Read The Legendary Mechanic - Chapter 1083 - Exchange and Formation online free - Novel Full
Chapter 1083 Exchange and Formation
The fervor for the Flickering World was shared by countless organizations. As the exploration of new Star Fields progressed, the exploration area belonging to the free competition zone got deeper and deeper into the core at a speed much faster than the three previous stages.
Planet Finn was a hub planet of the Emerald Star Cluster located at a superior position where the exterior Star System and the Star System coincided.
Initially, this was first occupied by the Modo Civilization. However, the impact of the conflict between two Beyond Grade A organizations 'coincidentally' reached this location. The Modo Civilization's troops stationed there met with 'accidents', so this planet now had no owner again.
Not long after, the Black Star Army 'happened to' occupy this planet and generously used it as the future headquarters of the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union.
This desolate island was already completely different. It was filled with marks of artificial modifications. Countless Black Star Army engineering ships were constructing all kinds of buildings on the surface and satellites.
The most conspicuous landmark was a skyscraper. This was the conference building of the development union's headquarters. It was shaped like a trophy. An enormous sphere hovered on top of it like a floating fortress. There were also a lot of facilities in that sphere, including the round table conference room exclusively for the Beyond Grade As to host meetings.
At this point of time, a crucial meeting was being held inside it.
After a slight flash before his eyes, Han Xiao's remote projection appeared in the round table conference room. He looked around and saw that many seats were already occupied while more were appearing.
This was the first time Han Xiao had joined the meeting since returning. All the Beyond Grade As who were willing to join the association had been invited to this meeting, not just the ones who initiated it.
Very soon, all the seats were occupied. Manison knocked on the table to signal for everyone to stop chattering.
"Everyone, Black Star is the one who made the suggestion to form the development union. Now that he's back and all members are present, this will be our first full meeting. Some of you might not know each other, so let's start by introducing yourselves."
Even though some of the Beyond Grade As present never had been in contact with some others, they all knew who the others were. This was just a standard procedure, so everyone briefly introduced themselves.
Han Xiao looked around. Most had attended the Meeting of the Gods, but there were also some new faces, including the direct members of the three Universal Civilizations.
At the same time, some older faces did not show up, like those unlucky fellows locked in the Spacetime Amber. In total, the number of attendees was surprisingly fewer than the Meeting of the Gods.
Whenever they saw him looking over, they would all slightly nod at him as a greeting.
The direct members of the three Universal Civilizations are here too, Han Xiao thought.
The reason behind this was not difficult to guess. The development union had been in conflict with the three Universal Civilizations for a few months. Both sides ended up compromising somewhat. One of the terms agreed was having these direct members join the union. Although the association would not possibly let those people have high power, since it was called the Beyond Grade A Association, there was no reason it should reject any Beyond Grade As from joining, even if they were direct members of the three Universal Civilizations.
The initial goal of everyone there was to have a united battlefront for the Beyond Grade As and increase the position of everyone at this grade. However, skipping the steps in between was totally unrealistic. In the beginning stage, no one really planned to use all their cards, so compromising with the three Universal Civilizations was unavoidable. Anyway, this would not go against the initial goal. As long as this platform was created, a new profit network was formed, and the ability to de-escalate conflicts between Beyond Grade As was acquired, the Beyond Grade As would be able to ignore some of the conflicts that were due to their factions.
As for acquiring more power, that had to be slowly earned in the future.
Han Xiao had not come back for a few months, but he had always been paying attention to the preparation progress of the development union. He had quite a lot of intelligence about it and knew very clearly of the basic system and members of the association.
After a round of introductions, Manison looked at Han Xiao and said slowly, "Over the past few months, the preparation for the development union has been going quite well. Black Star, you've only returned recently. Do you have anything to say? You're one of the main initiators, so we'd like to hear your thoughts."
Everyone's attention instantly focused on him.
Han Xiao cleared his throat and said, "I don't have much to say. Everyone has done a good job. We've already spoken about this matter back during the Meeting of the Gods. At the end of it, it was decided that I was to be responsible for creating the communication platform, which is close to completion. As everyone knows, the top priority of the development union is to settle disputes and conflicts between Beyond Grade As. I heard that the relationships between some of you here have not been great lately, so I hope that this platform can be created as soon as possible. The entire universe is in need of a platform like this to bring peace."
"Black Star is absolutely right." Manison took over. "As you all know, there have been some obstacles on the path of creating the development union. Currently, these obstacles are already mostly cleared out. The only thing that's holding us back is the negotiation regarding the Ultimate Knowledges. We have to put this thing aside for the time being. The most crucial matter at hand is the members of the management level so that the development union can be officially formed soon."
As expected, the three Universal Civilizations did not compromise at all on the matter of Ultimate Knowledges. After a series of intense conflicts, both sides put the matter aside and decided to go for a negotiation. However, either side could give the other side what they wanted, nor could either side do anything more. Therefore, this matter would not come to a conclusion any time soon.
Due to this situation, some peak Beyond Grade As like Manison had changed their minds and decided not to let this matter delay the formation of the development union. Hence, this matter was put aside, and Ultimate Knowledge being one of the benefits of the association was not publicized. As for whether the knowledge would be taught privately was another matter.
The last thing standing before the official formation of the association was that the management position holders were yet to be decided, and the reason was that Black Star had yet to return. Now that Black Star was finally back, everyone could not wait to settle this crucial issue.
"That's right. It's time to decide who's to be the president…" A member of The Ancient Ones looked around. "Over the past few months, His Excellency Mechanic Emperor has been enduring a lot of pressure representing the development union. What he has done has been witnessed by all. I nominate Manison as the first president."
As soon as this was said, many supporters followed after. Suddenly, the entire place was discussing Manison.
In the past few months, Manison had been using the connections he had built up over the years. Not only were more than half of the peak Beyond Grade As supporting him, but he had also wooed many of the remaining Beyond Grade A members, especially members of the Ancient Ones. Most people agreed that Manison should be the president.
The other two candidates could not compete at all in the past few months. Knowing that they had no chance, they had basically quit the competition.
However, at this time, subconsciously or consciously, everyone was looking at Han Xiao. He had disappeared for a few months, and his opinion was the most unpredictable to the others.
Manison also could not help but look at Han Xiao. This was the one and only thing that might stop him from becoming the president. He had no choice but to take it seriously.
However, Han Xiao only smiled and did not speak, nor did he intend to.
Kasuyi looked back and forth between the two of them and said, "If there are no objections, let's start the vote. Who here agrees that Manison should be the first Development Union President?"
"Agree."
"Agree."
"Abstained."
"Agree."
Since there were not many people present and everyone there was important, a simple voting process was more than enough.
Everyone had voted, including Han Xiao, who abstained.
Seeing this, Manison was no longer worried. As long as Black Star did not interfere, this position was certainly going to be his.
The direct members of the three Universal Civilizations all abstained their votes. Clearly, they had an agreement. In the end, Manison easily won with an absolute number of votes.
Seeing this, Kasuyi took a deep breath and said with a deep voice, "It's decided then. His Excellency Manison 'Ancient One' Palpatine will, from now on, be the official president for the first term."
"Okay."
The muscles on Manison's face did not move at all. He maintained his poker face and did not say anything. He had no need to be humble.
Clap clap…
Those in attendance clapped a few times symbolically.
After the applause stopped, Kasuyi looked around and asked, "Now, as for the Vice-President, who…"
This time, Han Xiao suddenly smiled and said, "The formation of the association has relied a lot on the Black Star Army's forces in the Flickering World. I think that it's suitable for me to take this position. What do you guys say?"
Everyone exchanged looks and was not surprised.
With Black Star's strength and position, he would be a director at the bare minimum even without the crucial help the Black Star Army had provided. Therefore, of course, he had the right to be the vice president.
Actually, there was a reason Han Xiao did not fight with Manison. He had already decided not to compete for the position of the first president the moment he knew that the president position was term-based.
One of the reasons was that his connections were not as rich as Manison. Another was that he did not want to be the one getting the pressure during the initial stage of the association. If someone else became the president next term, he would have worked for nothing.
This was also one of the reasons Han Xiao had gone to hide in the secondary dimensions for a few months. He would not be able to become the president anyway, so he might as well let Manison and the others endure the pressure and come back later.
I'm the main initiator anyway, and the Black Star Army has provided a lot of help to the development union, so that's a big enough contribution.
Since he could still compete for the next term, Han Xiao was in no hurry. He did not want to directly compete with Manison, so he took the second-highest position as the vice president and planned to only compete for the position of president in the future.
Furthermore, even if he decided to directly compete with Manison now, he would not be able to succeed. Han Xiao never planned to compete with Manison in terms of connections but through the benefits of having him as the president, as explained by Kant and Milizaus. However, the people there still voted for Manison, which meant that they had already made their decision. Therefore, even if he had said anything earlier, these people would not have voted for him.
Although he did have some resources that he could use as chips to obtain some support, such as the Evolution Cube, there was no way he could do the same thing every term. Furthermore, much of those resources could only be used once. If he used it for this term, he might not be able to achieve the same amount of support next term.
Since he completely understood the situation, Han Xiao made the decision not to compete. He would only be able to wrestle with people on Manison's level when his connections and influence reached a higher level.
After all, he had leeks he could harvest, so he would grow much faster than everyone else. With such a unique advantage, this strategy seemed more suitable for him.
Quite a number of people had their eyes on the vice president position. Sadly, none were competent enough, and Kasuyi and the others had no interest. Since Han Xiao was the local, most people gave him face. Manison was in a good mood and supported him too. Therefore, Han Xiao became the vice president smoothly.
After getting this position, Han Xiao was relieved.
Now, this is what I call materialization of position. Getting the vice president position without spending anything is definitely much more cost effective than paying a huge price for the president position.
The director positions that came after had no suspense. They had been decided long ago and belonged to the group of peak Beyond Grade As. Other than that, there were also three 'Honorable Director' positions that had no actual power. They were given to the direct peak Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations. Of course, this was one of the conditions of the compromises.
As the positions were decided, the date of the official formation of the development union was also decided. After these things were dealt with, the meeting ended. Remote projections disappeared one after another, leaving just Manison and Han Xiao's remote projections behind.
"Congratulations, president," Han Xiao said casually.
Manison gave a rare smile and said, "Don't be discouraged. This is too early for you. The future is yours."
Han Xiao blinked with a strange expression.
Although things were going in a different direction compared to the previous life, Manison's goal should have remained unchanged, so he knew about it.
In his previous life, Manison had both pride and ambition. He wanted to make all the Beyond Grade As his shield to help him enter the next territory.
The two of them had different but similar goals. At least for a very long time, Manison would not be able to achieve his goal. He would have to wait for everyone in this grade to become stronger as time passed by.
Han Xiao put this thought away, pondered for two seconds, and asked, "About the negotiation regarding the Ultimate Knowledges, what's the price the three Universal Civilizations have asked for?"
As this issue was brought up, Manison wiped the smile off his face and said meaningfully, "A Super Star Cluster Civilization."
Han Xiao understood instantly and shook his head with resignation.
So, this is what they're planning to do, killing two birds with one stone by using the association against more important opponents and ruining the association's name.
"Will you agree?"
"I don't know. I'll have to see." Manison did not give a response. After he said that, his projection went offline, and Han Xiao was the only one in the conference room.
Han Xiao looked at Manison's empty seat and suddenly chuckled.
Mr. Director, being in this position isn't going to be that easy, you know…
Galaxy Calendar Year 730, July 11th. A sudden news bomb exploded in the Flickering World.
Close to a hundred Beyond Grade As made an announcement together. Due to the recent frequent conflicts between them, they had decided to form a guild-type organization to settle physical conflicts between Beyond Grade As and reduce the public damage caused by their battles.
The organization's headquarters would be located in Flickering World, on Planet Finn of the Emerald Star Cluster. Manison would be the president, Black Star would be the vice president, and there would be close to a hundred Beyond Grade A members.
The three Universal Civilizations had also publicly announced that this organization was not illegal. At the same time, they encouraged the Supers in the universe to learn from this and reduce the damage caused by their powers.
The Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union was officially founded on this day!
A few months after the explosive news of the ambush on Hila, countless citizens and organizations of the various Star Fields were in an uproar once again!
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Chapter 1084 Association"s Impact and Holy Light Hos
"Have you heard? Close to a hundred Beyond Grade As have formed a new organization in the Flickering World…"
In a military bar inside one of the dynasty's closed bases, the usual boisterous atmosphere was nowhere to be found. Some held their glass up but forgot about drinking it, some caressed their glasses subconsciously, and some were smoking cigars but hardly breathed.
The only common thing they shared was that all of their eyes were on the virtual screen on the bar's wall, which was now playing a political discussion show.
The show was hosted in a studio, where one host was leading the conversation with a few guests. The matter they were discussing was related to the recent big news.
Inside the quiet bar, the only sounds were the voices of the host and the guests.
"I know, the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union, right? It was formed not too long ago. They invited tons of galactic media groups and made the announcement. Now it's spread across the entire universe."
"Almost all the Beyond Grade As in the universe have joined. Tsk tsk, these guys really can't seem to be out of the spotlight."
"According to the information we have," the host said, "the purpose of this organization is to mediate the ever more frequent conflicts between Beyond Grade As. On the day of its establishment, they hosted a meeting where all the members attended. With the galactic media groups as their audience, they publicly mediated more than a dozen conflicts using peaceful negotiations, successfully solving the disputes between tens of Beyond Grade As. As it seems, this method is very effective. Those people all stopped fighting with each other. The frequent Beyond Grade As conflicts lately have been effectively reduced, and no one was unluckily impacted by those conflicts."
"It seems that this organization is really quite useful." A guest who held a high management position in a financial group complained. "The destruction Beyond Grade As can bring is too huge. Conflicts between them have always caused a humongous amount of damage to the public. Either planets were destroyed, or onlookers were accidentally killed. Now that this organization has been formed, these things can be avoided."
"Exactly. I had a friend living in the Shattered Star Ring. He went to watch the battle between Black Star and the Tyrant some decades ago, and because he got too close, he, unfortunately, got killed. There was no compensation or whatsoever after that at all"
Someone said, "I have no idea what those onlookers are thinking. Do they think it's a concert or something?"
"Have the Supers accidentally killed not enough ordinary people? This problem has existed in society for as long as Supers have. According to research, the number of ordinary people directly or indirectly killed by Supers in the entire universe every day is as high as around ten billion. Just let this horrifying number sink in. This is a huge problem that has everything to do with our daily lives."
A guest complained angrily. He was the representative of an organization that supported equal rights between ordinary people and Supers.
"Therefore, I think that the purpose of this organization is much more important than it seems on the surface. Living up to their positions at the top of the Super Grades, the Beyond Grade As have made an amazing stand and set an example for all the Supers in the universe. It's a very responsible act." The host avoided this sensitive topic with a smile. He displayed Manison and Han Xiao's virtual portraits on the screen behind and said, "The two main founders are Manison and Black Star, who have taken the position of president and vice president."
"Oh, these two are the VIPs of VIPs!" A known celebrity made an exaggerated hand gesture and said, "Not much needs to be said about Manison. He's a senior Beyond Grade A whom everyone knows about. No one finds it strange that he's been chosen as the president. However, Black Star is someone who has only risen in the last few decades, yet he surprisingly surpassed the other much more senior members and took the second-highest position."
A Slime wobbled and said, "Beyond Grade As are a group of people who heed strength above all. Not long ago, Black Star made a historical achievement by fighting twelve enemies alone, so whether he's senior enough or not doesn't limit him at all."
"Speaking of which, it seems like that conflict was the fuse that led to Black Star proposing to form the development union, and Manison is only a partner he brought in."
"No no no. From the way I see it, signs were already showing during the Meeting of the Gods. They've been planning this since long ago. Black Star is the one who contributed most to forming the association, so he became the vice president. As for the goal of the Beyond Grade As, who knows? Maybe they're planning to shuffle the deck using this opportunity during the exploration of the Flickering World."
"I've done some research. Black Star has been very active lately. Not only did he take the lead in forming the development union, but he also became a new shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. The date when the dynasty planned to officially sell the Evolutionary Totems to the public was also brought forward. He even stepped into the entertainment industry. In the files of the Galactic Cinematic Association, the movie adapted from Black Star's true story has already been filmed. The director is the renowned Beny Travol. Maybe we'll see the rise of Black Star very soon on screen."
The host and the guests chatted.
Pa!
This time, a dynasty army officer slammed his glass on the table, curled his lips, and said with disdain, "What bullsh*t mediating. Just a group of Beyond Grade As putting up a show. Only idiots would believe what they're saying."
The people in the bar laughed.
Everyone there was a soldier of the dynasty who had a much clearer view of the matter than ordinary people and was on the dynasty's side. With this army officer starting the conversation, the others all started chattering.
"This can be basically considered as the official association of the Beyond Grade As, looks like they finally are planning to take some of their rights back from the three Universal Civilizations."
"I didn't expect Black Star to be the main founder. Tsk, outsiders really can't be trusted. To think I actually admired him for some time in the past."
"Nothing weird about it. He isn't a citizen of the dynasty, so there's no reason to demand his absolute loyalty."
"The future of the three Universal Civilizations is going to be tough from now on. They're going to have another powerful competitor."
Hearing the discussion between his comrades, Gaud shook his glass filled with amber-colored wine and silently stared at Han Xiao's portrait in the show with unknown emotions in his eyes.
"Your position is getting higher and higher, huh…"
Due to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy being snatched away, Gaud had been paying close attention to Han Xiao. He had been watching Han Xiao continuously getting more and more resources, acquiring a higher and higher position in the universe.
The ambush on Hila some time ago had shocked him when it revealed how fast Han Xiao was growing.
Gaud stopped shaking his glass. The wine spun in it and formed a vortex. He looked down at the vortex and smirked.
"Manison has planned this long ago. Now the chance had finally come. The development union is not a bad excuse. I'll most likely join it after becoming a Beyond Grade A too. But I didn't expect you to support this idea too. Do you agree with that theory about the shared battlefront for Beyond Grade As Manison gave, or… have you discovered that too?"
In Black Star Palace…
"Looks like the first appearance of the development union is very successful…"
Han Xiao leaned back in his chair, rested his legs on the table, and looked through the news from the various media in the quantum network with a satisfied expression.
Not long ago, the development union had officially announced its creation to the outside world. As the vice president, he had also made an appearance at the ceremony.
To normal people, the development union was suddenly formed out of nowhere. The movements of close to a hundred Beyond Grade As attracted all the attention, so as soon as the news was out, the entire universe started discussing it.
The majority of the forces in the Flickering World were the most shocked by this sudden event.
There were a lot of organizations exploring the Flickering World, but to these organizations, the true situation in the free competition zone was actually split between three sides. The dynasty was one, the federation and the church shared another side, and the Super Star Cluster Alliance was the last side.
Comparatively, the rest of the organizations there were scattered. The difference was like the conflict between companies and between nations.
Originally, although there were many Beyond Grade A organizations, they all belonged to different sides. However, as they united, if they formed a profit union, another huge force would appear. The situation would turn from the conflict between three sides into four sides.
However, this was just the speculation the outside world had. Neither Manison nor Han Xiao planned to make any aggressive moves. In the negotiation with the three Universal Civilizations, they tried to ask them to deal with the Super Star Cluster Alliance. Although Han Xiao was quite tempted to use this opportunity against the Modo Civilization, for the sake of the big picture, he could only reject it.
As per their plan, the biggest purpose of the development union currently was to provide a communication platform. Its top priority was to slowly connect the resources of its members and form a profit union between Beyond Grade As. After this huge profit network was formed and its foundation was built, creating a shared battlefront would finally be meaningful. Otherwise, the development union would only be an empty shell.
"Achieving this will take a very long time, and the three Universal Civilizations will definitely try to slow it down nonstop. Therefore, before it's done, the development union won't be able to do anything else. Even if those Beyond Grade As have their own plans, they won't show it at the initial stage and will only support uniting the resources, achieving a win-win situation," Han Xiao murmured.
The Beyond Grade A Association had just been formed, so there was still a very long road ahead for both Manison and his goals. This was a long-term plan that would take decades at the minimum and could not be hurried, so there was no need for him to keep thinking about it.
What was worth mentioning was that, using money and connections, as the only exception, Sorokin was able to acquire the position as a director where everyone else was peak Beyond Grade A.
After hearing about Sorokin's acts from Traveler, he looked unaffected, but he actually secretly paid a lot of attention to this guy. As a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group, Han Xiao did not act against Sorokin as it would only make Sorokin alarmed.
However, all things aside, Sorokin really had a knack for making money.
"This way, my goal is basically achieved. When the Calamity of the Supers erupts, I will be able to heavily interfere with it and even guide the main storyline of that version…" Han Xiao exhaled with a relaxed mood.
As the peak of personal strength, Beyond Grade As were the idols of countless Supers. Hence, Beyond Grade As uniting could guide the movement of the entire Super society to a certain extent. This was also one of the most important reasons why, when the Calamity of the Supers erupted, the influence of the Beyond Grade As quickly became stronger in the entire universe.
Temporarily putting this matter aside, Han Xiao opened the forums to look at the players' opinions.
As expected, the focus of the players was not the meaning of the development union but the names of this many Beyond Grade As.
At this moment, Aurora walked in.
Han Xiao waved at her and said, "Come here."
Aurora walked toward Han Xiao. She had suddenly been called to the office and was quite confused.
Han Xiao suddenly grabbed Aurora's forearm and pressed on it softly, all the way up to her shoulder.
Aurora's body was stiff, but she did not move away. She was both curious and anxious.
"W-what are you doing?"
Han Xiao sized her up, took his hands off her, and said, "I've noticed that your physique is very special."
"W-what do you mean?"
Pa!
Han Xiao took out the containment device of the Holy Light Particle and slapped it on the table.
"When I went to the secondary dimensions, I found a new Primal Esper Ability Entity. I'm hoping to put it inside your body. What do you think?"
After thorough consideration, he had decided to find a host for the Holy Light Particle.
He acknowledged the potential of the new power system brought by the Holy Light Seed, but it would consume its core essence. Therefore, finding a host who could heal its kidney deficiency was better than creating an Energy Host.
Hence, Aurora was the top choice.
If she turned out to be incompatible, Han Xiao would consider its host from his previous life, Evans.
"Primal Esper Ability?" Aurora curiously looked at the gold energy inside the containment device with her eyes wide open.
Unhappy, the Holy Light Particle sent a resentful telepathic message. "Hey, this is the host you've found for me? She's too young!"
"Young? She's just about ten years younger than me." Han Xiao rolled his eyes.
"What‽ A Beyond Grade A like you must be at least a few hundred years old!" The Holy Light Particle was even more enraged. "Then, isn't she a few hundred years old too? Shameless! Still acting as if she's so young!"
"… Can I strangle it?"
Aurora was speechless.
I am young! What do you mean acting!
The Holy Light Particle was still complaining. "I need a strong male host. Only then will he be able to match my power!"
Knowing his personality well, Han Xiao said, "Stop spitting nonsense. One more word and I'll give you to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to let him have his way with you."
The Holy Light Particle shut up instantly.
Han Xiao pressed on the containment device and a needle came out of it. Seeing this, Aurora reluctantly reached out her hand, bit her lips, and let Han Xiao plug the needle into her.
Boom!
The next moment, a strong blinding light exploded in front of Han Xiao!
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1085 Perfect Host and Bai
As the Holy Light Particle was injected into Aurora's body, it started to fuse with her cells. The Vital Energy Esper Ability inside her also started to react to it quite vigorously.
A pale-golden light shot out from every inch of Aurora's skin. She turned into a bright mini light source, as if every string of her hair had turned into light beams. She floated into the air, releasing an elegant and holy aura.
Han Xiao was paying close attention to Aurora and held the empty containment device in his hand. If he saw any signs of Aurora being damaged by the process, he would suck the Holy Light Particle out instantly.
Thankfully, the fusion process went very smoothly. When the light dissipated, Aurora finally descended to the floor. She looked like she had yet to regain focus from the state she was in earlier.
Pa!
Han Xiao snapped his fingers and said, "How are you feeling?"
"Somewhat… good?"
Aurora pressed on her heart and was uncertain.
"Since you were not hurt by it, you're now the host of the Holy Light Particle. Can you feel its power?"
"Are you talking about this?"
Aurora closed her eyes to sense it for a moment, before extending her hands with palms up. She shook them, and a cluster of gold light appeared. It had tiny dots like a group of fireflies.
She's able to use it this soon? There's usually an adjustment period after the host fuses with a Primal Esper Ability.
However, I heard that the shorter the adjustment period is, the more compatible the host is.
The Vital Energy Esper Ability and the Holy Light Particle are indeed quite compatible. Maybe some kind of chemical reaction occurred. If that's the case, I will be able to make use of the Holy Light Particle to the maximum, and my plan will be easier to execute…
Han Xiao caressed his chin.
He reached out to touch the cluster of light on top of Aurora's palm, but this cluster of light actually dodged aside. Finding this quite funny, Han Xiao smiled and said, "Ah Ho, I know you can share the senses of your host after the fusion and can hear me speaking. Stop hiding. How's this host?"
"Hmm…"
The Holy Light Particle appeared and yawned like a cat in the middle of a stretch. No longer looking down on Aurora, it immediately changed its attitude.
"It feels way too good. This is the first time I've sensed such rich life force. This is the best host I've ever had…"
"Humph, that's not what you said earlier," Aurora said unhappily.
"I was wrong. You're the best. No one else could be nearly good enough." The Holy Light Particle's light cluster circled around Aurora like a puppy.
Han Xiao curled his lips.
Tsk tsk, weren't you very tough just moments ago?
Aurora practiced for a while and was soon able to fully control it. In her senses, it was like she suddenly had an extra arm. Controlling it was a piece of cake.
"Go back and practice it more. The Primal Esper Abilities all have multiple uses. With the Holy Light Particle, you'll be able to protect yourself from more dangers," Han Xiao said.
Aurora's job was to heal since her Esper Ability lacked destructive power. Now that she was the master of the Holy Light Particle, she would acquire many new abilities such as a stronger physique, high-speed flight, dimension traveling, punishing evil, and many others.
These abilities would increase her survivability by a huge extent, especially the ability to travel between dimensions. She would be able to escape much easier in the future if she was in danger.
However, the most important ability to Han Xiao was the ability to provide Holy Light Seeds. After he tested it, to his absolute surprise, his theory was right—Aurora's Vital Energy Esper Ability could indeed replenish the energy the Holy Light Particle spent in giving out Holy Light Seeds. This meant that the new power system with the Holy Light Seed as the core could totally work.
This was extremely useful to the Black Star Army. It could both act as encouragement for the army's warriors and attract ordinary people by letting them see the hope of becoming Supers.
Han Xiao briefly explained his plan. A little shocked, Aurora said softly, "So, you're trying to spread it out…"
"Something like that. However, you're the host now, so I'll have to get your permission."
Aurora wanted to say something but did not.
She had tested the ability to give out Holy Light Seeds earlier. Although her body could endure it, it would spend quite a lot of life force. If used often, she did not know if the life force she had been naturally accumulating would be enough. She might have to experience the feeling of being sucked dry every day.
After hesitating for a while, Aurora suddenly made up her mind. She closed her eyes and said firmly, "Okay. I—I can take it!"
"Why do you look like you've just decided to sacrifice yourself?" Han Xiao squeezed her nose and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I won't make you work for free. You can retrieve those Holy Light Seeds, which will not only make up for the life force you've lost but also help your life force grow at a rate much faster than you accumulate every day."
"I'm not sure if it's good to just snatch away what others worked hard for…" Aurora rejected it slightly. This went against her principles.
