Experiencing the convenience of automatic assembly, Han Xiao couldn't help but sigh, "Magnetic links are truly wonderful things."

The exoskeleton armor was rugged and intimidating, the thick, dark alloy armor and the interlocking mechanical structure creating a powerful visual impact. The assault form favored strength and defense, moving like a locomotive, with thick mechanical limbs and a large number of power structures, adding dozens of points of Strength. Its Armor Rating exceeded 10,000.

Advantages and disadvantages always go hand in hand. The disadvantage of the assault form was reduced Agility. The Black Star's main body was encased in the center of the heavy exoskeleton armor, but fortunately, with the Neural Connection knowledge, controlling the exoskeleton mechanical limbs was very convenient.

The War Scythe – Electro Glaive, originally a long weapon of more than two meters, now resembled a short scythe for harvesting crops. Han Xiao charged forward, the ground shaking, and chopped down with one strike after another. The scythe and the ship-splitting blade constantly collided, and the two fought fiercely.

Clang clang clang! The ship-splitting blade left marks on the armor. Han Xiao understood Advanced Material Science and combined it with Advanced Electromagnetics to create a new alloy. The material was tough and had an additional damage reduction effect when electrified. Mixed with the previous resilient materials, the defense was extremely high. If it were ordinary steel, it would have been cut in two by Melos' blade long ago.

Grand Technician Han was not so arrogant as to fight in close combat with a martial artist. He used sonic impact balls for harassment, and he could now control seven at the same time, withstanding higher neural loads. He also used various small weapons to constantly attack.

After tumbling and rolling for a while, the exoskeleton armor was scarred, and Melos was also slashed a few times by the scythe. They were basically evenly matched.

Clang!

With the last weapon collision, the two pulled away, and tacitly stopped attacking at the same time.

"Not bad," Han Xiao chuckled.

Through this fight, he had a more direct understanding of his own combat power. The B-grade threshold was an energy level of 5,000 Oner, while the A-grade standard was 10,000 Oner. The energy level calculation model was a curve distribution, and the higher the value, the greater the difference between each point. Therefore, the higher the tier, the more obvious the gap between the same tiers. The destructive power of 5,000 Oner and 9,000 Oner was completely different.

Han Xiao's combat power level was more than 5,300, still a B-grade newbie. Melos had been a B-grade for many years, but had been neglecting training, and his energy level was only over 5,000, about the same. However, with Melos' talent, he still had a lot of room for improvement.

B-grade strength was a backbone force in the starry sky, basically able to protect itself, but it was still a long way from being able to do whatever one wanted. Understanding his own level allowed Han Xiao to better arrange his next actions.

Melos exhaled and also put away his weapon. Sparring was just a friendly exchange, and there was no need to determine a winner. He would not use his trump cards, and he also knew that Han Xiao, as a mechanic, must have more hidden cards. Just from the fight just now, he felt a lot of pressure. Han Xiao's attack methods were endless, like a hedgehog, and one would be injured if one was not careful... oh, wait, he was already injured.

After bandaging the wounds on his body, with the physique of a martial artist, they would probably scab and heal in a few hours. Black Star was an opponent of the same level, and Han Xiao's combat power was recognized by him.

Melos was much more relieved about Han Xiao's safety. Originally, when he joined the Black Star Mercenary Group, he found that he was the strongest in the team, and he always felt a little unreliable. Now that he finally had a combatant of the same level, Melos' view changed. To put it more specifically... he originally thought his teammates were a drag, but now they were gradually turning into reliable partners.

Moreover, with a master of the same level, they also had common topics. The two smiled at each other, and a sense of trust arose between them. Only those with similar strength had the basis for mutual trust.

Melos took the initiative to help move a few equipment boxes. The two walked out of the simulation room together and found Kuang Dao and a few other players waiting at the door, looking surprised.

"Black Phantom, you're so strong!" Little stars flashed in Kuang Dao's eyes, and what he said was almost like a five-mao message.

Kuang Dao was very diligent and wanted to find Melos to trigger a guidance event, but he happened to see the fight just now and was amazed. Because the mercenary group's information was public, there was only one B-grade, Melos, but Han Xiao was evenly matched with Melos, so he must also be a B-grade! Kuang Dao and others immediately came up with a reasonable explanation: Han Xiao must have concealed his strength during the test.

In the traditional view, the leader should be the strongest. The fact that the leader's strength was not as strong as the newly joined cadre made the players feel awkward. Now, Kuang Dao and others felt comfortable all over. The image of Grand Technician Han was powerful and mysterious. In the eyes of the players, he should be someone who could reach for the moon in the ninth heaven and catch turtles in the five oceans. His performance now matched his status in their hearts.

