The Legendary Mechanic

After returning to the mercenary group stronghold in Juberly Hub, Han Xiao entered the Simulated Combat Room alone and closed the alloy door behind him. He took out the Mission Completion Card and used it on his Promotion mission.

_____________________

You have used [Mission Completion Card].

[Trial of the Strong] Current Progress: 1/1

Level 100 Promotion Mission completed!

END bonus increased! 1 END = 50 Health = 60 Stamina.

_____________________

It’s done.

The dust settled, and Han Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. The Level 60 Promotion was the first Race Evolution, and the level 100 Promotion was the second.

I did get the [Void Genes] talent from the Void Dragon Pith, so that will add an option during the Race Evolution and provide a new evolution path.

The options in Race Evolution were randomly chosen from the evolution tree that had higher compatibility. There would also be an option with very low compatibility that gave the players the choice of taking a completely different path.

This time, an evolution notification popped up on the information panel hovering before his eyes.

_____________________

You have taken another step forward on the path of evolution. You have received refinement of your level of life.

Race Detected: Type I Galaxy Human Race

Randomly selecting 6 suitable evolution paths…

Selection complete.

Please select 1 from the 6 options below as your evolved race.

Warning! The evolution process is irreversible. Please select cautiously! [Appendix – Evolution Path Characteristics Introduction]

[Type II Galaxy Human Race] – 94% Compatibility

[Type III Galaxy Human Race] – 92% Compatibility

[North Wind God Race] – 75% Compatibility

[Void Prowler (Human Form)] – 81% Compatibility

[Half-Dragon Hybrid] 64% Compatibility

[Medium Mechanical Life] 22% Compatibility

_____________________

Other than the usual type II and type III, the rest are all decent, but none of them are comparable to this… Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He had already decided.

_____________________

Selection Complete

Evolving race… Evolution complete.

Your race changed to: [Void Prowler (Human Form)].

Cell structure refined, organs strengthened, metabolism adjusted, adaptability enhanced…

Your potential increased!

You have received attribute bonuses: +28 STR, +45 DEX, +15 END, +24 INT, +36 MYS, +22 CHA, +570 energy. Energy level attribute bonuses changed!

Your Race Specialty [Adaptive Species] has been changed.

You have received Race Specialty [Void Travel].

You have received Race Specialty [Void Mirror Image].

You have received Race Specialty [Void Shadow].

_____________________

Skinning pain came like a tsunami. Han Xiao had mentally prepared. Every Race Evolution brought a huge change for one’s genes and cells. The players could ignore the pain, but he could not. He clenched his teeth tightly, and masses of veins bulged on his face and wiggled like snakes. His eyes were filled with red; all the blood vessels in his eyes had exploded. The diamond-shaped piece of skin between his eyebrows that came from the Void Genes was emitting a gray light as gray lines extended out from it, spreading all over Han Xiao’s face and very soon his entire body. It was changing all of his cells.

Buzz!

The tremendous energy in his body could not be controlled anymore. Electric sparkles turned into dozens of lightning whips and danced madly. The air was filled with a burnt smell, and the floor was burnt black.

Han Xiao suddenly opened his mouth and spat out red blood, which was emitting bubbles as if it was boiling. It turned into a violet color at a visible rate.

The pain this time lasted longer than any times before. Void Prowler could almost be considered as a completely different life form, so the change was drastic. This was indeed the special evolution path given by the Void Genes. Whether in turns of Race Specialty or future potential, this was the best choice among the six options.

Type II and Type III Galaxy Human Race were the usual evolution path with different focuses, but they were rather mediocre. Their benefit was that their compatibility was very high, which meant that more paths could be taken. Han Xiao had chosen this path at level 60 because he wanted to discover an evolution path that was strong enough, and now, he had found it. The Void Race was like the Demon Race and the Energy Life; it was a race on its own—rare, strong, and had a lot of potential.

For the other options, the [North Wind God Race] was a special human race that had natural strong bodies and tough vitality, their reproductive capability was over the top. They called themselves the God Race. The [Half-Dragon Hybrid] was also a representation of a strong body. Both of these were suitable for Pugilists. [Medium Mechanical Life] was a completely different race. It was a mechanical life that did not have energy. Plus, its compatibility was too low, so Han Xiao was definitely not going to choose that.

The pain only gradually faded after a long time. Han Xiao looked like he had been fished out from the sea of blood. During the last period, it was not sweat that came out of his pores anymore but human blood. All of his blood had been replaced. His senses felt different as well. Other than the five human senses, he had many more senses. He could feel the flow of stray energy, and he could see in Void Vision; it was like he had opened the gate to a new world.

Han Xiao took out a mirror and looked at himself. He had grown ten inches taller. Luckily, his body was still in human shape, and he did not have an extra tail or arm or anything of the sort. However, inside his body, his bones, muscles, and organ structures had completely changed; it was many times more complicated than a human structure.

He did not look much different from before, still handsome as always. The diamond-shaped skin between his eyebrows became an indigo crystal. This was a controllable new organ used to sense the Void Vision. His skin was whiter than before, and he gave off a mysterious vibe.

