by <unknown>
After talking with the other players, Li Ge also found out that the other group of players had gotten a reward of 300 Contribution Points.
His mood was extremely poor. He regretted that he did not stay put and instead ran around like a monkey. Why did they think that they knew more about the universe than Han Xiao?
The other players soon heard about Li Ge’s anguish and laughed. At the same time, they had more faith in Han Xiao—Han Xiao was the only beam of light that they should follow. If they followed Han Xiao, they could get the most benefits rather than trying their luck outside.
…
With the hard work of the players, the Mercenary Group’s Credibility Rating increased little by little.
Han Xiao rented a machinery modification room and tried to make a new battle helmet using the new knowledge that he had gained and the resources that he had brought from Planet Aquamarine. He called it [SIN – Type-A Carbon Life Form Radar (Helmet)]. It had multiple layers of detection and could detect living creatures within several kilometers. It also had a strong radar function and strong life support systems such as air filtration. Han Xiao made a dozen of them and prepared to sell them to the players. The helmet was essential equipment for missions in space.
After a few days, Bun-hit-dog finally released the first episode of his space adventure, and the forums seemed to only discuss the topic.
[Galaxy Exploration Diary: Black Star (1)]
The title of this episode indicated that it was the start of a new series. The editing of the opening of the show changed to the view of Short Horn Star, Juberly Hub, and an alien creature with a weird shape. A few minutes had passed, and viewers flooded the channel in an instant. Bun-hit-dog’s Black Phantom show had built a solid, loyal fan base.
This trailer for the new series also garnered a lot of attention. It was the first show about space, and not only the players from Planet Aquamarine, even foreign players from other new planets were excited about the show. The view count rose exponentially, and within a few minutes, it almost broke the record for the highest view count in the past shows.
Bun-hit-dog was showered with attention, and his popularity was boosted once more; he was undoubtedly the top figure in the Galaxy film industry.
“What? There’s actually an update!”
“What the hell! There are three million and two hundred people watching right now! Am I seeing this correctly?”
“I’m so excited!”
“Let me see what you’ve got, you foreign friend!”
Bun-hit-dog’s large face then showed up on the screen. He used his disgusting voice and started the show. “Welcome to the Galaxy Exploration Diary. I am Bun-hit-dog. You might be wondering if something is missing. That’s right, since I haven’t had enough time, there won’t be a poem to start off this episode.”
Bullet comments instantly covered the screen.
“One can never be too careful.”
“This host doesn’t have any dignity.”
“Screw your family.”
For the first episode of the Black Star Series, Bun-hit-dog used a different editing method, which did not follow the previous format where he focused on informative content. He filmed the entire process of Han Xiao leading the players up to the Short Horn Star and then on to Juberly Hub, then he edited the video in the style of a movie. It gave up the informative tone that the previous show focused on. For this new show, there was barely any narration, and with some adjustment to the color of the scene, the audience had a new experience as if they were watching a TV series.
Because there was too much materials to use, Bun-hit-dog could not edit the size down. So, he directly changed the show to a video with a story, and the video was an hour long. After the success of his Black Phantom Series, Bun-hit-dog had become more motivated about trying new styles of film that had more artistic value, rather than limiting himself to informative content with a sarcastic tone. The change was evident, and he achieved great success.
As the video went on, the scene of space unfolded in front of audiences’ eyes. In the unfathomable depths of space with all sorts of spaceships zooming around, the show was like a black hole, sucking in all the attention in to this beautiful scene. When Han Xiao appeared on the screen, the bullet comments went on a rampage again.
“Han Xiao finally showed up!”
“Suck everything out of Black Phantom!”
“Hugging Black Phantom is just a 100-meter sprint!”
“Han Xiao is my husbando, don’t you dare touch my love!”
“Oh my. Black Phantom is now up in the heavens. There are no more boxes for me to open. I still need to gamble! I need to prove my true lineage!”
“Bro, just go sleep. You can find anything in your dreams.”
The text on the bullet comments flew by, and there were quiet some fan girls in there, but it was unclear how many old uncles were in there as well.
Bun-hit-dog also edited in some interactions of the professional players. Of course, he had gotten their approval to use the footage first. These players had gotten to know each other as the days passed, and their relationship had become closer and closer. Their interactions were funny and entertaining, which also attracted a lot of fans to watch the show. Quite a number of fans of the professional players also sent out bullet comments.
Suddenly, the scavengers showed up, and Han Xiao and the players protected the spaceship. The bullet comments flooded the screen again, and all sorts of messages were there.
“Holy cow. In this new simulation of space travel, you can also kill monsters and get experience.”
“Black Phantom is still so strong. He still owned the aliens like it was nothing.”
“Seeing that Han Xiao is still wrecking everyone, I can now drop my worries.”
In the journey to the Juberly Hub, the large space station made the viewers’ jaws dropped. The video also came to an end there. In the last scene, Han Xiao led the players to the Mercenary Alliance, and everyone registered as a mercenary. As the camera zoomed in, it looked on the words ‘Black Star Mercenary Group’ and froze the frame for three seconds! The audience also stared at those words.
