The Legendary Mechanic

Seeing the last option, Han Xiao's eyes sparkled.

"Yoho, nice!"

Among the options, only the last one was valuable. This was one of Gaud's Molding Talents.

The bonuses this talent gave were all basic bonuses. The increase would be very considerable. To Han Xiao, the three most useful bonuses to him were the additional ninety-percent basic energy resistance, thirty-percent increase to basic energy attack damage, and twenty-percent increase to maximum energy.

His Indestructible Body was only strong because his regenerative speed was extremely quick, but his resistances were not outrageously high. However, this talent directly almost doubled his resistance to energy attacks!

As he became stronger, the attack damage of his mechanical army became stronger too. Hence, the 'die together' combo also became riskier for himself as time went on. The last time he used this in the Celestial Star Alliance, he almost sent himself away.

With this talent, if he did the same time again, he would not be in danger at all. This was another big step forward on the path of a Mechanic Tank.

Without this ability, Gaud would have lost consciousness long ago.

The basic energy attack damage bonus only increased Gaud's own damage output, but in the hands of a Mechanic, it was much stronger. It could increase the damage of all energy type weapons. Its most direct impact would be the increase to the army's long-range attacks. The thirty-percent increase was also quite ample.

At this point, with so many talents, Han Xiao had already discovered one trait—when the Molding Talents of other classes were possessed by a Mechanic, the effects would be astronomically enlarged. This was the advantage of using the Army Style.

Of course, the extra twenty percent maximum energy was incredible too.

His current maximum energy was around 290,000, so this gave him 50,000 energy right away. It was more than enough for him to acquire the bonuses of a new Energy Rank, maybe even two ranks!

In the later stages, Energy Rank bonuses and Race Evolution were among the main sources of attributes, giving thousands of points easily every time, substantially more than simply leveling up.

At his current Energy Rank, the attributes he would receive every time his rank increased were enormous. His attributes would increase for about seven thousand in total once he gained just one more Energy Rank.

The way the Energy Rank bonuses worked was that when his current energy depleted throughout battles, the bonuses would decrease along with the Energy Rank too. Therefore, the Supers who had infinite energy or could convert between energy and health had a tremendous edge. They could always maintain their energy level at their peak. Han Xiao, Kasuyi, and Oulou were all like this.

_____________________

You have received the talent [Perfect Energy Affinity Physique]!

_____________________

It was an easy choice. Han Xiao chose the last option without hesitation.

The next moment, an intense pain erupted in his body. Luckily, his nerves were tough, and he instantly regained control of his body.

This talent changed his physique; all the cells in his body were becoming stronger. The pain only faded after quite some time. His senses of the world changed again. It felt refreshing.

Han Xiao realized that he could now sense the stray universe energy everywhere around him without having to use any ability. It was as if he was suddenly no longer short-sighted; he could observe the world more clearly.

Furthermore, his body was even automatically pulling the stray energy in. The stray energy around was gathering unconsciously, moving around his body like pets.

Anyone who has this physique can be considered a talent. They'll grow extremely quickly. This talent should also be one of the reasons Gaud became a Beyond Grade A so quickly.

Han Xiao's body was filled with energy. He glanced at his attributes, his Energy Rank had already surpassed the 100,000 level.

However, there was no additional notification on the interface, so he was not sure if 100,000 Energy Rank was a new stage.

He was not concerned about it. Based on experience, the benefits of achieving a new Energy Rank would only show during Promotion. That was how it was for the bonuses of 52,000 Energy Rank and 78,000 Energy Rank. Therefore, having higher Energy Ranks at lower levels meant having high potential.

As for the effects of the Character Summon Card, Han Xiao had yet to try it. However, based on the fundamental mechanics of the Character Summon Cards, the effects of [Energy Analysis] were most certainly not permanent. He had two guesses about it.

One possibility was that once he chose which energy to gain control of, he would lose the control when the duration of the Character Summon Card ended. Another possibility was that it was similar to Jayz's [Mechanic—Insight] Character Summon Card; although he would lose the ability after the Character Summon Card duration ended, he would still remember the knowledge he gained by analyzing the energy, which would make studying this type of energy easier in the future.

However, he, of course, did not have the [Energy Control] Esper Ability, so he could not convert energy like Gaud could and would only be able to simulate the process using machines, which would be much more difficult. Espers did not have to understand the principles and mechanisms of their Esper Ability at all; they could use it right away. While the others could not duplicate the same process, they had to analyze the process and find another way to carry it out.

Basically, Espers only had to know that one plus one made two, while the others had to find out why one plus one was two and understand it. The difference was huge.

If the special energy created by Esper Abilities were so easy to break down, the advanced civilizations would have mass produced them long ago, and [Energy Control] would not have been seen as an overpowered ability.

Nonetheless, at least there are four uses. There's room for mistakes.

Han Xiao nodded, he was quite passionate about research.

Although I can fight Pugilists with my fists, I know I'm still a good scientist.

