The Legendary Mechanic

In a military bar inside one of the dynasty’s closed bases, the usual boisterous atmosphere was nowhere to be found. Some held their glass up but forgot about drinking it, some caressed their glasses subconsciously, and some were smoking cigars but hardly breathed.

The only common thing they shared was that all of their eyes were on the virtual screen on the bar’s wall, which was now playing a political discussion show.

The show was hosted in a studio, where one host was leading the conversation with a few guests. The matter they were discussing was related to the recent big news.

Inside the quiet bar, the only sounds were the voices of the host and the guests.

“I know, the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union, right? It was formed not too long ago. They invited tons of galactic media groups and made the announcement. Now it’s spread across the entire universe.”

“Almost all the Beyond Grade As in the universe have joined. Tsk tsk, these guys really can’t seem to be out of the spotlight.”

“According to the information we have,” the host said, “the purpose of this organization is to mediate the ever more frequent conflicts between Beyond Grade As. On the day of its establishment, they hosted a meeting where all the members attended. With the galactic media groups as their audience, they publicly mediated more than a dozen conflicts using peaceful negotiations, successfully solving the disputes between tens of Beyond Grade As. As it seems, this method is very effective. Those people all stopped fighting with each other. The frequent Beyond Grade As conflicts lately have been effectively reduced, and no one was unluckily impacted by those conflicts.”

“It seems that this organization is really quite useful.” A guest who held a high management position in a financial group complained. “The destruction Beyond Grade As can bring is too huge. Conflicts between them have always caused a humongous amount of damage to the public. Either planets were destroyed, or onlookers were accidentally killed. Now that this organization has been formed, these things can be avoided.”

“Exactly. I had a friend living in the Shattered Star Ring. He went to watch the battle between Black Star and the Tyrant some decades ago, and because he got too close, he, unfortunately, got killed. There was no compensation or whatsoever after that at all”

Someone said, “I have no idea what those onlookers are thinking. Do they think it’s a concert or something?”

“Have the Supers accidentally killed not enough ordinary people? This problem has existed in society for as long as Supers have. According to research, the number of ordinary people directly or indirectly killed by Supers in the entire universe every day is as high as around ten billion. Just let this horrifying number sink in. This is a huge problem that has everything to do with our daily lives.”

A guest complained angrily. He was the representative of an organization that supported equal rights between ordinary people and Supers.

“Therefore, I think that the purpose of this organization is much more important than it seems on the surface. Living up to their positions at the top of the Super Grades, the Beyond Grade As have made an amazing stand and set an example for all the Supers in the universe. It’s a very responsible act.” The host avoided this sensitive topic with a smile. He displayed Manison and Han Xiao’s virtual portraits on the screen behind and said, “The two main founders are Manison and Black Star, who have taken the position of president and vice president.”

“Oh, these two are the VIPs of VIPs!” A known celebrity made an exaggerated hand gesture and said, “Not much needs to be said about Manison. He’s a senior Beyond Grade A whom everyone knows about. No one finds it strange that he’s been chosen as the president. However, Black Star is someone who has only risen in the last few decades, yet he surprisingly surpassed the other much more senior members and took the second-highest position.”

A Slime wobbled and said, “Beyond Grade As are a group of people who heed strength above all. Not long ago, Black Star made a historical achievement by fighting twelve enemies alone, so whether he’s senior enough or not doesn’t limit him at all.”

“Speaking of which, it seems like that conflict was the fuse that led to Black Star proposing to form the development union, and Manison is only a partner he brought in.”

“No no no. From the way I see it, signs were already showing during the Meeting of the Gods. They’ve been planning this since long ago. Black Star is the one who contributed most to forming the association, so he became the vice president. As for the goal of the Beyond Grade As, who knows? Maybe they’re planning to shuffle the deck using this opportunity during the exploration of the Flickering World.”

