Chapter 962 Gains and Losses

Upon hearing Han Xiao say that, Kant naturally misunderstood Han Xiao’s intentions and chuckled.

“Heh, you are truly open minded. This att.i.tude isn’t too bad, and you should strive to keep such an att.i.tude. Right, do you know why the Mechanic Emperor chose to attack you? The dynasty asked me to inform you of the reason, but there isn’t a need for me to do so if you are already aware of it.”

“I would have to trouble you to explain it to me.”

Han Xiao knew that this matter was related to the Machinery Faith, but it would not be a bad thing for him to hear the dynasty’s explanation.

Kant nodded and briefly explained the matter to him. His explanation was the same as the introduction of [Key of Adeptus Mechanicus]. The reason was to fight for the followers of the Machinery Faith. However, he had helped Han Xiao fill in some gaps.

For example, even though the followers of the Machinery Faith were a group of people who believed a little in everyone, a follower was not able to give the bonus to more than one Machinery Deity.

Furthermore, only the members of the Machinery Faith could provide strength; other followers were not able to trigger the [Key of Adeptus Mechanicus]. This was related to some unspoken rule in the Machinery Faith. The Arcane Church was the expert in this area, and the dynasty had not researched too deeply into it.

Everyone knew that most of the Machinery Faith followers were Mechanics, and Manison had the most followers as the publicly acknowledged most powerful Mechanic.

The followers of the Machinery Faith were a bunch of pragmatic people. To most of the followers, they would follow the most powerful Mechanic. If the t.i.tle of the most powerful Mechanic was changed, they would also change their idol. They were not too bothered about potential and only cared about who the strongest individual was.

Furthermore, the followers of the Machinery Faith only looked at the strength of a Mechanic in his Mechanic related skills and not his strength in other areas. Thus, the Mechanics that had a powerful body were not able to move them unless they could prove that their strength came from the source of being a Mechanic.

“I wasn’t able to win against Manison back then. He’s defeated all his compet.i.tors and sat on the throne of Machinery Faith leader for a long time. Thus, there isn’t a need for you to feel discouraged. It is a normal thing for you to lose to him in terms of Virtual Technology.”

Kant twiddled with the leaf on his head and consoled Han Xiao.

He had also been defeated by Manison before. Since he could not defeat the other party, he could only take a step back and not s.n.a.t.c.h Manison’s followers.

“Don’t worry, I’m alright.”

Han Xiao slightly raised his brows.

He did not intend to provoke Manison, and even if he had to become enemies with Manison one day, this was not the right time. It was a pity that the strength he had received spoiled his plans, and Manison had begun targeting him.

Indeed, those of the same cla.s.s were true nemeses!

Han Xiao then paused for a moment before asking, “What is the att.i.tude of the dynasty?”

“I know what you want to ask. However, don’t count on the dynasty standing up for you in this regard,” Kant said. “This isn’t the first time that Manison has provoked the other Mechanics. Since there wasn’t a risk to your life, there isn’t much that the dynasty can do. If you aren’t resigned, you can only issue a challenge in the name of the Black Star Army but not the dynasty’s name. Don’t think of using your t.i.tle of being the dynasty’s ally to hold the dynasty hostage. I had a miserable lesson in this regard before.”

Upon hearing that, Han Xiao shook his head. He now understood the dynasty’s att.i.tude toward this matter. The dynasty would only console him but not stand up for him.

This was not the first time that Manison had done something like this. At the end of the day, his only motive was to defeat the Mechanics at the same level as him to prove that he was the boss. Thus, it was rare for lives to be lost. Since it was just a spar between Beyond Grade As, he could only blame his own lack of skill if he lost. The three Universal Civilizations would not be able to do a thing and would only ensure that things did not get blown out of proportion.

Furthermore, Manison was still an important ally of the Federation of Light, and his backer was extremely powerful.

“Why didn’t the dynasty warn me beforehand?” Han Xiao raised his brows.

“You need to use your contribution to exchange for such intelligence,” Kant said with a strange tone. “Did the dynasty give you all your Cla.s.s knowledge for free?”

Han Xiao was dumbfounded and understood what was going on.

Because a Divine Throne Mechanic might not be familiar with his own strength, the properties of [Key of Adeptus Mechanicus] were like Ultimate Knowledge and required Contribution Points in exchange for them. The three Universal Civilizations would not inform their allies about this matter casually, and it was an exception for them to take the initiative to explain this matter to Han Xiao.

This meant that the introduction on the interface had saved Han Xiao a sum of Contribution Points.

“Don’t be too bothered about this. The dynasty didn’t take the initiative to inform you about this matter to protect you. They were probably afraid that you would try to gather followers after finding out about this and create conflicts with others. You have plenty of potential, and we are now in a sensitive period. They do not wish for you to face an old fogey like Manison head on and hope that you will take a step back regarding this matter.”

“I understand.” Han Xiao did not deny those words.

