Thousand Shadows’ territory was situated in the Abyss of Stars’ Shadow Realm. The black gaseous planet was still hovering beside the Shadow Realm like a black satellite, covered in thick streams of black energy that occasionally formed wave-like tides.

A spaceship stopped beside the dark satellite, and the hatch opened. Calamity Grade Shadows pushed the various prisoners they had captured from different Star Fields down with a poker face. The prisoners were mostly Calamity Grades. There were also low-grade Supers with special abilities.

These prisoners were covered in restraining devices and were extremely weak. They had no power to fight back at all. The scene looked like cooking dumplings. Every time someone fell onto the surface of this dark satellite, there would be one wave of black energy engulfing it. The next second, that person would disappear.

This was how Thousand Shadows’ servants replenished shadows for him. There were close to a thousand prisoners in this batch, and they were all consumed by the planet-sized Thousand Shadows.

At this time, the space beside the spaceship suddenly rippled. A blurry silhouette suddenly appeared. It was wearing a hooded black robe and did not show its face or body. The edges of the silhouette looked like flames, as if it was emitting gas. Overall, it looked like a black cloud. This was not a remote projection of the quantum network but some kind of mind projection. Only Thousand Shadows and his Shadow Servants could see it.

The next second, the planet surface of Thousand Shadows suddenly started moving violently, forming huge black tsunamis. Very soon, a face appeared on the planet’s surface, just eyes, nose, and mouth formed by energy vortexes. It was opening its mouth wide as if it was roaring.

Two invisible psychic waves were released from both sides and formed a psychic communication link.

“How’s the progress? How long is the transformation going to take?” The blurry silhouette spoke first.

“I don’t know. Thousand Shadows is very persistent.”

“How conscious is he?”

“Not very. I obtained control of his body long ago and inherited all of his memories. As soon as I completely consume his last bit of conscience, it will dramatically increase the speed of the transformation.”

“Make it as quick as possible. You’re a core factor of our plan. We’ve tried many methods in these years. In the end, we discovered that, in order to open the Third Sanctum, it can only be done with Esper Abilities. Therefore, you’re the foundation of our fusion ceremony, the vessel to contain the other Primal Esper Ability Entities.”

“Don’t worry. Back then, Thousand Shadows wanted to live for eternity and vitalized me using your technology. Humph, this greedy guy brought this upon himself. He exceeded the limits of his physical body, but he suffered damage from it. You guys have given me life and independence. When I transform into a true Primal Esper Ability Entity, I will be able to help you.”

“Hmm, when the plan is complete, we promise you freedom.”

After that, the blurry silhouette disappeared without a trace.

The surface of the dark planet slowly returned to normal after the face disappeared.

…

The news about the appearance of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy only remained as the hot topic for a few days. In the current Flickering World, conflicts were abound, so the popularity of the news shifted very rapidly. Very soon, there was other news that attracted the attention of the galactic residents and the various organizations.

As the final winner of the competition, Black Star’s mechanical army also received a certain amount of attention. However, it quickly disappeared without a trace, and its whereabouts were not known to the outside world.

At this moment, Han Xiao’s invisible spaceship was hidden nearby Hila’s territory in the Emerald Star Cluster. He was currently calling Ames.

“… So, that’s the situation. I invited you over as a guest to protect Hila, make it look like I’m in my base to make the hidden enemies let their guards down, and have you help protect the base and look after Aurora… Therefore, I really did not stand you up on purpose.” Han Xiao’s tone was filled with resignation.

On the screen, Ames was playing with a small green force field sphere with her eyelids hanging low. Despite her calm tone, it gave off a strange vibe of danger.

“If you’d told me directly, I would’ve helped you too. Do you not trust me?”

“How could that be? Didn’t you want to see Aurora after she advanced? Well, now you’ve seen her. Plus, when I invited you, I didn’t say anything about me wanting to see you.” Han Xiao scratched his head and joked, “I didn’t say it directly mainly because I wanted to be polite. I know that as long as I ask, you definitely will agree. After all, I’m already so strong now. I’m worried you might think I’m ordering you.”

