Chapter 1 The Transaction

In the Shining World cluster, at a transit station planet, was the transaction location Han Xiao chose with the Oathkeeper.

Fording was appointed as the transaction envoy, representing the legion to dock with the Covenant Organization's envoy here. He waited for the other party to arrive, with Han Xiao at headquarters monitoring the entire process.

The Oathkeeper had also made a mind projection early on to meet with Han Xiao. The two leaders maintained communication to ensure the smooth progress of the transaction, both full of sincerity.

In the office, a virtual screen floated on the table, playing the monitoring footage. The picture showed a bustling area, with people coming and going. Fording, wearing a disguise mask, stood by the wall of a building, scanning the passersby, while the Covenant envoy had not yet arrived at the designated location.

"When will your people arrive? We've been waiting for almost two hours." Han Xiao leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen with boredom, and casually asked the Oathkeeper standing opposite him.

"Soon."

"You've said that seven times already."

"... This time it's really soon."

After a while, a man in disguise finally appeared on the screen, carrying a silver alloy briefcase. As if he had received instructions, he walked straight towards Fording.

The two met, but neither made any further moves.

"Is that the envoy?" Han Xiao asked.

"Yes, what you want is in his case."

Han Xiao nodded, contacted Fording, and signaled that he could exchange the goods. The Oathkeeper also issued the same instructions using his mind projection ability.

The two in the picture received the instructions, directly exchanged the goods, then took a few steps back to check what they had.

A suit of armor suddenly appeared on Fording, wrapping him and the box together. The next moment, a light flashed, and his figure disappeared from the spot, suddenly appearing in Han Xiao's office.

"The stuff is here."

The armor opened, spit out the box, and placed it on Han Xiao's desk.

This armor was the Emperor mech that Han Xiao had temporarily lent to Fording. The teleportation beacon, "Throne," was left in his own hands to ensure that he could get the goods as soon as possible.

Han Xiao opened the box, and a white mist of cold air immediately poured out. Inside, two cylindrical containers were embedded side by side, each containing a ball of original Esper ability. One was emerald green, and the other was sky blue.

Next to the two containers was a data storage device. Han Xiao started it and took a look. It recorded two golden blueprints. All the items the Oathkeeper promised in the transaction were complete.

At this time, the interface also moved and a prompt popped up.

[Number of Original Esper Abilities you possess: 4/4]

[The milestone [Original Esper Ability Collector] has met the activation conditions]

[When you fight Espers, all your attributes are slightly increased, while the damage Espers deal to you is reduced by 12%~20%]

[You have obtained [Third Sanctum] skill fragment x1]

The task is complete, so it seems to be the real thing...

Han Xiao was sure and waved to Fording:

"You can go back."

Before the three-minute time limit had passed, he activated the Emperor mech again. With a flash of machinery force, he sent Fording back to the transaction site.

The Oathkeeper turned his head and looked over: "Black Star, how is it?"

"Well, there's no problem with the goods. How about your side?"

"What you gave me is indeed Holy Light Particle."

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow and extended his palm.

"Then... pleasant transaction?"

Although the Oathkeeper was a mind projection without a physical body, he still made a gesture and pretended to shake hands with Han Xiao, saying, "Pleasant transaction."

The next moment, the Covenant Organization's envoy in the picture seemed to activate some device, and the whole person suddenly disappeared from the monitoring screen.

"Oh? Your people slipped away really fast. Are you that worried about me?" Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he smiled playfully.

"Better safe than sorry."

The Oathkeeper did not deny his fear of Han Xiao.

Seeing his own envoy activate the information state coating and leave the scene in strict accordance with the plan, the Oathkeeper finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his tense nerves.

This transaction was very important to the Covenant, and he was worried about all aspects. The main thing was that he was afraid that Black Star would not abide by the contract and would use any means to track down the Covenant envoy. Now it seemed that Black Star did not have such thoughts, and the transaction was quite smooth.

With the Holy Light Particle, the success rate of opening the Third Sanctum can basically reach the expected level.

The Oathkeeper suppressed his excitement and said, "I will remember Black Star's generosity. Now that the transaction has been completed, I should leave as well."

Every time he dealt with such a character as Black Star, it was an adventure. The more he said, the more information he revealed.

Fortunately, the things were finally in his hands. He didn't need to deal with Black Star anymore. The Oathkeeper now just wanted to immediately cancel the mind projection and never see Han Xiao again.

Because the Oathkeeper had always contacted Han Xiao through mind projection, it meant that only he could actively contact Black Star, and Black Star could not contact him. As long as he didn't take the initiative to visit, Black Star would never have a chance to meet him again.

