The spaceship carrying the fresh graduates of the Black Star Super Academy then arrived at the Sigma Star System to meet Black Star.

Over the past six years, the Black Star Army had invested a large amount of resources and created a second headquarters in the Sigma Star System. It was a gigantic space fortress created by seven mechanical fortresses and a large number of mechanical soldiers. This new headquarters was called ‘Black Star Palace’.

The spaceship arrived at the designated location on the star map, and Black Star Palace appeared in their windows. Upon seeing the magnificent structure before them, the jaws of many of the students dropped in amazement.

Black Star Palace was far more majestic than Floating Dragon Island, which hung in the skies above Planet Aquamarine!

Every mechanical fortress had its own satellite rings of varying angles, surrounding the center like a mini Star System.

At the middle of the structure was a gigantic alloy sphere. It was silvery-black in color, and the surface was smooth like a mirror. It was like a black star that did not give out light.

Everyone accepted some security checks before the spaceship was parked at the dock. The moment Nero disembarked from the spaceship, he immediately saw someone familiar.

“Uncle Feidin‽” Nero was overjoyed, and he immediately ran over.

“Hello Nero.” Feidin smiled and stroked Nero on the head.

“Did you come here specially to wait for me?”

“That’s right. We have not seen each other for five to six years. You’ve grown bigger.” Feidin patted Nero on the head and then lamented. “But it is a pity that you didn’t grow any taller.”

“… Don’t talk about this, and we can still have a good conversation.”

Nero’s face darkened. Being short would be his pain for life.

He had Aurora’s life force energy in him and also drank the dragonblood potion frequently. He should have been extremely tall and did not understand why his development was so slow. His own father did not have the short genes either!

Nero had always suspected that it was the stress from studying that resulted in him being so short and was filled with resentment.

“Speaking of which, Uncle Feidin, you’re still the same as always. You are still so good looking.”

Feidin shook his head and smiled. “This is very normal. A Calamity Grade Super is able to control his own metabolism, and it is extremely simple for me to keep my appearance. Six years to me is like a few months for an ordinary individual.”

At this moment, the Pugilist young lady then walked beside Nero and looked at Feidin with her eyes widened and her face red.

“This is…” Feidin looked over.

“Oh, let me make an introduction. This is Mia Moretto. She is my… my… cough cough, a close female friend of mine. She is one of the best Pugilists of the graduating batch.

“Mia, this is Feidin, a member of the Black Star Guards. He is a senior who watched me grow up. Eh? Why is your face red?”

“In what way is my face red!” Mia immediately held onto her face and became flustered.

She was the skinny little girl that Nero had met on the first day of school at the Black Star Super Academy. After six years of training, she had already transformed into a beautiful swan and was currently filled with energy.

Upon seeing that another young lady was captured by his beauty, Feidin said with a helpless expression, “Hello, I am Feidin.”

“Hello, it is an honor for you to meet me… eh no, it should be my honor.” Mia then shook Feidin’s outstretched arm, and her face turned redder.

Nero looked at Feidin before looking at Mia, and his heart turned extremely sour. He then could not help but cough loudly and break up their handshake before changing the topic.

“Right. Where is my godfather?”

“He already knows that you have arrived. Go and meet him at his throne.”

“Throne?”

“Er, it’s the center of that black sphere.” Feidin chuckled. “Speaking of which, he will definitely check on your progress later. I won’t save you if you don’t pass his test.”

Nero’s neck then shrank back, and he recalled some terrible memories. “I’ve improved a lot, so my godfather should be satisfied.”

“You should ask him yourself. Don’t let him wait for too long. We can chat after you are done.” Feidin smiled and left.

Nero then turned around to look at Mia and realized that she was still staring in the direction that Feidin had left.

“He’s already gone. Are you still looking?”

Mia then retracted her gaze and jabbed Nero’s waist excitedly. “Oi, your uncle is far too charismatic. His smile is truly too charming.”

“Why haven’t you looked at me like this before?” Nero then said with jealousy.

Mia then said with disdain, “How long has it been since you last looked in the mirror. How can you be compared with your uncle?”

Nero was speechless.

His heart truly hurt.

After knowing each other for six years, they were extremely familiar with each other. Mia became much more energetic and open than before, and both of them frequently quibbled with each other. However, their relationship was extremely good, and they were like siblings.