“Hehe, you didn’t order me sure, but I feel like you’re using me. Doesn’t that seem worse?” Ames narrowed her eyes. A green tint flashed across her eyes.

“Hey, that’s not true at all. With the relationship we have, using the term ‘use” is exaggerating it.” Han Xiao waved.

“Is that so? You’ve used me many times in the past.” Ames smiled every so faintly.

“That’s in the past. Things are different now. Our two organizations are intertwined. We’re a family. As family, well, it’s normal to occasionally joke around…”

“Tsk, who’s your family? Shameless.” Ames frowned slightly.

Seeing this, Han Xiao smiled and teased her. “Hehe, did you really want to see me so badly? Do you want me to go back and accompany you?”

“… Who wants to see you?”

Ames paused, deactivated the force field, and casually said, “Stay there to protect my student then. Do you need me to go over to help?”

“No need.”

“Because I’m too weak?” Ames raised her brows slightly.

“Ahem, of course not. It’s mainly because another thing needs your help. You have to stay in Black Star Palace and act as if I’m there too.”

“Since it’s for my student, I shall cooperate with your show… but don’t be in a rush to thank me. We have yet to settle the matter of you tricking me.”

“Alright, when I return, how about I accompany you on a sightseeing trip in a secondary dimension?” Han Xiao raised his brows. “Just the two of us.”

I’ll have to capture the Holy Light Particle in a secondary dimension too, killing two birds with one stone… I’m so brilliant!

“Okay, it’s decided then.” Ames had no objections.

Although she had been tricked into going all the way there, after stroking Aurora for the past few days, she was not really angry anymore.

If someone else had toyed with her and used her like this, Ames would have been furious for sure. But since it was Black Star who pranked her, she did not mind it too much—only those close to her could do something like this.

Furthermore, this reminded her of the past when Black Star kept using her despite being so weak. It made her feel nostalgic.

After chattering for a while longer, Han Xiao hung up the call and looked over at the workbench on the side.

He was currently inside the machinery workshop of the spaceship. His Mechanical Force was controlling all kinds of devices to build the King mechanical suit. To his side, there was already a pile of failed products.

He called them all failed products, but they were still all orange equipment, which could be considered rare equipment. Unfortunately, they did not reach the Universal Treasure level. Not only were their performances tremendously weaker, but they also had none of the incredible effects they were supposed to have. Plus, the cost was horrifyingly expensive. To him, these were undoubtedly failures.

After putting his communicator away, Han Xiao could finally focus on building this attempt at the King right in front of him. The [Spirit Instrument] talent on his interface constantly glowed. This talent would only be activated when building Universal Treasures.

However, when Han Xiao was more than halfway done, Phillip suddenly appeared and reported that some of the mechanical soldiers had already returned with Evans.

“Bring him over then.” Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled.

After a while, the gate of the machinery workshop opened. A few mechanical soldiers escorted a man in. It was Evans.

As soon as Evans walked in, he saw a handsome and domineering black-clothed man looking at him with a faint smile, and he immediately became nervous.

“Your Excellency, are you Black Star?”

“That’s me.”

Han Xiao smiled and nodded as he sized Evans up. His first impression of him was ordinary, way too ordinary.

Evans felt that Han Xiao’s eyes seemed to be able to look right through him, like there was nothing he could hide in front of Han Xiao. He became even more anxious.

Although he was usually calm and levelheaded, even he could no longer maintain his cool when facing someone who stood at the top of the universe like Black Star.

Evans took a deep breath, found the courage, and asked, “Your Excellency Black Star, I’m just an ordinary person without Super genes. What part of me has caused you to be interested?”

Han Xiao smiled playfully. “Your physique is quite special, and I’m very interested in that.”

