There was also a highly-modern planet called Planet Brighton. The city was like a floating island with ninety-nine towers scattered on the edge of the city, forming a defense, and the main tower in the city center. The large crystal ball at the top of the tower provided magical power to suspend the city. Occasionally, there would be sightings of a dragon across the sky. New players would have a slim chance of survival in this world as it was very easy to hit the death limit.
Of course, there was an even more difficult way to start, and that would be Planet Winterfrost. The base of the Hell Demon Military Troop was also the only one where players could see the Galaxy Starships. Hell Demon Military Troop’s starships were crazy powerful, and this planet was a mix of magic and technology.
The troops themselves had powerful combat power. They could also ride the cosmic creatures into space for a short while, and their level was high. Fortunately, Planet Winterfrost was just a sub-base camp for the troop. Otherwise, the American players who chose Planet Winterfrost as the base camp would not even be able to get out of the novice village.
The richer the resources were for the novice planet, the more challenging it would be at the beginning. In contrast, the difficulty of Aquamarine was moderate, and the technological background was similar to that of many years ago. Unlike other planets where even trash cans on the street could incite the player’s curiosity, there were not many surprises on Aquamarine.
However, the popularity of Aquamarine on the forums was rising, and the main reason was the appearance of Black Phantom. He was the first high-ranking character to interact with the players.
The two hosts then turned around and talked about the Black Phantom.
“Next, we’ll talk about an incident that happened in Aquamarine, and friends who have been active on the forum all know that Black Phantom is the first mysterious high ranking character to appear in front of the players. The players do not have much information about him. Qiu Qiu, what role do you think he plays in the plot of Aquamarine?” the male host asked.
“Based on the current information, Black Phantom seems to have a high position, and his identity is extremely mysterious as well. Furthermore, he and Germinal are enemies.
“Oh, does this mean he’s on the same side as the Six Nations?”
“I am not sure. Perhaps only the developers can answer this question.”
“Alright, after listening to this lame joke, let us return to the topic,” the male host said. “Speaking of the Black Phantom, he seems to be a mechanic instructor and can expose hidden plots. The latest news suggests that Black Phantom has appeared in Green Valley Ville of Aquamarine. Therefore, friends who wish to transfer to the mechanic class should seize the opportunity. The Black Phantom is by far the easiest way to obtain the knowledge.
“However, there has been a different opinion on the forums recently. Some players who transferred to the mechanics department are starting to regret.”
The female host feigned her surprise, “There is such a thing?”
There was a quarrel at this point, and most of the players had been simply choosing their vocation based on which vocation was the strongest. After they had switched to being a mechanic, they found out that mechanics were not up to their expectations and would naturally be full of complains.
Before the topic came to an end with the two hosts, Han Xiao looked at the responses and saw one response at the top. The ID was called ‘Luzman’.
Chapter 150 -
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“I am a beta player in Big Horn Village. A few days ago I changed my vocation to mechanics with Black Phantom. Initially, I thought this is a very strong class, but after switching, I realised that being a mechanic is totally different from what I had expected. The skills are trashy and the equipment are easily damaged, but I could only repair them after I have bought the materials. My gun just died like this! I’m so mad!
“The combat power is rather weak too. One public beta test player who was 4 levels lower than me came up for a challenge. He didn’t even have a main vocation, and his sub-vocation was a mere [Hunter]. We fought for 11 rounds, and yet I didn’t win any of them at all! For a main vocation to lose to a sub-vocation, while being 4 levels higher, this mechanic vocation is just a pile of shit.”
… I was fooled by that video of Black Phantom. Damn I was scammed. Those senior NPCs always have NPC templates as bonuses. Black Spirit is not even a player! His combat power doesn’t even have much of a tingle!
… This mechanic vocation is so weak in its early stages. Maybe it would be as strong as Black Phantom’s eventually, but you will be starting way behind others from the beginning. It takes even longer to reach the same level as the rest! What’s more, the mechanic vocation relies on machineries, and the materials used to make the machinery costs a lot of money. This class is perfect for the local tyrants. If you don’t have money, don’t even try!
This mechanic vocation has no future, seems like I cannot use this account anymore. I can only restart another account and retrain. What a trash vocation!”
Luzman’s response was full of resentment. He had even uploaded videos of him losing in battles. Many people had echoed him in the comments, pushing his post to the top of the responses.
After glancing through other posts, Han Xiao realised that most of the posts had traces of Luzman. That guy copied and pasted the comments so many times. Many others found his resentment to be over the top and they argued with Luzman on the forum too.
