Chapter 147 A Stroke of Luck

Han Xiao opened the interface of the Class Knowledge Tree and glanced at it. He currently had not reached the 30 Lv5 Class Knowledges required for [Erudite], but he was only a few away. He could reach it by upgrading a few low-level Knowledges. What he was lacking were three maxed-out Ultimate Knowledges.

Another important source of Potential Points was maxing out skills, and the cost of upgrading skills increased exponentially with the character level and the total level of all skills. Taking a non-class Ultimate Knowledge from zero to max level required 120 Potential Points.

Suppressing his level before Super A Grade was not suitable for Technician Han. With the experience he currently had stored, even if he used it all to improve his Class Knowledges, it would not be enough to raise all the Ultimate Knowledges to max level.

After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to max out [Eternal Energy], [Virtual Creator], and another Manipulation-type Ultimate Knowledge. The two class-related Knowledges did not have the penalty of costing three times the Potential Points.

He directly opened the skill bar, invested experience to upgrade some blueprint skills, and after obtaining enough Potential Points, immediately used them all, raising [Eternal Energy] and [Virtual Creator] to Lv5.

He had not learned the last Manipulation-type Ultimate Knowledge yet. He had enough faction contribution points, but in order to maintain the effect of his political asset, at least 6,000 points could not be touched, and he maintained the [Revered] relationship. Only when the faction contribution points reached 12,000 would he have the leeway to exchange for this last Ultimate Knowledge. Currently, there was a shortfall of three to four thousand points.

After completing the operations of upgrading and learning skills, the stored experience points shrank significantly.

During the 2.0 version update, the experience stored by Han Xiao was only enough to go from level 170 to level 207. In the 3.0 version, the number of legion players had increased several times, the rewards for leveling up and doing missions had become higher, and there were various new products to harvest experience. These factors led to Han Xiao's current stored experience far exceeding the 2.0 update period.

But no matter how much there was, there was an end to it. Moreover, the consumption of upgrading at this stage was far greater than in the low-level stages. He needed to reserve some experience to gamble on blueprints and improve his Qi Cultivation Technique.

Han Xiao entered the Quantum Network Vision and instructed Philip to purchase Qi Cultivation Techniques throughout the universe. With the legion's financial resources, this was just a small matter, and he did not need to worry about it himself.

Then, Han Xiao took stock of the gains from the random rewards. The two low-level skills he drew were relatively useless, but the basic talent was okay. It was called [Brain Enhancement], and its effect was Intelligence +4%, which translated to hundreds of Intelligence points. Intelligence was the core attribute of Mechanics, so this basic talent still had some value.

Apart from that, the Blank Character Summon Card and the Skill Enhancement Card were slightly more useful.

A Skill Enhancement Card that he had drawn a long time ago had been in the panel without being used, and he now had two of them.

"What should I enhance..." Han Xiao muttered to himself while browsing the skill bar.

Class abilities would not trigger skill mutations, and could only enhance the basic values to a certain extent. His current combat mode was very comprehensive, and it seemed like enhancing any skill would be good.

After thinking about it, Han Xiao used one on [Gene Liberation]. This burst ability was still very powerful, and strengthening it would not be a loss.

[Skill Enhancement Card activated, target: [Gene Liberation Lv10], enhancement in progress…]

[Enhancement complete, the effect of [Gene Liberation Lv10] has been improved]

Han Xiao was not surprised that it did not trigger a skill mutation. [Gene Liberation] mutated from [Willpower Burning]. In his previous life, someone had tested it. Repeatedly using Enhancement Cards on the same skill would greatly reduce the chance of mutation. The first time was 20%, the second time seemed to be 5%, and the third time was 1%.

Looking at the skill description, the minimum damage bonus of [Gene Liberation] had increased from 220% to 240%, the maximum bonus had increased from 480% to 520%, the duration had increased from 2 seconds to 2.4 seconds, the cooldown had decreased from 7 minutes to 6 minutes and 20 seconds, and the additional passive activation condition had increased from 20% health to 28% health. The enhancement was not bad.

There was still one Enhancement Card left. Han Xiao looked at it for a long time and didn't think there was any skill that particularly needed to be enhanced, so he simply continued to store it.

Players could also draw Skill Enhancement Cards. The enhancement effect of one card was just so-so, but when the number increased, there was a possibility of a qualitative change... for example, enhancing the -90% Luck of [Lucky Curse] to -100% Luck...

Character Summon Cards, Skill Enhancement Cards, and all other card-type items were bound and could not be traded, so the temporary character cards obtained from juice squeezing were sought after. Otherwise, Han Xiao would have issued missions to collect them long ago.