After browsing his attributes for a while more, Han Xiao turned off the interface and entered the quantum network.

For the time being, he did not plan to go anywhere and only wanted to monitor the galactic network at him, waiting for the storm to arrive.

…

"Gaud and his fleet have all gone missing‽"

Inside the Crimson Dynasty, Urranrell, who had just received the urgent report, suddenly stood up. Her expression changed drastically.

Before her was the remote projection of the marshal of the exploration army, Tarrokov. His expression was extremely serious as he said with a deep voice, "Yes, it happened just now. The remote link between Gaud's guard fleet and Planet Lighthouse's artificial intelligence center suddenly broke. We tried repairing it, but all attempts failed. We can't contact Gaud or anyone in the fleet now!"

The artificial intelligences of the dynasty fleets in the Flickering World were all monitored by the Planet Lighthouse headquarters. Once disconnected, Planet Lighthouse would instantly find out where that team went missing. This formed a highly responsive military system that covered most areas in the Flickering World.

"Where did they go missing?" Urranrell frowned heavily.

"Right at the edge of the Flickering World's Emerald Star Cluster, close to the stargate entrance of the third exploration phase. Using the nearest space buoy as a point, we have circled out the rough range of the area they went missing in. I've already sent the teams nearby to investigate."

Hearing this, Urranrell had no choice but to wait patiently. She asked with a grave tone, "What do you think is the cause of this?"

"There's not enough evidence to make an assumption." Tarrokov hesitated then said, "But personally, I'm guessing that the fleet was very likely attacked. Someone wants to kill Gaud. This is the most likely scenario."

Urranrell sat back down, her hands gripped together. The emotions in her eyes were flickering.

Not long after, Tarrokov received a report from his subordinates. His expression changed slightly, and he said, "Your Excellency Urranrell, the teams have sent back the message saying they did not discover any traces of the fleet, nor are there any signs of an anomaly within the area. The spaceships that passed by also said they did not detect anything unusual. It's like the fleet Gaud was in disappeared into thin air…"

Hearing this, Urranrell no longer hesitated. She instantly contacted the chief secretary and said with a firm tone, "Release an Emergency Summon Order. Notify all the upper echelons to drop everything on their hands and gather for a meeting immediately!"

…

About ten minutes later, the remote projections of the dynasty upper echelons came to the conference room one after another. The bosses of the various departments gathered and chatted quietly, not knowing what happened that made Urranrell summon all of them urgently.

Very soon, Urranrell entered the room with a serious expression. She looked around at the various upper echelons present and cut to the chase.

"This is an emergency. The dynasty's direct Beyond Grade A, Gaud, might have been attacked and is confirmed missing!"

As soon as she said that, the entire place became silent.

Shock appeared on the faces of every upper echelon. They did not expect to hear something so shocking.

At this time, Tarrokov stepped up and described the situation in the simplest way.

After understanding the situation, the various upper echelons present were all furious!

"Who dares to attack the dynasty's direct member‽ This is trampling the dynasty's pride!"

"We must investigate it thoroughly!"

"The dynasty is not to be provoked! No matter who did it, we must make them pay!"

Everyone had the same reaction; they were all extremely furious.

They were one of the ruling civilizations, yet someone dared to attack their direct member and wipe out their talent. Whoever was behind this had absolutely no respect for the dynasty at all!

For someone to do something like that, in their eyes, that person was asking to be killed!

An intelligence department high ranking official said with a deep voice, "Since the fleet is missing too, we can assume that the enemy succeeded. We have to first verify if Gaud is still alive. If he's still alive, we have to prioritize saving him."

"That's right. Gaud is an important direct Beyond Grade A. Even if there's only a tiny chance, we must protect his life!" another military official agreed.

"Gaud is a Beyond Grade A. To be able to take him down so quickly, the enemy definitely had to use a lot of forces. I suggest checking the space buoys nearby immediately. There should be witness reports of large fleets passing by!"

"Don't have too high hopes. If the enemy could easily cut off the fleet's remote link, they'd definitely be able to modify the records of the space buoys. The enemy was definitely fully prepared and wouldn't leave any obvious clues since he dared mess with the dynasty."

"The enemy could make our fleet disappear without a trace. There's a high chance that a Beyond Grade A Mechanic is involved!"

"That's right. The enemy might have left clues in the quantum network. I suggest getting Quantum Demon Judith to investigate, or we can even request help from Black Star if it really comes to that point. Black Star is a top Virtual Mechanic. Not many people in the universe can hide from him in the quantum network!"

The people planned and discussed the matter for a while. The topic then went back to the suspect.

An officer said, "Some time ago, an unknown force spread information about Gaud's real ability on the network. This might be the fuse; someone wants to eliminate our talent or has eyes on this Super High Risk Esper Ability."

