Chapter 1 Inception

Intepas didn't know what the name of the consortium meant, but the strange smile on Black Star's face when he mentioned the name made him imagine a series of love-hate entanglements, seemingly with special significance. He muttered inwardly, but didn't show it on his face.

Han Xiao shook his head, put aside his thoughts, and tapped the table. "When we get to the next planet, I'll have someone send you to the headquarters of the legion in the Shattered Star Ring. Once there, you'll have time to familiarize yourself with the legion's work. That's all I have to say. You can leave and do some homework on your own."

"Okay." Intepas nodded, gave a salute, and turned to leave the room.

Once he left the room, Sylvia couldn't help but roll her eyes, looking amused.

"You're too vindictive, actually coming up with a name like that."

Although she wasn't from Aquamarine Star, she had been under Han Xiao for so many years and learned about Han Xiao's early experiences from others.

"It's not about being vindictive." Han Xiao snorted.

Speaking of which, he, Hela, and Aurora should be the only three remaining former Germination members now… Looking at it that way, Germination really was full of hidden talents.

After a couple of jokes, Han Xiao got serious. "Back to the main topic, what's the situation in the Shattered Star Ring?"

Hearing this, Sylvia also dropped her smile, looking serious as she reported on the progress of the Black Star Army's competition with the War Realm and the Infinite Consortium. Since the competition began, Han Xiao had asked Sylvia to report the situation to him regularly.

Currently, the remaining partner companies of the Black Star Army had united on a large scale, curbing the Infinite Consortium's hostile takeovers to some extent, turning it into a tug-of-war. The Infinite Consortium and the War Realm had also temporarily shifted their focus from massive acquisitions of business channels to consolidating the business channels they had already acquired, changing from fierce expansion at the beginning to solidifying their foundations.

Therefore, the role of the War Realm was showing, as the power of a Beyond Grade A force allowed it to quickly digest the market grabbed by the Infinite Consortium, causing the War Realm's business scope to break through its constraints and expand rapidly, changing with each passing day.

There was a certain degree of complementarity between the two. The Infinite Consortium threw money at opening up new territories, while the War Realm provided the influence and connections of years of operation, integrating these resources. The efficiency of the two's cooperation produced a chemical reaction, feeding back to each other and developing rapidly, catching up with the Black Star Army's position in the Shattered Star Ring.

The combination of a newcomer and a local power was what made it a headache. Otherwise, even if the Infinite Consortium had so much money that even the Celestial Bank wouldn't dare print it like that, the threat to him would be limited.

That bastard Overlord really knew how to make easy money… After listening to the report, Han Xiao snorted softly.

Once I finish advancing, I'll pin you to the ground and rub you a hundred times, and you can write my surname backwards!

Han Xiao shook his head.

"I know the situation already. Go back to work."

"Hmph, you just know how to order people around. I can't even stay with you for a little longer. You've become more and more distant since I became the Chief Executive Officer!" Sylvia wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction.

"I haven't." Han Xiao was stunned.

"I don't care. I haven't had a vacation in a long time. I don't want to lose my hair like Jenny!" Sylvia crossed her arms, looking angry. "Although I'm willing to work for the legion, you can't treat me like I'm not human! You don't really think I like working, do you?! If it wasn't for you… hmph!"

Han Xiao was helpless and had to comfort her before sending Sylvia back to work.

In the eyes of the legion members, Sylvia never complained and had a capable and steady image. Only in front of him would Sylvia show a little temper.

When they arrived at the next planet, Han Xiao selected a few warships and shipped Intepas back to the Shattered Star Ring.

He continued to run around the empire, looking for leeks and tempering his Qi-Power.

Traveling back and forth between star clusters and star systems in the Star Arc Corridor, his constant travels eventually became commonplace for the various powers.

Along with his long-term travels, Han Xiao gradually accumulated his Qi-Power to the critical point of Lv19, getting closer and closer to the requirements of the advancement mission.

…

"Huff—"

In the gravity training room, which was set to the maximum gravity simulation environment, Han Xiao, shirtless, floated in mid-air, his eyes radiating a strong light. Lightning-like currents of air poured from his mouth and nose, forming a cloud of thunder with each breath. The sound of inhalation was like a rumbling muffled thunder, and the sound of exhalation was like crackling lightning. His body was wrapped in a dense halo of mechanical force, all signs indicating that the Qi-Power in his body was in its most active state.

