Chapter 1 Departure from the Virtual Realm

Having escaped from Manison's virtual domain, Han Xiao's virtual soul returned to the quantum network hub of the headquarters, secretly relieved.

Although he was no match for Manison in a virtual technology showdown, Manison's mental attacks couldn't hurt him either.

Not only because he was tough, but also because a Mechanic wasn't a class specializing in mental attacks. No matter how powerful [Supreme Virtual] was, it couldn't easily defeat a Mechanic of the same level. Moreover, a high Intelligence attribute also provided some mental resistance, so he wasn't that vulnerable.

"However, [Supreme Virtual] is more of a control skill. I took about five or six seconds to escape Manison's virtual domain, so the situation is still okay."

Han Xiao observed the situation and nodded inwardly.

While he was being pulled into the virtual domain by Manison, Phillip lost his help, and under Manison's offensive, the thickness of the firewall was reduced by nearly half again, and a large amount of internal data was lost.

Fortunately, he returned in time, regained control, and immediately stabilized the defense line, returning the situation to a tug-of-war with a slight disadvantage.

After all, they were both Mechanics specializing in virtual technology. Manison could quickly break through Han Xiao's virtual domain, and Han Xiao wouldn't take too long to break through the other party's virtual domain. [Supreme Virtual] wasn't suitable for dealing with Mechanics, as mastering virtual technology allowed for quick cracking, greatly reducing the time of being controlled.

At this moment, Manison outside the firewall narrowed his eyes at Han Xiao and slowly said:

"Incredible physique, unimaginable potential, growth speed that creates history… Black Star, where exactly did you spring from, you anomaly?"

"The world is full of wonders," Han Xiao said with a grin. "There's no need to be so surprised, right?"

Manison shook his head. "After sparring with you last time, I've had a guess. Now, after fighting you again, my idea is becoming clearer and clearer… Black Star, could your existence be a cosmic wonder in itself?"

"Haha, maybe."

Han Xiao remained calm and unmoved.

At this time, Risda finally lifted the blockade and immediately helped Han Xiao support the firewall and resist Manison's intrusion without saying a word.

And Faint continued to chisel the firewall, helping Manison invade. Each chisel strike could create a small, temporary loophole, from which data was constantly extracted bit by bit.

One attacked and one defended, both sides using their virtual technology to the fullest. Modules were cracked and then reshaped, constantly cycling back and forth.

The outward appearance was a tide of data streams bombarding the firewall, but in reality, magnifying the perspective countless times, every inch of space that collided was an invisible miniature battlefield, with countless jumping bytes seeming to transform into soldiers, mutually calculating and cracking.

The two of them looked calm and collected, but their brains were already operating at overclocked speeds. The calculation details of each collision were personally controlled by them, and the amount of calculation was extremely huge.

…

In the Black Star Army's Logistics Department, Leonard had urgently summoned all the Mechanics in the department. Those who were working immediately put down their tasks, and those who were sleeping ran over to assemble without even putting on their pants.

Surveying the endless Logistics Department Mechanics, Leonard said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, the Black Star Army Headquarters' intelligent core has been illegally virtually invaded. His Excellency Black Star is resisting. As a member of the army, we cannot stand idly by. The Army Commander needs our off-site help!"

Everyone's face was grim. An enemy that even Black Star couldn't repel was indeed in a bad situation.

No one knew how Black Star had provoked the Machinery Country.

In the Mechanic world, the Machinery Country's reputation was too great, and it was basically recognized as the strongest Mechanic. Now that they had to fight against such a big figure, these Logistics Department members were a little uneasy and their morale was low.

The strongest Mechanic wasn't just an empty title, but an aura with its own [Mechanic Morale Penalty], which could cause the vast majority of Mechanics who opposed him to lose confidence.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Why is the Machinery Country invading us? Aren't he and Black Star on good terms?"

"You ask me, who am I going to ask?"

Leonard glared at him fiercely and shouted, "Don't think wildly. Remember, the army is in crisis. What we need to do now is to help the army. No matter what the identity of the intruder, he is now our enemy!"

Although that's what he said, in fact, for a long time, the Machinery Country was Leonard's idol. It was only later that he joined the Black Star Army and witnessed Black Star's rise step by step. In his mind, Han Xiao had gradually replaced the Machinery Country's position and became his most admired object.

