Harvest

"Are you saying our target was the child of someone titled a National Scholar?" Captain Froman asked, his head aching.

He now understood how serious the consequences would be. If he'd known their target had such powerful backing, he never would have attacked him.

Given how they operated, they would have killed their target to avoid being wanted. If they killed David, they would be declaring war on the entire Interstellar Federation. The returning War Star veterans alone could hunt them down and kill them.

He even suspected that if they killed David, warships might join the hunt.

"Cut off all contact with the outside world. We're moving to our second safe house and laying low for a while," Captain Froman decided at last.

He no longer wanted to retrieve the T3 Sniper Auxiliary Device. They could treat the money as compensation for the loss they'd caused the child of someone titled a National Scholar.

Crock nodded firmly, fully supporting the decision.

He was also a discharged Armored Warrior who had returned from a War Star. A National Scholar was a hero in his eyes, too, and he couldn't help feeling relieved that their mission had failed.

Ed and Fisher naturally agreed as well. Everyone was looking for them now, so the best thing to do was hide for a while.

Not long after the four members of the Sirius Mercenary Group left, eight Armored Warriors surrounded the building.

News about the Sirius Mercenary Group was extremely valuable, and the information brokers weren't about to pass up a chance to make money.

In fact, things were more serious than Captain Froman had imagined. His group had entered Panshi Planet using proper, legal documentation, so the authorities had quickly traced them.

Earlier, Abbott had crashed into nearly a hundred people. That, too, was interpreted as an attack on David, the child of someone titled a National Scholar. Nobody cared that Abbott had been piloting a personal shuttle with no attack capabilities, or that David was a high school senior he'd never met.

In any case, the Sirius Mercenary Group had been branded as the culprit. Every member was exposed and listed as a wanted criminal—and a high-priority one at that.

David rested his hand on the Shadow Servant's shoulder. A familiar energy flowed from the Shadow Servant into him, and he couldn't help moaning. It was a pleasure that reached his soul.

Perhaps because the energy wasn't as immense as last time, he didn't pass out. Instead, he clearly felt the sensations it brought.

When the pleasant feeling faded, his mind felt as clear as if it had been washed clean.

"Show me my Attribute Panel," he ordered the Shadow Servant.

His current Attribute Panel soon appeared before him:

Name: David Kerr

Strength: 2.52 (1)

Agility: 1.7 (1)

Constitution: 2.1 (1)

Spirit: 3.0 (1)

Literature (3% Proficient), Mathematics (5% Proficient), General Studies (51% Beginner), Body Technique (99% Beginner), Long Sword Mastery (5% Beginner)

His Spirit had increased by 0.2. He could now say with complete certainty that the Shadow Servant had absorbed the souls of Amos and the female mercenary, then returned some of their soul energy to him, raising his Spirit.

He didn't know what the Spirit attribute did, but he knew its benefits: it made him learn faster.

"How many Knowledge Light Orbs did Amos and the female mercenary give me?" he murmured, intensely curious.

He'd wanted to test some of his theories for a while, but the Shadow Servant had to absorb souls to obtain Knowledge Light Orbs. Where was he supposed to find freshly dead bodies?

Today had been dangerous, but it had also brought him two good souls.

At the very least, he was certain Amos had been an Armored Warrior. The female mercenary had become an Interstellar Mercenary, so she couldn't have been incompetent, either.

He sensed an orange Knowledge Light Orb and a yellow one inside the Shadow Servant, and his spirits lifted.

There was a Knowledge Light Orb of a higher grade than orange. Orange meant Proficient, so what came after Proficient?

War Hammer Mastery (82% Proficient), Electronic Warfare (98% Expert)

David's eyes went wide. The Electronic Warfare Knowledge Light Orb was at 98% Expert—far beyond anything he'd imagined.

Even the Armored Warrior Amos's War Hammer Mastery had only reached Proficient, at 82%. Yet the female mercenary's Electronic Warfare had reached the unbelievable level of 98% Expert. Give her more time, and she might even have surpassed Expert and entered a higher rank.

"What a shame! If only..." David began, then laughed at his own greed. Other people spent their entire lives reaching that level, yet he could obtain it with a wave of his hand. Why ask for more?

