Chapter 998 - Storm Rises and Falls (2/2)

Manipulating his avatar, Han Xiao walked out of the palace and stood there overlooking the entire planet. He saw an endless line-up of mechanical cities, and countless mechanical life forms were flying in the sky.

This was the main planet of the machinery civilization, Planet Apostle, which was much better than a decade ago.

After more than twenty years of constant development, the machinery civilization had completely transformed this planet, building countless facilities on the surface and underground. With their strong productivity, they had even started to develop the planets nearby.

At the same time, like tree branches growing leaves, their population swelled up. This would be the future source of Han Xiao’s mechanical army.

Speaking from the scale of a civilization’s progress, the machinery civilization’s speed of development was akin to travelling using a hyperdrive spaceship. However, compared with the Black Spirit Race, the latter’s development was not slow either.

After years of study, batch after batch of scholars and researchers had appeared within the Black Spirit Race, and they had begun to integrate the knowledge from various fields taught by the army. Due to the special characteristics of the Black Spirit Race, once someone had learned a piece of knowledge, they could quickly spread it out.

With the resources and equipment generously provided by the army, the Black Spirit Race did not need to accumulate their production efficiency and could directly apply any acquired knowledge. Thus, in just two decades, they had directly entered the electrical age from the tribal age, completing a triple jump. The horrifying talent of the race had begun to emerge.

In his view, if the Black Spirit Race had started at the same point together with the federation and the church, it might have been the fourth Universal Civilization.

The talents of the Black Spirit Race were almost entirely focused on learning and education. To slightly exaggerate, this was a race that was qualified to use the prosperous saying of ‘everyone can be a dragon’.

As for the Kunde Race, they were still undergoing their cultural transformation, but Han Xiao had also allowed people to give them something good.

At this moment, the inner circle of the Kunde Race had already shown signs of people worshipping the Machinery Faith. Although their tragic battle a decade ago had left behind some wounds and they had not fully converted to this religion, the roots had already taken hold.

As Han Xiao gazed around the planet, in a short time, more than ten black dots appeared from afar, heading over.

Behind those black dots, which were his Apostle Weapons, there was a huge mountain-like shadow slowly approaching. This was the Giant King Kong, famous for his size, and his height was exactly parallel to the gate of the Sky Reaching Pagoda where Han Xiao was located.

“We greet our Lord.”

Psionic Prime led the Apostle Weapons and flew into the gate, stopping in front of Han Xiao and saluting.

In the recent years, Han Xiao had utilized all his Apostle Weapon slots, expanding the team. Because of [Perfect Mechanical Sense] as well as a series of talents and abilities that increase the upper limit of his skills, his Apostle Weapons numbered more than twelve now.

Gazing at them, he discovered that the Apostle Weapons now had better weapons and armor than they had twenty years ago. At the same time, their source energy had also grown.

All Mechanical life forms could grow as they could upgrade themselves. This was especially so for the first generation of mechanical life forms, which contained the purest Mechanical Life Tinder.

“Psionic Prime, Silver Flash, Mad Sky Hunter, Scarlet Flame, Gold Sovereign, Formless Ghost, Heaven-Suppressing Banner, and Purple Sky Spirit… Bring your troops with you and return to the headquarters in the Shattered Star Ring. I might require you guys to fight.” Han Xiao passed down the command.

“Understood,” Psionic Prime responded. To him, Han Xiao’s words were akin to divine doctrine.

…

At a stargate border of the Shattered Star Ring, a fleet with the symbol of the Arcane Church slowly exited the stargate.

Nowadays, Beyond Grade As everywhere were flocking to the Shattered Star Ring. This fleet was dedicated to escorting a new Beyond Grade A who had joined the Arcane Church a few years prior.

‘Red Devil’ Tolaen, once a wanted criminal from Silver Arm, had reached the Beyond Grade A a few years back. He was then recruited by the Arcane Church, and his previous deeds were wiped clean. With the support of the Arcane Church, his Silver Arm had a place in the universe.

In the conference room of the flagship, a portion of the Beyond Grade As of the Arcane Church were within the room, but only Tolaen was there with his main body.

“Haha, it seems like I’m the first to arrive. When will you all get here?” Tolaen laughed.

“Soon. You and Psyker had better wait there quietly for us.” Sun Hunter had a small stature, but his voice was mighty like a booming cannon.

“Hmm, what’s the use in just waiting?” Tolaen’s eyes gleamed. “Since there’s nothing to do, I’ll find someone to spar.”

He had just entered the Beyond Grade A realm not too long ago. As a newcomer, he did not have any outstanding battle records, so upon reaching the Shattered Star Ring, he felt the urge to prove himself.

“Don’t try to do anything funny in the Shattered Star Ring,” Kasuyi coldly interjected, his voice wispy. “It’s his territory. Show him some face.”

The Shattered Star Ring of the past only had Heber, Austin, Ames, and Psyker, which made it a remote and weak place, not enough for a peak Beyond Grade A like Kasuyi to notice.

But things were different now. With Black Star rising vigorously, he had become the representative of the Shattered Star Ring, holding the fort in the name of the dynasty.

There was a certain level of prestige given toward a peak Beyond Grade A, and the other Beyond Grade As were willing to show Black Star some face and behave themselves in the Shattered Star Ring. Even as fellow peak Beyond Grade As, none of them wanted to rile Black Star up for nothing.

The moment Black Star was mentioned, a few of the Beyond Grade As present showed uneasy expressions. They were the participants of the Planet Lighthouse battle and had eaten a loss when facing Han Xiao.

The feeling of being trapped in Spacetime Amber was not a good one. That was especially so for Dylan, who let out an involuntary shudder upon hearing Han Xiao’s name.

“Haha, you’ve only been defeated once, but you’re already afraid to this point? Your Excellency Kasuyi, it can’t be that even you are afraid of him, can it?”

Tolaen knew about this matter and could not help but laugh sarcastically. As a wanted criminal in the past, he was not someone to lie low.

As soon as this remark came out, quite a number of Beyond Grade As looked a little embarrassed, coldly snorting.

“I’m not afraid of him,” Kasuyi calmly stated. “But now isn’t the time for us to fight. I advise you not to provoke him.”

“I’m not that foolish.” Tolaen waved his hands. “Relax, I’m not so arrogant as to choose Black Star as the target.”

“Then, who do you want to spar with?”

“Heh, I can’t defeat Black Star, and Heber belongs to the Dynasty, which is also troublesome to provoke. Psyker is weak, but he’s still one of us, so that only leaves the other two.”

Tolaen’s eyes flashed in excitement.

“Austin always hides in his Palace of Hidden Spells, and I should not be able to defeat him, but as for Ames… Hehe, she should be easy to deal with. I’ll use her as my stepping stone and let her become my Beyond Grade A battle record!”