Chapter 1 The Mechanical Throne

Above the Mechanical Throne, crackling sounds suddenly rang out, and thick arcs of mechanical force and electricity burst forth, lashing the ground like whips, leaving patches of scorched marks.

A slight stinging sensation pulsed through his brain, feeling like electrical stimulation.

With dazzling bright lights flashing in his eyes, Han Xiao could clearly feel the cells in his body operating at full power, constantly spewing out energy.

After a few minutes, these symptoms slowly subsided, and the world in his eyes underwent subtle changes. He possessed a clearer mechanical perception, and his vision delved deeper into the microscopic structure.

"Truly wonderful..."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, feeling the change.

Using a Character Summon Card was completely different from possessing the talent himself. Only now did the [Perfect Mechanical Sense] truly change him.

His personal base attributes remained the same. What was strengthened was his mechanical force intensity and his perception of machinery. In his senses, machinery had become more familiar and intimate.

The core effect of Perfect Mechanical Sense was a 1.4x increase in total mechanical affinity. According to Han Xiao's attributes, this resulted in an increase of about 2000-3000 mechanical affinity, a leap of several magnitudes!

The two secondary effects were: first, a 1-2 tier increase in the quality of machinery when mechanical force was amplified, up to a maximum of pink quality. Currently, Han Xiao's equipment was mostly orange-grade, so this amplification was of little use to him. The other, more important effect, was that all Mechanic-class active skill levels were increased by +4, which could break the upper limit, which was very practical. If nothing else, he had several more Apostle Weapon slots.

The Mechanical Sense talent belonged to the personal talent category. The difficulty of learning it later varied from person to person. Some geniuses could comprehend it easily, while others could not learn it even if their personal strength was explosive. Han Xiao had even obtained [Novice Mechanical Sense] from a mission draw. The probability of him upgrading it to [Perfect Mechanical Sense] on his own was basically zero.

Generally speaking, this kind of talent was either passively awakened or actively cultivated from a young age, forming a habit when malleability was at its strongest. The so-called "future fame stems from youth"; childhood was the best time to cultivate talent, and as one grew older and stronger, the difficulty of learning personal talent-type skills increased.

"Finally got Perfect Mechanical Sense. My normal combat strength is finally on par with when I use Character Summon Cards."

Han Xiao was satisfied. He had been looking forward to this ability for a long time.

Now he wasn't embarrassing anymore, hahaha!

Only power that belonged to oneself was most reassuring. Turning an explosive trump card into normal combat power greatly increased stability. Now he could be considered to have completely secured his position as a peak Beyond Grade A Mechanic, and it also greatly shortened the gap between him and the Mechanical Deity.

However, it was still too early to wrestle with Manison. He still had Perfect Mechanical Sense. All he had done was make up for part of the gap.

Han Xiao wasn't in a hurry. Although they were both peak Beyond Grade As, he was different from everyone else. He still had clear and ample room for growth.

Before the next major upgrade, Han Xiao didn't want to create new entanglements with Manison for the time being. While Manison felt that he had consolidated his position and couldn't be shaken, he would develop secretly, lest the other party see through the speed of his strength improvement and adjust his strategy to deal with him again.

Although Han Xiao wasn't afraid of what Manison would do to him now, he didn't want to cause any trouble before completing the foundation of the Shattered Star Ring. After all, Manison had the support of the Federation of Light, and he had a big family and many hideouts. There was nothing he could do to him.

"However, even though Perfect Mechanical Sense has become normal combat power, it doesn't mean I've lost this trump card."

Han Xiao's heart stirred.

Character Summon Cards were not related to one's own abilities. For example, for Character Summon Cards that amplified status, even if the character was in the same amplified state, the Character Summon Card could still take effect and give double the amplification.

In other words, the Perfect Mechanical Sense Character Summon Card was still useful to him.

Having Perfect Mechanical Sense himself gave him the chance of double amplification.

Stacking both, how terrifying would that be? It should be the only dual Perfect Mechanical Sense in the universe. That was probably a bit too much… Han Xiao muttered secretly. Just thinking about it was terrifying.

If he used it in front of Manison, the other party's worldview might shatter.

"So the blank Character Summon Card is best left for Reynold or Nero. Whether I can draw them depends on luck."