"Hahaha…" Han Xiao laughed out loud and said with the tone of a rich man, "That's easy! Money can't solve everything, but it definitely can solve most things. I can hire a group of people to raise Holy Light Seeds specifically for you to harvest, which isn't different from any other jobs at its core. I'm basically paying them for their time to create value for me. As long as the salary is good enough, it'll be a totally legitimate exchange on both sides, so you don't have to feel bad about it."
"That does make sense…" Although Aurora leaned toward the lawful kind side of things, she was not stubborn. After hearing Han Xiao's explanation, she did not reject it much anymore.
Snatching away the fruit of others' labor without saying anything and telling others this was a job from the beginning were completely different things. Growing the Holy Light Seeds with meditation and other methods was just like any other job; the workers were no different from the other employees of the army.
Han Xiao chose Aurora to be the host not only because she might be able to use the Holy Light Seed ability to the maximum but also because he wanted Aurora to benefit from the fast growth provided by harvesting the Holy Light Seeds so that her level would increase faster.
Anyway, Aurora's growth had no limits, and harvesting leeks would be countless times more efficient than naturally accumulating life force. She would basically have a group of people earning EXP for her. It had a Shadow Clone-vibe to Han Xiao.
If Aurora could step into the next level, the Black Star Army having three Beyond Grade As would really become a reality.
Han Xiao already had this thought when he came across the Underworld dimension. His goal was not for Aurora to gain a stronger healing ability but access to the functions of the Underworld. 'Edo Tensei' could only be achieved if Aurora became a Beyond Grade A too.
Compared to her healing ability, Han Xiao was more interested in those powerful individuals sleeping in the Underworld. They would be a very strong force.
What a little genius I am… Han Xiao chuckled in his mind.
The only problem was the Holy Accord organization. These people seemed especially interested in Primal Esper Abilities. If they discovered that the Holy Light Particle was in Aurora, they would most likely try to take it from her.
On the other hand, this would be quite a good bait too, he would not be able to find the Holy Accord if they decided to keep hiding. The Holy Accord might not dare to attack him, but they would definitely dare to attack the Supers under his command.
As for Aurora's safety, of course, Han Xiao was not going to forget about it. He planned to give Aurora a King mechanical suit.
Not only that, he was even planning to build a few spare King suits and put the Throne on different people to ensure he could arrive at their locations anytime. He totally took the King as a teleportation device.
The King was extremely costly to build, so doing this was very luxurious. However, with the extravagantly profitable business of the Evolutionary Totems and as a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group, he would earn an outrageous number of Enas every year. Therefore, he was not short on cash.
Han Xiao then told Aurora to go and learn to use the Holy Light Particle better and that the Holy Light Emissary plan would be carried out once she was ready.
Watching Aurora leave the room, Han Xiao could not help but think of Evans.
"How's Evans doing?"
Phillip appeared and said, "He's still getting to know his Esper Ability, hum…"
Han Xiao turned to look at the surveillance image. Ever since he sent Evans back, he had been undergoing secret training. Since Han Xiao did not give any orders, he had yet to replicate any Esper Abilities, so he was completely powerless and was still at the lowest Grade E.
"Have you found the targets I asked you to find?" Han Xiao asked.
"Immortals with compatible abilities have been selected. This is the list, hum…"
A mini bookshelf appeared beside Phillip. He searched around and picked out a deck of data. He then threw it up into the air. The flying pieces of paper turned into individual virtual screens, showing the records of different people to Han Xiao.
Han Xiao glanced at him.
Kiddo, what's with all these flashy tricks? Showing off?
While rubbing Phillip's face on the table like a toy, Han Xiao quickly read through these documents.
His New EsGod Cultivation Plan followed strict rules on what Esper Abilities to absorb. In order for Evans to have a perfect growth path, he had always been looking for Esper Abilities that were suitable for Evans in the early stage. The players in these files were all Espers under two categories—physique enhancement types and psychological enhancement types.
Since Evans was only Grade E, absorbing two Esper Abilities was the most suitable. Physique and mind were the most basic attributes, so this was the best combination. With his help, Evans did not have to take the path of killing like EsGod did. Therefore, he would not have to worry about his combat capability in the early stages and could focus on building a strong foundation.
"These two will do."
Having picked two players with the best abilities. Han Xiao told Phillip to give them the specific missions.
At this time, a notification suddenly popped up on the interface.
[Liberate Beast Ancestor's Organization] Completed!
"Oh? The team I sent a few months ago has succeeded?" Han Xiao's eyes sparkled.
Before he traveled to the secondary dimensions, a group of Beast Ancestor officers led by Jotina had come to join him and made a request to liberate the Beast Ancestor's headquarters.
Back then, Han Xiao had given this mission to the people who were in the Shattered Star Ring base. Now that a few months had passed, the results of that had finally come. It seemed to be quite successful. There should very soon be a group of people coming to join him.
The last planet of the Beast Ancestor's headquarters was covered in flames like its ground was burning. The planet's defense measures were already all destroyed, and a ton of spaceship fragments floated in the planet's orbit.
Black Star Army battleships hovered above the planet, sucking up a huge amount of resources and countless captives using absorption beams. Most were rescued females and clueless offspring.
In the cabin of one transport ship, captives of a variety of races cowered in tiny groups, filled with fear. Groups of Black Star warriors separated them into warriors, females, and offspring.
"Don't move! Stand still!" the captain of the transport ship commanded.
To the side, wearing a black battle suit rather similar to Hila, Mia held a bag of snacks in her hand, leaned on a mechanical spear, and scanned the big group of captives before her while occasionally putting the sugar beans into her mouth.
Beast Ancestor soldier captives were absorbed into the cabin. They seemed agitated and ready to retaliate whenever. However, when they saw Mia standing near the wall, these captives all shivered and wiped that thought from their minds.
In the battle earlier, they had seen a Calamity Grade officer stationed in the headquarters get violently chopped into pieces by Mia with their very own eyes. No one dared resist in front of her.
At this time, a commotion occurred nearby. Mia turned to look over, and to her surprise, a few rescued females were arguing with the Black Star warriors and resisting their orders.
"Who the hell are you? Do you have any idea who our partner is? How dare you do this to us!"
"Let go! Stop dragging me!"
"When Master Beast Ancestor comes back, he'll crush you all!"
These people who were yelling were grouped along with the others but were still yelling and scolding, mentioning Beast Ancestor's name every other sentence.
Seeing this, Mia curled her lips and shook her head.
This time, the captain beside her sighed and said, "Pitiful, aren't they? These females who are imprisoned by Beast Ancestor are basically completely cut off from the outside world. To most, that's a dark life filled with nothing but despair, but there are also some twisted ones who somehow began to admire Beast Ancestor and became honored by their identity. Although rescuing these females is our mission, maybe many of them don't want to be saved. They only want to continue their old life."
Mia glanced at him and said, "Do your job. The mission is all I care about. I'm not interested in these things."
Have a bucket of cold water poured on him, the captain did not carry on chatting with Mia and continued to direct his subordinates.
This time, Mia's communicator rang. After she picked it up, Jotina's wild face appeared, only it was now shining with holy and motherly love.
"How are the women and young offspring? Are all of them safe?" Jotina asked immediately.
Mia smiled and replied, "Don't worry, we've rescued them all. They're all very touched."
"That's great. I'll share this good news with the army commander right now!" Jotina was overjoyed. "By the way, after you return, I'll teach you some strong moves."
Before waiting for a response, Jotina had already hastily hung up the communication.
"How impatient." Mia chuckled.
Although Jotina publicly made the request to reproduce with her direct boss and appalled everyone present, after spending some time together, the army officers had realized she was really easy to befriend, being direct and decisive in everything. After a few months, she had left a good impression on many of them.
Mia was the closest to her. Both of them were 'muscular ladies', so they had countless shared interests.
Putting the communicator away, Mia looked at the group of people in front of her, scanned past the panicked or lost expressions, and exhaled.
"Nero, your godfather is really admirable. No wonder even Her Excellency Hila is willing to follow him…"
Although Black Star eliminated Gorutan out of personal revenge, judging from the results of it, this was indeed a great deed for the entire universe. Mia admired him from the bottom of her heart.
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1086 The Definition of a Qualified Second in Command
As the silver alloy gate slowly slid open, inside was a room fully made of polymer materials. The walls and the floor were all cream-colored, reflective, and smooth.
Five enormous showcases were displayed in the middle of the room, with a Beyond Grade A sealed by the Spacetime Amber inside every one of them. All of them were in different postures, all of their expressions fixed on their faces. Other than these, there was nothing else in this room.
"This is my collection room."
As the group walked into the room, Han Xiao spoke. Behind him were the former officers of the Beast Ancestor, including Jotina.
As soon as the field team destroyed the Beast Ancestor's headquarters, Jotina led her sisters and brothers to express their appreciation to Han Xiao. Han Xiao remembered that he had promised to take them to see Gorutan, so he took them there.
This was the collection room he used to hold his five Beyond Grade A captives. There was the name of each captive on every showcase. They were the church's 'Red Devil' Tolaen; the federation's 'Lone Ranger' Jackornitz, 'Energy Soul' Womre, and Hades; and 'Beast Ancestor' Gorutan.
The five Beyond Grade A specimens displayed there were the best proof of his achievements. Just this scene alone was enough to shock everyone.
Jotina's eyes locked onto Gorutan immediately. Seeing that this man she had hated and feared all her life was locked inside the Amber, joy filled her heart.
"You deserve it!"
Jotina clenched her fists with excitement. She felt that this was the happiest day of her life. The dark times in her past seemed to have all been forgotten. The world in her eyes seemed to be colorful once again.
It was like a breeze of fresh air blew past her mind, bringing the mountains of hatred, despair, anger away with it, only leaving the refreshed feeling of hope for a new life.
She turned to look at Han Xiao. Her eyes were filled with admiration and gentleness.
In her eyes, Black Star seemed to be glowing with holiness, like he was the light that would lead her toward a new life.
Feeling Jotina's passionate sight, Han Xiao's face trembled slightly.
He did not have much contact with Jotina, but he had a very vivid impression of how direct and passionate she was.
The reward of [Liberate Beast Ancestor's Organization] had already been given. He had received a lot of Favorability, and he was guessing that Jotina's loyalty meter to him was almost going to explode.
Han Xiao coughed and said, "Some of you don't have an exact position yet. Since we just rescued a large group of Beast Ancestor's young offspring, I shall leave them to you guys to guide. Any problems?"
"Not at all!" Everyone nodded, quite happy about this arrangement.
"Take your time and look around. I have some things to attend to."
Han Xiao found an excuse to leave alone. Jotina and the others had been troubled by this hatred for many years, so he did not want to disturb them from venting it. Anyway, Phillip would be watching over them. He did not have to stay there.
After returning to his office, Han Xiao pondered about the human resource distribution of the army.
"Currently, the top-tier Calamity Grades under my command are only Hadavy, Lothaire, Feidin, and Jotina. The other ones with potential have yet to grow up. These more than a dozen Beast Ancestor officers are quite important. Together with this group of young children of Beast Ancestor, they will surely form a new faction in the army in the future…"
There were all kinds of factions in the Black Star Army, not including Han Xiao. They could be classified into a few big groups.
One was the elder faction led by Herlous, among which were smaller groups such as Sunils, Godorans, Aquamarinians, and so on. This faction represented the senior members of the army. Another was the academy faction led by Lagi and Nero, formed mostly from the graduates of the Super Academy. They were quite active. Third was the mainstream faction led by the Calamity Grades who joined later on, which was also the largest faction mainly made of official warriors and mercenaries with no backgrounds. Fourth was the political faction led by Sylvia and Reynold, mainly consisting of those who did not take part in the battles but took care of the army's other matters. They managed the army's day to day affairs, logistics, economics, and so on.
Jotina and the others would most likely form a Beast Ancestor faction after they stabilized their positions in the army.
As for Hila, since she was always alone, she had no faction. The Black Star Guards had limited influence on the various departments of the army, so they did not form a faction too. Lothaire, who was managing the Assassin's Society outside the army base, was a secret, so he was not in any factions.
These factions would have conflicted with each other privately, but with Han Xiao's existence, they all held themselves back. All big organizations had continuous internal conflicts as they expanded, but the Black Star Army was considered a new organization in terms of how long ago it had been formed, so the internal conflicts were not large, limited to internal business conflicts.
Completely getting rid of internal conflicts was impossible. Everyone had their own mindset, and there was no way to ask people to give themselves selflessly. Even pillars like Herlous had their own personal goals—for example, to obtain more benefits for his Sunil race.
Power could change one's mind. The longer the high-level officers worked for the army, the more they would want to obtain. Furthermore, those Supers who joined the Black Star Army later on came to search for a brighter future in the first place, so no matter how large the cake was, the competition would never disappear.
"It's the same for the development union. It's only just been created, so the factions have not formed yet. Once the resources are united to a certain extent, there will definitely be factions…"
He could guess that the three Universal Civilizations would try to infiltrate the Beyond Grade A Association by dividing it, as there would definitely be some who did not agree with the shared battlefront for Beyond Grade As theory. These people would be easier to woo.
Beyond Grade As were all full of pride. The root of factions being formed was the different opinions people had to begin with. The development union was fated to be full of arguments since it was created, but the upper echelons above the position of director all knew how important it was for them to unite. The stage where the association's resources were linked and united was crucial.
As the vice president, although his position was lower than Manison's on paper, it did not mean much. How much weight his words carried depended on two things—his overall strength and his influence in the association.
"The resources uniting stage is my chance. I can use my advantage to meet more members and form my own faction, slowly expanding my network to catch up to Manison. As long as there are enough people who support me, I'll be able to have as big an impact on day-to-day decision making as Manison. It will also be beneficial for me to have consecutive terms in the future too. Furthermore, if I don't do anything, I might not even be able to maintain the vice president position…"
Han Xiao pondered. He had chosen to take a step back because he wanted to slowly accumulate his advantages.
And now there was a great opportunity right in front of him. Although the three Universal Civilizations had accepted that the development union was legal, Dark Lord's mission had yet to end.
This meant that Clotti, who was an honorable director on paper, would still attack other members. This would undoubtedly damage the development union's credibility. This was an act of provocation and contempt from the Universal Civilizations, as well as a way of testing the waters.
"Since this is the case, those neutral Beyond Grade As hired by Super Star Cluster Civilizations will probably be very afraid. This looks like a good opportunity for me to cut in. If I'm able to convince the dynasty's upper echelons to stop Dark Lord's mission, not only will I be able to display how important I am as the vice president, but I will also receive favorability from those neutral Beyond Grade As…"
Having thought of this, Han Xiao told Phillip to send a message to all the neutral Beyond Grade As in the association. The message started with some formal greetings and routine questions like "Have you eaten?". He then brought up the matter regarding Dark Lord.
Although he decided to personally settle this issue, Han Xiao did not want to keep it a secret. Only spare tires would help others quietly in the dark. As for him, he would either not do it or let everyone know he was the one who did it.
Therefore, the Great Mechanic Han first planned to contact these neutral Beyond Grade As who were possible targets of Dark Lord and tell them to bring this matter up in the next meeting when everyone attended. All the Beyond Grade A members would host a meeting together once every so often. The development union made this kind of act official, which was also one of the initial reasons to form this communication platform.
"Speaking of which, Dark Lord captured Traveler, and Traveler put the blame on Sorokin, so the dynasty definitely won't let this slip easily. I wonder how they're going to punish the Limitless Financial Group."
Han Xiao chuckled.
Beep beep!
Right at that moment, his communicator rang.
The federation and the church had sent him a message one after the other. The content was the eleventh revision of the terms of bailing their allies.
Han Xiao looked through them. Compared to the initial version, the compensation the federation and the church offered was much richer.
Since he had never given any suggestions, the ones who were in charge of drafting the terms on both sides were almost going mad.
"It's been quite a few months. I've tortured them enough. Time to bring this to a conclusion."
Han Xiao tutted and changed some terms on both sides, such as swapping some resources compensations into gold-grade blueprints.
The two Universal Civilizations both had a very rich inventory of gold-grade blueprints, so the blueprints they would be willing to give out were not crucial ones. However, this was not important to Han Xiao at all as it was just a source of God's Trait Transformation Points.
As soon as the two price lists were sent, the people of the federation and the church were immediately overjoyed. With no hesitation, they sent a communication request and started an official negotiation with Han Xiao.
This time, Han Xiao did not torture them. After some negotiation, an agreement was made. He would receive three Universal Treasure Grade blueprints.
The captives he planned to return first were Tolaen and Hades, one for each side.
He did not sell the federation's allies to the church. Although this would be quite a useful move, it had its cons.
Anyway, he still had two more federation captives. What Han Xiao needed now was influence over the Universal Civilizations to improve his position in the development union, and the best way to do that was to not make any moves. As long as the captives were still in his hands, the Federation of Light would have to give him face to a certain extent, and the church would still have hope about him selling the federation's allies to them. Therefore, he was not going to let go of all the captives easily.
After confirming the agreement, Han Xiao looked at these two relieved diplomatic officials and slowly said, "I shall wait for the day of your public apologies.'
Public apologies from the federation and the church were the first terms on the compensation agreements.
"Surely, please pay attention to the news."
The two diplomatic officials bade farewell in their own traditional ways before ending the call. Their remote projections disappeared.
Han Xiao leaned back, crossed his legs, and murmured, "The federation and the church have compromised. For the time being, the dynasty will also follow through with their decision to make selling the Evolutionary Totems public to mend their relationship with me. They won't be targeting the development union on the surface. From the way it looks, the three Universal Civilizations are not going to cause any problems for quite a while…"
He knew the characteristics of the three Universal Civilizations very well, so he knew that this peace would last a few months to a year.
However, this would only be calm before the storm, as the three Universal Civilizations still had an arch enemy to deal with—the Super Star Cluster Alliance, which had been keeping a low profile and expanding in the free competition zone.
Once the three Universal Civilizations were ready, they would certainly deal the Super Star Cluster Alliance a heavy blow, and it would not be the same gentle way they dealt with the development union. They definitely would not hold back, to eliminate the unrealistic ambition of these Super Star Cluster Civilizations. It could also be said that the three Universal Civilizations were only forgiving about the Beyond Grade As because the Super Star Cluster Alliance was their top priority.
"In this brief window, I'll have to keep building my advantages."
Han Xiao looked at the interface. He had been receiving tons of EXP every single day. Although the cost of leveling up from level 320 to 340 was outrageous, in the face of his merciless leek harvesting machine, he would have enough sooner or later.
The players had become familiar with the Flickering World version, exploring while fighting one another. It was intense.
Han Xiao planned to make their game experience richer, so he wanted to host the Army Tournament that he had come up with some time ago and make it a large festival event for the faction.
The happier the players were, the more motivated they would be to contribute more EXP to him.
At the same time, at a certain hidden location in Black Star Palace, a player called Paradise Disco was led by two mechanical soldiers through multiple security checks and down a dark corridor.
There were no decorations in this corridor at all, only pale white lights that extended deeper ahead. At the end of the corridor was a metal wall and a turning corner. No sound could be heard other than their footsteps.
Feeling the cold and frightening atmosphere, Paradise Disco could not help but ask, "Buddy, where are we going?"
The two mechanical soldiers had no intention to reply and continued walking in synchronized steps.
"What's so secretive?" Paradise Disco opened the interface and mumbled, "What on earth is this mission anyway?"
On the mission list, a mission called [Special Experiment] was glowing.
To Paradise Disco's recollection, this mission was suddenly triggered, and he did not do anything. It asked him to follow random mechanical soldiers to the destined location to carry out a special experiment, and that was all the introduction the mission had. The reward was exorbitant. It was about the reward of seven to eight Grade B missions.
Curiosity drove him to accept the mission, and on the way to the destination, he never stopped guessing.
Did I come across the secrets of the Black Star Army?
Has the army actually been carrying out some kind of forbidden secret experiment?
Why did I trigger it?
While he was making wild guesses, the mechanical soldiers in front of him stopped, and before them was an ordinary alloy gate.
After passing the identity scan, the gate opened. Paradise Disco quickly looked in, and a white lab entered his sights.
At this time, there was another player in the room, and he looked over too. The two of them looked at each other and were both slightly stunned.
"You accepted the mission too?"
"Special Experiment, right?"
"Yes, yes, that's the one. Do you know the details?"
"No idea, I've only just arrived too."
"It's so mysterious. I love it."
The two of them chattered and exchanged information. They became even more intrigued.
Since they had come to such a secret place in the headquarters, it could be no ordinary matter.
At this time, a team of mechanical soldiers pushed two life-sustaining cabins in. Two mechanical soldiers then took out two facial devices that blocked the wearer's senses and passed them to the two players.
The leading mechanical soldier captain said, "Lie in the cabin, wear the mask, and wait for the experiment to start."
The two players exchanged looks and, suppressing their curiosity, went inside the cabins.
Paradise Disco put on the mask and instantly fell into darkness. His vision, hearing, and smell were all gone. He had no way of knowing what was happening in the outside world.
Both of his hands and legs were locked up tight; he could not move at all.
Time went by extremely slow in this state. Every second felt like years.
Paradise Disco became even more curious. He almost wanted to break the restraints a few times and see what was happening. However, the heavy failure punishment of this mission discouraged him from doing so.
Just as he was about to get impatient, a notification suddenly popped up on the interface.
Your Grade B Potential Esper Ability [Physique Enhancement—Bone and Muscle Inflation] has been taken away!
You have entered [Ability Frozen] state. You are not able to use any abilities related to your Esper Ability.
Duration: Infinite
"W-what‽"
Paradise Disco was shocked and appalled.
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"Where's my Esper Ability‽"
On the interface, a ton of abilities were now gray and frozen. Even the passive attributes given by the Esper Ability were gone. Paradise Disco immediately panicked and tried to leave the cabin.
This time, a cold metal hand pressed onto his chest and held him tightly in place. It was a mechanical soldier stopping him from moving. Paradise Disco was wearing a mask that sealed off all his senses, so all he could see was darkness and nothing else. He had no choice but to give up struggling and anxiously wait for the experiment to end.
Not knowing how long had passed, Paradise Disco suddenly felt that the devices that locked him in place opened up. He instantly stood up and took off his mask. He then looked around nervously, only to realize he was at the same place he was before, and the mechanical soldiers looked like they had never moved at all.
"My Esper Ability is gone. Is yours too?" Another player taking part in the experiment was released too and spoke with shock.
"That's right. Mine is gone too."
The two of them quickly exchanged information and realized that they were both in the infinite duration [Ability Frozen] state. They were both in a state of panic.
Paradise Disco hastily asked the mechanical soldier on the side, "What have you done to us?"
Following the answer Han Xiao had set for them to give, the mechanical soldier said monotonously, "It was just an experiment. The army is developing a special device to suppress Esper Genes. It might be widely available in the future."
I knew it's an experiment involving secret weapons!
The two of them exchanged and saw the same emotion in each other's eyes. Paradise Disco quickly asked the question they both cared most about.
"Will our abilities recover?"
"Of course. In the research plan, Immortals are the best experiment targets. According to the logistics department, the Immortals only have to die and revive to refresh their body state and recover their ability. In the future, the Immortals in the army might be equipped with this kind of weapon," the mechanical soldier replied emotionlessly.
Hearing that their abilities could recover, the two of them immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
The two of them had absolutely no doubt about this explanation. After all, the 'Black Star Army Badge: Evolution' had already happened, so developing secret weapons sounded just like what the army would do.
In the players' eyes, this somewhat evil style completely aligned with the Black Star Army!
"This is the army's secret plan. You have both signed the confidentiality agreement. Remember, do not tell anyone about what happened here," the mechanical soldier said with a serious expression while returning their communication devices to them.
Paradise Disco took the communication device, looked at the player beside him, and saw suppressed joy in his eyes.
Confidentiality agreement? Hehe, that won't stop us. You think taking our communication devices away will prevent this from leaking this? Impossible, the army has no power over the forums.
As if the army will find out if we make a post about it.
The two of them were secretly excited and were already thinking about how they were going to share this secret on the forums. This was not because they wanted to get in the way of the army's interests but because their impulse to leak spoilers just could not be stopped.
Didn't you hear the mechanical soldier? He said that this kind of weapon might be widely available to the army in the future. Won't it be another type of suicidal attack like the explosion backpack and the army badge? We've come to know about it much earlier than the others. What reason do we have to not show it off?
Of course, the two of them had no idea that this was just an excuse Han Xiao had made up. He did not want to expose Evans' existence, so he made up a reason not to let the outside world have any suspicion.
He purposely let the mechanical soldiers tell the two of them because he wanted to use them to spread misleading information, making the players think that this was a research and development project of some kind of secret weapon. This way, when the players took part in it in the future, he would not have to find another excuse again.
After the mission completion notification popped up on their interfaces, the two of them took their things and were too lazy to go back the way they came from, so they asked the mechanical soldier to help to send them to the afterlife.
With a flash of white light, the two of them revived in the populated base hall and checked their status immediately.
"My ability really came back."
Paradise Disco was now finally relieved. He instantly opened up the forums and wrote down what he had just experienced. He added the title 'Shocking! The army's secret weapon turns out to be…' and posted it.
As proven by facts, there was a reason this type of intriguing title had always been popular. This post attracted the attention of some players very quickly, and people started to comment on it.
"Is this true? Why have I never seen this mission before?"
"Suppress Esper Genes? I seem to recall that Black Star once had a house of happiness that was used specifically to produce Genetic Medicines out of galactic pirates. Is it now improved?"
"If we have this kind of weapon, won't beating the other factions' Esper players be a piece of cake?"
"Come on, have some ambition and imagination. This kind of treasure might be able to allow us to even defeat NPCs, making those strong NPCs powerless and unable to resist whatever's done to them."
"Stop it. I'm already starting to imagine the adult parodies in my head…"
"Come to think of it, the secret weapons the army has been inventing seem to be becoming more and more evil. The aberration one was already bad enough, but now they're even inventing this… Are we the baddies?"
"The Deputy Army Commander is an Esper. Could it be that the Army Commander could not conquer her, so he's planning to invent this kind of equipment and use force?"
"Black Star-Hila shippers are furious!"
"We live and die with Hila!"
While the players were pondering and making wild guesses, a secret door of a secret training room deep in the base opened. A man wearing a black hood walked out. He took off the hood, revealing his face. It was indeed Evans.
This training room had a secret path that led directly to the earlier lab. He followed what Han Xiao told him, sneakily went over, and absorbed the Esper Abilities of the two immobilized players. Before that, he had confirmed with Han Xiao again and again that the Immortals would only lose their abilities temporarily.
"So, this is the feeling of superhuman power…"
Evans raised his right arm and clenched his fist. A small stream of energy flowed out from his cells into the muscle and bones of his arm.
Boom!
The next moment, his arm bloated visibly like air was pumped in. His bones became tougher too, and his raw strength increased a large amount.
In his hands, this Esper Ability only had Grade E power. With his pitiful amount of energy, he could not even afford to pump up his entire body. He swung his arm a few times and made sounds of the sound barrier breaking. Just this one arm's strength was close to double his original strength.
Esper Abilities all had potential grades, and usually, this grade signified the highest Grade the Esper could achieve. Although the players were not restricted by this rule, the potential grade still represented the growth speed and rarity of their Esper Abilities. The rarer, the stronger. Some players even continuously opened up new accounts and topped up real money just to get a rare Esper Ability.
Physique enhancement was a large branch in the Esper Abilities. Even Esper Abilities with the same prefix had many variations. Some ordinary physique enhancing abilities might only have Grade D or Grade C potential, but [Physique Enhancement—Bone and Muscle Inflation] had Grade B potential, meaning this was a rather high-quality ability among its branch.
This Esper Ability was also a semi-shapeshifting kind. Once activated, even skinny bamboos would instantly turn into muscular men.