After dealing with everything that needed to be dealt with, Han Xiao closed the panel, left the combat training room, and on the way, took out the communicator to contact Sylvia.

"How's the preparation for this Black Star gathering going?"

"The official gathering will be held in a month. Everything has been arranged. By the way, I paid special attention to the movements in the war domain. This year's Overlord gathering has been adjusted and will be held around the same time as ours."

Han Xiao smiled dumbly, "Little Overlord is unhappy again."

"If I were the Overlord, I would be angry too," Sylvia said unhappily.

"It can't be that only he's allowed to hold gatherings and no one else can, right? Besides, he and I aren't good friends, so why should I take care of his feelings?" Han Xiao scratched his chin.

Sylvia snorted, did not comment on the relationship between Han Xiao and the Overlord, and said to herself, "This year, there are more collaborators for the Evolutionary Totem. More civilization and faction representatives are attending the gathering, many of whom are guests from afar from other Star Clusters. According to statistics, in addition to the empire representatives and local guests from the Shattered Star Ring, there are also eleven Star Cluster Civilization representatives, four hundred and thirteen Star System Civilization representatives, and more than forty civil organization representatives, including Super A Grade ally forces who are on good terms with you."

"Not bad, the business has expanded again," Han Xiao nodded.

If the empire opened up the procurement rights for the Evolutionary Totem, I don't know how many more times the number of factions that come to me for shady deals would increase.

"Take good care of the guests, don't neglect them."

After casually instructing, Han Xiao hung up the communication.

The follow-up plan could only be started after the empire divided the territory. Currently, he could only make some preparations while waiting.

...

A month passed in a flash, and the day of the Black Star gathering arrived as scheduled.

The gathering had been held for several sessions, and Sylvia and other legion executives were familiar with the process and skillfully received the faction representatives who had come from afar.

Han Xiao also personally received important customers before the official gathering, inviting Star Cluster Grade representatives from the local Shattered Star Ring to gather together.

"Haha, Black Star, long time no see."

Leif, the representative of the Purple Crystal Civilization, was the first to walk into the reception room, laughing as he came forward. Han Xiao also smiled, stood up, and hugged him.

The two were old friends. When Han Xiao was at the Calamity Grade, he developed through the Secret War. Later, although he transferred to the Crimson Dynasty, he had always maintained a good relationship with the Purple Crystal Civilization.

The Purple Crystal Civilization maintained a neutral stance and did not express their intention to join the empire. At Han Xiao's request, they were able to purchase the Evolutionary Totem. They were currently the only non-empire ally customer. The Purple Crystal also attached great importance to the Super A Grade forces on their territory. The two sides were very harmonious.

The two took their seats and exchanged pleasantries. Leif couldn't help but sigh.

"I saw many civilization representatives from other Star Fields outside just now. Sigh, it's only been a few years, but your changes are too great."

"There are some luck factors, I guess." Han Xiao smiled.

Leif shook his head, quite emotional.

A few years ago, the Black Star Army was just a normal armed organization cooperating with the Purple Crystal Civilization. After only a few years, it had transformed into an object that hundreds of civilizations valued and fawned over.

Even they, the Purple Crystal Civilization, did not have such influence.

Looking at the little shrimp who once needed his support become a behemoth today, Leif's mood was a little complicated.

After chatting for a while, the other six Star Cluster Grade civilization representatives from the local Shattered Star Ring had arrived. Currently, no Star Cluster Grade civilization in the Star Field would not give Han Xiao face. Even the Klent Kingdom next door sent people to participate every time.

Seeing his old rival, Leif raised his eyebrows and joked, "Hey, why are you Klents here again? I remember that this year's Overlord gathering is also being held at this time. Aren't you afraid Heber will be unhappy?"

"Hmph, other colleagues are responsible for the Overlord's side," the Klent representative snorted.

The grudges formed during the Secret War had not disappeared to this day, but because of interests, the Klent could only pinch their noses and try to please Han Xiao. Although they were empire allies, if Black Star did not want to sell the Evolutionary Totem to the Klent, they would be helpless, so they did not dare not take it seriously.

These seven Star Cluster Grade civilizations controlled the Shattered Star Ring. Han Xiao had various business dealings with them, and his network and influence were much stronger than Heber's—other Star Cluster Grade representatives participated in the Overlord's gathering more to give Heber face, while coming to participate in the Black Star gathering was because of related interests. This kind of relationship was deeper, and Han Xiao's power in the Shattered Star Ring had surpassed Heber's.

Han Xiao chatted with everyone to connect emotionally. After a while, the communicator suddenly vibrated. He looked down and saw a message from Sylvia:

"Teacher, Sorokin has arrived."

