“Alright, no need to be aggressive. I can agree to that.”
Silver Shadow nodded before suddenly saying, “Just sparring itself is pointless. Shall we have a bet as well?”
Han Xiao was curious. “What do you want to bet?”
“I wish to borrow the Evolution Cube. If I gain the advantage or even win in this battle, please accede to my request. If I lose, I can fulfil any request you have of me, so long as it does not cross the line.”
“Done. It’s a small matter.” Han Xiao nodded. He did not lose out in any way.
At this moment, the cold-faced Clotti opened his mouth. “Go fight outside the Psionic Seal Ring. Don’t fight near the mother planet.”
Hearing this, Han Xiao suddenly felt a strange feeling in his heart.
You seem to have also said this the previous time, and it was even the exact same wording. You just came here to be a referee, right?
…
Urranrell stood by the window at the office within Tarunamir Palace. She raised her head to see a group of Beyond Grade As rising like spaceships, disappearing beyond the horizon.
“Ruler, have Black Star and the rest left?”
There were several other upper echelons within that room, consisting mostly of advocates of the Evolution Cube being handed over. Among them was the hawk faction Bekorodi, as well as Ludwell, who previously owed Han Xiao a favor.
Urranrell turned around, indifferently commenting, “Hmm. It seems that Clotti said they went beyond the Psionic Seal Ring to battle.”
“That…” Bekorodi mused for a while before saying, “Your Excellency Ruler, what do you think of our plan then?”
Urranrell’s brow creased. “Gaud’s ability is indeed the first of its kind, but we can’t even do anything with our techniques. Are you sure of the success?”
“Right now, no.” Bekorodi shook his head. “He only told me that, as long as he reaches the Beyond Grade A level, his Esper ability will allow him to analyze the principle behind the Evolutionary energy. You also know how miraculous the powers of Espers are.”
“Beyond Grade A…” Urranrell shook her head. “He thinks that he will reach that realm for sure? Even so, how long does he even need?”
“Not sure. We can only wait.”
Hearing this, Urranrell could not help but fall into silence.
Seeing this Bekorodi could not help but push some more. “Your Excellency, this is a good chance. Black Star has already proved that it is nigh impossible for the dynasty to obtain the Evolution Cube from him. We cannot use any domineering methods against him, but if we can dissect and analyze the energy ourselves and replicate it, Black Star will have no excuses. This is not offending him, and he has no grounds to forbid us studying the Evolution Cube, so even if he’s dissatisfied, he can’t do anything!”
“I know.” Urranrell’s brows were still furrowed. “But Gaud’s request is for him to come into contact with the actual body of the Evolution Cube. If his goal is discovered by Black Star, this may anger him.”
“This is a small risk, but we’re not trying to snatch the cube, so it isn’t so serious. Furthermore, Gaud has always been someone our dynasty supports, so it is natural that we provide him the quota for the Evolution Cube.”
Urranrell was still hesitant. The Evolution Cube was Black Star’s, and the dynasty could not snatch it, but it would be a different matter if they managed to create one themselves.
From a personal viewpoint, Urranrell did not have any problems with Black Star and was even pleased with his performance.
However, as the Ruler, she had to consider the issue from the standpoint of the dynasty. The benefits of the Evolutionary Totems were too great, and they had to be recharged every decade or so. Allowing an ‘outsider’ to monopolize it was not something the dynasty was comfortable with.
“This is not necessarily to snatch away the interests of Black Star but to prevent the outcome of Black Star losing the Evolution Cube some day. It’s better for the dynasty to study the mystery of the Evolution Cube in advance as a backup.” Bekorodi struck while the iron was hot.
“He makes sense,” Ludwell added.
Speaking of whom, Ludwell had owed Han Xiao a favor, but in previous years, he had taken the initiative to invest within the Shattered Star Ring, suppressing the Limitless Financial Group, which was in a way repaying his favor.