The phycological Esper Ability that was absorbed also had grade B potential, which was still quite high.
Among the players, grade A potential was already extremely rare, so although grade B potential was one grade lower, it was plenty good enough.
According to the plan Han Xiao made, giving Evans these two high-quality abilities would not waste his slots. This combination of abilities was beneficial to increasing his basic attributes. As long as his own Grade increased, these two Esper Abilities would keep giving him bonus Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Psychological Resistance.
Evans loved these two abilities and could not stop using them till his energy ran out, but his eyes were still glowing.
He had been ordinary for decades. This was the first time he had enjoyed this feeling of fulfillment brought by this power. The shortcut of robbing abilities from others was extremely tempting, as if every single potential desire in his body was pushing him to take that path. Evans felt a sense of hunger coming from every cell in his body, instinctively thirsting for new abilities, like a hungry man's insatiable craving for food.
"Hmm, His Excellency Black Star said that the changes in my body will bring changes to my mindset too. This should be the change my Esper Ability has caused in me…"
Evans thought about it. His strong heart developed through hardship made him suppress this sense of hunger brought by his Esper Ability.
He was not someone who had boundless greed. Black Star had changed his life and given him a righteous path to becoming strong. All he was thinking about was studying and training hard so that he could return this favor in the future. All he wanted was not to disappoint the hope Black Star had for him.
The last few months had not been peaceful. First, the federation and the church cooperated to attack the Black Star Army's stronghold but were forced to retreat by Black Star. Then, the Beyond Grade A Association was formed. Therefore, the three Universal Civilizations had been at the center of galactic attention.
Today, the Federation of Light and the Arcane Church had finally made an official response regarding the attack on Hila a few months ago.
The two of them used different words but conveyed the same message, saying that the incident a few months ago was 'an act of impulse led by misunderstandings'. At the same time, they publicly apologized to the Black Star Army, expressing that they would pay for the losses as well as give extra compensation.
Actually, as early as a few months prior when the incident occurred, the black markets at various places had opened a bet on whether the Universal Civilizations would apologize to the Black Star Army. The odds were sky-high, and most galactic residents felt that even though the Universal Civilizations were wrong, they would still be firm about it. They did not think the Black Star Army would receive apologies from the federation and the church, only private compensation at most.
Therefore, after this announcement was made, most galactic residents were astonished.
In the history of the three Universal Civilizations' rule over the known universe, extremely rarely did they lower their heads against other organizations. After all, a public apology would harm their authority. However, the federation and the church shockingly had decided to do it this time, and the Black Star Army became one of the extremely few private organizations in the universe that had this honor.
The dynasty did not want to be excluded from this matter. Right after the church and the federation made their announcements, they officially opened up the Evolutionary Totem business, announcing that the product would no longer be limited and controlled, putting it onto the free market and allowing it to be bought and sold freely.
Countless civilizations had been waiting for this day. The Black Star Army's email inbox exploded. The inventory the army had built up was being depleted continuously while enormous amounts of money flowed into the army's account like a river.
Of course, the smarter people knew that the Crimson Dynasty did this to be closer to Black Star. As the three Universal Civilizations expressed their kind intentions to one person at the same time, Black Star's reputation and position grew once again, even in the Beyond Grade A circle.
Not mentioning anything else, at least Han Xiao's words carried heavier weight as a vice president in the development union.
The players now, of course, would not miss out on this kind of matter. The Flickering World panel in the forums was soon filled with discussion.
Green Dot: "Army Commander is indeed admired by all."
First Name: "Any old players that still remember 1.0? Who could have guessed that Black Star would turn out to be such an important NPC? Look at those protagonist characters in the novice planets. Which one of them turned out as successful as Black Star?"
Hesitant: "Why do I suddenly feel touched? Four versions passed so fast. It's like watching our kid grow up to be a man."
Army Commander's Big PP: "My son Black Star is destined to be the king!"
Important Things Need to Be Said Three Times: "Upstairs, you tired of living?"
The players had already been shocked when Han Xiao defeated twelve Beyond Grade As. Having witnessed such an astonishing event, they were much calmer now.
As the federation and the church carried out their terms, Han Xiao also kept his promise and released Tolaen and Hades.
On a sealed dock of Planet Black Gate, the officials of the federation and the church were waiting. They stood clearly apart and did not communicate with each other at all.
These groups of people were there to retrieve their own captives. For that, they had come to the Black Star Army's territory.
After waiting for a while, a Black Star fleet approached from afar and stopped at this dock.
Woosh!
The hatch of the main ship opened. A group of mechanical soldiers carried the amber specimens of Tolaen and Hades down from the spaceship. They then placed these two works of art on the ground. Han Xiao walked out after.
Seeing this, the people of the federation and the church approached quickly, gathered around Han Xiao, and greeted him respectfully.
"Your Excellency Black Star."
"Hmm." Han Xiao looked around casually, waved his hand, and said, "Since you're all here, quickly take your men away."
He signaled everyone to get back. He then blocked their view with nanoparticles. He took his time for a few minutes before breaking Tolaen and Hades out of the amber.
Pa!
Having just regained freedom, the two of them staggered and almost fell.
Seeing this, Han Xiao snorted and coldly said, "The federation and the church have bailed the two of you out. Be careful in the future. If you dare mess with me again and end up in my hands, don't blame me for picking off some parts from you."
Tolaen shivered and uncontrollably took a few steps back. Fear lingered on his face as he looked at Han Xiao with horror-filled eyes. He did not dare talk back at all.
These past few months had been hell. He felt that if it had carried on, he would have been driven mad inside the amber. He never ever wanted to experience it again; he just wanted to get as far away from Black Star as possible.
Hades, who was standing to the side, was fearful too, but he could still control his expression, just about.
Nonetheless, he was extremely sorrowful inside. He had thought that he would at the very least gain some reputation through that operation. Never did he expect to fail so miserably.
Although being defeated by Black Star could not be considered shameful, this tag would probably follow him for a very long time.
He had yet to even make a nickname for himself. Nothing he had done was worth mentioning. What should he say when someone asked him about what he was known for? Was he going to proudly say he had been locked up by Black Star before?
Seeing that the two of them stood in place and did not move, Han Xiao raised his brows and joked, "What, don't feel like leaving? Want to stay a few more months at my place?"
Hearing this, the two of them instantly shivered, quickly returned to their own welcome groups with tails tucked between their legs without saying a word, and boarded their respective spaceships.
The officials quickly took off.
Inside the church's spaceship, Tolaen was looking down.
"Six people from the church went. I'm the only one who was captured. Why am I so unlucky?"
While he was blaming himself, a few communications were picked up by the spaceship. They were from Sagman, Taylor, and Mercer, who had also taken part in the attack on Hila. Their remote projections appeared in front of him.
"Hehe, are you alright?" Sagman said with a smile.
"Not at all." Tolaen was miserable.
"Don't have to be so pessimistic. We were locked up by Black Star once too, and we've all got over it." Taylor smiled and comforted him.
"… You guys are quite generous."
"After you come back, let's find a time and place to meet up," Mercer said.
Tolaen looked at the three smiling faces in front of him, and it suddenly occurred to him.
That's it. We've all been to the prison, so we have common topics. Could this be what inmates feel like?
He had not joined the church long ago. Before that, he was a wanted man, so he could not squeeze into the Beyond Grade A circle of the church. He was like an outsider.
To his absolute surprise, after being locked up by Black Star this time, he obtained acceptance from a group of 'former inmates'.
Tolaen's mood suddenly became better.
I've finally made some friends…
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Chapter 1088 Holy Accord's Pain
After releasing the two captives, Han Xiao did not leave Planet Black Gate immediately but instead summoned the person in charge of the planet and inspected the railway construction progress. He shared some experience and gave some guidance on the construction.
On the way back, Han Xiao also inspected the operations of the stargate toll booth.
The stargate commute network in the Black Star Army territory extended from the Garu Star Cluster all the way to the free competition zone, quick and convenient. It was currently one of the exceedingly few complete transport routes in the Flickering World. There were a large number of people using it every day.
Of course, any outsiders who wanted to use this route had to pay a fee. Han Xiao fully utilized the Chinese talent buried deep in his soul of 'build a road if you want to be rich'. He had set up toll booths at every stargate.
With a natural money maker like this, within a year of the Flickering World's opening, the army had already earned back the cost of building the stargates. This outrageous profit margin proved a fact—buying land was much more profitable than operating businesses.
After returning to Black Star Palace, the first part of the bail from the federation and the church came. The federation paid the most. All of the three gold blueprints came from them, and this was the first gold blueprint.
"Mechanical Deity exclusive weapon, Universal Treasure grade mechanical item, Celestial Punishment Edge."
Inside the office, Han Xiao chewed on the lava-flavor condensed nutrition bar while reading through the blueprint data from the Federation of Light.
The blueprints the federation agreed to give him were mostly weapons. This was what Han Xiao selected.
According to the information provided by the Federation of Light, this was an idea from the Saint Tyracles, those admirers of the Mechanical Deity. The federation inherited their knowledge and improved on it, fusing some of their special technology into it, and finally turned this incomplete idea into a blueprint.
On the blueprint was the complete design diagram of this weapon. It had some similarities to the Emperor's Cape. Its appearance was a long mechanical sword with complex interiors, equipped with powerful close-range combat technology. It could also turn into a giant cannon mode and release various long-range attacks. As its name suggested, it was built to destroy celestial bodies.
Like the Emperor's Cape, the Celestial Punishment Edge was also a mega machine, which the Armed Branch excelled in. Although Han Xiao was not, he would still be able to build it with the needed knowledge.
Why did these Saint Tyracles love to design close range combat weapons so much? Did all the true Mechanics have a hidden Pugilist desire inside them waiting to break free?
Complaining was one thing, but he would still undoubtedly have to build it. Han Xiao told Phillip to add the materials for the Celestial Punishment Edge to the next bulk purchase list.
After handling this matter, Han Xiao checked his inbox.
He had received replies from those neutral Beyond Grade A members of the association who were hired by Super Star Cluster Civilizations that he had messaged not too long ago. Most people were worried they might become the target of Dark Lord; only a few were not concerned.
"If there's a demand, there'll be a solution."
Han Xiao's eyes sparkled. He chatted with those Beyond Grade As separately for a while, including 'Leader of Colossuses' Garoze, whom he had once intimidated into retreating.
These people understood what he meant instantly after he gave a subtle hint, and they clearly expressed that they were willing to support Black Star as much as they could in the development union in the future.
Most of these Beyond Grade As did not become allies of the three Universal Civilizations because they did not want to be controlled. However, this would not happen in the development union. They were just normal members of the association, so they had limited control over it. Therefore, they needed an upper echelon with power who could represent their interests and give them better privileges. This was a win-win deal.
Including Garoze, these Beyond Grade As agreed to bring up this matter in the next plenary meeting, and Han Xiao promised to operate around it to eliminate the threat they were facing.
After bringing those people to his side, Han Xiao contacted the dynasty, planning to first notify them.
He expressed his intention, and after waiting for a while, the secretary connected his communication request to Urranrell.
As the scene around him changed, Han Xiao's remote projection appeared in the Dynasty Ruler's office. Before him was Urranrell, who was sitting behind her desk.
"Your Excellency Urranrell." Han Xiao nodded respectfully as a greeting.
"Black Star." Urranrell greeted back, stared into Han Xiao's eyes, and cut to the chase. "You want me to call Clotti back?"
"Yes. The purpose of the development union is to eliminate physical conflict between Beyond Grade As. Clotti is now an Honorable Director, so if he attacks the members, it will go against the association's purpose…"
With an expressionless face, Urranrell said, "On what grounds are you making this suggestion to me today? As an ally of the dynasty or as the vice president of the development union?"
"Both," Han Xiao replied.
"Black Star, in the past few decades, how have you felt about the way the dynasty has been treating you?"
"Win-win." Han Xiao smiled.
Urranrell paused and slowly said, "I must remind you, the Evolutionary Totem business and the territory in the Flickering World, these are all benefits only our allies can enjoy. The dynasty regards you very highly. I'm sure you're aware of that."
Some things could not be said directly. The dynasty did not oppose Black Star becoming the vice president of the development union, but they did not want to see Black Star lean toward it too much. They hoped that between the positions of a dynasty ally and the vice president of the development union, Han Xiao would lean toward the former.
The Mechanic Emperor was an example they could learn from. He had made too many contributions and received too much credit. The federation had no choice but to keep rewarding him and supporting him. This had led to the Mechanic Emperor slowly getting out of control. The dynasty did not want to create another Mechanic Emperor.
As if he did not hear Urranrell's words between the lines, Han Xiao continued what he was saying. "Clotti has captured Traveler and another Beyond Grade A, reigniting others' fear of him. The mission is actually already complete. If he continues to attack others, it might be too much. Furthermore, when I was in the secondary dimensions, I helped him, or things would have turned out differently."
"Hmm… that makes sense too." Urranrell thought about his words.
Seeing this, Han Xiao's eyes sparkled, and he said, "Clotti should have reported the results of Traveler's interrogation, so you must know that Sorokin played a part in this too. Does the dynasty plan to put him on the list of targets?"
"The authenticity of his testimony has yet to be investigated. Sorokin's motive is still unknown. It's not suitable for Clotti to act." Urranrell waved her hand. "If there's enough evidence, the dynasty will deal with him."
Hearing this, Han Xiao secretly gloated.
Sorokin had always been swinging between the three Universal Civilizations, and now Traveler's testimony might cause a huge problem to the position he had maintained for a very long time.
He wondered if the dynasty would use forceful means like when they dealt with Traveler. If that was the case, the true strength Sorokin had been hiding would probably be exposed.
The two of them chatted for a while. Urranrell did not give a direct response, only saying that she would consider the proposal of stopping Dark Lord's mission. Han Xiao knew where to draw the line and bade farewell on good terms.
A few days later, in the Beyond Grade A Association's headquarters on Planet Finn, remote projections of close to a hundred Beyond Grade As gathered to attend the routine plenary meeting in the round table conference room.
Currently, the development union was uniting resources, so the focus of the discussion was the partnership plans between the various Beyond Grade As.
The atmosphere was heated. Everyone there was a leader in their own field. They could make big decisions on the spot, so the process was quite smooth. Everyone made their own proposals and collaborated with other members who possessed the resources they wanted. Slowly, everyone's businesses started to connect, forming an enormous profit network. To normal Beyond Grade As, this was an excellent opportunity to partner up with other large Beyond Grade A organizations and achieve mutually-beneficial agreements. With just a recommendation from others, they would receive huge profits.
After the day-to-day affairs were settled, Manison changed the topic.
"In the next meeting, the development union is going to welcome two new members, Tolaen and Hades. Due to some personal reasons, they missed the timing when the association was created. They have now gone through the necessary procedures, and they'll be attending the next meeting."
The people could not help but look at Han Xiao, who was sitting in the vice president seat. Everyone knew about the 'personal reasons', so the atmosphere in the room was quite funny.
After that, Manison looked around and slowly said, "If there's nothing else, that shall be all for this meet…"
This time, Garoze raised his hand and said, "I have a question I'd like to ask Honorable Director Clotti."
Everyone looked over. Clotti, who had been keeping silent, opened his eyes and glanced at him.
"I'd like to confirm one thing. We're all members of the association now, and we're to obey the rules and regulations. Therefore, Your Excellency Clotti, you can't attack any members, right?"
"I only listen to the dynasty's orders," Clotti said with an expressionless face, not caring at all.
The atmosphere immediately became tense. The direct members of the three Universal Civilizations, who were originally resting with their eyes closed, looked interested too.
With courage, Garoze said in a deep voice, "I hope the association will take care of this and ensure our safety. I wouldn't want His Excellency Dark Lord to suddenly have a wild idea one day and blame me and attack me for a crime I've never committed."
As soon as he said that, many neutral Beyond Grade As expressed that they agreed with him. It was clear this was planned.
"Hmm…" Manison narrowed his eyes.
The association's position was rather strange. Although these three Universal Civilizations' direct members had joined the association, it was obvious they would not listen to the association, and this proposal had brought this problem to the table.
While the request of these neutral Beyond Grade As was totally logical, it was not a decision the association currently had the power to make. He had no right to tell Clotti to stop.
However, the very purpose of the development union was to resolve conflicts between Beyond Grade As, so it had to live up to that. Manison could not possibly say that he could not do it, or it would shake the foundation of the association and make people worry about the association's ability to obey its own rules.
"I'll do my best…" Manison planned to first agree and think of a solution later.
However, before he could finish, Han Xiao suddenly interrupted him.
"Leave this problem to me. I'll deal with it."
Garoze and the others understood and all thanked Han Xiao. "Then we shall leave it to you, Your Excellency Black Star. We'll be waiting for the good news."
Clotti gave Han Xiao a meaningful look and did not speak.
Han Xiao smiled at Clotti and did not intend to speak either. Both of them knew that the one who could make this decision was not present.
Han Xiao even pretended to comfort Garoze, finishing the show.
This time, Manison figured out what was happening and gave him a meaningful look too.
Manison did not mind Han Xiao building connections and establishing his reputation. To him, Black Star was on his side. As long as he could do the job, there was no problem.
After about a week, Clotti received an order from the Dynasty Ruler to stop the mission. He then led the captives back, leaving the Flickering World.
This message quickly spread to all the members. In their mind, Han Xiao became much more reliable.
By actively taking responsibility for this matter and successfully dealing with it, Black Star proved his ability. Knowing that, the others would naturally come to respect him. This would work just about anywhere.
To Han Xiao, this was just a small matter that did not cost him too much. As his position became higher, his opinion became more and more influential to the dynasty's decision-making on some unimportant matters. The Dynasty Ruler gave him face, too. Making a dynasty ally sitting in the vice president seat more powerful in the association was clearly better than having the federation's Manison have full control over it.
Meanwhile, after more than half a month's time, Aurora had already fully mastered the Holy Light Particle. Without further ado, Han Xiao instantly announced the existence of the Holy Light Seed to the outside world. He emphasized the importance of the new class system granted by the Holy Light Seed. He stated that all army members would be able to acquire Holy Light Seeds after earning merits.
This new source of power made both the players and the Supers interested, but that was all it was, interest. The ordinary people had the strongest response; it was like a storm to them.
Almost everyone hoped to possess powers beyond ordinary men, and this was the best shortcut to it. As long as they awakened Super Genes, they would instantly be promoted into the Supers society and enjoy its privileges.
However, people were born different. Restricted by predetermined talent, most people were destined to be ordinary their entire lives.
Now, however, there was an opportunity to change their fate right in front of their eyes. Furthermore, it was not beyond their reach. As long as they worked for the Black Star Army and made enough contributions, they would have a certain chance of obtaining extraordinary power!
As soon as this announcement was made, countless ordinary people went haywire. The sensation it caused was even more incredible than all the things the army had done in the past added up. After all, the things the army had done were just that, but this announcement was related to the interests of everyone.
The ordinary people had their own way of living. No matter how amazing the Black Star Army was, there were only very few that were willing to work in an armed force. However, it was all different now. The Black Star Army's appeal to ordinary people instantly exceeded ninety-nine percent across all industries.
In just five short days, the number of ordinary people requesting to join the army had already exceeded the current number of members of the Black Star Army!
The number of ordinary people in the universe far exceeded the number of Supers.
Within a secret research base of the Holy Accord organization, a researcher placed a cooling container in front of Law and Fay, opened its cap, extended his hand into the white cold fog, and took out a device that looked like a mini radar.
"Your Excellencies, this is the detection device I've invented using the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy's characteristics. It's used to sense the Holy Light Particle."
Law clapped with encouragement. "Good job. This way, we'll be able to find the Holy Light Particle."
"The Holy Light Particle has been hidden for many years," Fay said. "It's probably sleeping in a certain secondary dimension and has no master now. This is our chance. Is the range of this device long enough?"
The researcher replied confidently, "Don't worry, this device can be used together with the cross-dimensional radar. It's definitely long enough."
"Good." Fay nodded with satisfaction.
Law hurried them. "Quickly equip it. We have to acquire the Holy Light Particle as soon as possible."
"Understood, I'll…"
Before he finished, an assistant hastily ran in holding a communicator in his hand and said, "Y-Your Excellencies, look at the news."
Law and Fay looked over and were stunned.
The image the communicator was displaying was the announcement Han Xiao had made.
"Sh*t…" Law murmured.
Not just the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy but even the Holy Light Particle got taken by Black Star‽
What kind of luck is that‽
Last time, they could only successfully attack Black Star because Black Star was not prepared and knew nothing about their weapons.
The two of them initially thought they would never cross paths with Black Star ever again, so they did not worry at all. They never expected Black Star to have another Primal Esper Ability they needed.
The two of them exchanged looks and saw the powerlessness in each other's eyes.
Another Beyond Grade A would have been fine, why did it have to be Black Star?
Black Star was alert now. The risk of carrying out the operation again would be at least ten times higher. They would be dreaming to think that doing the same thing as last time would work.
"So… are we still going for it?"
"Don't drag me down if you want to die," Fay said with a scornful tone.
"What should we do then? The Holy Light Particle is in his hands. We'll have to find a way to take it back."
"How would I know?"
The two of them were at the edge of collapsing.
What should we do‽
The researcher looked left and right before asking,
"Erm… this detection device I've invented, should I still install it?"
"What the hell do you think‽"
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This is unfair! This is unfair!
Inside the exclusive training room in Black Star Palace, Mysterious Energy Host stood by the door and complained furiously to the two people in the room nonstop.
Han Xiao raised his hand and shattered a holy light shockwave from Aurora. He then scratched his ear, feeling like he was almost going deaf.
Ever since Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy found out that Han Xiao had found the Holy Light Particle a master, he instantly went mad.
Initially, he wanted to drag his old friend down so that they could happily be locked inside machines together. He did not want to feel lonely anymore. However, to his shock, although he was the one who led the way to the Holy Light Particle, the Holy Light Particle received much better treatment.
Why do you have a master by I have to be locked inside this metal‽
I want a master too!
Lately, as long as Han Xiao called him out, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would nag nonstop around him.
"Master! Master! Master!" Han Xiao said with resignation. "Can you stop complaining?"
"No!"
A vein appeared on Han Xiao's forehead. His patience had reached the limit. "Are you forcing me to turn on silent mode for the Mysterious Energy Host? You won't even be able to speak at all then!"
Hearing this, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy finally shut up.
Being trapped in a tool was bad enough. He could only speak because Black Star was kind enough to let it. If he was not even able to speak, he would have zero means of entertainment.
However, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was still frustrated. After less than a minute, he uncontrollably spoke again with a soft tone like a wronged wife. "But I really want a master…"
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and said, "How old are you? Can you have some pride? Are all Primal Esper Abilities as shameless as you?"
Holy Light Particle who was watching the show from the side heard that and said, "Bullsh*t, most Primal Esper Abilities have class. It's the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy who spoiled our name!"
Furious, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy yelled, "Shut up! You're not much better than me!"
"Alas, it's so comfortable to be inside my master, so much warmer than being in a metal tin," the Holy Light Particle said with a lazy tone.
Staying in Aurora's body and being nurtured by her Vital Energy was as comfortable as enjoying hot springs. No matter how the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy yelled at him, he always used this response to make the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy even more frustrated and irritated.
Listening to the two Esper Abilities fight, Han Xiao could not help but massage his temples.
These two must be the floor of virtue among the Primal Esper Abilities…
"Alright, alright, that's it for today." Han Xiao waved.
Hearing this, Aurora obediently deactivated her ability. Like a duck that got suffocated, the annoying Holy Light Particle suddenly shut up and went silent.
"Erm… uncle, how did I do?"
Aurora looked a little anxious.
She had not been a combatant in the past, so she rarely accepted combat training from Han Xiao at all. The only times she did was as Hila's support, and that was many years ago.
During the combat training, Han Xiao was not as kind and gentle as usual. He was quite strict.
Aurora did not have many opportunities to take part in direct combat, so her combat experience was limited. Therefore, she was worried she might not have done well.
"Not too bad. You need to make smarter choices…" Han Xiao called Aurora close and guided her step by step.
After Aurora learned to control the Holy Light Particle, she had the ability to take on direct battles. Although she would still not really have the chance to fight, Han Xiao still trained her personally to help her master the combat techniques of the Holy Light Particle.
While doing so, Han Xiao also tested the Holy Light Particle's special ability to 'punish evil'. This ability was completely subjective. Whether something was evil or not completely depended on the feelings of its master and the target.
The punishment effect Han Xiao received was very weak. According to the Holy Light Particle, in Aurora's heart, he was a great man, and she had never once felt he was evil. The weak damage mainly came from how Han Xiao felt about himself. He had never felt he was a righteous man.
After a bit more guidance, Han Xiao sent Aurora away, summoned Phillip, and looked at the changes that had occurred in the army after the Holy Light Seed system was announced.
Quite a few days had already passed after the Holy Light Seed announcement. The impact was enormous. Many people had applied to join from every Star Field. Therefore, the army had to, of course, filter the applicants. Also, the cost of recruiting and paying salaries to those people was not a small amount.
The good news was, most ordinary people came for the chance of acquiring extraordinary power, so their goal was clear and straightforward, meaning they were resilient to pressure.
Therefore, without any internal moral conflict, Han Xiao told Sylvia to lower the basic salary of these newcomers to cut costs. This way, the army would be able to recruit more people at a lower cost. Anyway, these people were not here for the money, so it was a great opportunity to let the army acquire a large amount of cheap labor. Furthermore, in order to gain merits, these people would definitely work hard.
What? This is oppression?
No, no, no, this is called fighting to make their dreams come true.
Showing them what they could obtain by working hard was a must-learn for leaders.
Seeing the rocketing business performance across all industries, Han Xiao nodded with satisfaction and asked about another matter.
"How's the Army Tournament plan I told Sylvia to come up with? Let me take a look."
The virtual screen before him turned into a plan drafted by Sylvia.
Han Xiao looked through it in detail. Sylvia basically followed the structure he gave. Sparring was just one of the many programs. There were also all kinds of technical, sports, and entertainment competitions. Of them, the sports and entertainment competitions were the highest in number.
Furthermore, the army members could also request certain competitions. As long as they were not nonsense, there was a chance these requests would be approved. Han Xiao had no doubts the players would request soccer and play some 'Shaolin Soccer'.
Based on the strength of army members, each Grade was classified into a group, ensuring that the participants would only meet competitors of the same Grade. At the same time, he also gave the players the freedom to choose either to join their own groups or the NPC groups.
Of course, encouragement measures could not be left out. No matter what group or program, as long as the participant's placement was high, the army would give out a grand reward. This would ensure that most army warriors would be interested in taking part.
In order to let members who did not take part or were eliminated early still participate in some way, Sylvia suggested opening up bets for all the programs and competitions.
This way, it would receive attention from the entire army. As an armed force, there were tons of gambling addicts. Even those who did not gamble normally would also be influenced by the atmosphere to place some bets.
At the same time, this would also earn back the cost of hosting the event. Sylvia even planned to sell tickets, broadcast it across the entire universe, and charge for it. She had a way of making money.
Han Xiao thought this was a good idea. He could use this opportunity to start a competition league, like the sports competitions in his previous life, building a platform where Supers could display their prowess. This might be quite popular.
In the future, perhaps other Beyond Grade A organizations could take part. Since the development union prevented physical conflicts, this might be one way for the Beyond Grade As to display their strength, by letting their subordinates earn some honor for their organizations.
"According to this plan, this is going to be a festival the entire army will take part in, which will affect business operations. However, the sense of unity brought by this kind of large faction event is quite impressive. Not only the players but the normal army members also need ways to relax outside of work," Han Xiao murmured.
