by <unknown>
Han Xiao opened his ability list, and a dense number of ability names expanded out. Han Xiao directly skipped the blueprints and looked at the other abilities. The Mechanic abilities were very important; his raw strength would basically be increased if he enhanced one of them. There would be more Machinery Affinity abilities after he leveled up, so this tiny enhancement had limited effect for him.
It seemed like enhancing an ability with a special use would be better.
With a flash of insight, Han Xiao had a target.
How about I enhance [Flaming Will]? I’m short of damage abilities, so strengthening my explosive power is quite useful for me. If the cooldown is decreased, this enhancement will be worth it.
Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled. Flaming Will had both active and passive effects. The former had a ten-minute cooldown while the latter had a thirty-minute cooldown. Although its damage boost was very high, it had a high cooldown as well, causing him to only trigger this ability once or twice during every battle. If the cooldown was increased, his damage would be hugely increased.
He had gotten this ability from Bennett, and it still made a noticeable difference at his current level. He used the Ability Enhancement Card on the spot.
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Ability Enhancement Card activated. Target: [Flaming Will LV10].
Enhancing…
You have triggered Ability Mutation.
You acquired new ability [Gene Liberation LV1].
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Han Xiao was surprised. Damn, I’m really in luck today!
In the interface, [Flaming Will] was replaced by the new ability, and the new method of using the ability appeared in his mind. Han Xiao looked at the ability introduction.
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[Gene Liberation Lv.1]:
Active Effect: By spending 1,000 health points, grants an attack boost for the next 1.5 seconds. 50% chance to deal 200% – 220% damage; 30% chance to deal 300% – 330% damage; 20% chance to deal 400% – 440% damage.
Cooldown: 8 min 30 s
Passive Effect: When health is below 20%, the ability will be activated automatically without cost.
Passive Effect Cooldown: 17 mins
Remarks: You obtained the way to break through your limits. Through squeezing energy out of your cells, you can gain explosive power that exceeds your limit, but it will hurt your body.
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Han Xiao read through and felt that this enhancement was truly worth it. Not only was the cooldown reduced, the random stats were better as well.
Initially, [Flaming Will] had four random ranges, and the highest one granted more than five times damage, but the chance of triggering that was too low. [Gene Liberation], however, slightly reduced the maximum boost, but the random ranges changed from four to three. Lower random factors meant more stable damage output.
Most importantly, this boost was not applied to only one attack but all attacks in a certain period. With his speed, it would definitely be more than one attack!
He was an Artillery Style Mechanic; hence, his attack frequency was extremely high. This meant that the effect of this ability was explosive!
Furthermore, this was just its effect on Lv.1. Without hesitation, Han Xiao threw in tens of millions of experience and leveled it up to Lv.10 straight away. Its duration increased to two seconds, and its cooldown reduced to seven minutes. The damage boost of all three ranges was increased by one-tenth, meaning that the lowest boost was 220%, and the maximum was 480%. The cost had also reduced to 800 health points. Han Xiao had close to 20,000 health, so this cost was nothing to him, not to mention the [Self-Healing] ability that he had gotten two months prior, which would recover this amount of health in a mere eight seconds.
“This ability is a little too strong, isn’t it!” Han Xiao clicked his tongue.
After packing up his things, Han Xiao pushed open the door, feeling refreshed. In the spaceship hall, Herlous was playing cards with the Volga brothers again. He had a proud expression, while the Volga brothers were despondent.
“I don’t want to play anymore. How can you always get the cards you want?” the Volga brothers complained.
Herlous shrugged and chuckled. “Because I’m strong. Don’t just stand there. Admit defeat and pay the money.”
The three brothers sadly made the transfer. This time, no matter how Herlous tried to ask them, they did not go back to playing. They had already lost four rounds in a row. The three of them played cards with Herlous frequently and had always lost more than they won. It was like God was on Herlous’ side; he could always draw the most suitable card. The game experience of the three brothers was always ruined.
Seeing that the three of them were firm in their decision, Herlous knew that there was nothing that he could do. He turned around, looked at Han Xiao, and said, “Black Star, come to play cards.”
“Do I look free?”
This time, Feidin walked out from his room and was heading toward the Simulated Combat Room. Herlous’ eyes suddenly sparkled, and he hurried yelled, “Feidin, come to play a round.”
Feidin paused, turned around, and shrugged. “I don’t know how to play it.”
“Don’t worry, it’s very easy, I will teach you. If you can’t even play cards, how are you different from the primates?” Herlous stood up and dragged Feidin to sit opposite him.
“Alright, how is this card game played?” Feidin shook his head, picked up a deck of cards, and looked at them.
“The official name of this card is called ‘Galaxy War’. We usually call it the Wayne Card. This is Federation of Light’s common language, meaning ‘Sparkling Card’. See, it even has our mercenary group, isn’t it interesting? Let me tell the rules…”
Herlous excitedly taught Feidin the rules.
