I see. That’s completely normal… Han Xiao nodded. It seemed like he needed a reason to recall all the players in the wild so that it would be more convenient for him to reap experience.
Putting this thought aside for the moment, Han Xiao rubbed his chin and asked with confusion, “So, what difficulty did you guys meet?”
“Well, the shallow mines were easy to clear out, but there are also tons of mines deeper underground, maybe many times deeper than the shallow mines. These are more difficult to clear and need bigger tools and more manpower, but this isn’t the main issue…” Herlous sighed and projected an image. On it were many strange-shaped beasts, but they all had the characteristics of insects.
“This is…” Han Xiao frowned.
“As we dug deeper, we reached a completely different layer of rocks. We shockingly discovered the tracks of some unidentified beasts. After the initial investigation, we realized that they are ancient underground beasts that never came to the surface. They are an enormous race living under Planet Sunil’s surface. From just the few nests we’ve discovered, there’s already more than a hundred million of these beasts. We have no idea how many more are in the underground world we have yet to explore…”
With a grave tone, Herlous said, “Maybe they are the real owners of this planet.”
Han Xiao now understood.
Sunil’s original mother planet had been destroyed, and they had only migrated to this Planet Sunil after that. Thus, they could be considered guests taking over the owner’s home.
As there were limited resources, Sunils did not explore underground, up till today. Only now did they realize that a large race existed under the planet’s surface. Those monsters were the natives of this planet.
If not for the Black Star Army, Sunil would still not have noticed such a huge threat lurking within the very planet that they lived on.
“For some reason, these monsters built their nests around the Prophecy Stone mines and indirectly protect the mines. They reject outside beings very strongly. Their body is very hard, they’re very swift, and they are able to secrete corrosive slime on their skin. They are about the same size as wild wolves. Dozens of underground exploration teams have been wiped out. The underground is their stage. It’s very difficult for us to fight when we can’t maximize our strength underground.
“Protect the Prophecy Stone mines?” Han Xiao pondered. Most underground creatures liked to be close to radioactive minerals—some even consumed them as food. However, the Prophecy Stone mines were not radioactive but stimulated beasts into a crazed state. Logically speaking, beasts would get as far away from the Prophecy Stone mines as they could, but these underground beasts had built their nests surrounding Prophecy Stones.
A word popped up in Han Xiao’s mind.
Mutation!
“Their race might be traced back to thousands of years ago. Lives change to adapt to the environment. Over a very long time, their genes mutated,” Han Xiao said. “Think about it, the Catastrophe causes all the beasts on this planet to go crazy, but you people have never met these monsters before. This means that they have never gone crazy and come to the surface, which shows that they’re used to the Psychic Currents and are immune to them. They have developed an extremely strong psychic resistance.”
The Sunils were guests that only migrated to this planet recently, while Prophecy Stones had existed for countless years. They had no idea about the Prophecy Stones’ effects on the native beasts throughout those countless years.
Herlous nodded. “That’s right. We call these underground monsters Subterranean Mutants.”
“Therefore, you guys summoned me to…” Han Xiao had a guess.
“Your Excellency Black Star, we hope to get your help,” a Sunil superior said seriously with the utmost respect. “We want to eliminate all Subterranean Mutants and completely control Planet Sunil. Our problems can only be resolved if we kill these underground monsters. Plus, there are countless resources underground. We can only collect them after the Subterranean Mutants are dealt with.”
In order to completely get rid of the Catastrophe, destroying all the underground mines was the only way. Hence, the Subterranean Mutants were the biggest obstacle. Furthermore, mining for underground resources would be unavoidable in the future. Subterranean Mutants were clearly a barrier for their development. In terms of population alone, the number of Subterranean Mutants was probably hundreds or even a thousand times that of the Sunils. The Sunils had absolutely no intention of coexisting with a species this large in numbers.
I thought so… Thinking of the beautiful nature that he had seen earlier when looking down from above, Han Xiao sighed. He looked at Herlous and said, “What do you think?”
“I agree.” Herlous was firm.
“Ok…” Han Xiao slowly said. “I hope you guys can understand that the nature of this incident has changed. This is a war hire; I will gather more spaceships and mercenaries.”
“Marvelous!” The Sunils were overjoyed.
“To ensure the transport of people and resources, I need to build a sub-base on Sunil immediately. Do you guys have any objections?”
“No.” The people shook their heads.
Coming to an agreement, Han Xiao walked aside and contacted Phillip.
“Help me to contact the Noriosse and Rossozzi financial groups. I will be building the third sub-base here in the Garton Star System, Planet Sunil. List the resources needed and send them to these two financial groups; we’ll use their channels.
“Gather the 200,000 mercenaries on Planet Sunil in Forest City. They are needed to build the base.
“Also, send out an Army Assembly on Planet Sunil, targeting all Black Star mercenaries!”
After accepting a string of orders, Phillip replied, “Orders confirmed, hum…”
Han Xiao did not stop there. Through the faction interface, he directly announced a new mission to all the players.
