The Legendary Mechanic

"Iron Headbutt… And it's only just the first style. Could there be an entire set of moves?"

Looking at the notification on the interface, Han Xiao's mouth twitched, and he could not take his eyes off the first option.

He had always thought that being headstrong was just an adjective to describe a Pugilist's personality, but he did not expect it to be an actual skill.

Han Xiao looked down and saw the other options. After pondering for a while, he came to a decision.

Both talents were not bad, but he did not really want them. As his level increased, the effect of [Undefeated Challenger] kept decreasing. With his current level, he would not have many chances to trigger it. Furthermore, since he keeps leveling up, this talent would only become more and more useless. As for [Chain Strike Amplification]—it was practical and his mechanical army could easily max out the Chain Combo, but the bonuses provided were a little low. His current strength base was very strong, and he did not lack such ordinary passive bonuses.

In comparison, Han Xiao currently wanted some abilities with special tactical effects that would be more effective in battle.

[Crow Cluster Cannon] could increase the explosive power of concentrated fire, and its range was much higher than [Combo Attack Amplification]. However, from Han Xiao's perspective, his damage was already high. What he lacked was a guaranteed hit rate.

Han Xiao was also not too inclined toward the other skill [Azure Dragon Bind]. After all, the restriction of only being able to activate it at close range was quite a setback, and he could not move either side after using it. However, he had his eyes on it precisely because of the rare ability of two-second crowd control.

This was only the effect of Lv.1. If he could reach the maximum level, coupled with some of his talents that could increase the level of his skills, he would be able to extend the minimum duration of this control skill.

You have received new skill [Azure Dragon Bind]!

"Not to mention, it sounds pretty good. It's much better than a name like Iron Headbutt…."

Han Xiao clicked his tongue and opened his attribute interface. He quickly found a new golden skill and continuously leveled up. Although he was trying to reach level 360 and did not want to waste his experience, the consumption of leveling up a skill to the maximum would not affect his overall plan.

Very quickly, [Azure Dragon Bind] went from Lv.1 to Lv.10, and the minimum control time reached 2.6 seconds. At the same time, it provided additional Strength and Endurance, increasing the difficulty of the target breaking free.

After all, Han Xiao had not added any Strength attribute, so it was only average for his level. However, his Endurance was still passable. He was now focusing on Endurance, adding part of his Attribute Points to Endurance every time he successfully forged a Universal Treasure.

"This expert here finally has a locking skill. If I had this skill before, Subduing Tree King would not have been able to break free so easily."

Han Xiao rubbed his chest in glee. Just as he was about to find someone to test his skills, his communicator suddenly rang. It was a call from Ames. She said that she was coming to the frontline and told Han Xiao to activate the King to pick her up.

Seeing Ames's firm attitude, Han Xiao did not force her to stay behind and brought her back to the base.

Furthermore, he could use Ames to test out his new move and see how the actual combat effect would be.

...

Central Galaxy, desolate universe belt.

A small fleet was slowly cruising through the boundless space, seemingly without any destination.

In the command room of the main ship, a group of operators wearing all kinds of armor were piloting a spaceship. From afar, they looked like a group of space pirates.

At the front of the command center stood a few intimidating guys wearing hooded robes.

"Due to the invasion of foreign enemies, the armies of the three Universal Civilizations have entered the various Star Fields at the border. Hinterland is currently empty. Furthermore, a large number of galactic residents are currently hiding in the Central Galaxy. This is a good opportunity…" a hooded man said softly.

Hearing this, the other hooded men stirred slightly. The hooded man standing at the front let out a long breath and slowly spoke.

"Forget it, let's not move now."

"Why? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" The other person's voice was filled with excitement and confusion.

"I said no means no!"

The hooded man at the front raised his head slightly, revealing his face under the hood. It was the mysterious Pangon. These hooded men were the Avengers who left the Holy Accord.

"Pangon, are you feeling compassion?" a Beyond Grade A coldly said. "You're backing off because of the enemy invasion? Are you not willing to affect the so-called 'big picture'? Don't forget that our goal is to take revenge on the three Universal Civilizations. We want to wipe out the entire civilization. The enemy is our help from the heavens, and there would be no better time to destroy their rule and give us a chance to fight them with as few losses as possible. Otherwise, do you really think just the few of us can shake the foundation of the three Universal Civilizations!"

"Are you teaching me how to do things?"

Pangon's expression was equally cold.

This person was not afraid at all. He glared back and said with a deep voice, "Then why do you think we should let go of this opportunity? If our paths are different, it's better to disband early and go our separate ways."

The others also trained their gazes at Pangon.

Their civilization had been destroyed by the three Universal Civilizations in the exploration era, and they had a deep-rooted hatred for each other. They had already put their lives on the line for revenge. The World Tree's invasion made them happy instead of shocked, thinking that the heavens were helping them.

Pangon paused, took out a thick handmade cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. The smoke filled the air with silence.

"Speak!" His teammate demanded coldly.

Pangon glanced at him, tapped the ash off his cigarette, and slowly said, "The Great Relocation Plan should have been the time when the galactic pirates were rampant. But the militaries of the various civilizations are escorting their citizens to the Central Galaxy to take refuge, and the number of galactic residents wandering outside is decreasing… This makes it harder and harder for the galactic pirates to live. Not only is there barely any prey, but the remaining are also being wiped out by the military…"

"What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm saying is, even if we want to seize this opportunity to shake the rule of the three Universal Civilizations, we don't have enough manpower. We might as well take this opportunity to consolidate the galactic pirates and obtain sufficient armed forces. Otherwise, even if we go to the hinterlands of the three Universal Civilizations to cause trouble, we won't be able to."

