Chapter 962: Gains and Losses

Chapter 962: Gains and Losses

Hearing Han Xiao say this, Kant naturally misunderstood his meaning and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hey, you're truly open-minded. That's a good mindset; you should strive to maintain it... By the way, do you know the reason why the Mechanical Nation is targeting you? The Empire asked me to tell you the inside story. If you already know, I won't have to say it."

"I'll still trouble you to explain it to me."

Han Xiao knew it had something to do with the Mechanical Deity Cult, but it wouldn't hurt to hear the Empire's perspective.

Kant nodded and gave a brief explanation. It was the same as the introduction to the Key of the Mechanical Deity Cult—the reason was the struggle for the faith of the cult's believers. However, he added some details for Han Xiao.

For instance, although the believers of the Mechanical Deity Cult were a bunch of opportunists who believed in everyone a little, they could not simultaneously receive faith feedback from two or more Mechanical Deities. Thus, their beliefs were divided into primary and secondary. A single believer could only provide the bonus of the Key of the Mechanical Deity Cult to the Mechanical Throne Mechanic they primarily believed in.

Moreover, only members of the Mechanical Deity Cult could provide power to the Mechanical Throne Mechanic. Believers of other types could not trigger the Key of the Mechanical Deity Cult—unless other believers were developed into new members of the Mechanical Deity Cult. This involved some sort of idealistic rule that resonated with the Mechanical Deities. The Virtual Spirit Cult were experts in this area, while the Empire's research was not profound.

As everyone knew, the majority of those who believed in the Mechanical Deity Cult were Mechanics. As the universally recognized pinnacle of Mechanics, Manison commanded the largest following of believers.

The Mechanical Deity Cult was a group of highly pragmatic individuals. For most believers, they believed in whoever was currently the strongest Mechanic. If the strongest Mechanic changed, they would simply switch their faith to the new one. Therefore, they didn't care about so-called potential; they only recognized facts and acknowledged only the strongest. Their nature was somewhat similar to armchair fans.

Furthermore, the believers of the Mechanical Deity Cult only valued mechanical abilities. They did not recognize power in other aspects, so relying on racial talents or physical strength could not impress them, unless one could prove that such abilities originated from machinery.

"Back in the day, I didn't win against Manison either. He defeated all his competitors and sat on the throne of the main deity of the Mechanical Deity Cult for a long time. The strong take all, so you shouldn't be discouraged. Losing to him in virtual technology is perfectly normal."

Kant shook the green leaves on top of his head, not forgetting to comfort Han Xiao.

He had also been defeated by Manison in the past. Unable to beat the man, there was nothing he could do but make concessions, no longer casually challenging Manison to snatch the position, which eased the tension between them.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

Han Xiao's brows furrowed slightly.

His original intention was not to provoke Manison. Even if they were to become enemies one day, it shouldn't be now. Unfortunately, his abilities after his advancement had disrupted his plans, drawing Manison's hostility ahead of schedule.

As expected, peers in the same trade are the biggest rivals!

Han Xiao paused for a moment and asked, "What is the Empire's attitude on this matter?"

"I know what you want to ask, but in this regard, don't expect the Empire to step forward."

Kant blinked and said, "This isn't the first time for Manison. This is an internal struggle among Mechanics. If you can beat him, you beat him; if you can't, you can't. There's no danger to your life, so what else can you do? If you're indignant and want to declare war on the Mechanical Nation, you can only do it in the name of the Black Star Army, not under the Empire's banner... Don't think about using your status as an ally to threaten the Empire. I've had bitter lessons in this regard."

Hearing this, Han Xiao shook his head, clearly understanding the Empire's attitude toward this matter: they would try their best to comfort him, but they wouldn't step forward.

This wasn't the first time Manison had done this. In the end, his goal was merely to defeat Mechanics of the same level and prove he was the boss, so he rarely caused fatalities. The nature of it was a sparring match between Beyond Grade A's. If you lost, you could only blame your own inferior skills. To determine superiority among Beyond Grade A's, one could only rely on personal strength. The three Universal Civilizations couldn't help, at most supervising the situation to ensure it didn't go too far.

Moreover, Manison was also an important ally of the Shining Federation, and his background was hard enough. The higher civilizations wouldn't make a big fuss over such a trivial matter.

"But why didn't the Empire remind me earlier?" Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.

"This intelligence requires merit points to exchange for," Kant said in a strange tone. "Don't tell me your class knowledge was given to you by the Empire for free?"