Now that he had to be an enemy of his former idol, Leonard could accept it calmly.

Hearing Leonard say this, the Logistics Department members calmed down and gradually became firm—Leonard had a high reputation in the Logistics Department, which was due to his serious work and rigorous scientific research character, which most Mechanics liked.

Seeing that the Logistics Department members had stabilized their morale, Leonard was slightly relieved and immediately gave a loud order, telling everyone to take action.

Although it was difficult for them to intervene in the virtual battlefield of the two peak Beyond Grade As, the Logistics Department could indirectly help by using temporary permissions to replace hardware on Phillip's intelligent core mainframe, thereby increasing Phillip's computing power, while also sharing their weak computing power to Phillip through hardware connections.

At the same time, Fleet Commander Melos, who was playing cards online and suddenly had his network cut off despite having a good hand, also took corresponding action.

He dispatched the armed forces of various branches of the Black Star Army and began a carpet search of all the neighboring planets, trying to find Manison's location, but this was a vast project, like finding a needle in a haystack.

On the other side, Sylvia took a high-level route and directly contacted Godora. Godora readily handed over temporary secondary control permissions for many quantum network base stations in the Garton Star System, temporarily allowing the Black Star Army to take over the quantum network permissions for most of the star system.

After the Discrimination Reform Movement, coupled with the recent public welfare education program, the relationship between Godora and the Black Star Army became increasingly close. When they learned that the Black Star Army was in trouble, the leader overruled all objections and generously helped—anyway, if Black Star wanted it, their network security was as good as non-existent, so it was better to agree to lend it out for a while and improve the relationship.

Godora was still very experienced in hugging thighs, which was basically a compulsory course for every star system civilization.

Although she guessed that Manison might have his own base station, Sylvia always liked to prepare multiple plans, and controlling the quantum network base stations in this area was also cutting off one of Manison's escape routes.

Laki didn't understand any virtual technology, but he had his own way. He called a bunch of people from the Magic Department and ran to give Han Xiao buffs.

All kinds of attribute-boosting spells that increased Intelligence and Spirit were cast on Han Xiao's main body, filling up his status bar, which was so dense that he had to turn the page to see it all.

However, the effects of buff spells weren't constant. Low-level spells and mages giving buffs to high-level targets would have a discounted effect. The more powerful the individual, the lower the effect of external buffs.

Moreover, many buff magic spells had restrictions that they would become ineffective if the attributes exceeded a certain limit. For example, many percentage-based attribute amplification spells could only amplify the attributes to two or three thousand points at most, and they would be ineffective if they exceeded that limit. The higher the limit of the spell, the higher the difficulty of learning and the level of the spell. Some unrestricted or Beyond Grade A-targeted buff spells were basically in the category of forbidden arts, and few people had mastered them.

Faced with Manison's attack, all departments of the entire Black Star Army spontaneously operated and did what they could to provide assistance to Han Xiao from various aspects.

…

War Realm headquarters.

It had been more than two months since Herber closed himself off, and most of the high-level cadres, except for those who were wavering, were more concerned about the Overlord's state.

Today, Herber finally summoned Jod and asked about the War Realm's affairs during this time.

Standing in front of the door, Jod was uneasy. He took a few deep breaths to slowly calm down and gritted his teeth to push the door open.

He had prepared himself to see all kinds of scenes, but the scene before him hadn't changed much from before.

Herber sat upright in his seat, his back still straight, and his clothes were neat. There was no sign of decadence, the only difference was that his aura wasn't as oppressive as before.

Looking around cautiously, Jod swallowed and couldn't help but ask, "You… are you alright?"

"What could be wrong with me?"

Hearing this, Herber couldn't help but frown.

"You, you haven't shown up for so long and haven't asked about the organization's affairs. We thought… we thought…"

"Thought I was devastated by Black Star's attack?" Herber loosened his frown and said unhappily, "Losing is losing. I can find it back in the future. When did I become so fragile in your eyes?"

"No, it's just that your performance made us misunderstand…" Jod quickly explained.

"Hmph."

Herber shook his head. When he had just been defeated, his mentality had indeed collapsed, but as a Beyond Grade A, he hadn't experienced setbacks along the way.

