novelChange and Superstition
| ← Ch.0838 | Ch.0840 → |
"How did Black Star block my psychic senses of the Evolution Cube?"
Beep beep!
While Psyker was shocked and bewildered, his communicator suddenly rang. As he took it out and looked at it. His pupils constricted, and he clenched his teeth.
It was a call from Black Star!
"Hello, hello, is this Psyker?" Han Xiao appeared on the screen.
"Black Star! What did you do‽" Psyker yelled.
Seeing this, Han Xiao pretended to be shocked and replied, "Yo, I haven't seen you in some time. When did your skin become so green?"
After some mocking, seeing that Psyker's face was filled with rage, Han Xiao chuckled and immediately hung up the communication without waiting for Psyker's reply.
In order to test out the effect, Han Xiao had made a call to Psyker. Having heard Psyker's tone, he knew that it had worked. Therefore, he had nothing more to say to Old Psy and hung up immediately.
Originally, Psyker's link to the Evolution Cube had been a hidden threat. Now, he had finally gotten rid of this advantage Psyker had on him. Han Xiao felt much more secured.
The Arcane Church had no intelligence network in the Flickering World, so they would have to rely on Psyker's link to the Evolution Cube to track him if they wanted to attack him. And now, the Arcane Church no longer had that.
Part of the Arcane Church's strong desire for the Evolution Cube came from how Psyker was able to locate the Evolution Cube, as they thought they had a good chance to snatch it back. Once they lost that, they would have to carefully reconsider if they wanted to take the Evolution Cube back.
Although he had decided to stay in Planet Lighthouse and lie low for some time, there was no way for him to keep hiding. Furthermore, the Arcane Church definitely would not think that the dynasty did not speculate their intentions. If there were really no chances of sneak attacking, it was not impossible for them to directly attack Planet Lighthouse.
Due to the exploration of a new Star Field, the dynasty was currently in a weaker state among the three civilizations, and the other two had always been looking for opportunities. It was totally possible for the Arcane Church to start a direct conflict with the dynasty. Although the chances of the Arcane Church using such an aggressive plan were not high given their style, Han Xiao did not completely exclude this possibility.
After all, he had changed the storyline. Compared to the same time period in his previous life, the relationship between organizations had changed subtly. Even he did not know how far the Arcane Church would go to obtain the Evolution Cube.
If he could make the Arcane Church give up this time, he would not have to be on the passive side in the future.
As for whether Psyker would still follow the Arcane Church to make a move on him, Han Xiao was not worried. Even just to find out why his senses were blocked, Psyker would certainly come. Evolution Cube had belonged to Psyker, so the Arcane Church would not leave its formal owner out of it. Therefore, he could still indirectly find out about the Arcane Church's movements through paying attention to Psyker's whereabouts.
"You..." Psyker was just about to question when he realized the call had ended. The anger was stuck in his throat and made his blood boil.
Psyker paused. He then contacted the upper echelons of the Arcane Church with a long face.
"There's been a change. I can no longer locate Black Star."
"What?" The upper echelons of the Arcane Church were shocked."The operation plan has already been decided. For such an accident to happen now... Since we no longer know Black Star's accurate location, we will have to change our operation plan."
The Arcane Church's original plan was to discreetly gather an overwhelming Beyond Grade A force and have them secretly go to the Flickering World, sneak up on Black Star when he was out exploring, and kill him at once. The crux for this plan to work was the fact that Psyker could locate Han Xiao.
Psyker had never had a problem locating Black Star, but Black Star had managed to suddenly cut Psyker's senses off at such a crucial moment, and this disrupted the Arcane Church's plan.
Originally, they planned to have a group of Beyond Grade As attack Black Star when he was alone, so they could eliminate Black Star in a short time and immediately return to the Shattered Star Ring afterward through their secret stargate.
Since they could not directly locate Black Star, they might have to give up on killing Black Star and capture Black Star instead so that they could interrogate him about the location of the Evolution Cube. This meant that their Beyond Grade As would need to spend a very long time in the Flickering World.
In that new Star Field, the Arcane Church basically had no backup at all. Every second those Beyond Grade As remained there, their risks would increase. If their secret stargate was discovered and destroyed by the dynasty during their operation, those Beyond Grade As would have no way to leave the Flickering World and would be trapped there till their doom.
"I need to report this to the Pope and the Bishops to let them decide, " this upper echelon said.
Due to this change, the risk of this operation had increased tremendously, so it was no longer a decision he could make.
Nonetheless, he was secretly glad that this had happened before the operation started. For the time being, their team was still secretly on the way to the Garu Star Cluster and had yet to build the exit of the stargate, and the Beyond Grade As of the Arcane Church were still standing by. There was still room to make changes to the plan.
"Okay, " Psyker replied with resignation. Despite being more impatient than ever, he knew that there was no way he would be able to order the Arcane Church around.