To the players, the focus of the Flickering World version was to ride the tide of the era and fight each other, carrying out the first round of national wars on this grand stage. The clubs' final goal was to be placed high in the International League.
Hence, if he, an NPC, hosted an even larger competition in the early- to mid-stage of the version, it would definitely be loved by the players as a warmup for the Pro League. This way, the appeal of his faction would evolve from a powerful organization with a lot of benefits to the host of a competition in the players' eyes.
In order to take part in the Army Tournament, one naturally had to be in the army. No players from other factions would be able to take part in it. Therefore, once the players recognized the importance of the Army Tournament, the army would become a faction many players had to join like when it was the guiding faction in Version 2.0.
"This kind of large-scale faction event is not suitable to be hosted too often. Once every five to ten years should be best. Also, it needs a better name. 'Army Tournament' lacks personality."
Thinking of his pitiful talent for naming things, Han Xiao was not confident and called Phillip out.
"Give me a name."
Phillip tilted his head and said, "How about… Army Gala, hum?"
Han Xiao's face trembled. Why not just call it the Spring Festival Gala?
"Too boring, give me a cool and flashy one."
"Then… Galaxy Super Clash! Top of the Universe, Black Star Army Peak Tournament! Hum!"
What the hell? What stupid information did those players share with Phillip?
"Let's not make it too flashy…"
Phillip gave another few names. In the end, Han Xiao officially decided to call it the Black Star Cup Army Tournament, or Black Star Cup in short. Simple and easily understood, it even included his name.
Han Xiao then made some adjustments to the plan and sent it to Sylvia. He decided to make an announcement about the first Black Star Cup another day. A lot of time was required to prepare for such a large event, so he decided to announce it first to preheat it like the players' Pro League.
The scale of the Black Star Cup was so much bigger than the Pro League. The Pro League only included the players, while the entire army could take part in this. Although there were more than eight million army players, this was still a small number compared to the total members of the army.
However, most players had reached Grade B. Their importance was completely different compared to before. They could already be considered a very important force in the army.
In the universe, Grade Bs were considered the backbones of their forces. They were powerful in any non-Beyond Grade A organization. Even many Beyond Grade A organizations did not have as many Grade Bs as there were army players.
In the past few months, he had attracted a lot of attention, so he needed time to digest the influence it had brought. This was a good opportunity to direct all the attention to the army, so it was the best time to host the Black Star Cup.
Furthermore, Han Xiao had another more important goal.
The period of time when the players had the strongest desire to spend was before the Pro Leagues of every version. The players would only spend without hesitation to turn their money into strength before a large event.
Currently, the Flickering World was going from the early stage to the middle stage. Although no player had reached the maximum level yet, after accumulating for close to a year, many players had quite thick wallets.
"Some leeks… are ripe."
Han Xiao sighed.
His scythe was ready.
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Chapter 1090 Announcemen
In Emerald Star Cluster, on a certain planet was a desolate desert filled with strangely shaped rocks. Hundreds of shuttle-shaped, low-altitude battle carriers were fighting intensely, crisscrossing between mountains and cliffs, using them as cover.
Light beams crossed each other, landing on the cliffs around, causing landslides and rocks rolling down the slopes.
There were four different symbols on these low altitude carriers. One was the guild symbol of the Rivervale guild, and the other three were all symbols of different foreign clubs.
Rivervale was not in a good position right now. They were being attacked by three foreign clubs together. They had no choice but to flee while fighting back, or they would be surrounded.
Maple Moon was piloting one carrier. Her hands grabbed onto the sphere-shaped control devices on two sides specially made for Mechanics. Sparkling Mechanical Force connected the device to the spaceship, making the spaceship her extended body and allowing her to control it with ease. The spaceship swiftly made a turn, avoiding a round of fire while shooting a Main Cannon, which blew up one of the enemy spaceships.
However, a few visible black silhouettes flew out from the flames of the carrier's explosion. They were the players on the ship. Among them, a Mechanic player threw out compressed orbs that turned into a new carrier, and they continued the chase.
Seeing this, Maple Moon spoke in the team channel with resignation. "Sword, there are too many enemies. Our inventory will run out sooner or later if we continue like this. Should we just die? We can leave these resources."
"Hold on for just a while longer. Our allies are rushing here."
Frenzied Sword focused on dealing with the enemies. He was quite frustrated.
This planet was originally controlled by a small mining organization. Rivervale, Long Sky, and other guilds partnered with it by providing armed defense in exchange for part of the mining profit. This was a common scheme for the player guilds in the free competition zone.
However, a few middle-level officers of this mining organization were bought by a few Southeast Asian clubs. They helped them hide on this planet. When Frenzied Sword brought his men and came to collect this batch of resources as usual, the three clubs who had set up an ambush jumped out and surprised Frenzied Sword and the others.
The mode of conflict between players had been becoming more and more complicated as they learned to make use of smaller organizations more effectively. They acquired skills such as bribing and threatening the NPCs. This incident was just a small one; the bigger guilds were already involved in infiltrating, backstabbing, and many other things.
The carriers of Rivervale were being destroyed one after another; the players had no choice but to land on the ground. Maple Moon led the Mechanics to build a fortress to attack the enemies in the sky. The enemies then also sent a group of players down. The two sides started slaughtering each other on the desolate land. As Rivervale was at a numerical disadvantage, their situation was quite worrying.
After fighting for a while, a few battleships suddenly appeared deep in the starry sky and quickly approached. They were the Long Sky and the other allied guilds. Seeing this, these three foreign clubs instantly took off and returned to the spaceships that were on standby in the outer atmosphere. Before reinforcements arrived, they escaped with hyperdrive in a very well-practiced manner. It was clear they were prepared.
"Are you guys okay?"
Hao Tian and the other Long Sky members landed beside Frenzied Sword's side. They looked around at the mess around.
"Alas, they got me. We've lost quite a lot this time. Some died multiple times and lost EXP too," Frenzied Sword said with resignation. There was a limit to the number of times the players could die each day, and the punishment increased gradually after every death. The players were not afraid of death, but they had to die for a reason. Clearly, dying like this without getting anything in return was a huge loss.
"These foreign clubs have their eyes on us Chinese clubs now. They've been working together to attack us," Maple Moon complained.
"Well, it is what it is. We're making the most profit, after all, and our faction is the strongest." Sleepy Winter shrugged.
Currently, thanks to the Black Star Army, the Chinese clubs were having the best time in the free competition zone. Naturally, along with the benefits they received, they were also targeted by the foreign clubs. These clubs' plan to stir up hatred between nations failed, so they could no longer use the players in the Black Star Army. Hence, they had no choice but to do it themselves. They had been harassing the Chinese clubs frequently over the past few months, attempting to slow down their growth.
Frenzied Sword was a little worried. "It wouldn't matter if it was just during normal times, but if we get harassed even during the Pro League, it's going to be very tough for us to achieve something this season."
"If we get a champion this season too, China will have acquired the champion three times in a row. The clubs from the other countries definitely won't want to see that," Rainy Kim said calmly.
Participating in the competitions was a way to acquire fame. Fame meant traffic, and traffic meant profit. The ultimate goal of all clubs was to make profit.
The International League was the only large-scale open competition for the pro teams to increase their fame. There were no other platforms that had as large an audience.
Therefore, if the Chinese had it all, it meant that they had obstructed the others' way of making money. No clubs from the other countries were content with just participating, so some of them were causing problems for their opponents by any means necessary. They were all competitors, and when one side became too strong, the others would definitely come together to be against it. It was unavoidable.
Beep beep beep!
At this time, the communicators of everyone present suddenly rang simultaneously.
They exchanged looks of surprise and looked at their communicator. When they saw what it was, they were all slightly stunned.
"Black Star Cup?"
On the communicators was a new army announcement.
Army Announcement—The Black Star Cup Army Tournament
To the entire army, the Black Star Army has been walking the path of high-speed growth. As our business expands, so does the number of members. In order to let the members of the various departments get to know each other more, increase our unity, and select talented people from the various trades, the army has decided to host an event with the nature of a military parade. The preparation for the first season of Black Star Cup Army Tournament starts today. For details, refer to the Competition Rules and Regulations (Expand/Collapse).
All members of the army are able to take part. If you can achieve excellent results, the army will not be petty about the rewards. You're welcome to participate.
Army Commander, Black Star.
The people did not feel much by just looking at the content of the announcement. However, when they expanded the competition's rules and read the contents, their eyes became brighter and brighter as they were shocked by the scale of the Black Star Cup.
"My god, the scale of this faction event is way too big!" Maple Moon covered her mouth in shock.
"We can even request certain activities‽" Twinkle Fried Rice's eyes widened.
The players present were overjoyed just by reading the introduction. They could not wait for it.
Compared to the scale of the Black Star Cup, the International League was tiny.
Frenzied Sword and Hao Tian exchanged looks. Both of them thought of the meaning of this event beyond the surface.
"This is an amazing opportunity to increase our fame!" Frenzied Sword's tone was excited. "Events like this definitely don't lack spectators, and there are close to ten million army players as the default audience."
"That's right. Although this is an event hosted by an NPC, as long as it's popular, it'll also bring traffic. It might be an even better replacement for the International League!" Hao Tian expressed his agreement.
Hearing this, the look in everyone's eyes changed. The way they looked at this announcement was as if they were looking at a mountain of gold.
Everyone had noticed that this was probably the new platform for professional players to shine. Furthermore, it had way more activities than the International League, which would bring an extremely high amount of exposure.
Although the clubs in the other factions could not participate, which meant that the Chinese clubs had no competitors and it was not as competitive as the International League, was this not an exclusive exposure opportunity to the army players?
Also, it was now the early to middle stage of the version, so the Pro League was still far away. This was the exact time the players needed an entertainment show, and the Black Star Cup filled this void!
If it was popular enough, they were even willing to bring out as much passion as during the International League to prepare for the Black Star Cup, turning their accumulated EXP and wealth into strength.
Why do we make money? To spend it when needed of course!
Such an amazing opportunity has landed on us Chinese players again…
Thinking of this, they could feel the blood flowing in their body turn warm. They were touched.
Black Star might be a member of the Communist Party!
"Black Star Cup‽"
Seeing the army's public announcement, the many foreign clubs were filled with jealousy.
Every club knew that this was an excellent opportunity to gain exposure. This was exactly the stage they needed.
However, only the Black Star Army members could participate in the Black Star Cup. These clubs belonging to other factions could do nothing but watch this opportunity slip by.
The foreign clubs could still put up with the mission benefits the Black Star Army was already getting, but now such an amazing exposure opportunity had appeared, the determination of many clubs not to change factions was shaken.
Why can the Black Star Army hit our soft spots so easily‽
Should we just… give in?
"What is Black Star doing?'
On the other hand, some Beyond Grade As were confused about this.
To some of them, not only did events like this damage profit and affect efficiency, it would also eat into a lot of time that could be used for work.
However, after some thinking, quite a number of Beyond Grade As felt they understood Black Star's intentions.
With the development union, the chances for us to take part in battles in the future will probably decrease, which is not beneficial to maintaining our individual image. Black Star might be searching for a new way for us to display our strength to the outside world.
Quite a number of Beyond Grade As were touched.
The Vice President is thinking so far into the future. Now this is what it means to help us obtain more benefits!
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1091 Making It Clear
The day after the Black Star Cup's announcement, countless representatives of the media and financial groups came with money in their pockets, wanting to buy the rights to broadcast the event.
Inside the large conference room of the army's headquarters, Sylvia sat in the top seat. Countless remote projections of representatives sat below and chatted nonstop. The room was noisy.
"Silence."
Sylvia knocked on the table, and the entire place did indeed become silent. Everyone turned to look at her.
As the Chief Administrative Official of the army, Sylvia was also in charge of communicating with the outside. In the eyes of many organizations, she was no doubt someone who held a high position and a lot of power. Even though all the people sitting there were upper echelons of their own media and financial groups, they were still very obedient in front of Sylvia.
Sylvia looked around and said with a serious tone, "You're all here for the same purpose. About the Black Star Cup Army Tournament, the Army Commander intends to develop it into an integrated sports event for Supers. The first season will temporarily be limited only to the army itself, but in the future, people from other forces might participate too. The details are in the introduction of the rules and regulations of the competition, which I believe you have all already read.
"The army hopes to broadcast the event to the entire universe, so the broadcasting rights will be sold by areas. Planet-level broadcasting rights will not be sold alone. The lowest will be at the Star Zone level, which costs 15 million Enas. The broadcasting rights for a Star System costs 120 million Enas, and the Star Cluster broadcasting rights costs 980 million Enas. It can be paid in one go or up to five terms. This is only the initial price for reference. If any of you want to be the only one broadcasting it in the area, the sale will be done in the form of bidding."
Hearing this, a commotion began under the stage. Many people exchanged looks and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.
Given the Black Star Army's position and the popularity of this competition, this price was more than just generous. It was much lower than they expected.
Usually, there would only be two ways to sell the broadcasting rights of this kind of event. The most common one would be selling it to the media, not restricting the areas where the said media would play it in. Another would be to sell it by areas, which was usually used for large-scale broadcasting. Very few could do the latter, or the media would not allow it. Of course, the Black Star Army had the right to.
The basic unit was Star Zone, which meant that if bought, it would only be allowed to be broadcast in one Star Zone. Although the current quantum network was extremely developed and connected the entire galactic society, most viewers still had area-based preferences. It was basically like the local channel.
Indeed, the price of 15 million Enas was not low, but any media or financial group that dared to come to make deals with the army had no shortage of that much money.
If the broadcasting areas overlapped, the event would then be broadcast together unless an auction was held for the exclusive rights. If different levels of broadcasting areas were to overlap—for example, if one media bought the Star System broadcasting rights while the other brought the Star Zone broadcasting rights that included this Star System—the issue would either be left undealt with or they could request to negotiate with the army. The army would then either refund the broadcasting rights or have the two media groups work together. However, any media purchasing a large area broadcasting right, selling it themselves was absolutely forbidden.
Sylvia called out Phillip's doppelgangers, which appeared beside every representative, to record the prices they were willing to pay.
The media representatives contemplated for a while and wrote down their requests and prices.
They could all see the business potential of the Black Star Cup. Lately, the Black Star Army had done a lot of shocking things and attracted a lot of attention, especially Black Star's Godlike Battle and the Holy Light Particle incidents. The army had welcomed a lot of traffic. In fact, in every ten galactic residents, at least four would pay attention to news about the army.
Furthermore, the Black Star Cup itself was also very appealing. Although there were many Supers in the universe and battles between them were anything but rare, a competition where countless Supers of different Grades all participated together was extremely rare. Plus, there were even things like selections and drafting events, which would make things much more interesting for the audience.
Also, the competition had way too many items. Where else could anyone see such an interesting sports entertainment event with so many Supers attending?
According to the blueprint of the Black Star Cup, there was a chance this would turn into a league festival in the future that more organizations would take part in. With the Black Star Army's position, anyone copying the idea was nothing to be worried about. From a long-term perspective, this competition had a lot of growth potential. The representatives present not only wanted to sign this competition, but some even wanted to immediately sign the next few seasons too as a long-term investment.
"That's a win-win for us." Sylvia continued speaking while they were considering the prices to pay. "The army wants to make the Black Star Cup big, so we need more media groups to broadcast it and increase the event's popularity, while you guys need people to watch your channel. I'm sure I don't have to emphasize the scale of the Black Star Cup. It's a festival that…"
At this time, a financial group representative raised his hand and said, "I heard that the army is opening up bets internally. Do you accept exterior bets?"
"You guys can set up bets yourselves, but the army's pot doesn't accept bets from the outside." Sylvia waved her hand.
"And why is that? If you guys open up the bet, the commission you can earn from it will be countless times greater." Someone questioned.
"This is the highest order from the Army Commander."
Sylvia did not explain it to them. Actually, when she came to know that Han Xiao had made this decision, she was confused too. This was an opportunity to make a lot of money, and from what she knew about Han Xiao, he would not let this opportunity slip past. However, to her surprise, it was like her teacher's personality changed on this matter.
Afterward, Han Xiao explained it to her. He said that although the army was quite wealthy, the bets from the outside world were still way too large. There were risks to opening the betting to the outside world, and some fool—Sorokin—might cause problems in the dark. Comparatively, if the bets were only open to the internal members, it was basically equivalent to cycling the funds within the army. No matter who won or lost, the money was still in the hands of the army's members.
On the other hand, the people participating in the competition were their own army members, and if the army opened the bets to the outside world, the army members might have some disgruntled guesses about why it was the case. This was not beneficial to building their mindsets. If the bets were only limited to within the army, the image it gave would be much better. It would feel like a family betting with each other within the family.
Simply put…
We ain't gonna earn this dirty money!
After retrieving all the price quotes, Iapetus brought his business team along and came in for negotiations, while Sylvia left the conference room and headed for the next meeting.
Other than the selling of broadcasting rights, the army also planned to find a lot of sponsors for the Black Star Cup. The partners of the army would provide some form of sponsorship, be it for the sake of profit or face, and all of that added together was quite a large amount of money.
Sorokin had approached Han Xiao for this purpose, too.
"You want to sponsor the Black Star Cup?"
Han Xiao sized up Sorokin's remote projection.
"That's right. You're a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. Of course, I have to show my support for your projects." Sorokin had his signature fake smile on his face.
"How much do you plan to sponsor?"
Sorokin gave a number, smiled, and said, "This number represents my sincerity."
Han Xiao's heart skipped a beat. This amount was quite outrageous.
Your sincerity is overflowing…
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, the Black Star Cup has a lot of potential. I have very high hopes in this investment." Sorokin smiled and slowly said, "Plus, we're partners now. Due to some reasons in the past, some cracks were made in our relationship, so I'm hoping to fix our relationship…"
Han Xiao understood.
Right, so you're here to give me 'protection fees', hoping to compensate for the loss you've caused me before.
He had essentially threatened Sorokin to obtain the position of shareholder, which could not be changed. Sorokin had already accepted that, so he mainly wanted to fix their relationship. He had to say, this guy really knew when to compromise and take a step back.
Han Xiao suddenly thought of something.
This guy probably was not only there to make up for what he had done but also for Traveler.
Dark Lord had caught Traveler, and the dynasty had already announced that he would be openly executed. Han Xiao had gone to the secondary dimensions some time ago, so Sorokin might think that he had found something out. Thus, he had come to test Han Xiao.
After all, Sorokin meddled in the attack on Hila, and Traveler was one of the very few people who knew about it, so it was natural that he was worried.
"Alright then. About before, I shall hold you less responsible." Han Xiao smiled, dragged his words, and said, "About Heber…"
Sorokin's eyelid trembled. "This…"
Before he answered, Han Xiao laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'm kidding. How can I let you void your agreement with him, use the methods you used on me on him, and take away all the developments you've helped him make? He and I are so very close."
As if I'd believe you…
Sorokin adjusted his emotions and tested Han Xiao by saying, "I heard you went to the secondary dimensions recently. How was it?"
"Not bad. I went to quite a few places…"
Han Xiao chattered about everything but what he knew Sorokin really wanted to know about.
After patiently listening for a while, Sorokin realized that Han Xiao was deliberately avoiding the topic, so he had no choice but to cough and say, "I heard that Dark Lord caught Traveler in the secondary dimensions. Did you meet him?'
"Yes." Han Xiao nodded.
Sorokin was glad. Just as he was about to listen to what Han Xiao was going to say next, he suddenly realized that Han Xiao had stopped and did not seem like he was going to continue at all.
The two of them looked at each other in silence for close to half a minute.
Finally, Sorokin could not take it anymore and asked with resignation, "What happened?"
"Back then, Dark Da… ahem, Traveler almost escaped from Dark Lord, but he ran into me, so I captured him." Han Xiao tutted. "Speaking of which, that guy hardly had a backbone. I only tortured him a little bit, and he gave up the identity of who was behind all this."
Sorokin's heart tightened. "Who?"
Han Xiao glanced at him and slowly said, "He said he isn't really a neutral mercenary but a secret direct member of a Super Star Cluster civilization. He was ordered by his superiors to disrupt me when Hila was attacked."
"Direct member?" Sorokin was curious. "Of whom?"
Han Xiao said with a grave ton, "None of us expected him to actually be a member of the Modo Civilization."
"Modo…"
Sorokin pondered.
Suddenly, realizing something, he became alarmed.
Wait a minute. There's no way Traveler would have covered the truth for me. He'd definitely expose the fact that I was the reason the Star Cluster sent him on this mission.
This meant that the dynasty knew he was involved.
"Then you…" Sorokin stared at Han Xiao but did not know what to say.
"What do you want to say?" Han Xiao raised his brows.
"What else did Traveler say?"
"Are you asking whether Traveler ratted you out?" Han Xiao said with a smile.
Sorokin's expression tightened. Since Black Star had said that, he was sure he was exposed.
This time, Han Xiao stopped smiling and coldly said, "What you've done behind my back isn't very nice."
He had planned to hide this, but when Sorokin came to find him, he understood that his initial plan of staying in the dark was not so realistic.
The dynasty was going to publicly execute Traveler, so Sorokin definitely had no room to daydream. He knew that there was a very high chance Traveler would throw the blame to him, nor did Traveler have any reason to cover up for him. Therefore, the dynasty most likely would know about what he did, and Black Star certainly was notified about him plotting against the Black Star Army.
This way, even if Han Xiao acted like he did not know it, Sorokin would only be more alarmed. Therefore, he might as well make it clear. According to what he knew about Sorokin, this guy definitely would not want to make things ugly but would instead try to compensate for it.
After all, even if Sorokin gave him compensation, it did not mean that he would stop targeting him.
Sorokin paused, sighed, and said, "Alright, got it. The motive behind what I did was just to maintain balance; it's not personal. Nonetheless, I owe you for this incident. Since we're now partners, I'll give you an appropriate answer."
Han Xiao carefully observed his expression and narrowed his eyes.
As he expected, given how thick-skinned Sorokin was, him panicking after being exposed was not likely. He would have instead confessed and apologized on the spot, then looked for compensation measures.
Furthermore, Sorokin was very cheeky and actually prepared for this—he deliberately told Traveler about 'how he really felt' and gave his actions the excuse of maintaining unity and disrupting the Beyond Grade A shared battlefront. This way, it would not seem personal.
With this mindset as the reason, even if he was exposed, he would not be targeted too much. This was because the stand he had displayed on this matter was actually the same as the three Universal Civilizations' stand.
The only difference was the methods he used. Even so, he had hardly offended the dynasty. After all, his method was just indirect disruption, not direct interference.
In the current complex universe structure, the three Universal Civilizations had conflicts of interest with the development union. As a member of the association that also had the same mindset as the three Universal Civilizations, Sorokin might become one of the people they might want to draw to their side.
Although having his stance exposed would lead to those Beyond Grade As who supported the shared battlefront such as Mechanic Emperor and Black Star distancing themselves from him, this also became an opportunity for him to get closer to the three Universal Civilizations. This way, his losses would be minimized.
Han Xiao could only praise Sorokin's intelligence. Relying on his resources, this guy could always deal with the negative side effects very well.
The biggest problem was that he had worked with the Super Star Cluster Alliance on this, so the three Universal Civilizations would definitely not be happy about it. Sorokin had no way of washing that off, so he had to pay a price.
The second problem was Han Xiao's attitude on this. Black Star was insulted, and no one could shake his position in the association now. Sorokin had no choice but to prepare for Han Xiao to make an outrageous demand.
Many thoughts flashed through Han Xiao's mind. He blinked and said coldly, "Let me hear how you're planning to express your apology to me."
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Chapter 1092 Opening
"I'll give the Black Star Army more support. For all the services and resources you purchase from the Limitless Financial Group in the future, you will only be charged the cost. At the same time, I'll bring in a lot of discounted business projects and partner up with the Germinal Financial Group under you, helping it grow. Also, I'm willing to invest and build factories in the Black Star Army's territory without any cost or profit in mind. Through investing and helping your business to grow in various industries on your territory…"
Sorokin mentioned a lot of things. In conclusion, other than monetary compensation, he was also going to use the Limitless Financial Group's businesses and funds to help the Black Star Army grow and develop.
Han Xiao made some calculations in his head. If these terms were all to be carried out, despite how wealthy the Limitless Financial Group was, it would not be a small expenditure at all. To the army's territories, the construction would be sped up tremendously.
This guy really seemed serious about fixing the relationship.
In the past, Sorokin used a similar method to help the Bloodshed Land grow. Now, the Bloodshed Land had mostly completed their business transformation and become a strong competitor of the army in the Shattered Star Ring. Sorokin was now offering the same treatment to the Black Star Army, with even better terms.
As for the support he had been providing to Heber, even though Black Star did not mention it, Sorokin was going to stop it for the time being.
"Hmm…" Han Xiao neither agreed nor disagreed. He then brought up a new term. "Although the construction in the Flickering World territories is important, the army has a larger goal. I'm planning to develop the army in the other Star Fields too. Your Limitless Financial Group has influence and businesses in various Star Fields too. I suppose you can share some of that too."
"…Okay." Sorokin was smiling on the surface but actually clenching his teeth in his mind.
He knew that this request meant that Black Star was not satisfied with just resources but had his eyes on the Limitless Financial Group's channels and connections across the Star Fields. Black Star wanted to suck the Limitless Financial Group's blood and take its businesses to nurture the army's businesses in the other Star Fields. It was quite an outrageous demand.
Although Sorokin was mentally prepared for it, he was still quite hurt.
One reason he was willing to give so much compensation was to fix his relationship with Black Star. It was worth investing in him despite the fact that the chance of Black Star no longer targeting him was only fifty percent. Another reason was to display his stance to the dynasty.
Although the Black Star Army might become a parasite to the Limitless Financial Group, leeching on its meat to grow, the most urgent matter now was to deal with the dynasty. Suffering from losses was inevitable, or Sorokin would not have compromised like this. The Black Star Army was strong indeed, but he was not afraid of Han Xiao in the field of business. It was the dynasty behind Han Xiao that concerned him.
After getting by this incident, the profit he lost could be slowly earned back in the future, and the agreements made now could be ignored in various ways too. Therefore, Sorokin decided to agree with it for the time being.
"Also, I like Universal Treasures. Be it complete products or blueprints, I like to collect them all. The Limitless Financial Group should have some ways to get them—share them with me," Han Xiao said.
"I'll do my best to collect them after I get back." Sorokin agreed without hesitation. He was already agreeing to pay a lot of debts; agreeing to more did not really make a difference.
"That's it then. Carry out these terms as soon as possible." Han Xiao waved his hand. "I have some things to attend to later, so let's end our chat here today."
"Okay, I won't disturb you any longer."
Sorokin stood up, nodded slightly, and hung up the communication. His remote projection disappeared.
Han Xiao leaned back and pondered.
"Traveler is dead loyal to the Star Arc Civilization, and only I know about it for now. I wonder if the dynasty can get that from him in the interrogation. No matter what, as of now, Traveler is firm about Sorokin being the one behind it on the dynasty's side. The dynasty will definitely send someone to question Sorokin's motive.
"At that time, Sorokin will surely blame it on the Super Star Cluster Alliance. I told him Modo is the true mastermind, so he will most likely say the same to the dynasty. If the dynasty continues to ask, he'll probably say I told him. The dynasty knows that I have beef with Modo, so they'll know my motive. Although they clearly know this is a lie and framing, they might be happy to go along with it. In the future, they might use this as an excuse to cause trouble for the Modo Civilization and other Super Star Cluster civilizations.
"As for Sorokin, he might not believe what I said, but even if he doesn't believe Traveler belongs to the Modo Civilization, he'll definitely investigate it…"
Han Xiao shook his head and smiled.
This way, the one who suffered the most damage from this entire incident would be the Modo Civilization. It basically all fell onto their head out of nowhere.