[Army Expansion—Base No. 3]!
…
Sunil soldiers patrolled outside a certain wild camp. In the camp, some players set up stores and formed teams.
There was quite a number of players in every camp. There were mission points and exploration points around the camps, and the players resupplied in the camps. Hence, they naturally became the players’ frequent spots.
Maple Moon sat in a corner with a ‘Repair’ mark on her head. She had set up a repairing store for equipment, and business was booming.
Back then, she had decided to follow the majority and went to Planet Sunil.
As a casual player, she did not like fighting and killing. She had always felt the Mechanic class was most suitable for her. In Version 1.0, she had followed Black Star for a very long time and benefitted a ton, so she was ahead of the other players. Her ability to repair and build was clearly far above many players of the same class. She was considered one of the top players.
Although she did not receive Black Star’s special treatment in Version 2.0, due to her already being ahead, her business had always been popular. Other players were more willing to go to her for repairs and purchases. With the large amounts of profits that she made from that, she had more resources to increase her strength, which formed a cycle.
However, Maple Moon rarely battled. Compared to fighting, she enjoyed the storyline more. The Sunil mission was right up her alley. Saving this race in danger and getting gratitude from the Sunils made her very happy.
There were quite many players who liked the storyline, similar to Maple Moon. To some players, profit was not the priority; what they wanted was a good story. The business plan that Han Xiao had set for the Black Star Army was to let the players experience various storylines through the hiring missions. The Sunil storyline was one of them. This way, their stories would become the army’s history.
At this time, Maple Moon realized that the players on the street had all stopped and opened their interface at the same time. This told her that something huge had happened, so she hastil
y checked the interface.
The mission to build the third base appeared in her eyes.
“Hmm? Black Star came to Sunil? Strange, the mission to save Sunil is not completed yet, and Base No. 3 can already be built?”
“Who cares? It’s a good thing that a new base can be built.”
The players chitchatted and left in groups, heading toward Forest City. The camp suddenly became empty.
Most players had already immersed themselves in the Black Star Army. They felt that their performance on Planet Sunil had made their faction grow again. They felt a sense of achievement.
Every time the faction developed, the players would feel fulfilled. Han Xiao’s method of building a sense of belonging was really working well.
Maple Moon packed up her store and headed to Forest City, too. Other than missions, she had another goal—to learn better blueprints from Black Star. She had stocked up quite a lot of experience over the past few months. She was not the only one; all the Mechanics on Planet Sunil were hoping to do the same.
Chapter 618 - Class Advancement!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The chosen location for Base No. 3 was not far from Forest City. All 200,000 of the players that were outside returned immediately after receiving the mission. With the help of spaceships, they gathered in no time.
Outside Forest City, 200,000 players gathered and focused their eyes on Han Xiao. Han Xiao borrowed the Dragon Emperor’s style once again, sitting on a mechanical throne that hovered in midair. He was not really trying to look cool. There were so many players, so they would not be able to see him if he was not flying.
It had been a while since Han Xiao had last been in close contact with players. He briefly observed the players. The equipment of the 200,000 players that had stayed on Planet Sunil for a few months had visibly changed. They could roughly be grouped into three types of people. The first type was those that wore heavy armor, mostly Sunil Enlistee Class armor and some Worker Bee Armors. What was worth mentioning was that the Sunil Armors these players wore all came from his army. The Sunils clearly knew that Han Xiao had secretly learned about their blueprints… but it did not matter even if they knew.
The second type of players were those that did not wear armor; these players made up about one-tenth of all the players. The Great Mechanic Han could not figure out whether they were poor… or poor. Be it Pugilists or Espers, buying a set of armor had pros and no cons. Even Bloodshed Land’s Vanguard Officials wore specially made armor.
Although these players did not wear armor, they still had some mechanical equipment on them, such as firearms, melee weapons, shield generators, and other sorts.
The third type of player did not use armor, too. What they wore was the Nuclear Flying Backpack. It was clear they were all ‘artists’.
In conclusion, all the players were using the Black Star Army’s products. Their equipment had been updated from head to toe, and they all looked refreshed. Finally, these players looked somewhat like galactic warriors. However, in Han Xiao’s eyes, they looked more like yards of green leeks.
Planet Sunil was the resource ground of NPCs. He had left 200,000 players to grow here for months, and they had stocked up a large amount of resources. Every single leek was looking fresh and nutritional.
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Han Xiao coughed, put on a serious expression, and said in a low voice, “Due to your hard work, Sunil’s troubles have been alleviated. However, a new obstacle has appeared in this mission, and we need more help. Hence, the original plan is being brought forward, and we will be building Base No. 3 on this planet as a stronghold.
“Phillip has sent the exact location to your communicators. Building a new base requires everyone’s help…”
Han Xiao explained the situation briefly. The players had no problems with it. They followed him to the chosen location for the base and started to clear out the trees and flattening the terrain.
