The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385

by Chocolion, 齐佩甲

  After he returned to waiting room, he found that most of the players were waiting there patiently. However, after scanning the room, he realized that Li Ge and the Temple of God players were nowhere to be found.

  Han Xiao frowned and asked, “Where are the others?”

  “They said that they wanted to take a look outside to familiarize with the environment and would be back in a moment,” Bun-hit-dog explained.

  Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.

  Bullsh*t. Do they think I don’t understand how their minds work? They’re just excited about entering a new environment and couldn’t wait to interact with the new NPCs and trigger missions, thus ignoring my instructions.

  Most players were selfish. This was an indisputable point. It was even more so for the pro players. But really? Could they not even wait there for a few minutes? Clearly, the allure of the shiny new world had gotten to them.

  This was also one of the things that Han Xiao worried about. As new opportunities popped up one after another, the players would start getting ideas of their own and would have less reason to always stick with him. They would also be interested in joining a more powerful organization.

  To ensure that the players never left him, Han Xiao had long since prepared a plan, and it was about time to implement that plan.

  “Follow me. It’s time for work.”

  Han Xiao turned and walked out the doors with the players following right behind him.

  The group of people arrived in front of a huge building with a main hall that was similar in size to a town square. People of different species could be seen throughout the building, going about their business. Some sat, some were walking around, and some conversed with each other. However, all of these people were fully clad in battle gear, and pretty much all of them were Supers.

  “What is this place?” the players asked as they looked left and right.

  “The Mercenary Alliance,” Han Xiao said slowly. “A powerful neutral organization that offers swords for hire. This organization’s business can be seen in all corners of the universe. It was founded by the three big Civilizations in space. They maintain absolute neutrality, and all intelligent lifeforms can register to become one of their mercenaries. The Alliance ranks their mercenaries with different levels, and the difficulty of a mission, the value of reward, operation funds, and other benefits all depend on your level. The Mercenary Alliance is an ancient organization, and like the Intergalactic Bank, they never interfere in matters in space. It also pays great attention to protecting the rights of both the clients and the mercenaries. Mercenaries would never be forced into doing missions. It serves as a fair platform.”

  He also knew that the original intention for the founding of the Mercenary Alliance was to give the Supers something to do. Being able to earn money and make a living with their power meant that they would have less time and energy to cause trouble everywhere. The effect that the founding of the Mercenary Alliance brought was evident. Not only did it make good use of the Supers’ abilities, it also contributed to maintaining the security in an area.

  But the players did not need to know about that.

  The players were stunned, and for a while, it was as if light was coming out of their eyes. They had come to space so that they could take higher-level missions, and they could not wait to head into the building right now. However, everyone stood still as they saw that Han Xiao was not making a move yet.

  Multiple fist-sized metal balls could be seen floating around the great hall of the Mercenary Alliance. These balls would fly toward players with a wave from their hands, forming a virtual screen upon contact. This was a kind of an automatic management system that allowed the mercenaries to take on jobs on their own.

  Han Xiao retrieved a ball and opened up the virtual interface.

  “Please enter your mercenary account username to proceed.” A robotic voice sounded out of the small ball.

  Han Xiao directly selected the ‘register’ option, and the screen changed. After entering his identification information, his account could not be connected to his bank account.

  Han Xiao entered the information for his own bank account, and with a flash, the screen refreshed and displayed his basic information. There was only a name and a single entry in his resume—Protecting Short Horn Star. This ‘resume’ would automatically record his official accomplishments, and as he had only entered space not too long ago, it was still as blank as a sheet of paper.

  These accomplishments were basically the physical record of his renown, but the accomplishments that were made with no witnesses around would likely not be recorded. However, the renown on the player interface was different. Even without someone spreading the news, the renown points would still increase on its on whenever a player did something big.

  Han Xiao needed a mercenary nickname. He was called “Black Phantom” on Planet Aquamarine, but he felt like that name wasn’t domineering enough. He decided to use a new name to to also pique the players’ interests.

  After a bit of thinking, Han Xiao said slowly, “Then let’s call myself… Black Star.”

  Black Phantom was a name for a killer and felt a little bit edgy. He felt that the new name sounded much more ‘righteous’ and fitted his image quite well. The Great Mechanic Han was pleased with himself.

  He chose the color black because he felt a connection to this color. He had liked to wear black clothing even in his past life, not because he thought it looked cool, but because he was too lazy to wash his clothes.

  After entering a bunch more information, the little ball revealed a small probe and reminded, “If you’re a Super, please release your energy toward this probe. The system will analyze your class for you, and this will determine the difficulty of the missions that will be matched to you.”

