by <unknown>
“I see…” Morning Snow Twilight Frost scratched his chin and said casually, “Then, do you want to join our guild?”
Half A Cigarette When Lonely was surprised and agreed immediately. Morning Snow Twilight Frost sent him the invitation on the spot, and after Half A Cigarette When Lonely agreed, the guild prefix appeared on his interface. Just like that, Half A Cigarette When Lonely joined the renowned guild, feeling it was all a dream.
He claimed to dislike guilds because the guilds that he had requested to join all rejected him, and these small guilds were nothing compared to the Ancient Dynasty. The guild leader himself had invited him to join, so Half A Cigarette When Lonely felt refreshed and jubilant immediately.
The guilds hold onto the resources, but this kind of lucky draw is the chances for us normal players to rise. This is the only way we can only get high-level equipment with little cost. Black Phantom’s Machinery Box is really a blessing.
Half A Cigarette When Lonely was content.
…
[Black Phantom’s Machinery Box]’s popularity continued to grow. Players published all kinds of posts in the forums. Some posts that calculated the rarity chance for the box mentioned King Of Single Draw and So Poor I Only Have Money Left as negative examples, adding salt to their injury, especially So Poor I Only Have Money Left’s incident of getting just blue equipment after buying a hundred boxes at once.
Half A Cigarette When Lonely’s miracle draws were also mentioned. When he opened a few more boxes later on, his lucked remained, and he got two more purple equipment, causing more surprise and jealousy. With so many pieces of purple equipment in hand, his strength would definitely not be weak. The people also noticed that he had joined Ancient Dynasty guild, and the other guilds regretted how they did not grab the opportunity.
Han Xiao was quite tempted to bring Half A Cigarette When Lonely into his team, but he gave the idea up after some considerations. Luck was not something one could depend on. Half A Cigarette When Lonely’s skills were not up to his recruitment standard, and compared to luck, Han Xiao trusted more in true skills.
On the forums, some people compiled lists of all the useful items people received from the boxes, including machinery, useful materials, and parts. The large amount of good loot attracted more players, and the other players across the continents were all jealous of the loot box event in Sanctuary Three.
More Southern Continent players came after they heard about this. Even the players that went on the expedition wanted to return right now. They had thought that there would be a lot of missions and opportunities during the war, but who knew the situation would change so fast? After Han Xiao stole the secrets of the Germinal Organization, they could barely even struggle, so the players ended up only watching.
The Western Continent and Northern Continent players wished they had been born in the Southern Continent, that they could just grow a pair of wings and fly to Sanctuary Three. Unfortunately, due to the war, inter-continent flights were closed temporarily. The Andrea players were the unluckiest bunch—they felt like they had not experienced anything good since creating their characters.
The loot box event was a huge success. Han Xiao started one more new event to further strengthen his position. The event this time was publishing a type of prize pool mission as another recurring mission in the main city. The feedback was quite positive as well. The players saw more benefits, at the same time increasing the variety of events in the main city.
Han Xiao gave some material to Bun-hit-dog for the next episode of his show. With a more detailed introduction of Han Xiao’s past and experience, more detailed than the post in the forums, it once again strengthened the players’ impression of him, at the same time promoting Sanctuary Three.
The players’ reaction was very important to Han Xiao, who spent most of his time to look through the forums, which looked like he was staring into the black to Hila and the rest.
“Galaxy Times published a new episode, the subtitle is Planet Aquamarine War? The Galaxy Times really used a single planet as their title, yet they are focusing on Planet Aquamarine this time. I don’t remember this episode from my previous life…”
Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled, and he clicked into the video.
“Hello players,” the male host, Spring, greeted. “This is Galaxy Times, dedicated to sharing first-hand game information. Your gaming career is our top priority.”
“Spring, I have been learning an instrument recently.”
“Really? What instrument did you learn, Autumn?”
“I’ll perform for you, and you have to guess.”
The female host took out a guitar and played a familiar rhythm. After she finished, she asked, “Spring, can you guess what did I play?”
“You’re playing the guitar.”
“…”
The opening joke was as awkward as always.
After enduring that part, they finally started talking about serious matters. The hosts first started talking about the things happening in the pro scene, the problems that the players met, then changed the topic to their theme for this episode.
“… Recently, many things have happened in Planet Aquamarine. The war between Six Nations and the Germinal Organization broke out, and it affected the entire planet. Players were experiencing this event. Without a doubt, this is definitely one of the main storylines of the planet, and compared to other planets, the main storyline in Planet Aquamarine broke out the earliest. Therefore, it is of significance. In today’s episode, we will be analyzing the main storyline war on Planet Aquamarine, concluding the characteristics of main storyline events, and predicting its influence in the future.”
