The Legendary Mechanic

"Is that a threat?" Han Xiao was mystified. This was really too direct.

"No, I'm just helping you understand your current situation." Psyker's tone remained calm yet steely.

With them both being Beyond Grade A Supers who wielded immense strength, the laws of the various civilizations had already lost their purpose in front of them. Beyond Grade A Supers were the class that represented prestige, and they had already stepped out of the rules of society. Thus, any nonsense from Psyker was useless, and he chose to immediately strike his opponent's weak points. This was more useful than exchanging a lot of bullcr*p pleasantries.

As for Black Star's current situation, Psyker was not too aware, but he knew that the Tyrant had set his sights on him. Thus, no matter whom he joined, the balance would be broken.

What he was betting on was that Black Star, as a new Beyond Grade A, would choose stability as a priority. He still had to accumulate his strength and influence, splitting apart the benefits in the Star Field as he had just risen to Beyond Grade A. Thus, facing the threat of two older Beyond Grade As, he would likely choose to compromise.

The Star Pupil Holy Race's genes were already almost optimized to the bottleneck. The function of the Evolution Cube had no use for them, and what Psyker needed was to use its value—to trade it with the Arcane Church in exchange for its support.

Over the past few decades, the Arcane Church had repeatedly proposed generous conditions in exchange for the Evolution Cube, and their latest bid proposed that they would support the Star Pupil Holy Race into becoming the designated spokesperson of the Arcane Church in the Shattered Star Ring, allowing it to become a true Star Cluster civilization. This promise moved Psyker.

However, his bargaining chip was then stolen.

As such, it did not really matter if the Evolution Cube was portable or not. Han Xiao's conditions were not attractive in his eyes, as he did not need to borrow it but rather needed the Evolution Cube itself.

No matter what, the Evolution Cube had to be returned to his hands, or else he would lose the support of the Arcane Church. After all, without the Evolution Cube, there was no need to discuss anything else!

Han Xiao thought a little and could understand Psyker's rationale as well as his bottom line. The other party could not compromise, which gave him a headache.

This little comrade refused to perform the win-win cooperation and only wished to take back the Evolution Cube. He could not fulfill Psyker's wishes in any way.

Threatening another's race would do more harm than benefit as well. All galactic civilizations were covered under the Civilization Treaty but not mercenary groups. This was the difference in the nature of their organizations. It would be okay for others to hit him, but he himself could not attack other civilizations. This was how sad and pathetic the life of a mercenary was.

Psyker cared about his own race, and this was a well-known weakness of this. But if he gave in every time someone threatened him with his race, the Star Pupil Holy Race would not have reached this current stage. One could even say that Psyker had received threats his entire life, leading to his tough stance in dealing with problems. Unless Han Xiao decided to abandon his Black Star Army and turn into a wanted man in the galaxy, like EsGod, he would not use the Star Pupil Holy Race to threaten him.

However, he knew of this point and is not willing to use the Black Star Army to threaten me. This means that he still has some morals left and is not willing to force me into a corner.

Han Xiao's heart was moved.

The focus of this competition was for the Evolution Cube, and both parties had some sort of restraining fear. In order to avoid the losses of both, they had not mentioned their respective forces.

However, Han Xiao was unwilling to hand the cube over to Psyker so easily. For most civilizations, the Evolution Cube was an unprecedented opportunity for development, and no civilization would be able to reject this opportunity. If he controlled the Evolution Cube by himself, it will form a huge collective of interests, and the Black Star Army's influences would soar hundreds of thousands of times higher than it currently was.

Taking a step back, with his identity as a Beyond Grade A, if he took the Evolution Cube to work together with the Crimson Dynasty, he would be able to obtain the support of a Universal Civilization. The Star Pupil Holy Race obviously enjoyed such a benefit from the Arcane Church, and they would also be able to join in the forces for early exploration to the Flickering World, laying the groundwork for future versions.

At the same time, the Evolution Cube would still be able to attract countless Calamity Grades and maybe even Beyond Grade As. That was not impossible.

He was not someone like Psyker who only had his own race in mind, keeping all the good stuff only for his race to utilize.

There was only one Evolution Cube, so the benefits were huge. He did not have a chance before, so that was it. However, this opportunity had been presented to him, and he had the strength to keep the treasure. If he gave it up too easily, it would be letting himself down.

When it was time to fight, Han Xiao would never retreat.

Taking the Evolution Cube for himself would give the best benefits, accompanied by the same amount of risks. However, with his body and Aurora's medicine, even if the Tyrant and Psyker joined forces, they might not be able to kill him. His forces would be able to improve even further without any threat, as the supporting ability of the Evolution Cube was top-class. However, if he gave the cube back to Psyker, while there would be no danger, he would have given up a lot of benefits, only being able to obtain the scraps once they had been distributed.

This was the choice of wanting a single tree or taking the entire forest!