"Not many organizations have both the ability and motive to do this. The federation and the church have been our competitors forever. They don't want to see us have someone as talented as Gaud, so they both might act… especially the Federation of Light. They have the Multi-Dimensional Sky Opening Transportation Device, so they can kill Gaud without anyone noticing!"

"No, it is now the development stage of the Flickering World, and we're still at war. The federation and the church wouldn't break our temporary partnership for something like this. In fact, the Super Star Clusters civilizations are the most suspicious. They might feel that since they have no way of turning the war around, they had to erase a future threat before losing completely!"

"I heard Black Star has been protesting about Manison's Felon technology, so the Mechanic Emperor is suspicious too! Don't forget, Ninjia from the Arcane Church is suspected to have been killed by Manison, leading to the church's Ten Thousand Deity Scepter falling into the federation's hands… This guy has done something like this before!"

Everyone present had the same three speculations. These three sides had both the ability and the motive. Other than them, no other organization would have the guts to attack the dynasty's direct member.

Looking at everyone's excited expressions, Bekorodi's expression changed slightly as he suddenly thought of something.

No… one more person has the motive.

In the past, he had told Gaud to analyze the Evolution Energy. If Black Star discovered what Gaud did, Black Star would have a reason to attack him too. Black Star was a suspect!

However… Bekorodi could not bring that up!

The plan to analyze the Evolution Cube got called to a stop by Urranrell long ago; Bekorodi only approached Gaud behind Urranrell's back because he received the subtle approval from the next ruler. He was carrying out this plan secretly; this was not something he could point out in this situation!

It did not matter whether Black Star was actually the one who did it. As soon as what he did got exposed, not only would he be most likely demoted, it would impact the next ruler negatively too.

If Black Star really did it, although Black Star would certainly be held responsible, he would take much more blame. After all, he acted against the orders and placed the dynasty at the moral low ground.

All kinds of plots flashed past his mind. Bekorodi opened his mouth a bit but chose to stay silent in the end.

Even if Black Star was the culprit, he was not going to say it.

Bekorodi thought things through very clearly. It was the next ruler who hinted for him to carry out the plan. The two of them had a silent agreement to have the new ruler break this case open after Urranrell's term ended, so the new ruler's reputation and image would be increased.

However, although Bekorodi had this plan, what made him stay silent was more the fact that he did not believe Black Star was the culprit.

With Black Star's position, even if he did notice what Gaud was doing, he had no reason to make it into such a big deal. He sure had the motive, but it was too weak.

Furthermore, the way Bekorodi looked at it, the title of National Pillar and the three Universal Civilizations' consultant were more than enough to tie Black Star up. After enjoying the benefits of them, Black Star would not want to lose them, so he would not do something as rash as this.

While Bekorodi was brainstorming, the others quickly came to a decision.

Urranrell made the decisive call.

"Announce Gaud going missing on behalf of the dynasty immediately. Tell the entire universe that the dynasty will find the culprit no matter the cost!"

Swoosh!

The upper echelons present stood up simultaneously and nodded.

"Understood!"

…

At a border stargate transit station of the Emerald Star Cluster, a man wearing the uniform of the Limitless Financial Group stood at the scenery observation area and looked at the galaxy outside the porthole. The border stargate was not far away. Belts of light extended from inside the blue space vortex. They were all spaceships entering and leaving the border.

"Based on the time, the fleet guarding Gaud should arrive in a day at most…" this Limitless Financial Group employee murmured.

It was not the original owner who was controlling this body but Sorokin's manifestation.

According to the route the dynasty fleet was taking, they should be leaving the Flickering World through the Black Star Army's territory. Hence, Sorokin had possessed this person many days ago and waited at this stargate, wanting to observe the size of the fleet Gaud was in. He could only come up with a detailed plan after obtaining enough information.

However, although he was already making preparations, he was still hesitant as to whether he was going to make the move or not. After all, the matter was too huge.

"If I do it, it's best to do it in the Black Star Army's territory, it'll be easier to frame it on Black Star this way… even if I fail, Black Star will be held responsible if something happens to Gaud in his territory."

Sorokin pondered.

Beep beep beep!

At this time, his communicator suddenly rang.

Sorokin took it out and glanced at it casually. It was an announcement the dynasty had made in the public channel, which forced a notification to pop up on every communicator.

According to the General Quantum Network Communication Laws, only the civilization that ruled over an area had the right to do this, not any other organizations, especially not consortiums.

"Tsk, how great would it be if this could be used for advertising…" Sorokin mumbled and opened the message.

With just one look, his expression froze on his face, and his entire body turned stiff.

"Gaud was attacked and is already missing‽"

Sorokin was stunned, his mind was filled with question marks.

Wait, what? I haven't started moving yet!

Which hero did my job for me‽

Marvelous!

I thank you!

The sudden turn of events astonished Sorokin totally.

Not only him, as soon as this enraged announcement from the Crimson Dynasty was publicized, the entire galactic society was absolutely shocked!

It all happened so suddenly. No one was mentally prepared!