The Legendary Mechanic, page 646
Although a civilization was an entire body, many historical events were usually created by individuals. The presence of the Evolutionary Totem increased the chances for such an individual to appear.
Allowing a species to become more outstanding was the meaning of the Evolutionary Totem. This was not a perfect solution, and there was a reality of despair deep within.
For example, what if a new species that did not conform to the norms of society appeared on a planet ruled by humans? Imagine if this beast was not only stronger but also more intelligent and superior to the human race in every respect. At that time, the humans would no longer be the rulers of the planet, and the technology that they had relied on for many years would be overtaken eventually…
It was far more outstanding than them.
At that time, choosing whether to live together with the new species or kill them would be a tough choice.
Suppressing such a new species would always be filled with blood.
This was the most terrifying part of the Evolutionary Totem and also why the Federation of Light and Arcane Church were not able to watch as the Crimson Dynasty swallowed all the benefits of the Evolutionary Totem for themselves. However, the Universal Civilizations had their own gene modification technology and were thus able to control the desire for battle.
…
Han Xiao borrowed the effects from the battle with Manison to remain low profile and not cause trouble everywhere. He then followed his plan to expand his mechanical army and reinforce his foundation.
This was a path that all Mechanics had to take.
After Manison achieved victory, he also did not do anything else. He returned to the Primeval Star River and did not provoke the Black Star Army again.
With both parties falling silent, the various galactic organizations no longer paid close attention to this matter and shifted their gazes away from Han Xiao.
The first exploration phase had been completed and the Flickering World was currently in the construction phase. Many organizations were watching silently from the side, and the explored universe had entered a calm period.
Although there were still small skirmishes occasionally, there were no large conflicts between the civilizations of the Star Cluster grade and above. It was as though they had a tacit agreement and chose to rest.
The Federation of Light and Arcane Church continued to pressure the Crimson Dynasty in the economic and political fields. Although they had plenty of conflicts, the situation was still under control.
The Crimson Dynasty was under quite a bit of pressure and was still holding in there. There were also voices within the dynasty that were calling for the open sale of the totems, but the voices were still weak.
If a new theme would be created for this era, it would be called ‘exploration and expansion’.
This was not only the development of a single civilization but a new Star Field being absorbed into the map of the explored universe. It was akin to discovering a new continent, and it was enough to change the situation of the entire universe.
Under the influence of such an atmosphere, even the Beyond Grade As chose to remain silent. The battle between Han Xiao and the Mechanic Emperor became the last battle between Beyond Grade As for a long time.
Time then crept slowly in the peace.
…
Galaxy Calendar: Year 716, 17th day of the 1st month.
The blue stargate at Planet Black Gate began glowing, and a middle-sized spaceship was spat out from the center of the stargate.
In the spaceship, a group of youths were standing in front of the window and looking at Planet Black Gate with curiosity.
“Is this the territory of the Black Star Army? We’re finally here!”
“I heard that Black Star has remained in the Flickering World for the past few years. It has been five years since we last heard news about him.”
“That’s right. Do you think we will be able to see Black Star in person?”
“I wonder if he will be like principal Lagi…”
“Shut up! Don’t mention that taboo name!”
Someone grabbed his head and collapsed as though he was having fits.
“Argh! Come and give me a hand! His PTSD syndrome is acting up again!”
The people in the surroundings looked at this pitiful brother of theirs who was suffering from ‘Lagi PTSD’ syndrome.
“Sigh, another one has fallen.”
One of the youths who was about 1.7m tall could not help but laugh bitterly.
“This is too exaggerated. I don’t really think the principal is that scary…”
A young lady who was half a head taller than him rolled her eyes. “Of course you are alright. Why don’t you think about the mental damage that is done to those with poor results?”
The young man then rubbed his head and muttered, “Really? I thought that everyone liked the principal a lot…”
This young man was about sixteen to seventeen years old but looked extremely child-like. He looked like a primary school kid that had not grown up yet and was dressed in the Black Star Army uniform.
The beautiful young lady beside him had a smoking hot figure and was dressed in skintight Pugilist clothing. She looked extremely close to this young man.
Right at this moment, the captain walked over and patted the young man on the shoulders.
“The defense troops are sending a communication request. You can just pick up the call to save us some trouble.”
The young man nodded and pressed a few buttons on the wall of the spaceship. A holographic projection then appeared, and the guard commander of the Black Star Army appeared.
“Which department are you guys from? Why didn’t I receive an application from the army?”
If not for the Black Star insignia on the spaceship, the commander might have given the order to capture the spaceship already.
“We are the first batch of graduates from the Black Star Super Academy. According to the rules of the academy, the graduates can choose to join the training camp and serve the Black Star Army for two to three years. We are here to find a job with the army. It must have been a slip up for you to not be informed.”
