by <unknown>
Black Star was the one who had developed the Black Star Army to such a size in ten years!
The players all came to a realization and immediately extracted the main point.
Beyond Grade A!
After two versions, they already knew that Black Star was extremely powerful, but never had they expected him to overturn their understanding of him yet again!
A Beyond Grade A Super was already at the peak of the Galaxy to the players. Black Star was a character who came out in Version 1.0, and his storyline had run through three different versions. Currently, he had the right to become a peerless expert and would probably become an important character in Version 3.0.
Han Xiao was already one of their own to the China players, and the players could not help but erupt with excitement when they found out that their boss was such a ferocious character.
Before the update, many players were looking forward to seeing how the Black Star Army grew during Version 3.0. The outcome at this moment truly filled them with satisfaction and was out of their expectations. When they were not around, Black Star was as reliable as always and had led the Black Star Army into such a fantastic shape. He was truly awesome!
Their captain was still the best!
With such a powerful leader, their faction had a greater potential for growth, and the players grew even more passionate for the Black Star Army.
The video continued playing, and Rossellin went into detail about the various events and accomplishments of the Black Star Army over the past ten years. She weaved in the various personal accomplishments of Han Xiao. How he fought of multiple enemies alone, fought bravely to scare off the enemies, resolved numerous assassination attempts, battled EsGod, wiped out DarkStar, and so on.
The lesson introduced the entire history of the Black Star Army, and after the end of the video, many players were still hungry for more. With Bun-Hit-Dog’s videos as a foundation, this video made them feel as though they were chasing after a drama series.
“This can be considered a background introduction to this new version, right?”
“Why do I feel as though this is more like an action film?”
“Black Star is awesome!”
“This is truly a growth-type faction! Our future is bright! Hahaha.”
All the players discussed the video excitedly.
The changes in the Black Star Army had truly shocked them. After calming down from their initial shock, they were immediately overjoyed.
As long as the change was a positive one, the players could be at ease. The more impressive the achievements of the Black Star Army, the more at ease they would be. This was a faction which they had witnessed for a full three versions.
“Who would have thought that so much would happen when we weren’t around?” Frenzied Sword could not help but lament.
Bun-Hit-Dog felt his heart ache. “What a pity. I could have made so many videos with all these resources.”
The video showed them the history of the Black Star Army and allowed the players to have a better understanding of their own faction. Han Xiao had always aimed to use the accomplishments of the faction to increase the sense of belonging that the players felt to the Black Star Army, and the outcome was extremely good. A faction that had a history behind it would bring about a greater sense of belonging apart from the benefits that it could bring to the players.
Through the events over the past ten years, all the players had a basic understanding of Version 3.0. It could be said that the players adapted at the fastest possible speed to the new version through Han Xiao’s guidance. This was also the outcome that Han Xiao wanted to see the most.
The second phase of the (Ten Years) mission was completed and Han Xiao released the third phase of the mission.
All the players in the Black Star Army received a new notification.
[Ten Years]: The Third Link
Mission Introduction: You now understand the situation in the Shattered Star Ring. The Black Star Army is currently participating in the secret war. As a member of the army, you should make your choice.
Mission Requirements: Go through the necessary procedure and accept the secret war mission.
Reward: Start of the secret war storyline, +800 Black Star Army Favorability.
“Triggering the Main Storyline Mission at the very beginning? It seems like this is the same as in Version 2.0.”
They had triggered the Mutation Disaster storyline the moment they logged into the game as well. The players did not hesitate in the slightest and chose to participate in the secret war.
In his previous life, the players had to go through an exploration phase before being guided to join the secret war by the various factions. This time, Han Xiao had immediately placed the Main Storyline mission right in front of the players and saved them a great deal of trouble. The earlier the players joined the mission, the more benefits he would receive.
Originally, the method to trigger the secret war mission was to join either Bloodshed Land or Section Zero. However, Han Xiao knew about this and had thus spent the past ten years growing the Black Star Army into an important member of Section Zero. This enabled him to tie his faction together with Section Zero and allowed the players to participate in the secret war mission without joining another faction.
The rewards of Han Xiao’s effort were slowly showing themselves.
The next moment, a notification popped up on the player’s interface. They had triggered the Main Storyline Mission that Han Xiao had triggered ten years ago.
You have triggered Grade S faction mission (Secret War: Section Zero]!
Mission Introduction: The Klent Kingdom has invaded the Purple Crystal Civilization, and you chose to stand on the side of the Purple Crystal Civilization.
Mission Requirements: Listen to orders and force all invaders out of the Colton Star Cluster.
At the end of the mission, your reward will be based on the rating of the mission.
Grade S Mission!
The eyes of the players lit up. The Main Storyline Missions of the first two versions were Grade A missions, and this was the first time that they had accepted a Grade S mission.
