Chapter 1 The News

Philip's report interrupted his current work. Han Xiao pondered for a moment and decided to take a break. He left the experimental area, went to his private lounge, found a recliner, and sat down. He waved for a mechanical assistant to bring him snacks and drinks, then opened the quantum network to browse the latest news.

During the update, the player forums were frozen, depriving Han Xiao of a major pastime. Usually, besides teleporting to Longtan to keep Ames company, he only had surfing the net for news left.

After taking a look at the situation of the Shining War, Han Xiao's heart stirred.

"Oh, it's already at this stage. The Super Star Cluster Alliance is about to collapse. It seems they still couldn't defy fate. The end of the war is just around the corner."

Due to his own butterfly effect, Han Xiao couldn't accurately predict the exact date of the Shining War's end, but based on the current situation, he estimated that it would be settled within two or three years. The Super Star Cluster Alliance wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

The Shining War began in Star Sea Calendar 732, and six years had already passed, which was roughly in line with his initial prediction that the war would last three to five years at the shortest, and ten to twenty years at the longest.

Although the early outbreak of the Intelligent Plague had given the Super Star Cluster Alliance more preparation time, there were still too many unfavorable factors. The Super Star Cluster Alliance was fighting a defensive war, with the war zone far from their homeland and surrounded by enemies, like an isolated island. And over the years, the three major civilizations had cut off a large number of the enemy's secret supply lines, resulting in less and less external support for the Super Star Cluster Alliance, which was steadily declining.

Now, if the Super Star Cluster Alliance wanted to break the deadlock, they could only start from the outside, sending troops from their homeland to open up new war zones in other star fields. But that would be a completely different matter. The order between advanced civilizations would be broken, the situation would escalate dramatically, and the intensity of the war would enter a higher level. No one dared to take the lead.

Everyone was just making a small bet; no one could afford the consequences of overturning the table.

Han Xiao stroked his chin and pondered, "When the war is over, both the Crimson Dynasty and the Guanghui Federation will have to change leadership. Ulan Riel will retire, and the new head of state... tsk, a troublesome fellow."

He didn't know if his butterfly effect would change the selection of the next head of state of the Dynasty, but the chances were slim. With his knowledge from his previous life, he naturally knew the identity of the new head of state.

Objectively speaking, although he and Ulan Riel occasionally had friction, they generally cooperated happily, but the next new head of state was a hardliner with a different style of doing things than Ulan Riel.

The Superpower Calamity and the Silver Revolutionary Army were all events that happened during the new head of state's term. The next head of state was also the one players were most familiar with in his previous life.

The new head of state's attitude toward Supers wasn't as tolerant, which was also a factor in the outbreak of the Superpower Calamity. And the next president of the Guanghui Federation wasn't a good bird either; he was very capable of causing trouble.

"When the new head of state takes office, he will definitely contact all Super A Grade allies. Hopefully, things will stay the same."

Han Xiao shook his head. Throughout history, times of transition were always turbulent.

He put the thought aside, opened his panel, and glanced at it. Currently, [Divinity Transformation - Mechanic] had been upgraded to the twelfth layer. He used task settlement cards to complete all the prerequisite tasks, spending only 7 Divinity Transformation points in total.

The cost to upgrade to the thirteenth layer had become 8 points, with three prerequisite tasks, meaning it would cost at least 5 Divinity Transformation points.

The Jess Technology Treasure contained golden blueprints, which was a gold mine that needed to be slowly digested. Han Xiao had only studied a part of it in recent years and already felt his foundation had become much richer.

If he had to accumulate contribution points to exchange for golden blueprints from the three major civilizations, he didn't know how long it would take to amass such wealth.

Han Xiao currently regarded these technologies as his trump cards, and hadn't shown them off yet.

He believed that once he used them, the major civilizations and other Super A Grades would probably be unable to sit still, and troubles would follow one after another. It was better to develop steadily for now.

...