Han Xiao was instantly speechless, finally understanding.

Well, because ordinary Mechanical Throne Mechanics might not be clear about all their own abilities, the nature of the Key of the Mechanical Deity Cult was just like the ultimate knowledge of a class, requiring contribution points to exchange for. The three Universal Civilizations wouldn't casually tell their allies. The fact that they took the initiative to tell him now was already an exception.

Thinking about it this way, because of the interface's introduction, I've actually saved a sum of contribution points... Recalling this, Han Xiao didn't know what expression to make.

"Don't take it to heart. By not telling you proactively, the Empire also had the intention of protecting you. They were probably worried that after knowing about this ability, you would take the initiative to develop believers in the Mechanical Deity Cult and escalate the conflict. Your potential is immense, and you have a long future ahead. Moreover, it's a sensitive period right now. They don't want you to fight to the death with an old monster like the Mechanical Nation, and they hope you'll make certain concessions."

"Understood." Han Xiao remained noncommittal.

This was indeed the logic of the higher civilizations. Various plans were generally considered from the perspective of decades or even centuries. The potential he had displayed gave the Empire great patience, wanting to use him as a long-term chess piece. It didn't matter if he couldn't beat the Mechanical Nation; as long as he lived longer than him, it was fine. The Empire had considerable confidence in Black Star's ability to lay low.

However, this approach was completely contrary to Han Xiao's style, and he naturally couldn't agree with it.

Having finished the matters entrusted by the Empire, Kant shook his body. "Alright, the matter is settled. I'm leaving first."

Han Xiao came to his senses and subconsciously let out a coaxing sound:

"This is our first formal meeting. Aren't you going to stay and chat for a while?"

"Forget it, it looks like you have a lot of things to handle." Kant glanced at the wrecked central hub of the Black Star Army headquarters, the meaning self-evident. "We'll have plenty of chances to chat in the future, so I won't disturb you."

Having said that, Kant's virtual soul turned into a streak of light, disappearing in the blink of an eye, and left through the network cable.

His attitude toward Han Xiao was quite good, but if Han Xiao hadn't reached the level of a Mechanical Throne Mechanic, Kant wouldn't have been so easygoing. As both were peak Beyond Grade A's and big shots, they would naturally value each other more.

Watching Kant leave, Han Xiao secretly let out a breath, finally having the time to deal with the mess Manison had left behind.

He cleared the virus data left in Philip's core logic, had Philip run self-checks several times, confirmed that all hidden dangers were eliminated, and only then restored the internal network connection of the entire Black Star Army.

"Thank you, Master. All my nodes have recovered, weng." Philip had recovered his health, grabbing the earlobe of Han Xiao's virtual soul to swing on it like a swing, his tone cheerful.

"Oh, you call me Daddy when you're in danger, and change your tune when you're fine?" Han Xiao teased.

"Bleh, bleh, bleh..." Philip made a funny face.

Ristda had been silently floating nearby all this time. Only after Han Xiao fixed Philip did he fly forward and speak:

"Your Excellency Black Star, regarding Manison..."

"I know what you want to say."

Han Xiao took Philip off his ear, smiled and let him fly to the side, then turned his head to look at Ristda, his expression turning solemn:

"To be honest, I've been hesitating all along whether to help you, because I didn't want to provoke the Mechanical Nation. But you've seen the current situation. If I don't make concessions, there will be an irreconcilable conflict of interest between him and me."

"I understand." Ristda nodded.

"Right now, I temporarily cannot defeat Manison in terms of mechanics, but there's plenty of time. Sooner or later, there will be a battle between us, and I will challenge his position. Therefore, your interests and mine have aligned. Helping you fulfill your wish is weakening Manison's strength. I will try my best to find an opportunity to rescue your AI civilization."

Han Xiao usually just brushed Ristda off, but this time, he made a serious promise.

The Indomitable Mechanical Nation army was Manison's trump card. Not only did it possess powerful armed combat strength, but those AI lives also provided Manison with an extremely high virtual technology bonus. They needed to be dealt with as a priority. If he could complete the entire series of Reboot missions, he could cause Manison's strength to decline.

Manison had modified all AI life slaves, including Fenite. The principle was distorting the underlying logic, which was equivalent to the brain and thought structure of the AI lives. Now that he had the abilities of a Mechanical Throne Mechanic, he was qualified to undo Manison's modifications to the AI lives, thereby restoring their factory settings, which was equivalent to breaking the shackles and granting them freedom.