“I’ve done some research. Black Star has been very active lately. Not only did he take the lead in forming the development union, but he also became a new shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. The date when the dynasty planned to officially sell the Evolutionary Totems to the public was also brought forward. He even stepped into the entertainment industry. In the files of the Galactic Cinematic Association, the movie adapted from Black Star’s true story has already been filmed. The director is the renowned Beny Travol. Maybe we’ll see the rise of Black Star very soon on screen.”

The host and the guests chatted.

Pa!

This time, a dynasty army officer slammed his glass on the table, curled his lips, and said with disdain, “What bullsh*t mediating. Just a group of Beyond Grade As putting up a show. Only idiots would believe what they’re saying.”

The people in the bar laughed.

Everyone there was a soldier of the dynasty who had a much clearer view of the matter than ordinary people and was on the dynasty’s side. With this army officer starting the conversation, the others all started chattering.

“This can be basically considered as the official association of the Beyond Grade As, looks like they finally are planning to take some of their rights back from the three Universal Civilizations.”

“I didn’t expect Black Star to be the main founder. Tsk, outsiders really can’t be trusted. To think I actually admired him for some time in the past.”

“Nothing weird about it. He isn’t a citizen of the dynasty, so there’s no reason to demand his absolute loyalty.”

“The future of the three Universal Civilizations is going to be tough from now on. They’re going to have another powerful competitor.”

Hearing the discussion between his comrades, Gaud shook his glass filled with amber-colored wine and silently stared at Han Xiao’s portrait in the show with unknown emotions in his eyes.

“Your position is getting higher and higher, huh…”

Due to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy being snatched away, Gaud had been paying close attention to Han Xiao. He had been watching Han Xiao continuously getting more and more resources, acquiring a higher and higher position in the universe.

The ambush on Hila some time ago had shocked him when it revealed how fast Han Xiao was growing.

Gaud stopped shaking his glass. The wine spun in it and formed a vortex. He looked down at the vortex and smirked.

“Manison has planned this long ago. Now the chance had finally come. The development union is not a bad excuse. I’ll most likely join it after becoming a Beyond Grade A too. But I didn’t expect you to support this idea too. Do you agree with that theory about the shared battlefront for Beyond Grade As Manison gave, or… have you discovered that too?”

…

In Black Star Palace…

“Looks like the first appearance of the development union is very successful…”

Han Xiao leaned back in his chair, rested his legs on the table, and looked through the news from the various media in the quantum network with a satisfied expression.

Not long ago, the development union had officially announced its creation to the outside world. As the vice president, he had also made an appearance at the ceremony.

To normal people, the development union was suddenly formed out of nowhere. The movements of close to a hundred Beyond Grade As attracted all the attention, so as soon as the news was out, the entire universe started discussing it.

The majority of the forces in the Flickering World were the most shocked by this sudden event.

There were a lot of organizations exploring the Flickering World, but to these organizations, the true situation in the free competition zone was actually split between three sides. The dynasty was one, the federation and the church shared another side, and the Super Star Cluster Alliance was the last side.

Comparatively, the rest of the organizations there were scattered. The difference was like the conflict between companies and between nations.

Originally, although there were many Beyond Grade A organizations, they all belonged to different sides. However, as they united, if they formed a profit union, another huge force would appear. The situation would turn from the conflict between three sides into four sides.

However, this was just the speculation the outside world had. Neither Manison nor Han Xiao planned to make any aggressive moves. In the negotiation with the three Universal Civilizations, they tried to ask them to deal with the Super Star Cluster Alliance. Although Han Xiao was quite tempted to use this opportunity against the Modo Civilization, for the sake of the big picture, he could only reject it.

As per their plan, the biggest purpose of the development union currently was to provide a communication platform. Its top priority was to slowly connect the resources of its members and form a profit union between Beyond Grade As. After this huge profit network was formed and its foundation was built, creating a shared battlefront would finally be meaningful. Otherwise, the development union would only be an empty shell.