After hearing this, Han Xiao finally understood why this episode appeared. Under his influence, the war main storyline between the Six Nations and the Germinal Organization had broken out a year in advance, and the players were still in the early stages at the moment. Most of the main storyline on the novice planets were still brewing; therefore, the global war on Planet Aquamarine attracted the most attention. It was a very good material for an episode.
The two hosts first introduced the planet background of Planet Aquamarine, then started to analyze the situation.
“The war has lasted close to two months and has now entered its final stage. The Germinal Organization is at the edge of defeat. The war also made a very obvious impact on the planet’s structure. A big organization for the players, [Germinal Organization] is now facing their end. The players belonging to the Germinal Organization are in a very bad situation, not knowing where to go after the war. There will most likely be a few possibilities, becoming the remnants of the Germinal Organization, joining the Six Nations, or maybe becoming wanderers.”
“From this event, it can be concluded that one of the characteristics of the main storyline is that it will have a huge impact, pose a drastic change, have a large scale, and so on.”
“However, although the Planet Aquamarine players participated in the war main storyline, they did not make much of an impact. They were just normal soldiers and had limited effects on the big picture. Of course, we also saw many possibilities from this. The players now have a rather low average level, and it should be different once their level is higher. Therefore, players from other planets, look forward to your own main storyline events.”
“As the participation level of the players was not high, we can conclude that the Planet Aquamarine main storyline might very well be rushed. It’s more like a cutscene plotline in the players’ perspective. With this thought in mind, our teams arranged the data from the players in the forums and noticed something very interesting. Please look below. These are the two possible scenarios of the Planet Aquamarine main storyline that our channel deduced.”
This time, two tables appeared on the screen with different content, describing a revolutionary event before the start of the expedition war.
Han Xiao raised his eyebrows. One of the tables included the things that he had done, such as es
caping from the Germinal Organization, exposing intelligence that caused the destruction of Germinal Organization bases, and so on. That was all the current storyline—he exposed his identity, and this data was given to the players through different sources as well. His deeds in the table were all marked red.
Another table took away the things he had done, and the derived result was completely different. It was assumed that the conflict between the Six Nations and the Germinal Organization would start from the bases in various continents, which all the players would be able to take part in. The players would then grow through these opportunities, the war would only happen when the level of the players was much higher, and it would last many times longer than now.
This caught Han Xiao’s attention, and he continued to watch. Interesting, this is very similar to the storyline of my previous life. Their logic and observations must be really detailed to be able to notice this. There are hidden talents in the players after all.
“… As everyone can see,” the male host continued, “the derived result of these two tables are completely different. One of them is the current storyline, and another is a derived storyline. However, the derived storyline seems to have more characteristics of how the main storyline should be, so what led to the difference in the results?”
“That’s right, these events marked in red are indeed the key turning points behind the war breaking out in advance, and the key to this is someone that the Planet Aquamarine players are all very familiar with—Black Phantom, Zero, Han Xiao!”
Chapter 281. The Limitations of Being a Main Character |
The two hosts carefully analyzed the main storyline for the audience and followed it with the episode’s main topic—Han Xiao. As the main character on Planet Aquamarine, Han Xiao’s character was frequently talked about on the forums, and other planets’ players were also able to get to know him from the show.
Han Xiao raised his eyebrow at this. It was not the first time that his name had appeared on Galaxy Times. It was a given, considering how much he had worked to raise his popularity among the players.
With Han Xiao revealing his own identity and many more plot points behind the scene, Galaxy Times was able to come up with their version of Planet Aquamarine’s main storyline. The players mainly agreed with what they said as well, as their explanation was pretty logical.
From the players’ perspective, Han Xiao had an essential role in the [Six Nations and Germinal] storyline. Now that the story had already been set in stone, his recent achievements emphasized his importance in the main storyline, allowing more players to become interested in him.
“I am very famous on Planet Aquamarine, but my popularity is limited with the players from other planets. Getting reported on by Galaxy Times due to my recent actions could be counted as a kind of advertisement,” Han Xiao muttered.
The female host continued the segment. “According to the above, Black Phantom played a main role in the [Six Nations and Germinal] storyline. Based on the information gathered by the players, we can make bold assumptions that every single main storyline will have a key character like Han Xiao, otherwise known as the planet’s main character. We could even say that each planet’s main storyline was started by someone like Han Xiao…”
Han Xiao shook his head a few times when he heard that.
In truth, the main character of the [Six Nations and Germinal] storyline was the Germinal leader… But, ahem, that was not important.
The male host picked up when the female host stopped. “Logically, all NPCs are capable of starting events on their own, and the stronger and more experienced NPCs will be able to add diverse storylines into a planet’s story.
“So, this also means that main storyline characters are limited by the map they’re based in. In Black Phantom’s case, he is currently a hot topic in Planet Aquamarine’s main story, but does this mean that he will remain an important NPC in the future? Most likely not. His area of activity is limited to the beginner planet that he’s on, and once space travel is unlocked in future versions, once important NPCs such as him will just become fodder.