However, the gap between the two was not small. Han Xiao knew the success rate of cracking it was limited, and he still needed to improve his own virtual technology.

Moreover, getting access to the core data of the Indomitable Mechanical Nation army would definitely be extremely difficult. Manison wouldn't fail to guard it strictly.

"Then, from now on, I will be at your disposal." Ristda nodded heavily, looking very excited. He had bet on Black Star for so many years, and finally waited for today. It was truly not easy!

Saying it like that, as if you haven't been used by me before... Han Xiao secretly complained.

Although he had lost, his mood wasn't bad. In terms of self-confidence, perhaps there wasn't a single person in the entire universe who had more backing than him.

After dismissing Ristda, Han Xiao had Philip search the database to see how much internal data Manison had taken away.

Philip quickly filtered through it and gave the statistical results.

"Master, weng, the general database lost 43.7%, the low-level authority database lost 35%, the mid-level authority database lost 21.6%, the high-level authority database lost 11.4%, the confidential database lost 2.5%, and the blueprint archives lost 27%... Do you want to restore the backups, weng?"

"Mm, restore the backups."

Han Xiao nodded and secretly sighed.

He wasn't very concerned about the theft of the database. The army's database was basically filled with materials related to the army's development, which weren't too important. Most of it was historical logs. Philip backed it up every day just to deal with data loss, so it could be easily restored now.

As for these data being snatched by Manison, the impact on him wasn't great either. There was very little data concerning himself in the army's database. Those extremely critical matters were all stored in Han Xiao's own brain memory palace. What Manison stole was basically insignificant data.

Whether it was blueprints or class knowledge, Manison lacked nothing. Their specializations were exactly the same. Taking Han Xiao's blueprints and knowledge was useless because he already had them himself... Besides, the Eternal Light dreadnought blueprint, which Mechanic Han kept hidden in the bottom of his chest, was actually stolen from Manison...

What concerned Mechanic Han was the formidable strength Manison had displayed this time. This was just a long-distance invasion, with his virtual technology discounted. If he brought his complete assets, who knew how strong he would be.

"A terrifying competitor." Han Xiao sighed.

Losing to Manison wasn't a loss of face. As a newbie among the Beyond Grade A's, it wasn't strange to lose to the pinnacle of Mechanics. Moreover, Manison wasn't a hegemon, and the two sides had no entangled grudges in the past, so a single defeat had limited impact on his prestige... But on the side of the Mechanical Deity Cult, he indeed had no way to shake the position of the Mechanical Nation's main deity, which was precisely Manison's goal.

—The opinions of ordinary interstellar citizens matter not; it is the influence over the believers of the Mechanical Cult that truly counts.

"It seems my ambitions regarding the Mechanical Cult must be shelved for now. During this patch cycle, it will be exceedingly difficult to surpass Manison in mechanical prowess."

Han Xiao sighed inwardly, lamenting the missed opportunity.

Until his mechanical abilities could catch up with Manison's, the core expertise [Key to the Mechanical Cult] would likely remain dormant on his interface, gathering digital dust.

"Then again, Manison has gained much, yet I have lost nothing."

Glancing at the quests on his interface, Han Xiao chuckled softly.

He had merely come over for a bout, and it had already yielded two new abilities; who could say who was truly at a disadvantage!

If this quest could be triggered every time, Han Xiao would gladly welcome the great lord of the Mechanical Kingdom to visit daily, letting him fleece him dry.

In the eyes of the Grand Mechanic, Manison had become a walking treasury of skills; perhaps, by drawing from him, he could assemble the full array of mechanical expertise.

That which does not kill me makes me stronger; the words of Lu Xun are indeed the absolute truth.

...

Withdrawing from the quantum network's vision, dissolving the virtual soul, his consciousness returned to his physical body. The first thing he did was grab his incessantly vibrating communicator, which was flooded with inquiries from Sylvia and his other subordinates.

Han Xiao sent a unified reply, stating the matter was resolved and ordering them all back to their posts.

Having sent the message, he finally turned his gaze to the cluster of gathered guards and Ministry of Magic operatives beside him, along with one Lucky.

"Are you alright?" Aurora's hands flickered with golden light, poised at any moment to press a mass of life energy right onto Han Xiao's face.

"I'm perfectly fine. Virtual combat rarely endangers one's life, and Manison has already withdrawn," Han Xiao said, waving his hand dismissively.

