Chapter 262: The Sound of Hammering
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Every class advancement was an ascendance of life status. LV 60 was provided a large upgrade to the status among all other levels of class advancement since it was the boundary between Version 1.0 and Version 2.0. The effects of class advancements were based off accumulated experience, and the life form experienced its first evolution. The path of evolution was not completely random, but it was dependent on the initial race that was chosen by the player. For example, carbon-based human evolution paths were usually all in human forms.
The chain of evolution was not always certain, and one could have millions of possibilities for one’s evolution. Compatibility determined the volatility of randomness of the status of the evolution. The lower the compatibility, the more random the evolution effects would be, similar to flipping a coin where one could get a powerful evolution, while it was possible to get disastrous effects. For example, the [Basic Energy Organism] could directly change the body structure of a human, abandon the flesh and blood, and become a body made out of pure energy.
On the other hand, if the compatibility was high, then it meant that the evolution path was the most logical. Han Xiao chose [Type-i Space Humans] had close to a hundred percent compatibility since the Space Humans were the most common human species in Galaxy. The race was famous for its fast adaptation to the new environment with the unique characteristic [Adaptive Herd]. Debuff resistance, physical resistance, and mental resistance all increased by ten percent.
All races had different specialties. Once the evolution effects took place, it would be a major upgrade in status, where every race would have a different focus on statuses it improved on. Galaxy contained thousands of races, and from this step forward, all the players started to shape their own unique characteristics that were distinguishable from others.
Compared to the other four choices, the [Type-i Space Human] was the most common one. It was an all-round upgrade, so there was not a lot of uniqueness. However, with higher resistance and adaptability, the upcoming evolutions would have a wider range of choices. The evolution process could not be reverted, which was why Han Xiao clearly remembered the evolution tree, and the [Type-i Space Humans] was the best initial evolution in his mind, so he made his choice without a second thought.
Superhumans could become strong through the process of evolution, and the same went for NPCs. However, since they did not have an interface, they could not choose the evolution path.
Han Xiao took a deep breath.
There was pain aching from his bones, his muscles, and every other part of his body. Han Xiao bit his tongue and tried to take in all the pain from the evolution. The process of evolution was gut-wrenching, and a player could feel less by lowering the intensity of pain. However, all the pain that Han Xiao was feeling was a hundred percent real.
Fortunately, the pain did not last long. It quickly faded, and Han Xiao suddenly had a new perspective of the world!
The enemies were quickly approaching, and Han Xiao did not have time to investigate the changes in his body. He frantically used all the upgrades in his interface and used seventy-four million experience points. [Magnetic Ring Mechanic] instantly went from level five to the maximum level!
_____________________
[Magnetic Ring Mechanic] Lv.15 (Max).
+180 Energy, +2 DEX, +1 END, +4 INT, +4 Free Attribute points.
_____________________
A third of two hundred million experience points were spent with a blink of an eye.
As the level of skill increased, the more resources were needed to level up the skill. Of course, the benefits corresponded with the expense, and with a ten-level upgrade, his energy increased by 810, and the energy attribute point reached 3,070. The energy attribute points broke through the level eight benchmark of 3000 points, and Han Xiao obtained another additional upgrade in his attributes.
Han Xiao suddenly felt a surge of energy flowing through this body. He reached LV 70, breaking through the level upper limit of version 1.0.
He was the only superhuman on the Planet Aquamarine that was above LV 60.
The Attribute was an enhancement in jumping abilities.
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111 STR, 185 DEX, 159 END, 321 INT, 21 MYS, 14 CHA, 1 LUK
Free Attribute Points: 40
Potential Points: 72
Health: 7,980
Stamina: 9,580
Energy: 3,070 (Lv.8)
Energy Rank: 3,275 Ona
Grade: C
[You are qualified to be the Space Explorer Warrior.]
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The overall strength has increased by more than half my previous status. The health points were 4,300 before the evolution, and now I have almost double that number. Moreover, the exchange ratio from Endurance to Health Points has increased from 1:20 to 1:30. After all the upgrades and level ups in the status, the four important attributes all increased by around thirty or forty points.
He quickly calculated his combat power, and he did not use the forty Free Attribute Points. Under an unpredictable battle, he could quickly adapt to different situations by adding attribute points.
Han Xiao stood up and turned toward Jeross and the troops. He eyes was sharp, cold, and deadly.
Prepare for your death, Germinal Organization!
The troops arrived in front of Han Xiao, and Jeross roared, “Block all the escape routes. Don’t let him get away!”
