The Legendary Mechanic, page 82
Players who saw this scene were shocked. The scene was very impactful. It was as if a dwarf was throwing a normal person over their shoulders.
Han Xiao was elated to find out how strong his body was. His fists landed on a wolf like a pile driver with solid thuds. Every punch was filled with power that dealt damage right into the wolves’ lungs. A wolf was flung away, but it would get up and lunge again, only to be flung away once more. The place that was hit would be marked with a deep purple bruises.
The wolves began to crowd in to protect the Wolf King. Han Xiao’s view was filled with wolves that were attacking him with claws and fangs from all angles. The retractable armor clashed with the sharp claws, and sparks were flying. Han Xiao could barely hold the weight of the wolves off from all sides, let alone move.
It’s indeed very difficult to kill and get through the beast crowd. Han Xiao changed his plan and activated the Repulsive Force Generator, which sent a pushing force out and flung all the surrounding wolves into the wolves at the back.
With his path cleared, Han Xiao pushed with his foot and turned up the speed of his hover-boots. Wind was howling as he approached in the Wolf King at high speed. He blocked off the ferocious attacks from the Wolf King, grabbed the wolf’s head, and twisted it, throwing it to the ground. He pressed his knee tightly against the wolf’s stomach and pressed on its head with his left hand. Clenching his right fist, it landed right on the wolf’s head. The Wolf King’s head was crushed after a few punches. Blood spilled everywhere.
Every time he punched, the power surging through his muscles, tendons, and bones was like a tight bow that stored great strength. It was greatly satisfying to feel at ease and in control of such great strength.
A Wolf’s critical region was their stomach, but Han Xiao preferred attacking the head more.
After a few punches, the Wolf King was only a few breaths away from death. The wolf pack was howling and had all abandoned the enemies to attack Han Xiao. A huge pack of wolves piled on top of him like a small hill. Han Xiao was pressed against the floor.
The pungent wolf smell filled Han Xiao’s nostrils, and his face became scrunched up. He was almost choking. His sharp sense allowed him to identify the components of the smell.
Wolves’ urine, soil, sweat, dried excrement, and… Eh‽
Chapter 152. A Melee Mechanic Is the Best |
Pushing on the ground with both hands, he managed to support the weight of the huge pack of wolves on his back. Each wolf weighed at least eighty kilograms. While it was very taxing, Han Xiao finally spotted an opening and quickly tumbled out, simultaneously pulling out a hand grenade from his clothes and tossing it underneath the pack of wolves.
Boom!
A muffled sound erupted, and fragments of the grenade shot out with the flames caused by the explosion. The pack of wolves howled mournfully as fresh blood gushed out from their bodies. Han Xiao’s armor was also splattered red. Staggering as he stood up, his hand brushed past his side as he brandished a foldable machete that had undergone many modifications. It was newly improved and could be said to be a royal-edition.
Han Xiao nimbly sprinted through the pack of wolves, his blade slashing through his enemies, bringing waves of fresh blood along his path. The venomous poison spat out by the purple-scaled python could not catch up to his footwork. With a flash of his blade, he sliced off the snake’s head. The blade wound where the snake was decapitated was as smooth as a mirror, with fresh blood spurting continuously as the headless snake convulsed uncontrollably on the floor.
All the wild beasts rushed toward him. Purely by borrowing the speed from the Skating Shoes and the defense from the magnetically controlled retractable armor, he could single-handedly massacre the flock of beasts. The players were left to the side-lines as they could only stare in shock and bewilderment as Han Xiao killed every beast that came his way.
He was a Mechanic, so how did he end up in a melee close-range fight?
The players’ eyes were all drawn to Han Xiao’s elegant fighting style. It was undeniable that he was really suave. He was redefining the way most of them viewed Mechanics!
It turned out that it was not true that Mechanics could only fight long-distance. Their close-quarter combat skill was also of note and could be very aggressive. Also, they had a clear style of close-quarter combat that was distinctly different from pugilists.
