The Great Mechanic Han had a total of twenty-three talents, Reynold only had six fewer, seventeen talents. This was almost double what the three other Grade B freelance mercenaries had!

For those with high potential, as their level increased, they would regularly receive new talents.

In the current Black Star Army, Herlous was the one with the most talents among the officers—fifteen. He was much stronger than back then when he joined.

When Han Xiao recruited him, he had only had twelve talents.

In terms of the quality of talents, Feidin and Harmon were at the top. They both had Molding Talents.

Feidin’s Advanced Luck Glow, of course, was undisputedly overpowered.

Harmon’s [War God’s Tenacity] and [Desperate Straits] combined with his Basic Luck Glow as a protagonist type character was like a health lock cheat and unlimited buff cheat, which was also very powerful.

The Molding Talent was what differentiated regular people from elites and bosses. Han Xiao was genuinely surprised that Reynold had one too.

_____________

[Perfect Mechanical Sense]

Total Machinery Affinity * 1.4. (Includes basic value, bonuses from passive abilities, and talents. This effect applies to the total value.)

When enhancing machines using Mechanical Force, the quality of the machinery will be temporarily increased by 1 – 2 Grades, up to Pink Grade.

+4 levels to all Mechanic class active abilities. This effect can exceed the level limit.

Remark: In your senses, every machine is a world of ecological balance.

_____________

“It’s this talent!”

Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled.

In his previous life, there were players who had listed all the Molding Talents of the characters in Galaxy on the forums. Some of these talents were class exclusive; [Perfect Mechanical Sense] was exclusive to the Mechanic class and was considered one of the best Molding Talents. It influenced three things that were all connected to each other.

Needless to say, the 1.4 times multiplier to total Machinery Affinity was powerful.

Machinery Affinity was the core abilities of the Mechanic class, and it was used to increase the power of machines. For example, if a Mechanic had 500% Machinery Affinity provided by all his talents and abilities, [Perfect Mechanical Sense] would take 500% and multiply it by 1.4, making that 700%!

The rules of this bonus were the same as the Calamity Grade talent [Superhuman], applying to the total value. This meant that the stronger one’s fundamentals were, the higher the bonus was. As their level increased, the effect of this talent would become greater and greater.

The other two effects of [Perfect Mechanical Sense] were also useful. The temporary increase of the Machinery Grade meant an enhancement of the machines’ basic attributes. In simpler terms, trashy gray equipment would have the same effect as green equipment when he used it.

The last effect of adding four levels to all Mechanic class active abilities while ignoring the level limit meant the Lv.10 [Surging Mechanical Force] had the effects of Lv.14.

Those who had this talent could be deemed as ‘one in more than a century’ Mechanic class geniuses.

High level, strong talent, Grade B+… Reynold was the strongest person Han Xiao had ever recruited.

This was a high-quality wild leek!

“You’re a Mechanic?”

“Yes.” Reynold nodded.

“You’re very strong, stronger than all of the officers under my command.”

Han Xiao took it very seriously. He told Phillip to show him Reynold’s mercenary resume. As he looked, he frowned slightly.

“The data shows you’ve worked as a mercenary for seven years, moved through five small mercenary groups. You were active in the Hyde Star System in the earliest days, only coming to the Garton Star System in the last two years. With your strength, it’s more than enough for you to become a high ranking officer in large mercenary groups, why have you been in these small mercenary groups?”

He then stared at Reynold with inquiry in his eyes.

With a serious tone, Reynold said, “Large mercenary groups are too safe. I need more dangerous challenges to increase my alertness.”

Han Xiao squinted. “Then why do you want to join mine? My mercenary group is a large one.”

“I’ve faced enough challenges. What I need now is to break through, to learn more knowledge, to reach a higher level,” Reynold answered with a very straight face.

“What you mean is, you want to step into the Calamity Grade?” Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.

“Yes.” Reynold nodded heavily. “This is also why I’m here.”

Then, he lowered his head slightly and said respectfully, “We are both Mechanics, and you have stepped into the territory of the Calamity Grade. To me, you’re a pioneer on this path, and I’m still exploring, so… I hope to receive your guidance. For that, I’m willing to work for you.”

So that’s his motive for joining… Han Xiao figured it out. It was not the Black Star Army’s privileges that attracted Reynold but my strength.

This guy is Grade B+ and wants to become Grade A. Hence, he came to find me, a Grade A Mechanic, to learn from, wanting to become my student. Well, this motive is nothing but logical; I don’t see a problem.

In the five Super classes, Mechanics and Mages were keenest to learn. Exchanging and communicating knowledge was common for these two classes. Han Xiao understood Reynold’s actions very well. It was just like the players who looked for NPCs to learn abilities from.