This was indeed the logic of an advanced civilization. They would look at all their plans from the perspective of a few decades or centuries. The potential that he had shown made the dynasty very patient with him and treated him as a long-term chess piece. It would not matter if he could not beat Manison. He only needed to live longer than Manison, and the dynasty was extremely confident in Black Star’s ability to stay alive.

However, this went against Han Xiao’s style.

After finis.h.i.+ng what the dynasty wanted him to convey, Kant turned around and left. “Alright then, everything has already been settled, so I shall take my leave.”

“Isn’t this our first official meeting? Aren’t you going to stay behind and chat with me?” Han Xiao asked out of courtesy.

“Forget it. It seems like you have plenty of things to take care of.” Kant then looked at the devastated main system of the Black Star Army and said, “We will have other chances to chat. I shall not disturb you today.”

As he said that, Kant’s Virtual Soul turned into a ray of light and disappeared into the net.

His att.i.tude toward Han Xiao was not too bad, but Kant would not have been so friendly if Han Xiao was not at the Divine Throne Mechanic level.

After watching Kant leave, Han Xiao heaved a sigh of relief and finally had the time to take care of the mess that Manison had left behind.

After clearing up the viruses that were left behind in Phillip’s logic module, Han Xiao got Phillip to perform a few diagnostics tests and confirmed that all the viruses were cleaned up before reopening the Black Star Army network.

“Thank you, master. I am all recovered now, hum…” Phillip was extremely energetic now that he had recovered.

“Eh? You called me daddy when you were in danger but changed your address now that you are alright,” Han Xiao teased.

“Hehehe…” Phillip made a funny face.

Risda then floated to Han Xiao’s side and said, “Your Excellency Black Star, with regards to Manison…”

“I know what you want to say.”

Han Xiao then got Phillip to go to the side before looking at Risda with a solemn expression.

“I am not going to hide things from you. I have always been hesitating over whether I should help you because I did not wish to provoke the Mechanic Emperor. However, you can see the situation now. If I don’t take a step back, both of us will have a conflict in terms of benefits.

“I understand.” Risda nodded.

“I am temporarily unable to beat Manison in terms of Mechanic skills. However, I will have a battle with him eventually, so our goals are aligned. Helping you complete your wish will weaken Manison. I will try my best to find a chance to save your AI civilization.”

Previously, Han Xiao would only make excuses whenever Risda brought up this matter, but he finally made a promise this time.

The Indestructible Mechanic Empire troop was Manison’s trump card. It did not only have a powerful strength but also the Virtual Technology skills of the AI life forms. Thus, it was important for him to deal with them. If he could complete the entire [Reboot] mission, Manison’s strength would definitely decline.

Manison had modified the core logic of all the AI life forms, which was akin to brainwas.h.i.+ng them. He had the strength of the Divine Throne Mechanic and had the rights to undo the brainwas.h.i.+ng that Manison had done to free them from his clutches.

However, the gap between them was large, and Han Xiao knew that he still needed to raise his Virtual Technology skills.

Furthermore, it would be difficult for him to come into contact with the data of the Indestructible Mechanic Empire. Manison would guard it tightly for sure.

“I shall be at your service from today onward,” Risda said with excitement. He had finally received this promise from Black Star after waiting for such a long time!

You make it sound as though I wasn’t making use of you before, Han Xiao thought to himself.

Although he had lost, Han Xiao’s mood was not too bad. No one in the universe would be able to beat him in terms of confidence.

After sending Risda away, Han Xiao got Phillip to look through the database and see how much information had been taken away by Manison.

Phillip then looked through the database and reported to Han Xiao, “Master, hum… 43.7% of our commonly accessed data, 35% of our low authority restriction data, 21.6% of our mid authority restricted data, 11.4% of our high authority restricted data, 2.5% of our confidential data, 27% of our blueprints data… Should I restore the backup?”

“Yeah, restore the backup.”

Han Xiao nodded and sighed.

He was not too bothered by the loss of data. The data in the army’s database was mainly related to the development of the army, and it was not too important. Han Xiao got Phillip to make a daily backup of the data, and the lost data would be easily recovered.

It would not matter much to him if Manison s.n.a.t.c.hed that data away. There was very little data on himself in the army’s database. All the top-secret data was kept in his own mind, and the data that Manison had stolen was not too important.

Regardless of whether it was blueprints or Cla.s.s knowledge, Manison had no lack of them. They both specialized in the same things, and it would be useless for Manison to obtain his blueprints because Manison already had a copy of them. Besides, Han Xiao’s Eternal Light blueprint had also been stolen from Manison…

The thing that concerned Han Xiao the most was the strength that Manison had displayed. Manison had only carried out the Virtual Intrusion remotely, and his strength was greatly reduced. If he had brought all his trump cards along, who knew how powerful Manison would be?

“What a terrifying enemy.” Han Xiao sighed.

Losing to Manison was not too embarra.s.sing. As a ‘newbie’ in the Beyond Grade A realm, it was not too surprising for him to lose to someone at the peak. Furthermore, Manison was not the Tyrant, and both of them did not have any grudges between them. Thus, the effect on his prestige would be limited. However, he would indeed be unable to shake Manison’s status within the Machinery Faith followers, and this was Manison’s objective.

