Chapter 1 Steel Headbutt?

“Steel Headbutt… that’s just the first move? Could there be a combo?”

Looking at the panel prompts, Han Xiao couldn’t help but twitch his lips, his eyes unable to move away from the first option.

He always thought *tou tie* (head-hardened) was just a descriptive term for Martial Artists' temperament, but he didn't expect it to be a skill.

Scanning downwards and taking in the other options, Han Xiao pondered for a while and made his choice.

The two specializations weren't bad, but he didn’t particularly want them. As his level increased, the effect of \[Unyielding Challenger] kept decreasing. At his current level, the chance of it triggering wasn't high, and he wouldn’t stop leveling up, so this specialization would only become more useless. As for \[Combo Amplification], it was practical, and the mechanical troops could easily rack up combos, but the bonus was a bit low. His current strength foundation was already very solid, and he didn't lack this kind of general passive bonus specialization.

In comparison, Han Xiao currently wanted some abilities with special tactical applications that would have a more significant effect in battle.

\[Crow Cannon] could increase the burst damage of focused fire, and the increase was much higher than \[Combo Amplification], but in Han Xiao's opinion, his damage was already not low; what he lacked was accuracy. Focused fire also had to hit the target.

Actually, Han Xiao wasn't too eager for \[Azure Dragon Bind], after all, the restriction of triggering it at close range was relatively high, and both sides couldn't move after using it. He mainly liked the rare characteristic of a minimum of two seconds of hard control.

This was just the effect at Lv. 1. If it was raised to the maximum level, plus some of his additional specializations that increased the skill level, the minimum hard control time could probably be extended, making it worth choosing to try.

\[You have acquired the new skill \[Azure Dragon Bind]!]

"Not bad, it sounds pretty good, much better than a nonsensical name like Steel Headbutt..."

Han Xiao smacked his lips, muttering as he opened the attribute panel and quickly found the newly acquired gilded skill, investing experience to continuously level it up. Although he was rushing to level 360 and didn't want to spend his experience reserves randomly, maxing out a skill wouldn't affect his plans.

Soon, \[Azure Dragon Bind] was upgraded from Lv. 1 to the maximum Lv. 10, with a minimum hard control time of 2.6 seconds, while also providing additional Strength and Endurance judgment bonuses, increasing the difficulty for the target to break free.

After all, Han Xiao hadn't specifically added Strength attributes, so it was generally average at the same level, but his Endurance was decent. He was now focused on Intelligence and secondary Endurance, and every time he rebuilt the Universal Treasure, a portion was added to Endurance.

"Finally, there are skill bonuses for *qiang ren suo nan* (strong man locks man). If I had this move before, I wouldn't have been easily broken free by the Town Tree King."

Han Xiao rubbed his pectoral muscles, preparing to find someone to try out the move, when the communicator suddenly rang. It was Ames calling, saying she wanted to come to the front lines and asking Han Xiao to activate *Huang Zhe* (The Emperor) to pick her up.

Seeing Ames' resolute attitude, Han Xiao didn't force her to stay in the rear anymore. It was also convenient to take her back to the interception circle base along the way.

And it was perfect to try out the new move on Ames to see how effective it was in actual combat.

...

Central Star Cluster, Barren Universe Belt.

A small fleet was slowly sailing in the boundless starry sky, seemingly without a specific purpose.

In the command room of the main ship, a group of operators wearing various mismatched armors were piloting the spaceship, looking like a group of Star Pirates.

And at the front lookout platform, stood a few imposing figures, uniformly wearing hooded robes, concealing their figures.

"Because of the foreign enemy invasion, the three great civilizations' armies have been deployed to various border star fields, and the hinterland is empty. Moreover, a large number of interstellar citizens are migrating to avoid the disaster, hiding in the Central Star Cluster. This is a good opportunity..." A hooded man said in a low voice.

Hearing these words, there was a slight commotion among the hooded figures. The hooded man standing at the forefront took a long breath and slowly said:

"Forget it, let's not do anything now."