The damage to his reputation did make his heart ache, but Herber quickly adjusted his emotions and put this debt on his little notebook.

Thinking about it from another angle… with Sisko as the bottom, he wasn't the worst in the Shattered Star Ring, so Herber felt much better.

However, although his Overlord's reputation had been damaged, the War Realm still had to continue to develop, and Herber wouldn't call a halt to the business competition with the Black Star Army.

Once was enough to beat me up for revenge, did he think he could beat me up every day?

Did he think I was stupid?!

Next time, even if only one Mechanical Soldier came, I wouldn't fight to the death!

This time, although Herber quickly got rid of his loss after being defeated, he also recognized the gap between his strength and Black Star's. Even if he was unwilling, he could only grit his teeth and admit that Black Star had far surpassed him.

Therefore, Herber's thoughts of competing with Black Star for the strongest in the Star Field had also faded a lot. At least until he was confident that he could defeat Black Star, he didn't want to provoke Han Xiao with force again. He held the idea of "I'll beat you back when I've mastered my divine skill."

After frankly admitting that Han Xiao had surpassed him, for some reason, Herber felt much more relaxed—maybe it was because he didn't have to fight with someone like Black Star anymore, and his long-tense nerves were finally relaxed.

Too lazy to explain his thoughts to Jod, Herber said impatiently, "Hurry up and tell me what matters have been piling up recently. Don't bother me with my training if there's nothing important."

"Okay, okay…"

Seeing that Herber had adjusted his mentality, Jod breathed a sigh of relief and immediately reported the situation during this period, emphasizing those who had left.

"Don't worry about those guys who left." Herber didn't care. "They're all wavering opportunists. There are as many of these people in the universe as you want."

Jod nodded and sighed secretly. It seemed that Herber was still the same as before and didn't care about his subordinates.

At this time, Herber hesitated for a moment and slowly said, "You inform all the Calamity Grade Martial Arts System cadres to gather here with me in a while. I'll teach them something. Hmph, as my subordinates, they haven't made any progress for so long. What's the point?"

Jod's eyes widened, and he was a little surprised. After a while, he smiled.

"Understood, they will definitely be happy to accept your guidance."

"Hmph, I don't need flattery."

After calming down, Jod took out another piece of information and said in a deep voice:

"By the way, there's one more thing. Just now, an emergency news leaked from the Black Star Army. For some reason, the Machinery Country, Manison, is at odds with Black Star and is invading the Black Star Army Headquarters' intelligent core. Their virtual battle hasn't ended yet."

"The Machinery Country? Does he have a grudge against Black Star?"

Herber was puzzled.

"I don't know. The outside world is saying that it's because Black Star has grown too fast and his ambitions have expanded. He launched a challenge to the Machinery Country's position, so the Machinery Country took the initiative to fight him in Black Star's home ground to defend his position and make Black Star recognize reality."

"Sounds pretty real."

Herber frowned. He didn't know the secrets of the Mechanic Emperor. This was a secret within the Mechanic profession, and other professions didn't know much about it. The Empire wouldn't be idle and tell a musclehead about the secrets.

After thinking about it, Herber let out a breath and shook his head.

Black Star was a troublemaker who couldn't stay quiet for a moment. He almost broke me apart two months ago, and how long has it been? He's already provoked the Machinery Country. He's really a wave of energy, poking around everywhere like a promiscuous philanderer.

"Don't worry about them. I don't understand the Mechanics' affairs anyway, and it has nothing to do with me."

Herber waved his hand and put the matter behind him.

…

Black Star Army Headquarters Core, virtual world.

The virtual technology confrontation between the two Mechanic Emperors wouldn't end in a short time, and the battle had been going on for a long time.

With the addition of [Perfect Mechanical Sense], the gap between Han Xiao and Manison was further narrowed. However, with the cooperation of the home-court advantage and the external help of the Black Star Army Logistics Department, he could only barely resist Manison's virtual invasion from afar and slow down the rate of data outflow.

Under Han Xiao's resistance, Manison couldn't invade the entire core, but it was enough to take the opportunity to constantly capture data while chiseling open the firewall loopholes.

Although the [Perfect Mechanical Sense] Character Summon Card was good, it had a time limit, and it would end in up to sixteen hours. As long as Manison was willing, he could continue to invade for days and nights.