“On the other hand, those NPCs that have ties with galactic organizations or entities will have the highest potential to affect future plot development. Another beginner planet, Ice Winter Planet, was under the control of the Hell Demons, a powerful galactic entity, and is more likely to have NPCs who will develop into the later stages of Galaxy. Planets such as Planet Aquamarine and Planet Longtune with underdeveloped civilizations have less of a prospect…”
The show covered all sorts of topics, and some of the audience agreed while others argued against it. Once the hosts were done analyzing the situation on Planet Aquamarine, they moved onto interviewing the pro players. Han Xiao was not interested in this and stopped watching.
He had thought that the show was going to keep on praising him, but it turned out that they only turned around to backstab him in the end. However, the hosts did have a point. It was like how LV 1 players would get bullied by the bosses in the novice villages, but once the players leveled up, those bosses would become nothing but small fries. Han Xiao was also well aware the fact that Planet Aquamarine was not an impressive beginner planet.
But that did not mean that he was going to just do nothing.
Once he thought about his plan, he smirked and said, “We’ll see about that…”
…
Bang!
The alchemy room’s door was first twisted before being blown off its hinges and smashing into all the tools and equipment on the table. Emerald Grass, who had her back to the door, was shocked and turned around to see what had happened. All she saw was a figure by the door with blazing red hair who was walking toward her with enmity.
“What do you want?” Emerald Grass was alarmed and pointed at the intruder. Vines started to grow out of the surrounding crates and danced in the air like venomous snakes.
Hila was surrounded by a dark red energy, and with eyes also blazing with a crimson light, she said in a cold voice, “Give it.”
Emerald grass frowned and walked to the side as she revealed a row of test tubes on a table, each filled with some sort of bright red liquid. She shook her head and asked, “Do you mean these potions? These are all developed from your sister’s DNA. Do you want to try? They have pretty amazing effects.”
Hila, without even hesitating, raised her hand and shot out her red energy toward the test tubes. Emerald Grass cursed silently and hurriedly moved her plants to block Hila’s attack to protect the potions.
Bang!
The dark red energy waves cut through the vines like hot knife through butter, and the clean cuts sprayed green juice all over the place. Emerald Grass barely dodged the attacks, and the walls around her were all blasted right through.
“Lunatic!” Emerald Grass gritted her teeth and tried her best to block Hila’s attacks. The red energy waves clashed with the plants again and again, causing explosions to reverberate throughout the room and debris to fly all over the place.
The guards outside were frightened, and they did not know who to help.
“Quick, inform Lord Black Phantom about this!” The guard captain immediately made a decision and turned around. But before he could get very far, a black shadow had appeared at the end of the road and sped over. It was Han Xiao.
Han Xiao was always monitoring the alchemy room, and the moment he saw the fight begin, he rushed over. “Stop!”
Emerald Grass’s forehead was covered in sweat. Her powers were not as strong as Hila’s when it came to direct confrontations, and she was afraid that she would sustain injuries the moment she stopped using her powers. “I will stop if she stops.”
Hila’s expression remained unchanged as she had already steeled herself to kill Emerald Grass.
Han Xiao frowned, and faint blue light started to gather under his feet. He lightly stepped, causing this energy to spread through the floor, causing a mini earthquake that split open the ground.
Bu
zz!
Eight metal gun barrels popped out of the ground, and one could hear sounds of gears locking into place. They quickly turned into mini turrets and were pointed straight at the two combatants.
Trap-type Mini Mobile Turret. A new creation. They were placed in all the important areas in the shelter and could only be activated by Han Xiao.
“I think you may be forgetting who owns this place,” Han Xiao said in a low voice.
Hila gritted her teeth but backed off in the end, albeit with a murderous expression still on her face. Emerald Grass finally relaxed and let out a breath as she massaged her temple. She had just been attacked in the mind by Hila’s shockwaves and was suffering from some painful headaches.
“You didn’t keep up your promise of protecting my sister.” Hila turned her head and stared right into Han Xiao’s eyes.
Han Xiao sighed helplessly. “You’re overreacting.”
Emerald Grass held up one of the test tubes. “Humph. I made these using the DNA I got from Aurora’s hair strands. I was just recycling. I didn’t even hurt your sisters. What’re you so mad about‽”
“You can’t!” Hila said in a cold voice. To her, Emerald Grass’s actions were too similar to Germinal’s, and it made her remember some painful memories from the past.
Neither wanted to back off, and Han Xiao’s head was starting to hurt. Conflict with allies was not easy to resolve.
At this moment, Aurora strolled over in her wheelchair, with the bear cub swinging back and forth on her legs.
Aurora looked much better than she had done a month ago. Her once shriveled hair had become soft and smooth; her once bony body had started to take on some weight, and she was emitting a positive and shiny aura. Her power that had been suppressed for so long was finally released, and it allowed her to look like a normal person again within a month.