Kuang Dao was the earliest player to follow Han Xiao, witnessing Han Xiao's rise step by step. Every time he saw Han Xiao, he habitually rejoiced in his original choice. However, since entering the interstellar era, Kuang Dao had been a little depressed, because the team had expanded, and with more people, he felt neglected.

Back then, Han Xiao issued those high-reward missions with peculiar requirements every day, and Kuang Dao enjoyed them. But now the missions were too serious, and Kuang Dao missed the feeling of the past...

But at the same time, he was secretly pleased, because no other player had seen those strange missions. Even Hao Tian, Feng Yue, and Rou Bao, the other three backbones, didn't know what Han Xiao was like before. Only he had tried them, which was a very interesting experience, and he often recalled them over and over again.

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows and quietly took a step to the side, feeling that Kuang Dao's eyes were a little strange.

"Who is Black Phantom?" Melos didn't react.

Han Xiao waved his hand. "Don't mind it. That's my nickname on the mother planet."

"Oh, I forgot, you were a famous figure on the mother planet." Melos secretly decided to find other teammates to learn about Han Xiao's past deeds. He was very interested.

There were not many activities during the voyage. In addition to occasionally sparring with Melos, Han Xiao chatted with Gashly when he was free to learn about the history of Tianhuan, and sometimes discussed his experiences traveling the universe.

Gashly was a veteran mercenary who had been to many places. He bragged a lot, often starting sentences with "Back then." When it came to talking, Grand Technician Han had never been weak. In terms of knowledge, ten Gashlys tied together could not compare to him. The two talked about everything and got along very well, gradually becoming familiar with each other.

Most regular mercenaries were relatively generous and liked to make friends.

The players often communicated with other Tianhuan mercenaries. When they talked about the standard armor of both sides, the Tianhuan mercenaries demonstrated the effect of the Tianhuan armor, which turned out to be the product of compression technology. By pressing the triangular crystal on the chest, the simple Tianhuan combat uniform would fold and unfold, turning into various complete forms, which were very gorgeous.

You are not afraid of not knowing the goods, but you are afraid of comparing goods. The Sunil soldier armor suddenly paled in comparison, and the players were amazed and envious.

Seeing that the players were moved by their resources, the Tianhuan mercenaries privately used enticements to attract players, promising that they could get a set of Tianhuan armor for free if they joined Tianhuan, staging a coup from the bottom of the pot. As long as the referral was successful, the referrer would also be rewarded. Headhunting was a common activity in the mercenary industry, and the atmosphere was very free. Many Tianhuan mercenaries originally belonged to other mercenary groups, but were poached by better treatment from Tianhuan.

However, the players didn't buy it at all. Being moved didn't mean wavering. They were still waiting for more good things to appear in the mercenary group store. Maybe one day, Tianhuan armor would also appear in the Black Star store, so they were not in a hurry at all. This group of high-level players trusted Han Xiao very much.

All the private invitations were rejected, and the Tianhuan mercenaries were very surprised. They didn't expect the mercenaries under Black Star to be so loyal, and they couldn't help but look at them with admiration.

Han Xiao learned about this from Rou Bao and was in a great mood. The cohesion of the faction was slowly taking shape, and this group of players had the style of backbones.

…

At the same time, in the Faiwen Star System, in an asteroid belt.

Several scavenger ships were quietly sneaking, maintaining an information interference field to maintain [Stealth] status. They were the scavenger forces that attacked the Silver Spirits. This was a notorious slave trader who often sold people and had been rampant in the Shattered Star Ring for a long time.

The bottom of one of the ships was a prison dedicated to holding captives. This scavenger had done several jobs before attacking the Silver Spirits. The "goods" that were not very valuable were held together, while the expensive slaves were held separately. The seventeen captured Silver Spirits were imprisoned separately.

A thin man with pale golden skin and messy white hair walked into the prison area. He had a gloomy appearance. He was the leader of this scavenger, named Paige, a mixed-race Godora. He only had one-eighth of the thin Godora blood in his body, but his external characteristics were still very much like a Godora. It could be seen that the Godora genes were very domineering. The difference was that his skin had tiny scales and his eyes were vertical pupils, like snake eyes. He also had some kind of snake-human genes.

As soon as they saw him, the prisoners in the large prison became excited and shouted loudly.

"Let me out!"

"I'm an exploration team member of the Holy Stone Civilization. How dare you catch me? Let me go immediately, otherwise I will..."

"Who are you going to sell us to?!"

The prisoners were noisy, but Paige ignored them and walked past the large prison area and into the corridor of single cells. He had not interrogated them yet after catching the Silver Spirits, and now it was time to inspect the quality of the "goods."