Chapter 731 Return

Seeing that Han Xiao did not believe him, Austin said, “Psyker is only concerned about his own Civilization and will not be interested in helping you. Even if I request his a.s.sistance, he might not give me face since we don’t have any relations.h.i.+p.”

Your face isn’t worth much, and to think you’re a Beyond Grade A… You’re also someone who likes socializing, just like me… Han Xiao inwardly complained.

As though reading Han Xiao’s thoughts, Austin coughed and changed the topic. “Even if he was willing, if you don’t become a Beyond Grade A Super, you won’t live for long.”

“Oh?” Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.

“You killed so many Grade A Supers from Bloodshed Land, but because of the rules of war, the Tyrant has been unable to make a move against you,” Austin replied serenely. “However, once the secret war comes to an end, what do you think he will do?”

Han Xiao frowned in response. “He’ll praise me for all my kills.”

Austin was rendered speechless, an incredulous expression hanging on his face. He shook his head.

“If you manage to reach the Beyond Grade A level before the end of the secret war, the Tyrant will enter the war to deal with you, but you at least will have some hope of surviving. However, if you end up being unable to break through to Beyond Grade A, you will not be able to resist, and even if you try to drag the death sentence, the day will come when you two battle!

“Thus, to say that advancing into a Beyond Grade A Super is your only choice was not me lying to you. Furthermore, the time you have left isn’t great.”

Han Xiao stroked his chin, not speaking. However, Marian, who was at the side, was already dazed, and Feidin also had on an expression of worry. He glanced toward Han Xiao from time to time, his eyes showing his concern.

Become a Beyond Grade A in two to three years? That’s impossible! Feidin could not even imagine how low the possibilities were.

He knew very well that Han Xiao had already reached a very high realm at this point. If he wished to take another step forward, how difficult would that be? In the past seven years, he had practically not improved a single step, and compared to his previous speed of progression that was akin to flying, even his close friends were hypothesizing that Black Star had finally met a bottleneck.

At that time, if the Tyrant went knocking, Black Star would likely die. The huge Black Star Army would also collapse along with his death.

Even if Black Star could seize the slim possibility and advance into the Beyond Grade A realm, he might not survive under the hands of the Tyrant. The Tyrant had long since advanced to Beyond Grade A, and his reputation had been earned through fighting. Thus, his combat capability could definitely crush a newly promoted Beyond Grade A.

With this in mind, Feidin was pessimistic about the future. He reached out and squeezed Han Xiao’s shoulder, hoping to give him some comfort.

Deep in thought, Han Xiao must have been feeling very depressed at this moment.

“Where did you get your news from?”

“I naturally have my own sources.” Austin smiled.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes as he pretended to sigh. In actual fact, this news was not out of his expectations. Since he dared to partic.i.p.ate in the secret war, he was already prepared for the enemy and did not leave anything to fate.

Originally, he was only considered an ordinary member of Section Zero, but he had turned into one of their trump cards, successfully attracting the attention of the Tyrant. Han Xiao had also always been wary of Heber’s involvement in the war. He was not scared, however, as he still had the backing of Floating Dragon, and if the Tyrant wanted to move against him, he would have to face the wrath of the Dragon Emperor. Both sides already had a prior grudge, so Ames would never take this matter lying down.

Moreover, once the Tyrant decided to intervene, the Purple Crystal Civilization would also explode and send troops regardless of the cost to surround Heber. A Star Cl.u.s.ter Civilization was sufficient to threaten the life of a Beyond Grade A Super. At that time, Klent would also use this as an excuse to send troops, and the nature of the secret war would become a large-scale war of two civilizations.

Both warring parties wished to control the scale of the war, so the Tyrant had not appeared. However, Han Xiao was not too aggressive. It was okay to take a p.i.s.s on someone else’s head, but sh*tting would go too far.

In fact, after he carved out a name for himself, he had reduced the frequency of his appearances. Having successfully formed an alliance with Purple Crystal, he had obtained a lot of development opportunities and had completed his original intention of partic.i.p.ating in the secret war. Thus, he wanted to avoid the situation where the winds howled around the highest peaks.

Although he might have affected the process of this secret war, just based on the strength and status of the Calamity Grades on both sides, it would be hard to change the outcome of the war. He had acted within his means and did not slave away to complete each objective the Purple Crystal set for him.

As such, Austin’s words only allowed Han Xiao’s speculations to turn into reality, so he was not too surprised.

However, on the surface, Han Xiao still had to thank Austin for reminding him.

“I can only help you so much. The enchantment that Lagi has given you is pretty good. I don’t need to improve it. You may leave.”