"Why? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Another person said excitedly, full of incomprehension.

"I said don't do anything, so don't!"

The hooded man at the forefront emphasized his tone, slightly raising his head, revealing the face under the hood, which was the mysteriously elusive Pan-er Gong. This group was the Avenger group that had left the Sanctuary of the Ancients.

"Pan-er Gong, you wouldn't have developed a soft spot, would you?" A Super-A Grade coldly said, "Because of the foreign enemy invasion, you're retreating? Unwilling to affect the so-called 'big picture'? Don't forget our goal is to avenge the three great civilizations, which originally meant causing widespread suffering. The foreign enemy is our godsend assistance. There's no time more suitable than now to destroy their rule, giving us the opportunity to leverage the situation and fight the big with the small. Otherwise, do you think that with just a few of us, we can really shake the foundation of the three great civilizations' rule!"

"Are you teaching me what to do?"

Pan-er Gong's face was equally grim.

This person was not afraid and glared back, saying in a deep voice, "Then tell me why you want to let go of this opportunity. If our paths are different, then it's better to break up early and do our own thing."

The gazes of the other people also focused on Pan-er Gong.

Their civilization had been destroyed by the three great civilizations during exploration, and they had deep-rooted hatred. To avenge themselves, they had put life and death aside. The World Tree's invasion surprised and delighted them, thinking that heaven was helping them.

Pan-er Gong paused, took out a thick hand-rolled cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. The smoke silently dissipated.

"Speak!" A companion coldly pressed.

Pan-er Gong glanced at him, flicked the ashes, and slowly said, "The great migration should have been a time when Star Pirates are rampant and active, but the military of each civilization is escorting their own people to the Central Star Cluster for refuge. There are fewer and fewer interstellar citizens wandering outside... This has made it increasingly difficult for Star Pirates to survive in various places. Not only are there no prey, but they are also being swept away by the military..."

"What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm saying is that even if we want to seize this opportunity to shake the rule of the three great civilizations, we don't have enough manpower. It's better to take this opportunity to integrate Star Pirates from various places and obtain enough armed forces. Otherwise, even if we go to the hinterland of the three great civilizations to cause trouble now, we won't be able to stir up much trouble."

Speaking, Pan-er Gong paused and said calmly:

"Moreover, if we obstruct the three great civilizations' plan to resist the enemy at this juncture, Black Star will definitely come and kill us. Do you want to see him that much?"

Hearing this, a hint of fear flashed in the eyes of the crowd, and they stopped talking.

Pan-er Gong glanced at them, puffing on his cigarette, and stopped speaking.

This was both the truth and a perfunctory remark. Impartially speaking, although the foreign enemy invasion was a good opportunity to shake the three great civilizations, Pan-er Gong did not want to take advantage of this situation. On the one hand, it was due to the threat of Black Star, and on the other hand, it was due to the Sanctuary of the Ancients.

After all, this was the hometown of the Oathkeeper and many other Sanctuary companions. He was reborn and already owed the Sanctuary a great favor. At the same time, he also gained freedom. Now some old friends were fighting against foreign enemies, and he didn't want to hold them back at this time.

Although he decided to dedicate his life to revenge, he did not want to lose his *yi qi* (righteousness) for this.

The foreign enemy invasion may be the only opportunity to destroy the three great civilizations, but Pan-er Gong did not regret giving up this path. He firmly believed that there were other ways.

...

The three great civilizations and the World Tree were still engaged in a tug-of-war on the front lines. After some time, with the emergence of the first batch of special observation devices, the stalemate between the two sides was finally broken.

The ultra-long-range detection technology from another iteration's ultimate civilization broke through the concealment and camouflage of the World Tree strongholds one by one, marking the dense network of interconnected camps on the wide-area radar, almost like opening the entire map, finally regaining the initiative.

The entire interception circle headquarters was greatly encouraged and immediately organized a large number of players to form a space-time cutting force, dividing into thousands of troops and heading towards all the interconnected camps, attempting to wipe out all enemy strongholds in one fell swoop.

