16: Skills Advancement

The fifteenth day of the voyage.

"Warning! A large number of abnormal life fluctuations detected, maximum energy level exceeds 100 crystals!"

"Warning! Detected..."

After consecutively passing through several special environmental zones such as the extreme cold zone and gravity zone, the command ship's detection devices suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

Looking through the dense movement of light points on the screen, one could see that a large number of mutated monsters were entrenched on the planet to the front right and in the asteroid belt directly ahead.

They seemed to have also discovered the small fleet of "Dark Destruction Legion," and were rapidly rushing towards them.

"Squads 1-7, all deploy, intercept the Galaxy Beast in front."

"Orbital cannons ready, target the planet to the front right, execute saturation attack."

"Squads 8-10, stand by, be ready to clean up any stragglers at any time."

An Yu seemed long accustomed to such scenes and issued orders methodically.

In an instant, the hatches at the bottom of the starship opened, and rows of cool mechs shot out like arrows released from a bow.

The simultaneously blossoming thruster flames streaked across the dark starry sky like a meteor shower.

When the distance between the two sides was still over ten kilometers, these mechs suddenly stopped, exposing dense gun barrels on their shoulders and chests, and countless small cruise missiles immediately broke through the air.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!

Charging at the very front was a hundred-meter-long monster that looked like a giant centipede.

Its hideous mouthparts and hundred legs covered in steel-needle-like fuzz were all clearly visible, enough to make an ordinary person collapse to the ground in terror.

It seemed to have sensed danger and cautiously stopped, attempting to dodge, but was directly scooped up by a muscular giant with four arms from behind and thrown towards the incoming missiles.

Boom!

The hundred-meter-long centipede only had time to let out a scream before it was blown into fragments.

But this action also neutralized most of the offensive, with only a few stray cruise missiles passing through to strike the giant, blasting out bloody craters several meters deep.

For a giant hundreds of meters tall, this obviously didn't amount to much.

"They actually have intelligence!"

Zhang Huaiyuan was slightly surprised.

He had been studying knowledge related to Star Mechanics previously and didn't know much about these mutated Galaxy Beasts; he hadn't expected that even just some D-rank or C-rank monsters could evolve to this extent.

"Leave this monster to me, you all go deal with the ones behind."

A calm voice rang out over the communication channel; before anyone knew it, An Yu, who had originally been in the command cabin, had already appeared in the starry sky.

Unlike the others, she only wore a combat suit and was not covered in a full mech, but as a B-rank Transcendent, the aura she invisibly radiated was even more powerful than the combined strength of the hundred-man battle squad beside her.

"Yes, Commander."

The other soldiers acknowledged the order and, without the slightest hesitation, bypassed the giant from both sides and charged towards the monsters in the rear, seemingly not at all worried about being intercepted.

"Roar!"

The giant, hundreds of meters tall, was clearly enraged by this scene.

These ants actually dared to ignore it!

Its four thick arms immediately swung towards the mechs on both sides.

Monsters that evolved purely through physical means like this had astonishing strength. If struck head-on, even with a modified mech, it would likely be crushed in an instant.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

But just at this moment, four roars rang out almost simultaneously. Under the acceleration of the Wind Spirit Power, the bullets' power and speed increased tenfold, arriving first despite being fired later.

They instantly and accurately struck the giant's wrists, piercing through the skin and passing straight through its body.

"Ahhh—!"

A violent scream immediately resounded through the void, which even Zhang Huaiyuan in the command cabin could vaguely hear.

Apparently, some special medium permeated the Disaster Zone, which could also transmit sound; it was no longer a complete vacuum.

"A burst sniper rifle? Conventional modifications could never achieve firing four bullets at the same time. It seems the weapon in the young lady's hand must be enchanted with Transcendent power."

A trace of burning intensity flashed in Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes.

"Transcendent modification of weapons, that is something only a Master-level Star Mechanic could possibly achieve. Relevant literature that can be found is even rarer. It seems the high-end power of this world is far more formidable than I imagined."

Zhang Huaiyuan thought to himself as he continued to watch the battlefield.

At this moment, the giant was completely enraged by An Yu and, ignoring everything else, strode directly towards her, the wounds on its wrists healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It reached out and scooped up several rocks with a diameter of five meters from the passing asteroid belt, throwing them violently.

"Powerful recovery ability, are the wrists not its weak point..."

An Yu gracefully and calmly sidestepped through the gaps between several meteorites.

Taking advantage of the moment before the opponent could attack again, she raised her gun once more, the Wind Spirit Power condensed behind the bullets in a spirally compressed manner.

Bang, bang!

Two more shots were fired, sinking into the giant's legs.

The condensed wind vortex power exploded instantly, transforming into countless cyan blades that raged, destroying the internal flesh and tissue.

The giant could no longer stand steady and fell to its knees in the void with a wail.

Having lost its mobility, it completely became a sitting duck.

"Chest is not it..."

"Head is not it..."

"Found it, so it's here."

An Yu unhurriedly fired shot after shot, searching for the opponent's core vital point.

Bang!

The final bullet streaked through the void, piercing through the left waist in the opponent's terrified eyes, shattering a heart-like substance.

The hundred-meter-tall giant collapsed with a boom, and there was no sound left.

"So strong... A powerful C-rank Galaxy Beast, played with throughout the entire process with almost no ability to fight back. Is this the strength of a B-rank Transcendent?"

Zhang Huaiyuan replayed the battle just now in his mind.

Whether it was the well-timed dodging or the combat style of hiding Wind Spirit Power on the bullets, it was an eye-opener for him.

"If I can optimize the algorithms, enhance logical judgment and learning capabilities, and add these combat styles to my combat robots, then I would truly have some ability to protect myself."

He continued to watch the battle between the "Dark Destruction Legion" soldiers and the Galaxy Beasts, and the massive amount of theoretical knowledge piled up in his mind immediately sparked flashes of inspiration.

Without him even noticing, the progress of his extraordinary level and professional level was growing crazily.

Until a slight tingling sensation came from his brain, and he felt his mental activity and processing speed surge several times over in an instant.

Some problems that had troubled him previously were immediately solved.

"This is..."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at his data panel in surprise.

extraordinary level: C (32 / 100000).

Professional level: Senior (12366 / 50000, still need to master 337 items of knowledge such as "Reasonable Construction of Conventional starships").

Current world assimilation progress: 12%.

Ability Effect 1 Advancement: Now, you can see more information through the datafication ability.