In the three Universal Civilizations' future operations to deal with the Super Star Cluster Alliance, the Modo Civilization would probably receive the most 'love'.
"This way, the second requirement of that Grade S mission [Kunde Race Leader's Last Wish] should be about complete…"
Han Xiao's eyes slightly sparkled, and he rubbed his hands.
He had been tempted by the reward of this mission for a very long time. [Proof of Leadership, [The Enemy, and [Kunde Rage, a total of three excellent abilities. Currently, the Modo Civilization was protected by the Super Star Cluster Alliance and was keeping a low profile, so he could not target them directly. The only thing he could do was wait for the certain conflict in the future.
News about the Black Star Cup quickly spread. The entire army showed an extremely high passion for it; countless members registered.
Most people joined for entertainment purposes, but a few ambitious army warriors saw this as an opportunity to display their strength.
The Black Star Cup had also received a lot of attention among the army players. The forums were filled with posts about it once again.
Heaven Is Below Me: "What's going on? Wasn't Black Star just going to enter the show business not long ago, and now the army is going to enter the sports industry?"
Itchy Head: "That's how large factions are."
Never Starve Even Dead: "This feels more interesting than the Pro League."
Tiny And Weak: "The scale of this tournament is the biggest I've ever seen. It has a lot of events and a lot of participants. All participants are allowed to even join as many as five events. How many competitions are there going to be? There are card games and even bets too‽"
Two White Rabbits: "Not just card games, there are even singing and dancing contests. I even saw people request stand-up comedy competitions, and it was even approved!"
Dragon Emperor Licker: "Honestly, I want to see Black Star dance…"
Sky High Professional Account Boosting Studio: "The rewards for these competitions are quite rich, and the items with the greatest rewards are still related to combat. The top 300,000 will all be rewarded, and our weapons are not even limited. This means that if we participate in group battles, use our explosion backpacks and evolution badges, and utilize similar dirty tactics, will we take all of the top positions?"
Feidin Supporters Group President: "Let me take a look. Whose wallets are getting thick again? (Black Star's Smile.jpg)"
Cow Lover: "Army Commander, this is my protection fee for this year."
While the Black Star Cup was still in preparation, countless players were already getting their wallets ready.
For the days that followed, the sales of the logistics department skyrocketed. The EXP Han Xiao received every day increased by a huge portion too. Tons of players spent more than half of the resources they had been accumulating since the start of the Flickering World version on studying and leveling up abilities.
Seeing the EXP growth every day, Han Xiao felt very good.
If I don't take the players' hard-earn money, am I still human?
At this rate, level 340 was not going to be far away. However, to obtain one more God's Trait Transformation Point during Promotion, he decided to use the EXP he earned to level up some blueprint abilities and all his class knowledges to the max level.
Sylvia and Phillip were very efficient. With the Black Star Army's current position, all the administrative procedures were approved smoothly without any hiccups.
Han Xiao selected many desolate planets as the event venues. The professional galactic construction teams called over by the Limitless Financial Group quickly built up the facilities needed, while the army members participating in the Black Star Cup arrived one after another.
The schedule was similar to the Pro League. Due to the extremely large number of participants, a group of people would first be eliminated in the qualifiers, then it would move on to the actual event.
After preheating it for more than two months, the preparations for the first season Black Star Cup were finally complete.
On October 28th, Year 730 of the Galaxy Calendar, the Black Star Cup opening ceremony was held as scheduled. With help from the media groups, the eyes of the entire universe were focused on this giant festival.
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1093 Tide from Afar
Countless spaceships surrounded a sapphire planet. Colorful lights penetrated the artificial atmosphere and made the sky of this planet as beautiful as the northern lights.
This was one of the desolate planets in the army's territory, it was rebuilt into one of the venues for the Black Star Cup. Countless facilities such as stages, rings, large stadiums, and low altitude racing tracks were built on the surface, visible to the naked eye even from outside the atmosphere. Other than the buildings on the surface, there were also floating stages in the air. Some were VIP seats exclusive to the army members above Grade C, and others were more rings. As there were many items and participants, as many competition venues were needed as possible to increase the efficiency of the qualifiers.
At this time, the sights of all the media groups and army spaceships were locked onto the biggest floating stage. On it was a lectern.
Today was the opening ceremony. As the leader of the army, the founder of the Black Star Cup, Han Xiao was going to speak to the entire universe here.
Countless galactic residents of the explored universe watched their communicators as time passed by. Finally, the time for the official start of the opening ceremony had arrived.
Hu!
Watched by countless people, a black silhouette descended like a meteor from space, gradually decelerating and accurately landing on the edge of the stage. With a light spin, the dancing black and gold coat spun like a black tornado, getting rid of the flames from when he penetrated the atmosphere.
Han Xiao slowly walked to the speaking desk and looked up at the sky. The spotlights from countless spaceships above were like distant stars. Countless eyes were watching him through the live broadcast.
With his hands placed on the sides of the lectern, Han Xiao looked around at the starlight in the sky and slowly spoke. Through the specially made speaker, his voice echoed across the planet.
"October 2nd, Year 688 of the Galaxy Calendar, that was the day the army's former identity—the Black Star Mercenary Group—was founded. Back then, I was only a surface civilization native who had just stepped off Planet Aquamarine. To save my mother planet, like a newborn animal, I headed into the wide universe, ignorant and weak. To me, this was a world filled with unknown danger. However, for the survival of my mother planet, and the safety of my friends who stayed there, without any hesitation, I…"
The speech was played out live in the various Star Fields. To the Planet Aquamarine people who were watching the broadcast, this old memory started floating to the surface. A sense of pride appeared in their heart.
No matter what Black Star's position was in the universe, in the eyes of the Planet Aquamarine people, he had only one identity—the greatest man of their planet, the pioneer of Planet Aquamarine who first stepped into the universe. That was a small step for Black Star but a big step for Planet Aquamarine.
Inside the national headquarters of the Aquamarine Federation, Bennett pushed back a political meeting and watched the broadcast.
His hair had already turned white, but it was still combed neatly. He had more wrinkles on his face too. He had become an old man. Having possessed the top power of the planet for many years, he had already developed the vibe of a man with power.
However, at this time, Bennett's lips were slightly raised, making more wrinkles on his face, and the corners of his eyes were glistening.
Decades ago, when he first met Han Xiao, that lonely man in his memories seemed to overlap with the tall and strong Black Star now.
Thousands of words rushed up to his mind, but all turned into a satisfied sigh.
I'm glad to have met you…
The speech was still going. Han Xiao's tone gradually became more emotional.
"When I was weak, I met dangers, and I met great men. On the way, I found both enemies and friends. The experiences I had at that time are still vivid in my mind, but when I think about them now, it almost feels like it was an entire lifetime ago.
"I worked hard and spent more than forty years developing the Black Star Army to what it is today. I think I have the right to be proud of it…"
Many army members nodded with admiration.
Almost all army members had taken thought-alignment classes; they knew about the rise of the army. Even those who joined the army for their own future admired the achievements Black Star had made in just over forty years.
Looking at the entire history of the Galaxy, how many people were able to start with nothing and build such an enormous force in such a short time? There was no one else!
Of course, there were people who had achieved more than Black Star, but they also spent a longer time. Black Star, and only Black Star, had risen in the Galaxy at a speed no one in the past could ever compare with.
In the exploration frontline stronghold at the free competition zone, Hila watched Han Xiao from the screen. The adventures they had together in the past flashed through her mind, and her gaze softened.
Manison, Kasuyi, Sorokin, and other Beyond Grade As were also watching the broadcast. Even the Dynasty Ruler Urranrell squeezed out some time in her extremely busy schedule to watch it. Hearing Han Xiao's words, these people uncontrollably sighed.
Maybe Black Star had conflicts with them, but from the bottom of their heart, they still admired what Black Star had achieved. None of them felt they could have done better than Black Star if they were in his position.
"What was I doing again when I was younger than a hundred years old? Still managing the logistics for the former chief?"
Manison was nostalgic.
At the venue, after Han Xiao listed the achievements of the army, his tone became formal.
"As I've just mentioned, although the Black Star Army has achieved many great things, its contribution to the universe is still too little, and I'm ashamed of that. Therefore, I felt that I should start a public report to the entire universe to show everyone what we're capable of, to do my best to give anyone with potential the chance to showcase themselves. And that is why I've founded the Black Star Cup…"
"That's quite a good way to put it…" Urranrell nodded in agreement.
She liked seeing Beyond Grade As enjoying their privileges while not forgetting about making contributions to the entire universe. Sadly, most people did not have this resolve. Although Black Star was unashamedly profit-oriented, she was quite happy he even had this mindset.
When the speech came to an end, Han Xiao smiled and said, "I've said enough. Now, this stage shall be given to the great kids of the Black Star Army. I hereby announce, the first season of the Black Star Cup Army Tournament starts now!"
As his speech ended, deafening applause sounded at the venue!
This was indeed an added sound effect.
If the speech ended and no one applauded, that would have been hella awkward. Plus, the army members were all in the spaceships, so their applause could not reach there.
In the cheering and applause, Han Xiao teleported away. The organizers of the competition showed up right after and started to direct the participants into the venue.
The audience also landed in their seats. The venue became boisterous.
According to the planning that Sylvia had hired some professional event organizers to do, there would be a large performance at the opening ceremony, and only a few more important competition items would be held.
Of course, combat-related events were a must. Referring to the Pro League, Han Xiao had also set up Singles, Groups, Duels, Flag Modes, and so on. He even brought up modes that only appeared in the later Pro Leagues and used them in the Black Star Cup.
There were ordinary people groups all the way up to Calamity Grade groups, as well as groups exclusive to Immortals. All the groups had to choose a representative to participate in the opening ceremony and showcase themselves.
As for the tons of sports and entertainment items, those more popular ones would be carried out.
Quite a number of sports and entertainment items did not have groupings, and Wayne Cards was one of them. Although there were no groupings, it surprisingly had the most participants, so it was chosen to be displayed in the opening ceremony.
The two Wayne Cards players who were about to play in the opening ceremony were Herlous, who was respected in the army's card social circle, and Hadavy, who was a known rascal in the gambling social circle of the army.
Inside an indoor venue, a Wayne Cards board was set up. As soon as the two players stepped into the venue, the difference in their treatments was already clearly visible.
The moment Herlous appeared, cheering from the countless card friends he had sounded, he was clearly very sociable. Hadavy, however, received a deafening hush when he took just a few steps. The audiences were paying their sincerest respect to this rascal who was horrible at gambling.
"Idiots." Hadavy rolled his eyes.
This time, Herlous looked over. These two card arch-enemies who had battled each other countless times looked into each other's eyes. They both saw the same thought in the other's eyes.
Without Feidin and Nero, the king of cards in the army shall be mine!
At the same time, the other stage was already at the Grade D group, and a player had appeared. It was a battle between a graduate of the Super Academy and a newbie player who had only joined in Version 4.0. The two of them looked at each other.
"Remember the rules. Don't continue attacking when the enemy has lost the ability to fight. Deliberately causing heavy injuries is not allowed, as is killing the opponent. The winner shall be determined when one side leaves the stage or admits defeat…"
The mechanical judge explained the rules from the side. Basically, other than deliberately causing heavy injuries to the opponent, there were no rules.
However, there was a special rule against players—as long as the player did not admit defeat, the opponent could beat up the player as much as they wanted; the player would not die anyway.
"That's all. The fight starts… now!"
As the judge gave the word, this academy graduate stomped the ground and charged toward his opponent without hesitation.
Clearly, this newbie player lacked combat experience. In the face of such an aggressive opponent, he immediately panicked. He raised his hand and summoned his two guns, and the high-quality mechanical suit he had bought from the logistics department quickly covered his body. He turned into a ghost-like phantom and swiftly moved around the enemy while continuously firing his guns. He was a Cannon Master.
"Shield!"
The academy graduate activated his mechanical suit too. A foldable ally shield extended on his arm, and the thin energy coating on it deflected all the blue laser beams of the newbie player.
At the same time, his other hand pulled out an intricate mechanical spear. The spear's tip split open, exposing the barrel within, and shot out explosive bullets one after another, chasing after the fast-moving opponent. The stage was quickly filled with dust and explosions.
This man was a Mechanical Pugilist.
As the Black Star Army's logistics department provided a lot of high-quality faction-exclusive mechanical weapons, be it the players or ordinary members under the army, many were willing to become Mechanics. After all, they could directly purchase the best equipment for their level in the army.
As long as they had money, they could even skip the gunpowder weapons and buy energy weapons very early on.
Actually, in the face of an Immortal, this academy graduate was more nervous.
Within the army, the players were a group of special beings that were almost deified. In the eyes of most of the lower-level army members, they were very mysterious. There were a lot of rumors about them possessing great power and being maniacs.
Just being unkillable was alright, but according to the rumors, the Immortals were maniacs who did not care about their own lives, which was terrifying…
The two of them fought intensely. Flames and lightning appeared everywhere they went.
The academy graduate fought cautiously, only to surprisingly realize his opponent clearly lacked combat experience. This made him much more confident. His attacks became more aggressive, and he gradually gained the upper hand.
"Looks like I'm about to lose…"
The newbie player looked at his steadily decreasing health, tutted, and took out Black Star Army Badge: Evolution with frustration.
"Roar!"
The next moment, an Aberration appeared on the stage!
This muscular monster pounced forward and pressed the academy graduate onto the ground in an instant, completely locking his movements.
An Aberration with Grade B combat capabilities was completely unbeatable in the Grade D group!
This time, the Aberration opened its enormous mouth, showing its rows of sharp teeth, and looked like he was about to bite down.
"I admit loss! H-help!"
The academy graduate was horrified. Looking at the foul mouth get closer, he subconsciously closed his eyes.
However, the bite he expected did not arrive. Instead, he felt an enormous wet and soft tongue lick him from top to bottom.
"The battle has ended. Blue has won!" the judge announced right on time.
"Ah, I've won!"
The newbie player jumped with excitement, shook his butt alluringly for a bit, and then ran to the edge of the floating stage and jumped right down, using the quickest method to get out of this dreadful look.
The dance of the Aberration was too beautiful. The spectators who saw it had to hold back the urge to dig out their eyes.
At the same time, countless viewers felt a chill up their spine.
The rumors were right. The Immortals were indeed maniacs.
On the stage, the academy graduate lay on the ground covered with saliva. His eyes had their vibrance, and he started to doubt the definition of life.
It was a sure win, but the tables had been turned instantly by the opponent's suicidal shapeshift.
What a hard life I have…
As long as no additional damage was done, items could be used freely in the Black Star Cup. The players were very satisfied with this rule.
In the Pro League, the various powerful weapons of the army were all forbidden. Now that they could use them freely, it felt really good.
Although this was not fair to the army members in the lower grades, this was exactly what Han Xiao wanted. He had a few reasons for it. The first was to show the outside world the terrifying side of the players, that they could possess very high combat capability even at very low grades.
The second reason was to stimulate the sales of the evolution badge. If those players in the lower grade competitions saw that the evolution badge could basically make them invincible and ensure they could achieve a high placement, why would they not buy it?
Furthermore, the evolution badge was not a one-use item, but it had to be recharged.
The last reason was that Han Xiao actually wanted the players to receive the reward for the lower grade competitions. After all, there was not much he could gain from the normal members, and giving the players these rewards was indirectly fertilizing his leek field.
What, the normal players are not happy about it? I didn't say they can't use those strong items, did I? If they have the resolve to not take their life seriously, they can go ahead and use them just like the players.
Even if someone really did it, the judge would not approve of it. Sportsmanship first, competition second. Committing suicide on-stage was not allowed… Oh, except for those who could not die.
Unfair? It is what it is. Not being able to die is their talent. Like those people who have healing powers, you can't not let them use those powers too, can you? Wouldn't that be unfair to them?
If you need to blame it on something, blame it on the fact that you're not an Immortal. Anyway, the final rules are made by the Army Commander. Go find him if you have a problem.
Therefore, even the low-grade army members could not say anything about it. They might even think it made sense.
Without having to make other arrangements, this rule was all the Great Mechanic Han needed to achieve the results he wanted.
When the Black Star Cup opening ceremony was being carried out, at the same time, in the Ancient Star Desert Star Field, a civilian archaeological team landed on a desolate planet that no one had been to in many years.
It was called an archaeological team, but they were actually scavengers.
The Ancient Star Desert was very old. Many of its locations were ancient battlefields. There were many mysterious ruins and wastes. Therefore, this Star Field was filled with scavengers trying their luck, hoping to find something good, sell it to the black market, and make a fortune.
In the midst of a blurry corrosive sandstorm that roared across the land, a scavenger wearing a bloated protection suit was using all kinds of mechanical devices to observe underground.
A short, skinny, monkey-like looking team member operated on the screen for a while, then suddenly yelled with surprise.
"Haha, we're in luck! There's an ancient stratum on this planet, and the age of it can't be detected. This means that it's so ancient that it exceeded the upper limit of this device of ours, and more complex tests need to be done to come to a result. I'm now using shock wave detection to draw the map of the underground… Done!"
A complicated underground cavity appeared on the screen. It had a lot of splits and corners that seemed like they were built for the purpose of confusing anyone who went in. With a simple look, it was quite large.
"There are no signs of it ever being discovered!" The short man was overjoyed. "We might have run into a previously-undiscovered ancient civilization ruin!"
"Or it could be filled with rusted metal." Another team member shrugged.
"No matter what, let's dig in first," someone who looked like the team leader said with a calm tone. "Have the spaceship send in the drilling rig. Let's dive down."
While they were about to move, this time, a team member pulled the captain's arm and wiped away the dust on his mask with his other hand, showing a young and handsome face. He was frowning and looked worried.
"Don't go down first…"
This man's tone was hesitant.
"I have a feeling that we might dig out something bad…"
If Han Xiao was there, he would have definitely recognized this face.
This was a renowned explorer in the World Tree version.
The first person who discovered the main body of the World Tree!
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1094 Pandora"s Box
Harrison Moore, a well-known interstellar free explorer, had been passionate about digging for relics and searching for the unknown throughout his life. Though his strength was low, he would magically unearth and discover countless historical relics over the years. He had written more than ten works, and his adventurous spirit had attracted a large number of followers in the universe. He was regarded as a spiritual leader and a beacon of light in life.
During the war against the World Tree Civilization, Harrison was in his old age and had already semi-retired. The three Universal Civilizations were the ones to be discovered and thus raided by the World Tree Civilization. They were caught off guard, suffering heavy losses. Because they did not know the origin of the enemy, all civilizations within the explored universe were basically beaten in the early stage. Their entire universe was on the defensive and could only passively resist the endless stream of invaders, as all their planets were occupied by the World Tree Civilization and used as nourishment.
The three Universal Civilizations tried their best to collect clues about the World Tree Civilization, of which the most important one was where the World Tree itself was located.
The World Tree was a Universal Treasure, and it was discovered by the World Tree Civilization during the slash-and-burn era of farming. As such, it gave rise to a distorted form of civilization, where all the development of the civilization was carried out with the World Tree as the core. Countless people tried their best to nourish and enhance this Universal Treasure.
Due to the special nature of the World Tree, only through finding its main body could the problem then be solved from the root. Otherwise, no matter how many invaders they repelled, the World Tree could still use the nutrients from the planets to transform and nurture more troops.
The main body of the World Tree was rooted within the secondary dimensions and hidden deeply. Within that era, the exploration teams mostly consisted of soldiers, and many exploration teams were spontaneously organized to search in the secondary dimensions. Harrison had also re-emerged and joined them.
Because of a series of coincidences, he was also the first to discover the secondary dimension containing the World Tree's main body. He sacrificed his life to record the coordinates, throwing it into the spatial storms of the secondary dimension.
The coordinates were like a drifting bottle floating within the vast ocean, bobbing up and down before finally falling into the hands of the three Universal Civilizations. Thus, Harrison's deeds were passed down, and the world knew of all his achievements.
All of these were Harrison's achievements in the later versions of Han Xiao's past life.
In this current era, Harrison was still a young and new explorer. His great curiosity and desire to explore had prompted him to give up the opportunity to inherit the wealth of his financial group and instead step into this industry.
As a newcomer to this exploration team, Harrison's intuition was obviously not convincing to them. His teammates had the mentality that they could not set off and come back empty-handed. Thus, Harrison's spirit of questioning the source, unfortunately, went unheeded.
Harrison himself had no choice. His curiosity outweighed his vigilance, so he pressed down the vague worry to the bottom of his heart, continuing the journey with his team.
A scavenger spaceship passed through a high-altitude sandstorm, hovering around a hundred meters above the ground before dropping a multi-functional burrowing vehicle. Its outer armor was full of colorful and wild graffiti. Very obviously, it had undergone some processing by this bunch of scavengers with limited knowledge of art.
The group boarded the burrowing vehicle and burrowed into the ground under the instructions of the detection radar, quickly approaching the underground cavity on the map.
Because such underground remains had existed for too long a time, the structure was typically unstable and stood a chance to collapse. Thus, the scavengers normally did not directly drill into the passage but chose to follow the path set.
Hu!
Very quickly, the tip of the drill penetrated the rock formation, exposing a cavity. The team members got down, switching on their flashlights to observe the surrounding environment.
This was an underground cave with traces of being made by man. It was about seven or eight meters high, and at the end of this cave was a closed metal door, which seemed to be the entrance to this underground ruin.
Their short member who served as the detector jogged over, taking out various instruments to scan the metal door. He muttered, "It's well preserved, with few traces of rust. This is a high-strength alloy material, and according to the rough detection results, the material is likely synthesized by a star system level civilization or above. However, there's no matching material record in our database…"
Hearing this, the crowd got excited. The higher the level of the lost civilization they discovered, the more valuable their discoveries would be on the black market.
However, this also represented more unknown risks.
"Any energy responses from inside?" the captain asked.
"Let me see, er… totally absent. I think the energy source has been drained dry. Even if there are traps or defensive measures, they should be frozen."
"Then let's go in and take a look," the captain said. "Later on, take precautions. Without my command, no one is to remove their own protective shield."
A group of personnel cut open the door using a laser cutting, before tiptoeing inside and fumbling their way. The route within resembled that of a large underground military base.
Harrison walked to a sign, wiping the dust off it, and let the translator read the text. However, there was no result.
"There's no record of this kind of text in the database. We can determine that this is a relic of a civilization that has not been discovered thus far." Harrison spoke through the channel.
"Today is really my lucky day. No wonder Ah Xiang finally responded to my daily greeting even though I've been sending signals to her for months," the short detector guy replied in excitement.
"What did she say?" Harrison was curious.
"She said ok."
"… Keep it up."
Everyone chatted idly as they searched. They were carefully all the way but found out that there was no danger within. Searching the rooms, they only found living facilities, with no special equipment nor text documents present. Even the energy and network facilities were absent along with any sort of defense facilities. It seemed as though this base had been long abandoned and everything within emptied.
The flames of excitement in everyone's hearts seemed to have been extinguished by a basin of cold water.
"This can't be it, right? I found an unknown ruin, but there's nothing valuable here. Isn't it a wasted trip then?" the detector guy complained.
"It's not in vain. At least we managed to discover a new language, which means an unknown civilization that once existed." Harrison raised the translator in his hand. He had recorded all the signs on the path that they had walked down so far.
"What does this bullsh*t archaeological result mean for us? We're not even historians!" someone among the team complained. "If it weren't for getting valuable stuff, who would want to come to such a weird place?"
Scavengers did not have much patience, and their searching speed got faster along the way. It did not take long before only the last room was left, located at the core position at the bottom of the base.
The group cut open the door and walked in, collectively taking a gasp.
There was a triangular body about three to four meters high, embedded in the ground in the center of the room. The whole body was pitch black and as smooth as a mirror. It resembled obsidian somewhat, but the detector revealed it as a metallic material. On one side, a display screen was embedded.
Only this thing existed in the room, nothing else, as though this was an exclusive warehouse.
"Haha, there's finally something."
"What is that?"
Everyone surrounded it, brimming with curiosity, feeling here and there and knocking around. Although they did not know what this was, just looking at its appearance, there was no worry that it could not be sold on the black market.
The detector guy came over to the screen on the triangle and pressed a few times, but there was no response. He fumbled around and finally found that there was a movable board beside the screen, which revealed a socket seemingly for charging it.
"Uh… this is the first time I've seen a socket of this shape, but there should be no problem." The guy groaned but quickly took out an energy storage device, transforming its transmission line to fit with the socket.
Just as he was about to charge the triangular block, Harrison was frowning and suddenly spoke.
"Wait a moment!"
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What's wrong now?"
"I… I feel that it's still better to be cautious. No one knows what this device is for. What happens if it's a weapon that has run out of energy?"
Harrison had an expression of hesitation. The moment he set eyes on this triangle, he had felt an inexplicable palpitation, as though there was a voice in his heart warning him that this thing was dangerous. The instinct that he had been born with had never been so strong.
The short detector guy did not even look back as he explained, "Relax, I probed it just now, and this is actually a sophisticated disposable safe device that will be destroyed when opened. It's just that the innermost layer contains a material that isolates any detection, so I don't know what's stored within."
With that, he directly plugged into the socket, releasing a weak energy charge. The triangle device's display lit up, and a password input interface popped up.
The captain scooted over for a look. "Can the code be cracked?"
The short detector guy took out another device to fiddle around, and spoke with certainty, "The code of this device changes in real time, so it has to be connected to the quantum network and then use Virtual Technology to decipher the code… The tools I currently have are not good enough, but so long as I use a deciphering device with a higher computing power, it can definitely be opened."
"If this is the case…" The captain hesitated for a while before saying, "In that case, let's not open it. Like you said, this thing is a one-off thing. If the items stored inside are not valuable, we'll lose money. It's better to just put this safe on the black market for auction and let others draw the prize. Anyway, stuff like this is very common on the black market as well…"
"Can we discuss these things later?" Harrison was feeling nervous for no reason. "Let's get out of here now. I have a bad feeling…"
"Since when has your intuition been good?"
The captain glared at him but did not reject his proposal. He got everyone to transport the device to the rig.
This was the only valuable thing in this ruin, so this entire group took the device and left, not even bothering to look back at the ruins.
Suddenly, one of the team members noted in a thoughtful manner, "This is strange. By logic, since this planet has traces of an unknown civilization, there should be others, but the detection result only showed this one… That's impossible. Did that unknown civilization only dig this one underground facility on this planet?"
"That's right. I thought it was strange too," another worker added.
At this moment, the shortie took a glance at the radar and exclaimed, "Captain, the ruins seem to have collapsed!"
Everyone turned over to look and saw that the cavity had indeed mysteriously filled up and disappeared. They could no longer return even if they wished to.
"How strange…" the captain mumbled, shaking his head. He ordered, "Forget about it, let's just mark down the coordinates of this planet, and go to the nearest black market to reap our rewards for today."
Hearing that, everyone immediately put away any distracting thoughts and started to move, operating their spaceship to leave the planet.
Harrison was the only one who remained standing at the porthole, looking at the shrinking planet. He suddenly felt a little chill run down his spine.
He had a hunch, as though the goal of those ruins was specifically just to store this triangular device.
The ruins had collapsed immediately after they left, as though they had only been waiting for someone to take this thing away.
Harrison could not help but turn his head back for a look.
In the corner of his eyes, the triangular device lay silently at the back, as though it was a Pandora's box that was waiting to be opened.
The opening ceremony of the Black Star Cup was wonderfully opened, and its qualifiers were in full swing the next day. The army had become very lively, and hundreds of millions of members were actively participating on the field, which also improved the enthusiasm of the universe audiences.
Because there were so many events, each media group provided live broadcasts and video review functions throughout the day. Viewers could freely adjust their channels and choose to watch any event, venue, or even the players, which caused countless people to hold up their communicators and stare at them all day long.