“Special physique?”

Evans was stunned. He looked down at himself and felt that he was basically the direct opposite of the word ‘special’.

“Anyway, don’t worry, as a Beyond Grade A, I won’t put in so much effort just to find trouble with an ordinary person like you. Your life is not in danger here. You just have to cooperate with my experiments at most. After that, you can take up an office job in the army, which pays way more handsomely than the financial group you worked for before. What do you think?”

“… You’ve already brought me here, can I still reject?” Evans smiled bitterly.

He had just come out of prison. He had come to the Flickering World both to gain knowledge and to make a living. He did not mind working for the Black Star Army at all. Plus, the pay would be much higher.

Seeing he had no objections, Han Xiao picked up a syringe and walked to Evans. He told him to stand still and sucked a vial of blood out of him.

Han Xiao was not lying. He did intend to run some experiments.

Evans had been the shared host of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and Holy Light Particle in Han Xiao’s previous life, so his physique was undoubtedly special. Han Xiao wanted to build the mechanical host for Primal Esper Ability Entities, so extracting and studying Evans’ cells would help to explain the reasoning behind his exceptional compatibility with Primal Esper Abilities, which would speed up the progress of the research.

On the other hand, Han Xiao also dealt damage to Evans by punching the needle into his body, so the combat information was triggered as well.

The Great Mechanic Han’s eyes sparkled as he opened the interface to see Evans’ attributes.

The attribute interface of an ordinary person was very simple; only two special talents attracted Han Xiao’s attention. One was [Medium Luck Glow], meaning he was a protagonist-type character, and it was only medium because while Evans obtained power, he also had a new arch enemy, EsGod.

The other special talent was called [Highest Grade Esper Ability Affinity Physique], and its effects were all related to the Esper class. It drastically increased his compatibility with Primal Esper Ability Entities. At the same time, when being attacked by Espers, it provided a certain chance to recover some of his health and energy. Plus, the difficulty of cultivating and exploring his own Esper Ability decreased drastically, while the power of his Esper Ability would be increased drastically. It even passively increased the potential of Esper Abilities by one grade.

No wonder he could possess two Primal Esper Abilities, this talent is basically the ‘Perfect Mechanical Sense’ of the Esper class. Its effects are way too incredible.

Han Xiao was astounded.

Usually, those with such talents should all be able to awaken as Espers, but sadly, Evans was an ordinary person. What a waste of this tal…

Wait a minute!

That’s not right. If he has this talent, how can he not have Super genes? Something must be wrong!

Han Xiao suddenly turned around with very bright eyes.

With Evans having an unwilling expression on his face, Han Xiao told him to take off all his clothes. He then obediently underwent a detailed full body check. Evans was broken in the past. Of course, he had no way to check his Super gene in some high-level facilities. Therefore, Han Xiao thought something might have been overlooked.

And with this check, he really found something!

Han Xiao looked at the report and frowned.

“W-what is it?” Evans wore his clothes back and was a little nervous.

“It’s not that you don’t have Super genes. I don’t know who did the check for you, but they did not check thoroughly enough.”

Evans was stunned.

He had always thought that he was an ordinary person with no talent. Never did he expect to have someone tell him today that he actually had talent. Even though he had gotten used to the identity of an ordinary person, he was still full of shock.

“But don’t get excited too early.” Han Xiao waved and spoke slowly. “There’s something wrong with your Super genes. It seems to be suppressed by some kind of drug. After so many years, your Super genes have shrunk so much that it’s almost impossible to be detected, so the chance of your Super genes awakening is close to zero. This was an act of man. Did you have any enemies growing up?”

Evans barely suppressed the boiling emotions in his heart and started seriously searching through his memories. He then said with uncertainty, “I accepted Super gene detection when I was ten. If someone did something like this, it must have been before I was ten. But how could I have made enemies when I was that young? Because of my family? But I only have a normal family. How could this be…”

His expression kept changing. He could live with not having any talent, but only today did he know that he initially had talent, but it was destroyed by someone when he was young!

