The Legendary Mechanic

On the Modo Civilization's mother planet, the Modo Three Kings were having a meeting with the military upper echelons.

"Message from the frontline. Aesop has started moving. The plan is going smoothly."

"Our first choice is to have Aesop leave the Shattered Star Ring and take part in the conflict between the civilizations of another Star Field. This way, when Aesop dies, Black Star would have no choice but to go to another Star Field to deal with this, leaving his headquarters…"

"Aesop's foresight ability is great, but he might not be able to escape alone given the long years Black Star has been operating his forces in the Shattered Star Ring. Therefore, we'll have to help him."

"Hmm. If he really can't make it out, we'll have to choose a local civilization of the Shattered Star Ring to frame."

The upper echelons discussed their options.

At this time, the Modo Three Kings received a secret message and suddenly said, "Meeting temporarily dismissed. Take a half hour break."

The people were surprised but had no objection and all left the conference room.

After everyone left, the Modo Three Kings were the only ones left in the room. This time, a virtual communication screen appeared on the table, and a soft laugh sounded.

"Hehe, I'm honored to meet the three of you for the first time."

"Mechanic Emperor!"

The Modo Three Kings looked solemn.

Just now, the Mechanic Emperor had contacted the Modo Civilization and specifically asked to discuss a partnership with the Three Kings. Hence, the secretary had come to relay the message, and the Three Kings had decided that they would listen to what the Mechanic Emperor had to say.

The entire universe knew what an extremely awkward situation the Mechanic Emperor was in. Many Super Star Cluster civilizations saw the opportunity to woo him and wanted to work with him secretly, but Manison never gave a clear answer, nor did he reject them totally. Therefore, the leaders of the Super Star Cluster civilizations monitored Manison's current attitude closely.

"Your Excellencies, I know you're busy, so I'll cut to the chase… I've considered the proposal you made before, and now I'm planning to initiate a partnership with the Modo Civilization," Manison said calmly.

"What kind of partnership?"

"Us secretly working together against the Black Star Army. What do you guys think?"

The Three Kings exchanged looks but did not agree to it immediately. Instead, they asked back, "There are so many Super Star Cluster civilizations wanting to work with you. Why choose Modo?"

"Hehe, it's simple. I have no interest in stepping into the conflict you guys have with the three Universal Civilizations. Black Star is my only target, and you guys happen to be the most suitable partner for that. He's our common enemy, so I have a sensible reason to step in and interfere."

"We'll need more details."

"The shared battlefront requires the Beyond Grade A members to remain neutral, so taking part in the war is looked down upon. However, despite being the vice president, Black Star used personal beef as an excuse to start a war with the Modo Civilization. Therefore, as the president myself, I can do the same thing, using my beef with Black Star as the excuse to work with you guys against the Black Star Army. That way, even if it's found out, there's nothing anyone can say."

Manison's tone was casual but clearly showed his determination.

The Modo Three Kings pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement to what he was saying.

Although they hoped the Mechanic Emperor would join the Super Star Cluster Alliance faction to fight the three Universal Civilizations, they were well aware the chances of that were very slim. Nonetheless, it was acceptable for Modo Civilization now that the Mechanic Emperor had decided to target only Black Star. Black Star was the one who had caused them to be in such a horrible situation, so getting rid of him surely was a good thing.

"So, you plan to send troops to help us fight the Black Star Army?"

"Not really." Manison shook his head slightly. "My forces in the Flickering World are not as strong as Black Star's, and fighting the Black Star Army directly goes against the purpose of the development union…"

"How do you plan to cause damage to Black Star without sending troops?"

"There are plenty of ways. Damaging his reputation for one," Manison slowly said. "The three Universal Civilizations used me as the negative example to build his reputation, which has already affected my position in the Machinery Faith and damaged my interests. I have to think of ways to damage Black Star's reputation, and that is why I've decided to work with you guys.

"What I can do is secretly provide help. For example, have the forces I secretly planted in the Flickering World and Shattered Star Ring do something. After all, your troops are being closely monitored, and my men can move freely in the dark."

Hearing this, the Modo Three Kings frowned.

If the Mechanic Emperor was not planning to participate directly in the battle, his impact would be very limited.

However, thinking about it, there was no way they could make the Mechanic Emperor sacrifice his own troops for their Super Star Cluster civilization. After all, they had never had much of a relationship prior to this, and the Mechanic Emperor was not in the best situation himself.

Furthermore, the Mechanic Emperor was right; the Super Star Cluster's troops were being way too closely monitored. On the other hand, the Mechanic Emperor had planted a ton of subsidiary forces in many Star Fields that formed intelligence and resource networks, which might come in handy.

"…Okay, we'd be happy to work with you. We'll discuss the details later."

"Sure, I'm looking forward to it." Manison smiled faintly and cut off the communication.