The ratings of the Black Star Cup were maintained at a very high level throughout the universe. At present, the average ratings in each region were second only to the news broadcasts of the three Universal Civilizations.
The Black Star Cup tournament organization department, which was only established little more than two months prior, counted the programs with the highest ratings. Other than the battle events, the best were the entertainment programs. Especially in the talent audition category such as singing and dancing, there were countless galactic residents happy to see the Supers appear on alternative programs rather than just in battles.
Some of the talented people had even attracted a large number of admirers, and there were even audiences on the net arguing about the pros and cons of each person… As it turned out, no matter which age it was, such a program would also garner views.
As for the lowest ratings, it was as Han Xiao expected. They were those technological and skill-based competitions, such as the machinery maintenance that Reynold had asked for, waste modification for machinery, and even blueprint crafting competitions…
While there were people willing to look at such programs, they were few and between.
However, Han Xiao did not mind it. Such technical programs were treated more as auditions, to explore potential talents in the various fields and add more fresh blood to the army.
The way to rise in the army had always been clear, and one's rank and position were linked to meritorious service and their qualifications. The Black Star Cup was just another shortcut for its members to ascend in the rankings. Those who were more capable at their level would move toward the upper ranks. This made the members enthusiastic as this model allowed many people to obtain more opportunities within the army.
While the players had their own competition brackets, they were keener to participate in the normal competition brackets, running over to play with the NPCs.
Because the Evolution badge shone in such low-level team events, more and more players had also begun to purchase this item, causing the sales of it to soar drastically.
Using the Evolution badges in events below Grade B gave players a huge boost in strength, but this did not necessarily mean they would win. The biological aberrations were strong in close combat, but their weaknesses were also obvious; their resistance to magic and psychic attacks plummeted, and their range also decreased to melee attacks. They were extremely easy to kite. Plus, they lost HP constantly.
When facing Psychics or Mages, the aberrations usually failed quite badly.
In the Grade B and above ranks, the role of the Evolution Limit: Aberration was not so strong. Grade Bs could directly contend against the aberrations themselves.
Meanwhile, the players from the other countries could only watch with envious and reddened eyes at the festivities in full swing within the Black Star Army.
Let alone attending, they did not even have the qualifications to bet on the winning players!
If one were to split apart the characters of 'following the crowd' (从众), they would get five 'people' characters (人). The majority of people understood the meaning of 'the more the merrier', and seeing this group of Black Star players having fun, the sense of loss was even more intense.
Everyone is playing so happily, and all without me!
Compared to the faction war event more than half a year ago, there were more players that were being moved by the Black Star Army this time. Most likely, the army would indirectly poach a lot of players once more.
Even the Limitless Financial Group experienced a huge outflow of players, but Sorokin was acting extremely low-key, which meant he could not react.
The most painful ones were the foreign clubs in the other factions. They obviously did not do anything this time, but they still had to watch on as the ordinary players left their factions. They could no longer find any reason to stay and just felt like crying.
Why are you forcing us to join this party?
Black Star Army! You're too much!
A man can only take so much anger. If you have the guts, you can anger me again!
If you force me again, I'll really join your organization!
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Chapter 1095 – Fifth stage of the God's Trait Transformation and the butterfly effect
Over ten days later, in the central area of Black Star Palace, a war halberd was situated against a backdrop of the starry sky. It looked like a folded mechanical blade that was magnified countless times, painted black and gold. Its patterns and structures were also complicated, and it looked both luxurious and exquisite.
Mechanical rings were currently situated in different areas of his mechanical war halberd. Numerous flexible mechanical arms extended from the inner part of each ring, which were molded into different tools to work on parts of the halberd. These rings were manufacturing auxiliary tools that were dedicated to the manufacturing and assembly of mega machines, known as 'Mega-Assembly Rings'. Right now, they were all connected through Mechanical Force and operated fully under its control.
On the other end of the Mechanical Force linking the assembly rings together, a black robed figure stood there. It was precisely Han Xiao, and this mega war halberd was the exclusive Universal Treasure for the Mechanical Deity's usage, named 'Celestial Punishment Edge'.
Han Xiao kept his Perfect Mechanical Sense active, closely watching the subtle energy flows in every place during the construction of the Celestial Punishment Edge, doing minute adjustments now and then just like a chef watching his signature dish.
As the mechanical arm of the mega assembly ring inserted the last bolt in, a notification sounded from Han Xiao's interface.
You have built a Gold Grade item (Universal Treasure).
You have benefitted from [Spirit Instrument].
You have received 1 God's Trait Transformation Point (Cannot be obtained again through the same blueprint).
One of your random attributes has been decreased by 425…
Randomizing…
Randomizing complete.
-425 CHA.
You have received 425 Free Attribute Points.
You have been awarded the third layer bonus of [Spirit Instrument: 2.5% success rate for the manufacture of Gold Grade blueprints, 1.2% success rate for the research and development of a Gold Grade Blueprint, 0.4% chance to obtain a Space Wonder mutation.
"It's finally done…" Seeing the notification of success, Han Xiao's taut nerves finally relaxed.
This was the third Universal Treasure he had personally manufactured. Its difficulty was way higher compared to the Emperor's Cape, and it had cost him quite a tidy sum before he finally succeeded in creating it.
However, when compared to the terrifying profits brought in by the sale of the Evolutionary Totems as well as the Black Star Cup, this amount was nothing.
Han Xiao retrieved all the mega assembly rings before storing the Celestial Punishment Edge into his Dimension Factory. Opening his attribute list, he threw the God's Trait Transformation point into his main class route, so [God's Trait Transformation—Machinery] unlocked its fifth stage.
Stage 5: 3 to all skills from [Lord Mechanic] and [Divine Throne Mechanic]. You have received a 1.1x boost to Machinery Affinity, 28% boost to abilities, 1.2x boost to Attack Power Output, 1.2x boost to Shield Durability, 40% Mechanical Energy Core Power Output, and 20% to all types of Energy Power Output.
"Whoa, this wave allows me to increase my strength!" Han Xiao got excited.
In the first few stages, the God's Trait mainly focused on improving his production and Ru0026D capabilities. For the fifth stage, it finally ushered in a wave of substantial combat strength enhancement. A boost of 1.1x to his Machinery Affinity already meant more than a 2,000% increase to his original Machinery Affinity, not to mention that there was even a boost to abilities, which was the best option to obtain. All its other effects were also biased toward combat.
Furthermore, the skills of his [Lord Mechanic] and [Divine Throne Mechanic] class were also his main combat skills, thus breaking the upper cap by three levels, which represented a great increase in his combat power, at least translating to three more Apostle Weapons.
"In this case, the focus of the fifth stage is to enhance my own efficiency with machinery… eh?" Han Xiao mumbled to himself, but he suddenly discovered that the notifications had not stopped.
[God's Trait Transformation—Machinery] has achieved the Fifth Stage.
There are now unknown changes in your Life Hierarchy.
You have obtained a new understanding of Machinery. 15% chance of forming a new exclusive expertise. The skill [Universal Simulation] has obtained a sublimation.
You have begun to perceive part of the power of the transformation route – [Talent Unknown].
You have received 1 [The First Sanctum] Ability Fragment.
Seeing this, Han Xiao started guessing once more.
"It seems like the fifth stage of God's Trait Transformation should be a threshold, just like how there's a bottleneck in the Energy Rank for Beyond Grade As… If this applies to all God's Trait Transformation skills, then what's the upper limit? Ten? Fifteen?"
Han Xiao deeply pondered. Right now, he had an interface that allowed him to directly add points into it, but the normal Beyond Grade A's method of increasing their number of God's Trait Transformation stages would not be as convenient as his. In fact, it would take many years for them to even upgrade each level.
After reaching the Fifth Stage of God's Trait Transformation—Machinery, he was also awarded an Ability Fragment of [The First Sanctum]. Han Xiao had already obtained three fragments so far, but there was still no sign of them combining together. It was also unknown how many fragments he would need to complete this thing.
As of now, Han Xiao also did not know how to obtain an exclusive expertise. If the premise to obtain one was to be immersed within a certain area, then he had already fulfilled the condition with his time spent within the Machinery field. However, there was still no prompt whatsoever.
As for [Universal Simulation, Han Xiao was not foreign to that skill. He used to constantly activate the skill in order to attempt to discover Universal Treasure blueprints, but the progress was so slow it would make one cry.
Seeing the notification on the interface at this time, Han Xiao once again activated the skill, entering the familiar horizon once more. He carefully sensed his surroundings and felt that there had been some subtle changes as compared to the past.
However, this sort of feeling was akin to grasping something in the dark. It was more like his intuition was sharper than before. Anywhere he looked, there would be a sort of 'hindsight' within his brain explaining what he saw.
"There's a sort of feeling pointing me toward the essence of the item… Oh, I guess an improvement in knowledge?"
After experiencing this, Han Xiao did not discover anything too out of the ordinary, and thus, he withdrew his skill, cleaning up the venue before proceeding back to the palace.
Back in his room, Han Xiao took a look at the Black Star Cup tournament.
With Phillip's efficient scheduling and the massive investment of resources, the qualifiers were so fast paced that nearly a third of the people had already been eliminated.
Before this, the galactic residents only knew about the existence of the players but did not pay special attention to them. This time, however, because the Black Star Cup was broadcast to the entire universe, the performance of these players fell into the eyes of the more ordinary people, which aroused their attention and interest.
For the players, who were deemed immortal lunatics, the majority of ordinary people were curious and scared of them. Their mood was like they had encountered an exhibitionist, subconsciously covering their eyes but unable to resist peeking through their fingers.
Coupled with the behavior of the players within the Flickering World, the nickname 'Cancer of the Universe' gradually spread out and received the approval of more people.
The excitement of the Black Star Cup had also attracted a large number of foreign players.
The number of players within the army had always been steadily increasing, and it finally broke through the ten million mark a few days ago. Han Xiao estimated that the final number of army players at the end of this version would be higher than his original estimate of 11.5 million.
The Cancer of the Universe represented disorder and chaos, and since it was basically impossible to recruit all players, the Black Star Army could already slightly guide the overall character of the players. In this manner, so long as he could perform some damage control to ensure that the problems caused by the players were not as serious as in his previous life, that would be enough.
"Speaking of which, my biopic seems like it's about to be released…"
Han Xiao suddenly remembered that he had not touched Feidin for a long time, and he coincidentally recalled this incident.
He searched the net and discovered that the movie had already wrapped up its filming and was slated to be released next month.
Because of the advancements made in productivity, even ordinary citizens of the galactic society could now afford the cost of planning a film, resulting in the proliferation of movies. Coupled with advanced portable equipment as well as the high penetrative rate of the quantum network, the low-profit theater operating model had almost been eliminated, giving way for a more convenient video platform system. New films were released simultaneously on the platforms of all the Star Fields and could be found online.
The movie of his life had an unpretentious name—Black Star: Origins. This movie told his story from Planet Aquamarine, from escaping the Germinal Organization up till he stepped into the galaxy. Because of the limited time frame, Director Beny Travol had cut out most of his deeds, only leaving the key factors to control the rhythm of the film.
Han Xiao had already looked through the preview and had to admit that this well-known director did have the ability to give his experience a lot of surprising twists and turns. He ended the film when Han Xiao stepped into the galactic region, leaving an opportunity to extend it with a sequel.
Within the trailer, Feidin had put on some makeup to pose as the Great Mechanic Han during his time as Black Phantom, and he moved with a face that looked as though he would kill everyone in cold blood.
Seeing this scene, one would only think of the description "Flying like a crane, soaring like a dragon".
"So cool…" Han Xiao was very satisfied. "He has portrayed my character image very well."
He eyed the forums and saw that the players were also very interested in the movie. They wanted to see the story of Black Star being made into a movie, while at the same time, they wished to see themselves within the movie.
The movie also portrayed the roles of the immortals, so seeing their own deeds being made into a movie by an NPC gave the players a novel feeling.
"After this movie is released, maybe it can turn into something similar to Bun-Hit-Dog's videos, increasing the cohesion of the army's players… If this works, maybe I can get the director to produce a few more sequels."
Mentally taking note of this, Han Xiao continued to surf on the net before discovering another piece of news that caught his attention.
The Crimson Dynasty had announced that in ten days, the Dark Lord would publicly execute two Beyond Grade As. One of them was Traveler, while the other was an innocent person who was hired by the Super Star Cluster Alliance.
"It is finally going to begin…" Han Xiao pursed his lips.
In this manner, the conflicts between the Beyond Grade As and the Universal Civilizations would only worsen. While there was still a long way to go before it erupted, the seeds of dissatisfaction were already sown.
However, the goal of the three Universal Civilizations this time was not the Beyond Grade As but rather the Super Star Cluster Alliance. They wanted to scare off those Beyond Grade A hired by the Super Star Cluster Alliance, in order to cut off its wings. The three Universal Civilizations had already begun their future plans of suppression.
In the Star Arc Civilization's Flickering World territory, a group of senior officials had gathered in a remote conference room with grim expressions.
"The dynasty has captured Traveller and intends to publicly execute him. What should we do?"
"There's no way about it. We can only abandon him. We can't afford to clash with the three Universal Civilizations yet."
"It's a pity then. Traveler was truly loyal to our civilization. This is a huge loss for us."
"The question now is whether Traveler has revealed his true identity. If the dynasty discovers his background, they will have an excuse to provoke a dispute against us."
"Traveler should not betray the civilization, but such matters can't be guaranteed. We must be prepared not to recognize his identity."
Everyone chattered anxiously.
The three Universal Civilizations wished to suppress the Super Star Cluster Alliance, but it was easier said than done. Each of them was an advanced civilization in the universe, and they had to have a legitimate reason to make a move, even if it was a trivial problem. As the rulers of the explored universe, the Universal Civilizations had to maintain the moral high ground, regardless of whether the reason was true or false. They just had to provide an answer for the masses.
Thus, the Super Star Cluster Alliance was keeping a low profile and was unwilling to give the three Universal Civilizations an excuse. Its current presence in the universe was not too outstanding.
The strength of the Super Star Cluster Alliance was only below that of the Universal Civilizations, so they would not be easily suppressed. While the three Universal Civilizations were clamoring to suppress them, they also had to make sufficient preparations.
No matter the three Universal Civilizations or the Super Star Cluster Alliance, they restrained themselves for the time being. Both sides understood that this was just the calm before the storm and that they had to first complete the development of the new Star Field.
The Super Star Cluster Alliance wished to obtain a chance to rise up, and the result of this conflict will determine the future of the explored universe.
"40,000 Enas!"
"45,000 Enas!"
"45,000 going once, going twice… no higher bids? Okay, 45,000 going thrice. The antiques produced by the Dhogo Civilization now belong to Buyer #068!"
Within a small private space station in the Ancient Star Desert, there was a black market auction underway.
The auction site was a circular room with a booth in the center where the items were displayed. By the side, the auctioneer introduced each one of them to the virtual screens on the surrounding walls. Each screen represented a black market buyer who was remotely participating in the auction. Everyone's identity was kept confidential this way.
Because this was a remote auction, each item would be delivered to the buyer's designated location through the black market's logistics channel.
The auctioneer knocked on the table before shouting, "The next auction item is a disposable safe discovered by an archaeological team on a deserted planet. This item comes from the ruins of an unknown civilization, which is suspected to be at the Star System level or above. You'll need the quantum network to decipher the code on the device before it can be opened. Right now, it has yet to be opened, so it's up to your luck as to what comes out. Of course, it's also possible for you to purchase the item just for your collection. The starting bid is 4,000 Enas."
A few workers brought up a gleaming triangular device, which was precisely the artifact that Harrison's team had unearthed.
In the meantime, Harrison's team was situated in a VIP room, watching the live broadcast of this auction.
"We worked our asses off, and the starting price is only 4,000 Enas. This auction house is too stingy." The shortie detector guy was depressed.
"Black market auctions are generally like this." The captain was experienced in this regard. "Relax, the most important thing is that the black market has no lack of rich people who wish to try their luck. I estimate that the official transaction volume will exceed 20,000 Enas."
"20,000 is not bad," the shortie replied, "but it's not as good as tomb raiding for antiques…"
By the side, Harrison was a little anxious. "Is this black market safe?"
"Relax, I'm a regular here. This is one of the properties under the Beast Ancestor, and there are no bandits that dare rob this place… Wait a minute." The captain jerked before continuing with uncertainty. "It seems like Gorutan was captured some time ago?"
"It can't be. You forgot about such an important piece of news‽" The shortie opened his eyes wide and hurriedly questioned. "There should be no problems with the transaction, right? I still want to buy a gift for my Ah Xiang!"
"There shouldn't be…" The captain also hesitated a little at this time. "While the Beast Ancestor has fallen, this black market should now have a new backer. There should not be any problems… I think?"
Harrison facepalmed.
This bunch of people were too unreliable. He was better off working solo from now on.
At this very moment, there were a dozen battleships hidden not far away from this planet. They belonged to a group of star bandits that circulated around the Ancient Star Desert.
In the flagship, the leader of this bandit group led a group of men, looking out at the planet from the porthole.
"Captain, are we really going to rob them? I heard that this auction is the property of the Beast Ancestor, and it's not easy to mess with him."
"What are you scared of? The Beast Ancestor has been captured by Black Star, and his organization is in tatters, having been snatched away by the other Galactic Black Market Protectors. Others have also taken over his troops, but they have not fully integrated them as of now."
The leader smiled, his eyes flashing with greed.
"I've already inquired and discovered that the Beast Ancestor's warriors that protect their logistics carriers have been withdrawn. They are in their most vulnerable state now!"
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Chapter 1096 – Disturbing one's Fate
A couple of days later…
"The transport carrier was raided‽"
Harrison's team, who were still waiting at the hotel, suddenly stood up, furious, and stared at the remote projection of the worker that had come to inform them of the matter.
"That's right. A group of galactic pirates discovered our secret transportation route and attacked all the disguised spaceships that we used to transport the items." The auctioneer's face was also ugly.
"What about your guards?" Harrison could not help asking that. "I heard that you have ties to the Beast Ancestor…"
Hearing his words, the worker's expression turned dark. "After the Beast Ancestor got captured, we lost our backer. We could only employ mercenaries. This group of galactic pirates has long been watching us, and they bribed our mercs, launching a raid from both the inside and outside. All our newly hired guards died in that battle."
At this point, the auctioneer could not help but release a sigh.
If Gorutan was still present, they would have had the shelter of the Beast Ancestor, which was enough to frighten most people in the Ancient Star Desert.
But now that their backer had fallen, the new upper ranks were still slowly absorbing the black market organization of the Beast Ancestor. They were most vulnerable and had turned into fat sheep surrounded by wolves.
"Then, what about our things?" The captain showed a wary expression.
This black market had maintained a good reputation in the past, so he had chosen to return to sell his things. However, with such a big chance, he was not sure if the other party would rescind their original promises. The order of the black market was fragile, and it mainly worked on the stronger eating the weak.
"We will assemble a team to search for the whereabouts of this group of galactic pirates and retrieve our items."
"And if it cannot be retrieved…"
"Then the auction house will compensate according to the starting price." After this sentence, the worker did not continue speaking, choosing to end the conversation immediately.
They exchanged looks.
"Our starting price was only 4,000 Enas, but the final price was 13,800!"
"Just be satisfied that they are willing to even pay compensation," the captain replied helplessly. "The probability of obtaining compensation through a black market auction is less than ten percent. They are probably only doing so because they deem our item worthless. If it was a price of hundreds of thousands, they would have found some way to deny any responsibility and not pay up."
Hearing this, the group collectively sighed. They already thought that their trip was quite bad this time round, but to even lose the item that they had painstakingly slogged away for, this was truly a wasted trip.
Harrison felt a little restless. His intuition was still sending out warning signals.
He had this premonition that the robbed item would still bring him quite a bit of trouble.
Somewhere within the Ancient Star Desert, the galactic pirate fleet dragged the logistics ship that was their loot and moved slowly within the universe.
"This is quite the fruitful harvest this time."
Within the cabin, the leader of the pirates placed his arms on his waist as he arrogantly walked in front of the captives and the spoils piled up into a hill.
"Boss, the ammunition is all perfectly intact." One of his subordinates was ecstatic.
There were all kinds of items within the war loot. Not only various ancient blueprints, technological creations, and antiques, but there were also various types of arms from the advanced civilizations. The auctions from the black market sold practically everything, and compared to the antiques, the galactic pirates naturally preferred the arms.
As he strolled through the loot, the eyes of the leader stopped at the triangular device.
"What is that?"
"Leader, this is a safe from an unknown civilization that an archaeological team dug up."
"What's inside?"
"We don't know. It seems like it's not worth a lot."
"Open it." The leader lifted up his foot, jabbing it toward the device.
Reality had proven that opening a sealed box was something that everyone loved to do. The mechanics within the pirate team took out their equipment to tinker with the device, while the pirates gathered in the surroundings to watch.
The triangular device's socket was connected to an energy transmission line to activate the password interface. One of them then took out a deciphering device, connecting the triangle to the quantum network, and the interface of the cracking device quickly bounced with various garbled codes.
After a moment, the triangle let out a 'ding' sound, indicating that it had been unlocked.
Ka ka ka!
The display screen used to enter the password was then retracted, and the whole device began rotating like a Rubik's Cube.
Everyone, including the leader, craned their necks to see what was stored inside.
In about ten seconds, the safe was finally completely unlocked. The last layer of protection was peeled off, exposing the core, which was around ten cubic centimeters in size.
The next moment, a surge of energy fluctuations burst out from within!
Boom!
Before the group could see what was inside, they were thrown away by the shock wave. Even their leader, who was at the Calamity Grade, was not exempted.
The next second, the surroundings of the triangular device turned into an empty zone, and the loot in its surroundings was all strewn around the area, turning the place into a mess.
"Ouch…"
Everyone rubbed their butt as they got up, only to find out that there were no other injuries on them.
The leader immediately turned to look at the safe but found it empty.
"Where's the item inside? Why is there nothing‽"
The leader was furious, feeling as though he had been played.
Could this just have been a prank?
Who would store a fart inside a disposable safe!
At this moment, the cabin door opened, and operators of the spaceship ran in with anxious expressions.
"Leader, what just happened? The location we were in just now became the origin of a cosmic energy surge. The energy fluctuations broke through the peak in an instant, and our detection radar burned out. There's no matching energy model for this surge in the database at all!"
Hearing this, the pirates received a shock.
Cosmic energy surge?
What joke was this? It only caused them to fall on their asses, but this sort of power was considered a cosmic surge?
Just as this group was in confusion, in a world that the naked eyes could not see, a unique information package was duplicating wildly, centered on the galactic pirates' fleet, spreading rapidly along the links of their quantum network.
In the face of this information signal, the firewalls of the artificial intelligences in all devices were rendered useless.
There was a dimly lit palace, supported by pillars that rose up to no end. Below every pillar was a fire brazier, with pale flames dancing on it as the only source of light.
A man dressed in black robes hovered in midair, the edges of his robes seemingly burning, releasing strands of black mist.
Below him, Law and Fay were bowing as they reported the result of their mission to the upper echelons of the Holy Accord. The both of them were Beyond Grade As, yet they did not dare look up at the figure above.
"… You're saying, there's no way to obtain the Holy Light Particle?"
A voice sounded directly in their hearts. While the tone was neither soft nor heavy, both of them trembled unconsciously.
Law gritted his teeth and said, "That's right. We've already ambushed Black Star once, so he will definitely be prepared this time round. If we act rashly, the organization will be exposed to much greater risk. Black Star announcing in such a high profile that he possessed the Holy Light Particle is likely him deliberately trying to lure us out. According to the data, Black Star is extremely vengeful, and he definitely wishes to get his revenge on us…"
By the side, Fay said, "While Black Star has found a host for the Holy Light Particle, he is likely also prepared. During the attack on Hila, Black Star displayed an ability to perform an unrestricted teleportation. He has no reason not to use it for the Holy Light Particle's host, so it is likely a decoy."
The man in black lowered his head, looking down at the two as he fell silent. After a while, he slowly said, "I understand. Don't act on the Holy Light Particle for the time being. The agreed date has also yet to arrive, so we still can continue to wait and see."
Seeing that their boss did not intend to blame them, Law and Fay secretly sighed. The awe they had for the man in black robes permeated their very soul.
This guy was the leader of their Holy Accord organization. His name was unknown, and he went by the code name 'Oathkeeper'. He was the teacher of all the current Beyond Grade As in the organization.
Even during Law and Fay's childhood, Oathkeeper had been the leader of the organization. No one knew how long he had lived, and his strength was unfathomable. Even if the two had grown to the Beyond Grade A realm, they could not hope to put up a fight in the face of Oathkeeper.
At this moment, the anxious remote projection of an officer appeared next to them. "Your Excellency Oathkeeper, there's an abnormal reaction with the Destiny's Child!"
Whoosh!
The moment his words came out, Oathkeeper's figure vanished and reappeared the next moment within a secret sealed room.
Countless researchers dressed in lab coats were surrounding a cylindrical transparent container filled with dark blue liquid. A pale Primal Esper Ability Entity lay within, and its energy body maintained a human-like structure but without facial features, floating quietly within the liquid.
Oathkeeper turned to look at the scientific research team leader next to him and asked, "What happened?"
"The Destiny's Child Primal Esper Entity that was deep asleep suddenly released a state of information disturbance, breaking through the seals of the container and leaking out. We're currently calculating now how many sub-bodies have been created by its disturbance throughout the universe…" The team leader was nervously sweating.
"Sudden disturbance?" Oathkeeper paused. "You did not actively awaken it?"
"That's… that's right. We're monitoring it and recording as usual, and the disturbance suddenly occurred."
"Awaken it." Oathkeeper's voice was steely. "It must have received some stimulation that caused it to fluctuate."
The researchers could only comply, draining the liquid within the container. The Destiny's Child's humanoid shape immediately became blurry, as though it would disappear at any time.
"Increase its binding force field and the stability anchor. Don't let it completely enter the high-dimensional information state and break through containment." The scientific research personnel were sweating as they profusely worked.
Oathkeeper ignored the movement and put his hand on the outer wall of the container. His palm lit up in a cluster of flames, its color strange as it resembled a flickering starry sky. There was no temperature present, and it burned quietly, as though the world had no impact on it.
The Destiny's Child's body in the container was slowly attracted back and turned stable. It stretched out its hand curiously, pasting its palm where Oathkeeper's hand was through the transparent container wall.
At this time, Oathkeeper finally spoke.
"Tell me, what have you discovered?"
The Destiny's Child's tilted its head, and a wave of spiritual fluctuations bloomed. A childlike voice sounded in everyone's mind.
"Projection of an information state… new destiny… the call of The First Sanctum…"
Oathkeeper quietly listened before asking, "Is the agreed date still the same?"
"It's moved forward… by… ten years… twenty years…"
Oathkeeper deeply inhaled before commanding, "Inject the solution. Let it continue to sleep."
Everyone immediately followed his command, and the dark blue solution filled the container once more. The Destiny's Child seemed to struggle, but it quieted down in the end, falling into a deep sleep.
Glancing at the equipment, the research team leader could not help sighing. In the short amount of time that Destiny's Child was awake, the amplitude of information state disturbance increased by another 6.4%, which meant that a batch of unknown descendants within the universe would evolve.
While the Holy Accord had already gained control of the main body of Destiny's Child, because of its peculiarity, the Holy Accord had always used it with extreme caution.
Among the Primal Esper Ability Entities, Destiny's Child was a special existence. When it woke up and activated its abilities, it would produce a phenomenon called 'information state disturbance'. Random creatures in the universe would inexplicably awaken a weakened version of its abilities, which were mainly based on foresight. They were known as the children of Destiny's Child by the Holy Accord.