He hadn't absorbed any Knowledge Light Orbs today, and it had been more than a day since he'd last fused with the Body Technique orb. His eyes locked on the Electronic Warfare (98% Expert) Knowledge Light Orb. It contained pure knowledge and wouldn't cause any physical reaction.

He'd originally planned to fuse with the Heavy Axe Mastery (33% Beginner) Knowledge Light Orb, but he didn't even own a heavy axe. Even if he learned Heavy Axe Mastery, he wouldn't be able to practice it anytime soon.

The same went for the War Hammer Mastery (82% Proficient) Knowledge Light Orb. He decided to absorb and fuse with the Electronic Warfare (98% Expert) Knowledge Light Orb.

David relaxed his whole body and guided the Electronic Warfare (98% Expert) Knowledge Light Orb inside him. He watched as the Electronic Warfare skill appeared on his Attribute Panel and its level rapidly increased.

Then his vision blurred. He found himself in front of a Light Brain, his hands tapping away at it.

Long streams of code appeared at speed, and he understood what every line meant.

The coding went on for a long time. He used many programming languages and applied a wide range of techniques.

When he stopped typing, he thought the vision was about to end. Instead, the scene changed, and he appeared in front of a control console.

Various devices appeared on the console. As each one materialized, it automatically came apart before him, and the structure of the device and all sorts of related knowledge flowed into his mind.

Some of the equipment was military, some civilian. Later, he even found himself aboard a spaceship, though he appeared in front of the Light Brain in the main control room. Another great wave of knowledge poured into his mind.

Only after the final wave of knowledge entered his mind did David emerge from the vision. His head drooped, and he fell to the floor asleep.

His idea that he could absorb two Knowledge Light Orbs a day had been shattered by the 98% Expert orb.

In fact, if David's Spirit hadn't reached 3.0, the sheer flood of knowledge would have put an ordinary person to sleep for days. They might not even have been able to fully absorb and fuse with all that 98% Expert knowledge.

The Electronic Warfare knowledge possessed by Edna, an Electronic Warfare Specialist, was no simple matter. The Electronic Warfare Specialist Captain Froman of the Sirius Mercenary Group had gone to such lengths to acquire was among the very best in her field.

Edna was a genius at Electronic Warfare, and the Sirius Mercenary Group had supported her wholeheartedly. That was how she'd reached such a high level.

David absorbed and fused with this vast body of knowledge in a short time. Perhaps only the gods of the legendary God's Great World possessed such an ability.

The Shadow Servant's abilities had long surpassed the concept of a mere Shadow Servant. It had become something else entirely, something mysterious.

David, immersed in all this, knew nothing of it. He was aware that the Shadow Servant was unusual, but that was only what the Sacrificial Manual said. Since the manual had been left by the person whose body he now occupied, he didn't consider it reliable.

The next morning, when David woke, he found himself lying on the floor. Recalling what had happened the day before, he jolted in alarm and quickly summoned the Shadow Servant to activate his Attribute Panel.

Only when he saw the Electronic Warfare (98% Expert) skill there did he finally relax. If he'd wasted that yellow-grade Knowledge Light Orb, he didn't know how he could have lived with the regret.

He also realized what the item he'd put away was: the Electronic Warfare Specialist's weapon, the K2 Military Electronic Countermeasure Device. Like the T3 Sniper Auxiliary Device, it was military equipment unavailable on the market.

Only mercenaries with no qualms could obtain such equipment through various channels. But unlike the T3 Sniper Auxiliary Device, the K2 Military Electronic Countermeasure Device was a complete set of Electronic Warfare Specialist equipment.

Thanks to "Yuan Gang" for the 10,000 Qidian Coins!! The extra chapter during the new-book period will have to wait; Melon Seeds will make it up later! Thanks to "Jia2Jia" for the 200 Qidian Coins!! Thanks to "Hudson" for the 100 Qidian Coins!! Thanks to "Yuchen Xiaoke'ai" for the 500 Qidian Coins!! Thanks to "Zitianqing" for the 200 Qidian Coins!! Thanks to "Diaomin Mohai Zhen" for the 500 Qidian Coins!!