Today, he did not go against Bekorodi but rather supported this plan. It was not because he had issues with Han Xiao, but rather, from a professional viewpoint… the success rate of this proposal seemed quite high.
Urranrell thought for a while longer before sighing and replying, “Bekorodi, Black Star will come over later. You can use your name to invite him to discuss the matter of exchanging the Evolution Cube with something else one last time.
“If he still rejects, then put that plan into motion. Remember, the fewer people who know about this, the better. This is especially so for Black Star. If he finds out, he will definitely think of ways to prevent it.”
Hearing this, Bekorodi and the others in the room had expressions of joy and immediately nodded in response.
“Understood.”
Chapter 995 - Exchange Three for One?
It did not take long for the whole group of Beyond Grade As to arrive outside the Psionic Seal Ring, and the group chose an uninhabited area for the battlefield.
Han Xiao and Silver Shadow separately from the group, facing each other. The other Beyond Grade As stayed outside the battlefield and chatted animatedly, with Lotus Swordsman even building a mental network for them to communicate.
“To actually choose Black Star as his opponent, I’m not sure how long this Silver Shadow can last.” Viru shook his head.
“Even if he beat Kohler, his authority would be second last,” Lotus Swordsman indifferently replied. “Instead, he might as well choose Black Star. As long as he can pose problems for Black Star, the effect will definitely be better than fighting Kohler.”
Kohler frowned. While this is the truth, can you be less hurtful in your comments my friends!
Ravenlaude pondered, “Silver Shadow seems to have quite a lot of confidence. Maybe he has some special talent.”
“I heard he’s a pugilist, but he looks more like an Esper.”
“I’ve checked through his history, and his speed is the astonishing factor. I heard that he even has some special flying skills, allowing him to continuously accelerate to warp speed. It seems like he has a void bloodline.” Maximiler pointed to Silver Shadow in the distance. “Furthermore, look at his body surface using microscopic vision. The seemingly smooth silver surface is actually covered with extremely small mana circuits, which most likely come from the Beyond Grade A mages of the Sea of Star Spirits.”
Hearing this, the Beyond Grade As all adjusted their vision and entered their microscopic view, and they discovered that there was indeed a dense energy circuit covering Silver Shadow, much like a semi-invisible tattoo.
“There are several Beyond Grade A mages residing within the Sea of Star Spirits, but such an insane way of inscribing magic circuits should belong to the [Secret Master] of the Elderly Association. While the Secret Master is one of the controllers of behind the scenes of the galactic black market, he belongs to the neutral faction. Still, his fees are not cheap, so it seems like Silver Shadow must’ve bled quite badly.”
Ravenlaude got unhappy. “What Elderly Association? It’s called the Ancient Ones!”
Lotus Swordsman was focused on another point, and she squinted. “He has too many enchantments on his body. To be able to withstand such a load, his fleshly body should be quite strong.”
“Oh, this is indeed the case,” Beyoni said in resignation. “However, no matter how strong his fleshly body is, can it be stronger than Black Star’s?”
“Good point.”
With Han Xiao as a shining example, no one was surprised anymore when they saw any meat shields.
“Speaking of which, ever since his batt
le with the Mechanic Emperor, Black Star has not fought anyone in the past twenty years. After reaching this stage, he most likely won’t be able to maintain that startling growth speed.” Viru shook his head.
Even Clotti who was usually silent could not help but say, “Upon reaching the limits known to man, climbing further will require one to break through the limits into a whole new path. Throughout history, there were many who tried and failed. It’s more difficult than it seems.”
As they chatted, Han Xiao and Silver Shadow also began their battle.
The mechanical host carrying avatar floated in the universe with a small mechanical army. Its dark armor flickered constantly with blue and gold Mechanical Force.
He, the mechanic, stood still while the Pugilist Silver Shadow was the one who took the initiative to put some distance between them.