He then shot his force field toward Han Xiao.
Bang!
The ground exploded with a pit. Han Xiao dodged the attack with ease, and he was a lot faster and agile than before. He charged in front of Jeross and used his Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades. The skill blew a violent wind with so much power that it instantly broke through the defense force field as if it was a knife slicing through cake.
Deng!
After a flash of light, Jeross suddenly lost his vision, and he felt that he had lost control over his body. The pain exploded in his body, and he felt sharp blades sink into his flesh.
He had already sensed what would happen to his body—his eyes had lost all hope.
“No...”
The nine blades pierced through the body at the same time, and Jeross’ body was filled with holes with blood splattering everywhere. The blades sliced through the muscles and tendons, and Han Xiao headbutted through the last desperate force field created by Jeross and smacked his head with all his strength!
With only one move, Han Xiao eliminated the powerful and troublesome senior executive officer.
The role of predator and the prey instantly swapped at that moment.
Han Xiao looked around at the surprised soldiers, as if he was the wolf that would hunt everyone down.
...
On the main battlefield, fight was still going on. Everyone had their attention on the area where Han Xiao had run off to, curious about the result.
Suddenly, the sounds of explosion came from that direction, and everyone looked over.
“What’s going on? Did he get away?”
“Are they fighting right now?”
Everyone tried to guess what happened. Then they saw a small dot that was coming toward them. As the dot got closer, they recognized that it as Han Xiao, and all the enemies who had gone after him were nowhere to be seen.
“If he already escaped, why is he coming back?” Tang Tang asked with confusion.
Diana shot another two explosive flame and barely caught her breath. “He probably ran back here because he can’t deal with the enemies.”
Hila, who was silent the whole time, suddenly said, “His vital sign is different from before!”
In her Esper perception, Han Xiao was as bright and hot as a sun!
She had never seen anyone with such a strong vital sign.
She also felt another subtle change, but she could not tell what it was. The subtle change was the evolution of race that Han Xiao had gone through, so Hila naturally had no idea.
“Where’s Jeross?” The leader spared some attention away from the battled. “Focus fire on Zero! Do not let him get away from my vision!”
The troops changed their targets and move their crosshairs right on top of Han Xiao. However, Han Xiao suddenly sped up and dashed through enemy force like lighting. He picked up machine guns off the ground and shot at the enemy with perfect aim. With every shot, there was at least one man that fell to the ground.
Han Xiao moved forward and attacked the executive officers surrounding his allies without saying anything.
Bang Bang!
As if meteors falling down from the sky, the executive officers were all scattered by the firepower of Han Xiao. Han Xiao fought through the enemy with a crushing force, and he was clearly a different man compared to his performance before.
The veterans of the Six Nations were relieved from pressure and stared at Han Xiao’s courageous engagement with the enemy.
There was only two words to describe this scene—complete suppression.
“I think that he tried to save some up some energy and get back to his normal condition. After he exhausted the enemy during the chase, he turned back and showed true strength.” Tang Tang thought that he understood Han Xiao’s plan. Everyone else nodded, and all their doubts toward Han Xiao dispersed like dust.
Diana also held back her hate toward Han Xiao and said, “Well... he could have told us beforehand.”
After murdering all the executive officers, Han Xiao moved toward the battle between Bennett and the leader. The leader saw Han Xiao and gave a strong attack to Bennett. Bennett fell back, and the fight stopped.
“Hey Ben, you did good, but his head belongs to me.” Han Xiao patted on Bennett shoulder and said, “This is the battle of rivals.”
“You...”
Bennett had a sharp sense on people’s strength. He knew that Han Xiao was strong, but right now, he could not see through the strength of Han Xiao as if he was looking at the lake without a bottom.
Looking Han Xiao straight in the eye, Bennett did not reply and moved away to fight in another battle. He trusted Han Xiao to win against the leader.
If Han Xiao wanted to fight the leader, he must have been confident.
This was trust that needed no explanation.
The leader’s eyes were burning with blue flames. “Bennett was protecting you, and now you came here to fight me. Just because he wasted some of my energy, do you think you can beat me now? Haha... Good... Very good. Even if I’m not in my best condition, I will still murder you with ease!”
“Let’s get into it then, haven’t you been waiting for this day for so long?”
Han Xiao lifted his arm and shot a bullet right at the leader. The leader made a claw with his hand and released a violet shockwave that slowed down the speed of the bullet.
