The Legendary Mechanic, page 904
Ordinarily speaking, the stronger an individual, the greater the number of bottlenecks. However, Karlot was different. All of his bottlenecks would be during his pre-growth phase, and he would face fewer and fewer bottlenecks the stronger he grew. Past a certain point, his combat strength would snowball until he reached the peak of the grade. If he entered a new grade, he would have to restart the entire process again.
Karlot’s growth after every evolution in grade would be excruciatingly slow, and this also resulted in a firm foundation. In Han Xiao’s previous life, Karlot was an extremely famous Pugilist. His status within the Pugilist world was like the Mechanic Emperor’s status within the Mechanic world.
This little brat’s nickname in his previous life was the one and only ‘Martial Deity’!
Furthermore, [Everlasting Martial Path] could also strengthen all of Karlot’s Pugilist skills. It did not only increase the level of his skills but also adjusted his skills in a subtle manner as though the skills were tailor made for him. [Everlasting Martial Path] was a one-of-a-kind talent that could meld all kinds of Pugilist theories and school of thoughts together into one.
Han Xiao had never seen this talent in any other Pugilist before. If not for the lack of a suffix, Han Xiao would have thought that it was a talent unique to Karlot.
However, although the talent was extremely overpowered, it was useless to Han Xiao since he was not a proper Pugilist.
“I still need to find a teacher for him. Although there are plenty of Pugilists in the army, they are all of the Calamity Grade and a little too weak…” A few figures flashed through his head. “It’d be best if I find a Beyond Grade A to teach Karlot. Of all the people I know, the most suitable one should be Silver Shadow. These two individuals were good friends in my previous life and should have pretty good chemistry with each other. Silver Shadow should be a good teacher for him.”
Han Xiao stroked his chin.
After thinking for a while, he realized that he still had a few other backup choices. For example, he could hire some Pugilist teachers from the Underworld or let Gorutan out temporarily to teach Karlot.
With his current strength, Gorutan would not be too much of a threat to him. Furthermore, he should also let Gorutan out for fresh air once in a while, lest Gorutan ended up dying in the Spacetime Amber.
Karlot was the first individual who he poached from the three Universal Civilizations, and he would not be the last. Although the others did not have as much potential as Karlot, Han Xiao would not let go of them either.
He pondered while walking back to the office. After reaching the office, Han Xiao temporarily placed the matter aside and summoned Phillip to settle the affairs of the army.
He needed to arrange the posts of these Beyond Grade A seeds. There was another large group of Supers joining the army, and the HR department was currently filtering through the applicants.
After settling all these matters, Han Xiao took out his communicator to surf the net and let out a soft snort.
“There are definitely some high-grade Civilizations fanning the flames, hoping that the entire world will fall into chaos.”
There were rumors on the net that the Beyond Grade A Association would eventually unite the Super community and become the fourth ruler of the universe apart from the three Universal Civilizations. These rumors were intentionally created to push the association to the peak before finding an opportunity to kick them down back into the ravine.
Although the method was old fashioned, the effect was pretty good. As long as they could mislead the general public, this simple method would be extremely effective.
The current rumors surrounding the association were not a good sign for them. Being in the spotlight would put them on the opposite side of the three Universal Civilizations. Together with words like ‘the fourth ruler of the universe’, it was akin to grilling them over fire.
With the heated discussion on the net, it was not an appropriate time for Han Xiao to make a stand. Furthermore, even if the mastermind continued to fan the flames, the galactic residents would have a limited attention span toward a single event and be attracted by something else eventually.
Han Xiao knocked on the desk and pondered.
“The Beyond Grade A seeds have already entered the association and the high-grade civilizations gave up on the plan to cleanse the universe. The status quo should be maintained for the time being… I need some time to reorganize the association and collect keys. The three Universal Civilizations also need time to study the Sanctum Revival method and probably won’t do anything in the short run. Furthermore, they also have to prevent the Super Star Cluster Civilizations from creating trouble. Everyone needs time and will thus choose to maintain the current peace…”
Before having sufficient confidence, the three Universal Civilizations would not adopt extreme measures against the association and would only deal with Beyond Grade A seeds. The way Han Xiao saw it, the universe would still be peaceful for a while.
This peace would probably be maintained until the players returned.
“It has already been fifty years, and Version 5.0 is about to be activated. Because of my influence, the current situation is different from the Calamity of the Supers in my previous life. I wonder what the players will do.”
Han Xiao stroked his chin and fell into thought.
…
In the Central Galaxy, within the Crimson Dynasty Science Institute’s Wormhole Position Project Office, the research team leader walked into the conference room, where the researchers were waiting for him.
Compared to a couple of decades ago, most of the researchers had either retired or been transferred out. Thus, it was a set of new faces.