This sort of situation was rarely seen, but everyone shared a glance, their eyes twinkling with laughter. In the entire universe, it was probably only the Mechanic Black Star that no pugilist dared to face head on.
From afar, Silver Shadow circled around Han Xiao, looking for openings and opportunities to attack.
Looking at him making circles around him, with no intention to attack, Han Xiao could not help but open his mouth.
“How long are you going to circle me? Come and attack!”
Silver Shadow did not reply, only continuing to circle around. He gradually accelerated, flying faster as his body began to blur. He was akin to a silver comet, leaving behind a series of silvery afterimages like a flaming tail of a meteor.
Through his Void Vision, Han Xiao could clearly see that the speed of Silver Shadow was not only fast—the space around him had distorted slightly, constantly warping at the rear to form the shape like a tidal wave, which allowed him to ride the waves to provide additional acceleration.
At the same time, there was a familiar Void Energy fluctuation coming out of Silver Shadow, which proved that the other party also possessed some Void Genes.
Han Xiao was quite clear of the general abilities of Silver Shadow. At the Beyond Grade A realm, Silver Shadow had a few obvious characteristics. One of them was speed, or his ability to maintain near warp speed for prolonged distances. At his peak, he could even reach actual warp speed.
The second was that his body was extremely tough and nearly indestructible.
The third was a rare racial talent.
And his fourth was the ‘whore’ effect.
Silver Shadow did not have a high HP count, but his defense was extremely exaggerated, to the point that even Heber could not compare with him. This was related to his attributes as a living Universal Treasure.
Due to his various special abilities, Silver Shadow’s actual combat capability was pushed up to the level of Heber or Viru despite him being a new Beyond Grade A, above the likes of Kohler and Beyoni. He was probably only weaker than Maximiler, Ravenlaude, and Lotus Swordsman, who belonged to the middle ranks, as he had a great shortcoming in his spiritual attributes.
As one of the dynasty’s allies with the strongest combat capabilities, Han Xiao carried himself calmly and did not mind allowing Silver Shadow to display all his means. After all, the other party was someone who had a special role. It was worth it to allow the other party to play his own style and obtain more authority to speak within their circle.
It was not that Han Xiao was arrogant, but he knew his baseline. He had already calculated the entire battle scenario time and again in his heart, and the conclusion was set.
Just with his current strength, he had enough ability to control the entire battle situation. He did not need any fancy moves to deal with Silver Shadow, he just needed to F2A[1], and everything would be settled.
With such an overwhelming advantage, how could he lose‽
No matter how flowery the opponent’s skills were, a raise of his hand would be enough to annihilate them.
Thus, Han Xiao patiently waited for Silver Shadow to speed up, only occasionally letting his machines shoot from a distance.
Finally, Silver Shadow felt that he was sufficiently warmed up and suddenly turned around, shooting like a beam of light straight toward Han Xiao’s mechanical troops.
With permission from Han Xiao, the battle AI Sparta immediately responded, opening the spacetime stabilizer to lock down the area.
With the increase in spatial stability, Silver Shadow’s speed was affected as part of his speed came from the distortion and warping of space. Even so, his speed remained quick, to the point that Calamity Grades would not be able to discern where his true body lay, only seeing a silver streak.
Relying on his high speed, Silver Shadow started to clash against the machinery. The psionic cannons’ shots mostly went wide, and the few that contacted were stopped at the psionic energy matrix shield that was formed from his silver pugilist flames, unable to penetrate.
After fighting for a while, Silver Shadow turned and rushed toward the psionic shield of the mechanical troops like a silver comet.
Before impacting, the silver comet suddenly changed, splitting up like a cluster warhead and turning into hundreds of tiny silver meteors. They scattered in all directions in an instant, bypassing the limited area of the shield and penetrating the mechanical troops’ formation.
Each sub-body was a silvery liquid-like metallic substance, which were reduced versions of Silver Shadow and all part of his body.