The leader had mastered several advanced techniques in Pugilist class. With the shockwave blast and physical flame, he was strong in both offense and defense.
The leader’s information showed up on the interface.
He has eighty-one percent of his health! Han Xiao’s eyes flickered. The leader and Bennett were on the same level, and the leader had only lost a small amount of health, which meant that Han Xiao could still take sixty percent of his health.
Diana, Tang Tang, and the rest of the soldiers watched closely at the fight and worried for Han Xiao. Bennett was considered the strong man on their side, and they trusted Bennett to deal with the leader. However, their suspicion rose as Han Xiao took on the leader, thinking that Han Xiao did not have the ability to suppress the leader.
The fight was intense, and multiple pits was created by the fight. Each was the other’s mortal enemy, and every move was filled with their intent to murder, as if they were two beasts fighting each other. None of them tried to dodge the attack and only focused on landing attacks on the opponent.
Han Xiao used all the weapons and machinery at his disposal to drag down the leader’s health, including the Sunworm Flamethrower, Ghost sniper rifle, Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades, and Sonic Bomb.
The leader was a Pugilist, so Han Xiao was at a disadvantage when fighting in close quarters. However, with the rapid growth of attributes and status, plus upgrades for Viper, his Endurance and Dexterity were much higher than those of the leader. So even if Han Xiao lacked in Pugilist techniques and close combat skills, he could still get the upper hand with his stats and attributes.
There was no use for tactics!
Han Xiao took a look at the battle information and thought, He has a lot of strong skills that do armor penetration damage and also wear out the defense of the enemy. Also, he has a lot of skills that can reflect damage. He must have used this kill to block off the powerful punches of Bennett.
The two men continued to clash against each other. Han Xiao was focused, and he did not panic. He calculated the skills, health, and other battle information in his mind. He had once been a professional power leveler, so he had tons of experience. One must understand the mechanics and calculations to become a master.
The health bar for a LV 70 character was much higher than the leader, and with Viper, he knew that the best chance for him to win this fight was to use brute force to power through. Even if Han Xiao could only land an attack in exchange for three or four attacks from the leader, it was still worth it.
The leader’s health slowly decreased, but Viper was on the brink of destruction. With multiple cracks and dents, the durability of the suit was almost zero, and it would be broken after one or two more hits.
The chips carried on the suits were all shattered, and the Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades was bent into scrap metal. The fuel tank for the Sunworm Flamethrower was empty, and there was no more ammo for the sniper. The battle screen had cracks, and the energy was almost depleted.
In other words, Han Xiao had no weapons to use anymore, and this was the worst possible scenario for a mechanic to be in.
I finally can break his suit! Without this turtle shell, there’s no way he can fight me anymore!
Seeing that his dream had finally been fulfilled, the leader could not wait and gave a final blow to the suit as he tore it apart.
Crack!
The sound pierced through people’s ears.
The damaged Viper suddenly released a bright light and went back to full power! The originally empty durability was restored to fifty percent! The energy of the suit also replenished mysteriously.
[Machinery: Last Stance]
When a machinery’s durability was less than ten percent, by using five hundred energy points, one could make a machinery restore back to fifty to eighty percent of the status. The higher the quality and the more complicated the machinery was, the shorter the time of effect of the skill. One’s Intelligence attribute also affected the duration of the skill. After the duration, the machinery would self-destruct.
This skill was the equivalent of [Battle: Last Stance].
Han Xiao had already prepared this as his final trick. Taking the opportunity while the leader was still surprised, Han Xiao landed his fist right on the leader’s face. The leader fell back and rolled on the ground, and the mask started to crack. He tried to get up, but he suddenly felt a weakening force dragging his body down.
The leader had been in such an intense battle that he did not realize his status was dropping at an abnormal rate. He had injuries all over his body.
“Hey, you there, can you lend me your weapon?” Han Xiao looked over to the Mechanical Pugilist in the dust.
The man hesitated for a second, and with his injured body, he threw the energy hammer to Han Xiao.
“Catch!”
After he caught the hammer, a dark blue Mechanical Force covered the hammer, and Han Xiao activated the [Flaming Will], which had just come off cooldown.
Han Xiao swung the heavy hammer around, and the small boosters on the head of the hammer left a curve in the air. Han Xiao smacked down with the hammer right on the leader’s face as he tried to get up.
Boom!
Bull’s eye!
Like a baseball being hit by a bat, the leader flew away a few hundred meters and hit three vehicles along the way.
In the air, the mask broke into pieces and landed on the ground.