All of a sudden, the entire base was covered in white light, and the players appeared one after another. The empty base was instantly filled with people, and the silent base became bustling with activity.
“Haha! We can finally come online!”
“It’s a new version!”
“It’s already Version 3.0, and we still can’t take off our pants? Bad update!” A male player roared in rage.
“My goodness, it is already Version 3.0, and the pants stripping party still hasn’t given up?”
“We will always be around and never leave…”
“Long Sky is so cool! Hao Tian is so cool!” There were still some who were trapped in the second Pro League.
In the base, the players all chatted with each other excitedly, and the entire base was bustling like a market.
Before the update, many players had logged off in the various bases with the number of players in Base No.1 being the most. More than 100,000 players had appeared in Base No.1.
Frenzied Sword was also among the first wave of players to log on. After the Pro League ended, he took a good break. However, he was a professional player and could not afford to fall behind during the release of the new update. Thus, all the professional players all logged in at the very first moment.
Frenzied Sword, Hao Tian, King Admiral, Li Ge, and the others had all logged off in Base No.1. They all gathered together and instinctively opened the interface to check any changes.
“Our attributes and skills didn’t change, but the level limit has been increased. The level limit in Version 3.0 seems to be 120,” Hao Tian said.
“The faction interface is still present. Thankfully, the Black Star Army didn’t close shop.” Frenzied Sword and many others heaved a sigh of relief.
As long as the Black Star Army was still around, the Faction Contribution Points that they had spent a great deal of effort to accumulate would not be wasted.
After checking their attributes on the interface, the professional players all heaved a sigh of relief. At this moment, the other players also snapped out of their initial excitement and got to work.
Having experienced the previous version refresh, the players knew what they should do. The most important thing to do after the update was to understand what had changed in the world.
Including the professional players, all the players in the base took out their communicators to see how long had gone by since the last time they logged in.
Looking at the date, everyone was immediately shocked.
“My goodness, it has been a full ten years?”
“Isn’t this a little too long? Will the NPCs from the previous version have forgotten about us?”
“Version 1.0 and 2.0 were only separated by about a year, but this was multiplied by ten times…”
“How terrifying, truly terrifying…”
“Could this be because of the Main Storyline in this version? Could it be that ten years was required to develop the Main Storyline? I remember Black Star personally revealing the existence of the Crimson Dynasty in one of Bun-Hit-Dog’s videos. Bun-Hit-Dog analyzed that Version 3.0 will very likely be related to the Crimson Dynasty. Could this be why this version is called Crimson Tide?”
It had been a full ten years since the previous version. This discovery truly shocked all the players. This was the longest time skip between versions!
Everyone discussed the changes as they looked around the base to see the changes over the past ten years.
Everyone quickly realized something strange. In the past version, this base was the headquarters of the Black Star Army and had many NPC mercenaries around all the time. However, the base was extremely silent now without a single NPC in sight. It was as though the entire base had been deserted.
“Could it be that something happened to the Black Star Army?” Someone opened up the Mercenary Alliance page and realized that the resume of the Black Star Army had disappeared.
Following which, everyone then attempted to open up the child AI program of the Black Star Army but received an ‘Insufficient authority, please sign up again’ message.
In the past ten years, Phillip had updated its child program many times, and the program in the players hands was completely useless. They had to obtain approval from the Black Star Army and submit a new application before they could use the program.
This discovery was instantly spread among the players, and everyone immediately grew nervous.
Almost all the Chinese players were in the Black Star Army, and the Black Star Army was already their own faction. The players were desperate to find out what had happened to the Black Star Army in their absence.
“Let’s go take a look first.” Frenzied Sword was the most anxious, and he left the base with the other professional players behind him.
With someone in the lead, the players all swarmed out of the base and realized that there was not a single guard present.
Walking out of the base, the players realized that Base No.1 was much smaller than before as though it had been renovated. Many regions had been dismantled, and it seemed extremely desolate. Upon realizing this, Frenzied Sword and the others could not help but feel nervous.
The busy streets of Planet Golden Gate were located right outside the base, and the buildings were all covered in a warm evening sun. The street was completely filled with players, and some players had no choice but to activate their mechanical suits to fly up into the sky. They immediately got into action and searched for NPCs to find some clues.
Not too far away, there were a few Godoran pedestrians, and Frenzied Sword, Hao Tian, and the others immediately rushed forward.
“What do you guys want?” This pedestrian looked a little frightened.
“Don’t be afraid. We only want to ask you some questions,” Frenzied Sword hurriedly replied.
The pedestrian nodded with a tinge of fear and caught a glimpse of the Black Star logo on Frenzied Sword’s mechanical suit. His expression immediately changed, and he asked, “You guys are from the Black Star Army?”