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. This was not totally unexpected. The players would realise sooner or later that the mechanic vocation is not suitable for combat in the early stages. Luzman was the first one and he would not be the last. These grievous people only fell for the trap because they were attracted by his video and had simply chose whichever vocation that was strong. The moment they realise that it wasn’t what they had imagined, they would feel deceived and angry.
There were also players who liked the mechanic vocation who ignored these useless arguments and complaints. Some players were in the game for entertainment while others wanted to be the strongest in the game. Luzman was clearly one of the latter.
These negative comments would definitely affect his business, and since there was only one chance to choose a main vocation, players would become more cautious, especially first-time players.
Han Xiao shook his head. He had wanted to attract more players into the pit of mechanic vocation to expand his market.
“Seems like I have to reaffirm players in the value of the mechanic vocation, I can’t just rely on displaying my strength…”
The programme continued running. Off the script, the male MC said, “we have just received the unreleased promo clip on the next version of the game from Galaxy. Do take a look. ”
The screen began to play another video. Just as what
The heavy armoured knight appeared full of energy. The tip of his gun emitted smoke, and it hit a group of iron-shielded guards. The crash was loud like a thunder, and bodies were flying all over.
A tribe with horns controlled the elements around them. Flames slithered and wrapped around their body like a snake.
A magician stood in his cloak, and a web of light appeared beneath his feet as he chanted. Light rays of magic shone out from his fingers.
The bald-headed sorcerer used his mind to manipulate objects around him. He released an invisible strike his opponents around him, causing them to fall one by one with their noses bleeding.
The clips were all very realistic. It was gorgeous!
This was only a demo of the promotional clip. Nothing was finalised. The clips were recorded by new players from every planet, and there were only a few clips from senior players for the time being. They barely got together the battle scenes of the five main vocations. The battle scene for mechanic vocation was a clip of Black Phantom in
action. Han Xiao was the first advance player to demonstrate his combat power.
There were a several clips showing the jaw dropping scene at Big Horn Village, as well as scenes of the interception battle at Tedramira River. Sniper, rifles, turrets, squadrons, and even the vicious Fury Blade was featured in the clip.
The players was all engrossed in the scenes. They were all exhilarating moments.
“I didn’t know I got selected to be in the promotional video!”
Han Xiao was a little surprised. He still remembered last season’s promotional video. The scene for the Mechanic vocation was just the process to produce a machinery, and most players assumed that it was a more of a support role. Hence, only a few players switched to the mechanic vocation.
According to the first version, the proportion of players in the mechanic vocation was only 9.7%! This promotional video alone attracted tons of interest from the players. Mechanic vocation wouldn’t be as bleak as before. He wasn’t afraid to risk players complaining and regretting on the forum in exchange for attracting more players over.
This promotional video also improved his popularity, and this was much more effective than word of mouth. Han Xiao was overjoyed. He expected his fame to shoot up in no time.
The next line-up on the programme was about professional players. The male MC said, “Within 10 days of public beta, tons of famous e-sports clubs have shifted to the game
It is known that the United States, South Korea, France, Japan and Switzerland all have accounts with A-class potential rating, and the various big clubs have offered prices for these accounts, worth millions of US dollars.”
The screen flashed wildly. Almost a million US dollars to buy a novice account? It was simply a lottery! Good luck would mean making a fortune immediately.
“Flashing News: The American Devil Club, Sandstorm Club, France Tulip Club, and the Korean Four Star Club have already bought the accounts. They will be used by the club’s elite players.
And the God-level players will still be using their own accounts… American elite player ‘King and Queen’ has changed to the magician vocation and was rewarded with a rare skill through a hidden quest. French elite player ‘Lost Angel’ has chosen to start at random and he seems to have obtained a opportunity. South Korea…”
Foreign e-sports players all seemed to be performing very well. China’s e-sports scene wasn’t weak either, but only a few managed to hit the top spots. Champions of many events had long been occupied by players from the United States, France, Japan and South Korea. If you coud win a championship, local players would celebrate as though it was a festival. They would be bringing honour to their country.
“Local players are performing rather well. A player by the name of ‘Feng Yue’ completed the reward pool quest on her own, gaining over hundreds of thousands of experience points, becoming the biggest winner. It is extremely beneficial for her future development. Who knows, maybe the advantages would come snowballing in. This task was related to Black Phantom…
A dark horse by the ID of ‘Fury Blade’ was among the professional players. During a meeting at Jiang Cheng club where Fury Blade was at yesterday, they had released a video. It was the battle scene in the promotional clip with Black Phantom, and I believe everyone had also noticed Fury Blade. He seemed to have triggered Black Phantom’s hidden quest…”
The clip of Fury Blade was sent in by Luminous Moon. In order to raise their profile, the club had used it for publicity, just when the Chinese professional players were feeling down about their lack of outstanding performances. This brought Fury Blade lots of attention.