His talent was not the only thing that was destroyed but his life in the last few decades too!

Evans had initially already accepted his fate, but now, the flames of wrath burned violently in his heart.

Clap clap.

Suddenly, Han Xiao clapped and interrupted his thoughts.

“Alright, don’t think about it if you can’t figure it out. You can research it in the future. Let’s talk about a more important matter. I might have a way to help you awaken.”

Evans’ entire body shivered. He suppressed his excitement and asked, “What do I have to give in return?”

“Simple. I initially thought you’re just an ordinary person, but if you can awaken your Esper Ability, just fight for me.” Han Xiao paused, smiled, and slowly said, “I’ve researched you. When you were an ordinary person like you have always been, to protect your friends, you found a way to kill a low-grade Super. Not every ordinary person has guts like you. You have fighting talent. You once refused to accept your fate, and the many years spent in the prison extinguished your passion, but now, you might have a chance to be reborn. I only hope you don’t waste it.”

“Okay,” Evans replied firmly. His eyes were filled with perseverance. The vibe he gave off became completely different from when he had already accepted his fate, like a sharp sword buried in dust that has been finally dug up and cleaned off the rust.

Seeing this, Han Xiao took out a bottle of life force potion made by Aurora.

Evans’ symptom was that his Super genes had shrunk and lost all activity. As long as enough life energy was injected, they would recover. The life force potion was the perfect medicine for this.

Han Xiao injected just one tenth of the golden medicine into Evans’ body so that he would not end up having overflowing life force.

Buzz!

The next moment, Evans started glowing and releasing strong vitality energy from all over his body.

This glow lasted many minutes before dimming down. Evans closed his eyes and stood at the same place, but he felt completely different. He could not be any healthier. All the damage incurred from his many years in prison and the rest of his life had all disappeared.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been reborn.”

Evans opened his eyes. The gold light in his eyes finally dissipated. He looked at Han Xiao with appreciation in his eyes.

Han Xiao nodded with satisfaction and asked, “Have you sensed your Esper Ability?”

Evans frowned. He carefully sensed the changes that he had undergone but was a little hesitant.

“It does feel different, like I have a new sensory organ. That should be my Esper Ability, right?”

“Show it to me.” Han Xiao was curious.

Evans nodded. He then used all his strength to try to use it, but he realized that nothing happened at all, so he doubted himself. “I can’t seem to be able to control it. Did my Esper Ability really awaken?”

Anyone who had just awakened would become a Grade E Super, but despite being very weak, situations where Espers were not able to control their Esper Ability should not happen. Han Xiao frowned. He felt that this was not a simple matter, so he poked Evans another time with a needle to look at his combat information.

However, with just one glance, Han Xiao’s entire body stiffened, and he stood in place. He rubbed his eyes and almost thought he was hallucinating.

He looked at it for a total of more than ten seconds before he recovered from the shock. He looked at Evans with an extremely strange expression and murmured, “No wonder… no wonder…”

“Have you found out what my Esper Ability is?” Evans asked nervously.

Han Xiao took a deep breath, patted Evans’ shoulder with a complicated expression, pursed his lips, and said with deep meaning in his words, “You have to be a good person…”

Then, he did not care about Evans’ confused expression, turned his back to him, and roared in his heart.

You son of a bi*ch!

This kid’s ability… is also absorbing Esper Abilities!

Exactly the same as EsGod!

No wonder… now this guy’s uniqueness in my previous life all makes sense!

No wonder you’re EsGod’s arch enemy! Is this the choice of Steins;Gate‽

He had snatched the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy that led to Evans losing the opportunity to change his fate, so Han Xiao initially felt somewhat guilty and wanted to give him some compensation.

Now…

The Primal Esper Abilities are not good enough for you!

You are the biggest profit I’ve made on this trip!