...
Through the stargates, it only took Han Xiao a few days of beating up Hadavy for his fleet to return to Planet Lighthouse in the Dawn Star Cluster.
Tarrokov had already spoken to Han Xiao and knew that Han Xiao would be lying low on Planet Lighthouse for a while. He welcomed Han Xiao personally with his people at the dock.
The fleet landed, and Han Xiao disembarked from his spaceship with his officers, meeting Tarrokov.
"Chief commander."
"Your Excellency Black Star."
After a handshake and a greeting, the two of them headed toward the base of the Planet Lighthouse in a vehicle and started chatting.
"Who's in the second batch that will be taking part in the exploration?" Han Xiao asked casually.
Tarrokov gave him a knowing expression before pressing on his bracelet, which projected the information of eleven organizations.
Han Xiao glanced through and nodded in his mind. He knew these organizations. They were all renowned organizations of the different Star Fields. There were Beyond Grade A allied organizations. There were also Star Cluster civilizations like Klent, and they all were on the dynasty's side.
"Constellation Corridor's Arcane Institute, Primeval Star River's Pyre Demon Tribe, Blackhole Edge's Dragonblood Nation, Sea of Star Spirits' City of the Giant Fleet... A total of four Beyond Grade A organizations. Yo, three of them are familiar faces."
During his trip to the dynasty's mother planet a few months ago, Han Xiao had come to know seven Beyond Grade A Dynasty allies—three of whom had joined this exploration.
The leader of the Arcane Institute was a member of the universe-renowned elderly celebrity group—a member of the Ancient Ones, Ravenlaude.
The leader of the Pyre Demon Tribe was an old friend, Beyoni, who had fought EsGod alongside him. The leader of the City of the Giant Fleet was also someone he had met before. He was a Beyond Grade A Mechanic.
The only person he had never met before was the leader of the Dragonblood Nation, Milizaus. This guy was one of the three strongest National Pillars, someone on the same level as 'Dark Lord' Clotti, and the strongest individual in this exploration team.
Among the four of them, Han Xiao paid more attention to Ravenlaude—the area this guy would be exploring was the same as him, the Garu Star Cluster. He was a direct competitor. Also, Ravenlaude was the first owner of the Spacetime Amber in his previous life.
Of course, this time, Han Xiao had gotten it first, and Ravenlaude had missed the opportunity.
Han Xiao thought for a while and asked, "The dynasty said they will send one Beyond Grade A directly under them to protect me from the Arcane Church's possible sudden attack. Who will that be?"
Tarrokov waved and said, "The plan has changed. Milizaus and Beyoni have personally requested to protect you. This is a better option."
Han Xiao was stunned for a moment. Then it occurred to him, and he smiled.
"They must have said their terms."
"Yes." Tarrokov smiled too."They want to exchange this for a chance at using the Evolution Cube."
Han Xiao had expressed his stand long ago—he would not let the other dynasty allies use the Evolution Cube for free. If they wanted to use it, they had to give something in exchange. Therefore, Milizaus and Beyoni both wanted to make a deal with Han Xiao.
"What do you think? Do you agree with their terms?"
Han Xiao considered for a while before nodding."Sure."
This meant that he would have one more person to help him than previously planned and a much stronger one. Therefore, he had no objections. He could even use this opportunity to network a little.
He recalled that the Dragonblood Nation's faction specialty was all kinds of dragonblood potions that would increase one's attributes permanently. He was thinking that he might be able to obtain some of it this time. Han Xiao's goal was not high at all; a mere few hundred tons would be enough.
The second batch of the exploration team took different routes. The quicker ones would only take around ten days to arrive, and the slower ones might need a month. However, they had already gathered their teams, so that would not cause any unnecessary delays.
Having travelled all the way to the base, Han Xiao and his officers settled down in their residence that had been arranged for them long ago.
For the time he would be staying there, he would temporarily stop going out and only remotely command the Black Star Army to do their exploration. There was no need for him to be there personally for the usual exploration.
...
In a desolate universe belt of the Central Galaxy, the enormous Fallen Ark fleet was slowly moving in the cosmic space like a sea made of battleships.
"The Arcane Church said the operation is going to be delayed?"
Having been awoken, EsGod narrowed his eyes as he heard Fakisen's report.
"Reason?"
"The Arcane Church said there was a problem with the building of the secret stargate, and the Crimson Dynasty has sent out a second batch of the exploration team. Therefore, the risk of the operation has increased, and they need to adjust the plan. They told us to be patient and continue waiting, " Fakisen reported.
EsGod slowly nodded.
"Then let's do as they asked."
"One more thing, " Fakisen said."The Arcane Church said that there might be a possibility of directly attacking, so they hope that we can send out more fleets if that happens."
"So, they want us to send out more men to reduce their losses due to higher risks... Their style is becoming more and more similar to that of the Federation of Light." EsGod's tone was cold and indifferent."Agree to it."
