Chapter 1 Black Star Palace

In the legion commander's office, Rother's remote projection stood in the center of the room. Han Xiao circled him, examining him from all angles, occasionally clicking his tongue in admiration.

"Young man, although you escaped this time, don't be too happy. I still need to settle some scores with you."

"What are your instructions?" Rother accepted the lecture calmly.

"Although the operation was successful, it was still your own initiative, forcing me to clean up the aftermath. Anyone would think you're the boss. Such a big deal, you should have asked for my approval before acting, got it?" Han Xiao stopped in front of Rother, hands clasped behind his back, and began to reprimand him.

"Next time, definitely." Rother was a man of few words.

Han Xiao snorted, paused, and said, "The impact of this assassination is enormous. Modo Civilization has abandoned the Flickering World battle and freed up its hands to deal with internal affairs. They won't let this go. So, all activities of the Assassin Mutual Aid Society are temporarily suspended. Everyone hide obediently until the storm passes, and then I'll allow you to come out again."

"How long will that be?"

"A few decades, maybe. You should use this time to train properly," Han Xiao said.

"Alright." Rother didn't complain, accepting it calmly.

Coincidentally, this assassination with such a huge impact gave him a new insight in the dark, and he wanted to quietly digest these experiences.

Assassinating a leader of a high-level civilization was undoubtedly a legendary event, bringing subtle changes to him, like a chance for some kind of upgrade, increasing his possibility of reaching the Beyond Grade A level. It was just that Rother didn't have a panel, so he couldn't clearly know all of this, only a hazy feeling.

After giving some more instructions, Han Xiao ended the communication, the deliberately stern expression on his face relaxing, revealing a smile.

This assassination incident, where Rother acted first and reported later, gave him a shock, but the result was very good. With Modo Civilization compromising and withdrawing its troops, the second requirement of [Leader Kunde's Last Wish] was now displayed as completed in gold.

If there hadn't been Rother's assassination, the Modo higher-ups wouldn't have had such huge changes. In that case, he would probably have had to spend more effort and pay a greater price to repel Modo. Moreover, the chain of chaos brought about by the leader's assassination was also counted in the mission progress, dealing a heavy blow to Modo, delivering the final kick.

Although Rother took matters into his own hands this time, the results were still reliable. Han Xiao had always been optimistic about Rother. In his eyes, Rother had the potential to be a Beyond Grade A, with far more room for growth than Hadaway, that iron mixer.

Freezing the Assassin Mutual Aid Society's operations was both to avoid the limelight and to give Rother more time to explore the opportunity for advancement.

Putting away his thoughts, Han Xiao opened the mission list on the panel, looking at the two golden missions.

[Escaping Alive] and [Leader Kunde's Last Wish] were both in the "Settable" state. The latter had already completed one of the two mission requirements. The three abilities, [Avenger], [Proof of Leadership], and [Kunde's Fury], could be extracted.

Han Xiao thought about it and temporarily suppressed the desire to settle [Leader Kunde's Last Wish], because the first mission requirement was "Provide shelter during the Kunde Clan's transformation," which had not yet been completed.

This S-level mission was a whole, not a linked-task type, so once it was settled, all mission requirements would be counted together. If he completed the mission now, he wouldn't get the reward for the first requirement, and he really wanted the 4 points of political assets for the first requirement reward. Anyway, the initiative to settle was in his hands now, and he could get the three abilities at any time, so he wasn't in a hurry.

"Let's get Rother's mission reward first."

Han Xiao went out and turned left to the cadre lounge to rub off some of their good luck, and then quickly operated on the panel after returning.

[【Escaping Alive】 has been completed!]

[Modo Civilization Favorability -3000, Current Relationship: 【Mortal Enemies】]

[You have gained 8 billion experience points, Random Reward x2, Milestone - 【Civilization Leader Assassin】]

[【Civilization Leader Assassin】: All Civilization Leaders Favorability -10, your declarations are more likely to be valued by major civilizations. At the same time, civilizations hostile to you will have the defense and resistances of any fleet or esper under their command reduced by 3%~7% when fighting against you or your forces/allies.]

"This milestone is for evil-aligned wanted criminals," Han Xiao's eyelids twitched.

For wanted criminals, the favorability of civilization leaders was bull, but he was someone with status and influence, so the favorability of civilization leaders was still useful.

However, he didn't care too much. The only high-level civilization leader he had a good relationship with was Ulan Riel. As for the Radiant President and the Void Spirit Hierarch, which one didn't have negative favorability? They still chose to cooperate. As long as the benefits were there, the impact of the leader's personal favorability was minimal.

Moreover, the 10 points of civilization leader favorability didn't qualify to be mentioned in the same breath as the milestone effect. Although the range wasn't high, the range of impact was extremely exaggerated, covering an entire civilization, able to weaken the resistance of all hostile civilization's forces.

Han Xiao immediately realized that when facing the World Tree Civilization, this ability would give the entire explored universe an innate advantage!

In comparison, the loss of that little bit of personal favorability was nothing.

"This is what I mean by 'If I don't go to hell, who will?' I am truly great."

Han Xiao was about to be moved by himself.

He calmed his mind and continued to look at the ability extraction interface behind.