Han Xiao had previously instructed Sylvia to pay attention to Sorokin. Seeing this, his eyes flashed. He stood up and smiled at the seven Star Cluster Grade representatives present.

"Everyone, please excuse me for a moment."

...

Sorokin's fleet was docked at the dock, immediately attracting a lot of attention.

The name of the Infinite Financial Group had been heard by these civilization representatives, but they only glanced at it a few times before withdrawing their gazes.

The Black Star Army was at least a special empire Super A Grade ally force. He was also a big shot. It was not surprising that the Infinite Financial Group came to participate in the gathering.

As soon as Sorokin got off the spaceship, he saw the crowded situation on the dock at a glance, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He had a clearer understanding of the Black Star Army's power.

Although the number of partners the legion had in the universe was not as good as his Infinite Financial Group, it was perhaps the most powerful local tyrant in the Shattered Star Ring and could never be underestimated.

At this time, Foriding, who had been waiting for a long time, greeted him with a smile.

"I am Black Star's Close Guard Foriding. Welcome to the distinguished guests from the Infinite Financial Group who have come from afar to the Black Star Army. Your Excellency Sorokin, Black Star is waiting to meet you."

Hearing this, Sorokin retracted his gaze, looked at Foriding, and his breathing suddenly stopped. A flash of amazement and doubt flashed in his eyes. He looked him up and down and said in an uncertain tone.

"You... are you male or female?"

"Maybe both?" Foriding smiled gently and added, "But mostly male."

"Oh... I understand," Sorokin coughed. "Please lead the way, I am also looking forward to meeting with His Excellency Black Star."

The group left the dock and headed to another reception room.

Sorokin looked around along the way, observing the situation of the Black Star Army. Halfway through, he couldn't help but ask:

"I heard that the Black Star Army has a magical undead army. I came here this time to see it. Why haven't I seen it along the way?"

Foriding smiled. "Oh, you came at the wrong time. They just happened to be away."

"...Oh, is that so?" Sorokin's face twitched.

A month ago, not long after he arrived in the Shattered Star Ring, news came from the rear that all the undead recruited by the financial group had disappeared. Sorokin thought it was an individual case, but he didn't expect the undead on the Black Star Army's side to disappear as well.

'Sure enough, no matter how far apart they are, there is a connection between these undead...'

Sorokin had been observing the players, but he had no way of knowing the pattern of the players' disappearance. At this time, he could only helplessly admit that he was unlucky.

—His idea of contacting the undead this time was obviously in vain. He really came at the wrong time.

Arriving at the reception room, Sorokin waited for a while, and the door was opened again. It was Han Xiao who had rushed over.

Seeing this, Sorokin immediately got up to greet him. Although he was a Super A Grade with a full aura, as a financial group businessman, he did not put on airs when dealing with his peers. He took the initiative to extend his hand.

"Hello, I am Sorokin, the head of the Infinite Financial Group. I am very honored to meet the legendary expert who caught the Hetero God." Sorokin smiled faintly, nodded, and paid his respects.

"It is also my honor, please sit down." Han Xiao shook his hand without revealing anything unusual.

The two took their seats, and Sorokin smiled and said earnestly:

"Although I am far away in the Sea of ​​Stars, I often hear about Black Star's deeds. I have been thinking about when we can cooperate. Now there happens to be a business opportunity, so I came with sincerity. I hope that our first contact today will be a good start for future cooperation between the two sides."

"...I hope so too."

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows, smiling meaningfully.

First contact? You piece of trash, if I didn't know you inside and out, I would really think you were as sincere as you appear on the surface...

In his previous life, there was not much information about Sorokin. In the eyes of the players, this was a Super A Grade with a low presence and no remarkable achievements.

During this period of time, Han Xiao also asked his friends in the Super A Grade circle and found that Sorokin had never competed with a Super A Grade. People in the circle said that his personal combat power was not very good. "Super A Grade" seemed to be just an identity for him to facilitate business negotiations.

Combining various claims, Sorokin seemed to be a freak who was detached from the Super A Grade evaluation system. Compared to the Super A Grade itself, the businessman attribute on him was stronger.

However, people who can become Super A Grades have experienced various hardships. Without the mentality of a strong person, it is impossible to have Super A Grade power. Han Xiao felt that Sorokin might not be as mediocre and mercenary as he appeared on the surface and might have many mysteries on him.

Because of the limited information, it was easiest to understand the other person's personality through personal contact.

Han Xiao's mind turned slightly.

'It's best to find a way to poke him and get his combat information out...'