Frenzied Sword finally came online as he arrived at the outskirts of the town, out of breath. Seeing the situation with the wild beasts, it was also his first time watching Han Xiao display his skills. In that moment, he felt that he had found his guiding light. This was exactly the fighting style that he loved! One can tell just by looking at his ID!
Choosing to follow Han Xiao was definitely the best decision! Frenzied Sword could barely suppress his excitement; he really did make the right choice back then!
Not only Frenzied Sword, but a lot of other players were influenced by what has been going on in the forums. Players who were contemplating on whether to change classes began to take interest in Mechanics again.
After killing however many wolves and snakes, Han Xiao’s field of vision suddenly cleared. He realized that the wolf pack was gradually withdrawing amid whimpers, and the group of purple-scaled pythons fled as well. Soon, the wild pack of beasts had all retreated, leaving corpses strewn across the floors, soaking the ground in bright-red blood.
He exhaled a breath and wiped off the traces of blood left on his armor. With his stats, dealing with such low-level beasts would leave them completely crushed. He still had forty percent of his stamina left.
Mechanics rarely fought their enemies by close-combat. However, doing this occasionally did make him feel refreshed. Rather than using a fighting style that relied on sniping, which would lead to an instant death with each shot, this kind of real fist fighting feeling was much more suitable for destressing.
Green Valley Ville’s guards came out to clean up the battlefield, carrying the dead corpses of the wild beasts back to the town as food supplies. Han Xiao rejected Bashas’ repeated invitation. Under the eyes of the excited players, he returned to his original position indifferently, pretending to rest as he closed his eyes.
The interface indicated that the mission was complete. Also, he killed over a hundred beasts, obtaining more than 20,000 EXP points in total. As his own level was much higher than his massacred targets, the EXP points he gained would be cut down by a lot, but no matter how small it was, it was EXP nonetheless. The almighty Mechanic Han would not mind it at all. The main purpose behind this fight was to test his current reflexes and to have a clearer understanding on his physical caliber. Only by doing that could he take care of smaller details in future battles and perform at his best. Another reason was that he wanted to continue to show off a Mechanic’s abilities. He realized that Esper players often showed off their coolest abilities, but new Mechanic players were still a minority. He guessed that Mechanics would become a class that would be questioned, so he wanted to shift the players’ focus from Espers by showing them how Mechanics could be great players too.
Opening the forum, Han Xiao realized that there were players who had uploaded a video footage of the fight just now. The title was shocking.
“Overpowered! Mechanics can actually fight like this!”
The recording showed Han Xiao almost single-handedly conquering a wild-beast fight. The visuals were very impactful. In the past, he had mainly used sniping, killing his enemies in one shot, or used his turrets’ and rovers’ high firepower, but he had never showed off his individual fighting ability. This time, he highlighted this, and the real-time comments and replies mostly conveyed shock and amazement.
But he realized that below the post, there was a reply that was manually pushed up. Looking at the ID, it was Luzman. His tone was as harsh as before.
“Black Phantom is indeed very strong, I won’t deny that, but Mechanics are really trash. Look carefully at the start of the video. Espers are the central force when fighting with wild beasts, and those players who advanced to become Mechanics can only sit at the side and fire aimlessly without a single use for them.
“I presume this clip was probably recorded by a Mechanic. Other than the Mechanics who can be idling at one side, I guess no other players would have this kind of time in an actual fight…
“Also, stop sharing Black Phantom’s videos, this asshole wants to trick me into becoming a Mechanic again!”
As he continued down the post, the replies split into those who supported Luzman and those who disagreed with him.
Han Xiao smacked his lips. He was a little annoyed. Luzman held onto that point and had been smearing his reputation. This would be a hindrance to his business. The players’ attention was drawn toward this discussion. His display of abilities seemed to be less impactful now. With Han Xiao’s rich experience in discussion, with one look, he could tell that Luzman was a keyboard warrior who posted derogatory comments everywhere to trigger fights online.