Pangon paused and analyzed calmly.

"Furthermore, if we obstruct the three Universal Civilizations' plan, Black Star will surely come and kill us. Do you really want to see him?"

Hearing this, fear flashed in everyone's eyes, and they fell silent.

Pangon glanced at them and continued smoking, no longer bothering to speak.

This was both sincere and an excuse. In all fairness, although the invasion of foreign enemies was a good opportunity to shake the three Universal Civilizations, Pangon did not wish to use this opportunity. One reason was because of Black Star's threat, and the other was because of the Holy Accord.

After all, this was the hometown of Oathkeeper and his many Holy Accord companions. The fact that he was able to revive meant that he owed the Holy Accord a huge favor. At the same time, he also obtained his freedom. Now that some old friends were fighting against foreign enemies, he was not willing to drag his friends down.

Although he had decided to devote his life to revenge, he did not want to lose his loyalty.

The invasion of foreign enemies might be the only chance to destroy the three Universal Civilizations, but Pangon did not regret abandoning this route. He firmly believed that there would be another way.

...

The three Universal Civilizations and the World Tree were still engaged in a tug-of-war on the frontlines. After a while, as the first batch of special observation devices was released, the stalemate between the two sides was finally broken.

The beyond visual range detection technology from the Ultimate Civilization of a previous iteration broke through the camouflage of the World Tree strongholds one after another and marked the entire camp on the radar. It was almost like they had poked through the fog of war and finally got back the initiative.

The entire intercepting command center was in high spirits, and they immediately organized a large number of players to form the Spacetime Splicing Army. They split up into tens of thousands of troops and headed toward all the camps in an attempt to wipe out all the enemy strongholds.

The beyond visual range camps that were helping each other were quickly destroyed, and the hidden strongholds were caught off guard. Under the players' fearless Spacetime Splicing Charge, the World Tree's camps were destroyed one after another. The large number of 'nails' that the World Tree planted near the intercepting circle were removed.

After more than half a month of intense battle, the World Tree finally gave up on their Over-the-horizon camp tactic that had lost its effect. It no longer sent out new strongholds, allowing the three Universal Civilizations to clear the obstacles in expanding the intercepting circle and anchoring the orbit.

Without any obstruction, the speed of the space anchor's expansion was quickly thawed and it flowed out quickly, continuing to push the World Tree's jump point away from the intercepting circle.

In the next few months, the frequency of the clashes between the two armies increased, and the battle became more intense.

During this time, the World Tree launched two more assaults, and the fleet was tens of billions in size, triggering two large-scale battles.

The two battles had been fought by the army, and the World Tree did not send out any high-level combatants. It was purely to exhaust the three Universal Civilizations' forces. It seemed like before they find a way to restrain Aurora, the World Tree would not allow their advanced combatants to participate in the battle. Furthermore, the experts who died the last time had not all revived, so they could not enter the battlefield.

Although the World Tree replenishment fleet and combatants would also consume resources, due to the World Tree's characteristics—their resource utilization, resource development, resource regeneration, and resource reserves far exceeded the three Universal Civilizations. They had a huge advantage, and with both sides quickly mobilizing their troops, the World Tree planned to fight the three Universal Civilizations to exhaust their national strength.

Many Beyond Grade As had participated in these two large-scale battles. With Aurora's help and the fact that the World Tree did not send any Beyond Grade As, the two battles had not been so dangerous, and no one had died yet.

Within a few months, Han Xiao had also provided some of the war technology that The First Sanctum had stored. He had manufactured the products in batches and allocated them to multiple troops, which had a significant effect on the army. This reduced the damage of the three Universal Civilizations' fleets by quite a bit, and they were able to defeat the World Tree's assault troops at a lower cost.

The surveillance channels of Destiny's Child also discovered the signs of these two assaults in advance, which made the three Universal Civilizations wary, further reducing their losses.

With the special beyond vision detection devices provided by Han Xiao, the surveillance range and strength of the three Universal Civilizations had undergone a qualitative change. Even without Destiny's Child, they were able to discover most of the World Tree's actions near the intercepting circle. This important technology allowed the three Universal Civilizations to change parts of their strategy, and they no longer felt troubled because of their weakness in detection.

As such, the three Universal Civilizations also looked up at Han Xiao with more importance. They wanted Han Xiao to stay at the base and not participate in any battles, not allowing him to face any danger.

Black Star took out strategic technology one after another as if they were free, and almost every single one of them had the qualifications to be the trump card of an advanced civilization. This shocked the research departments of the three organizations, and they felt that Black Star's research ability alone was more amazing than their entire department.

While the three Universal Civilizations managed to defeat the two waves of attacks with brute force, their intercepting circle and the space anchor orbit were both destroyed during the advance of the World Tree fleet, and the expansion was indirectly stopped.

Ever since the war broke out more than half a year ago, the two sides had been facing each other in this meat grinder. The World Tree had always been blocked outside and could not break through the blockade. It was as if they had finally exhausted their patience after all this time, as Destiny's Child had captured important intelligence through the surveillance channels—showing that the World Tree Civilization was mobilizing troops in the territory and planning a new attack.

This was the World Tree's biggest wave of attacks so far. Its scale was even larger than the previous three combined. It had already exceeded 200 billion, and it was unknown how many more they planned to send!

With such a huge attack, even if the intercepting circle could repel the enemy like the previous three times, it would still be heavily damaged. The moment Han Xiao received the news, he informed the command center and called for an emergency meeting.