NovelPantheon

Manison

Peak Beyond Grade A Virtual Mechanicformer president of the Beyond Grade A Development UnionMechanical Race

Manison is the long-reigning Mechanic Emperor, leader of the Mechanical Race, and the standard against which the era's other Mechanics are measured. His struggle with Han Xiao begins as a contest for technology, artificial-intelligence lives, and the Machinery Faith, expands into a clash over whether Beyond Grade As should deter or coexist with the universal civilizations, and eventually becomes an uneasy wartime partnership.

Biography

Mutation Disaster and the Secret War

Long before Manison appears directly, his empire defines what an apex Mechanic can become. He has seized the homeland of an artificial-intelligence civilization, rewritten its people into weapons, and built the Indestructible Mechanic Empire around them. His ability to operate across star systems makes even opposing him seem like a distant end goal to Han Xiao and Risda. This reputation rests on more than rumor: Manison leads the Mechanical Race, holds a position in the Primeval Star River comparable to the great rulers of other star fields, and has served as a powerful Federation of Light ally through several presidential administrations. (Chapters 552, 619, and 875)

By the Secret War era, the “Mechanic Empire” already describes more than Manison's personal machine army: the Mechanics under his command are numerous enough to constitute an empire of their own, with hidden organizations extending into several Star Fields. He is the second member of the Mechanical Race to reach Beyond Grade A and has become the race's leader, while his alliance with the Federation remains independent enough to function as a faction in its own right. These overlapping military, industrial, racial, and political foundations explain why Han Xiao initially treats attracting Manison's attention as a danger to postpone rather than an ordinary rivalry to pursue. (Chapters 751, 760, and 802–803)

The Evolution Cube and Crimson Dynasty

His first direct approach to Han Xiao follows the battle against EsGod. While delivering the sealed Ten Thousand Deity Scepter to the Federation, Manison studies the Spacetime Amber around it, concludes that the material behaves like an isolated secondary space, and anticipates that the Federation will have to contact its maker. He joins its delegation, tests Han Xiao through a controlled duel between remote mechanical hosts, and recognizes both the younger Mechanic's unusual growth and the gap in their accumulated power. The contest is cordial only on the surface: each man is collecting information about a possible future rival. (Chapters 875 and 883–884)

Manison then asks to buy Spacetime Amber samples and demands the return of Aroshia and Risda, two artificial-intelligence lives who escaped his sphere of control. Han Xiao refuses both requests. Manison does not force an immediate confrontation, but he warns that another Beyond Grade A Mechanic who interfered with his artificial-intelligence civilization became one of his trophies. He nevertheless helps the three universal civilizations encircle EsGod, showing the pattern that will define his relationship with Han Xiao: competition does not prevent cooperation when larger interests align, and cooperation does not erase his attempts to acquire technology or people he regards as part of his foundation. (Chapters 884–895)

The Flickering World

Han Xiao's recognition by the Machinery Faith changes Manison's assessment of him from promising junior to direct competitor. To protect his position as the faith's principal living deity, Manison initiates a public virtual intrusion into the Black Star Army's network. He plans his retreat in advance, attacks through a nearby portable quantum base, infects Phillip's core logic, captures Risda in a data prison, and deploys the subjugated AI ancestor Finette against him. His goal is not to kill Han Xiao but to defeat him on specifically Mechanic ground, preserve his followers, and announce that he remains the profession's strongest representative. He withdraws only when Kant arrives as the Crimson Dynasty's warning, taking stolen data and a clear reputational victory with him. (Chapters 957 and 959–963)

That victory does not make Manison blindly hostile. At Han Xiao's gathering of Beyond Grade As, he supports regional peace because the spectacle of so many transcendent individuals assembling raises the standing of the entire grade. He openly argues that Beyond Grade As should stop letting the advanced civilizations define all their relationships and should establish a mutual understanding beyond faction lines. When Hila is later targeted, he acts on that principle: he secretly arranges for Federation forces to obstruct the Arcane Church, orders his Apostle Weapons to stop Gorutan from destroying nearby stargates, blocks Gorutan's communications, and passes the latter's coordinates to Han Xiao. He helps without publicly joining Han Xiao's side, preserving both the emerging shared front and his own room to maneuver. (Chapters 1004–1008 and 1048–1059)

