Chapter 1 Seeing Manison in Thought

Seeing Manison deep in thought, Han Xiao chuckled inwardly.

He wasn’t lying. He did use the EsGod artifact to advance, and it worked. He was just holding back half the truth—he had no intention of revealing the specific requirements of the “stabilizer.”

As for what Manison would do after setting his sights on the EsGod artifact, Han Xiao didn’t care. He wasn’t trying to trick him. After all, he hadn’t figured out what could replace the EsGod artifact, so it was currently the only choice. It wasn't intentional manipulation...just a convenient side effect.

Han Xiao shrugged off his various thoughts, interrupting Manison’s musings. “I can also give you a word of advice: this is only one condition. Don’t try to advance without absolute certainty.”

Manison snapped back to reality, nodding absently.

Han Xiao didn’t say more, changing the subject.

“Alright, I’ve told you the condition. It’s your turn to fulfill the deal.”

Hearing this, Manison composed himself and summoned the entire intelligent life civilization. He quickly detached the Undying Mechanical Soldiers from the mainframe, preparing to modify the underlying logic chain. Then, remembering Han Xiao’s Virtual Purification, he paused and nodded.

“The entire race is here. You can change them back yourself. I won’t waste the effort.”

“You’ve become lazier than before.” Han Xiao shook his head and unleashed a Virtual Purification.

The halo spread, rapidly sweeping over the neatly arranged ranks of Undying Mechanical Soldiers. In the next moment, the intelligent lifeforms broke free from their controlled state, quickly regaining their original consciousness, bewildered and agitated.

Han Xiao didn’t say much to them. His body suddenly erupted with a powerful suction force, like a black hole opening up. The Godly Mechanical Armament directly packed up all the targets. He planned to hand them over to Risda for explanation later.

After absorbing the entire AI civilization, Han Xiao silently tallied the list, pausing suddenly. “One is missing. You have to return Feidinat as well.”

“Forgot.”

Manison remembered and summoned Feidinat, the AI civilization’s ancestor, who hadn’t been modified into an Undying Mechanical Soldier and had been serving as his intelligent assistant.

Han Xiao pointed a finger, and flickering electricity merged into Feidinat’s body. Feidinat shuddered as the twisted and rewritten logic quickly returned to normal.

“I’ve recovered…”

Feidinat was stunned for a moment, then sorted through his chaotic memories and understood what had happened. He was immediately moved, giving Han Xiao a solemn salute according to the records in the database.

“Your Excellency Black Star, thank you for your rescue. I represent the entire race in thanking you for your help!”

“If you want to thank someone, thank Risda. He’s been pestering me about this for almost a century.” Han Xiao waved his hand dismissively.

“Yes, we really must thank him…” Feidinat said with emotion, then glared at Manison, angrily declaring, “Machinery Country! You captured my people, modified my thoughts, and used me as a tool for so many years. I will get revenge for this sooner or later!”

When the AI civilization encountered Manison’s invasion, he stood up and led his people in resistance, suffering a crushing defeat. He himself was almost destroyed by Manison. Virtual Purification wouldn’t erase his memories of these years. He could almost make a movie called “Three Hundred Years a Slave.” If he could beat him, he would have killed Manison, his “former master,” on the spot.

Manison glanced at him, ignoring his empty threats.

Han Xiao didn’t care either. Without his help, this AI civilization’s ancestor had basically no chance of retaliating against Manison. He casually said, “At least you’re free now. Come with me; I’ll take you back.”

Hearing this, Feidinat stopped baring his teeth at Manison, accepted Han Xiao’s machinery force, and transformed into a stream of light, attaching himself to Han Xiao's spaceship.

“Alright, pleasant transaction. The funds to rebuild your Undying Mechanical Soldiers will be wired to you later. I’m leaving now. You can continue being a shut-in.”

Han Xiao waved to Manison, boarded his spaceship, and set off. Looking back, he saw Manison standing on the dock, watching his figure grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

“Ding~”

At this moment, the interface suddenly reacted. Han Xiao opened it and saw the notification that the [Restart] mission was completed.

Billions of experience points, 2 Awakening Points, and a milestone, [Friend of Intelligent Life], whose description indicated that virtual technology was enhanced to a certain extent, and it was easier to gain the favor of intelligent life, which was basically an enhanced version of [Intelligent Affinity].

The more talents the better, Han Xiao naturally accepted them with a smile. The [Restart] mission, which had been gathering dust in the list for many years, ended with the liberation of the AI civilization and disappeared.

“Cleared another mission, nice.”

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. Although he didn’t have OCD, he still felt a sense of satisfaction as he watched the mission list become cleaner and cleaner.

Using the Emperor’s Transportation to return to the base, Han Xiao released Feidinat and the intelligent lifeforms, reuniting them with the other group led by Risda. After some explanation, the intelligent lifeforms thanked Han Xiao again and again.