The team leader then looked around slowly and said, “The dynasty has issued an internal document to push forward technological research and provide information to the Sanctum Revival team. Every department will be receiving a large increase in funds.”
Upon hearing that, all the researchers were excited.
Research was extremely capital intensive, and the wormhole project was not as important as the other research projects. Ever since the start of the Flickering War, this project had been trying to sustain itself on a low budget.
When the cooperation between Han Xiao and the dynasty was in the honeymoon phase, the dynasty listened to Han Xiao’s suggestion and stopped the research on the wormhole coordinates to focus on dealing with the Super Star Cluster Alliance.
After the war, the wormhole project should have been back on track, but something went wrong along the way.
After the war, the dynasty was busy tying up loose ends, and the upper echelons did not continue the project. Perhaps because they forgot or wanted to be on the safe side, the project was never continued after that. After all, the location of the wormhole was only a small matter to the dynasty. Apart from the officials and researchers in charge of the project, there was almost no one who paid any attention to the project.
It was extremely normal for subordinates to follow the attitude of their superiors. With the attitude of the upper echelons being unclear, the researchers had plenty of apprehensions and did not dare take a risk. As such, they would rather play it safe. They did not ease up on the wormhole project, which resulted in a large amount of data that was still at the approval phase.
Such a situation had continued for a few years because of the ambiguous attitude from the upper echelons.
After a few decades, most of the original research staff had been transferred to other departments with the new research staff being inexperienced newcomers.
Throughout the Science Institute, the wormhole project was not the only team facing such a situation. There were projects being cancelled every year and also new projects being set up.
It was not uncommon for there to be factions within the Science Institute, relying on connections to obtain funding. As an organization grew larger, such occurrences were common, and the three Universal Civilizations were no exception.
The research team leader then gave out some instructions before leaving, leaving behind a room of excited researchers.
“We finally don’t have to be a team on the periphery.”
“Hurry up and report all the backlog data. We can finally make some proper progress in our research.”
“We have not submitted our equipment procurement list for this year yet. Quickly change it and purchase more long-distance space detection needles.”
…
Just as what Han Xiao had predicted, after failing to ambush the Beyond Grade A seeds, the three Universal Civilizations and Super Star Cluster Alliance showed some restraint. At Han Xiao’s orders, the association also did not openly announce the truth behind the Beyond Grade A seeds affair. It was as though they intentionally forgot about it.
Apart from fanning the flames on the web, the three parties maintained their current equilibrium and did not engage in open conflict. They were currently accumulating their strength and preparing various different means to deal with their enemies.
Perhaps the Super Star Cluster Alliance had thought about creating trouble but was not able to find the appropriate opportunity.
Although both parties had not erupted in open hostility, in the eyes of the public, the three Universal Civilizations and the association were on opposite sides with the thick smell of gunpowder ready to be ignited at any time.
Although the Super Star Cluster Alliance was frequently on the losing end, they were pretty professional at fanning flames. This was just like the saying of a prolonged illness making the patient a good doctor.
Under the calm silence of the universe was the raging undercurrent. The three Universal Civilizations gradually stopped their cooperation with the various Beyond Grade A organizations and also came up with some business strategies to suppress the association. Under Han Xiao’s reorganization, the association also gradually became more independent.
With the Super Star Cluster Civilizations fanning the flames from the background, practically the entire universe knew that the conflict between the three Universal Civilizations and association would not be settled peacefully.
A year slowly passed.
On Galaxy Calendar Year 782, Version 5.0 was activated again, and the players were back online!
Chapter 1270: Black Star“s Era ! |
In an office of Black Star Palace, Han Xiao leaned back in his chair, staring at the clock as he silently awaited the prompt that signaled the new version beginning. Time slowly ticked by second after second.
In this past year, the three Universal Civilizations and the association’s relationship had dropped to a freezing point. The dynasty had not contacted him for a whole year now.
The three Universal Civilizations had issued an announcement a year ago that they had started studying the Sanctum Revival method. There was no follow-up news, and no one knew what stage they had reached. It seemed like their results were not too impressive.
On the side of the Holy Accord, they were still collecting the keys in secret. While they did not possess the intelligence channels of the three Universal Civilizations, causing the materials to be harder to collect, the problem was not big. It would just cost them more money and time. Now that the Holy Accord had more of the recipes of how to create keys, there were more opportunities for them, but a mere year was not enough to collect another key.
On the other hand, the military of the three Universal Civilizations had mobilized recently, seemingly getting ready to set off. This caught the attention of Han Xiao and the other members of the association, causing the atmosphere in the universe to become more tense.
The players’ return at this time could thus be considered timely.
Han Xiao rubbed the back of his palm as his eyes flashed.