Han Xiao no longer thought about it and asked, "Is there no room for compromise at all?"

"If a civilization wishes to develop, it is inevitable that they fight for resources, for the future," Psyker blandly said. "Since ancient times, no matter how advanced or backward a civilization is, you cannot escape this rule, and you cannot fight it. In the end, if you don't follow these rules, you'll be eliminated. I believe you've heard the saying 'a civilization without ambition has no future'."

He would not say things like the Evolution Cube belonged to him and that he should get it back, as they were both standing at the pinnacle of individual strengths. It was useless to reason. In essence, the Evolution Cube was ownerless, but the other influences considered it his only because he had held it for a long time.

If it was something that the Star Pupil Holy Race had created, Han Xiao would probably have handed it over. However, this treasure did not belong to Psyker, and even if the other party wished to use it for righteous causes such as upgrading his own race, this universe was not only made up of the Star Pupil Holy Race. Resources were obtained by fighting, so why did others have to make way for him? The Star Pupil Holy Race was an intelligent civilization but so were others!

Psyker occupying the Evolution Cube and transforming his race would make him regarded as a hero by his people but a selfish enemy by others. The judgement of one's position was purely based on their perspective, especially in Galaxy where relationships were complex. The development of a civilization had long been a process of sailing against the flow.

In Han Xiao's view, the Star Pupil Holy Race had already enjoyed the benefits of the Evolution Cube. Even if they lost it, the Star Pupil Holy Race would still be a strong civilization. Psyker only grabbed onto this benefit and did not wish to let go because he was not satisfied with the status quo, wishing to take his civilization to a higher level.

"A civilization without ambition has no future. This sentence makes sense. You, as the leader of a civilization, indeed have to place the burdens of the entire civilization on your back. It's just that…" Han Xiao sighed. "I don't intend to pay the bill for your ambition."

Psyker paused before his tone got even more severe. "Have you thought it through?"

"There's only one Evolution Cube. Neither of us wish to let it go, and there's no way to reconcile, so there's nothing left to say." Han Xiao shook his head. He had never been a good person who would turn his head away from money. After weighing the cost and benefits, he came to this decision.

"Good, I hope you don't regret this decision!"

Psyker suddenly moved, and boundless psychic energy in the form of shock waves burst out, distorting the air as they attacked the mechanical army behind, directly penetrating the formation.

Boom!

Thousands of fireworks exploded in the mechanical army, and the broken parts flew all over the sky. Nearly a hundred thousand mechanical soldiers were severely damaged, and their bodies were broken. Some were even directly scrapped.

Those mechanical soldiers constructed at the Calamity Grade were indeed too brittle before a Beyond Grade A, even with the Mechanical Force bonus…

"Spread the formation!" Han Xiao ordered the battle Artificial intelligence from his mind, and his mechanical arm changed its shape to form a spiral drill entwined with psionic energy as it thrust toward Psyker.

Psyker hand eye coordination was swift, and he quickly gripped the drill.

Buzz buzz…

The drill in Psyker's hands spun rapidly, and his palms were covered with a psychic shield that was in contact with the drill. Sparks were constantly being emitted from the friction between the two. Psyker's eyes gleamed at this moment.

Han Xiao felt a burst of pain in his mind as he was attacked in the spiritual state once again. Without waiting, Psyker released white light all over his body, and ripples of psychic energy spread rapidly, smashing into Han Xiao like a block. He was pushed back thousands of meters.

Immediately, Psyker's hands clasped together strongly, and a loud blast of energy surged into the sky!

Han Xiao stabilized his body, and upon looking, he found that Psyker's appearance had changed dramatically.

Psyker's body had swollen to become a circle, and the two jade-like corners of his forehead had elongated. The small hair-like tentacles around his head merged to form a huge white tentacle, like a tail on his head. It waved around, seemingly extremely tensile, and three pairs of wings spread out from the vents around his body, turning him into an arthropod.

His seven eyes lit up with a dazzling white light, and the deep purple lines on his skin all lit up, exuding immense energies. Within the joints of his bone armor, sharp bone blades emerged, and a white cloud like psychic power was continuously released around his body.

Psyker had revealed his true combat form.

Han Xiao's eyes narrowed. Not everyone would be willing to work with him, and since Psyker had rejected the support, he decided to keep his own ass and speak with his fists.

In the end, using their fists was still the most direct way to resolve any issues.

When negotiations failed, they could only persuade people in such a way.

I just spoke about flipping the table, and this guy really did so. What a fine temper… but don't think I'm afraid of you!

Boom!

Han Xiao no longer conserved himself and activated all his buff skills before exploding out with all his Mechanical Force.

Whoosh!

The Mechanical army lined up, firing toward Psyker, and the psionic rays from the Particle Cannons were akin to a sea of destruction.

Compared to the hasty confrontation previously, this was a real battle!

This was also the first Beyond Grade A battle that Han Xiao had personally taken part in!