After completing all the necessary checks, they changed into a different spaceship and headed toward the black sphere.

When their spaceship approached the black sphere, pores could be seen on the surface of the sphere. These were the landing orbits for spaceships, and it was just the right size to fit this spaceship.

The spaceship entered the orbit and stopped. Both sides of the orbit were sealed up, and there was no dock.

Just when everyone was in doubt, the door to the side opened up.

Boom!

Countless nanoparticles stretched out to form a dock before their very eyes.

“This dock was constructed on the spot?”

This scene was extremely magical to all the students, and they stepped onto the dock while looking left and right curiously. They realized that there was only a single path that they could take, and the path was surrounded by black alloy walls all around.

Everyone then looked at each other and walked down the path.

The sound of an individual clearing his throat could suddenly be heard, and everyone realized that no one was talking.

The atmosphere became tense, and everyone had a sense of fear toward the unknown before them.

These students were originally extremely excited about coming to meet a bigshot, but this excitement of theirs had become anxiousness and fear.

Although they had not met Black Star yet, they could already feel pressure from all directions.

After walking for a long time, they finally came to the end of the path and arrived at a large circular hall.

In the middle of the hall was a platform with a Divine Mechanical Throne in the middle of the platform. Bolts of blueish gold Mechanical Force could be seen expanding out from the base of the throne and jumping around as though they were dancing.

A black robed man was seated on the throne with an arm supporting his head as though he was in deep thought.

Just a simple glance from this individual made all their legs turn to jelly.

“Your Excellency Black Star.”

“Is this the pressure of a Beyond Grade A? How terrifying…”

Many of them could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, thinking of retreating.

Before they came, they had been looking forward to becoming a Beyond Grade A, but at this moment, many of them realized that this was no more than a dream.

“God… godfather,” Nero greeted carefully.

It has only been a few years since we last met, and my godfather has become so terrifying.

However, his appearance did not change, and he still looked as suave as he did six years ago.

Nero still dared to tease Feidin, but he could not help but be filled with reverence and anxiousness before Black Star, even if Black Star was his godfather.

What is this? Am I really that scary? Han Xiao looked at the expressions of the students and frowned.

He then looked down at the Divine Mechanical Throne and understood what was going on.

I almost forgot that this thing has the effect of increasing my pressure. No wonder these kiddos are all so terrified of me.

Han Xiao retracted his aura and stood up. The pressure then disappeared, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

“You are the first batch of graduates of the academy. Since you have chosen to serve the army, I will welcome all of you on behalf of the army…”

Upon hearing that, the anxiety in their hearts disappeared, and they became excited.

Han Xiao gave the students a round of praises before getting the excited students to take their leave, leaving Nero and Mia behind.

Walking down from the platform, Han Xiao looked at Nero and said, “It isn’t a bad thing for you to be short. Your body will be smaller, and it will be more difficult for the enemy to hit you.”

Nero’s mouth then contorted.

Why did everyone like talking about his height‽

Seeing Han Xiao tease him in such a manner, Nero also became at ease and revealed a smile.

“I haven’t met you for such a long time. I really missed you.”

I didn’t miss you at all, Han Xiao thought to himself.

With the [Observer’s Mark] in his hands, he could spy on Nero whenever he wanted. He was even clear about the average number of times Nero went to the toilet in a day.

Over the past six years, Han Xiao had spent most of his time in the Flickering World, reinforcing his foundation. He had spent most of his experience and increased his level to 303. The rest of his experience went into merging blueprints and his various skills.

His attributes did not go up by much, but his mechanical army had experienced a huge upgrade!

This black spherical planet was a Mechanical Deity formed by his mechanical army!

It maintained the appearance of a planet and was like a black star. Han Xiao would frequently activate this skill and maintain it for a long time to train his control over the Mechanical Deity.

Han Xiao did not remain idle in the area of constructing machines either. He had already set up his Dimension Factory and had honed it many times.

During these six years, the machinery civilization had developed rapidly, and over eighty percent of Planet Apostle was already covered in machinery cities. The mechanical life forms were already in their eighth generation.

Because of the weakening tinder energy, the attributes of the mechanical life forms had an obvious decline from the sixth generation onward. The mechanical life forms in the later generations could only be ‘commoners’ and serve as cannon fodder. This was the restriction of a machinery civilization.

