The Legendary Mechanic (WN)

[Esper Ability—Copy]

This was EsGod’s core ability, but it had appeared in Evans.

Han Xiao’s first response was to suspect what relationship Evans had with EsGod, then he instantly made up a two-million-word romantic novel in his mind. However, after thinking about the storyline in his previous life, he denied this possibility.

The chance of this being a coincidence was higher. In the universe, Espers who awakened the same abilities were not uncommon. Abilities like controlling fire, water, force fields and so on were basically everywhere. Therefore, another person being able to absorb Esper Abilities was not impossible.

However, a coincidence like this still made Han Xiao feel extremely weird. EsGod had been locked in Spacetime Amber by him just not many years ago, and now, a new ‘EsGod’ had appeared in the outside world… Could this be reincarnation? Did there always have to be an evil lord?

What a surprise, I’ve met an ‘EsGod’ at his newbie stage.

Han Xiao was pleasantly surprised.

Having [Esper Ability—Copy], Evans would certainly have to take the path of absorbing the Esper Abilities of others. His talents were suppressed by someone, but now he would have no choice but to take away others’ talents. This was all very dramatic and ironic to Han Xiao.

Obviously, without a firm belief, the way this Esper Ability was destined to grow would very easily make its owner fall to the dark side.

Evans, however, had experienced decades as an ordinary person, tasting the bitterness of being at the lowest level of the society, so he might not be as aggressive as EsGod.. Nonetheless, he might have some deeply buried hatred that could explode after being suppressed for too long, and no one could know if that would happen.

He’s a double-edged sword, Han Xiao thought. If he can be of use to me, he’ll have extraordinary potential. I have to guide him to be on my side as much as I can. He feels grateful to me, so he should be very loyal. If he someday shows any sign of decadence, I’ll have no choice but to kill him, so there won’t be a second EsGod.

Though powerful, what people were afraid of was not [Esper Ability—Copy] but EsGod himself.

In the hands of EsGod, all the abilities he absorbed had Beyond Grade A strength. Without his strength as the foundation. No matter how many Esper Abilities he absorbed, it would still make no difference.

Absorbing Esper Abilities was a way to obtain more combat methods, they were considered as abilities and would not increase one’s own levels and attributes. Therefore, in order for Evans to increase his Grade, there were no shortcuts. He had to slowly train just like the other Espers. Even though he was talented enough to have [Highest Grade Esper Ability Affinity Physique], he would still not be able to skip the process.

At the moment, Evans had only just awakened and was extremely weak, only around Grade E. Although the subject of comparison was that notorious EsGod, how long had EsGod lived? How much combat experience did he have? God knew how long it would take for Evans to reach the level of the Beyond Grade A.

Due to how extremely rare this Esper Ability was, Han Xiao wanted to plan his growing path for him so that it would not be wasted.

EsGod had already proved the limitations of [Esper Ability—Copy]. If he absorbed too many Esper Abilities, his genetic chain would be at risk of shattering.

This meant that the maximum number of Esper Abilities Evans could absorb would increase as his Grade increased. Once that limit was exceeded, he would die. Therefore, the situation of him having thousands of Esper Abilities when he was at a low Grade would never happen.

However, due to Evans’ physique, at the same level, the maximum number of Esper Abilities he would be able to absorb should be more than EsGod.

Also, [Esper Ability—Copy] did not guarantee a perfect success rate when absorbing Esper Abilities. EsGod had always absorbed Esper Abilities from Espers whose Grade was lower than his, so there were never any problems.

However, when absorbing the Esper Ability of someone at the same Grade or even at a higher Grade, the success rate would be extremely low.

Therefore, in order for Evans to absorb Esper Abilities from someone whose Grade was higher than his, there were extremely strict requirements. For instance, the target needed to be near death, or the target could be captured. Basically, it would only have a chance to succeed when the target could not resist.

“EsGod has been collecting Esper Abilities for so many years. He’s a high-quality material. The Esper Abilities he uses to battle are all quite powerful. Sadly, Evans won’t be able to do anything through the Spacetime Amber. If the seal is opened, EsGod will escape straight away. It’s only been a few decades; no way his conscience will have shattered this easily. For safety reasons, we have to keep him locked up for at least five hundred years.”