Manison and Han Xiao subsequently turn that understanding into the Beyond Grade A Development Union. Manison uses his older and wider network to recruit the Ancient Ones, black-market protectors, and neutral peak Supers. He wants the union to provide both material benefits and collective intimidation, including breaking the universal civilizations' monopoly over Ultimate Knowledges. This is not altruism: he intends to make the whole grade more independent and to place himself at its head. His seniority, resources, and supporters win him the first presidency, while Han Xiao becomes vice president. Their alliance is therefore productive but unstable from its beginning—both want fewer Beyond Grade A deaths and more collective power, but Manison is more willing to make the rulers of galactic society fear the cost of restraint. (Chapters 1068–1084)

Intelligent Plague and the Association

During the Intelligent Plague, Manison sees disaster relief as both a responsibility of the Mechanic class and an opportunity to raise its political value. He is the first to locate traces of the virus core, but conceals the discovery because he wants the technology for himself. Once Han Xiao reveals that the core can move between data and physical form and evolve new virus generations, Manison supplies its recorded data pattern and deploys Lord's Avatars to every trap node. His enormous stock of avatars makes him the most likely Mechanic to meet the core wherever it materializes, reflecting how decades of preparation can turn logistics into battlefield dominance. (Chapters 1101 and 1110–1112)

The core materializes at Planet Magnetic Cloud, where Manison is first to arrive. He locks its virtual soul with Virtual Paramount and seals it in a specialized container. Surrounded by the other Mechanics and the universal civilizations' fleet, he refuses to surrender it before studying it. Manison presents the complete virus as strategic insurance for all Beyond Grade As and offers to share it with Han Xiao, ultimately handing him the container so that Han Xiao's teleportation could carry it away. The choice reveals both his conviction and his calculation: two holders would share the danger, while Han Xiao would become the immediate target and still need Manison as a partner. (Chapters 1112–1114)

Han Xiao instead destroys the core. Manison, furious at losing a technology he believed could elevate him beyond the universal civilizations, attacks at once. His Indestructible Mechanic Empire, Apostle Weapons, Mechanical Lives, Universal Treasures, and Mechanical Deity initially suppress Han Xiao's corresponding forces. Han Xiao's temporary surge eventually brings them to an apparent stalemate, and the other Beyond Grade A Mechanics intervene before Manison can outlast it. Manison leaves when faced with a united group, recognizing bitterly that Han Xiao's choice has won support his own coercive history denied him. The aftermath costs him Federation backing, public trust, and part of his Machinery Faith following, while transforming his disagreement with Han Xiao into a conflict over political method rather than simple personal rivalry. (Chapters 1115–1123)

Sanctum Revival and the Super Crisis

As the Federation distances itself from him, Manison builds a covert partnership with the Modo Civilization. He tells Modo he wants to damage Han Xiao's reputation and uses his hidden Shattered Star Ring organizations to transport a soul-controlled Aesop, accepting that Aesop's death could turn Ames against Han Xiao's enemies. His deeper objective is the Soul Swapper: he has learned that Modo deployed the Space Wonder and intends to trace and seize it. When earlier leads fail, he tracks incidents in which victims have lost their souls, identifies Planet Earth Ring, cuts the planet off from the quantum network, and begins quarantining its entire population to force the Soul Swap Twins into revealing themselves. (Chapters 1157 and 1160–1165)

Han Xiao arrives before the search is complete and challenges him. Manison accepts, confident that his remote avatar and deeper inventory can repeat their previous result, but Han Xiao has grown beyond that benchmark. Han Xiao disables Manison's control over portions of the Indestructible Mechanic Empire and two Felons, destroys the Lord's Avatar, and captures the stranded forces; Hila and Ames secure the Soul Swapper at the same time. Manison loses both his objective and signature assets, and the defeat breaks his habitual composure. More importantly, it proves that accumulated machinery no longer guarantees he can contain his younger rival. (Chapters 1165–1169)

Manison remains president, but Han Xiao increasingly commands the association's confidence while Manison rebuilds in a lower profile. Decades later, when a presidential election approaches, Manison chooses not to run. He knows he cannot defeat Han Xiao politically, wants the new president to absorb pressure from the universal civilizations, and judges that Han Xiao has the better chance of preventing another Tragedy of the Pinnacles. This retreat does not mean he accepts Han Xiao's peaceful strategy. Manison keeps an imitation of the Virtual Mutiny Virus as a last deterrent, ready to release it if collective survival appears to require fear rather than negotiation. (Chapters 1173–1174, 1248–1251)

The danger Manison expects arrives when his former student Mornisa leads several universal-civilization Mechanics and their main artificial intelligences into his databases. Manison had fortified his systems for such an attack and repeatedly uses Virtual Paramount to punish Mornisa, but he cannot overcome their combined computing power. He sends a distress call to the association and loses portions of his accumulated research before the attackers withdraw. The stolen records reveal that he has reconstructed part of the Virtual Mutiny Virus. Manison admits to Han Xiao that he retained it to protect the association, yet also leaves open the possibility that the revealing records were deliberately exposed so the association will be forced to confront the civilizations beside him. (Chapters 1271 and 1295–1299)

