Chapter 946: Level 300 Advancement! Period of Transformation!

Chapter 946: Level 300 Advancement! A Period of Metamorphosis!

The deep black earth stretched to the very edge of vision, a landscape pockmarked by craterous sinkholes as far as the eye could see; occasionally, the fractured half of a metal wreck jutted diagonally from the soil, its original purpose long obscured, while in the distance, a solitary black peak rose in stark, ancient desolation.

The sky hung heavy and ash-gray, scattered with faint stars and a pallid dawn light, as choking gales swept forward in relentless waves, carrying countless grains of fine sand that tore at everything upon the surface with tremendous force.

This was a barren, obsidian world, swathed in a thick veil of gray smog that saturated its atmosphere; viewed from the void beyond, the planetary skies churned into cyclonic storms.

Once, this sphere had teemed with vibrant life, a tapestry of emerald and crimson where the roars of beasts echoed through mountain forests, but now only a black silence remained—an ancient battlefield from the Empire's age of exploration.

Beneath the crust lay buried the shattered hulls of warships and the ruins of weaponry, yet time and drifting sands had entombed the past, leaving only bleakness in their wake.

A dark silhouette moved slowly across the wasteland, seeming to melt seamlessly into the shadowed earth beneath.

"This place will do."

Han Xiao tilted his head to gaze at the overcast heavens, knowing his vessel waited in the exosphere above, its crew likely watching him through the observation decks.

The upheaval of a Beyond Grade A advancement would be anything but subtle, let alone one coupled with racial sublimation and a primary class promotion; fearing the tremors might tear a starship from the sky, he had sought out a nearby uninhabited world to undergo his level three hundred breakthrough.

Naturally, he had already brushed his luck against Fording before departing, and now he stood brimming with quiet confidence.

Summoning his interface, he saw both the advancement and promotion quests marked complete; steadying his breath, Han Xiao selected settlement.

[Level 300 Advancement Quest Completed!]

[Endurance Bonus +70! 1 Endurance = 480 HP = 490 Stamina]

[The colossal energy housed within every cell triggers a bodily metamorphosis, shifting your genetic coding toward a higher stratum; you have taken another step upon the path of evolution]

[Detected Race: [Black Star Clan] (Exclusive Race, Unchangeable)]

[Randomly drawing five compatible evolutionary directions... Drawing... Draw Complete]

[Please select two options from the following five races to acquire one talent from each]

[1. [Void Divine Envoy (Humanoid Form)]]

[2. [Endless Proliferation Aberration (Hive Mind)]]

[3. [Void High Priest] (Humanoid Form)]

[4. [Saint Telkes Clan]]

[5. [Magora Void Behemoth]]

"All promising paths," Han Xiao murmured, his brows lifting in quiet approval.

In the previous stage, he had reached the Void Saint within the void lineage, and now the Void Divine Envoy beckoned, drawing him ever closer to the evolutionary zenith of the void.

The Endless Proliferation Aberration was a terrifying entity, capable of infinitely multiplying its flesh and blood cells through energy absorption; so long as power remained, it would expand without limit, immune to genetic collapse, ultimately transforming into a planet of living meat.

It could also manipulate these fleshy structures, shaping new monsters with fully functional biological cycles, forging them independent brains, and severing them from the main body to birth novel aberrations that possessed their own consciousness yet remained bound to the primary will.

The Saint Telkes Clan was a long-extinct lineage blessed with extraordinary mechanical aptitude, whispered in legends as born artificers.

The Magora Void Behemoth, meanwhile, was a void monster of unimaginable physical resilience, akin to a leviathan of the void lineage and rivaling the void dragons in renown, though far rarer in number.

After a moment of deliberation, Han Xiao made his choice, selecting the Void Divine Envoy and the Saint Telkes Clan; the former to preserve his void evolution, the latter to secure a talent that would fortify his core capabilities as a mechanic.

He already possessed a considerable array of void talents, and he passed over the Void High Priest due to its heavy overlap with the Divine Envoy; though the Endless Proliferation Aberration was fearsome, Han Xiao had no intention of abandoning his humanoid form.

To be human, after all, was to remain human.

The Magora Void Behemoth was famed as a living bulwark, but Han Xiao was not so arrogant as to ignore his own defenses; he already considered himself a top-tier damage sponge, and saw little need to further bolster his capacity to endure punishment.

The complete talent arrays for both races unfolded before his eyes, allowing a single selection from each; after a brief review, Han Xiao made his decisions.

[You have acquired the new talent: [Void Divine Power]!]

[You have acquired the new talent: [Telkes Mechanical Inheritance]!]