This isn’t a bad thing… Han Xiao pondered silently. Reynold had a lot of potential. After recruiting him, the Black Star Army would have one more elite officer.

Sylvia was his only student, so adding Reynold would not be a problem. With his Calamity Grade strength and knowledge level, it was more than enough to teach Reynold.

As for helping Reynold get to Grade A, it depended on personal potential. Since Reynold had [Perfect Mechanical Sense], becoming Calamity Grade was basically a certainty, except Reynold did not know that himself.

Han Xiao made the decision very quickly. He nodded and said, “I can teach you, but you need to sign a longer-term contract.”

“Of course.” Reynold nodded. He believed that returns only came with hard work; Black Star was already much more casual about it than he had expected.

“Since you’re a Mechanic… how about this? You will be responsible for the logistics. You shall manage the workshop factory and the product line in the base, building more production lines and carrying out daily maintenance, repairs, and technical adjustments. This will all be your responsibility; you can gather some people to help you.”

Letting Reynold manage the workshop factory was very suitable. With his abilities, the machines that he built would be more than enough to meet the players’ needs—it would be just as popular.

Plus, Reynold knew how to build product lines, and he also knew many blueprints. He was the only one that could help Han Xiao in terms of building!

This way, the job of building new product lines could be entrusted to Reynold from now on. Han Xiao did not have to do everything himself anymore. According to the needs of the hundreds of thousands of players, he would be able to save at least one to two months every year for other things!

After all, the production rate of a single person was limited; a logistics department had to be created.

“No problem.” Reynold was very content with this position. What he wanted to do now was just train peacefully—he did not want to go out and fight people.

All the candidates were done with the test. Phillip made the new mercenaries sign the contracts before sending the information to the Mercenary Alliance. This way, the new mercenaries were officially members of the Black Star Army.

Other than a number of talented people, Han Xiao let Phillip arrange the positions for the new mercenaries and told Sylvia and some senior mercenaries to show the newbies around to familiarize themselves with their job. After all that, the newbies would take on their positions.

He had recruited thousands of people this time, so including the older mercenaries, Black Star Army had about 8,000 NPC mercenaries. It was many times larger compared to before.

Compared to the number of players, there were still very few NPC mercenaries. It was very difficult for it to explode in size, so the only way was to keep recruiting and building the numbers up.

The biggest surprise this time was Reynold. Even Han Xiao was tempted by the Molding Talent [Perfect Mechanical Sense]. If he could obtain this talent, he would not only be tanky but stronger in all aspects!

Sadly, he had yet to find a way to obtain this Molding Talent. Reynold was not an enemy, and even if he was, it was not certain that he could obtain [Perfect Mechanical Sense].

No matter, Han Xiao had plenty of patience.

…

Two days later, the new mercenaries all started to carry out their jobs.

The training camp of Base No.1 was officially built, too.

The more than a thousand unselected freelance mercenaries became the first batch of students. As the only drill sergeant at the moment, Brock officially took on the job.

On the first day, he was so exhausted that he almost vomited blood.

Training mercenaries was not as simple as just speaking—there had to be physical hands-on combat lessons, which was quite easy to get injured from. To train more than a thousand people alone, the amount of work Brock had to do was almost pitiful; he had completely no time to do anything else. After an entire day, he felt like his bones were about to collapse.

Remembering that he had to continue such a taxing job the next day too, Brock felt his world spinning.

However, after the first day ended as a trainer, Han Xiao deliberately went to encourage him. Brock was instantly motivated and full of energy.

Han Xiao’s attitude gave him the wrong idea. Brock thought that his performance had been noticed by Black Star. Him getting this special job right after joining meant that he was important to Black Star.

After all, among all the candidates, he and that Mechanic called Reynold were the only ones that had received special treatment.

Black Star might be testing his abilities.

As long as he completed the mission as a drill sergeant and proved himself, he might be accepted by Black Star and promoted to a high rank officer!

Only after becoming a high rank officer would he be able to monitor the intelligence network of the Black Star Army.

Thinking about that, Brock decided to clench his teeth and hang on, not looking for an assistant and completing the mission alone. Only that way would he be able to prove his abilities to the highest degree, making an impression on Black Star!

“How dedicated…”

Inside his room, Han Xiao monitored Brock’s every move in his Chaos Body.

Indeed, people with ulterior motives were the easiest to use.

Deactivating Chaos Body and returning to his human body, Han Xiao straightened his clothing and walked out of his room. He went to the machinery modification room of the base where Reynold and Sylvia were waiting.

It was a lesson day.

