The cool night wind blew in from the window, and the buzzing sound of the work station filled their ears. It was a little noisy, but Han Xiao was chatting casually with Lu Qian.

“Your shop has been here for quite a number of years, how’s business?”

Lu Qian’s hair was tied back, and she wore a safety mask. While looking down and welding the metal, she replied, “With such a bad location, of course, the business isn’t good.”

“You seemed busy when I came in.”

Lu Qian shook her head. “I’m the only one here. With the orders stacking up, of course, there is always something to do.”

“Aren’t you going to hire a helper?”

Lu Qian paused and sighed. “Hired one before, left.”

“Probably because the salary was too low.” Han Xiao shook his head in disapproval.

“Was that the reason?” Lu Qian doubted.

She was just an ordinary person and did not know about these large issues. Han Xiao had left without saying goodbye back then and had been uncontactable since, so Lu Qian still held a grudge.

The apprentice worker whom they had finally been able to hire had disappeared just like that.

Although they did not spend a very long time together, Han Xiao had left a very deep impression on Lu Qian. Old Man Lu and she had been the only ones in the shop before, and with one more person joining in, it had felt much livelier. She had felt happy during the time they spent together. However, even after a very long wait, Han Xiao still had not returned, greatly upsetting Lu Qian.

“Since business is not good, have you ever thought of moving elsewhere?”

Lu Qian shook her head. “This is my home.”

Rapid and dense footsteps approached. A group of field agents arrived in the dark.

At this time, the unconscious field agent slowly woke up. His expression changed, and he immediately wanted to get up with a roll. However, a fist enlarged in front of his eyes.

Bang!

Han Xiao knocked him out once again right before the eyes of the field agent team.

“Freeze, raise your hands!” The field agent team raised their guns and aimed at Han Xiao as the captain yelled, “We are Stardragon Strategic Defense Division. We need to verify your identity. You have to come with us.”

Swoosh!

With a few flashes of light, the muzzles of the field agent team’s handguns were sliced open smoothly.

The captain’s expression changed immediately. “Requesting back—”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In a blink of an eye, Han Xiao, who had been sitting on the chair just a second ago, was in the middle of the people. The field agent team who had entered ferociously were now all on the floor. With his attributes, knocking down these LV 10 normal field agents in an instant was a piece of cake.

Security is too weak. I hope this will make Division 13 strengthen their guards. Hmm, it would be best if they don’t even let the players in.

Han Xiao shook his head, took out stacks of cash, placed it on the table, and left.

Lu Qian regained focus. She stared at Han Xiao’s back and suddenly asked, “Have we met before?”

Without turning back, Han Xiao smiled faintly and said, “No, we haven’t.”

After he disappeared into the night, Lu Qian put down the things in her hands. She took off the protective mask, tucked her hair behind her ear, and suddenly smiled, a smile with unspoken meanings.

…

Han Xiao smuggled himself out of the Western Capital, boarded the helicopter back to the sanctuary, and then took out the blueprints that he had just received.

_____________

[Blueprint: Magnetic Chain Style Hovering Shield Shuttle]

[Blueprint: Sonic Sphere—Penetrate]

[Blueprint: Sonic Sphere—Quake]

[Blueprint: Sonic Sphere—Scout]

_____________

These four machines made up a unique combat style, with both offensive and defensive capabilities. The three different types of sonic spheres were the core equipment; they all had different functions that complimented one another. As the name suggested, sonic spheres were related to sonic attacks.

Ultrasound and infrasound were equipped in the Penetrate style, focused on damage. Noise-sonic and Strong-sonic were equipped in the Quake style, focused on disabling. The Scout style was focused on support, related to sonar detection. It could also enhance the power of the other two types of sonic spheres, as well as create an area where all sonic attacks within the area would be enhanced. Plus, it had MP3 functions.

The requirements to learn these four blueprints were LV 45, more than 250 Intelligence, [Basic Acoustics Lv.5], [Basic Mechanical Engineering Lv.5], [Basic Energy Theory Lv.5], [Basic Energy Conversion Lv.5], [Basic Spatial Sensing Lv.3], and [Basic Electromagnetism Lv.4]. Han Xiao had 68 Potential Points at the moment—he spent twelve to level up what was needed and satisfied the requirements.