More than two months later, a Dynasty fleet arrived at Black Star's Palace, carrying the latest batch of Dynasty elites to undergo the Evolutionary Cube's baptism.

Ship after ship entered the air dock of the Black Star Palace's outer ring base along the orbit. The hatches opened with a whoosh, and the elites from various Dynasty departments emerged one after another, gathering on the platform.

As the only Super A Grade in the team, Gode naturally became the recognized leader. As soon as he stepped onto the dock, several legion receptionists greeted him.

"Welcome, distinguished Dynasty elites, to the Black Star Legion. Legion Commander has been waiting for a long time. Please follow me."

With that, the legion receptionists led the way, and the group obediently followed behind.

The group quickly arrived at a fork in the road.

At this point, the receptionist stopped, turned to look at Gode, and said,

"Your Excellency Gode, Legion Commander would like to have a word with you. Please come with me to see Legion Commander. As for the others, my companion will take you to the hall to wait for the baptism."

This was the legion's territory, and the two sides had been cooperating for many years, so the Dynasty elites naturally had no objections. And the name of Black Star's py (private deals) had spread throughout the universe, so no one found this strange.

"Then lead the way."

Gode nodded, looking calm and composed.

The group split into two, gradually moving away from each other. The neat sound of footsteps quickly faded away and soon disappeared from his ears.

The two went all the way to a private reception room. Opening the door and walking in, Gode immediately saw Han Xiao standing in front of the window with his back to him.

The starry sky outside the window was dazzling, and the figure in front of the window had broad shoulders and a burly figure. His entire being exuded an aura of masculinity, making him look like a martial artist.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Han Xiao turned around, a friendly smile on his face, and gestured toward the seat.

"You must be Gode. The Dynasty has produced another direct line Super A Grade. Congratulations. Please, have a seat."

"We meet again. I wonder if you still remember me?" Gode sat down, looking very natural and casual.

"Of course, I remember. We met once during the Kunde Clan War."

Han Xiao sat opposite him, secretly sizing him up, and became more and more certain that he had never seen this person in his previous life. He wondered where he had sprung from.

Gode nodded, and said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, "Indeed. Then you must still remember what I said at the time. I said that we would become colleagues sooner or later, and now it has come true."

"I admire your confidence. I like to make friends with people who have potential the most."

Han Xiao nodded in agreement, while secretly calculating in his mind.

From the current situation, this guy was a rising star with strong confidence. Even in front of him, his behavior was very casual, treating him as an equal, without using honorifics… This was common among newly promoted Super A Grades. He seemed a bit arrogant, but other than that, there was nothing strange about him.

In the Dynasty's database, the life information of direct line Super A Grades was confidential. With Han Xiao's own ally permissions, he could only view some basic information. Gode's file was very clean. No matter how he looked at it, he was a proper Dynasty soldier.

Because he had never encountered this person in his previous life, Han Xiao felt curious, but his suspicion was limited to the origin of the person. He didn't have any other concerns at the moment.

The person's identity was that of a Dynasty direct line. He had no position to interrogate others. With Han Xiao's personality, he naturally wouldn't antagonize a colleague just to satisfy his curiosity.

The pace of the conversation then entered a normal py mode. The two chatted happily.

After a while, Han Xiao felt that the time was right, and asked with a smile, "I'm a little curious about what your ability is. I wonder if you're willing to tell me?"

"My ability will be known to the world sooner or later, but before that, please allow me to keep it a secret for a while. This is also the Dynasty's request." Gode chuckled, indicating his refusal.

Seeing this, Han Xiao didn't push it, but he didn't give up. He secretly decided to probe him a little.

After chatting for a while longer, Gode took the initiative to stop, and said with a light smile, "Black Star, let's stop here today. The others are still waiting. I want to receive the baptism as soon as possible. After it's done, I have to go to Fain Star to apply to join the Super A Grade Association."

"Oh, that's simple. I'm the vice president after all. I'll help you with the procedures." Han Xiao stood up. "Since you're in a hurry, I won't delay you any longer. We'll keep in touch more in the future."

