Players from the Northern Continent and Andrea were the ones that greatly supported this statement. Looking at the movements of Black Phantom, they could very well be the next one, and they could not wait to bring themselves in front to the Black Phantom.
Do you see the huge anticipation in these small eyes of ours? Come on, hurry!
The Western Continent’s players were almost celebrating like it was a festival; some of them who were about to leave the novice village to explore the map immediately reverted back to where they were upon hearing the news of Black Phantom. They hurriedly returned to their villages, waiting for the Black Phantom’s arrival in great excitement.
[Energy Training Method] became a craze. Not only were some players wanting to change class, even Esper came to learn the skill. While the asking price was very high, this magical skill was worth selling one’s every asset for!
Esper players desperately needed to increase their Energy, and to them, the [Energy Training Method] was like a Viagra pill. It allowed them to last much longer, and the difference was between that of a three minute and three second gap. Whilst short, the concept was totally different. This was the difference between one and many, between Heaven and Earth!
Chapter 169 - First Episode of Galaxy's Exploration Journal
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Han Xiao had already foreseen this type of situation; in the first advancement, everyone would learn [Energy Training Technique]. However, the players were unaware that for players at LV 8 or 9, this was a magical skill. The added strength exceeded whatever the player received for their upgrade. Also, some players did not advance in their main class; hence, they would need a skill that provided energy even more.
Aquamarine was the main planet for all the Chinese players. Han Xiao imparted a skill that all players were bound to learn, and while it might seem like he was scamming the players, that was not the case. It was important to note that obtaining a slight advantage in the early stages would enable one to snowball and grow stronger.
In other words, Han Xiao allowed the LV 10 players to acquire the skills that were only available at LV 20. This way, his actions were equivalent to a win-win situation.
Not only did he earn extraordinary amounts of EXP, he also enabled the Chinese players to gain an advantage over other planets’ players.
Perfect.
Han Xiao was pleased with his plan. Why would he scam the players? All those perceptions were people’s prejudices and misunderstandings toward him. He really loved his motherland; thinking back to the past when his father almost named him Patriotic Xiao, but under the authority of the tigress in the house, his father changed to his current name, Han Xiao.
[Energy Training Technique] required 10,000 EXP to learn, and the thought of the potential profits made his heart beat wildly. Only when the players advance for the first time would he then be able to impart [Energy Training Technique] and reap the profits. This was kind of a reckless deal; he would take whatever he could. Looking at the player’s degree of enthusiasm, Han Xiao felt that the EXP he received in Version 1.0 would be an astronomical number.
While he was busy with the Western Continent novice village, Bun-hit-dog finally released the first episode in the forum.
Galaxy’s Exploration Journal: Black Phantom (1)
…
Bun-hit-dog had a bit of a reputation, and the moment the video was released, his die-hard fans and curious passersby immediately clicked into it.
“Finally, this should be spicy!”
“A surprise release!”
“The subject is Black Phantom. Is Bun-hit-dog on his team now?”
The program was released in the forum’s video section. The forum was not for tasteless gossiping only—it had other functions. In order to allow the players to pass the time while playing the game, the video traffic was huge, and with the addition of old viewers watching, the number of viewers increased quite a lot.
The opening titles consisted of the promo edit and some screenshots of the scenery before the video began. The first thing that appeared was the third person’s perspective of Bun-hit-dog. This was the game’s pre-installed viewing function, which could also be used to examine the exterior. The background was Black Pine Settlement. Bun-hit-dog waved in the direction of the camera, and his opening line was a soliloquy.
“The everlasting world produced Yin and Yang, the Yin and Yang that comes of all living things. The country’s benefits are at the cost of my life, and every moment of spring is precious. Welcome to Galaxy’s Exploration Journal, I am Bun-hit-dog.”
The barrage was filled with ridicule.
“What is this dumb soliloquy‽”
“I read a line of the poem at that time, if…”
“How confident I am in unifying my country is just like how the sun rises from the East, divine toad requires a thousand years to learn!”
Bun-hit-dog continued in the show. “There hasn’t been a new upload in a long time. Being the first episode of the Galaxy series, I’ll video a character’s perspective and let everyone have a taste of my expedition. This character left a lot of impressions on the players—Mechanic Master, Novice Leader, Mysterious NPC, Secret Quest. Presumably, the audience in front of the screen is curious about the identity of this character. That’s right, he is the person in the title—Black Phantom!”
“Wow, awkward talking time, I salute you!”
“Finally…”
“That’s what we came for!”
The lens switched over to show Bun-hit-dog’s perspective. The official content began now.
The video content consisted of clips recorded by Bun-hit-dog, and it became different segments after rounds of editing. The special effects and the narration were then added on later. Bun-hit-dog used a humorous style, explaining the first encounter with Han Xiao where Han Xiao resisted a pack of wolves in Green Valley Ville and stopped the confrontation between two warlords. Bun-hit-dog showed the first person’s point of view while the narration began to analyze Han Xiao’s influence.