Then the screen turned black with three words—To be continued.
Bun-hit-dog had decided to cut the video there because he saw that there would be great potential for the Faction. Other than the leader, all the other members were players. The journey of an NPC leading the players to the world of adventure would definitely lure the interest of the audience.
And he was right. When the video ended, the audience was greatly unsatisfied, wanting to see more of the show, feeling the emptiness of not being able to watch a new episode.
The last three seconds of the show created great interest and curiosity of the name ‘Black Star’ in the hearts of the audience.
Of course, this episode hinted at the great potential storyline in the future.
“I can’t wait for another episode!”
“I won’t go anywhere until I see the next episode!”
“Ahhhh. I want to lock Bun-hit-dog in my basement as my slave to pump out more shows.”
“Um… I think he would like that.”
“Hey, what are you thinking? I’m ashamed of you dirty minded creatures.”
The view count of this episode skyrocketed to an unprecedented level. The audience cheered, and the players who had not been chosen by Han Xiao were drowned in jealousy, hating themselves for not being able to last thirty seconds. The influence that this episode brought made the Galaxy Times add another section to their new show.
“A long time ago, we deduced that the storyline character had its own limit, where once they finished their storyline, they would turn into a nobody. However, this incident shows that we were completely wrong. [Black Phantom] Han Xiao… Oh, I mean [Black Star] Han Xiao proved us wrong. His activity was not limited by the level of the civilization. He headed deep into space and became the first man from Planet Aquamarine to explore the universe. This
is his new arc!
“We thought that Han Xiao was only a character on Planet Aquamarine. From what we have seen now, everyone guessed wrong. He did not have only one war storyline. He has another more advanced main storyline on space exploration. Compared to other beginner planets, Planet Aquamarine’s potential was limited, but after the rise of Han Xiao, he has opened a path to explore new territory and storylines.
“Black Star Han Xiao was not the main character of this planet!”
[Galaxy Times] was brave in recognizing its base mistake, and its honest attitude garnered a positive reaction from the viewers. The segment also boosted the popularity of Han Xiao and promoted his status to a level above the ‘main character of a planet’ to something even higher. This raised another question from the players.
How far could he go?
Han Xiao also saw the show, and the effect achieved what he wanted. The players looked up to him even more, which meant that Han Xiao was accepted at a deeper level in their hearts.
Thousands of players discussed frantically on the forums, and the heat of the topic did not stop.
However, no one would think that Bun-hit-dog’s episode was not only popular for a short period of time. The show stayed relevant for much longer than people had thought. In the future, countless people would go back to this episode, which became known as…
The beginning of Black Star.
Chapter 335. Cheap Bait |
The daily missions were the low-level missions. Once a faction’s credibility rating had reached a certain level, daily hiring missions could no longer be used to gain credibility points. This ensured that faction’s credibility rating reflected their actual capability.
120 points happened to be the first cutoff. This was the minimum to become an ‘official’ mercenary group, one that would actually attract potential clients.
The pro players had great efficiency. Their faction was able to gain 120 credibility points in two short days. Han Xiao then released the faction mission reward, with King Admiral, Hao Tian, and the Berserkers team captain, Yan Ran, being the top three contributors. The players whom Han Xiao had recruited were not just limited to the four big guilds, and he had also made sure to get people from the top-ranking gaming clubs and teams from the tournament, such as Thunder Storm and the Berserkers. Thunder Storm was alright. They even had the beauty, Rainy Kim, and was thus getting a decent amount of attention. The Berserkers, on the other hand, despite being a top-class battle team, did not have much of a presence. To be honest, Han Xiao would have completely forgotten about them had Yan Ran not made it to the top three this time.
Han Xiao gave those three additional rewards and also re-emphasized to the players that contributing to the faction would net them a lot of benefits. The additional reward was his newly produced [SIN – Type-A Carbon Life Form Radar (Helmet)]. It was something that could only be exchanged with 800 faction points and immediately invited the other players’ envy.
Then, Han Xiao announced, “This helmet can greatly enhance your sight and function in many extreme environments…”
He explained the helmet’s functions in a way that implied the necessity of this helmet for the future outbound missions.
The three winners quickly put on the helmet to test its features for themselves. The internal screen displayed all kinds of analyzed information of their surroundings such as energy density. They could even adjust the display themselves. The function of this item was clear to see, and it also gave decent protection for the head. It was an item that suited all player classes.
Frenzied Sword was close to Hao Tian, and he was able to borrow the helmet to test it out himself. After putting it on, he could not help but say, “It really is a good item.”
After the others saw this, they also took turns putting on the helmet to see for themselves. They were then convinced that they had to earn this item in the future.
With the reward given for being the first batch of recruits along with the previous faction mission reward, all… most of the players had already accumulated 600 contributions points and were only 200 short of the helmet.