The mutually guarding and helping ultra-long-range interconnected camps soon suffered a devastating blow. The strongholds hidden in the dark were caught off guard and were destroyed one after another under the players' fearless space-time cutting suicide charges. A large number of "nails" inserted by the World Tree near the interception circle were pulled out one after another.

After about half a month of fierce fighting, the World Tree finally abandoned the ineffective ultra-long-range interconnected camp tactics, no longer deploying new strongholds, and allowed the three great civilizations to clear the obstacles to expanding the interception circle and the space anchoring orbit.

Without obstacles, the stagnant expansion speed of the space anchoring orbit suddenly thawed and resumed pushing towards the distance, continuously forcing the World Tree's jump points away from the interception circle's lines.

In the following months, the frequency and intensity of collisions between small units of the two sides continued to increase, and the war became increasingly fierce.

During this period, the World Tree launched two more large-scale attacks, each with a fleet size of tens of billions, triggering two large-scale battles.

These two battles were group army operations. The World Tree did not send out high-level combat forces to trade, but simply consumed the three great civilizations' forces. It seemed that before finding a way to restrain Aurora, the World Tree would no longer allow individual power to participate in the war. Moreover, the strong who died last time had not all been resurrected and could not be deployed to the battlefield.

Although the World Tree also had to spend resources to replenish its fleet and combat personnel, due to the World Tree's own characteristics, their resource utilization rate, resource development rate, resource regeneration speed, and resource reserves far exceeded those of the three great civilizations, giving them a huge advantage. And since both sides could quickly produce troops, the World Tree's plan was to deplete the national strength of the three great civilizations.

Many Super-A Grades participated in these two large-scale battles. With Aurora's care and the World Tree not sending out Super-A Grades, both were thrilling but without any casualties for the time being.

Within a few months, Han Xiao provided some of the war technology contained in the First Sanctuary, mass-producing finished products and distributing them to multiple troops, which had a significant effect in group army operations, reducing the fleet losses of the three great civilizations and defeating the World Tree's attacking army at a lower cost.

The Child of Destiny monitoring channel also discovered the mobilization signs of these two large-scale attacks in advance, allowing the three great civilizations to be prepared, further reducing losses.

However, with the special ultra-long-range detection devices provided by Han Xiao, the monitoring range and intensity of the three great civilizations had undergone qualitative changes. Without the Child of Destiny, they could also discover most of the World Tree's actions near the interception circle. This important technology forced the three great civilizations to change some of their strategic plans, no longer feeling troubled by the weakness in detection.

Therefore, the three great civilizations' degree of attention to Han Xiao had also increased again, wishing that Han Xiao would stay in the base and not participate in any battles, not letting him encounter any risks.

Black Star seemed to be handing out strategic-level technologies that cost nothing, and almost every one of them was qualified to become a trump card for advanced civilizations, also shocking the scientific research departments of the three parties, who felt that Black Star's research and development capabilities were simply more powerful than their entire department, admiring them.

However, the attack was a matter of brute force. Although the three great civilizations defeated the two waves of attacks, the interception circle and the space anchoring orbit were extensively damaged by the World Tree's main forces' advancement, indirectly curbing the expansion trend.

From the outbreak of the war until now, the two sides had been confronting each other in this meat grinder for more than half a year, constantly depleting their forces. The World Tree was always blocked outside, unable to break through the interception circle, as if finally running out of patience. The Child of Destiny monitoring channel captured important intelligence, showing that the World Tree civilization was mobilizing troops within its territory, planning a new offensive.

And this time, it was the World Tree's largest offensive to date, the scale of which was even larger than the previous three combined, already exceeding two hundred billion, and who knows how much the end would be!

Such a large-scale offensive, even if the interception circle could repel the enemy forces like the previous three times, would inevitably suffer heavy losses. At the first moment of receiving the news, Han Xiao notified the headquarters and called an emergency meeting.