Austin waved his hands, telling his subordinated to send off his guests.

Seeing the situation, Han Xiao did not stay any longer as well, taking the concerned Feidin and Marian, leaving the Palace of Hidden Spells.

Austin returned to his throne, and on his round face, there was an expression as though he was watching a fascinating show.

He never involved himself in disputes, as he liked to be in the position of a bystander, watching the fights across eras even as the seas themselves turned into mulberry fields.

Pressure could be a form of motivation, and he had purposefully stated the intentions of the Tyrant to see how Black Star would behave before this looming disaster. Would he rise against it, or would he be extinguished within? Would he be a defeated dog, leaving the Shattered Star Ring to escape the pursuit of the Tyrant?

Whichever outcome it was, Austin looked forward to it.

Of course, the scene that he wished to see most would be Black Star breaking the situation of the Shattered Star Ring that had been fixed for decades, injecting new vitality into this remote Star Field.

The trio boarded the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, leaving the Palace of Hidden Spells.

There was only silence on-board.

Feidin could not resist opening his mouth after a while to ask, “Do you have any hope of breaking past your bottleneck in the next two to three years?”

Bottleneck? What bottleneck? Han Xiao did not respond immediately. He only glanced at him in confusion. Suddenly, it clicked as to what he was talking about, and Han Xiao could only shrug.

“I don’t know.” He naturally did not mention the matter of his interface.

“What then? The Tyrant is sure to come and kill you.” Feidin was a little panicked.

“Maybe we can obtain the Evolution Cube from Psyker himself,” Marian suggested. “Isn’t that thing capable of lowering the threshold of entering Beyond Grade A?”

“I think there’s no chance of that.” Han Xiao shook his head.

Austin might have been able to discuss the matter with Psyker, but he had no intention of helping Han Xiao. As for Ames, because she was probably not familiar with Psyker, she could not use her face to talk to Psyker. The Evolution Cube was Psyker’s treasure. Even if he wanted to use it, he did not know the other party. There was an eighty percent chance that Psyker would just ignore him.

Furthermore, he himself did not have any real bottlenecks and merely lacked experience.

“Then, what are you preparing to do?” Feidin asked.

“Improvise.”

With the players returning in Version 3.0, Han Xiao was confident that he would reach Beyond Grade A, but he was unable to explain that to Feidin.

Feidin pressed on the shoulders of Han Xiao, speaking with a solemn expression. “If this really does not work, we’ll just abandon the Black Star Army and escape to another Star Field. Our influence can be rebuilt; our lives are more important.”

“And you’ll come along with us?” Han Xiao jested.

Feidin paused for a moment before seriously nodding. “I will.”

Feeling the genuine intentions of Feidin, Han Xiao was a little touched.

But he shook his head and changed the topic, smiling as he said, “Don’t be frightened by what has not come. Let’s talk about the issue of the Tyrant next time. Right now, I still have a more urgent problem. I need to find a way to suppress the parasitism in my mental territory. This psychic toxin… oh, I should call it the Soul Embryo. With this thing here, I can’t even exert any energy.”

“A pity that the Magus was unable to help.” Feidin sighed.

“He just didn’t want to help. Don’t look at him having an amiable expression. In actual fact, that old chicken is extremely sly. Do you think he told me all that intelligence to help me?”

Han Xiao pursed his lips. He was not as easily manipulated as Herlous. To make him go all the way there, only to see him flap his lips a little and send them off, not even reimbursing them for fuel costs, what nonsense was this?

In the end, he still had to find his own method. If he had known this, he would not have relied on Austin at all. This was a wasted trip.

As Han Xiao thought about it, he suddenly discovered a path.

Since the reason reaching Beyond Grade A could allow him to automatically recover was their strong mental strength, this meant that each time he levelled up, his spirit should increase. Thus, even if he did not reach Beyond Grade A, he should be able to suppress the Soul Embryo.

Because the NPCs did not have an interface, they could only subtly improve themselves through grinding and training. However, Han Xiao’s leveling up was an instantaneous process, and the effect displayed was significant. Although upgrading would not allow him to clear away his negative state, it should be able to inhibit the growth of the Soul Embryo.

Han Xiao opened his interface. This trip had taken more than half a month, and the players had long returned to the Black Star Army and made their purchases. He had already acc.u.mulated a reasonable amount of experience to raise his level. This would serve to test his theory.

He did not hesitate, immediately raising his level by one.

[Apostle Mechanic) leveled up to Lv.23.

+240 Energy, +3 STR, +4 DEX, +5 END, +10 INT.

