by <unknown>
“Not at all, hum…” Phillip lowered his head, tapping his fingertips as he felt guilty.
“Where did this guy go? To actually be out of touch for several months!”
Hila’s expression was uncertain.
She knew that Han Xiao had run off to the secondary dimensions, and communication there was inconvenient. But even so, Han Xiao should not have been disconnected from Phillip.
Just a few months ago, Phillip had said that Han Xiao was completely disconnected and could not be reached by any means. Hila thus became vigilant and could not help but think of the Holy Accord Organization that he had encountered in the secondary dimension.
Could it be that the Army Commander had been attacked again?
Hmm… it did not seem to be surprising though.
In order to not cause any turmoil and suspicion to the outside world, she had asked Phillip to block off all news, maintaining the operation of the army on the surface while secretly investing resources to detect any traces of Black Star.
Han Xiao was the soul of the army. The moment he lost contact, the army would drop by a significant deal in the eyes of the Beyond Grade As. Hila could only temporarily carry this burden, halting her training and returning from the Underworld to helm the army.
No results were found even after several months, and Hila was getting worried.
She had decided that if there was still no information about him after three more months, she would call upon her teacher Ames to enter the secondary dimensions to search for Han Xiao. Suddenly, Hila paused, and a strange look appeared on her face.
“You guys are to be on standby. I have something to do.” Her figure vanished, leaving her Personal Guards on the spot looking at each other.
At the same time, Hila’s figure appeared in the Underworld, where Onicelu revealed herself.
“What is this about?”
“I discovered a group of weird creatures approaching the Underworld. They seem to be cosmic life forms that live in space storms. Monsters born within this environment are not easy to deal with, and I’m just afraid that they are species that feed on the secondary dimensions.” Onicelu expressed her concern.
Hila frowned slightly. Right now, she was bound to the Underworld, so protecting it was her responsibility. “I’ll make them retreat.”
She rose up, turning into a red meteor as she flew out of the space wall following Onicelu’s instructions. However, she did not proceed further, merely waiting at the spot for the enemy’s advancement. The dimensional energy of the Underworld formed a spherical light film around Hila, which provided her defense whilst preventing her from being swept away of the chaotic space stream.
Not long after, a whirlpool-like wormhole appeared in the space stream, and huge Space Lice rushed out in alarming numbers.
“So many!’ Hila subconsciously clenched her fists.
She had been in the secondary dimension for a while, thus knowing that there were some dangers that could even threaten the lives of the Beyond Grade As. While she had never encountered any Space Louse, she instinctively felt the threat, proving that this group of monsters could not be killed casually.
While Hila was not worried about her safety, there were just too many for herself to handle. She could not guarantee that she could protect the entire Underworld.
“If only Black Star was here…”
Faced with this situation, Hila could not help but miss Han Xiao’s mechanical army.
“Right now, I can only rely on myself…”
Hila revolved her Energy, preparing to make the pre-emptive strike.
But at this exact moment, a familiar voice rang out in her mechanical suit communication channel, freezing her movements.
“Hila?”
Among the Space Lice, Han Xiao, who was herding up these cuties, felt the fluctuations coming off from Hila and looked over. His eyes brightened immediately.
In a flash, he appeared before her, smiling. “I’ve not seen you for a while. Did you miss
me?”
“I miss…” Hila caught herself before she subconsciously spoke out and continued in surprise. “Why are you here? Where did you go this time?”
“I went over to the secondary dimensions to take a gander. The signal there is not good. Did you see the cuties yet? These were my war trophies. I intend to let them settle down around the Underworld to serve as a line of defense. Their combat power is pretty impressive…”
Han Xiao babbled on with the introduction, pretending that he did not see Hila’s hesitation.
After losing contact for several months, he knew that Hila would definitely worry, but he did not intend to disclose his experience of the trip for the time being. Thus, he decided to hide the truth and simply gloss over it.
After listening for a bit, Hila still could not resist interrupting Han Xiao’s words, “Do you know the impact your loss of contact has brought us? If it was not for me blocking the news, there would be a lot of people in the army that wavered…”
Han Xiao laughed. “You’re the Deputy Army Commander. There’s still you even if I’m not around. Nobody will be able to do anything. I have faith in you.”
Hearing this, Hila’s expression became a lot better.
She vaguely felt that Han Xiao was hiding something from her, but she did not want to ask more. The most important part was that he had returned.
Hila did not continue questioning him and turned her attention toward the weird looking Space Lice.
“When these groups of life forms join forces, can their battle strength truly reach the pinnacle Beyond Grade A level?”
“Their attack power won’t be as good, but their defenses can indeed reach such a stage. They feed on chaotic space streams, so not only will they not attack the secondary dimension but also provide protection. They like the environment around a secondary dimension, so they usually settle down and use it as a nest, hence attacking all outsiders.” Han Xiao nodded.
