Pushing on the ground with both hands, he managed to support the weight of the huge pack of wolves on his back. Each wolf weighed at least eighty kilograms. While it was very taxing, Han Xiao finally spotted an opening and quickly tumbled out, simultaneously pulling out a hand grenade from his clothes and tossing it underneath the pack of wolves.

Boom!

A muffled sound erupted, and fragments of the grenade shot out with the flames caused by the explosion. The pack of wolves howled mournfully as fresh blood gushed out from their bodies. Han Xiao’s armor was also splattered red. Staggering as he stood up, his hand brushed past his side as he brandished a foldable machete that had undergone many modifications. It was newly improved and could be said to be a royal-edition.

Han Xiao nimbly sprinted through the pack of wolves, his blade slashing through his enemies, bringing waves of fresh blood along his path. The venomous poison spat out by the purple-scaled python could not catch up to his footwork. With a flash of his blade, he sliced off the snake’s head. The blade wound where the snake was decapitated was as smooth as a mirror, with fresh blood spurting continuously as the headless snake convulsed uncontrollably on the floor.

All the wild beasts rushed toward him. Purely by borrowing the speed from the Skating Shoes and the defense from the magnetically controlled retractable armor, he could single-handedly massacre the flock of beasts. The players were left to the side-lines as they could only stare in shock and bewilderment as Han Xiao killed every beast that came his way.

He was a Mechanic, so how did he end up in a melee close-range fight?

The players’ eyes were all drawn to Han Xiao’s elegant fighting style. It was undeniable that he was really suave. He was redefining the way most of them viewed Mechanics!

It turned out that it was not true that Mechanics could only fight long-distance. Their close-quarter combat skill was also of note and could be very aggressive. Also, they had a clear style of close-quarter combat that was distinctly different from pugilists.

Frenzied Sword finally came online as he arrived at the outskirts of the town, out of breath. Seeing the situation with the wild beasts, it was also his first time watching Han Xiao display his skills. In that moment, he felt that he had found his guiding light. This was exactly the fighting style that he loved! One can tell just by looking at his ID!

Choosing to follow Han Xiao was definitely the best decision! Frenzied Sword could barely suppress his excitement; he really did make the right choice back then!

Not only Frenzied Sword, but a lot of other players were influenced by what has been going on in the forums. Players who were contemplating on whether to change classes began to take interest in Mechanics again.

After killing however many wolves and snakes, Han Xiao’s field of vision suddenly cleared. He realized that the wolf pack was gradually withdrawing amid whimpers, and the group of purple-scaled pythons fled as well. Soon, the wild pack of beasts had all retreated, leaving corpses strewn across the floors, soaking the ground in bright-red blood.

He exhaled a breath and wiped off the traces of blood left on his armor. With his stats, dealing with such low-level beasts would leave them completely crushed. He still had forty percent of his stamina left.

Mechanics rarely fought their enemies by close-combat. However, doing this occasionally did make him feel refreshed. Rather than using a fighting style that relied on sniping, which would lead to an instant death with each shot, this kind of real fist fighting feeling was much more suitable for destressing.

Green Valley Ville’s guards came out to clean up the battlefield, carrying the dead corpses of the wild beasts back to the town as food supplies. Han Xiao rejected Bashas’ repeated invitation. Under the eyes of the excited players, he returned to his original position indifferently, pretending to rest as he closed his eyes.

The interface indicated that the mission was complete. Also, he killed over a hundred beasts, obtaining more than 20,000 EXP points in total. As his own level was much higher than his massacred targets, the EXP points he gained would be cut down by a lot, but no matter how small it was, it was EXP nonetheless. The almighty Mechanic Han would not mind it at all. The main purpose behind this fight was to test his current reflexes and to have a clearer understanding on his physical caliber. Only by doing that could he take care of smaller details in future battles and perform at his best. Another reason was that he wanted to continue to show off a Mechanic’s abilities. He realized that Esper players often showed off their coolest abilities, but new Mechanic players were still a minority. He guessed that Mechanics would become a class that would be questioned, so he wanted to shift the players’ focus from Espers by showing them how Mechanics could be great players too.

Opening the forum, Han Xiao realized that there were players who had uploaded a video footage of the fight just now. The title was shocking.

“Overpowered! Mechanics can actually fight like this!”

The recording showed Han Xiao almost single-handedly conquering a wild-beast fight. The visuals were very impactful. In the past, he had mainly used sniping, killing his enemies in one shot, or used his turrets’ and rovers’ high firepower, but he had never showed off his individual fighting ability. This time, he highlighted this, and the real-time comments and replies mostly conveyed shock and amazement.

But he realized that below the post, there was a reply that was manually pushed up. Looking at the ID, it was Luzman. His tone was as harsh as before.

“Black Phantom is indeed very strong, I won’t deny that, but Mechanics are really trash. Look carefully at the start of the video. Espers are the central force when fighting with wild beasts, and those players who advanced to become Mechanics can only sit at the side and fire aimlessly without a single use for them.

