Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After being overjoyed for a while, Han Xiao quickly calmed down. Having been unlucky more than ten times, he was relieved upon finally getting the item that he needed. The Mission Completion Card was not a rare item, yet he had only gotten it after so many times. Nonetheless, he had gotten it in the end.
Now that he had the Mission Completion Card, he did not have to take the risk and fight a Grade A Super—the steady mindset was dependable.
For normal players, their level represented their grade. LV 1 – LV 20 was Grade F; LV 21 – LV 40 was Grade E; LV 41 – LV 60 was Grade D; LV 61 – LV 90 was Grade C; LV 91 – LV 100 was Grade C+; over LV 100 was Grade B and above. Of course, this was just a rough range. Due to the difference in abilities, attributes, talents, and equipment, there would be slight differences. For example, the pro players would usually reach Grade C at LV 60.
The normal players would only enter Grade B after going through the second Race Evolution at level 100. For Han Xiao, who was also level 100, as he had many Molding Talents, he was much stronger than the players, so he was Grade B. Including the advantages of the Mechanic class and how high his attributes were, he was not considered weak even among Grade Bs. His actual combat ability far exceeded the standard of his level. Still, level 100 was the entrance of Grade B—the next grade was tens of levels away.
Hence, Han Xiao had been unwilling to take the risk. Even if he reached level 120 after his promotion, he would still be at Grade B. From this, the difference between Grade B and Grade A was clearly shown. If Han Xiao had to fight against an enemy just a few levels higher than him, he would not have been worried at all, but against an enemy tens of levels higher? Unless he would have special measures, and there was a ninety percent chance that he would die.
Just looking at this percentage made him lose interest in taking the risk.
The method of using a Mission Completion Card was really a tremendous help to him that made him avoid unnecessary dangers. Han Xiao had faced many threats before, so he was not afraid of taking risks. However, since he had more choices, it was better to use the safer method than taking the risk and fighting such a strong enemy.
Even if he really had to fight a Grade A Super, who knew how much time he would have to spend in plotting and how many resources he would waste? By looking for the card while doing missions, not only did he not have to suffer a loss, but he was even making a profit. Why would he not do it?
Han Xiao was worried that his hand might slip. He fully focused and selected the Mission Completion Card carefully.
Before this, it was nowhere to be found, now two of it appeared together. I only need one, so I shall save the other. I might use it in the future when I meet a similarly difficult mission.
Han Xiao did not use the Mission Completion Card immediately. His Class Advancement mission was still stuck, so he planned to buy two High-End Mechanic Knowledges that he had been eyeing up since long ago. Then he would complete the Promotion and Class Advancement together so that he could rush his levels immediately after. He had 1,360,000 Enas in his account, so he was quite wealthy. It was more than enough to buy two High-End Knowledges.
I got an Ability Enhancement Card as well. I shall use that first.
The Ability Enhancement Card will increase the basic stats of an ability, so even a max level ability can be enhanced. If I can get the ability mutation, that would be awesome, but I doubt there’s a chance… What should I enhance? A Combat ability or Machinery Affinity type ability?
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 things 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.