“Wait a moment. Let me check.” The commander frowned and searched through his records for a while before saying, “Mmm, there was a special request indeed, but you guys came too late and have long exceeded the appointed time.”
“I’m sorry. This was our first time coming to the Flickering World, and we explored a few different places first. Thus, our journey may have been delayed. You can check the records of the spaceship.”
The commander then ran some checks before nodding. “Hmm, the checks on the spaceship are alright. You guys can come in.”
“Alright, thanks… Right, can you not tell the Army Commander that I am here?”
Upon hearing that, the commander had a strange look on his face.
Just what kind of a background did this youth have?
He then sized up the young man and felt that he was extremely familiar.
“Who are you? What is your relationship with the Army Commander?”
“I am Nero. Black Star is my godfather.” Nero chuckled and a bright smile could be seen on his face. “I am here to give him a surprise!”
Chapter 965. Perfect Mechanical Sense |
The spaceship carrying the fresh graduates of the Black Star Super Academy then arrived at the Sigma Star System to meet Black Star.
Over the past six years, the Black Star Army had invested a large amount of resources and created a second headquarters in the Sigma Star System. It was a gigantic space fortress created by seven mechanical fortresses and a large number of mechanical soldiers. This new headquarters was called ‘Black Star Palace’.
The spaceship arrived at the designated location on the star map, and Black Star Palace appeared in their windows. Upon seeing the magnificent structure before them, the jaws of many of the students dropped in amazement.
Black Star Palace was far more majestic than Floating Dragon Island, which hung in the skies above Planet Aquamarine!
Every mechanical fortress had its own satellite rings of varying angles, surrounding the center like a mini Star System.
At the middle of the structure was a gigantic alloy sphere. It was silvery-black in color, and the surface was smooth like a mirror. It was like a black star that did not give out light.
Everyone accepted some security checks before the spaceship was parked at the dock. The moment Nero disembarked from the spaceship, he immediately saw someone familiar.
“Uncle Feidin‽” Nero was overjoyed, and he immediately ran over.
“Hello Nero.” Feidin smiled and stroked Nero on the head.
“Did you come here specially to wait for me?”
“That’s right. We have not seen each other for five to six years. You’ve grown bigger.” Feidin patted Nero on the head and then lamented. “But it is a pity that you didn’t grow any taller.”
“… Don’t talk about this, and we can still have a good conversation.”
Nero’s face darkened. Being short would be his pain for life.
He had Aurora’s life force energy in him and also drank the dragonblood potion frequently. He should have been extremely tall and did not understand why his development was so slow. His own father did not have the short genes either!
Nero had always suspected that it was the stress from studying that resulted in him being so short and was filled with resentment.
“Speaking of which, Uncle Feidin, you’re still the same as always. You are still so good looking.”
Feidin shook his head and smiled. “This is very normal. A Calamity Grade Super is able to control his own metabolism, and it is extremely simple for me to keep my appearance. Six years to me is like a few months for an ordinary individual.”
At this moment, the Pugilist young lady then walked beside Nero and looked at Feidin with her eyes widened and her face red.
“This is…” Feidin looked over.
“Oh, let me make an introduction. This is Mia Moretto. She is my… my… cough cough, a close female friend of mine. She is one of the best Pugilists of the graduating batch.
“Mia, this is Feidin, a member of the Black Star Guards. He is a senior who watched me grow up. Eh? Why is your face red?”
“In what way is my face red!” Mia immediately held onto her face and became flustered.
She was the skinny little girl that Nero had met on the first day of school at the Black Star Super Academy. After six years of training, she had already transformed into a beautiful swan and was currently filled with energy.
Upon seeing that another young lady was captured by his beauty, Feidin said with a helpless expression, “Hello, I am Feidin.”
“Hello, it is an honor for you to meet me… eh no, it should be my honor.” Mia then shook Feidin’s outstretched arm, and her face turned redder.
Nero looked at Feidin before looking at Mia, and his heart turned extremely sour. He then could not help but cough loudly and break up their handshake before changing the topic.
“Right. Where is my godfather?”
“He already knows that you have arrived. Go and meet him at his throne.”
“Throne?”
“Er, it’s the center of that black sphere.” Feidin chuckled. “Speaking of which, he will definitely check on your progress later. I won’t save you if you don’t pass his test.”
Nero’s neck then shrank back, and he recalled some terrible memories. “I’ve improved a lot, so my godfather should be satisfied.”
“You should ask him yourself. Don’t let him wait for too long. We can chat after you are done.” Feidin smiled and left.
Nero then turned around to look at Mia and realized that she was still staring in the direction that Feidin had left.
“He’s already gone. Are you still looking?”
Mia then retracted her gaze and jabbed Nero’s waist excitedly. “Oi, your uncle is far too charismatic. His smile is truly too charming.”