You have received 8 Free Attribute Points and 1 Potential Point.

Han Xiao connected to his mental territory, and looking down, he saw that the area of purplish black mist where the Soul Embryo was had further shrunk. It had reduced from six percent to four percent.

Leveling up is indeed effective. The stronger the mental territory, the more the Soul Embryo will be suppressed.

As he withdrew his spiritual probing, he immediately came up with an idea. It was not as though he was incapable of attacking. As long as he reasonably upgraded himself, controlling the Soul Embryo to remain below thirty percent, there would be no possibility of a troublesome sub-personality rising.

He sighed in relief. Since there was a long-term plan to suppress it, the threat of the Soul Embryo had decreased. Indeed, enchanting and stuff were all external means; the most reliable path was still to strengthen himself. A matter that a Beyond Grade A could not deal with could be resolved simply by levelling himself.

If that’s the case, it’s not as if I can’t attack. I just have to control the time taken for battle… Oh, but to be safe, I had better look for a stronger partner…

At this time, his communicator rang. Taking it out, Han Xiao saw that it was from Sylvia, who was manning the helm at the main headquarters. There was a photo attached.

In the picture, a dark red s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was dragging dozens of s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps through a traction beam into the dock. A memorable flash of dark red hair leaped into his gaze; it was Hila and Aurora who were standing at the dock, showing contrasting cold and warm expressions.

Hila’s back?

Han Xiao looked at the photo, and the corners of his mouth rose.

At that moment, he had the best candidate in mind.

“Your Excellency Dragon Emperor, the ladies have already arrived at the headquarters of Black Star Army.”

In the palace of Floating Dragon Island, Vilna had her head lowered as she reported the status of the two sisters to Ames.

Ames had squeezed her force field into tiny little green spheres and was playing with them on her fingers. She smiled when she heard the news. “Did they meet into any problems?”

“Well, I sent out a fleet in secret, and there were eight small bandit groups that tried to attack them, but all of them were easily killed by Hila.” Because Vilna was afraid that they would meet with unforeseen circ.u.mstances, she had sent out someone to follow them for protection.

Ames nodded in response. “You’ve done well. Since they have successfully reached Black Star’s territory, recall the troops. Black Star will naturally take care of them.”

She cared more for the siblings than herself. She did not feel that normally, but now that the two sisters had been gone for more than half a month, she began to feel as though she was lacking something in her life.

By the side, Aesop shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about them at all. By following Black Star, they will grow quickly.”

Looking over, Ames seemed a little unhappy. “Do you mean to say that I didn’t teach well?”

Aesop waved his hands in helplessness. “Hila can absorb the dead’s remaining spiritual powers to strengthen her own. She did not have an opportunity to use the ability here, but Black Star is partic.i.p.ating in the war, with countless dying every second. For Hila, the best place for her to grow and practice is the battlefield. Even I can’t imagine the pace of her growth beside Black Star.”

“That’s right. Black Star, that b*stard, will definitely make them join the battlefield. It’s so dangerous. What if Black Star doesn’t take care of them?” Ames murmured to herself, obviously focusing on a different direction. She resembled a worried parent, treating her two disciples who had followed her for more than a decade like her children.

Aesop and Vilna had a bad feeling upon hearing those words.

After spending yet another half a month travelling, Han Xiao’s group finally arrived back at the headquarters and met the two sisters who had been away for a long time.

In the office, Aurora ran head first into Han Xiao’s arms, squirming non stop. Although they were already old, she still felt the same familiarity and closeness to Han Xiao.

“Based on the contract, we’re here to work for you.” Hila was expressionless.

“We’re all old acquaintances. There’s no need to talk about an agreement or contract. I’m happy that you guys are here to help.” Han Xiao stroked Aurora’s hair as he laughed. “To think that a decade has pa.s.sed just like that. You’re all grown up.”

The emotions in Hila’s eyes fluctuated slightly.

They had once been puppets under the control of the Germinal Organization, but now, Black Star had become a great figure in the Universe, while Hila had also become a Calamity Grade Super. Things were different.

Thinking back to the past, Hila felt moved. The man in front of her had changed her entire life. Without Black Star, she would have grown old with guilt and hatred for the planet and would likely never have been able to enter the magnificent universe.

“The last time we fought side by side was more than a decade ago. At that time, I could not help out at all.” Hila’s eyebrows rose, and she was full of spirit. “But I’ve finally caught up to you!”

“I’ve already waited ten years for today.” Han Xiao patted Hila’s shoulders as he smiled. He then took two steps back, raising his hands as he said out loud, “Welcome to the Black Star Army!”