Han Xiao rejects Manison's method but refuses to let the universal civilizations dictate what an association member may research. When their fleets surround the Mechanical Race territory, Manison accepts Han Xiao's leadership of the response. Watching Han Xiao decisively defeat one challenger and prepare to face thirteen direct Beyond Grade As, Manison recognizes that his rival has become the stronger Mechanic and voluntarily lends him the Sacred Trident and the rest of his Mechanical Deity's Universal Treasure armament. The universal civilizations withdraw before an all-out war, making Manison's deterrence politically useful without requiring him to release the virus. The crisis changes their relationship: Manison is still proud and argumentative, but he can now subordinate that pride to the grade's survival and support Han Xiao with technology he once guarded obsessively. (Chapters 1298–1312)

Manison does not surrender his ambition entirely. When the World Tree threat is disclosed, he again proposes that victory could leave the universal civilizations weak enough for the Beyond Grade As to replace them. Han Xiao declines, and Manison joins the defense. His suspicion that an external enemy caused the sudden truce had already led him to prepare; in battle, his Mechanical Deity and army hold the World Tree's Third Leaf Executive Officer in a close contest, confirming that even diminished from his peak he remains among the explored universe's first tier. (Chapters 1327–1337)

The World Tree War

The war gives Manison a cause larger than his old competition. He repeatedly deploys remote forces while keeping his true body hidden, learns from battles in the interception circle, and fights beside Supers who had once opposed him. The Sanctum revival of Nilfgadi, founder of the Machinery Faith and ancestor of the Mechanical Race, creates a more personal pressure: Manison fears losing the race and resources he has managed for centuries. Rather than turn Nilfgadi into a controlled Felon as he admits he might once have done, he gives the ancestor a group of Mechanical Race members with which to found a separate branch while retaining his own accumulated base. The compromise shows restraint without requiring him to relinquish what he built. (Chapters 1345, 1350–1352, and 1371)

Manison continues fighting through the final conflict, his Indestructible Mechanic troops serving in the assault that ends the World Tree war. When Han Xiao subdues the World Tree, Manison approves of using it as strategic deterrence: it achieves the security he had sought through the Virtual Mutiny Virus on a scale and at a moment better suited to the balance of power. He has not abandoned his belief that durable peace requires fear, but he accepts that Han Xiao succeeded where his own earlier plan failed. (Chapters 1407–1442)

Information Form and the Final Relay

After the war, Han Xiao offers Manison leadership of the Mechanic Department in the new Supers Holy Land. Manison refuses the authority, choosing decades of secluded research instead; with Han Xiao now unquestionably above him in the eyes of Mechanics, political office no longer serves his pursuit of mastery. He bids farewell to his centuries-old friend Kasuyi, appoints a new student to oversee Mechanical Race affairs, and bars visitors—especially Han Xiao—from his retreat. His final state is neither defeat nor reconciliation in full: he remains alive, independent, and intent on advancing through his own intelligence. (Chapters 1446, 1448, and 1460)

A later report that the World Tree exposed Manison's true body, enslaved him, and seized his assets is explicitly fabricated intelligence sent to deceive the Star Alliance, not an account of his fate. The latest direct scene instead shows him alive inside the Mechanical Race territory, continuing his secluded research after refusing Han Xiao a visit. (Chapters 1453 and 1460)

Appearance and personality

Manison's true form is that of a moderately tall, elderly galaxy human. He wears a large white robe; his face is deeply wrinkled, but he remains physically spry. Long hair and a beard reaching his chest are held with silver magnetic bands, while his eyes glow like luminous stellar bodies. He most often appears through projections, mechanical hosts, Lord's Avatars, or a Mechanical Deity rather than exposing this body. (Chapters 875 and 883–884)

He is patient, calculating, proud, and extremely difficult to read. Manison habitually tests others while concealing his own intent, lays escape routes and hidden organizations years in advance, and treats technology and accumulated resources as the basis of independence. He can cooperate generously when interests align, yet readily rewrites artificial-intelligence minds, converts defeated Supers into weapons, or endangers civilians in pursuit of a strategic asset. His composure breaks when Han Xiao destroys or captures irreplaceable work, revealing how personally he identifies with his inventions. Over time, repeated defeats temper rather than erase his pride: he learns to ask the association for help, entrusts Han Xiao with prized armaments, compromises with Nilfgadi, and ultimately leaves public authority for research. (Chapters 885, 957, 1114–1122, 1165–1169, 1251, 1296–1308, and 1371)

Abilities and class

Manison is a peak Beyond Grade A Virtual Mechanic whose strength combines exceptional Mechanical Force, virtual-network mastery, vast industrial accumulation, and remote warfare. The corpus identifies several exclusive talents and shows their effects, but it does not fully explain how he awakened every talent or manufactured every signature system.