Sylvia was used to Han Xiao giving her these privileges, but now there was another person to share her teacher with, she felt very uneasy. She secretly sized Reynold up from time to time, with an unexplained sense of hostility.

Reynold looked straight forward at Han Xiao with an extremely serious face.

From that day forth, he would be learning from Black Star. This was an opportunity that he had earned with a five-year contract. It was very important to him.

Han Xiao stood before the two of them, pondered, and said, “The strength difference between the two of you is too huge. Reynold, I will teach you first. Sylvia, you can observe from the side.”

The power difference between the two was way too high. The knowledge that seemed too deep for Sylvia would just be fundamental for Reynold. Of course, he was not going to teach them at the same time.

As soon as Han Xiao finished speaking, Sylvia opened her eyes wide. How could her teacher teach the newcomer first?

She instantly felt indignant and gave Reynold a fierce glare, only to realize that he was not even looking at her at all, so she could only bloat her cheeks and turn away angrily.

Bringing Reynold and the angry Sylvia aside, Han Xiao cleared his throat and prepared to start the lesson. This time, Reynold took out a pen and notebook with lightning speed from his pocket.

“Er, what are you doing?”

“Recording the lesson content.” With a very serious face, Reynold quickly jotted down this conversation.

After taking a peek at the notebook, Han Xiao’s mouth twitched, and he said, “There’s no need to note casual chitchat…”

“No, any parts missing is disrespectful for you.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better for you to video…”

“No, as a Mechanic, observing all the details is a way of training too.”

Reynold wrote down this conversation without hesitation, even drawing Han Xiao’s expression when speaking. The speed of a Mechanic’s hands was undoubtedly fast, so he was done recording almost as soon as Han Xiao finished speaking.

How stubborn. He’s more like a Mechanic than me…

Han Xiao now had a rough understanding of this new comrade of his. He then started to officially teach the lesson.

It was called a lesson, but it was more like sharing his knowledge. What Reynold really needed was High-End Knowledge. After all, it was very difficult for him to make money. Plus, he did not have as many channels as Han Xiao did. Hence, Han Xiao slowly explained the High-End Knowledge to him.

Reynold was not a player, so he could not learn it instantly and had to slowly absorb.

Reynold listened extremely carefully, and his pen never stopped moving. Sylvia was completely lost. This knowledge was too deep for her—she could not understand it at all.

Clenching her teeth, Sylvia forced herself to focus and memorize the content even though she did not understand it. Reynold’s appearance made her feel threatened; she did not want to get left far behind.

After teaching Reynold, Han Xiao then taught Sylvia.

Reynold did not leave however but listened at the side. Even though what Sylvia was learning was way too fundamental for him, he did not show any sign of being impatient and still listened attentively.

Time passed by slowly.

Han Xiao finally stopped his lesson. He looked at the time and announced the end of the lesson before leaving in a hurry to continue building his machines.

Sylvia and Reynold were the only ones left in the room, looking at each other.

“Er, if you have anything you don’t understand, I can teach you too.”

There were still many days ahead, so Reynold thought that he had to build a good relationship with Black Star’s apprentice. He gave a smile that he thought was very friendly and charming.

However, he rarely smiled, so his smile was ferocious no matter how it was looked at.

“Who needs you to teach me?” Sylvia rolled her eyes. “You’re new, so you should call me big sis, do you know that?”

Reynold frowned.

Oh no, is he angry? Sylvia suddenly felt a little regretful. Reynold could easily butcher her with one hand. He was even stronger than Herlous.

To make someone this strong lower his head to a barely Grade C Super, he would probably think it was a form of humiliation.

However, Reynold stayed silent for a while then nodded.

“Big sis,” said Reynold with a serious tone.

“Ah, are you really calling me that?” Sylvia was shocked. With an awkward face, Sylvia said in an unnatural tone, “I was just kidding.”

“No, you’re right. I just thought about it. Since I’m new, calling you big sis is what I should do. I was ill-mannered earlier, I apologize. Thank you for reminding me.”

There was not a single sense of unhappiness to be found on Reynold’s face. His expression was earnest, and his tone was serious as always.

Sylvia’s face stiffened. She found it difficult to deal with how serious Reynold was. She giggled and said, “No need. You don’t have to be so serious. You can just call me by my name.”

“No, I have to call you big sis, or it’s too disrespectful,” Reynold said solemnly. He even lowered his head to show his respect.

Sylvia felt her scalp tingle and could not take it anymore. She quickly carried her books and ran away.

…

After he finished interviewing the mercenaries, Han Xiao almost spent all the time in the days after that updating his combat mercenaries.

“It’s finally done!”

Ten days later, Han Xiao’s excited voice came from his personal machinery modification room.