“Achieving this will take a very long time, and the three Universal Civilizations will definitely try to slow it down nonstop. Therefore, before it’s done, the development union won’t be able to do anything else. Even if those Beyond Grade As have their own plans, they won’t show it at the initial stage and will only support uniting the resources, achieving a win-win situation,” Han Xiao murmured.

The Beyond Grade A Association had just been formed, so there was still a very long road ahead for both Manison and his goals. This was a long-term plan that would take decades at the minimum and could not be hurried, so there was no need for him to keep thinking about it.

What was worth mentioning was that, using money and connections, as the only exception, Sorokin was able to acquire the position as a director where everyone else was peak Beyond Grade A.

After hearing about Sorokin’s acts from Traveler, he looked unaffected, but he actually secretly paid a lot of attention to this guy. As a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group, Han Xiao did not act against Sorokin as it would only make Sorokin alarmed.

However, all things aside, Sorokin really had a knack for making money.

“This way, my goal is basically achieved. When the Calamity of the Supers erupts, I will be able to heavily interfere with it and even guide the main storyline of that version…” Han Xiao exhaled with a relaxed mood.

As the peak of personal strength, Beyond Grade As were the idols of countless Supers. Hence, Beyond Grade As uniting could guide the movement of the entire Super society to a certain extent. This was also one of the most important reasons why, when the Calamity of the Supers erupted, the influence of the Beyond Grade As quickly became stronger in the entire universe.

Temporarily putting this matter aside, Han Xiao opened the forums to look at the players’ opinions.

As expected, the focus of the players was not the meaning of the development union but the names of this many Beyond Grade As.

At this moment, Aurora walked in.

Han Xiao waved at her and said, “Come here.”

Aurora walked toward Han Xiao. She had suddenly been called to the office and was quite confused.

Han Xiao suddenly grabbed Aurora’s forearm and pressed on it softly, all the way up to her shoulder.

Aurora’s body was stiff, but she did not move away. She was both curious and anxious.

“W-what are you doing?”

Han Xiao sized her up, took his hands off her, and said, “I’ve noticed that your physique is very special.”

“W-what do you mean?”

Pa!

Han Xiao took out the containment device of the Holy Light Particle and slapped it on the table.

“When I went to the secondary dimensions, I found a new Primal Esper Ability Entity. I’m hoping to put it inside your body. What do you think?”

After thorough consideration, he had decided to find a host for the Holy Light Particle.

He acknowledged the potential of the new power system brought by the Holy Light Seed, but it would consume its core essence. Therefore, finding a host who could heal its kidney deficiency was better than creating an Energy Host.

Hence, Aurora was the top choice.

If she turned out to be incompatible, Han Xiao would consider its host from his previous life, Evans.

“Primal Esper Ability?” Aurora curiously looked at the gold energy inside the containment device with her eyes wide open.

Unhappy, the Holy Light Particle sent a resentful telepathic message. “Hey, this is the host you’ve found for me? She’s too young!”

“Young? She’s just about ten years younger than me.” Han Xiao rolled his eyes.

“What‽ A Beyond Grade A like you must be at least a few hundred years old!” The Holy Light Particle was even more enraged. “Then, isn’t she a few hundred years old too? Shameless! Still acting as if she’s so young!”

“… Can I strangle it?”

Aurora was speechless.

I am young! What do you mean acting!

The Holy Light Particle was still complaining. “I need a strong male host. Only then will he be able to match my power!”

Knowing his personality well, Han Xiao said, “Stop spitting nonsense. One more word and I’ll give you to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to let him have his way with you.”

The Holy Light Particle shut up instantly.

Han Xiao pressed on the containment device and a needle came out of it. Seeing this, Aurora reluctantly reached out her hand, bit her lips, and let Han Xiao plug the needle into her.

Boom!

The next moment, a strong blinding light exploded in front of Han Xiao!