One day later, Han Xiao returned to the sanctuary and immediately started building the equipment.

The core technology of the sonic spheres was acoustics; the most important part was the emitter of the sonic attacks. Pipes to produce sound frequencies needed to be made with electromagnetic plates and micro adjusted according to different sonic attack types, and to connect these pipes together into a sphere frame required high skills. He spent quite some time before he finally built the end product.

The three metal spheres lay on the workstation quietly. They were roughly two-thirds the size of an average human head. They were not entirely spherical, and there were some edges and corners. The exterior was made of cold armor to protect the interior core, and the emitters were hidden in the gaps between the armor.

The original control method involved hand signs and whistling. Han Xiao changed that into Nerves Connection control. By wearing a specially-made headset, it would convert the nerve signals and send them into the receivers within the sonic spheres to be identified into commands, and this was effective within sixty meters.

Up, Han Xiao commanded in his mind.

The armor plate of these three sonic spheres split open and exposed black holes. White flames shot out from them, and they flew up, wobbling, hovering in midair. The sonic spheres had flying capabilities and could move freely in the air—it was his mid-range combat equipment. Han Xiao familiarized himself with the controls.

He then started to test the power of the sonic spheres. After some observation, Han Xiao found that the range of Sonic Sphere—Penetrate was about twenty meters. It was used mainly to damage the target, creating armor penetration soundwaves and attacking the target through obstacles. The attack range was in a straight line or an inverted cone.

The basic damage of Sonic Sphere—Penetrate was 81–130. Although that did not look very high, that was not the case. The specialty of sonic attacks was that they are highly penetrative. The damage reduction from armor was very low, and with Han Xiao’s attribute enhancements and skill enhancements, one hit from it could deal 350 – 400 damage. If Flaming Will was used as well, it would not be weaker than the Ghost sniper rifle that had more than 250 damage, Furthermore, the damage output of Sonic Sphere—Penetrate was more stable than the Ghost sniper rifle; it could be used as the main combat method.

Sonic Sphere—Quake had area disabling effects. It could cause debuffs like stunned, shocked, paralyzed, unconscious and such. Its attack range was a sphere of ten meters diameter. Sonic Sphere—Scout could create a sonic enhancing zone in a diameter of one hundred meters, increasing the damage and effects of the other two.

Thud!

Sonic Sphere—Penetrate sped up in an instant, smashed a pit on the metal wall, and made a loud noise.

The sonic sphere was very sophisticated. He smashed it against the wall to test its interior durability. This smash made it lose 17 durability, and the total durability of the sonic sphere was 1,600.

One percent is lost with just one hit. Seems it won’t last long if it’s attacked.

The three sonic spheres—one for offense, one for control, and one for support—worked together. The defense would be taken care of by the Magnetic Chain Style Hovering Shield Shuttle, with about the same technology as the Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades but for defense. Technically, it was a ‘shield generator’. The hovering shuttles would form a shape in the air, then connect with each other with electromagnetic energy. The shape it formed would become an electromagnetic shield.

Shielding technology was very common in the galaxy, but there was almost no mature shield technology on Planet Aquamarine. In the galactic standard, this kind of single surface shield was very basic. However, it was rare machinery in Version 1.0.

He could control at most four sonic spheres at one time—controlling more would mean lower accuracy. To Mechanics, receiving strong machinery did not mean that its powers could be fully utilized right away. Many complicated machines required the user to be very familiar with them in order to be able to utilize their full potential. The skills of Mechanic players were also based on how they used their best machinery, so-called micro-control.

However, micro-control was a piece of cake for the experienced Great Mechanic Han.

Including the sonic sphere style, I now have four combat methods. The core style would be Amphiptere mechanical suit, in cooperation with the other three, capable of ranged, mid-ranged, and melee styles. These will be enough for any situation at the moment. I will not need any new combat methods any time soon.

Han Xiao suddenly remembered that he had taken away what belonged to Lu Cheng, and he wondered what Lu Cheng’s reaction would be after he received the blueprints that he had replaced. Old Man Lu might find him to complain.

That was good as well. It had been quite some time since he last saw Old Man Lu, and he missed him a little.