After catching a batch of Space Lice, he had split up with Kasuyi and headed home. Through the journey, he did research and discovered the habits of the Space Lice, which allowed them to coexist in harmony with the secondary dimensions. They were suitable for guarding homes and were simply natural bodyguards.
“Alright, as long as there’s no danger, I have no issue keeping them here.” Hila agreed after thinking. “My teacher came to look for you three times but was rejected by me. Remember to go see her.”
“Ok.” Han Xiao assented and asked, “Anything happen with the association while I was absent?”
“The same old. There has been no change, except for the lack of fighting between you and Manison. No one is moving for now. It’s basically a formality.”
“Those fence sitters only wish for me to get things done…” Han Xiao’s mouth contorted slightly.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the Beyond Grade As were people of high authority and prestige, but in his eyes, they were a group of boring people.
He then rejected Hila’s invitation to get abused before throwing the Space Lice at the Underworld and using the King to teleport himself back to the Army’s Base camp in the Emerald Star Cluster.
With a blur in his vision, Han Xiao returned to his office and found Sylvia sitting there with her legs propped up on the table.
Seeing that someone had suddenly appeared in the room, Sylvia was taken aback. But after recognizing Han Xiao, she calmed down, and instead of standing up, she purposely struck her feet on the table once, huffing as she angrily said, “Oh, isn’t this His Excellency Black Star? You still know your way back? I thought you had forgotten all about us.”
Han Xiao did not show offence, rather walking up to Sylvia and patting her head. Feeling her hair, he smiled.
“Seems like you have worked hard these few months. It’s been hard on you.”
“Scram.” Sylvia knocked his hand away before standing up and snorting. “I could not contact you, and there’s a large backlog of issues that you need to
handle. Hurry and clear them. I’m still waiting.”
Having finished speaking, she turned to leave, but suddenly, she realized something just as she reached the door. She turned back, picking up the jacket she draped over the chair and the gold rimmed glasses on the table, rolling her eyes at Han Xiao again as she left.
“Tsk, what a huge grudge she has.”
Han Xiao pursed his lips. He naturally would not be so petty with this balding baby.
This trip had been a great harvest for him. He not only learned a lot of secrets of the universe but also greatly expanded his knowledge. For him, returning to his universe felt like he had come to another world. But in the eyes of his officers, it was only a few months that he had disappeared. Except for a few, no one was curious about where he had gone.
Han Xiao reconnected to Phillip, encrypting all the data he recorded on this trip.
This technological treasure was too rich, such that even a pinnacle Beyond Grade A like him would take around a decade to finish studying it. While Awakening Points and Experience could speed up the research progress, it would be a waste to use them that way. After all, before the next Version arrived, it would be difficult for him to supplement those. Since it was not long until the Version 4.0 update, he could take his time to slowly digest it then.
He summoned a housekeeping robot to spray some air freshener in the room to remove the remnants of Sylvia’s elegant perfume before sitting back in his chair to handle the backlog while logging onto the forums to check on the players.
After a few months, the fourth Pro League had entered the International League phase, and they were at the Quarter Finals. China had two teams qualifying this time, Dynasty with the most stable performance and Rivervale.
After three league matches, Rivervale was no longer a dark horse but rather a stable and powerful team.
The previous International League group stage that had just ended was the most dangerous one, with the crazy targeting of the Chinese clubs still ongoing. As a result, there was one less team that had qualified for Quarter Finals this time.
However, looking at it from another angle, even with the clubs of various countries trying to push them down, there were still two Chinese teams that had made it in. The results were gratifying
Now the hope of the country fell on Dynasty and Rivervale. So long as either of them won the championship, it would mean three consecutive victories for China. None of the other countries in the top eight wanted to see such a result, but they were unable to encircle and suppress the Chinese players as much as in the group stage.
“Now that it has reached the Quarter Finals, it’s not far from the end of the Pro League. There are at most two months left before Version 4.0 ends… I have to prepare.”
Chapter 1207: Finals and Reorganization |
In his past life, Version 5.0 represented the Calamity of the Supers. The Beyond Grade As of history revealing themselves, conflicts intensifying between the Supers and the ordinary citizens, the emergence of the Grade A players, and the unwillingness of the Super Star Cluster Civilizations in losing the war all combined to throw the universe that had just stabilized back into turmoil.
Under his own influence, there were too many variables, so he could not properly predict what the specific changes in the next version would be. The only thing Han Xiao could determine was that the importance of players would rise once more and become the focus of more factions. No matter how much reservations the factions had, they would introduce welfare measures to recruit more players.
