In the army commander’s office of Black Star Palace, Lothaire’s remote projection stood in the middle of the room. Han Xiao circled him, sized him up, and sighed from time to time.

“Kid, although you’ve successfully escaped this time, don’t feel glad. I need to properly talk to you about this.”

“What orders do you have?” Lothaire calmly accepted the scolding.

“Although the plan worked, you made the decision on yourself, and I had to clean up for you. I’m your boss, not the other way around. For something as big as this, you should ask me before you carry the plan out, got it?” Han Xiao stood in front of Lothaire with arms behind his back and reprimanded him.

“Won’t happen again.” Lothaire’s response was short and simple.

Han Xiao grunted, paused, and said, “The impact of this assassination was extremely severe. The Modo Civilization has given up on the Flickering War and is focusing on internal affairs. They definitely will not let this go easily. Therefore, all activities of the Assassin’s Society will cease for the time being. Hide and wait for this to be over. Only then will I allow you guys to be active again.”

“How long?”

“A few decades. You have to make use of this time properly to train,” Han Xiao said.

“Okay.” Lothaire did not complain and calmly obeyed.

He had acquired some new experience from this assassination. He was just thinking about digesting them too. Assassinating the leader of an advanced civilization was undoubtedly a legendary accomplishment. It had brought him subtle changes. It was like some kind of ability that increased his possibility of reaching Beyond Grade A. However, since Lothaire did not have the interface, he could not fully understand all that. He only got a blurry feel of it.

After giving him advice for a bit longer, Han Xiao ended the communication. His deliberately serious expression relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face. This assassination that Lothaire had never informed him till it was done really startled him, but the results turned out to be extremely good. As the Modo Civilization had withdrawn its army, the second requirement of [Kunde Race Leader’s Last Wish] was now complete.

If not for Lothaire’s assassination, the Modo upper echelons would not have shifted this drastically. In that case, he would have had to spend more time and pay a heftier price in order to force Modo to retreat. Furthermore, the chain of chaotic reactions caused by Modo’s leader being assassinated were also counted in the mission progress. Although Lothaire made this decision without consulting him, the results turned out to be reliable. Han Xiao always had high hopes for Lothaire. In his eyes, Lothaire had the potential to become a Beyond Grade A. His potential was much higher than lazy Beyond Grade A seeds like Hadavy.

One reason he froze the activity of the Assassin’s Society was to wait till this was over, but another was to give Lothaire more time to find the opportunity for Promotion.

Han Xiao put these things in the back of his mind, opened the mission list on the interface, and looked at the two bright gold missions.

Both (Escape) and (Kunde Race Leader’s Last Wish]’s rewards could now be obtained. One of the two requirements of the latter was already complete. He could acquire (The Enemy), (Proof of Leadership), and (Kunde Rage] if he wanted.

Han Xiao thought about it and suppressed his temptation to complete [Kunde Race Leader’s Last Wish), as the first mission requirement was to ‘provide protection when the Kunde Race is being culturally modified’, which was not complete yet.

This Grade S mission was a single mission, not a chain mission. Therefore, once he clicked on completing it and accepted the reward, it would mean that he would not be able to obtain the reward for the first requirement. He wanted the four Political Assets rewarded by the first requirement. Anyway, he could decide when to conclude the mission. He could obtain the three abilities anytime he wanted, so he was in no hurry.

“I shall conclude Lothaire’s mission and get the reward first.”

Han Xiao headed out, turned left into the officer lounge to get some luck, returned, and quickly opened the interface.

[Escape] Completed! -3,000 Modo Civilization Favorability.

Current Relationship: (Archenemy)

You have received 8 Billion EXP, 2 Random Rewards, and the (Civilization Leader Slayer] milestone.

(Civilization Leader Slayer]: All civilization leader Favorability -10. Your words will be more heeded by the various civilizations. At the same time, when you, your organization, or your allies fight any fleets or Supers of your opposing civilization, their defense and various resistances will be reduced by 3% – 7%.

“This Milestone is definitely for the wanted criminals of the evil factions.” Han Xiao’s eyes twitched.

To wanted criminals, the Favorability of civilization leaders is complete trash, but since I’m someone with a high position and identity, the Favorability of civilization leaders is not useless.

However, he did not care about it too much. The only advanced civilization leader who had a good relationship with him was Urranrell. His Favorability with the federation’s president and the church’s pope were both negative, yet they were still working together. As long as there were enough profits, the personal Favorability of the leaders was barely impactful.

Furthermore, the value of that -10 Favorability of the civilization leaders was completely meaningless compared to the other effects of the milestone. Although the numbers were not high, the influence it had was extremely absurd. It worked against entire civilizations, reducing the various resistance and defense of all members of the opposing civilization.

Han Xiao instantly knew that when fighting the World Tree Civilization, this ability would give the entire explored universe a natural edge!

Comparatively, that slight reduction in Favorability was negligible.

“I sacrificed my Favorability for the entire universe. What a great man I am.”