Just then, Han Xiao suddenly smiled slightly and said, "Don't be in such a hurry. I don't know when we'll meet next time. Let's chat for a bit. I happen to have a few questions I want to ask you before you leave."

The Oathkeeper's heart skipped a beat.

Are you kidding me? You have more questions?

Every time you ask a question, I panic! It's never a good thing!

"... Go ahead, I'll try to answer." The Oathkeeper said patiently, his tone cautious.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Just like the Oathkeeper, now that he had the benefits of the transaction, he had nothing to worry about.

After pretending to ponder for a few seconds, he decided to start with the least stimulating question and slowly open his mouth:

"Do you... know the Son of Destiny?"

The Oathkeeper's eyes suddenly widened, and his whole body froze.

Beast, what else do you know?!

He stared at Han Xiao's eyes, trying to see Black Star's attitude from them. However, the other party's handsome eyes were full of sincerity and clarity, as if he was just asking casually.

The Oathkeeper found it difficult to calm down. He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked:

"Why are you suddenly asking about this? Did something happen?"

"There's nothing to hide. I once encountered a special individual who called himself the Son of Destiny, but unfortunately he was buried under a nuclear explosion. And not long ago, I encountered a similar individual again. After some investigation, I found that there seems to be an Original Esper ability called Son of Destiny in the universe. It seems to transform some creatures into special sub-bodies. You guys happen to be experts in researching Original Esper abilities, so I'm here to ask for some advice."

"That's all?"

"What else? But looking at you, your Covenant Organization seems to know a lot of things." Han Xiao looked at the Oathkeeper up and down and asked suspiciously, "Could it be that the Son of Destiny is in your hands? The way your envoy disappeared just now seems to have some meaning of information state, which is also a technology you developed, right?"

The Oathkeeper had a headache and secretly regretted that he had overreacted just now, as if he had contracted Black Star PTSD.

"No, don't talk nonsense."

"Really not in your hands?"

"No." The Oathkeeper flatly denied it.

"Okay, whether he's in your hands or not, I don't care. I just want to know some information. You specialize in researching Original Esper abilities, so you must know some intelligence, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me that just now." Han Xiao knocked on the table, his tone casual.

It looked like he believed it. In fact, seeing the Oathkeeper's performance just now, he was 60% sure that the Son of Destiny was in the hands of the Covenant. But they definitely wouldn't admit it, so Grand Technician Han didn't ask any further. What was more important was to find out what kind of mechanism the Son of Destiny was.

The Oathkeeper was helpless. He thought for a while, selected some information, and explained in a deep voice:

"The Son of Destiny is a very ancient Original Esper ability. We don't know much about it either. Most of the information is what we've heard from other Original Esper abilities. It is said that the Son of Destiny's ability involves changes in the information state and the entanglement of fate lines, and has incredible predictive abilities.

"The so-called fate line is also called karma in some cultures. It's like a big net. If you pluck one of the threads, the vibration will be transmitted to more threads. So every time you activate the ability, the Son of Destiny has to read a lot of information and perform an analysis similar to big data calculations to calculate the various possible consequences of an event in order to predict it.

"In this process, in order to read the so-called fate line information, it will release special information state particles to collect information, and these particles often cause information state disturbances, generating some projections of itself on random information aggregates, replacing part of the other party's information, that is, generating sub-bodies. The targets are basically life individuals.

"Some Original Esper abilities say that the Son of Destiny can turn into a high-dimensional information state. If it doesn't want to be discovered, then no one can discover it, so no one has been able to capture it so far... So you've encountered two sub-bodies, it's simply because you're lucky."

Hearing this, Han Xiao's eyes flickered and his thoughts raced.

The information about the Son of Destiny that the Oathkeeper said was not much different from the mechanism he had guessed. However, he felt that the function of the Son of Destiny was not limited to this.

Only predictive ability? Not necessarily!

Since the Son of Destiny can create sub-bodies, can it also create other things, or even change the direction of fate lines? There are several forms of information state disturbance, and the "mirage" with its physical properties is one of them. Han Xiao hadn't forgotten how the domino virus that caused the intelligent plague came about.

In Version 1.0, the information he obtained from the Germinal Organization showed that their "Son of Destiny" had the ability to influence the future rather than predict the future. Han Xiao once thought that this was just because the natives were ignorant, but now it seemed that it might not just be a misunderstanding.

Han Xiao asked a few more questions, but the Oathkeeper said I don't know, don't ask me nonsense, clearly indicating that he would not reveal any more information.