Scratching his head, Han Xiao did not really have a good solution to this. This was a discussion that would obviously come up, just like picking between sweet tofu or salty tofu. As long as nobody restricted it, there was no way to stop others from commenting online.
But I’m only an NPC now. Even if I showed off my abilities, it isn’t enough to get more people to believe in Mechanics. There isn’t anything else that I can do either; it’s not like I can go in front of the players and shout ‘I’m actually a player’… Han Xiao felt helpless.
The NPC template was his secret that he did not want to disclose. From the perspective of a player though, seeing an NPC shout “I’m a player” would only cause them to feel curious and amused. Not many would believe it to be true, and most would think that it was an easter egg or a character design, just like Deadpool.
There were some simulation games in the past where fictional characters inside would say that they knew of the players’ existence, but who would believe it to be true? Those who really did believe it had already been corrected by Yang Technologies.
The smell of blood had yet to fade away. Frenzied Sword, who had run over from a distance away, attracted the attention of the players. Galaxy Times had announced his movements, and Frenzied Sword had gained some short-lived fame. He was recognized in a moment.
The players around them began whispering to one another, looking in envy.
“Isn’t that the professional gamer mentioned by the program? He has a picture on the promotional ad.”
“He really does have a special relationship with Black Phantom.”
“I want to unlock a hidden quest with the Black Phantom, too.”
Frenzied Sword waddled over to Han Xiao’s side.
Han Xiao regarded this player, who had some potential, well. It was alright to embarrass Frenzied Sword in front of NPCs, but he did not have the heart to do so in front of the crowd of players. No matter what, Frenzied Sword was also a professional gamer, and his image was very important.
Han Xiao randomly assigned some regular mission. When Frenzied Sword received the mission, his face was overcome with disappointment.
“Collect materials? That’s so boring. You might as well tell me to dance.”
Han Xiao’s lips curved up. Habits were indeed scary.
Just then, a player walked over. The ID above his head read ‘Laughing Blade’. He asked, “Frenzied Sword?”
Once Frenzied Sword saw this person, his face fell as he dryly replied, “It’s you. So, you’re here to play Galaxy as well. Why aren’t you playing Knight anymore?”
“Haha, it’s not challenging enough,” Laughing Blade said half-mockingly.
Some players recognized Laughing Blade.
“Isn’t that the professional gamer, Laughing Blade?”
“I heard he was one of the top three players in Knight; he even won two championships before.”
Laughing Blade enjoyed the players’ surprise thoroughly. His eyes hid feelings of condescension as he looked at Frenzied Sword.
In the past, Frenzied Sword had also been a professional gamer in Knight. In official competitions, he had suffered countless defeats to Laughing Blade, and his fame was far from that of Laughing Blade.
Laughing Blade saw the rewards assigned to Frenzied Sword on Galaxy Times and realized that his old opponent was better-off than him. Feeling green from jealousy, he intentionally came to stir up trouble. After a few words, he pretended to ask casually, “Since we’ve met, let’s have a PVP duel. I’m an Esper, what about you?”
“… Mechanic.”
Frenzied Sword was slightly hesitant. Even though he was under Han Xiao’s mentorship, his current Mechanic abilities were very unsuited for battle. Subconsciously, he wanted to reject the duel.
Unexpectedly, Laughing Blade suddenly said, “Since we’ve known each other for so many years, let’s have a friendly duel. You can’t possibly reject a small request like this, or do you look down on me?”
Frenzied Sword was speechless. Those words made it hard for him to reject. There was no need to have a falling out with someone in the same industry over something small like this.
Laughing Blade laughed coldly in his mind. He had said that because he was afraid that Frenzied Sword would reject the deal. He wanted to have a duel with Frenzied Sword only because he had gained some popularity on Galaxy.