This was his racial talent, which was brought about by the mutation within the star nucleus. His body could achieve the effect of splitting itself on a nano level, as well as freely take on all shapes and sizes.
Furthermore, the split selves also possessed a considerable fighting capacity. Because his total overall strength remained unchanged, the combat capability of each smaller self would depend instead on its size. Silver Shadow’s Void genes allowed him to use the void dimension to obtain energy to boost each smaller self.
Silver Shadow’s Universal Treasure talent brought him insane defense, which would not be differentiated by size. So, even if each smaller self did not possess the same strength as its main self, it was nigh indestructible, which was his advantage.
Because of this special skill, within the suffering Pugilist class, Silver Shadow was akin to a billionaire in a society, not needing to bow to anyone to survive.
A few of the split selves rushed through the mechanical soldiers at great speed, but due to the separation in strength, the attacks were fast but could not pierce through the armor of the mechanical soldiers, only leaving traces on the surface.
The majority of his selves merged together again, turning into a childlike version of Silver Shadow, and went straight to Han Xiao.
Han Xiao’s avatar did not move, only releasing a faint blue arc from his eyes. [Virtual Paramount] struck directly into Silver Shadow’s soul!
The next moment, Silver Shadow lost control of his body, barreling out of control!
Even his smaller selves lost control and were easily captured.
Han Xiao twisted slightly, avoiding Silver Shadow, and reached out to grab his ankle, pulling him back.
Silver Shadow’s weakness was spiritual attacks, but [Virtual Paramount] did not just contain a mental attack but also the difficulty of Virtual Technology. It would take Silver Shadow a long time to escape from the skill normally, not to mention that Han Xiao’s virtual technology and level suppression would only increase the difficulty.
Nano-mechanical tentacles extended from behind the avatar, firmly binding Silver Shadow with three layers. At the same time, the tentacles were outfitted with electromagnetic, space and other control devices. Disc-shaped miniature cannons popped out from Han Xiao’s shoulders, suspending over Silver Shadow.
From afar, the mechanical army also caught up, turning their weapons toward the restricted Silver Shadow, and released the reverse psionic shield, locking Han Xiao and Silver Shadow within the small confined area. In this manner, even if Silver Shadow wished to rush out, he had to break through
the shield in order to gain distance to accelerate.
Silver Shadow finally got out of the shackles from Virtual Paramount and received great mental injuries in doing so, being inflicted with many negative statuses. The moment he regained consciousness, he discovered that he had been fully bound up.
“Do you want to continue?” Han Xiao communicated within the mental network with a jovial tone.
“… This sort of battle can’t hurt me.” Silver Shadow struggled for a while before realizing that it would be hard to extricate himself. He then decided to pull out his head, separating himself from his body and turning into a miniature version of himself.
“I know, your body is extremely durable, and my troops can barely harm you.” Han Xiao nodded and smiled. “However, just this point is not enough to gain the advantage against me… Believe me, I have sufficient experience in this regard.”
In fact, he was the natural counter to Silver Shadow. If he had utilized the Spacetime Amber, with Silver Shadow’s smaller frame, it would have been easy to encase and seal him within before slowly weakening him. However, this was only his avatar, so the Spacetime Amber was not with him.
Silver Shadow sighed before hiding his arrogance and nodding. “You’ve won.”
He originally wanted to rely on his high speed and the ability to split up his body to gain the upper hand for a while. He had no confidence in being able to defeat Black Star, even if this was just an avatar.
But the offensive that he had been preparing for a long time was dissolved by Han Xiao easily, and he ended up falling straight into the grasps of his opponent. This allowed him to feel the disparity between their abilities.
With more than half of his body currently trapped by Han Xiao, it was pointless to continue fighting. Furthermore, Black Star had given him face and allowed himself to display his strength. Silver Shadow understood that clearly and did not wish to fight for a lost cause. While he wanted a strong opponent, he would not seek ridicule needlessly.
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 681