Risda and Feidinat both said that if Han Xiao needed anything in the future, they would be at his service. Han Xiao's interface also showed a faction relationship with the AI civilization, directly rising to [Revered].

However, now that he possessed the divine skill [Life Transformation - Virtual], the AI civilization wasn’t of much use to him. He didn’t need these intelligent lifeforms to work for him.

Watching the intelligent lifeforms leave happily, Han Xiao put away his smile, stroked his chin, and pondered.

“With my current strength and status, it’s easier to do some things. Perhaps there’s a chance to complete the ‘End of Darkness’ mission…”

[End of Darkness] was the most difficult mission he had ever encountered, with a reward of a trillion experience points, requiring him to end the phenomenon of population trade in interstellar society.

Under normal circumstances, such a request was basically impossible to fulfill, but the current interstellar situation was undergoing a strong impact, in a tense period, maintaining a wartime form, freedom was restricted, most of the interstellar citizens were concentrated in shelters, and the mobility dropped more than ninety percent, the black market trade was almost stopped, which was a suitable stage for shuffling.

Population trade was difficult to deal with mainly due to its decentralization and concealment, but during this centralized period, these two difficulties were greatly weakened. Due to the reduction in demand and the increased difficulty in collecting "goods", most human traffickers had to stop business. At this time, cracking down on population trade would undoubtedly be twice the result with half the effort.

Han Xiao calculated that with his current status, he could leverage billions of times his own resources. If he called out the slogan to end population trade, basically all civilizations would respond, and the three great civilizations would not object. After all, it was not a bad thing to rectify the social atmosphere before the war.

In fact, he knew that the three great civilizations had always wanted to crack down on population trade, but they had never made the effort. Most social ills were like this; only when a figure like him took the lead would they be valued and vigorously rectified. Otherwise, as long as the problem didn’t affect some core aspects, the priority would be postponed. Management departments were rarely willing to actively add trouble without instructions from above. This was difficult to avoid even in the interstellar era, and the troublesome matter of population trade was even more so.

However, even if population trade was terminated now, it could only be maintained for a while. When the interstellar situation stabilized, this business would make a comeback, and it would be difficult to ban it forever. However, that was a matter for the future. As long as the entire interstellar society had no population trade for a period of time, Han Xiao felt that the mission would be completed. Whether it rebounded in the future would not affect a mission that had already been settled.

“Anyway, apart from harassing the World Tree’s advancing forces on the front lines, the people from other forces have nothing to do. I might as well pull them out to maintain law and order.”

Han Xiao secretly wrote this matter down on the plan, deciding to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to complete this mission in one fell swoop. Anyway, he didn’t have to supervise it himself, so it wouldn’t reduce his research time.

After resolving the historical problems of the AI civilization, he refocused his energy on updating and strengthening his machinery, becoming addicted to it and unable to extricate himself, and more than half a month quickly passed.

…

On this day, within the territory of the Arcane Church, the Temple of the Gods.

A large number of fleets surrounded the area where the Temple of the Gods was located, imposing martial law. In the sky above the Temple of the Gods, Ulnios’s figure floated in space, surrounded by four direct line Beyond Grade As, looking hesitant.

“Chosen of the Gods, are you sure this can help you advance to Beyond God grade?” One of the direct line members couldn’t help but ask.

Ulnios glanced at him and said calmly, “I’m not nervous, so why are you?”

The Arcane Church had been preparing for almost a month, gathering helpers and planning to help Ulnios advance today.

Ulnios had also been constantly adjusting his state during this period. Now his physical strength, spirit, and will had reached their peak. In his opinion, the success rate of this advancement was at least 70%.

“Chosen of the Gods, are you ready?”

The voice of the Arcane Church leader came from the communicator.

The organization’s Esper pillar was trying to break through to a higher level. This was a matter worth paying attention to. The Arcane Church leader had arranged his schedule a month in advance, specifically leaving some time in these days to witness Ulnios’s advancement with his own eyes.

Whether or not they could contend with Black Star in terms of individual strength in the future depended on this wave!

“I can advance at any time. Is the surrounding area well arranged?” Ulnios answered calmly, his tone containing years of confidence.

“All aura concealment devices have been activated to minimize the external detection of the surging of the Universe level energy. You can begin. I wish you success in advance.”

The Arcane Church leader nodded, secretly clenching his fist, feeling even more nervous than the person involved.

Hearing this, Ulnios exhaled and suddenly activated his energy, launching another attack on the threshold that had blocked him for many years.

Boom!

In the next moment, an astonishing energy storm erupted with him as the center. An incomparably dazzling white light shone through his body, as if taking away all the colors in the world.

“It’s coming!”

The Arcane Church leader widened his eyes, filled with eager anticipation.