The Modo Three Kings finally relaxed and looked at each other. They all saw the same thought in each other's eyes.

If they got Manison's help to transport Aesop out of the Shattered Star Ring, the success rate would be much higher than if they did it themselves.

Although the three of them had yet to decide whether or not to let the Mechanic Emperor take part in this operation, another layer of insurance would never be a bad thing. If they had no way of sending Aesop out of the Shattered Star Ring, it would not be too late to ask the Mechanic Emperor to help.

Furthermore, if Aesop died in the Mechanic Emperor's hands, they would achieve their goal all the same, with greater results than they could have hoped for!

However, while the three of them were having these thoughts, they had no idea that Manison's motive of proposing this partnership was anything but pure. Although he did want to cause problems for Black Star, it was not his main goal.

His sources showed that the Modo Civilization had moved the Soul Swapper out, so it was definitely going to be used on someone, most likely Black Star. Therefore, Manison wanted to use Black Star as an excuse to work with Modo, attempt to take part in the related operation to obtain more information, and find the whereabouts of the Soul Swapper.

Robbing the Soul Swapper was his true goal!

After all, he would not incur any losses even if he failed, so it was worth a try.

…

In the cabin, two bodies shrouded in darkness laid on the ground, one large and one small. They were completely stationery like vegetables. It was the Soul Swap Twins.

Two normal-sized Spacehumans stood on the side, one male and one female. They were stretching their bodies, and the dark Soul Swapper hovered beside them.

"This body is a Pugilist with a strong physique. It feels quite good. It's been long since I've felt this healthy." The male rubbed his neck with a comfortable expression.

"Stop dawdling," the female scolded. "This is just a temporary shell. Quickly pick up our original bodies."

The man and woman were the Soul Swap Twins who had changed their bodies. The elder brother was Jill Emmerson, and the younger brother was Warren Emmerson.

The Soul Swapper worked on them too. They could swap their own souls into someone else's body.

After swapping bodies, their Esper Ability would not be swapped too, and they would only be as strong as the new body. For example, if they swapped into a Grade D Super, they would also become Grade D. However, their souls would be unaffected and remain at Grade B, so their ability to use the Soul Swapper would not be affected either.

Their right to use the Soul Swapper came from their soul and had nothing to do with their bodies, so they would be able to use it even if they were in the body of a dog.

This ability was one of the reasons the two of them were confident in escaping successfully—they could keep switching bodies and be very difficult to find.

"Elder bro, although we're free now, we haven't got rid of that…" Warren pointed at his own head.

"Hmm, that mind trap is a problem. Luckily, the Modo Civilization probably thinks we can't even detect it."

Jill curled his lips with disdain.

The mind trap the direct Beyond Grade A Mage of the Modo Civilization planted into their souls would not disappear when they changed bodies.

Accordingly, given their Grade B strength, not to mention defusing this mind trap, they would not even be able to notice it at all. They should have been in the dark all along… However, the Soul Swapper had the function to check the state of a soul.

All Space Wonder level treasures had a certain 'absolute' aspect. Not to mention a mind trap set by an ordinary Beyond Grade A, even if it was set by a peak Beyond Grade A, as long as it was targeted at the soul, the Soul Swapper would discover it. This was similar to the Spacetime Amber's 'absolute' aspect; as long as its fundamental mechanism was not figured out, even ten peak Beyond Grade As attacking it together would not damage it in the slightest.

It would be a wild dream for the two of them to defuse a mind trap set up by a Beyond Grade A, but including a Space Wonder in that equation would make things different. Even though the two of them could not use the Soul Swapper to its fullest potential, they still had an emergency method to deal with this problem.

The Soul Swapper did not have the ability to 'purify souls', but the two of them planned to gather mind energy far beyond their own power by absorbing a large number of souls and slowly chipping away at the trap in their minds.

This plan would require a lot of souls, which meant they had to kill a lot of people. But clearly, they had no choice, nor did they care.

"Elder bro, what's our plan?"

"Let's go to some place where no one recognizes us, take over a body with high potential, and slowly grow stronger. When we're at Calamity Grade or even Beyond Grade A, we will be able to go anywhere we want in this universe!"

Jill knew that 'keeping a low profile and cultivating' was the right path. Flames of ambition sparkled in his eyes.

In his heart, becoming the only ones who could use the Soul Swapper was both lucky and tragic.

The lucky part, of course, was that the Soul Swapper only recognized the two of them as users, as if they were chosen.

The tragic part was that, because of that, they were imprisoned by the Modo Civilization for many years, they became the subjects of countless inhumane experiments, and their personalities became twisted.

However, the tragic dark days were in the past now. The future was full of hope, and the Soul Swapper had brought them infinite possibilities…

From now on, they were free!