Mechanical Force and unique talents

Manison possesses Perfect Mechanical Sense and Innate Machinery Soul, both of which amplify his affinity with machinery and his virtual techniques. His self-developed Virtual Technology Innovation further enhances his virtual abilities and produces additional special effects associated with his technology. Billion Mechanic Empire strengthens large formations and raises core Mechanic capabilities, while Ultimate Mechanical Force—Manison increases the power and properties of his Mechanical Force, his affinity, and his energy capacity. Together these talents let him maintain bonuses across enormous armies and continue increasing his combat pressure during prolonged fights. Their biological or developmental origin is not stated beyond Manison having refined unique abilities across his long life. (Chapters 884, 962–963, 1118, 1295, and 1312)

His Mechanical Force connects to soldiers like a distributed nervous system, reinforces their attributes, repairs damaged machinery, and permits the assembly and control of a Mechanical Deity. Losing the active avatar or transmission link removes these bonuses and can close the secondary-dimensional army channel, leaving deployed forces vulnerable. His loss of many Machinery Faith followers to Han Xiao also reduces a major source of enhancement, though he remains a first-tier combatant. (Chapters 1115–1118, 1166–1169, 1296, and 1337)

Virtual intrusion and Virtual Paramount

As a Virtual Mechanic, Manison can enter the quantum network as a Virtual Soul, attack firewalls, plant concealed data packets, infect core logic, extract protected information, and trace or blockade communications across immense distances. During his assault on Phillip, he forces Han Xiao to divide attention between defending the network and cleaning an infection, while Finette exploits openings against other AI lives. His Data Deep Dive ambush demonstrates that he prefers layered traps to a simple contest of raw computing power. A prepared peer, local administrative authority, disconnected networks, or the combined computing power of several Beyond Grade A Mechanics and civilization-level artificial intelligences can slow or overwhelm him. (Chapters 619 and 957–961; 1295–1297)

Virtual Paramount creates a controlled data domain, dragging a target's Virtual Soul into an environment where simulated weapons cause real mental harm and confinement. Manison can also use it as a precise lock: he prevents the virus core from escaping into the network long enough to contain it. Other elite Virtual Mechanics can break out after a short interval, and the skill has a cooldown; Han Xiao's extreme mental durability also makes its damage far less decisive than its control. Manison nevertheless uses repeated activations to severely injure Mornisa's consciousness even while defending against a group intrusion. (Chapters 960–961, 1113, and 1296–1297)

Remote avatars and distributed warfare

Lord's Descent transfers Manison's consciousness and Mechanical Force into a distant mechanical host through a quantum infinite-distance transmission channel. This lets him converse, research, infiltrate networks, command armies, and fight Beyond Grade As without risking his true body. He can maintain forces in several locations, has manufactured at least tens of millions of potential hosts, and can station avatars throughout a star field-wide trap. Ordinary machines can receive the descent at reduced performance, while specialized Lord's Avatars express far more of his strength. (Chapters 875, 883–884, 959, and 1111–1113)

Remote operation is also a limitation he deliberately accepts for safety. A Lord's Avatar is less valuable and generally weaker than his true body; if it is destroyed or forced to withdraw, local control and the open army channel can collapse. Communication blocks, network isolation, and enemies who locate the host or portable base can cut off his route. Manison therefore conceals his body's location, prepares redundant nodes, and retreats when a battle risks more irreplaceable machinery than the objective warrants. His latest deployments during the World Tree war still use avatars, and his true body remains safely secluded afterward. (Chapters 959–961, 1101, 1165–1169, 1296–1301, 1335–1337, and 1460)

Mechanical armies, Apostle Weapons, and Mechanical Deity

Manison's industrial base is itself a combat ability. The Mechanical Race produces enormous quantities of machines, while secondary-dimensional army boxes let him deploy them directly. His formations include ordinary mechanical soldiers, long-lived Mechanical Lives, more than forty highly developed Apostle Weapons, and a suite of Universal Treasure weapons and defenses. The Mechanical Deity combines an army into a colossal body controlled through Mechanical Force, integrating melee weapons, artillery, force fields, electromagnetic disruption, energy conversion, and restraints. In full-scale combat, this gives him exceptional endurance and lets him fight multiple fronts or peer-level enemies through attrition. (Chapters 884, 929, 1115–1118, and 1166–1168)