  Han Xiao held the probe and sent sparks of energy out of his fingertips. He used about eighty percent of his power, and C class was displayed on the screen.

  “Data collection complete. Creating file…”

  _____________________

  Mercenary Codename: Black Star

  Credibility Rating: 10 (Starting Value)

  Strength Level: C

  Class: Mechanic

  Certificates and Badges: None

  Faction or Group: None

  Summary: Mercenary Recruit

  _____________________

  “File creation complete. Data has been entered into the system. Black Star, welcome to the Mercenary Alliance.”

  Chapter 332 - Black Star: The Beginning (2)

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  The Colton Star Cluster had quite a few opportunities, and the Mercenary Alliance’s dataset was the easiest way to find the missions. Han Xiao picked some of the missions that he knew.

  To be a free mercenary was a very good choice. One could earn a lot of money while networking with major organizations. It was a free path of promotion to the higher status.

  But Han Xiao’s plan did not stop there. The next action was the most crucial.

  Mercenaries identity interface had an option ‘Create a Mercenary Group’. Han Xiao clicked in without hesitation.

  “Are you sure that you want to create a mercenary group?”

  A mercenary group was a team made out of mercenaries that could accept people’s missions. A mercenary group also had rating system, and all their actions would be recorded in the system.

  Even a member who finished a mission by themself would be recorded in the ratings of the mercenary group. At the same time, if a member left a bad record, it would also influence the rating of mercenary group. Han Xiao’s record for his mercenary missions was still blank, and the same went for this group.

  Sky Ring Army was another large-scale mercenary group that took missions all over the place. They had a wide market with new members joining every day. Their reputation was well known.

  If one did not have an extremely bad history, anyone could start a mercenary group. One person could only
make one mercenary group. One could not create a new group unless the previous one was disbanded.

  “Please enter the name of your mercenary group.”

  After some thought, Han Xiao directly used his code name and called it ‘Black Star Mercenary Group’. He confirmed the name, and the interface suddenly changed from a personal one to a mercenary group interface.

  The target members for this group were clearly the players as they were there to provide hard labor. Ah that’s not right, they’re warriors.

  Life as a mercenary was extremely dangerous, but players could always revive, so there would not be any loss. This job perfectly suited the players’ natural advantage, and with the players, developing a new empire was twice as easy.

  Let the players join my mercenary group, then we can start a new base.

  Han Xiao’s eyes looked deep as he smirked.

  Building a base was one core components of his plan. It could tie the players as a beneficiary on his tank, and the players would be more concentrated together while decreasing the chance of players leaving. This was the plan that Han Xiao had finally come up with after pulling his hair out.

  At the same time, he could build a closer bond with the players, and their relationship could move from one purely out of benefits to comrades.

  Think about it, building a mercenary group by himself with professional players as the initial players of the organization would create a lot of news in the world and attract even more players’ attention. He could then use rewards to lure in other skillful players and strengthen his mercenary group. They would think that it was the result of their hard work.

  Emphasizing the players’ contributions could incentivize the growth of the faction, and players could find meaning in fighting for their own organization and view the faction’s achievement as their own. In the end, this sense of belonging and pride could create satisfaction and fulfillment in the players.

  One could not underestimate the power of social belonging. This romanticism of social belonging could spread roots of feelings into players hearts, and the power of romanticism could nurture soldiers that would die for their country.

  For majority of the players, games were just entertainment. The element of role playing and the option for players to choose a faction could further strength the vision and ideology of the faction. On top of that, this setting would attract even more players to join! Everyone’s heart would be filled with passion and loyalty. The emotion of sacrificing one’s life for an organization, which was unbelievable in the real world, could now be released in a video game without any repercussions. Han Xiao wanted to lure out this romanticism in players’ hearts for the sake of his faction.

  Han Xiao just wanted to make his faction into the hope of the players, and he was the perfect leader to win the players’ heart. Along with the growth of his faction, Han Xiao could earn more benefits and obtain better items, all while rewarding the players’ contributions. The whole process would be a virtuous cycle, and through this, Han Xiao could aggregate the power of the players to assist him to his goals.

  Building a mercenary group was the first stage of his plan, and through Bun-hit-dog’s show, he could keep refreshing his presence. Once the future version was updated, Han Xiao could simply wave his hand, and all the players would rush to him to join the faction.

  Of course, it was just an outline of the plan. The actual execution was complicated, and it would take a lot of time and resources to reach the end stage. However, once the plan succeeded, it would be revolutionary for the players, just like the alliances and the Hordes in World of Warcraft.

  This was the blueprint of Han Xiao’s new empire!

  “You all have the requirement to register as a mercenary. Join my mercenary group, and I will take care of you all,” Han Xiao said in a seductive voice.