“Okay, those were the rules. You’re a Psychic, so I don’t have to repeat it. Let’s play a round. You will know how to play it after trying. Use the Volga brothers’ cards—they’re also using the Shattered Star Ring card set.”
Herlous knocked on the table, and the cards shuffled automatically. These cards had simple industrial enchantments on them, so many special effects could be completed automatically. Herlous raised his hand and let Feidin start first. He smiled and said, “Let’s not play those official modes this time—we will play the Free Battle Mode. The way to win is to empty the opponent’s health bar. This is your first time playing, so I’ll let you start.”
Feidin nodded. “Okay then, you have to hold back on me.”
Three minutes later, Herlous stared at the table with widened eyes and a gaping mouth.
“Did I win?” Feidin blinked. “It seems quite easy.”
“Hehe…” Herlous wiped his sweat. “You’re just lucky this round. One more round…”
Not long after, Herlous slumped on the sofa with despair on his face.
“Did you lie to me and actually know how to play?”
Feidin smiled bitterly and said, “This is really my first time playing. You’re too unlucky.”
In such a short period of time, Herlous had already lost five rounds in a row. He had almost started to question the meaning of life. For some reason, his luck had suddenly vanished, and he could never get the card that he wanted. Meanwhile, Feidin won just by using whatever card he drew.
The Volga brothers had been spectating all along, and they could not stop laughing out loud. “That’s the feeling!”
Han Xiao shook his head. This was why he did not like playing cards with these people.
As long as lucked played any part in the mode that they played, Feidin basically got godly hands every single time. Herlous’ luck could crush the Volga brothers, but he could only get demolished when facing Feidin’s High Class Luck Glow.
Han Xiao interrupted them and said, “Stop playing, we have a new mission. Ames told us to help her find someone on Noriosse, so we won’t be accepting requests temporarily.
“She’s not in Shattered Star Ring now. I need to buy some thin
gs from other Star Systems before she returns. I have already set the course.”
The rest nodded.
Of course, Han Xiao was going to buy Advanced Knowledges. The Dragon Emperor had yet to arrive, so he planned to put down everything else for the time being and go through his Promotion first. This was a long-awaited chance to increase his strength to a new level.
The stronger he was, the more freedom he would have. In order to complete his plan, being strong was a necessity. Even his plan was to make himself stronger.
…
Han Xiao traveled across a few Star Systems and successfully bought the two High-End Knowledges. As he did not take the path of farming Faction Favorability and buying High-End Knowledges privately was very expensive, his savings plummeted to 500,000 Enas. The two High-End Knowledges cost him more than 800,000 Enas.
The price that he paid was worth it. He could earn back the money, but the increased strength was permanent.
The two High-End Knowledges were [High Energy Control] of the Energy Branch and [Advanced Artificial Intelligence Technology] of the Control Branch.
[High Class Energy Control] was very important; it allowed control of the higher-level energies and was considered to be one of the core knowledges. It could combine more stable shields and energy weapons. Energy weapons were common weapons that were stronger than electromagnetic weapons.
As only some knowledges were sold, Han Xiao could only choose the comparatively more useful knowledges. Hence, [Advanced Artificial Intelligence Technology] was his second choice, it was used to build artificial intelligence.
The High-End Knowledges of the Mechanic class had very visible uses. Every one of them could make powerful impacts, and none of them were useless. Normal players had to choose carefully as the High-End Knowledges cost three Potential Points to learn and level up.
There was a total of three branches and fifteen High-End Knowledges, so leveling all of them up to level five would cost 225 Potential Points. In order to max the level of all the Advanced Knowledges and Basic Knowledges, it would cost a total of 450 Potential Points!
There were still higher-class knowledges above the High-End Knowledges. The Mechanic class was a bottomless abyss of Potential Points, so it was basically impossible for players to get so many Potential Points. Hence, Han Xiao had been saving his Potential Points from the beginning.
After finishing all his preparations, he was back in the Garton Star System. Han Xiao piloted the spaceship back to Juberly Hub.
He planned to complete his level 100 Promotion there.
Chapter 470. Experience Fully Digested! |
After returning to the mercenary group stronghold in Juberly Hub, Han Xiao entered the Simulated Combat Room alone and closed the alloy door behind him. He took out the Mission Completion Card and used it on his Promotion mission.
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You have used [Mission Completion Card].
[Trial of the Strong] Current Progress: 1/1
Level 100 Promotion Mission completed!
END bonus increased! 1 END = 50 Health = 60 Stamina.
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It’s done.
The dust settled, and Han Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. The Level 60 Promotion was the first Race Evolution, and the level 100 Promotion was the second.
I did get the [Void Genes] talent from the Void Dragon Pith, so that will add an option during the Race Evolution and provide a new evolution path.
The options in Race Evolution were randomly chosen from the evolution tree that had higher compatibility. There would also be an option with very low compatibility that gave the players the choice of taking a completely different path.
This time, an evolution notification popped up on the information panel hovering before his eyes.
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You have taken another step forward on the path of evolution. You have received refinement of your level of life.
Race Detected: Type I Galaxy Human Race
Randomly selecting 6 suitable evolution paths…
Selection complete.