Han Xiao had received this mission ten years earlier than the players. While the Mission Rating would only be displayed at the end of the mission, Han Xiao was certain that he had long reached the highest rating.
“This Main Storyline mission has a suffix. Does this mean that we will also be able to do this mission in the Klent faction?” Bun-Hit-Dog immediately managed to guess the truth.
In Han Xiao’s previous life, the players could choose between Klent or Purple Crystal, and both factions had their own strengths. Purple Crystal was located in the Colton Star Cluster, which was also where the players were located. On top of that, they also had the geographical advantage as the defending party. On the other side, the Tyrant from Bloodshed Land was a Beyond Grade A Super, and he was also extremely attractive to the players.
The original storyline of Version 2.0 did not include the Black Star Army. Godora and DarkStar were the organizations that brought the players into the galaxy. They each hired some players and brought the players onto two different paths.
The players that were in the DarkStar faction had automatically joined Klent due to the connection between Klent and DarkStar. Because of the Tyrant’s prestige, many players had chosen to join Bloodshed Land, resulting in the Section Zero faction being on the passive side.
However, Han Xiao had already changed the storyline and set a good foundation in Version 2.0. He had singlehandedly snatched almost all the Planet Aquamarine players from both Godora and DarkStar.
Currently, the Black Star Army was the most important member in Section Zero. This meant that all the players would naturally be on Purple Crystal’s side!
Those who wanted to join Klent would have to give up all their investments in the Black Star Army from the past two versions. This meant that the players’ cost of changing factions was extremely high. While
the players did not like being forced, with the sense of belonging being cultivated in the first two versions together with his first mover advantage, the players would not feel too troubled by the lack of options.
While the Beyond Grade A Heber did indeed have some attraction to the players, the players had just watched a video that showed them that Black Star also had the potential to become a Beyond Grade A Super. The Bloodshed Land immediately lost their greatest selling point, and even if the majority of the players knew that they could switch factions, they would not do so as it was not worth it.
Thus, it would be impossible for Klent and Bloodshed Land to gain a large number of players like in Han Xiao’s previous life!
The butterfly effect that Han Xiao had created in Version 2.0 was still affecting events.
However, the players were a strange breed, and there would be some who wanted to join the whistleblower club. Han Xiao had already thought of a plan to deal with them.
He had considered many different scenarios over the past ten years.
As the players discussed the Main Storyline Mission excitedly, Han Xiao no longer pretended to view the scenery and returned to the inside of the armed satellite fortress.
The first step is complete. It is now time to fertilize the crops…
Chapter 719. Fertilization |
On the dock, the more than one hundred thousand players scattered. The guiding mission given by Han Xiao had ended, they decided to explore the Black Star Army headquarters and get to know the facilities here.
The players knew that this planet fortress would most likely be their base in Version 3.0.
The Black Star Army headquarters was extremely large, not cramped at all even for more than a hundred thousand people. They quickly scattered and fused into the usual Black Star Army members.
Frenzied Sword, Hao Tian, and a few other close professional players moved together, accompanied by Bun-Hit-Dog and Maple Moon. They walked around and observed the NPCs passing by while discussing the main storyline mission they had just received.
“The storyline of the new version is so exciting,” Frenzied Sword said. “I can’t believe we are going to experience an enormous war between two Star Cluster civilizations. Those in the other Star Fields did not receive the main storyline mission as soon as they entered the game like we did; they’re still exploring.”
“Well, this isn’t the first time. In every past version, the main storyline always appeared the earliest in Shattered Star Ring. This should be our specialty.” Twinkle Fried Rice shrugged.
“Indeed, it was the same in Version 2.0. We knew about the main storyline as soon as we came online. The other Star Fields only got it months or even a year later.” Hao Tian nodded.
“From how things are looking, it seems Black Star is going to be the main NPC in Version 3.0 once again. All the main storylines in the past three versions were related to him,” Bun-Hit-Dog said while rubbing his chin.
“It’s more than three versions…” Frenzied Sword said with an excited expression. “I saw him even during the closed beta, but back then, I never guessed he would become this strong.”
Bun-Hit-Dog’s eyes sparkled. “Black Star is making so many appearances. I don’t think the other Star Fields have an NPC similar to him at all. Black Star is the only NPC that has appeared in every version for the past three versions. I feel like Black Star might be the protagonist of the entire Shattered Star Ring… That’s right, this sounds like an amazing topic to talk about. The next episode of my video will definitely explode!”
Han Xiao was now extremely popular among the Chinese players. Plus, the video earlier showed his achievements in the past ten years, so this was the time when the players were most interested in him. Therefore, Bun-Hit-Dog felt like he could make use of that and use the topic of ‘Shattered Star Ring’s protagonist’ to make the next episode of his video series. He believed that it would definitely become very popular.
