When Han Xiao first saw Stefan, she looked familiar. After taking a closer look, his heart skipped a beat.
He didn't recognize the other Hunters, but this woman was someone he knew!
Many players knew Stefan from the previous game. She was very active in the "Super Calamity" version and was one of the subordinates of the Beyond Grade A [Manison] in the Star Cluster Abyss Starfield. As a vanguard, she fought for Manison in the north and south, and fought against countless superpowered people, including many players who teamed up to fight BOSS. In the end, she died in a battle where multiple parties surrounded her... or you could say she found liberation.
Following this, related Dungeon Crystal were created, and Stefan entered the dungeon as a hidden boss. Defeating this hidden boss has a chance to drop extremely rare rewards.
In the later versions of her previous life, she achieved a repeat drop rate of 87.6% among players, earning her a place on the list of top 100 hard-working players and the honorary title of "Shufen"!
Keep in mind that at that stage, the total number of players in Galaxy was dozens of times that of version 2.0, with over ten million players online at the same time. More than 80% of the players had repeatedly run the Stefan dungeon, which represents an extremely large number of players!
It's a little embarrassing to admit, but Han Xiao used different accounts to message Stefan at least three hundred times... They were so familiar with each other that they knew each other inside and out.
Han Xiao was overjoyed to find that there was someone he knew among the enemies.
He didn't know who the mastermind was at first, but now that he saw Stefan, everything became clear, and he immediately understood the truth.
It was Manison!!
"No wonder, no wonder, everything makes sense..." Han Xiao was excited. If Manison was the mastermind, then he would understand why the Hunters were capturing superhumans.
This is providing Manison with "shadows"!
Manison's ability is very strange. He can absorb other independent individuals and turn them into vassals called "shadows". The shadows retain most of their original personalities, but they have an indelible loyalty and closeness to Manison. Under this premise, their memories will be distorted to a certain extent.
The shadow slumbers within Manison's body, and at the same time serves as his avatar in the outside world; the two have become a symbiotic entity.
The shadow's own abilities remain intact, and they are further enhanced after merging with Manison. Manison has lived for so long that no one knows how many shadows exist within him. He is an extremely mysterious member among the Ancient Ones.
Han Xiao still remembered a secret discovered by a player in his previous life: Manison, in order to achieve immortality, sought the help of special people to give his superpowers vitality. He then abandoned his physical body and became a strange "superpowered life form." Conventional methods could not kill him, and he has survived for thousands of years. Now he is one of the Ancient Ones.
Having glimpsed the truth behind the scenes, a heavy pressure weighed on Han Xiao's heart like a boulder. His mood was solemn. Ying liked high-quality shadows, and once she set her sights on him, she probably wouldn't give up easily. He absolutely did not want to become a symbiotic entity of Manison, because that would mean completely losing himself and becoming a puppet!
Stefan is the shadow of Manison; she is also a tragic figure. Before her death, her true self briefly returned, revealing her origins.
That was the era of exploration, before the First Ones were born, and the great war between the Three Universal Civilizations sweeping across the universe was in full swing.
She was born in a time of war and was an Antetar People. Her home planet was engulfed in conflict, and she displayed astonishing talent in her childhood, was selected as a warrior, and fought for her homeland, growing rapidly.
In just over a decade, during the prime of a typical Cosmic Human, she became the Protector of her homeland. At a young age, she became the first Protector of Antetar, and her strength was so great that even the Three Universal Civilizations had heard of her.
However, a super war broke out between the Crimson Dynasty and the Federation of Light, with an entire star cluster as the main battlefield. The Antetar People were affected, their home planet fell, and various colonies and ruling planets were reduced to ruins under the iron heel of the Crimson Dynasty. Only a very few survivors escaped in interstellar migration ships, becoming a wandering civilization. Stefan was one of the survivors.
People in war are pragmatic. Survivors have no time to reminisce about their home planet and are eager to leave the battlefield to find a new home and make a comeback. However, an uninvited guest has already set his sights on Stefan... It is none other than Manison.
Manison is a long-lived race and has lived for many years. At that time, he had not yet abandoned his body and was not Beyond Grade A. He coveted Stefan's power and intercepted the spaceship of the survivors of Antetar.
The final result was that the Antetar Civilization became another flame of civilization extinguished in the war, and Stefan became the shadow of Manison.
History merely records what happened at the time; cold, hard facts do not record emotions. The motives, feelings, and reactions of everyone at the time remain a mystery. In the previous life, after Stefan entered the game, some players were curious and searched for historical records about her. From the rare descriptions in some superhuman history books, they learned that some historians believed that if Stefan had not "mysteriously disappeared," she might have become one of the [The First Ones].
However, during the Exploration Era War, there were far too many potential Calamity Grade, most of whom died in battle, becoming nourishment for their opponents like poisonous insects. The First Ones was the first batch of Beyond Grade A beings who emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Manison was not the First Ones; he remained mysterious until the end of the Exploration Era when he appeared in the form of Beyond Grade A being.
In that brief glance, Han Xiao had a complete picture in his mind. He took a deep breath. The real enemy had surfaced, and the pressure of being at odds with Manison was immense, but that was a matter for the future.
The biggest problem right now is still dealing with the nine Calamity Grade.
Especially Stefan.
Han Xiao pushed with both hands, and a beam of Psionic Energy shockwave shot straight towards Stefan. The massive mechanical legion around him started to move and attacked all the enemies. The cannons roared and boomed continuously!
Bang bang bang bang--
Countless Psionic Energy cannons crisscrossed the area, and mechanical soldiers, armed and shielded, surrounded them. Stefan and the others also moved, launching a fierce counterattack with lightning speed.
The battle erupted with a roar, and the scene instantly descended into chaos!
Han Xiao was never short of self-awareness. The mechanical legion was much stronger than before, but facing nine senior Calamity Grade enemies at the same time was still beyond the mechanical legion's capabilities. Among the nine enemies were two Mechanic Class, one being a gunner whose massive cannons with extremely thick calibers fired beams of light that were capable of destroying the world, blasting apart mechanical soldiers one after another.
The other was also a mechanic, specializing in interstellar fortresses. He raised his hand and unleashed a massive war fortress hundreds of meters high, with formidable firepower and a guard force. He clashed with the mechanical legion, like two packs of beasts colliding and tearing at each other.
Ding ding ding--
The metal clashed incessantly, sparks flying everywhere instead of spilled blood, and jumbled parts and wires rained down like chunks of flesh torn from each other's bodies.
The other seven enemies consist of two martial artists, one magician, and four superhumans, with Stefan being one of them!
Stefan's ability was the most mysterious. She was like a swooping eagle, heading straight for Han Xiao in the center of the legion. Wherever she passed, the mechanical soldiers that came near collapsed. The air around her was distorted by high temperature. From a distance, her palm was aimed at Han Xiao.
With just this one action, a series of prompts popped up on Han Xiao's panel.
You have entered a state of [Mild Slowness], reducing your agility by 12% for 8 seconds!
You are in a state of [Mild Weakness], all attributes reduced by 6% for 8 seconds!
[You are in a state of [Mild Confusion], with a 10% chance of being interrupted when using skills, lasting 8 seconds!]
[You have entered a state of [abnormal arousal]. Your attack power fluctuates between 80% and 110% for 8 seconds!]
[You are in a state of [mild hallucination], your accuracy and perception are reduced by 10% for 8 seconds!]
[You are in a state of [mild fatigue], where your strength and stamina will suffer an additional 8% loss for 10 seconds!]
[Your [Tough Body] perk is active; you True Damage Immunity!]