“Why haven’t you looked at me like this before?” Nero then said with jealousy.
Mia then said with disdain, “How long has it been since you last looked in the mirror. How can you be compared with your uncle?”
Nero was speechless.
His heart truly hurt.
After knowing each other for six years, they were extremely familiar with each other. Mia became much more energetic and open than before, and both of them frequently quibbled with each other. However, their relationship was extremely good, and they were like siblings.
After completing all the necessary checks, they changed into a different spaceship and headed toward the black sphere.
When their spaceship approached the black sphere, pores could be seen on the surface of the sphere. These were the landing orbits for spaceships, and it was just the right size to fit this spaceship.
The spaceship entered the orbit and stopped. Both sides of the orbit were sealed up, and there was no dock.
Just when everyone was in doubt, the door to the side opened up.
Boom!
Countless nanoparticles stretched out to form a dock before their very eyes.
“This dock was constructed on the spot?”
This scene was extremely magical to all the students, and they stepped onto the dock while looking left and right curiously. They realized that there was only a single path that they could take, and the path was surrounded by black alloy walls all around.
Everyone then looked at each other and walked down the path.
The sound of an individual clearing his throat could suddenly be heard, and everyone realized that no one was talking.
The atmosphere became tense, and everyone had a sense of fear toward the unknown before them.
These students were originally extremely excited about coming to meet a bigshot, but this excitement of theirs had become anxiousness and fear.
Although they had not met Black Star yet, they could already feel pressure from all directions.
After walking for a long time, they finally came to the end of the path and arrived at a large circular hall.
In the middle of the hall was a platform with a Divine Mechanical Throne in the middle of the platform. Bolts of blueish gold Mechanical Force could be seen expanding out from the base of the throne and jumping around as though they were dancing.
A black robed man was seated on the throne with an arm supporting his head as though he was in deep thought.
Just a simple glance from this individual made all their legs turn to jelly.
“Your Excellency Black Star.”
“Is this the pressure of a Beyond Grade A? How terrifying…”
Many of them could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, thinking of retreating.
Before they came, they had been looking forward to becoming a Beyond Grade A, but at this moment, many of them realized that this was no more than a dream.
“God… godfather,” Nero greeted carefully.
It has only been a few years since we last met, and my godfather has become so terrifying.
However, his appearance did not change, and he still looked as suave as he did six years ago.
Nero still dared to tease Feidin, but he could not help but be filled with reverence and anxiousness before Black Star, even if Black Star was his godfather.
What is this? Am I really that scary? Han Xiao looked at the expressions of the students and frowned.
He then looked down at the Divine Mechanical Throne and understood what was going on.
I almost forgot that this thing has the effect of increasing my pressure. No wonder these kiddos are all so terrified of me.
Han Xiao retracted his aura and stood up. The pressure then disappeared, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
“You are the first batch of graduates of the academy. Since you have chosen to serve the army, I will welcome all of you on behalf of the army…”
Upon hearing that, the anxiety in their hearts disappeared, and they became excited.
Han Xiao gave the students a round of praises before getting the excited students to take their leave, leaving Nero and Mia behind.
Walking down from the platform, Han Xiao looked at Nero and said, “It isn’t a bad thing for you to be short. Your body will be smaller, and it will be more difficult for the enemy to hit you.”
Nero’s mouth then contorted.
Why did everyone like talking about his height‽
Seeing Han Xiao tease him in such a manner, Nero also became at ease and revealed a smile.
“I haven’t met you for such a long time. I really missed you.”
I didn’t miss you at all, Han Xiao thought to himself.
With the [Observer’s Mark] in his hands, he could spy on Nero whenever he wanted. He was even clear about the average number of times Nero went to the toilet in a day.
Over the past six years, Han Xiao had spent most of his time in the Flickering World, reinforcing his foundation. He had spent most of his experience and increased his level to 303. The rest of his experience went into merging blueprints and his various skills.
His attributes did not go up by much, but his mechanical army had experienced a huge upgrade!
This black spherical planet was a Mechanical Deity formed by his mechanical army!
It maintained the appearance of a planet and was like a black star. Han Xiao would frequently activate this skill and maintain it for a long time to train his control over the Mechanical Deity.
Han Xiao did not remain idle in the area of constructing machines either. He had already set up his Dimension Factory and had honed it many times.
During these six years, the machinery civilization had developed rapidly, and over eighty percent of Planet Apostle was already covered in machinery cities. The mechanical life forms were already in their eighth generation.
Because of the weakening tinder energy, the attributes of the mechanical life forms had an obvious decline from the sixth generation onward. The mechanical life forms in the later generations could only be ‘commoners’ and serve as cannon fodder. This was the restriction of a machinery civilization.