The appearance of the 'children' was irregular and not affected by time or space.
At this time, Law and Fay also hurried over.
"What's the situation now?"
Hearing them, Oathkeeper turned around and said, "There's a change of plans. The agreed date is almost upon us. I'll personally go and retrieve the Holy Light Particle."
"You're making a move‽"
Both of them were shocked.
Law hurriedly said, "It's too dangerous. Black Star is cunning and can fight. If anything happens to you, then we…"
Oathkeeper interrupted him in a low voice. "It's not a must to fight. I will discuss it with him. What we need is only a part of the Holy Light Particle… Similarly, we can take out the parts of other Primal Esper Entities to trade with him."
He patted the shoulders of the two, softly saying, "We've already gathered the key fragments needed to open The Third Sanctum, and only the fragment of the Primal Esper Ability Entity is left. While the ritual can be performed without the Holy Light Particle, it will bring about unknown risks. Since we've already prepared for so many years, it's best to eliminate any unstable factors possible, making this plan foolproof."
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Chapter 1097 – Sorry, part does whatever it wants
Black Star Cup Competition Field Thirteen was a vast ring-shaped valley, like a naturally occurring colosseum, with rugged rocks and complex topography.
The auditorium was suspended in midair, and countless spectators looked down from the floating seats onto the battlefield. The various media groups were also broadcasting the situation in real time.
Pew!
Bang!
Suddenly, two fireballs fell from the sky, hitting the sides of the valley. Those were the airborne drop pods, and the friction between the atmosphere and its surface released such a high temperature that it caused the very air around it to warp.
Accompanied by the decompression of the sealed chambers, the doors of the two single person airborne pods opened, and two players walked out. One of them was Frenzied Sword, and the other was Hao Tian.
"All the best!"
The moment both of them appeared, the crowd went wild.
Frenzied Sword ignored the crazed spectators, unfolded a silvery white mechanical trident, and stared at Hao Tian. "I didn't expect us to meet so soon."
"It's a random draw. Anything can happen."
Hao Tian was wearing the special pugilist combat uniform that was produced by the army, warming up his hands and feet.
After more than a month of fierce battles, the Black Star Cup qualifiers had finally come to an end. Just like raising poisonous insects, more than ninety percent of the participants had been eliminated, and only the remaining elites entered the main race. However, Frenzied Sword and Hao Tian had met in the single player event of the Black Star Cup, becoming opponents.
Hao Tian was the pillar of the veteran professional players in the Long Sky club, but Frenzied Sword was the spokesperson for the up-and-coming Rivervale. As professional players, they both had a large number of fans, so today's match was highly anticipated.
Not only did the players pay attention to the competition between players, but even the NPCs were interested. The play styles of the players were often more radical and insane, making their fights enjoyable, which attracted a large number of NPC fans.
Pros such as Frenzied Sword and Hao Tian stood out among the tens of millions of players in the army, gaining a large number of NPC supporters. They were even given nicknames by the NPCs. Hao Tian had the title of 'Boxing Master', whereas Frenzied Sword had the title of 'Machinery Dancer'… It had to be said that their nicknames truly fitted their fighting styles.
Both of them were old friends, so they skipped the trash talk, going directly to the section of physical attacks.
Dang! Dang! Dang!
One was a Pugilist, the other a Mechanical Pugilist. The two figures quickly collided with each other, creating loud impact sounds and sparks.
Their shock waves from their fight created trenches on the ground, throwing up stone and dust high into the sky.
After four versions, both of their micro-manipulation skills had only become more sophisticated. With their current Grade B combat strength, they were already considered extremely destructive humanoid monsters in the eyes of ordinary people.
Bang!
The Mechanical Pugilist had numerous skills, so the offensive of Frenzied Sword was endless. His trident pierced the sky, creating phantoms, bringing up dazzling arcs to surround all the vital points of Hao Tian.
Hao Tian was on the backfoot as he continuously dodged, but he suddenly saw a chance, stopping and raising his hands to accurately grasp the two side blades of the trident.
The phantoms in the sky disappeared, and the edge of the trident was only twenty centimeters away from his face, but it would not budge any further.
Kacha kacha!
Both their arm muscles swelled as they entered a wrestling mode. The ground under their feet cracked, with lines snaking out from below them.
"Serpent Tongue's Cannon!" Frenzied Sword twisted his hands fiercely.
From within the center of the main blade on the trident, a dazzling energy ball suddenly emerged. It shot out a plasma arc cannon, but Hao Tian tilted his head to avoid it.
This beam of light shot diagonally upward, flashing past and penetrating a rocky mountain. It left behind a blazing red line that was completely melted through, and a layer of viscous magma seeped out.
Taking advantage of Frenzied Sword's sneak attack, Hao Tian raised his elbow, hitting the spear shaft and deflecting it to the side. He then unleashed a skill. Light accumulated under his feet as he slammed into Frenzied Sword's chest with a thunderous force, pushing him into the ground.
"War Trample!"
Boom!
The moment Frenzied Sword's back touched the ground, a shock wave radiated from him. The ground sank by dozens of centimeters, forming a semi-circular pit around him. All the stones around him were crushed into powder by the heavy pressure.
The remnant shock waves swept out along the ground, and the nearby mountain of rocks collapsed. A dust storm gathered, sweeping to the very corners of the battlefield, causing a ring of sand to billow out at the edges.
As his HP and armor's durability plummeted, Frenzied Sword straightened his waist, and the back of his mechanical suit transformed into a drill bit, digging into the ground to get rid of Hao Tian's smelly feet.
His figure broke out from the ground in the distance, the weapon in his hand replaced with a huge war axe. With a slash in the air, the force field generator attached to the edge of the axe produced an arc, radiating outward.
Plop…
With his Pugilist aura covering his arms, Hao Tian raised his hand to intercept the arc directly.
The deflected shocked wave flew up, hitting the bottom of a floating auditorium with a loud bang. Amid the excitement of the spectators, an ion shield in a honeycomb structure appeared to block the attack.
And among the excited spectators, there were two special envoys from the Federation of Light that were sitting in the front-row VIP seats. They were whispering to each other while recording the scene of Hao Tian fighting Frenzied Sword.
"The strength of the Immortals has increased yet again. Compared to their last disappearance, the increment is quite obvious. Excluding those Immortals in the budding stage, the earliest batch already have a stable Grade B combat capability."
"The Immortals have already undergone three periods of disturbance, and the duration is getting longer. Their way of increasing their strength is different to regular training, seemingly dependent on the length of time they disappear. By estimation, if they disappear once more, they might actually step into the Calamity Grade."
"This is really a terrible group of creatures…"
Thinking that there might be tens of millions of such immortal Calamity Grade lunatics within the universe in the future, the two special agents could not help but shudder.
Just thinking about it, it really could be considered a scourge.
With the increase in their strength, the players were also more valued by the advanced civilizations, and they gradually started to research the rules binding the players.
The three Universal Civilizations had also thought of recruiting the Immortals to act as suicide squads in the past, but at that time, the players were pretty weak. Thus, they did not take them seriously. Furthermore, their characteristics that made them disappear from time to time and their uncertain growth limit caused the three Universal Civilizations to hesitate.
But now, the growth cycle of the players had been proven, and the advanced civilizations had to consider the possibility of the Immortals entering the Calamity Grade realm. As such, they were willing to extend an olive branch to them, giving them better treatment.
Right now, the Black Star Army was the largest 'shareholder', sitting on tens of millions of Immortals, naturally inciting fear in many of the major organizations.
In the past, they mainly feared Black Star himself, but now, there were even more reasons for them to feel fear.
To them, the army was holding onto a lot of high-quality stock. If the Immortals could reach the Calamity Grade realm, the high-level combatants within the Black Star Army would instantly overwhelm even the three Universal Civilizations.
The unique attraction of the Black Star Army to the Immortals also surprised the advanced civilizations.
If it was not for the fact that Han Xiao did not have a habit of disappearing for extended periods, they would have simply assumed Han Xiao to be a part of the Immortals.
At this time, Han Xiao was far away back in his Black Star Palace, not paying attention to the competition, but rather watching the public trial of the dynasty.
The video showed the surface of a barren planet, where Traveler and another Beyond Grade A who was captured were bound and made to kneel on the execution platform, in a near-death state.
The two were in an extremely poor condition. Because of Clotti's dark energy circulating within their bodies, their regenerated cells were constantly being destroyed, keeping them in a severely injured state. The two had basically lost all their combat capabilities and were unable to break free.
Beside them, a remote projection of a dynasty officer stood in front of the camera, reading the decree out loud.
The content of the decree was the crimes of the two, such as crimes against public order, war crimes, and mass killings. All sorts of crimes were smashed onto their heads, making them seem as though they were heinous criminals that were wasting the very air in the universe.
What Han Xiao was concerned about were the charges the dynasty issued against Traveler, and as expected, the dynasty then mentioned what he wanted to hear.
"… Traveler has always operated as a neutral mercenary, but it has been verified that his true identity is that of the Beyond Grade A descendant that was secretly cultivated by the Modo Civilization. He tried to stir up disputes between the dynasty, the federation and the church, disrupting the order of the explored universe. At present, it is unknown if anyone part of the Modo Civilization orchestrated this matter, and the dynasty will retain an attitude to pursue accountability."
Hearing this, Han Xiao's mouth twitched.
"Humph, retaining an attitude to pursue accountability, how like the usual style of the three gangsters. It seems like the dynasty has already talked to Sorokin…"
He hypothesized that the Modo Civilization, which was originally lying back with popcorn to watch the show, would now have a stunned expression, as though struck silly by a pot that fell from the sky out of nowhere.
As for Traveler's true host civilization, the Star Arc Civilization, they would probably feel surprised and happy.
However, Han Xiao did not intend to keep Star Arc out of the matter like this. He summoned Phillip.
"Conceal your tracks. Anonymously send out a piece of information to the upper echelons of the Modo Civilization."
"What should I send, hum?"
"Reveal that the Star Arc Civilization is the real backer of Traveler."
Han Xiao evilly snickered.
In this manner, the bewildered Modo Civilization would think that their being made a scapegoat was the act of the Star Arc Civilization or that Traveler was being a rabid dog, going around biting people out of desperation.
As for whether or not the Modo Civilization believed in this, he did not care. Since he had provided a clue, the Modo Civilization would definitely find a way to verify it. With the Star Arc Civilization being the guilty party, regardless of whether the clue was checked, both sides would develop some grievances.
This would not only weaken the relationship between the Super Star Cluster Alliance but also earn Modo a new enemy. All he had to do was send a simple message.
The cost of doing things is low, so why not do it?
Tsk, I'm truly an evil person…
Han Xiao was in a good mood as he turned his attention back to the screen.
At this moment, the sentencing had come to an end, and the dynasty officers looked upright at the camera, solemnly speaking.
"… For the above crimes, the Crimson Dynasty has decided to issue a death sentence!"
After that, the remote projection disappeared, and suddenly, a gap was exposed at the foot of the execution platform, where a fist-sized device rose up.
This looked very familiar to Han Xiao, and his eyes flashed as he slowly whistled. "The Universal Treasure of the dynasty, the Key of Destruction…"
At this moment, the surface of the Key of Destruction lit up in a matrix-like energy loop, and a circle of spatial channels suddenly appeared, unfolding in front of the two.
At the other end of the passage were the long-distance cannon rays of the dynasty's army, filling the area with a dazzling glare.
Boom!
The next moment, a world-destroying energy surged out, filling every inch of the screen!
The picture panned out rapidly, turning into a wide-area perspective which overlooked the planet from the distant starry sky.
One could only see a glimmer of bright light blooming on the surface of the planet, followed by a dazzling star-like energy cluster, which expanded rapidly and in turn wrapped the planet in it.
As the energy cluster expanded to its limit, all of a sudden, the huge ball shrank to a point, like the image when an old-fashioned television was turned off.
Within the picture, the explosion site was totally empty, with the planet having disappeared without a trace, completely annihilated.
Traveler and the other Beyond Grade A who were already at death's door had no power to resist the Key of Destruction, and not even their bones remained.
What a waste…
Han Xiao's mouth contorted slightly.
In order to pull off this huge affair, the dynasty had deliberately chosen to utilize the cannons, pulling down a planet together with both of them. It was a pity that the bodies of the two were extremely rare research materials.
They were indeed a Universal Civilization. After so many years, they probably had a sizable collection of Beyond Grade A corpses within their freezer, so they had no need for more…
While Traveler was an enemy, seeing another Beyond Grade A being executed by a Universal Civilization still left Han Xiao a little depressed. He estimated that the other Beyond Grade As would also feel the same way.
Sigh, no matter how big a universe is, it cannot exceed the size of ambition. It's difficult for the two parties to have a harmonious existence… In the face of the advanced civilizations, the Beyond Grade As are still in a weak position, and there are too few of us…
Thinking about the situation of the Beyond Grade As, Han Xiao sighed.
Just as he was about to turn off his broadcasting screen, he noticed a strange mental fluctuation through his senses.
"Who are you‽"
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, snapping his head to look at the center of the room. His eyes sparkled with Mechanical Force as he instantly entered a combat state.
Within his vision, black flames were suddenly borne out of thin air, converging into the appearance of the Holy Accord's leader, Oathkeeper.
Oathkeeper lightly stepped on the group, walking toward Han Xiao as he spoke.
"Black Star, there's no need to be nervous. This is just a mental projection without any sort of combat capability. I came here specially to meet you. It's good to see you. I would like to propose a deal with you."
"You…"
Hearing this, Han Xiao furrowed his brows, sizing him up before speaking in an uncertain tone.
"… Are the Holy Accord's leader?"
As he spoke, Oathkeeper stumbled and very nearly hit his head.
Hidden under his hood was a dumbfounded expression.
F*ck me, how do you even know this‽
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Chapter 1098 – there must be a traitor
How does Black Star know my identity‽
Oathkeeper originally wanted to show off his Beyond Grade A strength, attracting Black Star's attention before negotiating a deal. He did not expect that the moment he appeared, he would be exposed without any preparation. Thus, his act of being mysterious failed.
Seeing Black Star recognize him at a glance, Oathkeeper went through a storm of emotions at once.
Where did he receive intelligence about me? What has been leaked within the organization, to the point that he even knows of my name‽
A series of question marks popped up in his mind, and Oathkeeper's mood suddenly turned heavy.
The Holy Accord had always been hidden in the dark as they had too many secrets. Now that Black Star could call out his identity, how much exactly did he know about the Holy Accord? Did he also learn of their ultimate mission?
As this thought flashed through his mind, he suddenly felt killing intent, wanting to silence the other party.
However, this murderous intent was forcibly suppressed by him.
There was no other reason than the fact that Black Star was too strong.
This sort of meat-shield like pinnacle Beyond Grade A could not easily be killed. The use of force should be a final resort, and negotiations should take priority.
This was the good point in having great strength, as it would make people more reasonable toward them.
I'll first test how much Black Star knows. If he understands the basics of the Holy Accord, then I'll have to calculate and plan accordingly. After so many years of planning, I cannot take any risks…
Suppressing his inner shock, Oathkeeper adjusted his emotions. He did not proceed with negotiations; the most important thing to him now was to test Black Star.
Oathkeeper slowly sat down opposite Han Xiao, whispering, "Do you understand a lot about the Holy Accord?"
"Not much, just the slightest bit."
Han Xiao made a gesture, leaving the slightest gap between his thumb and forefinger, his smile full of meaning. He had on an expression that seemed to say, "I have seen through everything."
In reality, the Great Mechanic Han really only knew a little about the Holy Accord. He only knew that they resurrected a great number of the Primordial Ones in the later versions but not the inside story. It could be said that he only knew what the Holy Accord's behavior would be but not their intentions.
He only recognized Oathkeeper because Oathkeeper was still the leader of the Holy Accord even in the later versions, and he had received great attention during the World Tree Civilization War. Han Xiao did not know of his origin either.
Thus, Han Xiao only put on this posture of 'I know it in my heart' just to fool the other party, not allowing Oathkeeper to figure out his bottom line.
Seeing this, Oathkeeper was uncertain in his heart, but on the surface, he remained expressionless, softly asking, "I'm curious, but how did you recognize me? Have we met before?"
"That's right."
"Is it…" Oathkeeper got a shock, immediately racking his brains to try and remember when he had dealings with Black Star. But no matter how hard he thought, he could not discover anything.
At this moment, Han Xiao spoke with a straight face. "We met before in our dreams."
Oathkeeper did not know how to respond.
Are you talking about your mom?
Black Star was obviously making a joke, but in the eyes of Oathkeeper, his attitude meant that Black Star knew a lot more than he let on, thus his mood got more solemn, causing him to over-imagine.
"Let's not talk about this for now." Han Xiao waved his hand, squinting. "You just said you wish to make a deal with me. Let me first hear what it is."
Oathkeeper sorted out his mood, temporarily putting aside his thought of testing him. "I wish to make an exchange for a part of the Holy Light Particle."
"Oh?" Han Xiao glanced at him. "What can you offer me then?"
"It depends on what you want. We're willing to use other Primal Energy Entities to trade for your Holy Light Particle."
So, it turns out that the Holy Accord wished to obtain the Holy Light Particle through negotiations. This should be how they cooperated with the EsGod in my previous life. My plan of luring the snake out of its hole really worked, Han Xiao secretly thought.
By publicly stating that the Holy Light Particles were in his own hands, he wanted to lure the Holy Accord into making contact with him. According to his judgement, after the last sneak attack, they would either attack him again or perform a trade in exchange for the Holy Light Particle. Either way, the Holy Accord would be fished out.
If the Holy Accord remained in the dark, Han Xiao would not be able to find them, and it was detrimental to him. Now that there was an opportunity for dialogue, there would be room for manipulation.
Han Xiao pretended to ponder for a while before tapping on the table with his finger, suddenly changing the topic.
"If I remember correctly, you guys just snatched the pp… cough, I mean, a portion of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy from my hands a while ago."
Indeed, Black Star knows that the people who attacked him before belonged to the Holy Accord…
Oathkeeper suddenly realized a crucial factor.
Did Black Star only learn of their organization after being attacked, or did he already know of their existence even before he was attacked?
There was a difference!
"Are you sure that the people who attacked you the last time belonged to the Holy Accord?" Oathkeeper tested him.
"Huh, want to deny it? Did you think I wouldn't recognize you if you only sent your peripheral members?" Han Xiao stroked his chin and spoke in a playful tone. "Dimensional Exile Bullets, Formatted Viruses, High-Level Life Form Energy Disorder Shockwave—all these are things that your Holy Accord is famed for. Did you think I was unaware?"
Under his hood, Oathkeeper's face turned gloomy.
The facts had proven that what Black Star knew exceeded his own imagination, and he had long known of the existence of the Holy Accord!
The Holy Accord had obtained that technology as a result of researching the Primal Esper Ability Entities. They were all their killing moves that they rarely used. For Black Star to even call out the names of these techniques, there was only one possibility left…
There was a traitor in the organization!
Furthermore, it was someone in the upper echelons!
The faces of the various officers flashed through Oathkeeper's mind in anger.
Who was it that broke through the limits of the Soul Flame, betraying their organization‽
Even Black Star knew about this, so how much intelligence had been leaked? Could it be that, within the vaults of the advanced civilizations, there were already a multitude of files and folders on their Holy Accord?
If that was the case, then the Holy Accord that prided itself on keeping its secrets for so many years had basically turned into the laughingstock of the entire universe!
Oathkeeper's mentality exploded in an instant.
He was someone who remained mostly stoic and calm, but the mental stress he had suffered that day was just overwhelming, causing him to lose control of his emotions.
Feeling the unstable mental fluctuations of Oathkeeper, Han Xiao hesitated.
It seemed like he had gone overboard with his acting and scared the other party quite terribly.
Han Xiao sighed empathetically.
Alas, these brainiacs focused heavily on their intelligence, so they were naturally suspicious all the time. A little detail would cause them to constantly focus on it. It was not because he had gone overboard but rather because the other party was just too sensitive.
In fact, Han Xiao objectively viewed the Holy Accord quite neutrally. He had no good feelings or grievances toward them. In his previous life, the Holy Accord Organization was not a villainous organization that created trouble, nor did they produce any pests. The only well-known incident that involved them was the revival of the Beyond Grade As and Primordial Ones from history, which involved some unknown method during the World Tree War.
While the Holy Accord's participation in the war was mainly due to them being next in line if the Universal Civilizations fell, they contributed a lot to the World Tree War and brought about a wave of important reinforcements. Credit still had to be awarded where due.
In this regard, Han Xiao stood on the same side as them. The revival of the Beyond Grade As in history would instantly enhance the combat power of the Beyond Grade As in the explored universe, such that there would be more bargaining chips against the World Tree. He would not stop the Holy Accord from achieving its goals.
That being said, the Holy Accord attacked him without being provoked, so Han Xiao had already made a mental note of this. Let them hit him for free, how could there be such a good thing in this world? Without settling the score, he would not let them go.
As for whether or not the revival of the Primordial Ones was related to the Holy Accord, Han Xiao could not be sure, but he wholly suspected that their excuse of surviving in the life-sustaining cabins was fake news.
In fact, he could understand why the revival of the Primordial Ones would be an important fuse leading to the Calamity of the Supers. Just think about it from the perspective of the three Universal Civilizations…
F*ck me, you guys that were supposed to be dead have revived‽ Then, does that mean every Beyond Grade A that died will also be eligible for revival? If the number of people revived grows to the certain point that can overthrow our rule, what are we supposed to do‽
The advanced civilizations had always attempted to control the ratio of individual might to collective strength. To suddenly discover that the individual might could now be resurrected and that they were no longer in control of the situation, their mentality would definitely burst.
Thus, regardless of whether the Primordial Ones were awakened from cryostasis or resurrected, they would have to say to the outside that they had been lying within the life sustaining capsules, otherwise the problem would only get worse, and there was no knowing what the three Universal Civilizations would end up doing.
As both of them were engrossed in their thoughts, it took a while before they realized they were still in a conversation.
Oathkeeper calmed himself down before solemnly speaking.
"I can provide compensation as a form of apology. I hope that you can forgive the negligence of my subordinates."
"How are you going to compensate me for my mental loss?"
"What do you want?"
"Hmm, let me think about it…" Han Xiao held his head. "With the long history of the Holy Accord, there should be a lot of things in your vaults. If you hand me eight to ten Universal Treasures or blueprints, I'll forgive them."
Why don't you go and rob… oh, no, you are indeed robbing me right now.
Oathkeeper immediately shook his head.
"That's too many. We don't have that much in stock."
"How could this be?" Han Xiao chuckled. "There are so many of your members who are descendants of Beyond Grade As, so how could their ancestors not leave behind any heirlooms?"
You even know of this‽
Just how much intelligence was leaked!
Oathkeeper secretly gritted his teeth. His only thought was digging up the traitor and beating him to death.
"… In any case, we really don't have that many Universal Treasures. We only have two sets of blueprints that we've accumulated, and we can compensate you with those."
"Two sets…" Han Xiao pursed his lips. "Seems a little lacking. How about you pass me a set of your Esper Ability Technology well?"
"Not possible!" Oathkeeper spat out with a steely tone. He would not compromise at all on this matter.
Forget it, two sets then. At least I got something out of this.
Taking the pp of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and exchanging it for two sets of Gold Grade blueprints, this was akin to giving up one… no, giving up nothing in exchange for a plethora of benefits.
Han Xiao then clicked his tongue as his expression got serious. Placing his hands on the desk, he slowly said, "We can proceed with this deal, but the portion of Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy that you guys stole must be included in the terms, treated as though I'm also selling it to you. This means that you have to offer me two portions of separate Primal Esper Ability Entities in exchange for a portion of the Holy Light Particle."
Since his [Primal Esper Ability Collector] mission only required another two Primal Esper Ability Entities, then he could utilize the Holy Light Particle to complete it. This would net him a milestone halo geared toward fighting Espers, as well as a skill fragment of [The Third Sanctum].
"Deal." Oathkeeper decisively nodded.
The Holy Accord organization had already amassed a large number of Primal Esper Ability Entities, and cutting a few pieces of them to put for sale was not a problem.
While such a style was quite perverted, none of them were actually good people, so there was no need to be worried about such a thing.
With the Black Star Army now dominating a part of the universe, Oathkeeper could only settle for the bare minimum. While he was not afraid of Black Star, it was still better to settle things peacefully where possible.
At this moment, Oathkeeper's eyes flashed as he probed, "Black Star, what do you think about the purpose of our Holy Accord?"
While a lot of intelligence had been leaked, Oathkeeper still held on to the last embers of hope. It might seem that Black Star knew everything about the organization, but there was still a small chance that he was unaware of their primary objective.
"Purpose? Aren't you just an organization that researches about Primal Esper Ability Technology? What, you still have other schemes in mind?" Han Xiao raised a brow.
Oathkeeper closely peered at Han Xiao's expression, but he could not read anything. He did not know if Han Xiao truly was unaware or was merely pretending.
But no matter what, he could not help but breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing this answer.
Black Star was unaware of their primary objective, which meant that the external variables were still within their scope of control. This meant that the traitor in their organization was just at the officer level, not part of the core.
"There are no conspiracies nor schemes. The purpose of our organization is to believe that Esper Abilities have infinite possibilities, which can bring about technological breakthroughs to the universe…" Oathkeeper began to spew some nonsense, which was the same information they told their peripheral members as camouflage.
After a few more idle sentences, they set a time for the transaction, before Oathkeeper left, full of thoughts of weeding out the 'traitor' in his organization.
Han Xiao leaned back with an expression of deep thought.
He did not provoke the other party's intention to revive the Beyond Grade As in history. This was because he did not know what the other party was using to do so or what their objective was. Revealing this fact too early might cause him to be targeted instead.
Thus, he pretended and fooled around for a bit, but if he went overboard, he might have no way to retreat in the end.
At least before he obtained the blueprints and the other two Primal Esper Ability Entities, he had no desire to rip off all pretenses with the Holy Accord.
Moreover, Han Xiao did not mind the revival of the Beyond Grade As. Compared to the World Tree, the impact of this on the universe was just a small matter. Every bit of extra strength was good.
In my previous life, the Holy Accord worked with EsGod, but now I have replaced EsGod as their partner and became the driving force behind the scenes. Under my influence, the plot line is changing more and more. There are even the coordinates that lead to the World Tree. The logistics department has been unsuccessful in deriving them, and I don't know how far the dynasty's research has gone…
Han Xiao was lost in thought before he recalled something.
That's right, the Holy Accord has such a long history. Maybe they have intelligence about the existence of the Sanctums. I should find a chance to ask them next time.
Somewhere in the Ancient Star Desert, the galactic pirates' fleet was stopped by three small battleships with the Federation of Light insignia. After a fierce battle, the pirates were captured.
On the deck of the pirates' flagship, the carbonized corpse of the leader fell on the ground, while all the other members squatted on the ground with the hands on their heads, covered in cuts and bruises. They were surrounded by a group of soldiers in brilliant Federation of Light uniforms.
The leader of the soldiers was wearing a high-tech uniform, with a badge on his chest, representing his position as a universe inspector.
This universe inspector was part of a special department set up by the advanced civilizations. They patrolled different Star Systems, and their official position was higher than that of an ordinary patrol officer, specializing in detection of abnormal conditions.
The Federation of Light Inspector paced in front of the group of pirates, slowly taking off his bloodied black gloves. He slowly said, "Five days ago, there were signs of cosmic energy surges coming from your spaceship. The energy fluctuations spread along as you travelled, alarming many advanced civilizations, including the three Universal Civilizations. This fluctuation has never been seen before, and no one knows what it is…"
Pa!