“I presume this clip was probably recorded by a Mechanic. Other than the Mechanics who can be idling at one side, I guess no other players would have this kind of time in an actual fight…

“Also, stop sharing Black Phantom’s videos, this asshole wants to trick me into becoming a Mechanic again!”

As he continued down the post, the replies split into those who supported Luzman and those who disagreed with him.

Han Xiao smacked his lips. He was a little annoyed. Luzman held onto that point and had been smearing his reputation. This would be a hindrance to his business. The players’ attention was drawn toward this discussion. His display of abilities seemed to be less impactful now. With Han Xiao’s rich experience in discussion, with one look, he could tell that Luzman was a keyboard warrior who posted derogatory comments everywhere to trigger fights online.

Scratching his head, Han Xiao did not really have a good solution to this. This was a discussion that would obviously come up, just like picking between sweet tofu or salty tofu. As long as nobody restricted it, there was no way to stop others from commenting online.

But I’m only an NPC now. Even if I showed off my abilities, it isn’t enough to get more people to believe in Mechanics. There isn’t anything else that I can do either; it’s not like I can go in front of the players and shout ‘I’m actually a player’… Han Xiao felt helpless.

The NPC template was his secret that he did not want to disclose. From the perspective of a player though, seeing an NPC shout “I’m a player” would only cause them to feel curious and amused. Not many would believe it to be true, and most would think that it was an easter egg or a character design, just like Deadpool.

There were some simulation games in the past where fictional characters inside would say that they knew of the players’ existence, but who would believe it to be true? Those who really did believe it had already been corrected by Yang Technologies.

The smell of blood had yet to fade away. Frenzied Sword, who had run over from a distance away, attracted the attention of the players. Galaxy Times had announced his movements, and Frenzied Sword had gained some short-lived fame. He was recognized in a moment.

The players around them began whispering to one another, looking in envy.

“Isn’t that the professional gamer mentioned by the program? He has a picture on the promotional ad.”

“He really does have a special relationship with Black Phantom.”

“I want to unlock a hidden quest with the Black Phantom, too.”

Frenzied Sword waddled over to Han Xiao’s side.

Han Xiao regarded this player, who had some potential, well. It was alright to embarrass Frenzied Sword in front of NPCs, but he did not have the heart to do so in front of the crowd of players. No matter what, Frenzied Sword was also a professional gamer, and his image was very important.

Han Xiao randomly assigned some regular mission. When Frenzied Sword received the mission, his face was overcome with disappointment.

“Collect materials? That’s so boring. You might as well tell me to dance.”

Han Xiao’s lips curved up. Habits were indeed scary.

Just then, a player walked over. The ID above his head read ‘Laughing Blade’. He asked, “Frenzied Sword?”

Once Frenzied Sword saw this person, his face fell as he dryly replied, “It’s you. So, you’re here to play Galaxy as well. Why aren’t you playing Knight anymore?”

“Haha, it’s not challenging enough,” Laughing Blade said half-mockingly.

Some players recognized Laughing Blade.

“Isn’t that the professional gamer, Laughing Blade?”

“I heard he was one of the top three players in Knight; he even won two championships before.”

Laughing Blade enjoyed the players’ surprise thoroughly. His eyes hid feelings of condescension as he looked at Frenzied Sword.

In the past, Frenzied Sword had also been a professional gamer in Knight. In official competitions, he had suffered countless defeats to Laughing Blade, and his fame was far from that of Laughing Blade.

Laughing Blade saw the rewards assigned to Frenzied Sword on Galaxy Times and realized that his old opponent was better-off than him. Feeling green from jealousy, he intentionally came to stir up trouble. After a few words, he pretended to ask casually, “Since we’ve met, let’s have a PVP duel. I’m an Esper, what about you?”

“… Mechanic.”

Frenzied Sword was slightly hesitant. Even though he was under Han Xiao’s mentorship, his current Mechanic abilities were very unsuited for battle. Subconsciously, he wanted to reject the duel.

Unexpectedly, Laughing Blade suddenly said, “Since we’ve known each other for so many years, let’s have a friendly duel. You can’t possibly reject a small request like this, or do you look down on me?”

Frenzied Sword was speechless. Those words made it hard for him to reject. There was no need to have a falling out with someone in the same industry over something small like this.

Laughing Blade laughed coldly in his mind. He had said that because he was afraid that Frenzied Sword would reject the deal. He wanted to have a duel with Frenzied Sword only because he had gained some popularity on Galaxy.

Once he obtained some fame, it made him easy to become someone else’s prey.

If he were to defeat Frenzied Sword, he could probably tone down the latter’s popularity. For a professional gamer who had attended a program to be defeated by him, he could become a little more famous as well.

Laughing Blade was very confident. He felt that an awakened Esper was quite strong. His elementary application was a rock-earth fusion armor that was suitable for defense. It was strong against pistols, so he felt that his chances of winning were quite high.

Even if he were to lose, he could test the gap between them. Anyway, at this point, they would not die. Laughing Blade felt that this deal only had benefits to him, and he would not have any losses.

Also… he looked toward Black Phantom, who was standing at one side, his gaze lighting up.

If Frenzied Sword can unlock a hidden quest, I’ll give it a try too!