“The time when the players come online will be my opportunity to quickly reach level 360. With the current deadlock in the situation, if I manage to break through my personal power level, it might serve as a turning point, becoming the entry ticket to breaking this entire game.”
The stalemate was exactly what he had predicted and what he wanted. Were it not for the Sanctum Revivals and the massive increase in strength of the association, perhaps the Calamity of the Supers would have long broken out like in his previous life. Right now, he was only suppressing it.
While the situation was akin to a gunpowder keg, which would result in a greater explosion the more he suppressed it, nothing was absolute. In his opinion, there were only a few opportunities to break the game. If he succeeded, he would really eliminate the Calamity of the Supers and prevent it from evolving into a large-scale war.
His current methods were all to stall time for the Holy Accord. Han Xiao was equally clear that there would be a battle between both sides, and the association would naturally have more casualties. This was his opportunity. As long as the unlimited counts of the Sanctum Revival were revealed by that time, most of their problems would be solved. The Sanctum Revival key was a necessity to break this game.
On this basis, he could use a higher level of personal power to frighten the three Universal Civilizations and also attract Beyond Grade A members. That would be killing two birds with one stone.
Just as he was analyzing his options, the long silent interface finally had some movement. There was a notification of a new update just like what the players would receive.
_____________
Version 5.0 Activated!
Fetching data… Fetching data complete!
Player Forum Opened.
Welcome to ‘Galaxy’ Version 5.0—Black Star’s Era!
_____________
“Hmm?” Han Xiao was stunned.
Why was the version not ‘Calamity of the Supers’‽
And it even used his name!
In the previous four versions, while he was a little butterfly flapping its wings and causing an impact, compared to the general trend of the universe, it was miniscule, still moving along with the changes in time.
But this time was different. He had single-handedly created a tornado with a flap of his wings, causing himself to become the pioneer of the changing times. Thus, even the name of this version had changed…
This also showed how important his position was in the universe at the moment, as well as his pivotal role in this storm.
“Even my name has been included into the version update. This is superb.”
Han Xiao’s expression twitched, before he revealed a perverted smile.
What was prestige and face? This was!
If the players saw this… heh, this was equivalent to a super compound fertilizer that would help him farm his leeks!
“It’s been fifty years. I really miss my cute little… moneybags.”
Han Xiao raised his brows, calling out the surveillance of the great hall and observing the situation.
…
At this moment, countless white lights flashed in the lobby of Black Star Palace’s great hall, and the large number of players that had been away for fifty years finally returned online.
The originally cold and empty great hall was suddenly packed to the brim, full of liveliness. Countless players were excitedly whooping and shouting.
“Wahaha, this master is back! Countless stars, prepare to tremble under my feet, for my huge cannon’s hunger and thirst can no longer be suppressed!”
“Dammit, it’s already the fifth version, so why is there still a bug that prevents us from stripping? Lousy!”
“Hehe, I can immediately tell that you’re not a pioneer. To this day, you’re still hung up over the fact that clothes cannot be taken off. You’re behind the times brother! Do you know the meaning of ‘clothes on the body but naked in the mind’? This older brother’s realm is one that you cannot hope to fathom!”
“How long has passed since the last version? I don’t see any changes in the base. It seems like we weren’t gone for too long.”
The crowd chattered and gossiped, opening their interfaces. Immediately came the shocked gasps.
“Hurry and take a look at the version’s name! I’m shooketh!”
“F*ck, the name of Version 5.0 is actually Black Star’s Era?”
“What the hell has he done during the update!”
The countless army players opened their eyes wide.
No one expected that their faction leader would actually turn into the main topic of this version!
Based on the impressions of the players, the version name indicated what the Main Storyline would be. In the previous few versions, it was either a disaster or a changing of the time, but to think that they would actually put a character as the Main Storyline!
What prestige!
Many of the players began to tremble with excitement, their hearts filled with strong curiosity—just what exactly did their Army Commander do during their absence‽
The bunch of professional players that just came online were equally shocked.
Frenzied Sword immediately opened up the calendar. What he saw made him suck in a deep breath.
“The version update actually took a whole fifty years this time!”
Everyone immediately turned to look at the date, full of surprise and shock.
“Wow, really fifty years!”
“I remember when we went offline, it was in the Year 734. Right now, it’s 782!”
“The span is too huge, more than double the previous updates.”
“I don’t even know if my wife Sylvia is still alive…”
“Do you want to eat sh*t? She’s obviously my wife!”
“Quickly, go on the internet and check, see what the situation is right now.”
The players immediately took out their communicators to search, wanting to check what exactly happened during the time they were away.
Following their searches, the news that the Flickering War had ended decades ago appeared on their pages, leading to more surprised gasps.
