Ames moved her waist slightly out of Han Xiao's hands. She then raised her hand and touched Han Xiao's cheek. "Busy man, I'm going back to the Shattered Star Ring. Jenny is probably going crazy now."
"Must be tough for you to remember her existence."
Han Xiao smiled. He wanted to grab Ames' hand on his cheeks but was a second too late after Ames had already moved it away. She blinked at him and smiled elegantly.
Then, Ames turned to look at the stunned Sylvia, smiled, and walked out of the room.
Sylvia stood in place, appalled.
These two had only gone for a tour in the secondary dimensions, and now their relationship had already become this much more intimate‽
What happened‽
"You, you guys…"
Hearing this, Han Xiao turned into a serious expression and said, "What 'you guys'? Do you know your priorities? In the days I wasn't here, how have things in the main universe been? What about Hila? What's she doing?"
Seeing Han Xiao's indisputable expression, Sylvia clenched her teeth, suppressed her boiling curiosity, and explained the changes that had occurred in the past few months.
Sometime earlier, Hila had inherited the Underworld dimension and formed a link with it, so she no longer had to stay in the Underworld to charge it. She had returned to the main universe long ago and was now in the free competition zone, continuing the exploration work.
In the recent few months, the heat of the ambush on Hila gradually cooled down. As the exploration progressed further in the free competition zone, many organizations were already going all out. Furthermore, with the 'conflicts' many Beyond Grade As had with each other, it was very boisterous.
The players' level had increased quite a bit too, and their actions gradually grew more organized. Their presence had been steadily growing in the universe. It was said that there were some small to medium organizations that were already calling the players the Cancer of the Universe, which meant things were following the path Han Xiao was familiar with, only that this nickname was not publicly recognized yet.
The dynasty had also sent a lot of messages that were all related to the development union. Since Han Xiao had hidden for a few months, he had managed to dodge the dynasty's direct questioning.
The preparation of the development union was almost complete. Recruitment was basically already done. The three Universal Civilizations had not held back on interfering with their efforts. The two sides had clashed countless times secretly. Many Beyond Grade As received oppression to various extents, which unfortunately for the three Universal Civilizations, was not very effective. Although Han Xiao did not participate directly, his influence impacted it to some extent. With his permission, the Black Star Army had provided quite a lot of help.
Meanwhile, Dark Lord had already escaped from the chaotic space streams and had publicly arrested another neutral Beyond Grade A. As a direct member of the dynasty, lingering in the Flickering World at this time attracted a lot of attention and hostility from many Beyond Grade As.
All these changes, however, did not affect the dynasty's plan to sell the Evolutionary Totems to the public. The army's logistics department had already produced a ton of Evolutionary Totems, waiting for Han Xiao to charge them. Countless organizations' preorders poured in like tsunamis.
Looking through the changes, Han Xiao thought to himself, Looks like things have been going well while I wasn't around. Manison and the other elderlies really are something… Alright, the formation of the development union is now certain. It's time I make a visit.
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