He suddenly walked up to one of the pirates, slapping him before forcing his gaze to meet his. "Can you tell me what exactly happened?"
"It… it was a disposable safe…" The pirate stammered before revealing everything.
"An ancient safe that was sold at an auction?"
The Federation of Light inspector called up the information that they had obtained from the pirates, and Harrison's team information appeared on his screen.
"A group of scavengers. Not sure if they're lucky or unlucky…"
Narrowing his eyes, he pushed the pirate aside before giving his command.
"Move out. Find these people!"
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Chapter 1099 – Interfering with Reality, Latent Crisis
The inspectors of the three Universal Civilizations had huge backers and vast resources at their disposal. It was not difficult to uncover a low-level scavenger.
The process was quite smooth. It could be summarized as: identity record match, whereabouts position, storming the area, and asking them to line up with their hands on the wall.
This series of operations was smoothly carried out, as though they had done it hundreds of times.
In the small spaceship of the scavengers, Harrison and his party squatted on the wall and shivered. The brilliant Federation of Light insignias on the soldiers' uniforms dispelled any desire to resist.
For people at the bottom of the Galactic Society, even a small pawn of the three Universal Civilizations was not someone they could afford to offend. Without the backing of any organization, those that dared to offend people from the three Universal Civilizations were akin to people who would turn the lights on in the latrine to look at sh*t.
"You… What are you guys trying to do? We, we are law-abiding citizens," the shortie stammered.
The Federation of Light Inspector moved a chair, sitting in front of this group. He leaned forward, releasing an aura of oppression as he coldly said, "You don't know what sort of crimes you've committed?"
What crime have we committed?
Everyone had a confused expression, squeezing their brain juices dry to try and remember what they had done in their daily lives.
The shortie suddenly shivered violently before blurting out, "I… I surrender!"
"Oh?" The inspector turned to look at him, narrowing his eyes as he said, "Say it then. What is your crime?"
"I… I anonymously hacked the paid server of an adult entertainment channel yesterday, downloading thousands of pornos… ahem, you know, those kinds of films. I'm guilty! I confess!" The shortie spat everything out.
The captain suddenly exclaimed, "No wonder you stayed in your room the whole day yesterday…"
As he spoke, he suddenly stopped. Everyone realized that the shortie was still wearing his clothes from the day before, and with a wrinkle of their noses, they shifted a few paces away from him.
The inspector's facial expression was hard as steel, but if one looked closely, they could see the corners of his mouth twitching fiercely.
Be serious, I'm interrogating you!
"Are you trying to provoke me? Do you think I'm joking with you‽"
Glaring at him, the inspector drew his gun, pressing it against the head of the shortie. However, he paused suddenly and withdrew the muzzle a distance away from the guy's head. He did not dare stick it to the skin of the shortie for fear of contaminating his firearm.
"Don't, don't, don't, don't…" The shortie was so scared that he urinated on the spot, his entire body trembling.
Harrison was also frightened and immediately said, "Sir Inspector, we're law abiding. We don't pillage and kill; we only excavate ownerless ruins. We do not know what crimes we've committed."
"Humph!" The inspector also did not intend to make their lives difficult. He withdrew his weapon, projecting an image of the triangular device. He solemnly said, "Not long ago, you guys dug out this artifact from an unknown civilization and put it up for auction. But it was stolen by the galactic pirates, and when they opened it up, it triggered a cosmic energy fluctuation. I'm here for this."
Harrison's heart almost stopped.
See, we got into trouble!
My intuition was right. This object isn't simple, even bringing me so much trouble after it was sold!
However, he was not upset but instead felt a sense of excitement from his bones. A strong curiosity surged within him, and he could not help but ask, "What was inside?"
"It's still unclear, and the specific fluctuations are still being thoroughly investigated."
At this moment, the captain could not help but ask, "Wait a minute, we sold that thing, and it wasn't us who opened it, so what crime have we committed?"
"That's right. We're innocent!"
"You can't frame good people for nothing!"
The crowd immediately screamed, displaying upright indignation.
"Shut up!" the Inspector coldly barked. "The items that you dug up from the ruins carry a strong risk. Because of you guys, new disasters are likely to occur in the universe. Let's not talk about anything else. Just the crime of endangering public safety is enough to put you in prison!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately shrank back, and they collectively lowered their heads, attentively counting the number of ants on the floor… although there was no chance of ants appearing in the spaceship.
The inspector coldly snorted. "However, if you guys are willing to assist us in our work, we can ignore your unintentional mistakes. We are going to investigate the site of the ruins now, and we need you to lead the way and show us your flight log. Are there any objections?"
"No, no, no, none at all. It is our honor to help the Federation of Light! I'm the machinery expert of this spaceship. You just need to give the command if you need something from me. There's no need to treat me like a person at all!"
Seeing that the situation was not as serious as expected, the shortie breathed a sigh of relief before hurriedly using the skills he had honed over the years to bootlick the inspector.
"This…" The captain was a little hesitant. "Is this going to leave us with a criminal record?"
The inspector seemed to take it lightly. "That's for sure, but it doesn't matter. As long as you turn in whatever you've dug up in the future to the civilization, there will be no problem."
Give it to the nation? Are we going to turn into an archaeological team‽
Too much, this is simply threatening us with our weaknesses. You want us to compromise? Dream on! We absolutely will not accept such a treatment!
… Unless the Federation of Light is paying us wages.
After reaching a physical consensus, the team led the way, quickly bringing the inspector to the barren planet where they first found the triangular device, and found the initial coordinates.
Harrison pointed at the image on the screen as he explained, "This is the place. There used to be a ruin here that resembled something like a military base, but the moment we left, it collapsed. This is a recording of when we burrowed in…"
The Federation of Light inspector nodded and ordered his subordinates to descend, taking out the probes to scan the area. His expression changed slightly.
He did not expect that the results of the investigation would show that there were no abnormalities present within the rock formations. There was only mud and dirt.
This made no sense, as even if the ruins were to collapse and be buried, there should be traces. However, in the pictures of these advanced detection instruments, there were no traces in the rocks below.
The inspector frowned. "Are you sure it's here?"
"That's here alright. You've also seen the flight logs. We stopped right here." Harrison showed an expression of surprise as well.
Such a mystical scenario hooked his curiosity once again. He was unable to understand how the ruins could just disappear into thin air.
Could it be that this whole thing was a dream? But the safe they unearthed was well and truly present.
Just as he was thinking about it, the inspector from the Federation of Light seemed to have thought of something. His expression changed as he muttered to himself, "Such a phenomenon, could it be… that it's the high-dimensional information state interfering with reality itself?"
Harrison was just about to ask something, but he saw the inspector push aside everyone, running to report to his superior.
Seeing the other party's grave expression, Harrison had a hunch that the severity of this problem was beyond his own imagination.
Within the base of the Holy Accord Organization, Law and Fay were summoned, and once again, they arrived in the dark palace to meet up with Oathkeeper.
"All of you are here."
In midair, the figure of Oathkeeper materialized, and he lowered his head to indifferently speak, his tone laced with coldness.
There was a strong mental fluctuation within his tone, which caused Law and Fay to begin to feel anxious.
Both of them had known Oathkeeper for a long time, so they understood his behavior. Such an action meant that he was truly angered, which had not happened in a long time.
They could not help but exchange glances, communicating with their eyes.
Law (Puzzled Look): "The leader's mood doesn't seem too good."
Fay (Blinking): "Maybe he failed in the negotiations with Black Star."
Law (Frowning): "That wouldn't make him so angered. There should be another reason."
Fay (Curious Look): "Then what is it?"
Law (Rolling eyes): "Do you think I can explain such a complicated thing using just glances?"
Fay (Blinking Innocently): "That makes sense."
Both of them conversed in an instant before lowering their heads to greet Oathkeeper. "Leader, for what matter have you summoned us?"
"Black Star has inside information on us!" Oathkeeper furiously replied.
"What‽" Both of them paled.
Could it be that because of their ambush previously, Black Star had managed to uncover some clues, which lead to a leakage of their organizational intelligence?
If that was the case, then the both of them were sinners!
Did the leader specifically call us over to punish us? That's right. It's most likely that!
Having assumed their leader's attitude, both of them were in a panic and did not dare hesitate, immediately lowering their heads to plead. "It's our fault. We've committed a great sin by causing our organization's information to leak out. Please punish us!"
Glancing at the two, Oathkeeper relaxed his tone.
"Don't be mistaken. Your actions do not have anything to do with this matter. Black Star has long known of our organization's existence."
Hearing this, the two of them could not help but exchange a glance in shock.
If it's not us that revealed the intel, then who was it? It was definitely our first time in contact with Black Star. Could it be that some others had also come into contact with him in the past?
At this moment, the frosty voice of Oathkeeper answered their question.
"Stop guessing. Our organization has a traitor!"
"That's impossible!" Law shook in fright, exclaiming with an incredulous expression. "Those who leak intelligence will definitely suffer backlash from the Soul Flames. Who would survive that‽"
The Soul Flame was another Primal Esper Ability Entity. As its name suggested, this ability was related toward one's soul and spirit, and currently, Oathkeeper was its host.
Its Esper Ability meant that it was an expert that toyed with the soul aspect of people, making it one of the Super High Risk Esper Abilities. One of its abilities allowed it to prohibit its target from revealing specific information, and Oathkeeper had utilized this ability to prevent anyone in the Holy Accord from leaking its secrets. If a member wished to forcibly divulge information, even if they could endure the backlash, Oathkeeper would still be notified. This was how the Holy Accord had kept its secrecy for so long.
He used his own pinnacle Beyond Grade A strength to spur the Esper Ability of the Soul Flame, so the effect exerted was terrifying. Even Law and Fay, two Beyond Grade As, would not be able to bypass its surveillance and would also suffer backlash if they leaked any information.
Thus, both of them believed that no one could betray their organization.
"Whether you believe it or not, the fact is in front of our eyes. Black Star identified me the moment he saw me, and I was still foolishly believing that no one else knew about the existence of our Holy Accord. This matter must be investigated carefully!"
Oathkeeper's tone was steely as he shouted.
"There should be someone who has come out with a special method to bypass the surveillance and backlash caused by the Soul Flame. They passed on intelligence to the outside world. The person's rank is not low either, at least an officer within the organization. For now, I still do not know if they are a core member."
Both Law and Fay's expressions turned grim. This matter was related to the survival of their organization and could not be taken lightly.
"Leader, what would you have us do?"
"Both of you are my confidantes, and I believe you in principle. However, everything depends on evidence, so I need to scan your memories. Are you willing?"
Law and Fay were suddenly placed in a difficult situation. While they were not betrayers, any Super would naturally repel others from invading their own mind deep within themselves.
However, they were aware of the increasingly unstable mental fluctuations around them. Thus, both of them swallowed hard, and in order to show that they had a clear conscience, they agreed with difficulty.
The next moment, Oathkeeper raised his hand slightly, and two streaks of flames the color of the starry sky landed on them.
Both of them noticed a unique mental fluctuation entering their brains. Looking at each other, they gritted their teeth before actively letting go of their mental barriers, allowing Oathkeeper to easily penetrate their minds.
Their memories were quickly flipped through by him. The scenes from small to large flashed in front of them. They gritted their teeth, ignoring the tingling sensation of the mental probe as it scanned through their minds.
After a long while, the mental probes were finally recalled back to Oathkeeper who seemed satisfied.
"Very good, the two of you did not let down my expectations." Oathkeeper nodded before continuing solemnly. "I'll leave the task of weeding out the traitor to you guys. I allow you full access to thoroughly investigate all the organization officers and report any suspicious personnel to me. I'll personally scan their memories. Before we can uncover the traitor, we'll temporarily stop all activities and go into hiding."
Both of them remained silent, nodding to signify acceptance as they suffered through the throbbing pain that was a side effect from the mental probes. They could not help but sigh.
It seems like the leader is truly enraged this time. If even us confidantes are treated this way, there's no need to talk about the other officers…
Both of them could foresee that this operation would definitely create a lot of havoc within the organization.
The explosion of cosmic energy could not escape the monitoring buoys that were set by the advanced civilizations. These monitoring buoys were used by each advanced civilization to monitor the situation within their jurisdictions, and they were pervasive.
It was just that the qualifications for setting up monitoring buoys were generally reserved for civilizations, and civil organizations were rarely allowed.
Within the Ancient Star Desert, the branch of the Black Star Army did not have much influence, and it naturally did not have the right to set any up. Han Xiao was also far away and could not immediately discover the cosmic energy fluctuations.
The advanced civilizations reacted quickly to investigate the source and impact of the phenomenon but found next to nothing. They did not know what sort of changes this energy surge would create.
Right at this moment, within the quantum network that was invisible to the naked eye, the information packets released from the triangular device were spreading rapidly within the Ancient Star Desert's domain.
This sort of information packet had incredible camouflage abilities, able to bypass most artificial intelligence firewalls and infect one quantum network node after another. It spread like a virus, but for the time being, it did not show any abnormal reaction, simply lurking beneath the surface.
Only a small number of artificial intelligences, such as the master artificial intelligences from the advanced civilizations, were able to detect and stop it. However, as soon as it was discovered, the information packet would immediately activate a self-destruction program, shattering and deleting its own data, at the same time marking the firewall that it could not break through so other information packets would not take the same risk. It was as though there was a program within that commanded it to avoid those that were overly strong.
As the scope of infection expanded, the efficiency of transmission also increased proportionally. Within the quantum network, transmission was not affected by distance, so without anyone knowing, massive numbers of quantum network nodes in the Ancient Star Desert domain were infected.
At some point, an information packet was transmitted to another quantum node, but this time, it ran into the strongest artificial intelligence firewall it had ever encountered. The moment it entered the peripheral surroundings of the node, it was scanned, and the information packet immediately blew itself up.
However, a surging data stream gushed out from this node to envelop the information packet. When it had self-destructed about sixty-five percent of itself, the remaining fragmented information was forcibly intercepted.
The next moment, the data streams converged into a human shape.
Manison's Virtual Soul gazed at the remains of the information packet floating in front of him with a curious expression.
Eh, a never-before-seen data structure… what's this thing, attempting to infiltrate my sub-base?
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Chapter 1100 Prematurely Triggered Disaster Even
In the Central Galaxy was the Abyss of Stars, the home of the Federation of Light's headquarters.
The duty of an inspector was different from that of a secret intelligence department. The former acted as a pan-universal intelligence agency and did not involve itself in the political battles of the advanced civilizations. Most of the time, the intelligence agencies of the three Universal Civilizations would cooperate to deal with various special phenomena, including monitoring and tracking to prevent possible disasters.
At this very moment, in a conference room within this particular agency, a group of high-level executives sat around a round table, discussing the emergency reported from the Ancient Star Desert branch inspector.
The explosion of cosmic energy was considered a red alert at any time and required a meeting to be convened to discuss the strategy taken.
"The content of the report is quite detailed, and the cause and effect were quite clearly outlined. A scavenger team dug up a safe of an unknown civilization, releasing the source of this incident. This belongs to the second category of accidents. However, the traces of the ruins excavated completely disappeared before the inspector's team's field survey began, and they suspect it has something to do with a projection of a high-dimensional information state interfering with reality… The most important questions now are, what exactly did it release, why was there a cosmic energy burst, and what impact would this have?"
A humanoid creature who looked sickly at first glance was speaking. When he spoke, he stood up tall and thin, resembling a bamboo stick. His skin color was pale purple, with white lines, and his eyes were long and narrow, with yellow pupils.
This was Sidreun 'Purple Fire' Korna, the highest officer from the inspectorate from the Federation of Light's side, a Beyond Grade A seed. He was a hybrid of races, but his main bloodline came from the Deweine tribe, a racial species with superior racial talents.
The Federation of Light employed a multi-racial living system, and hybrids were an important part of their nation.
Due to the difference in beliefs, preferences, appearances, and other factors delineating each race, racial issues had always been a deeply rooted disease in the federation, but everyone was already used to it.
"These archaeological teams never learn their lesson, " a member grumbled. "Of the various universal disasters in history, be it an organic extinct virus, mutated monsters, or anything else, how many of them were caused by digging up ancient relics?"
"You can't put it that way. Many of our technology in the early years was also derived from the reverse engineering of ancient civilizations. Besides, compared to the triggering of disasters due to advanced technology going out of control or the invasion of foreign enemies, the severity caused by archaeology pales in comparison." Sidreun shook his head weakly.
At this time, one of the executives glanced through the past records and muttered, "By the way, it's quite rare for high-dimensional information states to interfere with reality itself in the past, but with the increase in the exploration of the universe, this phenomenon seems to have become more frequent.
"According to the statistics provided by our predecessors, during the exploration era, the average number of information state interferences was around 467 times a year, which only counts those events that were discovered and recorded. In the past century though, this number has risen to 2,150 per year, almost five times the number. Although this could be attributed to the improvement in our detection methods, it can also be seen as an increase in the frequency of interferences as well."
"Information states have always been an important research direction of the advanced civilizations. We are only responsible for the submission of reports. Regardless of the result, that is a problem for our scientists, not us." Sidreun waved his hand tiredly with an obvious lack of interest.
It was understandable that he was mentally weary after sitting in his position. This inspectorate department was responsible for wiping the backsides of people all over the universe, akin to watching a group of crazy kids making trouble everywhere for him to clean up afterward.
No matter how he tried to remedy things, countless more would still appear the next day. If he had a bad temper, he would have exploded in fury at least once a day in this department.
Thus, with the passing of time, a man would turn into Buddha, whereas fish would also become salted and preserved[1].
Everybody here did not come from a research background, so they had a limited understanding of the causes of information state projection and interference. To them, this phenomenon was akin to a special mirage, and the difference was that this was not limited by time and space and could really interfere with the real world.
Another of the executives said, "After comparison, the unknown text that the scavengers submitted does not have a match in our database to any civilization. If this is an information state projection, then the source is either from an extremely ancient civilization, or it's from unexplored civilizations that exist somewhere in the universe."
While the three Universal Civilizations were the undisputed universe hegemons today, they were not omniscient nor omnipotent. They did not know what had existed in the past, nor did they know how many civilizations there were in the unexplored universe. Thus, they had not stopped their pace of exploration and research.
"Did anyone discover any negative effects?" Sidreun questioned.
"For the time being, no. The specific details are still under thorough investigation. At present, it is impossible to predict what sort of disaster this is. Maybe it's not even a disaster."
Everyone shook their head.
At this moment, a voice sounded.
"This is a disaster within the Virtual Domain."
The hologram in the center of the round table suddenly transformed into the face of Manison.
Seeing this, everyone went into an uproar.
"Mechanic Emperor Manison!" Sidreun's expression sank, and he shouted, "How dare you infiltrate the network of an official institution!"
Everyone on scene had an ugly expression as Manison had just too many criminal convictions. Even his ally, the Federation of Light, guarded their official networks against Manison, for fear that all their confidential information would be stolen by this neighbor of theirs.
There was a saying in the universe—One cannot expect a Virtual Mechanic to have morals.
They were like the bosses behind the scenes in the casino, and it was in their nature to peek at the cards of others.
"It's not the first time. Why are you all so surprised?" Manison was perfectly calm. "This time, however, I'm here to deliver some intelligence."
"I don't believe you!" Sidreun gritted his teeth. You obviously could knock on the door, but you chose to come in through the window instead. Would it kill you to send out an official notice?
"This method is faster. I don't like to wait." Manison continued as though he heard nothing. "Furthermore, this disaster is currently fermenting. Every second wasted means increased damage."
Hearing this, Sidreun temporarily suppressed his anger, frowning as he asked, "So, what have you spotted?"
Manison showed the scattered information packet that he had intercepted as he explained, "Not too long ago, a special information package attempted to infiltrate my sub-base, and after it failed, it tried to self-detonate itself. I managed to salvage a portion of it, and from there, I gleaned its general structure. This may be a new form of quantum network virus, where every information package is a source of infection. It will constantly replicate itself and has strong camouflage, permeability, and infection abilities.
"I tracked it down, and this virus is spreading rapidly in the quantum network of the Ancient Star Desert. Countless nodes have been compromised. Working backward, I concluded that this virus might be related to the cosmic energy explosion some time ago, so I came over to notify you."
Looking at the material that Manison presented, the expressions of the executives gradually turned grave.
"Turns out, it's a new type of quantum network virus." Sidreun felt a headache coming. "The quantum network is one of the cornerstones of our galactic society, and this sort of highly contagious virus is the most troublesome. If left untreated, communications might be paralyzed, data lost, and intelligence stolen… What exactly does it do?"
"This virus is still in its incubation period. Once it breaks out, it will rewrite the underlying logic of the infected artificial intelligence and activate a kill order against all living bodies, setting off a mechanical rebellion," Manison answered calmly as though he was giving a lecture.
At the current stage of the galactic society, every household possessed some form of artificial intelligence or machinery. Once a rebellion occurred within the Star Field or even within the universe, the consequences could be imagined.
Sidreun shivered involuntarily. If Manison had not invaded to pass on the message, the longer they delayed, the more serious this situation would have become. It might even shake the ruling foundation of the three Universal Civilizations.
Thinking of this, Sidreun's expression toward Manison softened a lot more.
When he's not up to mischief, this ally was actually quite the reliable person.
He suddenly stood up, throwing away his 'salted fish' halo, and solemnly declared, "This matter is too huge. I'll report it to the President immediately!"
A few hours later, the three Universal Civilizations had all received the news, calling an emergency joint meeting.
"… The situation is as such. Right now, the Ancient Star Desert has become the epicenter for this new quantum virus. With every second, the number of nodes being infected by the virus, which has been named 'Intelligent Plague', is rapidly increasing. We need to take immediate measures."
Bader summarized the situation, expressing his position.
The Pope of the Arcane Church narrowed his eyes, saying in a deep tone, "Isolate the entire Ancient Star Desert. Until the virus is completely eliminated, the entire Ancient Star Desert is forbidden from interacting with the external universe's quantum network. Stargates are all to be closed, and fleets are to be sent to the periphery of the Ancient Star Desert to prevent the source of infection from leaking out in any form."
"Hmm." Urranrell nodded in agreement.
This was like treating a normal biological plague, where only isolation would allow it to be completely eliminated.
To barricade all communications within a Star Field, only the three Universal Civilizations had the qualifications and capabilities for such a huge project. If the trio could arrive at a common intention, they would be able to enforce the decree. This was the highest power the three Universal Civilizations had given themselves in the Civilization Conference.
"We also need to inform the local civilizations within the Ancient Star Desert, getting them on side. This problem must be dealt as soon as possible."
At this time, in order to reassure others, the three could not take the opportunity to attack the Super Star Cluster Civilizations of the Ancient Star Desert. Otherwise, no one would cooperate the next time a similar disaster occurred. The disadvantages far outweighed the potential gains.
If they missed the optimum timing due to infighting, this virus would shake the very foundation of order in the Galactic Civilization, causing a major blow to the dominance of the three Universal Civilizations. There were countless examples in history, so the three of them would never repeat the same mistake.
In the face of such disasters, the three Universal Civilizations would put aside their struggle for interests and temporarily work together to overcome the shared difficulty.
"I recommend that we recruit mechanics from all over the Universe, especially the Beyond Grade A Virtual Mechanics that specialize in this area," Urranrell suggested. "We should also call the Mechanic Emperor and Black Star to come over and cooperate sincerely to solve the problem."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
The others all nodded.
Since it was a disaster in the Virtual Domain, they had to have experts in a related field to check it out. Mechanic Emperor and Black Star were the leaders in the Virtual Domain, so they would naturally be employed by the three Universal Civilizations.
As for the origin, cause, and principles behind the disaster, there would be plenty of time to look for clues after this problem was solved.
Furthermore, the three Universal Civilizations were extremely interested in this Virtual Virus Technology.
If this virus had happened in the past, it would likely cause the direct order of the galactic civilization to collapse, turning it into a troubled time. However, with years of development, the three Universal Civilizations could keep the risks under control so long as such disasters were discovered early. There was no need to panic like before.
The only hidden danger that the three Universal Civilizations were worried about would be the unstable civil organizations, such as the Galactic Black Market, wanted criminals, and rebels. If one of them kept the virus secretly, that would be problematic.
Maybe there was even someone that was behind the scenes. The three leaders exchanged glances, sharing the same worries.
The Black Star Cup had been in full swing for around two of three months, and Han Xiao had been spending that downtime within his workshop.
He initially wished to keep a low profile for the next year and a half, waiting for the three Universal Civilizations to take action against the Super Star Cluster Alliances, but he did not expect the dynasty to suddenly send him an invitation to a mission one day, asking him to run over to the Ancient Star Desert to tackle a virtual virus.
"To actually block the entire Ancient Star Desert, is that virus so powerful?"
After reading the news from the dynasty, Han Xiao had a weird expression on his face.
In his previous life, this incident did not happen during Version 4.0.
To be precise, the players did not experience the 'Intelligent Plague'. This event happened during the version update leading up to the Silver Revolutionary Army. For the players, it was just a background story.
Han Xiao recalled the brief introduction to the 'Intelligent Plague', even though he had not experienced the incident personally.
In his previous life, the process of resolving this disaster was difficult. The three Universal Civilizations wanted to clear out the virus entirely, but something went wrong, causing the virus to leak and infect multiple Star Fields. The communications in a large number of areas were paralyzed, and the order of their civilization was hit hard.
The three Universal Civilizations sacrificed a lot of resources to resolve the disaster, but due to their attention focused over there, coupled with bad public opinion, it was exploited by the Silver Revolutionary Army of his previous life to develop and grow. This was also an important factor in the success of the Silver Revolutionary Army.
But now, the Intelligent Plague had broken out many years in advance, yet the Silver Revolutionary Army had not said a word, probably missing this opportunity forever.
"It's the butterfly effect caused by my actions again…" Han Xiao stroked his chin.
The dynasty's brief contained the cause of the incident, and Han Xiao realized the moment he went through it.
Because he had gotten rid of Gorutan, the black market had entered a short period of time where there was a vacuum in the positions, leading to them being raided by galactic pirates. The original buyer was also investigated by the three Universal Civilizations and seemed like he just wished to collect an antique of an unknown civilization, so Han Xiao had indirectly caused the opening of the safe many years in advance.
Not sure if this is a blessing or a curse…
Han Xiao pursed his lips. The Intelligent Plague was a timed bomb, and it was definitely better for it to erupt during this version rather than during the World Tree Civilization War arc. However, with the conflicts between the three Universal Civilizations and the Super Star Cluster Alliance, this might turn into a bargaining chip for the Super Star Clusters.
If the Super Star Clusters obtained a respite and managed to find a way to rise up as a Universal Civilization, the situation of the universe would take a completely different path compared to his previous life.
I don't know the general trend of the times, as well as which side will eventually fall…
Shaking his head, Han Xiao suppressed the worries in his heart. At least there was something positive from this incident.
What a coincidence, to think that I would meet with a famous person from the later versions…
Harrison and his team were the excavators, so they were also recorded. Han Xiao was glad to have come across such a famed protagonist and was already thinking how to transplant this unowned leek into his own vegetable plot.
At the bare minimum, he could serve as a mascot, increasing the luck of his Black Star Army.
"Phillip, reply to the dynasty. Tell them that I'm accepting the invite and will rush over immediately."
He was naturally willing to make a contribution, as he did not wish for the Intelligent Plague to consume a lot of energy of the current explored universe.
Don't ask, I'm definitely not going there to obtain and research this virus technology! I have absolutely no interest in it at all! Fighting!
Ding!
At this moment, Han Xiao's interface popped up with a notification informing him of a mission.
[1] The author is trying to say how the passage of time would grind away at your anger such that you would feel indifferent to everything and anything, just like Buddha or a salted fish who only wishes to lie there and do nothing all day
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