[[Void Divine Power]: Your comprehension of the void dimension has reached a pristine new stratum, allowing you to manipulate void energy with heightened efficiency to baptize your form and comprehensively elevate your attributes]

[All forms of offense and defense shall be augmented by void energy; every strike inflicts additional void damage equal to (12,500 points + 12% of theoretical attack power), while every incoming blow grants an additional 10,000 points of damage mitigation and a 15% bonus to all resistances]

[As your level rises, Void Divine Power shall grant greater attribute bonuses: Lv1~Lv100, every 10 levels grants +15 to Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, and Mystery, plus +0.5% Ability Potency; Lv100~Lv200, every 10 levels grants +30 to the five attributes, +25 Endurance, and +1% Ability Potency; Above Lv200, every 10 levels grants +45 to the five attributes and +1.5% Ability Potency]

[Current Total Amplification: Five Attributes +900, Ability Potency +30%]

[[Telkes Mechanical Inheritance]: The accumulated wisdom of mechanical sciences resides within the ancestral memories of the Saint Telkes Clan, a lineage of peerless mechanical aptitude; the cost to upgrade any mechanical skill shall be reduced by 20% (including, but not limited to, primary class skills, blueprint skills, and more)]

[As your level rises, you shall glean further mechanical techniques from these inherited memories: Lv1~Lv100, every 10 levels grants +8% Mechanical Affinity; Lv100~Lv200, every 10 levels grants +12% Mechanical Affinity; Above Lv200, every 10 levels grants +16% Mechanical Affinity]

[The ancestral memories of the Saint Telkes Clan record their signature technological achievements; upon reaching total levels Lv20, Lv60, Lv100, Lv160, Lv200, Lv260, Lv320, and Lv360, exclusive racial blueprints shall be unlocked]

Boom!

His mind raced with scorching intensity while void energy surged through his veins in an unending tide, a baptism of ice and fire that left him trembling between freezing cold and blistering heat.

A profound metamorphosis unfolded within Han Xiao's flesh, yet the interface was far from finished; the exclusive talents of the Black Star Clan itself surged upward, elevated alongside this sublimation of his life tier.

[Your Black Star Clan exclusive talent [Mechanical Genius] has been enhanced]

[[Mechanical Genius]: Total Mechanical Affinity multiplier increased from 1.15x to 1.25x; mechanical creation performance bonus increased from 30% to 40%; new effect added—all mechanical skills are automatically elevated by one tier]

[Racial appearance evaluation in progress; based on this evolution, your maximum physical alteration rate is 1.4%. Maintain original appearance?]

Han Xiao held quiet faith in his own visage-crafting skills, yet experimenting on his own face seemed unwise; he selected no.

[Life tier sublimation, molecular structure refinement, organ fortification, metabolic reconstruction...]

[Black Star Clan potential elevated; attribute completion granted: Strength +334, Agility +320, Endurance +470, Intelligence +767, Mystery +580, Charisma +205, Energy +8000; Energy Realm bonus attributes updated]

Every single cell trembled and pulsed, pumping forth waves of raw power that rippled outward to warp the very environment of the planet; he became the eye of the storm, and the planetary atmosphere spiraled around him into a colossal cyclonic vortex.

Aboard the fleet in the exosphere, Aurora, Fording, Hadaway, and all the royal guards stood before the observation windows, gazing down at the environmental cataclysm Han Xiao had unleashed upon the world below.

"What a terrifying high-energy reaction; has His Excellency Black Star grown yet again? To think he could still amplify his strength in such a short span at his level!" Hadaway's face was etched with sheer dread.

"Though I have known him for years, he never ceases to leave me in awe," Fording shook his head slowly. "How can this world harbor a soul so divinely gifted? He is a supernatural being born of destiny."

"I have never heard of a Beyond Grade A who advances at such a pace," Hadaway's voice trembled between wonder and bitter envy.

He had struggled for an eternity to reach the Beyond Grade A threshold, his dreams still unfulfilled, while Black Star stood not only as the fastest in history to rise from nothing to that pinnacle, but now defied all logic by maintaining such breakneck growth even after ascending.

Comparing oneself to others was truly a recipe for despair... Hadaway's expression soured with unvarnished jealousy.

He was not alone; the other guards stood equally thunderstruck, such a velocity of growth shattering the very limits of their imagination.

Aurora clenched her fists tightly, her palms slick with nervous sweat.

This was the first time she had witnessed Han Xiao's advancement since her own abilities had matured; to her senses, Black Star's life intensity was skyrocketing like a flare, utterly defying the common knowledge that Beyond Grade A sublimation occurred gradually and silently, and she could not help but fear his evolution might collapse.

She had even steeled herself to burn ninety-nine percent of her own vitality to pull him back from the brink.

Only after a long, tense interval did the high-energy reactions finally begin to recede.

"It seems he has succeeded."

Just as the crowd prepared to exhale, they froze in stunned disbelief as the recently diminished energy signature violently spiked once more, instantly shattering its previous peak in a wild oscillation that mirrored their own racing blood pressure!

A new storm was born!

"He just finished sublimating, and now this?!"

The onlookers stood utterly dumbfounded, feeling their very understanding of the world crumble into dust.

At that very moment, standing at the heart of the planetary tempest, Han Xiao had already confirmed his class promotion within the interface!

【Your trial of class ascension has been fulfilled!】

【You have claimed a new vocation—【Artificer of the Divine Throne】!】