Han Xiao had set the price of the helmet to 800 points on purpose to bait the players’ frustrated feelings. Being just short of being able to obtain the item would make them want to either do more missions or even give up their own items or even money in exchange for it.
Although it seemed like the players had been able to easily gain 600 contribution points, it was all just a strategy that Han Xiao had long been implementing whenever he dealt with the players. He converted the players’ desire for an item into something of a physical value. The items that were available in his shop were cheap and reliable, and in combination with the allure of faction points, it meant that Han Xiao would be the go-to place whenever players wanted to spend their money.
The exchange rate of Enas to Faction contribution points that he had decided on for now was 50:100 for those with a Neutral status—which was 0 – 1,000 contribution points. So, in the players’ mind, the helmet’s value was 400 Enas. Now that they could buy it at twenty-five percent of the original price after using their contribution points to pay the rest, they felt like they were getting a huge bargain.
Half of the players had earned 1,500 Enas from the Short Horn Star raid and were itching to spend their money on something. The other half did not have a lot as they had only been doing some daily jobs. However, most of them decided to borrow from the other half out of desperation.
“We’re all in the same line of work here. It’s just a hundred. Are you actually not going to lend me that little money?”
“You’re not gonna? Are you looking down on me‽”
“Ayyy c’mon, we’re all buddies here. We will definitely make more money in the future. You don’t have to worry about me not paying you back. Where could I even run off to here? I will owe you a favor if you lend me some money.”
After a chaotic scene, the last group of players was able to obtain their own helmets after getting into debt.
Of course, the Temple of God players were the most in debt, making Li Ge feel very bad.
With fifty or so customers, Han Xiao was able to make over 6,000 Enas in one go for all the helmets that he had made, so he was feeling very pleased with himself.
These helmets had been made with materials from Planet Aquamarine and actually cost next to nothing. The profit margin here was practically insane.
…
After their group of people arrived at the lobby of the Mercenary Alliance, Han Xiao got ready to open the interface to accept the jobs offered by the Sunil tribe. However, he realized that the lobby was a little odd today. A crowd of mercenaries was making a ruckus at one corner of the lobby.
Han Xiao was a curious person, so he walked over, only to see a short blue-skinned person get surrounded by the group of people. The person was wearing a fancy loose-fitting dress and had hard nail like hair, pointy ears, and no nose. The two eyes were shaped into a tight slit while the mouth was curved upside down with a naturally upset expression. This person was a Blue-Ni, and his appearance was akin to an emoji.
The impression that the other species had of the Blue-Nis was that they were very selfish, an opportunistic people. This particular Blue-Ni was some financial group’s materials investigation member. He was there in person to hire mercenaries in order to save on the tiny processing fee that he would have had to pay if he had gone through the proper hiring channels.
This Blue-Ni was called Martin, and he was in the middle of introducing his job offer. “I am from a Materials Investigation team that is on its way to Planet Garton-791 for a three-day on-site investigation. We’re looking to hire bodyguards. Each person will be paid 400 Enas, and you will be responsible of protecting our team members. You will have to clear out the investigation grounds of any beasts as well as perform reconnaissance in any dangerous areas. We’re looking for groups with a credibility rating of at least 120…”
The surrounding mercenari
es only showed cold faces at that. 400 Enas was not a very attractive reward. Moreover, this deal would be made in private instead of going through the official Mercenary Alliance channel. This meant that no records would be made in the system, and they would not be able to gain credibility points for completed the job. None of the surrounding mercenaries were bothered enough to take on the job.
Han Xiao’s eyes flashed, and he checked his star map. Garton-791 is close to the Sunil’s home base. We could earn some cash on the way. Although the reward is only 400 Enas, if each of our fifty people can get it, it’s still not too bad.
It was only a lifeless planet, hence the name with the code. It was basically a planet exclusively for resource excavation.
Han Xiao pushed through the crowd, walked up to the Blue-Ni, and said, “Black Star Mercenary Group. Fifty people. Only group assignments for now.”
“Let me check your credibility rating.” Martin gave Han Xiao a quick scan with his eyes and was quite happy. He had finally found someone who would take up his offer after shouting there for half the day.
Han Xiao pulled up his mercenary information page and passed it to Martin.
When Martin saw that this mercenary group had reached the credibility rating requirement, he was overjoyed. However, his expression changed immediately when he scrolled further down the page. “You’ve never accepted any combat assignments?”
Black Star Mercenary Group’s resume was filled with the daily jobs that could be completed in the hub. Many were cleaning missions. Normally, mercenaries would not even bother themselves with such jobs.
This resume gave Martin quite a shock. He had never seen such a noob ‘mercenary group’.
Chapter 336. A Mechanic's Paradise |
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong here? We meet the Credibility Rating requirement, right?”
“I want warrior bodyguards, and all your records were filled with daily routines in Juberly Hub as if you are the janitor here,” Martin said in a condescending tone. “Are you really qualified as a mercenary?”