"Fortunately, I asked for help, or it would be bad if we kept fighting."

Han Xiao's mind flickered, and he waited for Maximall to arrive.

The two had been fighting fiercely for a long time. Several hours later, a new Beyond Grade A Mechanic finally entered the arena!

Outside the firewall, a virtual soul jumped from the wide-area quantum network channel and appeared in their sight.

Han Xiao took a closer look and was slightly stunned.

The person who came wasn't Maximall, whom he knew well, but another Empire Beyond Grade A ally.

Manison looked over, his brow furrowed slightly, and slowly said:

"Kant, why is it you?"

"Hey, can't I come?"

This virtual soul smiled slightly. His appearance was very strange. He was a snow-white, pointed cylindrical column, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Only a tuft of green leaves grew on the top, and a pair of big, charming eyes were in the center of his body, making him look like a big white radish.

This person… cough, this radish was one of the three strongest pillar of the Red Empire, the "Illusion God" Kant.

His nickname sounded like a psychic or a mage, but in reality, Kant was a Mechanic. His race was the Shapeshifter, and his talent was to change his body structure and physically disguise himself as other creatures.

After advancing to Beyond Grade A, his species sublimated, and Kant's talent underwent a transformation. He could basically physically transform into anything, which was more realistic than a mage's illusion or a Mechanic's virtual imaging and difficult to see through.

Because of this talent, he had a strong ability to disguise himself and was naturally easy to deal with any species. No one had ever seen his true form.

He himself was also enthusiastic about transformation, and his appearance was different every day. The presence of his shapeshifting ability even overshadowed his Mechanic profession, so he got this nickname.

Manison knew Kant and looked him up and down, a little puzzled.

"What species are you changing into today? Is there such a creature in the universe? It looks like a radish."

"I'm changing into a radish." Kant blinked.

"…"

Manison was speechless and silent for a few seconds before suddenly withdrawing all the data streams and stopping the invasion.

If Maximall came, Manison wouldn't be afraid, but since it was Kant, although he could deal with it, he wasn't fighting on his home turf after all, and he couldn't be at ease.

Moreover, Kant's intervention must be authorized by the Empire. If the Machinery Country fought two against one, it would only increase his prestige. It was better to directly pull over a powerful person and let Manison leave on his own initiative. The subtext was—this matter ends here, your goal has been achieved, don't get any more inches.

With this in mind, Manison stopped, retracted Faint into his virtual soul, and finally glanced at Han Xiao before slowly saying:

"If you weren't a Mechanic, we might have been friends."

After leaving these words, Manison's virtual soul disappeared and retreated along the network.

He came quickly and left quickly, decisive and efficient.

This battle had already spread out, and Manison's goal had basically been achieved. He had obtained a large amount of internal data from the Black Star Army, and the invasion was more than half successful, which was the key to the victory or defeat of a virtual battle.

It didn't matter what ordinary people thought. His performance in suppressing Black Star in the mechanical field would definitely consolidate his position in the Mechanical Church, stabilize his identity as the number one Mechanic, and minimize the impact of Black Star's advancement to Mechanic Emperor.

Seeing Manison retreat, Han Xiao frowned and shook his head.

At this time, Kant looked over.

The Empire had Kant come forward not only to stop the battle but also to give him the mission of comforting Black Star. The Empire currently attached great importance to Han Xiao, this super potential stock, and was afraid that Black Star would be hit by this blow and his mentality would be affected.

After thinking about it, Kant opened his mouth to comfort him:

"Don't be discouraged. You're still young. It's normal to lose to the Machinery Country. It's not too embarrassing. Think of it as him not taking too much advantage of you. There are still many days to come. Don't worry."

Han Xiao glanced at him and didn't speak.

Seeing this, Kant's radish-like body conjured a hand, scratched the green leaves on his head, and sighed: "I used to be targeted by the Machinery Country. Alas, my performance was even worse than yours. Actually, it's not a bad thing to suffer a little loss when you're young."

Hearing this, Han Xiao's face was strange.

After looking at the prompt on the interface to complete the mission, Han Xiao couldn't help but nod in agreement:

"You're right. It would be even better if I could suffer a few more 'losses'…"