Chapter 691 Breakthrough

The dramatic storm of the Black Star Cup spread like wildfire throughout the universe, spawning countless kinds of smear campaigns against Manison. Manison, however, didn't respond at all, too lazy to even bother with Han Xiao.

News has a shelf life, and its heat usually only lasts a few days. This is especially true in interstellar society. The topic of the Black Star Cup was passed around as casual conversation for a while, but as expected, the heat gradually cooled down.

However, the reputations of the various field legion elites who made a name for themselves in the Black Star Cup settled down, allowing grassroots members to see more legion cadres. The strong at all levels were ranked.

For example, among the Calamity Grade cadres, Hadaway is currently recognized as number one, and Jodina is second. By analogy, they are ranked according to the Black Star Cup results. Those who did not participate or abstained are not well known to the public.

After the closing ceremony, Han Xiao returned to Black Star Palace to handle various affairs, and settled down the Child of Destiny's sub-body, Lodi, for various studies.

He originally wanted to let the "Second Generation Other God" Evans try to absorb the Child of Destiny's sub-body, but after some thought, he finally gave up on this plan.

First, the Child of Destiny's sub-body transformation is not yet determined whether it is considered an ability gene awakening or a physical phenomenon mutation. Evans's replication ability can only handle the former and cannot solve the latter.

Second, the Child of Destiny is very mysterious, and the informational state is also a profound field. Han Xiao is not sure whether there will be any side effects after Evans absorbs it, and may become a new transformed sub-body, so he doesn't want to take risks.

"I still have to ask the Arcane Church, they are the experts."

In the laboratory, Han Xiao looked at Lodi sleeping in the hibernation pod and nodded secretly.

The weirdness of the Child of Destiny is beyond his ability. The specialty is not right. He has not yet found a way to solve Lodi's sub-body transformation, and can only use conventional informational state constraints to stabilize Lodi's body and try to delay the transformation speed as much as possible.

Han Xiao stroked his chin. Speaking of which, the new transaction time set by the Arcane Church is not far away. As long as he gets the other party's compensation, he dares to expose the Arcane Church's secrets at will.

To this end, he had already performed a purification operation on the Holy Light Particle. The Holy Light Particle shrank in Aurora's body, completely shutting itself off.

"Adding the two cosmic blueprints from the Arcane Church, plus the two exchanged from the Radiant, I will have seven golden blueprints in my hand..."

Han Xiao opened the panel and glanced at it. Some time ago, he released the last two Radiant Super-A Grade prisoners and got the ransom, adding two cosmic treasure-level mechanical blueprints.

One is a mechanical god-exclusive equipment called the "Titan Spinal Cord Center."

The Mechanical God itself is a mechanical construct pieced together from countless war soldiers, which can be ever-changing and turned into various shapes, like a mass of mechanical slimes. Due to this nature, what connects the Mechanical God's entire body is mechanical force and a special magnetic field, which serves as the Mechanical God's neural network. The larger the volume, the greater the consumption.

As the name implies, the Titan Spinal Cord Center is a tool used as the body's center, filled in the Mechanical God's body. According to the user's will, it extends into a complete skeletal structure of different forms, including human form, beast form, and so on, to support the Mechanical God's body. Mechanical force controls the Mechanical God through this device, and the consumption of building a neural network will be greatly reduced, increasing endurance.

As a cosmic treasure-level professional exclusive equipment, it naturally has various additional bonuses. The Titan Spinal Cord Center can comprehensively improve the Mechanical God's basic strength. The body of the same volume is faster, higher, and stronger, and it also adds bonuses to skills such as [Mechanical God's Descent], and also enhances some mechanical affinity and efficiency.

In the previous battle with the Mechanic Empire, Manison's Mechanical God was fully equipped with a large number of cosmic treasure-level load-outs, which made Han Xiao very envious. He felt like a blank slate, and the Star Shattering Blade in his hand immediately became less attractive.

He decided to get more Mechanical God equipment. This is the Mechanic's ultimate means at this stage. Others can only use it as a trump card because it is not durable, but he and the Mechanic Empire can use it as a regular combat method, so the more Mechanical God exclusive equipment, the better.

The other golden blueprint is a special device called "Mechanical Territory," which, in terms of effect, is somewhat similar to Beyoni's Fire Core Land and the Extinguishing Legion's Frost Core Land, and even somewhat like the Evolution Cube.

This is a large device that can improve the mechanical production efficiency, the probability of mechanical life enhancement, the power of mechanical equipment, etc. within a certain range. It is a domain-type equipment. For Super-A Grade Mechanics, the biggest use of this thing is to sit in a mechanical civilization or dimension factory, which is equivalent to a mechanical version of the "Evolution Totem."

However, the manufacturing conditions are also relatively harsh. The principle of this device is the secondary dimension theory. It forms a field with special operating rules within the scope of effect, just like the descent of a secondary dimension. Therefore, the core material is the source energy fragments of the secondary dimension. The higher the quality, the better the finished product, and due to the different fragments, the final product will also have a small amount of characteristics of the secondary dimension to which the fragments belong.

Countless unstable new dimensions are born in the secondary dimension world every day, and there is no shortage of source energy fragments, but it is necessary to collect source energy fragments at the risk of dimension collapse—but as long as you have money, these are not problems.

Han Xiao has a piece of evil energy aggregate source energy fragment, which can be used on this.

