by <unknown>
Bang!
Within the cockpit, Kernid desperately smashed the control panel, an anxious expression on his face.
He belonged to a humanoid race with darker complexion, with natural wrinkles on his skin. He wore a special rune armor combat suit that combined mechanical and magical techniques. The armor was filled with countless mysterious runes on the inside and outside, with dozens of enchants as well. It was equipped with hundreds of different magical combat means and was the most commonly used type for interstellar magicians.
However, this high-end rune armor was currently torn and ragged, covered in Kernid’s own blood.
Kernid was the first official Grade A Super of a random civilization in the Star System, as well as an honorary member of the Hidden Red Robe Abbey. He was adept in magic and was named the Dark Purple Warlock, giving him high prestige. However, he was currently fleeing like never before.
And everything was because of the two enemies that had unexpectedly appeared.
While he was enjoying a paid vacation, exploring the interstellar regions, he chanced upon these two mysterious men, who attacked him without a single word.
Afterward, Kernid actually found out that he was not a match for the two of them and received heavy injuries.
Fortunately, he had kept a trump card, and managed to shake them away before boarding his spaceship and escaping. However, the two mysterious assailants continued chasing after him nonstop, causing him to be unable to stop.
The hyperdrive consumed his remaining fuel quickly, and the aircraft speed finally slowed down, exiting from hyperdrive and returning to normal flying speed.
“Drat!” Kernid had a face full of sweat, as he gripped his head tight.
Just as his voice sounded, the hum of magic waves passed through the many layers of the bulkhead. Kernid keenly captured the waves of magic through his senses, causing his expression to change greatly.
A bright blue ring was lit up around the abdomen of the spaceship, and the ring quickly expanded into a portal. A duo walked out leisurely from within the portal.
The two wore similar white overcoats without any embellishments. The material of the clothes seemed strange, gleaming dully, and was covered with countless enchantment inscriptions.
Both of them wore specially alloy masks to cover their faces. The man’s mask resembled a bird’s head, whereas the women’s resembled a cat.
More than a dozen thick, ancient-looking books were seen floating around the man, all of which were open. They were filled with magic texts and glowing with colorful spell rays. The golden yellow inscriptions morphed into several circles, surrounding the man’s body.
“The positioning is confirmed.”
The man’s tone was passive, and as he flicked his fingers, one of the pages turned up. The portal behind him then narrowed down to a point and disappeared. This man was a master of magic!
Suddenly, the bulkhead in front of the duo burst apart as tens of purple light beams arced out from Kernid, who was in the cockpit. The gorgeous purple lights pierced through the walls, striking the two uninvited guests.
Knowing their capabilities, he chose to attack first.
Boom!
Between the flashing lights and fire, the masked man changed his stance, which caused all the books to begin flipping at once. A blue magic circle covered him and the woman beside him, isolating them from all attacks. The purple arcs were deflected into space instead, unable to even touch them.
Kernid flew out of the gap, and his rune armor lit up, casting lights all around. Countless magical forces gathered around him and, like a colorful streamer, crashed toward the blue magic circle.
He had already suffered once from their attacks, and because it was humiliating to compete with the opponent in long-range magic, he switched to melee.
Kernid had condensed all his power, and his control over it was exquisite, not allowing any of the energy to dissipate. If an ordinary Grade A Super was faced with this attack, they would basically choose to avoid the blow instead of going head on. However, faced with these two strong and mysterious enemies, he did not have much confidence in being able to damage them.
Boom!
The resulting sound was like ramming a huge bell. The blue magic circle failed to withstand the blow and burst apart, turning into numerous glass-like energy fragments.
“Success!” Kernid was jubilant, and his confidence returned at the same time.
However, he saw the resulting burst of light illuminating the masks of both his assailants. Their eyes remained calm and indifferent, as though they did not view Kernid’s full powered blow as a threat at all.
The next moment, the magic shards suddenly integrated together before bursting in a beam of blue white light, which struck Kernid. The beam had superimposed the power that Kernid had used to attack them with previously, which was equivalent to him facing his own attack.
Kernid’s remaining offensive was interrupted, and he was blown back. Suppressing his pain from the injury, he exclaimed in amazement.
“What sorcery is this‽”
It was just protective-type magic, but it was surprisingly able to withstand his advanced-level Calamity Grade strike and could even rebound the power. This sounded simple, but at their level, the rougher and simpler a type of magic was, the more terrifying it would be. Unlike those magic shields that were layered with many inscriptions resulting in a ‘quantity change’, this was a qualitative change.
“Self-created,” the masked man replied simply, but this answer caused Kernid’s eyes to open wide, an expression of disbelief on his face.
At this moment, the woman by the side also attacked. Raising her right hand, she punched out violently.
Ka ka ka!
With the shrieking of bent metal, the entire spaceship started to rip apart.
The spaceship suddenly crunched up, as though it was violently pinched and crushed by a large hand.
Boom!
A large amount of oxygen leaked out, and the fuel tank as well as the engines of the spaceship exploded.