Please select 1 from the 6 options below as your evolved race.
Warning! The evolution process is irreversible. Please select cautiously! [Appendix – Evolution Path Characteristics Introduction]
[Type II Galaxy Human Race] – 94% Compatibility
[Type III Galaxy Human Race] – 92% Compatibility
[North Wind God Race] – 75% Compatibility
[Void Prowler (Human Form)] – 81% Compatibility
[Half-Dragon Hybrid] 64% Compatibility
[Medium Mechanical Life] 22% Compatibility
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Other than the usual type II and type III, the rest are all decent, but none of them are comparable to this… Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He had already decided.
_____________
Selection Complete
Evolving race… Evolution complete.
Your race changed to: [Void Prowler (Human Form)].
Cell structure refined, organs strengthened, metabolism adjusted, adaptability enhanced…
Your potential increased!
You have received attribute bonuses: +28 STR, +45 DEX, +15 END, +24 INT, +36 MYS, +22 CHA, +570 energy. Energy level attribute bonuses changed!
Your Race Specialty [Adaptive Species] has been changed.
You have received Race Specialty [Void Travel].
You have received Race Specialty [Void Mirror Image].
You have received Race Specialty [Void Shadow].
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Skinning pain came like a tsunami. Han Xiao had mentally prepared. Every Race Evolution brought a huge change for one’s genes and cells. The players could ignore the pain, but he could not. He clenched his teeth tightly, and masses of veins bulged on his face and wiggled like snakes. His eyes were filled with red; all the blood vessels in his eyes had exploded. The diamond-shaped piece of skin between his eyebrows that came from the Void Genes was emitting a gray light as gray lines extended out from it, spreading all over Han Xiao’s face and very soon his entire body. It was changing all of his cells.
Buzz!
The tremendous energy in his body could not be controlled anymore. Electric sparkles turned into dozens of lightning whips and danced madly. The air was filled with a burnt smell, and the floor was burnt black.
Han Xiao suddenly opened his mouth and spat out red blood, which was emitting bubbles as if it was boiling. It turned into a violet color at a visible rate.
The pain this time lasted longer than any times before. Void Prowler could almost be considered as a completely different life form, so the change was drastic. This was indeed the special evolution path given by the Void Genes. Whether in turns of Race Specialty or future potential, this was the best choice among the six options.
Type II and Type III Galaxy Human Race were the usual evolution path with different focuses, but they were rather mediocre. Their benefit was that their compatibility was very high, which meant that more paths could be taken. Han Xiao had chosen this path at level 60 because he wanted to discover an evolution path that was strong enough, and now, he had found it. The Void Race was like the Demon Race and the Energy Life; it was a race on its own—rare, strong, and had a lot of potential.
For the other options, the [North Wind God Race] was a special human race that had natural strong bodies and tough vitality, their reproductive capability was over the top. They called themselves the God Race. The [Half-Dragon Hybrid] was also a representation of a strong body. Both of these were suitable for Pugilists. [Medium Mechanical Life] was a completely different race. It was a mechanical life that did not have energy. Plus, its compatibility was too low, so Han Xiao was definitely not going to choose that.
The pain only gradually faded after a long time. Han Xiao looked like he had been fished out from the sea of blood. During the last period, it was not sweat that came out of his pores anymore but human blood. All of his blood had been replaced. His sense
s felt different as well. Other than the five human senses, he had many more senses. He could feel the flow of stray energy, and he could see in Void Vision; it was like he had opened the gate to a new world.
Han Xiao took out a mirror and looked at himself. He had grown ten inches taller. Luckily, his body was still in human shape, and he did not have an extra tail or arm or anything of the sort. However, inside his body, his bones, muscles, and organ structures had completely changed; it was many times more complicated than a human structure.
He did not look much different from before, still handsome as always. The diamond-shaped skin between his eyebrows became an indigo crystal. This was a controllable new organ used to sense the Void Vision. His skin was whiter than before, and he gave off a mysterious vibe.
“Not bad, I still look human. This is the human form Void Prowler after all. Anyone that turns into a Void Prowler is able to maintain their original appearance, so most creatures can mutate into Void Prowlers.”
Han Xiao was very knowledgeable. All three Race Specialties were Void Prowler’s natural talents. Among which, [Void Travel] was the core ability.
“Let me try to see how it feels.”
The world before his eyes changed. Everything became foggy like he was observing reality through a layer of translucent material. This was the Void Vision; he entered a mirror dimension that reflected reality where time passed at a different speed. When Han Xiao moved, the real world was basically still, but he could not influence reality in any way and would only go through physical objects. The two dimensions were like mirrors that were placed tightly against each other; they could not interfere with each other. It was like a stealth mode that allowed free movement.
[Void Travel] had no duration limit but continuously cost a large amount of stamina during its duration. Its cooldown was five minutes.
Han Xiao walked from one corner of the room to another, counted a few seconds in his head then deactivated this ability and returned to reality. He looked at his watch; almost no time had passed.
