The Legendary Mechanic (WN)
chapter-264

The leader had sustained heavy injuries, and this caused the Germinal forces to instantly collapse.

Some troops rushed to surround and protect the leader while others were still bogged down in a battle. The Six Nations' experts used this opportunity to concentrate fire on a single spot and created a hole in the Germinal formation.

"Get in the car!" Tang Tang yelled.

The cars were about to drive past Han Xiao, and this was the best chance to get in the car.

Han Xiao took a glance toward the leader and saw that he was blocked by several lines of bodyguards.

The leader still had fourteen percent of his health left, and with the troops surrounding him, it would not be easy for Han Xiao to kill the leader in a short amount of time. Seeing how his allies were all about to successfully escape from the Germinal forces, delaying any longer could risk them getting encircled once more.

Han Xiao himself did not really mind this. With his current strength, he could solo the Germinal army that was on the brink of breaking apart with ease. However, aside from Bennett, all other members of the team that came had sustained injuries, and casualties might arise were they to keep on fighting.

Han Xiao had once been their rescue target, but now, he had turned into someone who needed to protect them.

Han Xiao did not know whether he should laugh or cry at this, but he made the logical decision within a short moment.

[The Traitor's Ambush] mission is already completed, and my job is done. All I have to do now is relay the confidential information to the Six Nations and let them worry about the rest.

He decided not to deal the final blow as it did not really matter to him at this point.

As the cars were just about to pass him, one of the doors opened, and Han Xiao quickly jumped aboard, leaving the troops behind in the dust.

The Germinal troops were completely left behind this time, slowly becoming specks on the horizon.

"It's done." Han Xiao finally let out a deep breath. The leader would no longer have any chance to stop him now.

This had truly been an exhilarating experience.

This time, he had rescued Aurora and Hila from the Germinal headquarters, stolen advanced Mechanic Knowledge from their lab, and even gotten hold of a bunch of crucial war information. Killing his way out and revealing his identity had also cemented his position as a Legend on the planet as well as further boosting his reputation among the players. He had broken past Version 1.0's limit after killing countless high-level Germinal executives and even beaten up the leader himself, obtaining the lucky draw on two of the leader's abilities.

Although he had faced endless danger along the way, the reward made it all well worth it!

Han Xiao thought of something and suddenly looked back at the Germinal leader from the car window.

The leader stood shakily on a distant sand dune, with his now weak-looking figure swaying in the wind.

Han Xiao and the leader's gaze locked onto each other's despite the long distance.

The leader was expressionless. He had mustered all his resources this time yet had ended up with nothing to show for it. However, instead of raging over it, all Han Xiao saw in the leader's eyes were conflicting emotions of pain, dejection, and even a sense of release and weariness. It was as if he had used up all his will and no longer had the energy to let out his fury.

Han Xiao was somewhat puzzled and became curious about this character.

Leading the Germinal Organization to overthrow the mighty Six Nations. Why did he do all this? What kind of person was he?

Ambitious? Cruel? Immoral?

Despite his long-time adversity with the leader, Han Xiao barely knew about his foe.

Oh right. I don't even know his name.

Han Xiao once again focused his gaze on the leader, and the leader also met his gaze from the distance.

In that instant, it was someone had pressed the pause button, and even time itself had stopped. The gaze between the two looked almost like a still painting.

This was Han Xiao's first face-to-face contact with the leader…

… and also the last.

Later, the Six Nation fighters present would describe this scene and leak it to the whole world.

After the war had ended, when each nation was re-organizing, they would find out that this was the turning point in the war. The stare-down between Zero and the Germinal leader would become a historical moment and be recorded in Planet Aquamarine's history.

…

The moon lit up the night, and stars were scattered throughout the sky. The astral sea lit up this side of the hill, and artificial lighting was not even needed deep into the night.

The three cars were parked atop a hill that was hidden in the middle of a small forest. The engines were turned off, and silence filled in the surroundings. Everyone had gotten out their cars and spread out to mind their own business. Some chewed on their rations, some tended to their wounds, and others made small talk.

After the intense combat throughout the day, they had decided to stop there for the night to rest. Driving past the plains in front of them would get them to the border between the Six Nations' and Germinal's warzone. Germinal had limited control over this area, and it was nothing compared to the forces that were swarming around the headquarters. The forces that had pursued and ambushed them earlier had suffered heavy casualties, and there were truly no more threats to the team.

Han Xiao finally had some time to take in the changes that he had gotten from evolving his race.