[Army Expansion—Base No. 3] was a faction mission; it included many construction jobs that needed the players to complete. Every sub-mission rewarded experience and Contribution Points. The players were very motivated, not only because of the reward but also because they were personally taking part in the construction of the base, contributing to the growth of the faction.
The addition of Base No. 3 was beneficial to them. A new base meant that the army would store much more resources there. By that time, the players would no longer have to pre-order faction products and could collect them directly at Base No. 3. Furthermore, as hire missions could only be accepted in the base, the players now had one more place where they could accept hires and rest, other than the Planet Aquamarine and Planet Golden Gate bases. This was the Black Star Army’s new stronghold in the vast universe.
Han Xiao notified the galactical construction team that had been working with him from the beginning; they would arrive at Planet Sunil very soon. However, the construction teams could only build the buildings. The facilities still had to be completed by his own people. With 200,000 players, the construction speed of Base No. 3 would be tremendously increased.
The Noriosse and Rossozzi financial groups provided some help, too, and sent a large amount of supplies through their channels.
Han Xiao made a rough calculation. These two investors saved him about 600,000 Enas. This time, he planned to put in 2,700,000 Enas to build Base No. 3. His account had close to 50 million Enas saved up, so he could easily afford this expense.
One and a half years ago, he had only had the three to four million Enas that he had borrowed, and it had taken him more than half a year to build Base No.1. Less than two years later, his assets had multiplied more than ten times. It was a very remarkable increase.
The players were very efficient. Not long after, a huge, flat area appeared in the forest. As the construction materials that he had bought had yet to arrive, the players could not start working for the moment.
The tens of battleships that were on standby around Planet Sunil were all moved there, forming a temporary camp. Players were gathered there, as did Han Xiao.
Making use of this great opportunity, the players all approached Han Xiao, wanting to learn abilities. Most of them were Mechanics. After not seeing Han Xiao the Mechanic Mentor for a few months, they had all been looking forward to this moment.
This was exactly what Han Xiao had expected. He had planned long ago not to sell knowledge but blueprints this time.
He had a talent from his Scholar subclass—[Research Theory].
The effect of that talent was one bonus Intelligence point for every three abilities, which now gave Han Xiao about three hundred Intelligence points. This meant that Han Xiao now had close to a thousand blueprint abilities, which had cost him countless experience. This was an unimaginable number for the players.
Selling some low-level blueprints had a very limited effect on him. Han Xiao put up tens of low-level machinery blueprints at the same time.
The players were mostly above level 70. At this level, low-level blueprints were no longer rare; the players could fuse these themselves. However, due to the variety of knowledge combinations, hardly any Mechanic players could fuse the blueprints they wanted. Hence, the blueprints that they had were all very different.
He, however, sold blueprints directly, helping the players to escape the bottomless hole of gambling on blueprints.
Seeing so many blueprints, the Mechanic players’ eyes were all sparking.
After working on Planet Sunil for a few months, those players were not short of experience. Although the blueprints that Han Xiao was selling did not involve very high-level technology, they covered all kinds of things. There were firearms, explosives, mechanical soldiers, shields, mechanical suits, energy sources, carriers, and many others. Gambling blueprints relied on luck. Therefore, every player could find useful blueprints for themselves and make up for their weak spots.
Han Xiao was not worried about Mechanic class pla
yers affecting the sales of the Black Star Army after learning those blueprints. From a cost perspective, the players definitely could not compete with production lines and had no chance of selling things at the same low price. Furthermore, spending in the faction store rewarded players with Contribution Points. Besides, Han Xiao did not sell blueprints of the faction products; what he sold were the blueprints of the same type of machines but half a standard lower.
Han Xiao’s development plan also included partnering with material industries and selling players raw materials to make more money, expanding the Black Star Army’s business range while at the same time bringing convenience to the players so that they could buy the materials that they needed in the faction store without having to collect them themselves.
Of the 200,000 players, there were about 50,000 to 60,000 Mechanic class players. They bought blueprints joyfully, and most of them bought more than one.
Han Xiao’s experience quickly increased, shooting past the one billion mark, and continued to grow.
The players shockingly noticed that other than the low-level blueprints, there was also an extremely tempting high-level blueprint!
The Void Dragon Mechanical Suit!
“Thi—This is a god-tier blueprint!”
“Holy, now this is something!”
The Mechanic players were extremely tempted. Looking at the price—600,000 experience and 2,000 Enas—many felt a heartache. However, the impressive stats on the Void Dragon mechanical suit were like an erotic dancer in revealing clothing that kept telling the players, “Come and play.”
In the eyes of the players, Void Dragon’s stats were undoubtedly in the ‘god tier’ range. Some players that could afford it hesitated before clenching their teeth and buying it.
Seeing this, Han Xiao faintly smiled. Although this blueprint was high level, he had Berserk Ape now and had no use for Void Dragon anymore, so he sold it to the players.
The difficulty of making the Void Dragon mechanical suit was very high. The players would only be able to build it after level 90. Plus, its core material were Void Dragon bones; this was the most important factor to Han Xiao. Even if some players really built it, it would be impossible to replicate.
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