Everyone’s face lit up. This person still knew about Black Star even after ten years! This meant that there was some hope!
Frenzied Sword hurriedly pointed to Base No.1 and asked, “Can I ask if that is still the headquarters of the Black Star Army?”
“You guys are from the Black Star Army. Why do you have to ask me that question?” The pedestrian had a queer look on his face but still replied honestly, “That is no longer the Black Star Army headquarters.”
“Then where is the Black Star Army headquarters located?” Frenzied Sword asked.
The pedestrian pointed up toward the sky and said, “It’s up there.”
In the sky?
Frenzied Sword and the others looked up doubtfully, and their faces immediately froze in place with their jaws dropping in shock.
All the players then looked up with their mouths wide open as though someone had cast a spell on them.
A gigantic metal planet floating outside the atmosphere of Planet Golden Gate appeared in their eyes!
There was no need for them to even search. They would not be able to pretend that they could not see such a gigantic planet.
Could it be that the gigantic stronghold about the size of a planet was the current headquarters of the Black Star Army?
The hundred thousand or so players were completely dumbfounded!
In Version 2.0, the Black Star Army’s headquarters had only been a single base. But after ten years, the army had a planet that was not smaller than Planet Golden Gate as their headquarters?
Just what did the Black Star Army experience over the past ten years?
Just what did they miss!
Chapter 717 - Changing in a Blink
“Oh my goodness, the headquarters is actually this huge toy. How much money is it worth
“The Black Star Army could not have taken over the entire Garton Star System already, right?”
Just as the hundreds of thousands of p
layers looked up toward the sky with dumbstruck expressions, their interfaces all vibrated as they received a notification.
Frenzied Sword recovered from his stupor, immediately opening the interface, and a look of joy appeared on his expression.
All the players who belonged to the Black Star Army had received the same faction mission.
[Ten Years): The First Link
Mission Introduction: The winds of change have blown, and the years passed quickly. Ten years have been and gone, and the situation in the universe is turbulent, with many undercurrents moving. You will participate in the tidal waves of this era. It is time for you to return to your team.
Mission Requirements: Proceed to the nearest Black Star Army satellite fortress.
Reward: 15,000 Experience, +300 Black Star Army Favorability
This is a chain mission.
Han Xiao had been watching the time for the players to come online. It was precisely he who had issued the mission for everyone to return through the faction interface. This was to allow the players to be guided to understand the new version and not allow them to run off with a head full of fog.
Because Han Xiao’s wording was formal, it was akin to a new mission for the players. In any case, any mission issued through the player interface would be a legitimate mission.
With the players having just touched on the new Version, it was the period where they were most eager to understand the changes that had happened in the galaxy. This mission was akin to a beacon in the dark, like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey, attracting their attention through creating an itch in their hearts.
“This is the guiding mission released by the new version. As long as we follow this, we will understand where the storyline has advanced. Believe me, there will not be any problems in doing so!” Bun-Hit-Dog had a firm look of confirmation.
“To actually be a storyline mission released by the Black Star Army Faction…” Frenzied Sword’s eyes lit up. “This should be a hint that the Black Star Army will play an important role in Version 3.0!”
No one would reject the guided mission for this storyline version, and the majority of the players had their own thoughts on their next course of action. They would go over to the dock to take a spaceship, which would ferry them into the sky to squeeze into that sky fortress.
Just as everyone had the thought in their heads, in the direction of the Black Star Army’s Satellite Headquarters appeared many tiny black dots the size of sesame seeds. They expanded at a rate visible to the naked eye and turned out to be a fleet with the insignia of Black Star on them. They hovered above the heads of the tens of thousands of players, the stable anti-gravity device installed in them not even raising a wind.
Those present could not help but pause in shock. At this moment, the bottom of the battleships opened, releasing traction beams toward the ground. At the same time, the cabin crew spoke through the loudspeakers, broadcasting their voices throughout the sky of the entire city.
“All members of the Black Star Army, please board the fleet. I repeat, all the members of the Black Star Army board the fleet.”
All of them were spaceships that Han Xiao had specially deployed to escort the players. The players present did not imagine that the Black Star Army would actually send someone to pick them up, causing them to feel incredibly surprised.
This was Godora’s planet. To be so unbridled in the city, was the Black Star Army so powerful now?
All signs indicated that the Black Star Army was no longer the same. The players could not wait to know what had happened in the past decade.
Everyone lined up to board the spaceship, and the fleet returned right after taking in the passengers.
After boarding the ship, the players started to take action, asking the NPCs around the ship to uncover more intelligence. However, the distance from Planet Golden Gate to their headquarters was too short, not even needing half a minute to arrive there. The players who wished to gather intelligence could only dispel their thoughts.