“In one sentence, Black Phantom exhibited his influence by moving the two warlords away with just his words. Before I begin with the analysis, I would like to introduce the identities of the two warlords…” The scene changed and arrived at Black Pine Settlement. Bun-hit-dog introduced Lu Cheng, who was the leader of this large-scale settlement. He possessed a huge army and tons of war chariots. Then, the topic changed.
“Lu Cheng possesses such great power, yet he was afraid of Black Phantom. Then, where exactly did Black Phantom’s influence originate from? Listen carefully to what I, Brother Bun, have to say.” He used Lu Cheng as bait to further the intrigue the audience had toward Black Phantom. The results were outstanding.
Frenzied Sword acted as an esteemed guest and appeared on this show. He analyzed Han Xiao’s identity in their conversation and slowly touched the tip of the iceberg of Han Xiao’s mysterious origins.
First, both revealed Black Phantom’s name, which seemed to be Han Xiao. Initially, in Stardragon Intelligence Agency, this was information that no one knew of, and in a flash, it captured everyone’s attention. The barrage became very sparse, and everyone was reading the content seriously.
Frenzied Sword had sucked up to Han Xiao during the beta-testing, but he was unaware of Han Xiao’s real identity. He only understood that Black Phantom belonged to Six Nations’ side. However, due to some reason, Black Phantom left Stardragon and joined the two organizations, the Dark Net and the Blood Pact Society. This information came from the [Extremely Fatal] powerful enemy—Liu Cheng. Even though he did not know the particulars of these two powers, he knew that they were huge backers, and they belonged to the high-ranking powers that players were unable to interact with currently. They were also among Black Phantom’s origin.
Bun-hit-dog and Frenzied Sword also thought that the crucial reason that people were afraid of Black Phantom was because of his capability. With the players’ current rank, t
hey were unable to see the high-ranking characters’ exact stats. However, they had witnessed Han Xiao killing other [Extremely Fatal] NPCs more than once, and based on that, they felt among the NPCs, Black Phantom’s capabilities were at the peak!
Becoming enemies with Germinal was Black Phantom’s current biggest displayed goal. Due to the lack of clues, they were unable to understand the reason behind Black Phantom and Germinal’s conflict. Frenzied Sword actually divulged the situation of the beta-testing. From beta-testing to public-testing, the game went through more than three months, and Han Xiao had taken on a new persona and become Black Phantom. The moment this information was released, it immediately evoked the audience’s curiosity.
What exactly did he experience that made him the Black Phantom today?
Everything was just assumptions without evidence. The show was unclear, and Bun-hit-dog’s real intention was to toss out this question to act as the show’s hook to attract the audience’s curiosity.
Continuing on, Bun-hit-dog and Frenzied Sword discussed the Black Phantom’s actions of scouring novice villages and agreed that this was decisive evidence that Black Phantom was a novice leader. After twenty or so days of amusement, the players realized that the NPC’s actions and thoughts were very ‘real’, and Black Phantom would shock players consistently. For what reason would the Black Phantom interact with the players frequently and also involve himself in obvious plans? There had to be a reason, yet the show only mentioned it in passing.
Bun-hit-dog expressed that both he and Frenzied Sword had triggered Black Phantom’s secret quest, proving that he was able to shadow and report on Black Phantom. Also, he conveniently introduced all kinds of material benefits that they had received from Black Phantom, showing the scene where Han Xiao gifted Frenzied Sword two high quality firearms. They also followed Black Phantom and arrived at Black Pine, a map that was higher-ranked than a novice village and would issue missions with generous rewards.
The barrage was full of the material benefits being flaunted and the audience envied them to no end. Those who were able to trigger Black Phantom’s secret quests were the luckiest people!
“To hell with you, bastard!”
“Sigh…”
“I heard that holding your breath allows you to take in some of that luck. I…”
During the show’s ending, Bun-hit-dog said, “Black Phantom’s series currently only has one episode. The next episode might be of other content. After all, Frenzied Sword and I have been left behind in Black Pine. However, you don’t have to worry. I’ll continue to pursue and explore Black Phantom’s past life. Until then, I’ll see all you Dog Viewers in the next episode!”
The audience, who finished the episode in one breath, had just one thought.
Exciting!
The scene was Bun-hit-dog’s first-person perspective of exploring while the side explanation cut into Black Phantom’s angle, which introduced a lot of information that ordinary people were unclear of. It tossed out a lot of the world’s background and knowledge, and this answered many perplexing problems.
Furthermore, the style was relaxed, and the content was mind-blowing. It provided all kinds of interesting assumptions, and the audience was fully satisfied. They went on to recommend it on other forums, allowing more players to join in.
The subject matter of Bun-hit-dog’s first episode was well-chosen. Coincidentally, it was when Han Xiao visited the Western Continent and allowed everyone to know of his existence. It was a hot topic; Bun-hit-dog’s video became extremely popular, and the viewer count surged.