Han Xiao experienced Perfect Mechanical Sense for a while before turning off the talent introduction.

Returning to the skill list, he scrolled down to the blueprint ability column and looked at a new blueprint he had recently obtained.

[【Space-Time Cutting Device】: Uses a special space-time technology to open up a new, short-lived branch outside the main trunk of the main timeline. It specifies the completion of a set action plan to form a time chain with a beginning and an end, and breaks through the continuity of space-time to jump through time points, thereby reducing the process. It can be used on any object.]

[This device has irreversible negative effects. Objects cut by space-time will be corrected by the main timeline. Once completely corrected, the object will be annihilated along with the cut-out branch time chain. If the time chain runs smoothly, the object will also be annihilated and disappear.]

[Note: If you are a fanatical suicide bomber, then this device is definitely for you. Although the technology is not yet mature, it's a suicide anyway, so I'm sure you won't care about these details.]

After Han Xiao stole the space-time cutting technology from the Kundas, he learned it, and then spent some experience to deduce the technology. Finally, he obtained this new blueprint recognized by the panel and spent some time to create a finished product.

Standing up and walking down the throne, Han Xiao came to the warehouse next to him and took out a rectangular device more than ten meters high and four or five meters wide.

This was the finished space-time cutting device. It looked like a three-story building.

In the past few days, he had done some simple tests and adjustments on the space-time cutting device. It was running normally, but the startup time was a bit long. Moreover, it didn't work out of thin air. It was necessary to connect the space-time cutting device's special connection pipes to the target in advance before it could take effect on the object and the space inside the object.

Han Xiao certainly wouldn't use this dangerous device on himself, but after thinking about it carefully these days, this thing seemed to be of great help to Mechanics.

The most suitable target for using the space-time cutting device was mass-produced mechanical troops!

He didn't feel bad at all about consuming mechanical soldiers. With this extra function, he could carry out some tactical missions that he couldn't do before. His combat ability had qualitatively improved, which was equivalent to exchanging endurance for a tactical assault that had soared several levels. For Mechanics with legions, it was naturally extremely cost-effective.

Secondly, it could also be used as a new type of strategic killing weapon. Compared with portable psionic bombs, biochemical gene weapons, and other things, the space-time cutting device was more concealed and difficult to detect, making it suitable for assassination and destruction.

Han Xiao stroked his chin and pondered secretly:

"However, I should use it as little as possible. Later, when the Empire realizes the power of space-time cutting, it will start to hide and monopolize this technology. Although with my status, the Empire will not force me to take back the technology in my hands, it will definitely require me to keep it a secret together."

There was no need to hide the fact that he possessed space-time cutting technology from the Empire. He just stole a copy as a stockpile before the Empire monopolized it. He didn't intend to hide it, and there was no need to.

Letting the Empire know that he also had this technology could also improve his status. After all, he had obtained it before the Empire paid attention to it. It was reasonable and legal, and it wasn't something that couldn't be seen in the light. There was no need to hide it. Moreover, if he used this technology on others in the future, it would be exposed sooner or later, and the Empire might even help him hide it.

In any case, he would never spit out the fat meat that he had eaten.

Shaking his head, he put away these thoughts. Han Xiao took out a space-time amber, hung it in mid-air, and connected it to the external interface of the space-time cutting device.

Today, he was going to test whether space-time amber could be affected by space-time cutting. This was the first time he had done this experiment.

The operation of the space-time cutting device was a bit complicated. Han Xiao activated it after fiddling with it for a while.

Buzz buzz buzz—

The entire device immediately vibrated, and streams of colorful light poured into the space-time amber along the pipes.

He took a few steps back and waited silently for a while before the vibration of the device gradually stopped.

"Cutting completed..."

Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he disconnected the nano-particles that were holding the space-time amber. He saw the space-time amber fall down, the process smooth and fluid, without frame skipping according to the preset program.

Narrowing his eyes, he stepped forward, picked up the space-time amber, and played with it in his hand for a while, confirming that there was no change at all.

"It seems that space-time amber is immune to space-time cutting."

After drawing a conclusion, Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. This was good news for him.

Space-time cutting couldn't crack this cosmic wonder, which meant that space-time amber was still an unsolvable method. Even if the Empire or more forces obtained this technology, the space-time amber in his hand still had an irreplaceable role.