The Black Star Army headquarters grew larger as they got closer, allowing the players to see more details of this armed satellite fortress. The ground was full of defensive measures, all kinds of weird devices, and there was even a huge thruster. Rather than calling it an armed satellite fortress, it might as well as be called a satellite battleship!
The pro players gathered together and observed through the porthole. Frenzied Sword could not help but click his tongue. “This thing looks freakishly strong. Rather than a satellite, it is more apt to call it a weapon.”
“I recall that in the previous version, having tens of thousands of flagships was already extremely scary. To think that the moment this version opens, there’s something even scarier appearing. There was no such thing in the previous version, if I remember,” Hao Tian mused.
“We don’t even know if this was designed by Black Star…” Maple Moon was curious.
Very quickly, the fleet reached the airport, and the tens of thousands of players streamed out, quickly occupying a large area of the dock and looking around, curiously taking in their surroundings.
201
they arrived, the players felt the lively atmosphere. There were NPCs milling about, every one of them carrying the insignia of the Black Star Army. This was far more crowded than looking at the base from the planet surface.
“Is this our new headquarters? Why are there no NPCs to welcome us?”
“What do we do next?”
Just as the players started to hesitate, their interface changed, showing the completion of the first chain mission (Ten Years). Han Xiao immediately released the second chain mission.
(Ten Years]: The Second Link
Mission Introduction: In the past decade, Galaxy has undergone huge changes. You need to review the deeds of the Black Star Army in the past decade.
Mission Requirements: Update and activate the internal procedures of Black Star Army, and watch the video lesson (History of the Black Star Army (Required)].
Reward: 25,000 Experience, +500 Black Star Army Favorability
Han Xiao had been observing the players movements from inside the base. He did not need to show himself but used the mission function to dictate the players’ movements. This would be more natural and secretive.
“This must be the backstory for the new version!”
“I told you, there’ll definitely be some notification for this version, just like in Version 2.0!”
“How convenient. I thought we’d have to look for leads ourselves.”
Frenzied Sword’s eyes gleamed. He was actually thinking about what had happened between the two versions. He did not expect this guiding mission to directly publish the information they most wanted to know. How good this was!
Their mission requirement was to update their internal procedures, which was the Phillip subprogram. This was the toy installed by all members of the Black Star Army and contained the ability to check their resumes, accumulated achievements, browse the faction store, call airdrop supplies, and more.
The tens of thousands of players took out their communicators and opened their subprograms. This time, there was some response for them at last. Phillip’s virtual image turned into a 3D projection, which was suspended above the communicator.
“Coordinate detection… Coordinates confirmed. Your current position is the base of the Black Star Army. Permissions have been unfrozen. You have obtained permission to update your database. Please scan to verify, hum…”
Before the version update, Phillip’s subprogram could not support the function of stereo projection. Players could only use words to tease Phillip. However, he now had an avatar. Phillip appeared as a finger-sized boy that appeared as cute as a girl would.
Many of the female players’ eyes lit up when they saw him, and they could not help but touch Phillip with their fingers. Although there was no tactile feeling being transmitted, Phillip acted as though he had been hit and covered his little face, which was full of tears.
His innocent expression seemed to convey that he was in pain because his projection had the function of virtual sensing.
Instantly, the majority of female players, including Maple Moon, were captivated by Phillip, their motherly love disastrously overflowing:
“Waa, how can something be so cute!”
“Oh no, this is the feeling of having a child!”
“He’s so cute. My heart is gonna melt…”
“So cute, how apt.”
Hao Tian squeezed on Phillip’s head, causing it to explode and turn into a pile of light debris. The next moment, it reformed, and Phillip shivered in a corner of the screen. Hao Tian mused, “There’s no notification on combat information. It seems like he cannot be reared as a pet to fight.”
Standing by the side, Frenzied Sword’s mouth was twitching incessantly. “Are you the Devil himself?”
The crowd teased Phillip for a while before he announced that the update was completed. The players present all then opened the subprogram. Phillip retracted back into the screen before issuing a notification.
“Permissions have been reactivated. Welcome back to the Black Star Army. Please access your academic program.”
A beam of light shot out from the communicators of everyone present, forming a 3D screen as the video played. The title of the video was ‘History of the Black Star Army’, and this was exactly the academic program that they were required to watch.
Han Xiao had set up the activation program to automatically play the academic program. Not just the players, every single member of the Black Star Army had to undergo this course. This was basically a textbook used to establish the culture of Black Star Army, and the producer was Rossellin.
In his previous life, the players basically had to dig out the background of each version update by themselves, which was very inefficient. Han Xiao simply used his advantage to directly tell the players the history of the version update in this way, such that they would be able to figure out the situation earlier. This would save them a lot of trouble while improving the sense of identity the players felt, increasing their belonging to the Black Star Army.
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 453