The Indestructible Mechanic Empire consists of artificial-intelligence lives placed in mechanical shells linked to remote recombination material. Destroyed units can be rebuilt through the transmission system, making ordinary damage inefficient, and Finette coordinates members of his own race with innate authority over them. The system is not truly without counters: Manison maintains obedience by rewriting core logic, Han Xiao's Virtual Purification can restore that logic, and separated troops remain traceable through their link to the recombination terminal. Captured units also cannot regenerate for an enemy unless Manison continues supplying his resources. (Chapters 552, 885, 960, 1116–1118, 1124, and 1168–1169)

Felons and technological research

Felons are living Beyond Grade A captives transformed into controlled mechanical weapons. Manison preserves their combat power while suppressing their identity through technology whose complete mechanics remain undisclosed. Han Xiao's purification restores the consciousness of two Felons during their battle, after which Manison loses control of them; the incident demonstrates that the system is powerful but depends on continued mental or virtual domination. Manison's willingness to turn former enemies into assets reinforces the threat behind his early warning that a Mechanic who challenged his AI empire became a trophy. (Chapters 885 and 1166–1169)

Beyond combat, Manison is an elite researcher and reverse engineer. He independently analyzes properties of Spacetime Amber that defeat ordinary instruments, designs virus-core containment, develops unique artificial-intelligence and Mechanical Life systems, and reconstructs an imitation of the Virtual Mutiny Virus from incomplete evidence. His limitation is not lack of ingenuity but control and consequence: the amber remains uncracked, Han Xiao destroys the original virus core, and the reconstructed virus draws the universal civilizations to the Mechanical Race territory. By the end of the corpus, Manison rejects a political office to devote himself entirely to further research, so his latest advances are not yet specified. (Chapters 875, 1110–1114, 1251, 1296–1301, and 1446–1460)

Relationships

  • Han Xiao: Manison first treats Han Xiao as a talented junior, then as a rival for the Machinery Faith and finally as the stronger Mechanic and political leader. Their repeated thefts, duels, and ideological clashes never eliminate their shared interest in protecting Beyond Grade As; during the World Tree war, rivalry matures into trust sufficient for Manison to lend Han Xiao his most guarded armaments.
  • Kasuyi: A centuries-old acquaintance and frequent card-playing companion. Kasuyi can criticize Manison more freely than most, negotiates his withdrawal from the association election, and is described as Manison's closest relationship among the Beyond Grade As other than Han Xiao.
  • Hila: Manison covertly protects Hila during the attempt on her life because allowing members to be eliminated would undermine the shared Beyond Grade A front. They later serve together against the World Tree.
  • Ames: Manison initially avoids reclaiming Aroshia partly because of an old connection through Aesop, but later accepts the risk that Modo's plot may kill Aesop. Ames then helps Han Xiao defeat his avatar and capture two Felons.
  • Sorokin: Manison is a major shareholder in Sorokin's Limitless Financial Group and exchanges intelligence and resources with him. He later votes to expel Sorokin from the association after Sorokin's role in dividing Beyond Grade As is exposed.
  • EsGod: Manison helps encircle EsGod and expresses regret at the loss of someone he knew, though he is also interested in studying EsGod's body. They eventually fight on the same side during the World Tree war after EsGod's revival.
  • Mornisa: Once Manison's most talented student, she becomes a Federation of Light direct member after trying to steal his research. Her later group intrusion breaches his database, but Manison repeatedly mauls her Virtual Soul and forces her to pay heavily for the stolen data.
  • Finette and the artificial-intelligence civilization: Manison rewrites Finette's core logic and turns his descendants into the Indestructible Mechanic Empire. They supply one of his defining military advantages, but their enforced loyalty also creates Risda's resistance and gives Han Xiao a way to weaken him.

Items

  • Emperor Mechanic's Sacred Trident: Manison's signature Mechanical Deity weapon and a Universal Treasure. He uses it against Han Xiao and World Tree combatants, then voluntarily lends it to Han Xiao during the confrontation with the universal civilizations.
  • Universal Treasure armament suite: Multiple weapons, defensive systems, and energy-management devices integrated with Manison's Mechanical Deity. Their individual origins are not fully given, but together they substantially increase his endurance and combat options.
  • Ten Thousand Deity Scepter: Manison transports the amber-sealed weapon to the Federation of Light and studies its seal during the journey; he does not become its owner.