With that, the two walked out of the room side by side, all the way to the hall where the Dynasty elites were gathered. Everyone had been waiting here for a long time.

Han Xiao said a few polite words, encouraging everyone, then raised his palm, and the Evolutionary Cube floated up, spinning around.

He entered the secret code to activate it, and the dark, inky Evolutionary Energy immediately poured out, sweeping across everyone in front of him like a tide.

Crack crack crack—

The energy materialized, and black cocoons appeared in the hall, with Gode among them.

The place immediately fell silent, with only Han Xiao able to move freely.

"Hehe, little rascal, you can't move now, can you? Now you're at my mercy."

Han Xiao chuckled twice, took back the Evolutionary Cube, then controlled the nano-particles to turn into a thin needle, and plunged it into the black cocoon where Gode was.

He knew very well what it felt like during evolution. It was unbearably itchy, and the senses in the body would be amplified, while the perception of the outside world would become dull.

Even if he was discovered, he wasn't worried. Anyway, he had the final say, and it would be easy to fool him with this little thing.

The combat information popped up on the panel, and Han Xiao carefully browsed through it.

"Name Gode, Level… Oh, he's actually Level 240? He has great potential. He's at the same level as I was back then… Ho, this guy's ability is actually energy manipulation?! This is on the first tier of the ultra-high risk Esper ability list. It actually exists. No wonder he's been secretive. This ability almost counters all classes…"

Han Xiao was secretly amazed.

There were also levels among ultra-high risk Esper abilities, and energy manipulation was undoubtedly one of the top abilities. It only existed in theory, but he didn't expect to see a real case now. Gode was probably the first person in history to possess this Esper ability.

The ability was extremely powerful, and the potential was also of the highest level. If he cultivated normally, he could probably reach peak Super A Grade in no time. No wonder the Dynasty was vigorously cultivating him and keeping it strictly confidential. This kid was truly promising!

In battles between Super A Grades, the ability itself was also a decisive factor. Assuming that Gode and Clotti's strength became the same level, then Gode's chances of winning were as high as ninety percent or more. This was the advantage of the ability.

Energy manipulation almost countered all Espers, whether it was telekinesis, magic, or even Original Psionic Energy and Dark Energy. All of them were within the scope of this ability's control. The only limitation was the user's own strength, which determined the upper limit of manipulation.

It was no exaggeration to say that if Gode grew to the peak, he would be fully qualified to compete for the title of the strongest in the explored universe.

No wonder he was so confident. Anyone with such a potentially endless Esper ability would have strong confidence in the future.

"Did the Dynasty strike gold? Where did they find such a strong person…"

Han Xiao exclaimed in his heart for a while, then felt a little puzzled.

That's not right. With such a terrifying Esper ability, Gode shouldn't have been unknown in his previous life.

Could it be that he died midway, and my butterfly effect saved him?

Han Xiao continued to read with suspicion, and was stunned to find that Gode's attributes were a bit exaggerated. The other attributes matched his level, but the Intelligence and Mystery attributes were abnormal, one being 9000+ and the other being 13000.

"Something's not right. When I first entered Super A Grade at Level 240, my highest Intelligence attribute was only 6000+, and my second highest Endurance was 4000+. How are his attributes so exaggerated? This is probably the level of a normal Super A Grade around Level 320!"

Han Xiao originally only intended to look at the other person's Esper ability, but now he discovered more doubts and became increasingly puzzled.

After flipping through the information for a while, he suddenly locked his gaze on one of Gode's passive talents and discovered an anomaly:

[【Esper·Rebirth】: Your body has been reborn, your soul is still strong, you have inherited part of your former intelligence and spiritual attributes]

"This is…"

Han Xiao suddenly widened his eyes.

From the name of this talent, he could associate many things.

Sure enough, there was something fishy!

This kid was probably not a newly promoted Super A Grade. The secret on him seemed to be even more amazing than he imagined!