Fire burst outward, and the ‘sphere’ spaceship exploded directly, disintegrating instantly. Various debris flew outward into empty space.
In just a few seconds, a spaceship had been turned into space junk floating around the universe.
A spherical magic shield protected the duo, allowing them to levitate in the universe. Not far from them, Kernid’s rune armor also flashed with a flickering shield of light.
The spaceship exploding had worsened the already serious injuries of Kernid, and his rune armor was also on the verge of being destroyed.
Without the spaceship, there was no way to escape, and a hint of despair leaked out from Kernid’s eyes.
Within the magic shield filled with oxygen, the woman waved her arm.
All the wreckage came together once again, this time directly clamping Kernid in the center. It slowly turned into a huge sphere, as though there was some invisible force crushing it inward. The metal sphere slowly shrank further, as the original irregular shape turned round.
While there was still resistance within the sphere initially, it slowly turned lighter and weaker. Finally, there was no longer any more movement.
“Capture is complete for the Dark Purple Warlock Kernid,” the woman coldly said.
The man then took out a communicator and opened up a list, crossing off Kernid’s name. He sighed. “Shana, who’s our next target?”
Shana was the name of the woman. She glanced over and tapped on the list, saying, “I pick him, the commander of the Black Star Army.”
“Oh, this guy entered the list a year ago. His forces are developing very quickly, and if not for that, we might not even have paid attention to him. Yes, this guy is a bit special—he has the nickname of immortal. Seems difficult to handle. We should lead him to a suitable place to isolate him before capturing. That requires enough preparation time, and we also have to take Kernid back. Let’s change targets.”
; “There’s no need. We’ll move separately. You take the captive back; I’ll go handle Black Star,” Shana blandly said. “Based on the intel, he only entered the Calamity Grade two to three years ago. Furthermore, he’s a Mechanic. I alone can resolve this.”
The man paused before smiling. “I almost forgot, your ability can restrain the Mechanic profession. Very well, I’ll go and complete our mission while you proceed on to capture him. It seems like our harvest this trip will be quite fulfilling.”
As for the relationship between Black Star and the Dragon Emperor, they did not even mention it once as though it was irrelevant.
Chapter 630. Development Status and Bottleneck |
In the headquarters of the Black Star Army on Planet Golden Gate, a battle was currently going on.
Bang!
A black, streamlined, mechanical soldier knocked five purplish blue mechanical warriors aside and charged in front of Reynold while withstanding the laser beams being shot out from ten artillery towers. The arm of the mechanical soldier changed form into eight gears that rotated at high speed and struck Reynold’s shield.
Reynold had a solemn expression on his face and left an electromagnetic trap behind as he retreated. At the same time, he released a blinding bolt of Mechanical Force lightning. He then used a skill to boost the might of his artillery towers and sent out a barrage of never-ending fire.
Ka ka ka!
All of a sudden, the black mechanical soldier suddenly disintegrated into black nanoparticles and flew back to the side of a figure not too far away. The black nanoparticles then reconstructed themselves back into the form of a mechanical soldier and stood beside this figure silently.
“You are becoming more and more powerful. It is only a matter of time before you breakthrough into the Calamity Grade,” Han Xiao said with praise while clapping his hands.
Compared to two years earlier, Han Xiao was still young and handsome with his height increasing a bit. His aura was even more unfathomable than before. Han Xiao was currently dressed in a low-profile black windbreaker and was not wearing a mechanical suit.
“This is all thanks to your tutelage,” Reynold said solemnly.
Han Xiao waved his hand and said out of politeness, “It is because of your talent.”
After two years of guidance, Reynold was growing closer and closer to the Energy Rank of Grade A. He frequently exchanged pointers with Han Xiao, and since both of them were comrades, there was no need to exhaust each other. Thus, they would limit their spar to a small area and only test the strength and control of their machines.
The black mechanical soldier beside Han Xiao was one of the new models that Han Xiao had researched over the past two years. It had the ability of nano transformation, and its individual capability was spectacular, exceeding that of the Protectors. It was an elite machine that belonged to Han Xiao’s Calamity Grade arsenal called [Phantom].
Reynold would always be shocked whenever he exchanged pointers with Black Star. Black Star would always be able to take out a different but powerful machine and would make use of him to test out his new machines. Reynold could not imagine how many different blueprints Black Star actually had.
Even at his level, it was no easy task to learn a single blueprint, and researching a new machine would take even more effort. However, Reynold just was not able to grasp Black Star’s realm, and he could not understand why Black Star’s efficiency in researching new machines was so frightening.
Furthermore, Reynold could feel that Han Xiao could deal with him more and more easily whenever they exchanged pointers. Black Star was already a Calamity Grade Super, but he did not seem to have a bottleneck and could continuously grow stronger. This made Reynold extremely baffled and felt that Han Xiao was unfathomable.
Reynold had always felt that he was an extremely talented individual and had great confidence in his own abilities. However, Han Xiao truly dealt a huge blow to his confidence. Reynold felt a sense of inferiority before Han Xiao with his attitude becoming more and more humble.