Once he obtained some fame, it made him easy to become someone else’s prey.
If he were to defeat Frenzied Sword, he could probably tone down the latter’s popularity. For a professional gamer who had attended a program to be defeated by him, he could become a little more famous as well.
Laughing Blade was very confident. He felt that an awakened Esper was quite strong. His elementary application was a rock-earth fusion armor that was suitable for defense. It was strong against pistols, so he felt that his chances of winning were quite high.
Even if he were to lose, he could test the gap between them. Anyway, at this point, they would not die. Laughing Blade felt that this deal only had benefits to him, and he would not have any losses.
Also… he looked toward Black Phantom, who was standing at one side, his gaze lighting up.
If Frenzied Sword can unlock a hidden quest, I’ll give it a try too!
Chapter 153. Controlling Behind the Scenes |
Han Xiao watched with interest from the side. Laughing Blade? No impression of him. Probably not important enough in Galaxy.
Frenzied Sword would eventually become a Legendary player in the future, but right now, he was bowing his head to Laughing Blade. This scene left him feeling nostalgic. For some reason, it brought him back to those days in the past, when he first started. Back then, there was a point in time when his power-levelling business was dwindling. To find other ways to get income, he had entered a small office to help them mine gold to earn some rewards. That office often forced him to work over-time and cut his pay. Asking them about pay would only elicit answers that were nothing short of excuses.
The office’s boss took advantage of being a business owner. When Han Xiao asked about his pay for the ninth time and started arguing with him, the boss told him that if he wanted to continue, he could; if he was not going to continue, he could just scram. If he continued to complain, then he would PK him until his level reached 0.
What else could Han Xiao do, he was also very exasperated. All he could do was to use his main account to show the boss why the business was doing so well. For a few weeks, he massacred all the players in the office till it suffered heavy losses and was on the verge of closing down. Then, he earned a reasonably large amount of reimbursement in exchange for his emotional losses.
In-game blackmailing was not illegal.
Aye, the happy times are gone, there’s no turning back. Han Xiao puffed as he smoked. As he overcame his obstacles, he could only appreciate it now because of his past experiences.
Frenzied Sword could only accept Laughing Blade’s request. Currently, he was LV 11, way ahead of average players’ levels. Other than a Mechanic’s repairing and reinforcement skills, he could only use basic shooting and fighting skills.
Han Xiao had complete understanding of Frenzied Sword’s fighting abilities. With a flash in his eyes, he called out to Frenzied Sword. “Come here.”
Frenzied Sword was a little confused as he followed orders accordingly. Han Xiao took off his thermo-electrical incisor gloves, secretly giving them to him.
With a look at the gloves’ stats, Frenzied Sword’s breathing stopped for a moment, his face overcome with shock and surprise.
“I’m only lending them to you; you have to return them.” Han Xiao erased Frenzied Sword’s unrealistic hopes.
Frenzied Sword was still very touched. It was the right decision to suck up to Han Xiao, he could even receive such a benefit! Is it because he’s afraid that I’ll lose, making him lose face?
Putting on the gloves, Frenzied Sword had a greater sense of confidence. Standing fifteen meters apart from Laughing Blade, both of them braced themselves, getting ready to attack.
Nearby, players began crowding around to watch the show. They were mainly curious about Frenzied Sword and wanted to see the difference between a professional gamer who had his name reported on the system and a regular player.
“Even if he is a professional player, he should be about the same level in these early stages.”
“With only a few basic abilities, he probably can’t show off his mechanic abilities as well.”
“I think there’s an advantage in these early stages. Maybe he’s practiced fighting before in real-life, or he’s someone who was in the military. After all, the controls here are so realistic.”
The players murmured to one another.
With a low cry, Laughing Blade made the first move, launching himself forward. With every step, the sand on the ground wrapped itself around his calves and snaked up to his body, forming a sandstone armor covering his body.