“Not bad, I still look human. This is the human form Void Prowler after all. Anyone that turns into a Void Prowler is able to maintain their original appearance, so most creatures can mutate into Void Prowlers.”

Han Xiao was very knowledgeable. All three Race Specialties were Void Prowler’s natural talents. Among which, [Void Travel] was the core ability.

“Let me try to see how it feels.”

The world before his eyes changed. Everything became foggy like he was observing reality through a layer of translucent material. This was the Void Vision; he entered a mirror dimension that reflected reality where time passed at a different speed. When Han Xiao moved, the real world was basically still, but he could not influence reality in any way and would only go through physical objects. The two dimensions were like mirrors that were placed tightly against each other; they could not interfere with each other. It was like a stealth mode that allowed free movement.

[Void Travel] had no duration limit but continuously cost a large amount of stamina during its duration. Its cooldown was five minutes.

Han Xiao walked from one corner of the room to another, counted a few seconds in his head then deactivated this ability and returned to reality. He looked at his watch; almost no time had passed.

“So, this ability is similar to teleportation or a short-range jump as seen from the reality.” Han Xiao nodded in his head. According to his senses, this talent was like a weakened version of Esper powers that could slow time—the difference was that he could not influence reality.

He looked at the mirror again and noticed his body’s changes. When he used the Void Prowler’s Race Specialties, he would deviate from his usual human form and enter Void Form, as only then would he be able to enter the Void Dimension. His skin became crystal clear and gray. Under his skin were dim streaks of light like starlight. His white skin retracted into markings and was spread out on his body following his bone structure. The white markings met at the crystal between his eyebrows.

Han Xiao waited for a while, and his body automatically turned back. The white markings expanded and covered his skin as he returned to his human form. The gray skin tone during his Void Form was absorbed by the crystal like a river.

“Such a magical life form.”

Han Xiao continuously switched between the two forms and familiarized himself with them.

As for the other two Race Specialties, as the name suggested, Void Mirror Image could generate a mirror image without any combat ability used to confuse the enemy, and Void Shadow was an ability to summon a Void Shadow that would exist for thirty minutes. The shadow had the characteristics of a shadow—it would not be wounded, could not attack, and moved extremely fast. It could be used to scout or disrupt the enemy’s vision. These two Race Specialties also cost a large amount of stamina.

Most races only had one or two specialties—three was exceptional. The Void Prowler’s Race Specialties were mainly focused on disrupting, confusing, and dodging. [Void Travel] was the most important one; it was a very strong dodging ability and only had a cooldown of five minutes.

On the interface, the Class Advancement requirements of his Main Class had already been met. A notification popped up.

_____________________

You have received a new class [War Mechanic LV 1].

+120 Energy, +3 DEX, +3 END, +5 INT.

You have received 6 Free Attribute Points.

You have received 1 Potential Point.

You have acquired ability [Application Level Machinery Affinity].

You have acquired ability [Waste Modification].

You have acquired ability [Mechanical Force Overload].

You have received ability [Mechanical Force Combat Technique (Locked)].

You have acquired talent [Battlefield Wisdom].

_____________________

War Mechanic was the sixth stage class of the Mechanic class. It was the time where the Mechanic class showcased its power. The maximum level of this class was twenty. As the name suggested, the Mechanic class finally started focusing on combat abilities at this stage. Other than the new Machinery Affinity, all the other abilities were combat abilities.

He spent his experience in the main class and leveled it up.

_____________________

[War Mechanic] leveled up to LV 16.

+120 Energy, +3 DEX, +2 END, +5 INT

You have received 6 Free Attribute Points.

You have received 1 Potential Point.

_____________________

Above level 100, every level required more experience to level up. Han Xiao had about 1.6 billion experience at this time; he spent 1.3 billion experience and leveled it up to level 16. He was still four levels from the maximum LV 20, but he had already run out of experience.

The experience that he had harvested from the players in Version 1.0 was about to be used up!

I have close to 300 million experience left. I can level it up one more time, but it’s not as beneficial as to use it to upgrade abilities. Also, the two High-End Knowledges need to be combined into new blueprints. It’s better to keep it… Haha, I’m finally going to finish this huge sum of experience.

Han Xiao smiled in satisfaction. It had been a very long time since he had last felt in need of experience. Not only did he not feel unhappy, he was joyful, and a sense of nostalgia swept over him. He had calculated it long ago and knew that he would definitely be able to spend all the experience after his level 100 Promotion.

This was great news. Any amount of experience in the interface was just a number, similar to not spending the money earned. Only by turning it into his combat abilities would he fully utilize it. When he played the game in his previous life, the best feeling had been when he spent all his experience.

Now that he had finally digested what he made in Version 1.0, he felt a strong sense of fulfillment.

The players would not be around during the version update, so there was no way to quickly gain experience. The time that the next version began would be the time that he started harvesting experience again.

After spending this experience, I’m now level 116. Good. When the players appear again, it will be a chance for me to become much stronger again.

Han Xiao squinted. He looked forward to Version 2.0 arriving in a year’s time.