There was truly too much for him to learn from Black Star, and Reynold hated the fact that he could not use every minute of his life to follow Han Xiao and record his every single action.
After putting his machine away, Han Xiao suddenly thought of something and casually asked, “How are the logistic reserves for the army?”
When it came to work, Reynold’s expression grew serious, and he replied unhurriedly, “We have ample stock for all the different resources, and our reserves are healthy. Only Bases 17, 21, and 24 have a shortage of resources, and they mainly lack ammunition, fuel, and materials for commonly used machines. Four days ago, I channeled resources from the five nearest bases, and the first wave of resources should reach in two days…”
Upon hearing the report, Han Xiao nodded and got Reynold to leave while he thought to himself in his room.
Over the past two years, the Black Star Army had experienced rapid growth, and just as industry insiders predicted, they gradually monopolized all the employment missions within the Garton Star System and set up dozens of bases across the Garton Star System. They had even built an office on the mother planet of Godora.
The one million or so players brought the Black Star Army endless benefits. Han Xiao borrowed the hen to lay eggs, and the reputation of the Black Star Army grew continuously. As the scale of the Black Star Army expanded, more and more freelance mercenaries were attracted to join the Black Star Army.
Currently, apart from the one million or so cannon… cough, players, the army had a hundred thousand official mercenaries. Furthermore, the number of students that they were training in the various training camps had three to four times this number. Even by relying on only NPC mercenaries, the Black Star Army was an undeniable super-sized mercenary group.
The target of the training camps was no longer limited to the freelance mercenaries that did not make the cut but also ordinary individuals without any foundation. In the various bases on all the different planets, there would definitely be young individuals who wanted to enter the universe or become Supers.
The entire army was restructured with a clear system being developed to ensure that it could be managed more efficiently. The officers all had their own roles with some of them becoming managers of a region to manage hundreds of mercenary teams, trump card mercenaries to tackle high difficulty missions, commanders of fleets, instructors of the training camps, prosperity figures, and the female secretaries of the Army Commander.
The position of vice Army Commander is still empty. The individual who sat in this position needed to be sufficiently powerful in order to convince everyone in the army. Han Xiao was the only Calamity Grade Super in the entire Army, and his vice commander would also have to be of the Calamity Grade. Among all his officers, only Reynold was the nearest to the Calamity Grade.
Over the past two years, Han Xiao had hired over a hundred Grade B Supers. There were some who took the initiative to join the army, and others were elites who he sought based on his memory. There were some low-grade protagonist level characters to fill up the middle ranks of the army.
After monopolizing the entire Garton Star System, Han Xiao continued his expansion with the Garton Star System as the core. He also began to target the surrounding few Star Systems and snatched a portion of the markets.
The larger the market that his army occupied, the greater the demand on the strength of his market.
As a young teen who grew up in a capitalistic society, Han Xiao invested all his resources into the construction of new bases and the expansion of his fleet. He tried his very best to create a never-ending cycle of benefits.
Currently, the Black Star Army had 26 fleets, which were in charge of various responsibilities such as battle, transport, reinforcements, and so on. The Black Star Army had a total of 1,600 battleships, and the truth showed that robbing galactic pirates… cough cough, getting rid of tyrants to help the weak was a very beneficial action.
The number of B
lack Star Army bases also increased to 34, and apart from Noriosse and Rossozzi, the Black Star Army had three new sponsors. Two of them were ordinary financial groups, and one of them was actually the Godoran government. They had also increased the strategic resources provided to the Black Star Army, and the relationship between the two had grown even closer.
The influence of their faction expanded even further, and the Black Star Army was now ranked among the famous private organizations within the Colton Star Cluster. This time, it was Floating Dragon Island that benefited from the fame of the Black Star Army. The strength of the Floating Dragon field team made it such that Ames was no longer the only deterrent force in Floating Dragon.
However, Han Xiao could feel that the development of his faction was reaching a bottleneck.
As a mercenary group, the Black Star Army had already reached the peak, and if they continued to expand their operations, their efficiency would only decrease. Distance was a very obvious restriction. The larger the scope of their operations, the greater the requirement of a faction’s strength. Monopolizing the Garton Star System was already the limit, and they did not have the ability to monopolize a second Star System.
The other reason behind the bottleneck of a faction was the nature of a faction. A mercenary group was a more relaxed organization, and if they wanted to enter the next level, the organization would have to be transformed to let the employment missions be of secondary importance. The faction would have to become a semi-private armed organization like Bloodshed Land.
The difficulty of such a task was extremely high, and this was not the right time to make such a change. However, Han Xiao was one to plan far ahead and knew that this was something that they had to do eventually.
“The only thing I don’t have to worry about is my strength…”
In the blink of an eye, Han Xiao was already at level 170. His level had only risen by over twenty levels, and he was currently stuck on the [Galaxy Mechanic] Class Advancement Mission.
This was because Han Xiao did not place his attention on leveling up but stored most of his experience points up. His stash of experience points was already sky high, and even at his current level, the amount of experience that he had stored up was enough for tens of levels.