The amber blocked any and all energy. The outside world could not inspect the condition of EsGod, and he would not bear the risk of letting EsGod escape to open the seal.

Han Xiao put this thought behind and pondered about Evans’ growth path. He soon came up with some ideas.

“It’s not suitable for Evans to take EsGod’s path. He should plan what to absorb, quality over quantity, so he will benefit from it his whole life.”

EsGod was powerful indeed, but he had absorbed way too many Esper Abilities, which made his genetic chain reach the cusp of shattering. EsGod had no use for the vast majority of these abilities. Instead, they suppressed his strength.

Although the army at the super healer Aurora, Han Xiao did not want her to have too much contact with Evans. At most, he would let him use the life force potions.

One reason EsGod absorbed that many abilities was his ambition. He wanted to fuse the Super High Risk Esper Abilities to transform himself and break through the limit of peak Beyond Grade As, becoming an entirely new being.

Another reason was that part of EsGod’s ambition came from his experience. Han Xiao had read about his past before. When EsGod was weak, he had always been alone. He relied on himself for everything, and he could only trust himself. Therefore, he wanted to become almighty so that he would never need any friends.

However, Evans had no need to do that, so he had the luxury to only absorb useful and strong Esper Abilities. This might be a much more suitable path.

Seeing that Black Star faced away from him and did not speak for a while, Evans became more confused as time went on. Finally, he asked, “Your Excellency Black Star, I…”

Han Xiao regained his focus. He turned around and patted Evans’ shoulder. “Your ability can absorb the Esper Abilities of others. This is an ability with a lot of potential…”

As Han Xiao explained the ability, Evans then understood his own power but frowned. “I don’t really like this kind of Esper Ability…”

Evans looked conflicted. His talent had been suppressed for decades, so he did not like the Esper Ability that took away others’ talents.

Han Xiao uncontrollably rolled his eyes in his mind.

You think you’re buying groceries in the market? So picky.

The Great Mechanic Han then coughed and said with a friendly tone, “Don’t worry, since you’re now my man, I’ll guide your path. I won’t allow you to absorb abilities from others whenever you want, so you don’t have to be troubled. No one will force you to walk the path of a criminal.

“But, at the same time, I hope you can resist the temptation. Don’t have the thought of wanting to make someone else’s Esper Ability your own when you see how good it is. Don’t walk the wrong path because of a moment’s temptation.

“EsGod is the perfect lesson. He fell to evil, caused crimes everywhere, and created countless enemies. In the end, he was still locked up by the group of us and lost his freedom. Therefore, learn from his mistakes. Keep a low profile like me, understood?”

Hearing Black Star’s lecture, Evans nodded.

He had heard of the notorious EsGod. Despite having the same ability, he was not the same type of person. He warned himself in his heart to never forget where his heart was and never fall to the side of evil like EsGod.

Han Xiao said a few more words before telling some mechanical soldiers to lead Evans away.

He was the only one left in the room. He touched his chin and murmured, “This guy’s ability is worth raising. As long as he doesn’t take the wrong path, he’ll undoubtedly become someone strong in the future. As for how to help him obtain Esper abilities… Hmm, to me, this should be the easiest part.”

Han Xiao chuckled.

In his previous life, EsGod had tried absorbing the players’ Esper abilities, so Han Xiao understood that…

It was possible!

Although the players could revive, their bodies were made of existing materials. Other than having strange limitations and turning into light after dying, they would still bleed and get injured from normal battles. Only, the way this was displayed to them would be all kinds of debuffs.

In Version 1.0, there were even organizations that tried to dissect the players. Although, due to their health, not long into the dissection, the players turned into light. Nonetheless, the blood samples collected were no different from normal beings.

If an Esper class player was absorbed by EsGod, he would lose his Esper Ability too, entering the state of [Ability Frozen]. All abilities related to his Esper ability would become gray and unusable. This state was fixed and permanent; no ability could get rid of it, just like how the NPCs’ Esper abilities were taken away…

However!

When this player died and respawned, his status would be refreshed, and he would regain his Esper Ability!