Hiss—Han Xiao took a deep breath, retracted all of his mechanical force into his body, and turned off the gravity simulation. In his own senses, the cells oppressed by the all-around gravity were freed from their restraints, squeezing out wisps of new Qi-Power.

"I've mastered another Qi-Power training method."

The light in Han Xiao's eyes converged, and he opened the panel to take a look, nodding with satisfaction.

This was a Qi-Power tempering method that used gravity for training. It improved the limit of cells producing Qi-Power through compression and release methods. The number of training sessions had reached the upper limit, and its value had been exhausted.

During this time, Han Xiao had mastered quite a few Qi-Power training methods, which had cost him a lot of experience and energy. Now, his Qi-Power limit had reached around 119,000.

"Only the last 1,000 points left. The Qi-Power realm of lv19 is not far away."

Han Xiao rubbed his shoulders, then controlled his body, opening the sweat glands on his upper body. Sweat immediately appeared like a gushing spring, but evaporated the moment it left his body.

His current life level allowed him to perfectly control his body. Whether or not he sweated was all in a thought. After intense exercise, he could choose not to sweat, though it would be a little uncomfortable.

After cleaning himself, Han Xiao touched his pectoral muscles and admired his golden-ratio physique for a few moments before manipulating his clothes onto his body.

Chi—The alloy door slid open, and Han Xiao walked out of the gravity training room, nodding casually to a group of passing crew members. Then, he came to the corridor and stopped to look out the viewing window.

The viewing window showed the external environment, which could be zoomed in and out. At this time, the viewing screen overlooked the surface of a planet, where a majestic interstellar city was located. Spaceships rose and fell, leaving trails of light in the air that lingered for a long time, making it very lively and prosperous.

"Ainiya Hub, a famous interstellar city in the Star Arc Corridor, a high-level transit hub city." Han Xiao nodded inwardly.

This was a very lively interstellar city, belonging to an ally force of the empire's Beyond Grade A. Because of its effective management and geographical advantages, Ainiya Hub had become a famous place within the empire.

However, Han Xiao had come to this planet not to scout for talent, but because the fleet happened to need to replenish supplies. In addition, Aurora and the guards had said they were tired of staying on the ship and wanted to go to a big city to play, so he had brought them to Ainiya Hub and had been docked there for several days.

Because it was a mixed bag here, with too many travelers coming and going, Han Xiao had disguised the fleet in order to avoid causing a sensation and being surrounded. At the same time, he had Phillip hide the visit information and set up a fake identity. Ainiya Hub's intelligence was not capable of distinguishing it, so no one knew he had arrived yet.

He opened the panel to take a look, and there was currently an Evolver Totem halo buff in the status bar.

"This is also a planet equipped with an Evolver Totem." Han Xiao rubbed his chin.

The sale of the Evolver Totem had been going on for quite some time. The empire and its allies had bought what they needed and were already using them on a large scale, generally for colony stars. It was rare for them to appear in interstellar transit stations.

Han Xiao had browsed the data on Ainiya Hub in the past two years and found that the Evolver Totem had attracted more travelers and vagrants. Some weak races had even taken the initiative to send some of their members to live permanently on neutral planets with Evolver Totems.

A new immigration phenomenon had thus been created, and the influence of the Evolver Totem was subtly expanding.

After looking around, Han Xiao left the corridor and went to the cadre activity room.

Usually, many people would set up card games here, and it was always noisy, but it was very deserted at the moment. Less than half of the guards were playing Viern cards here.

Seeing Han Xiao, everyone turned their heads and greeted him, then continued to concentrate on playing cards, frowning as if they had met a worthy opponent.

Han Xiao walked to the table and glanced at it. Well, it was definitely a bunch of noobs pecking at each other. Combat power and card skills really had no connection.

Looking around, he didn't see Fording, Hadaway, and the others. Han Xiao patted one of them on the shoulder:

"Where did everyone else go?"

"Oh, they all went to Ainiya Hub to play. Hadaway took a group of people to… cough cough, to those kinds of bars. As for Fording, I remember he seemed to go shopping with Aurora." The Calamity Grade guard scratched his head. "Do you want to call them back?"

"Forget it."

Han Xiao shook his head. He had nothing to do, and he was too lazy to disturb his subordinates' revelry.

After thinking about it, he wasn't in a hurry to leave anyway. Since he was only 1,000 points of Qi-Power away, he might as well stay here and concentrate on training the last bit of Qi-Power and complete the advancement mission.