Seeing this, Han Xiao had no choice but to change the subject, narrowing his eyes and saying casually:

"By the way, you told me about the mechanism of your mind projection ability last time. I checked it later and it seems that there is an Original Esper ability called Soul Flame that suits your situation."

Hearing this, the Oathkeeper did not hide it. He seemed to think that this was not a secret and nodded:

"That's right, I am the host of the Soul Flame."

"Well, according to this clue, I checked again and it seems that the last Soul Flame host in the universe was a Super A Grade Esper with the nickname Spirit Emperor, named Lowell سیسوک... I wonder if you know him?"

After saying that, Han Xiao stared closely at the Oathkeeper, wanting to see his every slightest move clearly.

However, the Oathkeeper did not show any surprise this time, saying: "I also know him, but I don't know this person."

Han Xiao frowned secretly. Unlike the Son of Destiny issue, the Oathkeeper did not react in any way to this question.

He couldn't be sure whether the Oathkeeper had been prepared for this or didn't care about his identity being revealed, or if he had guessed wrong, and the other party was not the Spirit Emperor from history who had pretended to be dead.

With a thought, Han Xiao asked, "Since the Soul Flame once accompanied this host, it must know more things. Can you ask it for me..."

As soon as these words came out, Han Xiao felt a little strange. It sounded like asking a man to ask his current girlfriend about her ex-boyfriend, which felt like a sign of a straight male chauvinist.

"What aspect do you want to ask?" The Oathkeeper said noncommittally.

"Well, I'm quite curious, who took the Soul Flame away after the Spirit Emperor died, and how did you get it?"

The Oathkeeper's tone sank, "Don't you think these questions are too personal?"

"As half a scientist, is it wrong for me to be curious?" Han Xiao said righteously.

The Oathkeeper shook his head helplessly and said, "Okay, I know you're curious about my identity, thinking that I am the Spirit Emperor, or one of the few Super A Grades who killed the Spirit Emperor and seized the Soul Flame. But you guessed wrong, none of these people are me. I didn't take the Soul Flame from anyone. When I met it, it was already free. I spent some effort to subdue it."

Han Xiao's eyes rolled, "Then can you help me ask it what it experienced after the Spirit Emperor died?"

"... It doesn't want to say." The Oathkeeper shook his head, his tone suddenly paused and said, "However, it told me that the Spirit Emperor did not die in battle. Since you have also read his life story, I won't go into details. Anyway, in the last battle of the Spirit Emperor, his body was indeed destroyed, but due to the special nature of his ability, his spirit did not die, but escaped and disappeared. As for where he went, the Soul Flame doesn't know either."

Han Xiao pondered.

He didn't know whether the Oathkeeper's statement was true or false, but judging from the other party's tone and the content of his narration, it didn't seem like he was trying to fool him.

The Spirit Emperor did not resurrect in his previous life, which meant that there was a high probability that he was still alive in the world. If the Oathkeeper was not the Spirit Emperor, then who was the Spirit Emperor? Could it be that he ran to a secondary dimension world and never came back?

"Do you have any other questions? If not, I'll leave first."

The Oathkeeper was a little impatient.

He didn't want to entangle with Han Xiao anymore. There was a more important mission waiting to be done. All his mind and body were focused on the awakening ceremony. The oath of many years had finally come to fruition, and he didn't want to delay for a moment.

Being willing to stay and chat with Han Xiao for a few words, in his opinion, was already giving him enough respect. Otherwise, at the moment the transaction was completed, he would have directly cancelled the projection and run away. Anyway, there was no need to contact him again in the future, and he didn't mind being a little rude.

"Okay, you have a more important mission, so I won't delay you."

Han Xiao stood up, made a gesture to see him off, and deliberately sighed:

"Alas, buddy, I have a pretty good impression of you. Now that you're leaving, I don't know when I'll contact you again. I won't say much else. After you revive the First Ancient One, say hello to the old seniors for me."

"!!!"

The Oathkeeper's action of cancelling the mind projection instantly froze in place.

The entire mental projection suddenly produced a white noise-like tremor, representing a violent emotional fluctuation, almost mentally deranged.

The sudden huge horror caused the Oathkeeper's mental frequency to become unbalanced, and his ability suddenly lost control!

His eyes widened, revealing an expression of disbelief.

How could you possibly know our top secret?!

I clearly checked all the higher-ups, and there wasn't a single mole at all!

At the moment this thought emerged, the Oathkeeper suddenly froze.

No, I fell into a blind spot of thinking. There was actually one higher-up that I hadn't checked!

Someone once said that when you have ruled out all possibilities and there is one left, no matter how incredible it is, that is the truth.

So...

I am the mole?!

The Oathkeeper's brain was boiling.