This was related to the mechanisms of [Esper Ability—Copy]. The process of this ability could be simply explained as: Snatch → Analyze → Genetic Chain Construction → Fixation → Storage.

After snatching an Esper Ability, [Esper Ability—Copy] would break it down and analyze it, then store this ability in the owner’s body in a genetic chain. What constructed these genetic chains was a special matter produced by [Esper Ability—Copy], which was considered the material produced by the owner of this ability himself. Hence, it would not disappear as the players disappeared, just as EsGod would not lose his abilities when the original owner of the ability died.

Therefore, in Han Xiao’s previous life, a phenomenon where the players sold their bodies to EsGod in exchange for money appeared. This was something that had never happened before, and it led to the three Universal Civilizations having no choice but to come up with a special policy stating that if Immortals actively gave their Esper abilities to EsGod, they would be seen as wanted criminals. Of course, the players had all kinds of tricks to get past this policy, so this policy rarely had any effect.

Of course, EsGod was no philanthropist. Due to the limitations of his genetic chain, he would only absorb the abilities he was interested in. Otherwise, he would not absorb the players’ Esper abilities even if they came right to his doorstep to sacrifice themselves.

Also, this action of the players caused a hilarious misunderstanding. At the start, EsGod thought that this was the three Universal Civilizations’ plot to purposely send people over to die to make his genetic chain shatter. After killing many players, only then did he finally notice that these people were sincerely there to commit suic… to give him Esper abilities.

At that time, even the ever so calm EsGod had been completely astonished, which led to him saying one of his signature sentences among the players. “If I’d met you people earlier, I might have been able to become a good person.”

Thinking about that, Han Xiao uncontrollably grinned.

“So, I don’t even have to do much to help him get Esper abilities. All I have to do is give out a mission to the Esper class players, offering a high enough reward, and people will come forward themselves…”

This way, the millions of Esper players would be the largest material inventory!

Furthermore, no one would die; it was legal!

Although he had given Evans the clear path of choosing quality over quantity, with so many materials, he could slowly gather peak the Esper Abilities that complemented each other and form all kinds of strategies, achieving the most perfect combos!

Having this thought, Han Xiao was completely thrilled. At this time, a new plan was born in his head.

“Phillip!”

“Yes, hum…”

“Sketch up a new plan, the content is to record the various Esper Abilities of all the Esper Immortals under the army’s command. Then, according to the effects of these Esper Abilities, simulate all kinds of tactical combos that can be put together. Set the minimum to two Esper abilities, and set the maximum to ten Esper Abilities for the time being. Mark this plan with the highest level of confidentiality. Also, don’t mention Evans’ existence.”

“Okay, hum… This will only occupy a little bit of my memory. What’s the name of the plan?”

“Don’t have to name it. Just give it a serial number.”

Han Xiao really wanted to name it something like ‘EsGod Raising Plan’, but he thought about it and gave up that idea.

Although his database would basically never be hacked again, Han Xiao still chose to be low profile about this.

He had already made up his mind that before Evans matured, he needed to hide him as a secret weapon.

“Speaking of which, I have the Evolution Cube and the Spacetime Amber, and the army has Hila and Aurora. It’s indeed a little too conspicuous. If I even tell anyone I’m planning to create a second EsGod… tsk, the enemies will probably all want to rob me.”

Thinking of that, even Han Xiao shivered controllably.

He then rested for a while to digest all these emotions before getting back to the work he was doing earlier, continuing to build the King mechanical suit that was more than halfway done.

He did not know whether it was because of the incredible luck Evans had left in the room or not, but when Han Xiao completed the last process and at the instant the King mechanical suit was complete, a notification suddenly popped up on the interface.

You have built a Gold Grade equipment (Universal Treasure).

You have benefitted from [Spirit Instrument].

You have received 1 God’s Trait Transformation Point. (Another cannot be obtained again through the same blueprint.)

One of your random attributes has been decreased by 200…

Randomizing, randomizing complete.

-200 LUK.

You have received 200 Free Attribute Points.

You have received Level One Bonus from [Spirit Instrument]: +2.5% basic success rate of building gold equipment, +1.2% basic success rate of inventing gold blueprints.

You have received a new talent, [Universal Treasure Creator]!