As long as he could obtain the Evolution Cube, the casualties of his subordinates did not matter to him at all.
As he had been tricked by Black Star using a fake Evolution Cube the last time, EsGod wanted to work with the Arcane Church by using the Arcane Church as the middleman to borrow Psyker's psychic locating ability, so he would not make the same mistake again.
This was an important factor in their cooperation.
However, Psyker could no longer use his psychic power to locate the Evolution Cube, and if EsGod came to know about this, he would most likely reconsider their partnership.
Although the Arcane Church had yet to make a new plan, they did not want EsGod to back away from this operation. Therefore, they purposely kept the information about Psyker no longer being able to locate the Evolution Cube a secret from EsGod and found another logical reason to explain the delay of the operation.
Due to the deep hatred Psyker had for EsGod for what happened to Planet Avitan, of course, the Arcane Church did not tell Psyker that EsGod was part of this operation too.
Therefore, EsGod did not know about what had happened with Psyker and waited for the operation to start.
...
After staying for two days on Planet Lighthouse, Han Xiao had already finished looking through all the information about Spacetime Freezer that had been collected by Phillip.
As expected, when he was done, a notification popped up on the interface. The first round of the mission was an easy one.
Having received the reward, his Soul Connection with the Spacetime Amber increased by one. Han Xiao could immediately feel the difference.
Somehow, he could feel that his soul had established a link with the Spacetime Amber. He no longer needed any supportive device and could now directly control the Spacetime Amber with his mind.
At the same time, a special energy flowed into his body through the Soul Connection that made him feel warm all over. Han Xiao exhaled with comfort.
This energy only disappeared after a while. Han Xiao instantly felt that this energy had enhanced his body to a certain extent. He opened the interface to look at the notification.
_____________________
You have established a Soul Connection with [Spacetime Amber].
Current Soul Connection Level: 1/5
[Spacetime Amber]
Grade: Gold
Item Type: Universal Treasure
You have received the buff [Blessing of the Spacetime Amber].
[Blessing of the Spacetime Amber (Lv. 1)]: +10% Maximum Energy, +50 STR, +50 DEX, +50 END, +100 INT, +25 MYS, +25 CHA, +50% Basic Space Resistance, +20% Basic Psychological Resistance. The effect of all your spacetime related abilities are increased by 12% - 24%.
Buff Duration: Fixed
_____________________
"It's just level one, and the effect is already this good." Han Xiao's eyes lit up.
Just like how the Evolution Cube strengthened Psyker's psychic power, when he made a Soul Connection with the Spacetime Amber, he became stronger.
Han Xiao took out the Spacetime Amber and tried to use it. He realized that the energy output was higher, and the speed of creating amber increased significantly for about twenty to thirty percent.
"Looks like the stronger the Soul Connection, the faster I'm able to create amber with this thing."
Han Xiao looked at the second round of the mission, which also increased the Soul Connection. The mission requirement was to find the whereabouts of Spacetime Freezer's race and make contact with his descendants who had carried on his legacy.
"Er... this requirement..."
Han Xiao had a strange expression on his face.
It was not that he could not find the descendants of Spacetime Freezer, but they were too easy to find.
He had already finished reading all the data regarding Spacetime Freezer. He knew that this guy's race still existed and had always been under the civilization that Spacetime Freezer had once belonged to.
The only problem was... basically every descendant race of a Beyond Grade A had extraordinary talents and a very high percentage of Supers. They were always seen as an important resource by the civilizations and were protected heavily to produce warriors.
Spacetime Freezer's descendant race was also protected by the civilization that they belonged to and were practically not allowed to make any contact with outsiders.
This civilization had survived in the exploration era and had become an astronomical force.
It was one of the three universal civilizations—the Federation of Light!
If I, a Beyond Grade A on the Dynasty's side suddenly, run to the Federation of Light's territory...
Do I have to sneak in again? If I get found out this time, I'm probably going to be surrounded and beaten to death in the Federation of Light's territory...
Han Xiao's lips twitched. He was in the Flickering World and did not have time to leave, so it was clear that he would not be able to complete the second round of the mission any time soon. Therefore, he put it aside for the time being.
Anyway, he had the treasure in his hands, so he was in no hurry. He had something else to do.
Seven days had already passed since the last time he used [Bold Explorer]. The cooldown had ended.
This ability was like some sort of crystal ball magic, superstitious in every way. However, after testing it out, its effect was exceptional.
Han Xiao brought up the set of wormhole data that EsGod wanted and grinned slightly.
"I can finally uncover the secret in this set of data!"
Although he had already shared this set of data with the dynasty, and the dynasty's Science Institute would most likely decipher it in the future to obtain accurate clues...
Today, he decided to believe in superstition.
| ← Ch. 0838 | Ch. 0840 → |