“… This would be the end of this week’s content, we look forward to seeing you next time! The following are details for the lucky draw. During this episode, how many times was Black Phantom mentioned? Please drop a message to the official account. We will draw 10 people…”
Han Xiao couldn’t stop laughing. He then switched off the screen.
Han Xiao’s name came up the most in the entire show. The audience had the perception that that everything good had some kind of correlation to Black Phantom:
Black Phantom = Opportunity!
Han Xiao didn’t expect that his name to appear on the screen so many times. His plan had some good returns. His popularity rose yet again. And more importantly, after the programme was broadcasted, more players would come aboard to change their vocation, allowing him to earn more experience points.
He did a rough estimate, based on this trend, the number of mechanic players on Aquamarine would likely be two or three levels higher than previously.
Chapter 151 - A Small-scale Beast Attack
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
There were some wild beasts spotted around the Green Valley Ville, and they had been causing problems for the town. Before Han Xiao came, Balsas had used some small sums as a bounty to incentivize the refugees to hunt down the beasts. Slowly, he had noticed something strange: the refugees would be able to hunt down the wild beasts without any casualties. After some observation, he found out to his surprise that these refugees seemed to have revival Espers and would never really die.
Balsas was shocked. It might have been normal for one person to have the revival Esper ability, but it would be a different story for an entire group. Could it be that this ability could be spread, just like the werewolf tribe in myths, where one’s saliva carried the mutated genes and could turn a normal person into another of their kind in one bite?
After some observation, Balsas was excited to find out that the refugees were easily satisfied by small incentives.
If I can get these strange refugees to work for me, their revival trait will make for a formidable army! I won’t have to fear anyone from Black Pine anymore.
Even though these refugees have revival abilities, they had limited combat strength. Balsas had asked them about their origins, but their answers were mostly gibberish. Despite some unresolved doubts about the refugees’ background, Balsas decided it was alright to go ahead and trade with them for their services.
He was about to take action when Black Phantom arrived and was warmly welcomed by the refugees. Balsas was alarmed.
Is Black Phantom here for these refugees too? Does he know about their ability as well?
Black Phantom was not someone to mess with, so Balsas decided to stay put and observe for the moment. However, an accident broke out—the beasts residing near the town attacked.
Countless wild beasts came from the jungle and caused the ground to rumble.
Gray Devil Wolves made up the majority. Their fur was charcoal gray, and they were as big as wild buffalos. There were also giant purple-scaled pythons that were ten to twenty meters long, slithering among the wolves.
Beasts in the wild were common, and they were a threat faced by every town. Balsas commanded for the town to be locked up without hesitation and asked his soldiers to ready the machine guns on the watchtowers to fight the beasts. Players that were left outside the town became the buffer zone for them to hold off the beasts. Balsas was glad that he had refugees that could be sacrificed at no cost.
Mature Gray Devil Wolves were about LV 20. They pounced into the crowd and ripped apart a player in two to three bites.
_____________________
You have started emergency quest [Protect Green Valley Ville]!
_____________________
Besides the normal players, Han Xiao received the emergency quest, too. However, to his dismay, the reward was at a newbie standard at only a few thousand EXP. Han Xiao watched with great interest at one side as the players fought against the beasts.
Balsas realized that Han Xiao had crawled to the top of the town wall while he was not looking and was watching the battle intensely. Balsas was alarmed. Black Phantom was able to si
lently crawl up the wall when so many people were staring down at the town wall; this meant that he could silently creep up on anyone he wanted to as well. Indeed, he was living up to his reputation as a skilled and accomplished assassin.
The players gave it their all to protect the town. The situation was bloody and violent. The players were not in complete defeat only because of the aid from the town’s machine guns. Han Xiao closely watched the players’ performances. Green Valley Ville consisted mainly of players from two classes—Esper and Mechanic.
He saw many different Espers: Attribute-boosting, Superhuman Strength, Stamina, Speed, Instant Healing, and elemental controls, which included skills such as gathering rocks or fortifying armor using rocks. There was a plethora of Espers, but most were low-level and short-lasting. They were dealing some damage to the wolves, but only a few Esper players were more notable.
The fight between the players and the beasts was a rough one, so some players were live-streaming the battle on the forum.
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He decided to join and end this battle quickly. With that, he jumped off the wall.
Activating his electromagnetic hover-boots, he moved as if there was ice under his feet. He dived into the battle like a bolt of black lightning, zooming through the battlefield, straight to a relatively smaller Gray Devil Wolf, which was old and had little fur left. It was the leader of the pack, and Han Xiao noticed it when he was observing just now.
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