Lucky wore a bitter expression. "To think we've caught the eye of the Mechanical Kingdom; our future is bleak. As the vice commander, I feel I should set an example. Please grant me ample time to train."

"Shut up, and go be a good principal."

Han Xiao was thoroughly exasperated. He knew Lucky too well; the moment this slacker twitched his tail, Han Xiao knew exactly what kind of mess he was about to make.

After placating the crowd, Han Xiao finally shooed the cadres away, taking the opportunity to rub off a bit of Fordin's luck, and closed the door under Fordin's helpless gaze.

Left alone in the room, Han Xiao rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"Let's see what good stuff I can draw. This time the target is Manison; if I draw another resistance expertise again, I'll write my nickname backwards!"

Opening his interface, Han Xiao began to settle the quest.

[[Reboot] Sixth Ring Completed]

[You have gained 1.5 billion experience, Random Rewards x2]

[You have gained a new expertise: [Affinity for Intelligence]!]

[Seventh Ring Quest not yet triggered]

Han Xiao smiled with satisfaction.

[Affinity for Intelligence] could boost virtual technology by thirty percent, a rather decent bonus, but the true focus lay in its effect on artificial lifeforms; it would surely come in handy if he ever had to face the Immortal Mechanical Kingdom's forces.

Pondering for a moment, Han Xiao summoned Philip to test the expertise's effects, feeling that Philip looked even more refined and handsome in his eyes now.

Taking a deep breath, Han Xiao finally settled the boss quest for the Mechanical Kingdom.

[["Mechanical Kingdom" Manison - Virtual Combat] Completed]

[You have fulfilled all quest requirements. You have gained 7.62 billion experience]

[You have gained [Character Descent Card - "Mechanical Kingdom" Manison]]

[Character Descent Card - "Mechanical Kingdom" Manison: [Elder] - A long life has granted you rich experience, a precious spiritual wealth. Intelligence +20%, Mystery +10%, All Skill Levels +2, Usage Limit: 0/2]

[You have gained a reward: Draw one of Manison's abilities (Skill/Expertise)]

[Notice: Manison is a virtual-specialized Mechanic, perfectly compatible with your class. You may draw any ability Manison possesses. If you draw an overlapping class skill, that skill will be enhanced to a certain degree.]

[Randomly drawing... Draw complete!]

[Please choose one of the following five abilities as your reward:]

[1. [Apostle-Tier Mechanical Affinity] - Skill: Mechanical Affinity +105% (You already possess this skill; it can be enhanced)]

[2. [Titan-Tier Planetary Fortress] - Blueprint Skill: A planetary terraforming blueprint suited for the development of a mechanical civilization, possessing immense combat capabilities. Specific parameters (Expand/Collapse). Manufacturing requirements: Character level no less than 220, Intelligence greater than 3500, possession of knowledge in [Super-Composite Mechanical Architecture Technology], [Cutting-Edge Material Science], [Anomalous Energy], etc.]

[3. [Innate Mechanical Spirit] - Expertise: You are born with extraordinary mechanical talent. Your comprehension of mechanics continuously evolves as your strength rises: Lv1 to Lv100, every 10 levels grants Mechanical Affinity +5%, Virtual Technology +3%; Lv100 to Lv200, every 10 levels grants Mechanical Affinity +7%, Virtual Technology +5%; Lv200 and above, every 10 levels grants Mechanical Affinity +10%, Virtual Technology +7%]

[4. [Legion Fire Volley] - Skill: A master tactician knows the perfect moment to concentrate fire. The mechanical legion connected by mechanical force will enjoy a 25% increase in ranged weapon fire rate for the next 8 seconds. No consumption, cooldown 160s.]

[5. [Mechanical Race - Endless Bulwark] - Blueprint Skill: Exclusive blueprint for the Mechanical Race, defensive mechanical equipment. Specific parameters (Expand/Collapse). Manufacturing requirements: Character level no less than 255, Intelligence greater than 6000, possession of knowledge in [Endless Material Science], [Ultimate Mechanical Manufacturing], [Advanced Spatial Application], [Anomalous Energy], etc.]

...

PS: (Qidian officially notified me today that Han Xiao's exclusive third-tier star avatar is already in the works, and the exclusive fourth-tier star character gifts for him and Aemeth are also in production. Brothers and sisters, if you have time, you can tap the heart for Han Xiao every day, and let's see if we have a chance this year to get Qidian to celebrate a character birthday for Old Farmer Han (*｀▽′*))