After thinking about it, Han Xiao conducted a new experiment.

He performed space-time cutting on a normal machine, and then wrapped it in space-time amber to see if the side effects of space-time cutting could still take effect.

The principle of space-time amber seemed to be a solidified special space-time. The machine wrapped in it didn't suffer the side effects of space-time cutting, and seemed to ignore the correction force of the timeline.

However, at the same time, the normal effect of space-time cutting would not take effect either.

After the space-time amber was removed, the machine was still corrected by the main timeline, and it self-annihilated, releasing a huge amount of energy, almost blowing up the warehouse.

"In this way, space-time amber can only temporarily freeze objects, helping it to escape the disaster, and it can't offset the side effects of space-time cutting… so it can only be used as a coffin? It really has the same meaning as amber."

Han Xiao dusted off his body and fell into thought.

"Or there are other ways, such as setting up the action of space-time cutting in advance, and then sealing it up, using the amber's immunity to attack characteristics, first using normal methods to send it to the target location, and then unlocking the amber to activate the effect of space-time cutting… um, this is equivalent to delayed detonation."

After thinking about it, Han Xiao instinctively felt that this was a promising application direction, and it would take time to explore more possibilities.

After testing it several times to make sure there were no mistakes, he put away the space-time cutting device. After thinking about it, he took out the communicator and contacted Tarrokov, the commander of the Imperial Exploration Army.

After the connection, Old Tar's big face appeared on the screen. The background was a tactical conference room, and he seemed to be in a meeting.

"Black Star, what's the matter?"

"Are you in a meeting? Then I'll call you later."

"It's just a routine meeting. You're more important. Tell me what's up."

Han Xiao smiled. "The enemy's movements have been strange recently. You've noticed it too, right?"

"Well, the enemy seems to have the intention of luring us in. Do you have any information in this regard?"

"About the same. Some time ago, I sent troops to blow up the enemy's database and found that the enemy is using scorched earth tactics, wanting to use Primal Esper energy to devour these star systems and cause damage to the Imperial fleet. I have mastered the coordinates of the enemy's Primal Esper energy, as well as the movements of all their fleets."

"Well done." Tarrokov's eyes lit up, and he felt quite relieved.

Most of the other Beyond Grade As had an indifferent attitude towards this war. First, as strong people, they always paid attention to their status and were not interested in bullying a native civilization without a superpower system. Second, they were afraid that the opponent would throw Primal Esper energy around and lose face, so they only sent their subordinates to respond to the call.

Black Star was the only Beyond Grade A ally who personally helped. He was indeed a talent valued by the Empire. In a word, he was reliable!

"I'll send you the information later. Don't forget to give me some credit," Han Xiao said jokingly.

"Haha, don't worry, this credit will definitely be recorded for you." Tarrokov was in a good mood and found Han Xiao more and more pleasing to the eye.

Han Xiao smiled and hung up the communication.

With [Perfect Mechanical Sense] and space-time cutting technology in hand, he planned to end this war as soon as possible and resume normal exploration work as soon as possible.

Another purpose of providing this information was to improve the evaluation of the Kunda Race war mission. Anyway, his other goals had been completed, so he conveniently brushed up his merits and helped the Empire solve its opponents as soon as possible.

Because he didn't intend to hide that he possessed space-time cutting technology, Han Xiao didn't hesitate to take out the information directly.

…

Tarrokov's efficiency was very high. After receiving Han Xiao's information, he immediately made arrangements.

Several legions on the front line sent troops to the coordinates shown in the information to destroy the enemy's scorched earth plan.

In the information Han Xiao gave, the coordinates and movements of all Kunda Race fleets were also marked. The Empire was equivalent to having a full map perspective, and the enemy's every move was clear.

The legions on the front line no longer slowly advanced, but dispersed purposefully and went straight to the main fleets of the Kunda Race.

The Kunda Race didn't know that all their plans had been exposed and were under the control of the Empire. At this time, they were still carrying out their combat plan in an orderly manner.

With Han Xiao's help, the Empire saved countless efforts and easily crushed the Kunda Race in terms of intelligence.

The balance of victory in the war had completely tilted towards the Empire.