He did not care about the views of ordinary galactic residents. Only the views of his followers were important.

“It seems like I don’t have to think about the Machinery Faith anytime soon. It will be difficult for my strength to exceed Manison during the version refresh period,” Han Xiao lamented.

Before his strength as a Mechanic could catch up to Manison, his [Key of Adeptus Mechanicus] can only collect dust.

“Although Manison made a huge profit, I didn’t suffer a loss.”

Han Xiao looked at his interface and chuckled.

Manison had provided him with two new abilities because Manison ran over to fight him. It was truly difficult to tell which party was suffering a loss!

If he could trigger such a mission every time, Han Xiao would not mind Manison coming over to his place to play every day.

In the eyes of Han Xiao, Manison was like a walking treasure chest, and he might be able to get all the Mechanic talents from Manison.

What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.

This saying was true indeed.

…

Backing out from the quantum network, Han Xiao’s consciousness returned to his body. He then picked up his communicator, which had been vibrating without stopping. There were a bunch of questions sent by Sylvia and the other officers.

Han Xiao replied to them and got them to return to their posts.

After sending out the news, he then looked toward the Black Star Guards and Lagi, who had gathered.

“Are you alright?” Aurora’s palm glowed, and she was prepared to fill Han Xiao up with life force.

“I am very good. It is difficult for a virtual battle to threaten my life. Manison has retreated already.” Han Xiao waved his arms.

Lagi had a bitter look on his face and said, “To think that the Mechanic Emperor has actually set his eyes on us. Our future is bleak. As the vice commander of the army, I would like to request for sufficient time to train.”

“Shut up. Go and become the princ.i.p.al obediently,” Han Xiao said with exasperation. He understood Lagi too well.

After a.s.suring his officers that he was alright, Han Xiao sent his officers away and touched Feidin a few times for luck before closing the door.

Han Xiao then rubbed his hands excitedly.

“Let me see what I can get. My target this time is Manison. If I still draw some tanky talent, I will write my name upside down!”

Opening the interface, Han Xiao completed the mission.

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[Reboot] sixth round completed.

You have received 1,500,000,000 Experience, Random Reward x2.

You have received talent [Affable AI]!

The seventh round has not been triggered.

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Han Xiao smiled with satisfaction.

[Affable AI] could increase the power of his Virtual Technology skills by thirty percent. The bonus was still alright, but the most important aspect of the skill was the effect on AI lifeforms. It would definitely be useful if he wanted to wipe out the Indestructible Mechanic Empire troop in future.

Han Xiao then called Phillip out to test the effects of the talent.

Taking in a deep breath, Han Xiao completed the Mechanic Emperor boss mission.

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[Mechanic Emperor Manison Virtual Combat] has been completed.

You have completed all the mission requirements and received 76,250,000,000 Experience.

You have received [Character Summon Card—’Mechanic Emperor’ Manison].

Character Summon Card—’Mechanic Emperor’ Manison. [Ancient One]: Your long life provided you with a wealth of valuable experience. +20% INT, +10% MYS, +2 levels to all skills. Duration: 24 hours. Usages: 0/2.

You have received: Draw one of Manison’s abilities.

Tip: Manison is a Virtual Mechanic, and your Cla.s.s is completely compatible with his. You will be able to draw any of his abilities. If you draw an ability that you have, you can strengthen your ability to a certain extent.

Randomizing… complete!

Please select one from the five options below as the reward.

1. [Apostle Machinery Affinity] Skill: +105% Machinery Affinity (You already have the skill, can be strengthened).

2. [t.i.tan Grade Planet Fort] Blueprint Skill: A planet modification blueprint suitable for the development of a machinery civilization. Specific parameters (Expand/Collapse). Construction requirements: Lv220, 3,500 INT, [Ultra-Composite Mechanical Architecture Technology], [Cutting-Edge Material Science], and [Abnormal State Energy].

3. [Innate Machinery Soul] Talent: You have an innate machinery talent, and your understanding of machines increases according to your strength. Lv1 – Lv100, +5% Machinery Affinity and +3% Virtual Technology skill for every 10 levels. Lv100 – Lv200, +7% Machinery Affinity and +5% Virtual Technology skill for every 10 levels. Lv200 and above, +10% Machinery Affinity and +7% Virtual Technology skill for every 10 levels.

4. [Legion Firepower Volley] Skill: A skilled tactician knows when to open fire. The range of your mechanical army being boosted by your Mechanical Force will increase by 25% for the next 8s. Cooldown: 160s.

5. [Mechanical Race: Endless Barriers] Blueprint Skill: A blueprint that belongs solely to the Mechanical Race. Specific parameters (Expand/Collapse). Construction requirements: Lv255, 6,000 INT, [Endless Material Science], [Ultimate Machinery Manufacturing Theory], [Advanced s.p.a.ce Application], and [Abnormal State Energy].

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