While the army had greatly expanded its scale of players in Version 4.0, this was an opportunity and yet a trouble. Not to mention the potential confusion that the players would bring, the other factions would also attempt to poach the army’s own players. As long as they were willing to fork out a sum of money, it will naturally have an effect. Han Xiao was not so arrogant and self-confident that no player would not succumb to such a measure. Moreover, the idea of being a big fish in a small pond might appeal to some players, rather than staying in the army and being a small fish in a big pond. This was especially so for players who would reach the level of Calamity Grade. They would naturally have a huge impact on the Super employment market in the universe.
A true Calamity Grade would have the qualification to dominate an entire area on their own, so the majority of factions could not afford to employ them. However, even if the regular remuneration was reduced to a fourth or even a fifth of the usual rate, it would be enough to feed the players. While the strength of the players for their Calamity Grades would be at the bottom of the barrel, they were the cheapest Calamity Grades that some small factions would be able to afford.
The only way I can deal with the other factions is by continuing to strengthen the construction of the faction, increasing the status and attractiveness of the army during the Version update. Even with my personal influence, this will be a step-by-step process, but if I can take out some of the valuable civilian black technology, it will greatly speed up the progress. In the eyes of the public, it will seem as though I developed this… The army’s operations in the Flickering World were on the right track and had limited room for further development. To continue expansion, he could only target other Star Fields by developing branches.
The following few decades while the version updated would be a good time for him to lie low and develop. With the aid from the Association, the army did not need to participate in the war between the three Universal Civilizations and the Super Star Cluster Alliance, thus not being dragged down. They could all just sit this one out and reap the spoils later.
On the other hand, this was also conducive to the construction of the Association’s community of interest. The final structure had to exist as a multi-faceted interest network, where the most powerful Beyond Grade As sold various resources and services while the weaker ones obtained support, maintaining a balanced relationship. With the size of the current Black Star Army, it was naturally qualified to become one of the facets.
Each term of office for the President was stated at fifty years. Han Xiao had already thought about it, planning to oust Manison when his term was up and sit in this position. With his current right to speak in the Association, so long as Manison did not make any underhanded moves, he was quite assured.
The moment he sat in the position of President, with his results of exploring the Sanctum, there would be no suspense when it came to future re-elections.
“The specific plan will depend on the actual situation…”
Han Xiao opened his memo, beginning to write out the prototype of the plan.
Because Han Xiao and Kasuyi’s actions were carried out in secret, the time of their disappearance did not cause any alarm. After all, the risk of exploring the secondary dimensions was too great, so it was normal that the major organizations would not pay much attention to the duo’s actions.
The news of Black Star returning quickly spread through the army, and players noticed, but the International League had already reached the quarter finals, and everyone had already run out of blank Character Summon Cards to use. It was with pity in their hearts that they refocused on the event.
Since the start of Version 4.0, China’s major clubs had enjoyed the development benefits the Black Star Army provided them, making a lot of money in the process. The better their official guilds developed, the greater the support for the professional teams. At present, China’s first-tier professional teams basically all belonged to the To and T1 tiers internationally, with outstanding strength. They had performed strongly during the quarter finals. Because they met with such harassment, the Chinese teams were unable to obtain many points this time round. Both Dynasty and Rivervale entered the quarter finals at second and fifth place respectively. After three victories in the best of five, they both reached the semifinals, succeeding in occupying two seats. This meant that they would get at least a third place.
However, after three versions, the Chinese players had grander ambi
tions. No one was satisfied with just third place. In the eyes of the players, only three consecutive championships was worthy of being their goal.
The semifinals were decided through lot drawing, and this caused the Chinese players on the forum to be divided into two sides. One hoped that both Dynasty and Rivervale would not meet each other in the semifinals, and the other side hoped that they would meet. If both Dynasty and Rivervale could defeat their opponents, that would of course be the most ideal situation. However, if both sides lost, then China would be halted at the semifinals. However, if both faced each other, this would be a sort of insurance to guarantee that one of them would definitely step into the finals.
Under the prayers of the two sides, the semifinals list appeared. The Chinese teams were not facing each other. Dynasty went against Team Thunderbolt Pythons from North America, whereas Rivervale’s opponent was Team Kimchi from South Korea.
The Chinese players who supported having their teams meet in the finals got their wish, but for the players on the other side, they were all depressed, worrying about the possibility that both teams might be defeated. As the saying went, one would only know what they wanted after the matter had taken place. In the end, most players discovered that rather than having two teams meet in the final, they would rather have a shot at winning the championship.
Both teams tried their best, but Dynasty missed out on a round, being defeated two rounds to three. They failed to qualify for the finals, and the hope of replicating the scene of having two teams from the country in the finals was dashed.
Rivervale, on the other hand, performed wonderfully, qualifying with three rounds to one. There was a saying in Galaxy that every version would have a god-like respective class. The Mechanic class gradually began to exert its strength in the middle to late stages, and because of the limitation of level cap in each version, the Mechanic’s feature of burning money to continuously increase strength was favored by professional teams. Rivervale’s team was made up of Mechanics as the core, which explained their strength.