Han Xiao was almost touched by himself.

He focused and continued looking at the ability/talent drawing interface.

You have received the reward: draw one of Lothaire’s skills (Ability/Talent).

Note: Lothaire is a Pugilist. Parts of the abilities/talents are adjusted according to your class.

Randomizing… Complete! Please select one from the five options below as the reward:

(Stealth Master] Talent: Drastically reduce your presence to others, drastically reduce the chance of the enemies discovering you, and drastically reduce the clues you leave behind. You can easily find all the factors in a certain area that might lead to you being discovered, including but not limited to all kinds of surveillance devices and detection spells. 2. (Assassination Mark] Ability: Mark a target, increase the damage of your next attack to the target by 75%-100%, Critical Rate by 45%, and Critical Damage by 100%. Energy Cost: 150. Cooldown: 48s.

[One-Hit KO] Ability: When your next attack hits the target successfully, instantly carry out Lethal Judgement once. The base of the Judgement is the target’s Health, END, Lethal Resistance, LUK, and the level difference between you and the target. If the Judgement succeeds, the target will die instantly. If the Judgement fails, the attack will deal an extra 280% damage. Energy Cost: 500. Cooldown: 1,2005.

[The Way of an Assassin) Ability: Charge energy into the next attack, accumulating extra damage bonuses. Energy to damage bonus Conversion Rate: 10:1%. Maximum damage bonus: 300%. Cooldown: 150s.

(Fearless Heart] Talent: When fighting a strong enemy, you will receive extra attack bonuses. When the enemy is below Grade B, this ability will not be triggered; when the enemy is Grade B, you will receive a 5% base attack bonus; when the enemy is Grade A, you will receive a 15% base attack bonus; when the enemy is Grade S, you will receive a 25% base attack bonus; when the enemy is Grade S+, you will receive a 35% base attack bonus; when the enemy is Grade SS, you will receive a 45% base attack bonus.

Woah! This kid! Han Xiao’s eyes gleamed. What’s a master assassin? This is a master assassin!

Lothaire had not been around for many years. It had been a very long time since Han Xiao last looked at his interface. He could recall that of these five options, other than the second option, Lothaire did not have any others back then.

Looks like this kid has been busy the past twenty years, he’s got many new skills. Han Xiao was overjoyed.

Such an excellent learning ability could almost match up to Nero. He had found a treasure.

He browsed through the options. No way he was going to pick the second or the third options. Although the Lethal Judgement of (One-Hit KO] was quite tempting, as soon as Han Xiao saw that Luck was one of the things considered for the Judgement, he instantly eliminated this option. The fourth option, (The Way of an Assassin), was quite powerful, but Han Xiao also eliminated it after some pondering. This ability could only provide bonuses for one attack, but attack frequency was what Mechanics focused on. Although the (Charge-Endless Potential] he had obtained from Silver Shadow could work together with this ability, it was too situational. There would not be many chances to use it. Han Xiao mainly hesitated between the first and the fifth option. (Stealth Master) was a functional talent that would dramatically enhance his stealth ability. It would be tremendously useful for spy operations, infiltration, stealing intelligence, and so on. Although it would not directly increase his strength, it would provide him with other forms of support. However, [Fearless Heart]’s bonuses were way too good!

This did not just enhance one attack, but it was a passive bonus. Every single attack from him and his mechanical army could enjoy the bonus!

Furthermore, the bonus was on top of base attacks, meaning the percentage increase could be seen as the increase in the actual damage dealt!

“The only ones who are qualified to fight me now are all peak Beyond Grade As. This talent is perfect for people like me!”

Han Xiao felt exhilarated.

To Lothaire, the bonuses of (Fearless Heart] beyond the third level were all useless, since there was no way he could defeat a Beyond Grade A now. Only Beyond Grade As could fully utilize the power of this talent.

After pondering for about ten seconds, the desire to deal more damage won in the end. Han Xiao had made his choice.

You have received the talent (Fearless Heart]!

“Nice.” Han Xiao took a deep breath. He felt a wave of heat that released from his brain that quickly flowed through his body.

After sensing it for a while, his expression became strange. He suddenly connected all the dots.

This talent was faithful to its name, it gave him a strong sense of confidence. Han Xiao noticed that more than half of his fear toward the strong had disappeared, replaced by disdain.

Manison? Fragile little sh*t, fight him!

The three Universal Civilizations? Piece of cake, fight them!

The World Tree Civilization? What is that? Fight them!

Anyone that appeared in his mind, he wanted to fight. His heart was filled with an indomitable sense of fearlessness, an illusion as if he could just beat up everything in the world.

He hastily suppressed this emotion, took a few deep breaths, and finally calmed himself down. It all made sense now.

“No wonder Lothaire dared assassinate the Modo Three Kings. Turns out it’s the side effect of this talent. The mystery is now solved…”

Han Xiao rolled his eyes.

What Fearless Heart? Bullsh*t, this is clearly Reckless Heart!