Bang!

Before the mechanical beasts pounced, Herlous stomped the floor, cracked open the ground, and jumped into the sky.

The white cape on his shoulders suddenly started dancing. His Energy turned into power and gave these two soft alloys the ability to hover through some special method. Herlous had started flying! He jumped in the sky and charged toward Han Xiao.

Clunk!

The Battleship Slicing Blade collided with Han Xiao’s armor, making Han Xiao fly back and roll in the air.

This armor can fly?

Han Xiao stabilized his position and squinted. A Pugilist that could fly would be a much bigger threat.

Han Xiao realized that Herlous had hidden this up his sleeves. If he had yet to go through Promotion, he probably would not have been able to beat Herlous in this state.

Not only was he not shocked, he was delighted. The stronger Herlous was, the stronger his mercenary group would be.

“Now this…” Under the mechanical suit helmet, Han Xiao grinned. “This is interesting!”

…

On the ground, Aroshia, Feidin, and the others looked up at the intense fight in the sky.

“Herlous the Fraud can fly, too. Looks like it’s the end for captain. A Mechanic that is forced into melee combat with a Pugilist is basically dead.” The oldest Volga tutted.

“Teacher won’t lose!” Sylvia’s palms were sweaty, her knees weak, as she watched the battle closely.

The two of them were flipping midair. The mechanical beasts on the ground were useless, and the artillery could not hit Herlous due to his speed. Herlous’ combat style was smooth, swift, and left no openings, giving Han Xiao no time to increase the distance between them. The way that Sylvia saw it, Han Xiao was clearly disadvantaged.

However, she had an indescribable confidence in her teacher.

The oldest Volga brother’s eyes sparkled. “Want to make a bet? I bet that the captain will lose, and you will bet on him to win—what do you say?”

Sylvia was troubled. “My teacher says that gambling is a bad habit.”

“Bullsh*t, he only says that because he can’t win,” the oldest Volga brother said. “Let’s bet 300 Enas. Are you this unconfident in the captain?”

“Okay, I’ll take it!” Sylvia clenched her teeth and agreed to the bet.

Hum—

Suddenly, a formless disruptive electromagnetic field expanded from Han Xiao’s helmet. Herlous’ mechanical suit vision instantly turned black, and he lost his sight for a second.

Herlous quickly opened his helmet and observed with his eyes. Seeing that Han Xiao did not get far, he immediately slashed Han Xiao’s back sideways with his blade

“You want to run? Have you asked for permission from my blade‽” Herlous laughed.

However, this slash cut Han Xiao in half without any resistance. Herlous was shocked.

Then, the two halves of ‘Han Xiao’ shook like ripples and vanished.

Void Mirror Image!

“What ability is this? Why have I not seen it before?” Herlous suddenly had a bad feeling.

With his opportunity, Han Xiao discreetly returned to the ground directly under Herlous. A new machine had appeared under his feet. It was a huge metal disc that was placed flat upon the ground. At the heart of it were three equilateral triangle shaped holes emitting a dim blue light—these three holes formed a larger hole, which was pointed at Herlous.

Hum!

Before Herlous could move, the triangular hole shot out a wide, translucent blue light beam that covered him. He lost control of his body and quickly descended. With a loud clank, he was tightly sucked and fixed onto this machine, unable to escape quickly.

This was a mechanical trap. It was initially used by spaceships to draw in objects and not used for combat at all. It was very difficult for it to hit a high-speed target, but if it successfully hit, it would be a very strong constraining method. Shamefully, in his previous life, Han Xiao had been the first player that used this in actual combat.

Han Xiao snapped his fingers. All the artillery aimed at Herlous, who could not move and fired. At the same time, he activated [Overload], [Surging Mechanical Force], and [Mechanical Force Overload] for all of his artillery before activating [Gene Liberation].

Although he only got the lowest 2.2 times damage bonus, it was more than enough to end this battle.

Boom!

Thick smoke from the attacks completely covered Herlous.

“Stop stop stop! I admit defeat! Stop hitting, my armor is going to explode!”

Herlous’ panicking voice came out from thick smoke. Han Xiao slowly walked to the side, stopped the artillery, and deactivated the trap.

Herlous stood up. The magnificent and cool Shattered Light was covered in burn marks and cracks. Herlous was heartbroken by how damaged it was.

Not long ago, he had totally held the upper hand, but he had never expected that one single flaw would cause him to lose in an instant. When did Black Star become so strong? Herlous could not beat him even by wearing Shattered Light. Why did the difference between them not grow smaller but larger instead‽

He had thought that he could finally defeat Han Xiao and erase his shame, but now he was more frustrated.

“How much of your strength did you use?”

“Not all anyway of it. You mad?” Han Xiao grinned. As the weak spot of the Mechanic class was melee combat, he was most not afraid of that. After playing the Mechanic class for so many years in his previous life, the people whom he had beaten who tried to force him into melee combat could stack up to a hill.

However, although Han Xiao did win, he still discovered some problems. These cheap styles that he had been using looked rather weak when he used it on an opponent who had the same Grade as him; he had to use the explosive abilities in order to win.

There’s nothing wrong with the tactics. It seems like I need to build stronger machines.

Herlous was still grinding his teeth. He was used to being aggressive in battle and fighting the enemy head on, but he felt very restricted when he fought Han Xiao, and it made him feel uncomfortable. It looked like he always had the upper hand, but it was more like he was following Han Xiao’s plan. The battle seemed intense, but only he knew how well Han Xiao dodged his attacks. He had only landed a few hits.

Herlous could not maximize his fighting skills as a Pugilist at all. So, all in all, it had been a very uncomfortable and restrained fight for him.

“Alright, stop moping. Not like it’s the first time you’ve lost to me. Take it off, I’ll repair for you.”

Han Xiao patted Herlous’ shoulders and comforted him.

On the other side, Sylvia’s face was red from excitement. She extended her hand and chuckled. “300 Enas, a bet’s a bet.”

“My hard-earned money!” The oldest Volga brother whined in regret.

Regret of trusting that Herlous!

…

The spaceship took off and left Planet Sunil. In the machinery modification room on the spaceship, Han Xiao repaired Shattered Light. Since he satisfied the prerequisite knowledges, he successfully got the Commander Class armor blueprint after paying some Experience.

It was armor specifically for Supers, so its attributes were stronger and could enhance one’s Energy. Other than it not having many functions, its performance was not much lower than his Amphiptere. Plus, in comparison, its materials were much cheaper, so the cost of mass producing it was much lower.

Han Xiao had already gotten all of the armor sets from Sunil—Enlistee Class, NCO Class, and Commander Class. He could sell these to the players gradually, which would basically be the first faction specialty. After all, Sunil would not sell their top armor, so the players would have to farm Faction Favorability if they wanted to buy from them. Han Xiao, however, was selling them for money.

Spending money could save time, and time was priceless. This way, the players would be buying their priceless time with money.

How worth it was that‽

Noriosse was very far, located at the border of the Shattered Star Ring like one of the gates into the Star Ring. Even with the various stargates, the spaceship would still have to travel many days before arriving.

This time was more than enough for Han Xiao to build new, stronger machinery to make himself stronger.

Furthermore, he would have the time to think about what preparations he had to make for the upcoming Version 2.0.

The Promotion difficulty was over, so Han Xiao felt very relieved. He had solved it much earlier than he had expected, so it meant that he saved quite a lot of time.

After he completes Ames’ mission, he would officially start making preparations for his plan.

It’s just finding someone, so it won’t take long.