…

At the same time, Ainiya Hub, Entertainment District 04.

A grand ceremony was taking place here. The streets were crowded with people of different races. A parade of floats moved slowly, with performers on top making all kinds of strange gestures to the roadside audience. Street performers were also performing on the streets from time to time, and it was very noisy and lively, filled with laughter everywhere.

Fording and Aurora had both disguised their faces and were walking in the crowded, cheering crowd. Aurora curiously looked around, while Fording followed behind Aurora, acting as a temporary bodyguard, smiling and occasionally commenting on the surrounding performances with Aurora.

"Ah, it's too boring to stay on the ship for too long. It's more fun where there are more people."

Aurora held a string of hot, specialty snacks in her hand, speaking vaguely as she chewed, feeling pretty good.

Hela liked to be alone, but Aurora preferred places with more people. The hardships of her childhood had caused her to suffer from social anxiety for a while, but after years of adjustment, she no longer had those problems.

She spent most of her time with Hela, but now that Hela was away, Aurora also wanted to go around and increase her experience. However, her love for crowds wasn't entirely due to her personality; there was also a physiological factor. Her ability could sense life auras, and places with many life signals had a certain degree of attraction for her. Being in this kind of environment could make her ability more active, thereby producing a pleasant mood.

"Hmm, I prefer places with fewer people." Fording shrugged.

Aurora rolled her eyes at him. "You just want to be in a world of two, right?"

Fording didn't care, smiled faintly, and pointed to his temple. "You're making her shy."

Aurora felt a shiver. Just as she was about to say something, Fording's eyes suddenly changed. He abruptly stepped forward, held Aurora's shoulder, and stared in one direction.

"Wait, something seems to be up."

Seeing this, Aurora didn't ask and immediately put away her joking expression. She threw away the snacks in her hand, reached for the folding gun on her waist, and instantly assumed a combat stance.

At the same time, she fully activated her life sensing ability, following Fording's gaze to probe over. She suddenly discovered that several life signals that hadn't existed suddenly appeared in the distance, one of which was very weak, seemingly in a severely injured state.

The two exchanged glances and quickly walked in the direction of the sensing, turned into a small alley, and walked through several corners, getting deeper and deeper. There were gradually no passersby around.

Soon, the two arrived at the location of the abnormal life signals, but what lay before them was an open space with no abnormalities on the surface.

Fording frowned and took out a magic badge from his chest. This was a gift from Laki, a device for detecting abnormal magic fluctuations, which was now vibrating violently, pointing to the open space ahead.

"It seems to be a barrier magic. It can even temporarily cover up the city's magic detection devices. The effect is unusual. It's hiding an area in the city. They don't seem like good people. What are they trying to do?"

Fording hesitated for a moment about whether or not to mind other people's business.

But before he could make a decision, the space in front of them suddenly shattered like broken glass!

Krakakaka—

The invisible barrier was broken from the inside, and a blood-soaked figure stumbled out, falling to the ground with a thud. The pool of blood beneath them gradually expanded. The open space in front of the two suddenly changed its appearance, with a large number of pitted battle scars.

In addition to the injured person, there were several people standing in the distance, holding long-handled metal rune war hammers, wearing black hooded robes with white纹路symbols on them, and wearing several strings of specially shaped necklaces, dressed like priests or monks of some cult. Drops of blood dripped from the war hammers.

Obviously, there had just been a beatdown here.

Perhaps because the barrier was broken and they didn't want to attract more attention, the people dressed as priests left without hesitation, turning around and leaving quickly, disappearing from the two's sight.

Fording thought for a moment. Because he didn't know the details of these people, he didn't intend to chase after them. He stepped forward to help the severely injured person, who was barely clinging to life.

However, before he could ask, the severely injured person suddenly grabbed his clothes, his fingers clenched tightly, and said in a hoarse and hurried voice:

"Stop… them…"

Before he could finish speaking, the injured person fell back down, falling into a coma, leaving a bloody handprint on Fording's clothes.

The two stared at each other.

"…What should we do?"

"Sigh, use your ability to save him. Since we've run into him, we should at least ask what's going on. I have a premonition that this doesn't seem like a small matter."

Saying this, Fording shook his head helplessly and couldn't help but murmur to himself in a low voice:

"Why do I always run into these kinds of sudden situations?"