In the past two versions, the players had experienced many interesting storylines in Galaxy and witnessed all kinds of NPCs. Quite a number of those NPCs were also widely liked by the players, but Black Star was the only one that the players had the deepest impression of. Even the players in the other Star Fields knew his name. Currently, Han Xiao was the most famous NPC and also the NPC that the players wanted to see the most.
In the eyes of many players, creating articles, videos, or anything related to Black Star was a business opportunity.
‘Black Star Series’ was the video series that had made Bun-Hit-Dog famous. It was one of the must-watch videos for the new players, and it was still ongoing.
Due to the fame brought by this series, Bun-Hit-Dog was most passionate about building Han Xiao’s image. However, due to how famous Black Star was, there were also other video creators that did the same and made videos about the Black Star Army.
Nonetheless, Bun-Hit-Dog had captured the market as early as back in Version 1.0, so he was the most ‘authentic’ in the eyes of the players.
It could be said that Bun-Hit-Dog’s videos contributed greatly to how much the players liked the Black Star Army. As members of the Black Star Army, seeing that the faction was growing under their influence and hard work, and that it was made into a kind of drama series, it gave them a very strong immersive experience.
Video creators such as Bun-Hit-Dog used NPCs’ fame to benefit themselves, but they did not know that Han Xiao was also using them.
The group chatted for a while and returned to the main topic of the main storyline of the new version—this was what the professional players were interested in.
“By the way, with our strength, we shouldn’t be able to influence the result of this galactic war, right?” Frenzied Sword said.
Maple Moon nodded and said seriously, “Hmm. I just checked. The representatives of the secret war are the Bloodshed Land and Section Zero, which the Black Star Army is a part of. The leader of the Bloodshed Land is called Heber, one of the Beyond Grade As in the Shattered Star Ring. As for Section Zero, their organization is also extremely large. With both sides being so strong, the people involved in the war are most likely in the billions. Even if all the players take part, I don’t think the result of the war will be affected much, if at
all…”
Hao Tian pondered and analyzed, “If that’s the case, the secret war is just the major background of the new version. The main areas we will be acting in should be the smaller battlefields within the war.”
“I hope they aren’t just more cut scenes…” Twinkle Fried Rice smiled bitterly.
“That might not be the case…” Seeing that the others turned to look at him, Frenzied Sword continued to explain. “Think about it, for the past three versions, our level limit has been increasing. The scale of the storyline has been increasing too, from a planet, to a Star System, to a Star Cluster. However, the combat capability standard in the Galaxy has a stable system. For example, Grade Cs are basic galactic warriors, so Grade Bs are the mid-tier combatants. This system will not change because of the version updates, while our Grades will keep increasing. This means that our position in the Galaxy and our influence on the storyline will keep growing as the version keeps updating!
“Now that the level limit is 120, the first batch of players should all be able to reach Grade B. According to this theory, our importance in the new version will definitely exceed the previous two versions. Hence, I think that we will be able to take part in the storyline of Galaxy more actively in Version 3.0, and there will definitely be new ways of playing this game.”
The others contemplated for a while. Damn, this guy does kind of make sense.
Bun-Hit-Dog’s eyes sparkled. “Can I cop… quote what you just said?”
“Please, act like a human being.” Twinkle Fried Rice was speechless.
“By the way, although we triggered the main storyline, how are we going to take part in the war? Do we listen to the army’s arrangements or take on missions on our own?”
>
At this point, Frenzied Sword and the others suddenly realized that the Black Star Army members around all suddenly gathered in the same direction. Their communicators also vibrated. It was a notification from Phillip to tell all the members in the headquarters to head to the square—there was going to be an announcement.
Frenzied Sword and the others went to the square with the crowd. The place was now filled with people. The other players had arrived as well and were waiting with the other Black Star Army members.
The floor in front of the crowd curved up and turned into a stage. Projections appeared above the square and displayed the image of the stage so that the people far away could see.
More than twenty high-level army officers appeared on the stage. Many were familiar faces to the players.
“It’s been ten years, but the officers from Version 2.0 are all still here. That’s nice.”
“There seem to be quite a few new officers as well.”
“Oh, is that beauty Sylvia?”
“Oh no, is this excitement I feel?”
“Humph, so what if that’s a beauty? I’m an educated person. Us Dragon Emperor Lickers will never betray our faith!”
Seeing the familiar NPCs from the last version, many players felt nostalgic. Out of habit, they threw detections at the officers. Other than getting to know the names of these officers, the rest of the information was all question marks, and every one of the officers was shown as ‘Fatally Dangerous’.
Now, the players finally had a clearer image of how strong the Black Star Army was.
Hum!
The space in the middle of the stage rippled. A person appeared out of thin air and walked out of the void. It was Han Xiao.
More than a hundred thousand players finally saw what Han Xiao looked like after ten years. He was still wearing the familiar clothing but taller and more level-headed.