…

In Floating Dragon Island, water vapor filled the magnificent palace. Deep inside the layers of fog, there was the sound of water flowing.

Hu!

The thick fog was suddenly disturbed, and a tall silhouette suddenly appeared beside the wardrobe shelf in the palace. The King mechanical suit automatically fell off and disappeared, leaving Han Xiao standing there.

The sound of water in the room paused for a split second, and a force field shockwave fused with water vapor suddenly rocketed toward him. Han Xiao stood still and let it land on his chest, creating a loud noise, but his body did not move at all.

"You startled me. Next time, tell me before you teleport here." Ames' voice came from the fog.

Han Xiao's vision penetrated the fog and saw a magnificent black, crystal bathtub in the middle of the room. Ames tied up her hair with a piece of white cloth and faced away from him, sitting in the tub. He could only see her snowy neck and moist shoulders that were tender like the skin of a child.

"Bathing?" Han Xiao snapped his fingers. "Quickly finish up. There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Ames turned her head slightly, showing her elegant side face with water droplets hanging from her long earlids that blinked softly.

"It's about Aesop. He's missing."

"… Give me a minute."

Ames did not mind Han Xiao watching and stood up directly. She heated up her body temperature, and the water vapor quickly evaporated from her skin.

She walked out of the bathtub, casually pulled the black dress over to her with a force field, and donned it with a spin. She then took off the white cloth in her hair and let it fall.

Beyond Grade As' bodies would never get dirty; bathing was mainly for the purpose of enjoyment. All they had to do was adjust their temperature to that of an ordinary person, and they would be able to enjoy the feeling of taking a warm and comfortable bath. This way, they did not have to look for lava.

"Let's go. We'll speak outside."

The two of them walked out of the palace and came to the garden. Ames sat down on the chair and stared at Han Xiao with a weird expression.

"I allowed Aesop to go and help you, but you let him escape. That's a little irresponsible of you… Did you deliberately let him go? You're so bad."

"Ahem, you're overthinking it." Han Xiao coughed unnaturally and said without changing his expression, "Didn't I come to notify you instantly?"

Ames held her chin and joked, "Looks like even the universally famous Black Star still loses to a great prophet."

"He's a friend after all. It's not like I can really imprison him or something." Han Xiao smiled casually before putting on a serious expression. "Enough with the jokes. My intuition tells me that there's something wrong. Aesop might not have left on his own will."

"Oh?" Ames frowned, and the smile disappeared on her face. Shocked, she said, "Did someone kidnap him?"

"I don't think so. I arranged more than enough guards for him. If they'd kidnapped him physically, I'd definitely have found out."

"Does that mean someone controlled his mind?"

"That's the problem. I've had Aesop's guards carry around all kinds of psychological guarding devices, mind wave detection devices, and energy radars on them. If someone used soul magic, a psychic Esper Ability, or anything of the sort on him, it would have triggered an alarm, even if it was from a Beyond Grade A. However, none of these devices responded… Therefore, I suspect that Aesop might be controlled by an unknown method."

Although the soul and mind were not areas Mechanics excelled in, it did not mean he had absolutely no knowledge of them. He was just not as good as those who were experts on the subject.

"What method?" Ames asked.

"I don't know either. We'll only find out after we find Aesop and check him." Han Xiao shook his head.

In fact, if this conspiracy theory was right, he was very curious about how Aesop fell for it. It was completely undetectable, so he had no idea what method was used.

"I'll find him with you." Ames narrowed her eyes, and dangerous emotions flickered in her eyes. "Who dares to target my people? Do they think I'm dead‽"

"Don't get so riled up. This is just my guess. We'll have to investigate further." Han Xiao comforted Ames.

He had come to give Ames a heads up so that she would be mentally prepared, preventing the situation of her emotions going wild like it did in the previous life.

Han Xiao knew Ames' personality quite well. Sure, she looked like she did not care about anything usually, but her family and friends such as Aesop, Jenny, Hila, and Aurora were her inverted scales. Once threatened, she would turn into a raging dragon, leaving all rules and laws behind, and retaliate, no matter who the enemy was, not giving the consequences any thought at all.

This time, Han Xiao told Phillip to send a message. A few seconds later, the King mechanical suit appeared beside him again. The helmet opened, and inside was Feidin.

"Army Commander, I'm here."

Han Xiao nodded and explained to Ames, "Aesop's prophecy ability is very suitable for hiding. It won't be easy catching him using regular methods, so we'll need some luck."

He was not just going to bring Feidin along for this but also Rody. Teleporting the three of them there using the King mechanical suit would save a lot of time, and he could use the Black Star Army's troops right there in the Shattered Star Ring.

"All of Floating Dragon's resources are available for you to use. You don't have to care about anything else. I just want Aesop." Ames gave the right to command to Han Xiao without any hesitation and then stood up with a poker face. "We'll leave now!"