[You have received a reward: Extract one of Rother's abilities (Skill/Talent)]

[Prompt: Rother's class is Martial Artist, some abilities do not match your class, and some extractable abilities have been self-adjusted]

[Random extraction in progress... Extraction complete!]

[Please select one of the following five abilities as a reward]

[1. 【Master of Stealth】- Talent: Greatly reduces your presence in the eyes of outsiders, greatly reduces the chance of enemies discovering you, greatly reduces the clues left behind during activities, you can easily find all the elements within an area that may lead to your exposure (including but not limited to various monitoring devices, various detection magic)]

[2. 【Assassination Mark】- Skill: Marks a target, the next attack you launch against the target will have 75%~100% increased damage, 45% increased critical strike chance, and 100% increased critical strike damage, consumes 150 Stamina, Cooldown 48s]

[3. 【One Hit Kill】- Skill: When your next attack successfully hits the target, immediately perform an instant-death judgment, the basis of the judgment is the target's HP, Endurance, instant-death resistance, Luck, and the level difference between the two sides. If the judgment passes, the target will die instantly. If the judgment fails, it will cause an additional 280% damage of this attack, consumes 500 Stamina, Cooldown 1200s]

[4. 【Way of the Assassin - Focus】- Skill: Inject Stamina into the next attack to accumulate extra attack bonus, 10 Stamina converts to 1% attack bonus, stacking up to 300% attack bonus, Cooldown 150s]

[5. 【Heart of the Fearless】- Talent: When fighting against strong enemies, you can gain an extra attack power bonus - when the enemy's tier is below B-Grade, this ability does not trigger; when the enemy's tier is B-Grade, you gain 5% basic attack power bonus; when the enemy's tier is A-Grade, you gain 15% basic attack power bonus; when the enemy's tier is S-Grade, you gain 25% basic attack power bonus; when the enemy's tier is S+-Grade, you gain 35% basic attack power bonus; when the enemy's tier is SS-Grade, you gain 45% basic attack power bonus]

"Whoa! This young man!"

Han Xiao's eyes lit up.

What is an Assassin Master? This is an Assassin Master!

Rother hadn't been by his side for years, and Han Xiao hadn't looked at his panel for a long time. He remembered that among these five options, except for the second one, the other four were abilities that Rother didn't have back then.

"Looks like this kid hasn't been idle for the past twenty years, and has learned a lot of new tricks."

Han Xiao was pleasantly surprised.

Such a powerful learning ability, he felt like it was comparable to Nero. He had really found a treasure.

After carefully browsing through it, he basically wouldn't choose the second and third options. Although the instant-death judgment of [One Hit Kill] was tempting, Han Xiao excluded this ability without saying a word as soon as he saw that there was a Luck attribute in the judgment basis.

His nickname even had the word "Black" in it; he still had some self-awareness.

The fourth item, [Way of the Assassin - Focus], was quite powerful, but after Han Xiao considered it, he also excluded it. This ability could only provide a bonus for the next attack. Mechanics played with firepower coverage, and the rate of attack was king. Although the "Iron-Headed Kid Charge" obtained from Silver Shadow could cooperate with this ability, the path was too biased, and there weren't many opportunities to use it.

Han Xiao mainly hesitated between the first and fifth options. [Master of Stealth] was a functional Talent, greatly enhancing stealth ability, which could be of great use in espionage operations, lurking behind enemy lines, and stealing intelligence. Although it couldn't improve combat power, it could bring alternative assistance.

However, the bonus of [Heart of the Fearless] was too good!

This wasn't a single attack bonus, but a passive ability. Any attack by himself and his mechanical forces could enjoy the Talent effect.

Moreover, it wasn't a peripheral amplification algorithm, but an increase in base attack, meaning that the percentage of amplification could be directly regarded as the actual damage increase range!

"Now, those who are qualified to be my opponents are all at the peak Beyond Grade A level. This Talent is most suitable for someone of my level!"

Han Xiao's heart was surging.

[Heart of the Fearless] became stronger when facing a stronger enemy. However, for Rother, the amplification above the third layer was useless, because with his current ability, it was impossible to defeat a Beyond Grade A. Only a Beyond Grade A could fully exert the power of this Talent.

After thinking for more than ten seconds, the desire to output ultimately prevailed. Han Xiao calmed his mind and made a choice.

[You have gained the new Talent 【Heart of the Fearless】!]

"That's comfortable."

Han Xiao let out a breath and felt a surge of heat release from his brain, quickly spreading throughout his body.

After savoring it for a while, his face suddenly became strange, and he suddenly understood.

This Talent didn't betray its name, bringing a strong sense of confidence. Han Xiao realized that the respect in his heart for the strong instantly disappeared for the most part, replaced by a disdain:

Manison? Little glass cannon, screw him!

The three major civilizations? Brat, screw them!

World Tree Civilization? What the hell, screw them!

Whoever he thought of in his mind, he wanted to screw them. His heart was filled with "I'm number two and no one's number one", "I'm not convinced by anyone", with a fearless feeling that he could charge through everything.

He quickly suppressed this emotion, took a few deep breaths, and then calmed down his mood, feeling a burst of understanding in his heart.

"No wonder Rother dared to run to assassinate the Modo Three Kings. It turned out to be a side effect of this Talent. Case solved..."

Han Xiao rolled his eyes.

What Heart of the Fearless, bullshit, it's clearly the Heart of a Reckless Man!