The first-generation mechanical life forms were still the elites with the Apostle Weapons, the most powerful group. The composition of the civilization also gradually became more like the structure of ordinary civilizations. Commoners made up the majority of the civilization, and the mechanical life forms before the sixth generation were like ‘Supers’.

The Black Spirit Race was still digesting their knowledge. Compared to six years ago, the Black Spirit Race had already garnered some achievements and begun to spread knowledge to the other members of their race. The effects of the mental network were beginning to show.

An ordinary race would have to teach using textbooks, but the Black Spirit Race could dump the knowledge straight into the minds of their students.

The army developed steadily, and the education plan had begun to develop with more academies being built. The first batch of students had already graduated, and they were Nero’s batch.

Han Xiao then sized Nero up before looking at Mia.

Upon seeing that, Nero misunderstood Han Xiao’s intentions and immediately introduced his comrade. “This is Mia. She is my classmate, and she is very powerful.”

“He… hello… er, I pay my respects to Your Excellency Black Star.”

Mia was extremely nervous. The feeling that Black Star gave her was completely different from Feidin.

Feidin made her feel like she was in love with her heart racing, but Black Star filled her with reverence.

“I know about you. You have a lot of potential.”

Han Xiao had already recognized this follower of Hila a few years ago and thus was not too surprised.

“Thank you.” Mia was immediately overwhelmed with favor. She had never expected a bigshot like Black Star to know about her and was extremely agitated in her heart.

“Wait outside for a while. I have some things to say to Nero.”

“Alright.”

Mia then looked at Nero and left the room.

After seeing Mia leave, Han Xiao began to tease Nero.

“Not bad, little brat. Is your springtime here?”

Nero’s face flushed red, and he stammered, “Nonsense! No… nothing of the sort…”

“Alright, there’s no need to explain anything to me.” Han Xiao interrupted Nero. “It has been a few years since I last met you. Let me check your progress. If you only thought about dating and not learning, humph!”

As he said that, he did not wait for Nero to reply and jabbed him.

Opening his interface, Han Xiao nodded.

This brat’s potential was not too bad. He already had the strength of Grade C+ and should be able to reach Grade B before he turned twenty.

Looking down at his abilities section, Han Xiao’s eyes lit up.

Nero’s Mechanical Sense talent had finally grown to become [Perfect Mechanical Sense]!

The leek that he had grown for so long had finally matured!

It took almost ten years to develop such an ability. It truly hasn’t been easy!

Han Xiao was overjoyed and slapped Nero on the shoulders with a hearty laughter.

“Not bad, not bad! I am very satisfied with your progress!”

Nero felt as though his shoulders were about to fracture and replied, “As… as long as you are satisfied.”

Han Xiao could not help but pinch Nero’s cheeks joyfully.

I am truly heartened that he didn’t forget his studies for love!

The leek was ripe, and Han Xiao only had to think about how he should harvest it!

Reynold refused to give him any missions, but Nero was different. Nero had an Advanced Luck Glow and was just starting out in life. There would definitely be plenty of chances to trigger a storyline mission and obtain [Perfect Mechanical Sense] from him.

If not, he could even take the initiative to throw Nero into a dangerous situation.

According to Han Xiao’s experience, as long as Nero approached him for help, there would be a greater chance to trigger a mission.

However, he needed a reason to do so.

Combat training sounds like a good plan… Han Xiao thought to himself.

If that was not enough, Han Xiao had his final move. Nero’s potential was even stronger than Reynold’s. Han Xiao could just continue to raise Nero… and publicly beat him up!

Various different thoughts flashed through his mind, and Han Xiao looked at Nero with a teasing expression.

Little fellow, true hell awaits you next. You’ll come to know just how enjoyable student life was.

Noticing Han Xiao’s cunning grin, Nero trembled slightly and had a bad premonition.

Why do I feel a wave of bad intentions sweeping past my body?

Nero then rubbed his head and said carefully, “Godfather, I have something that I need to ask you for help.”

Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled.

Woah!

Look at him, asking for help so readily. So much better than Reynold.

“Speak, what do you need?” Han Xiao asked happily.

“Mia is a Pugilist, and it hurts when she beats me up,” Nero then said softly. “I want to learn how to become tanky. Godfather, you are a grandmaster in this regard. Can you teach me how to become tanky?”

“Scram!”