The first episode went completely viral!
Bun-hit-dog was pleasantly surprised. His choice of this episode’s subject proved to be a correct decision.
The video became popular because of Han Xiao’s popularity, and not only that, it added greatly to Han Xiao’s reputation.
Everyone’s impression of Han Xiao in their hearts gradually moved from a Mysterious Merchant and Skills Trainer to an influential NPC. Guessing his origin gradually became an everyday topic.
Chapter 170 - Trading Storm (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Other than the reconciliation of interests, some players had another mindset toward NPCs, which was admiration and adherence. This mindset came from the love toward a certain character, the popularity of the character, or players being fascinated by what the character had been through, which formed a group of fans for these NPCs. The classic examples of these are ‘Dragonborn’, ‘Chloe von Einzbern’, ‘Medivh’, ‘One Punch Man’, ‘Kratos’, etc.
By gaining admiration and love from players, the players might behave in a biased way toward the characters when making certain decisions, such as refusing to accept missions from the enemy camp or following popular NPCs to war. Ladies, weirdos, and overly powerful characters had congenital advantages in such things—Han Xiao was confident in that.
However, without real benefits, this kind of relationship based solely on admiration would not have any real meaning. To have players fight for him, perks and benefits were a crucial requirement. He knows how the players behaved; they might help out an NPC out of enjoyment, but only for a short period and would leave sooner or later if the player did not get any benefits from it.
Luckily, his plan consisted of both benefits and popularity, killing two birds with one stone.
Han Xiao has also watched Bun-hit-dog’s video, which was exactly what he had hoped for—to gain the curiosity and interest of players by sending out a video with some clues in it.
The information flow between players and NPCs was restricted; they both had a different set of intelligence at hand, so leaking out his real name was not an issue.
The Germinal Organization knew that he was Zero and might even know the original name of his body, Han Xiao, but they did not know he was Black Phantom and Han Xiao
Stardragon knew that he was Han Xiao and Zero, but they were not sure if he was Black Phantom.
Players knew that he was Black Phantom, his name was Han Xiao, and he served the Stardragon before, but they did not know he was Zero.
Oh, players have yet to receive any information on ‘Zero’.
Dark Net only knew him as Black Phantom.
Every organization only had a fraction of the information, and if his true identity was exposed one day, he would just have to change his face, and nothing would happen. He could even increase his legendary level by the time he was strong enough and choose to reveal all his identities.
Since the official launch, Han Xiao’s name had always been on the top of the Planet Aquamarine forums, which made him quite well known. Just like celebrities, the more people that knew him, the easier it was for him to strengthen his impression on people.
The situation was going great for him, from what he had done and the help of various videos, his popularity was continually growing at a fast pace. But Han Xiao always has the habit of planning ahead. He had already started to feel an imaginary ceiling on the path of his increasing popularity.
Although the functionality of the game was praised by the players, it lacked interactive storylines, and the only way that could make players actively want to interact with him was through the main storyline. Therefore, Han Xiao decided to take on one of the main storylines from Bennett.
After going to two more novice villages, Han Xiao decided to take some time off so that the players could get some money, and he could have some time for himself to do other stuff. At the top of his ‘to do’ list would be to get the Bonfire Mini Reaction Furnace.
He called Lei Zhenyu to ask where the seller wanted to carry out the deal, and he gave him the seller’s number
“Greetings,” the person on the phone said. It was an electrical generated fake voice, so he could not figure out the age nor the gender—it was very confidential.
“How are we going to carry out the deal?” Han Xiao was very straight to the point.
“In three days. In a moment, I will
send you the location. Bring your money, and I will bring the stuff,” the person said.
“Okay, I will get one of my men to carry out the deal,” Han Xiao replied.
Ten seconds after hanging up the call, Han Xiao received a message.
‘Severus, the city near the border of Ordina.’
…
Financial organizations and families were deeply rooted in Ordina, so it was filled with competition and very clear class differentiation, as the country’s policies were focused on the elites. Every city felt grand and solemn, and the regular rainfall created a light fog that made it look gloomy.
It was drizzling in Severus. The weather was damp and bleak, which suited the atmosphere of the city.
In a residential flat that had been made into a surveillance room that was connected to every traffic cam within three streets, a dozen or so men wearing black were busy doing something. Some were checking on the guns, some were looking at the surveillance screens, and some were going through the intelligence.
This was an intelligence action group in Ordina, together with six other action groups, which locked down three more areas nearby.
The agents gathered around to capture an escaped criminal who had stolen classified country intelligence. The target had been on the run for many years, and they had finally found a lead that he would appear in Severus to carry out a deal with a third party.
The intelligence source was trustworthy; it had come directly from the information division. They had hacked into countless phone lines and were able to pick out a few that were suspected of being important calls from the target.
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