"Two new blueprints, the effects are good. The most important thing is that as long as I make the finished product, I can get two more Divinity Transformation points... plus the Arcane Church's transaction, I can get a total of four points."

Han Xiao was secretly excited, wishing he could immediately transform into a homebody and soak in the factory for ten days and a half months.

"Didi..."

Just then, the communicator rang.

Han Xiao opened it and saw that it was Tarrokov, the commander of the empire's exploration army, calling.

"Old Ta, what's up?" Han Xiao glanced at him, continuing to fiddle with the equipment with his head down. The two were already very familiar and not at all polite.

"I've found some clues about what you asked me to inquire about before." Tarrokov said.

Han Xiao stopped his movements.

Some time ago, during a chat, he specifically asked Tarrokov to ask the empire's Academy of Sciences to inquire about the progress of their research on the wormhole coordinates left by the Other God, worried that it was the cause of Izo's prophecy.

"How is it?"

"They've made a breakthrough." Tarrokov's answer made Han Xiao's heart skip a beat.

"...Specifically?"

"They have determined which area of the unexplored universe this wormhole coordinate points to, but they can't pinpoint the actual location, only a general range."

*Phew*, they haven't completely discovered the World Tree or been discovered by the World Tree. That's good.

Han Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a little conflicted in his heart.

The later the three major civilizations and the World Tree come into contact, the more beneficial it will be to him. This is his current biggest need.

He didn't dare to reveal the existence of the World Tree civilization, because given the style of the three major civilizations, once they knew that there was a powerful civilization in the unexplored universe, they would definitely take the initiative to contact it and prepare for the worst.

Even if he emphasized the danger of the World Tree, it would not work. Explaining why he knew the details was secondary. The problem is that the three major civilizations might become more cautious because of his reminder, but they would never give up contact—if they learned that there was a dangerous advanced civilization in the unexplored universe, they would not wait for others to come to their door before taking action. They would definitely take the initiative to attack. Sitting and waiting for death is not the style of the three major civilizations.

Therefore, revealing the accurate information of the World Tree civilization in any form will only bring forward the time point of contact between the two sides again.

Now the Other God has been suppressed under the Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years, and he is the only insider left in the explored universe. Only he can influence the direction of the World Tree version, so he has to be careful.

"What is the empire's reaction?"

Tarrokov didn't suspect anything and said, "The higher-ups didn't react much. The research project on this wormhole coordinate is not a secret now, so I was able to find out... The Other God has been captured for decades and has long become a thing of the past. Most of his research is no longer valued."

"Then what does the Academy of Sciences plan to do?"

"Continue to calculate the exact coordinates. Although we don't know why the Other God valued this coordinate, the Academy of Sciences will probably operate as before—try to activate the directional wormhole, throw a few probes over, and then sit and wait for the results to be transmitted back."

Han Xiao hesitated for a moment and could only say euphemistically, "I think this kind of research should be stopped temporarily. The unexplored universe is full of dangers, and no one knows what you might encounter. Now is the critical period for the competition between the three major civilizations and the Super Star Cluster Alliance. If another incident similar to the intelligent plague breaks out, it will be very detrimental to the empire."

Tarrokov looked at Han Xiao suspiciously, "You are worried about this project in every sentence. Do you know something?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was intuition?"

"Heh." Tarrokov twitched the corner of his mouth, giving a fake smile, indicating that he didn't believe his nonsense, and then casually said, "I will convey your meaning. As for whether they listen or not, that's none of my business."

"That's enough."

"Okay, then I'll go and get busy. Also, don't forget to attend the three major civilizations commendation ceremony in two months."

"Okay."

Han Xiao nodded and closed the remote communication. Tarrokov's remote projection disappeared before his eyes.

After a pause, he ordered the team escorting the Holy Light Particle to set off and go to the transaction location determined by the Arcane Church in advance, located in the free competition zone of the Shattered Star Ring.

...

"The day of the transaction is approaching..."

In a secret base of the Arcane Church, the Oathkeeper opened his eyes and looked down at the cadres.

"Has the envoy for the handover been arranged?"

"They were sent out a long time ago, absolutely loyal and reliable."

"What I want is not just loyalty, but reliable ability. I know the Virtual Mechanic too well. Black Star will definitely take the opportunity to track him. We must be prepared. Are the envoy's escape methods all prepared?"

"The Black Star Army is a local tyrant in the Shattered Star Ring. They have eyes and ears everywhere. It is not suitable to create conflicts. We have equipped the envoy with an informational state stealth coating. As long as he gets the item, he will activate the coating and disappear from the world."

"What about the guards?"

"There are some, but not many, just to prevent accidents on the road... After all, in the Black Star Army's territory, no matter how many guards there are, it is meaningless."

"Hmm... not bad."

The Oathkeeper nodded, indicating that he was satisfied, and said in a deep voice:

"As long as we get the Holy Light Particle back, we can start調和 the Third Sanctuary key and prepare for the awakening ceremony. Therefore, after we succeed, we must fully enter the 'Darkest Hour' and completely cut off all contact with the outside world... After the transaction is completed, I will meet Black Star one last time, and we won't need to contact him in the future. This is probably the last time I will see him, and there probably won't be any more opportunities for intersection in the future."

"Understood!"

Hearing his subordinate's response, the Oathkeeper hummed and drifted off into thought.

Honestly, if it weren't for the transaction, he wouldn't even want to see Black Star.

Even now, he is still very confused. Who exactly leaked the news, and does the mole creature really exist?

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