He observed his body under the gentle moonlight. His skin was still yellow, but there were some minor changes. After the minor changes to his DNA, his body became even better proportioned, and his limbs seemed to have grown longer. He also felt that he had become more handsome as he checked himself out with a mirror…

Yup. Definitely not just my imagination.

[Type-i Space Human] had high compatibility with his body. This was a race of humans who had adapted to live in space and had been exposed to a variety of different types of radiation as well as the planet's environments over the years. This was a race that followed strictly followed the laws of evolution, and those who could not adapt naturally could not survive. The logic behind was similar to how humans on Earth had evolved into different races: Asians, Caucasians, Africans, etc. The differences all came from the different living environments. Type-i Space Humans also started as the countless normal humans in the universe—more commonly recognized by other alien races as Carbon Monkeys, Parasites, Sneaky B*stards, Prideful Creatures, Racists, Not Delicious, etc.

Due to the harshness of space, the Type-i Space Humans had much stronger bodies. They had a more perfect body structure, and their organs could function at a higher capacity. If normal humans were comparable to thin sheets of paper, they would be like rubber, much harder to break.

Of course, the body still looked more or less like a normal human. There was not anything such as green skin or longer teeth.

Each race and species' evolution paths were very much traceable. Carbon-based organisms could not suddenly become mechanical lifeforms. Those that evolved or mutated into having potential to utilize life energy were commonly known as True Soul Carriers. Most thought-capable species had the potential to develop this power.

Although a normal human has a lot of evolution paths to choose to follow, the more one evolves, the harsher the requirements will become to evolve again. A Space Human has less of an option in evolving as there is usually only one main pathway, but with more evolutions, the compatibility will also increase. Those extremely powerful races all require high compatibility and also have the most potential.

Han Xiao nodded. Evolution was a step-like process. Gaining massive power early on would naturally mean that one would mean losing out later on. Only by walking on a wider road would he have more options in the future.

It was also important how well the evolution pathway worked with his class. As he did not need to go for those all-brawn-no-brain races, the [Type-i Space Human] evolution was very suitable for Han Xiao.

I might as well finish dealing with [The Traitor's Ambush] now.

Han Xiao rubbed his hands and was full of expectations like an old gambler.

Ahem. It was more like the excitement one felt from getting their pay.

_____________________

[The Traitor's Ambush] has been completed.

You have obtained: Lucky draw for two of the Germinal leader's abilities.

Commencing lucky draw… Draw complete.

Please choose two out of the five following abilities:

1. [Advanced Martial Arts] – Talent: Decrease energy consumption by 30% when using pugilist skills and increase damage output by 15%.

2. [Venomous Attack] – Skill: Assassin-type skill. Strike fast like a snake, and deal 4 – 7 consecutive blows to your opponent. The first hit will deal 41 – 59 bonus damage, and each following blow will deal 5% less.

3. [Repel - Thorns] – Skill: Use your energy to absorb 30% of all incoming attacks. If it's a melee battle, reflect the same amount of absorbed damage back to your opponent. Uses 300 energy, 500 stamina, and cools down in 110 seconds.

4. [Iron Fist] - Talent: Bare-handed attacks increase in damage by 7% and block chance increases by 3%.

5. [Steel Body] – Talent: Immune to true damage.

_____________________

Unfortunately, the Lucky Halo was not one of the draws.

Does he not have it, or is my luck just too bad? Han Xiao shook his head.

The leader had several dozen different abilities, and the chances of getting something good with only five draws was truly too low. So, Han Xiao was not that disappointed.

The leader was a pugilist, so most of the drawn abilities had something to do with martial arts. He was able to choose two out of the five abilities for himself.

"This is great! It's a Molding Ability!" Han Xiao's eyes lighted up.

Molding Abilities were unique in that they were very powerful, specific, and absolute—as in the case of damage immunity. This was exactly what Han Xiao was looking for.

[Steel Body] was basically a BOSS template. It would make him immune to attacks that dealt true damage. This would greatly reduce the chance of accidents from happening, and he would be much hard to be killed in one-shot. For example, without this ability, someone with a skill similar to [Flaming Will], which could do true damage, would have posed a huge threat to Han Xiao. However, with [Steel Body], that danger was completely negated. As Han Xiao himself did a lot of explosive attacks, he knew the pros and cons of true damage very well.

He chose [Repel - Thorns] because he did not have any other better choice out of the remaining draws. The others were all pugilist skills.

When he thought back on the previous fight between Bennett and the leader, the leader must have used this ability to tank Bennett's broken quintuple damage punch.

When Han Xiao thought about the leader again, he could not wipe away his interest in this main storyline character.