  Frenzied Sword did not hesitate and was the first to register. He only had two rules. First, he could eat well if he followed Han Xiao. Second, Han Xiao was always right.

  The other players slowly joined, and Han Xiao smiled as he watched the whole process, as if he was seeing all the seeds buried into the soil, waiting for them to grow.

  The display quickly switched to a new interface.

  _____________________

  Black Star Mercenary group

  Credibility: 10

  Scale: 47 members

  Class C: 37 members

  Missions Completed: 0

  Active Region: None

  Records: None

  Creator: Black Star—Han Xiao

  Creation date: Galaxy Calendar 2 October 688

  Summary: Trainee mercenary group, small scale, abilities are similar among the members, no obvious strength.

  _____________________

  As the mercenary group had just started, they had no information. There were three criteria to rate a mercenary group: scale, strength, and credibility. The first two were requirements to determine which missions the organization could apply. For credibility, it was the ‘level’ of a mercenary group. The points for credibility could be gained after missions were completed. The credibility was the core representation of the reputation.

  Many employers had standards for the credibility of the mercenaries. If the credibility score was too low, then the employer would reject the application of the mercenaries.

  Credibility was also equivalent to popularity. Of course, in the formal document, it wouldn’t use such an informal word. But in the reputation system, it quantified the reputation system of the mercenary group, and only Han Xiao could see it.

  Li Ge and Temple of God were not in the scene and ran around by themselves, so they were the only two groups that did not join the mercenary group. Han Xiao was irritated.

  At this time, Han Xiao’s interface popped out a hint.

  _____________________

  Faction formed: Black Star Mercenary Group

  Faction Management Function activated.

  _____________________

  The NPC model added a new option named [Faction Management], which was located to the side of [Dungeon Creation].

  I knew it! Han Xiao was excited.

  After he succeeded in dungeon creation, he had been wondering what other functions the NPC model had. He had expected a faction option to be one of the functions, but he had never activated it. He figured that, since he had belonged to the Dark Net, which Bennett was the boss of, the functions had never been needed before.

  He had been pretty confident that only by creating a faction himself would the function be activated.

  And he was right.

  If the interface did not work, he probably would have given up, but now, with the management interface, it simplified the whole process.

  Han Xiao quickly clicked into [Faction Management] and experimented with things, getting more excited as he looked on.

  There was only one way describe this function.

  You could do anything you want!

  Chapter 333 - Black Star: The Beginning (3)

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  [Faction Management] was the most complicated among all the NPC interfaces. There was a dizzying number of options and information. Through this interface, Han Xiao had access to all the faction-related features a player would have, and he could also give out faction missions, albeit a limited amount.

  The level of reward that he could give out was dependent on his own level, faction rank, faction influence, and legendary points.

  _____________________

  Faction Reward Limit: 92,000

  Faction Leader Level: 70 (+56,000 reward limit)

  Officers: None (NPC)

  Faction Size: 47 (+20,000 reward limit)

  Renown: 2 (+4,000 reward limit)

  Faction Leader Legendary Points: 3 (+15% reward limit)

  Allies and Enemies: None

  _____________________

  92,000 was the limit for a single mission, but the daily total limit was twenty times
that amount, far more than the limit for individual members, which was only five times more. Moreover, the other factors such as the faction officers and renown would all add on to that limit. With everything added up, their faction’s currently daily total limit was twenty-six times the base amount.

  This meant that he could reward the players in his faction with a total of 2.4 million experience every day, but as there were currently fifty or so players, each player could only receive around 50,000 experience. This was not really a lot of experience for the players at their level.

  The reward limit mainly controls the speed at which a faction can grow. This is only the base limit, so there’s still a lot of room for growth.

  He made some calculations, and putting aside his leadership level, his own character level also contributed to the reward limit. Recruiting strong NPC officers to their faction would also greatly increase their reward limit. This convinced him of the need to start interacting with main storyline characters. The faction size was also separated into different stages, with the next cutoff being a hundred members. Renown was basically the same as the reputation system with a small difference. Faction renown was the aggregate of all area reputation points. For example, ten points of renown in the Garton Galaxy and five points in the Gelock Star Cluster would add up to a total of fifteen faction renown.

  Legendary Points gave a percentage increase to the reward limit, and this increase was calculated after all the other factors such as leadership points were accounted for. The “Allies and Enemies” was basically the faction’s foreign relations.

  Aside from faction missions, the system also allowed him to manage and monitor the player-faction relationship, as well individual players’ level of contribution. Overall, Han Xiao was very pleased with this new interface, and it could help him attract more players.

  After Han Xiao established his faction, the other players also received notifications on their interface.

  _____________________

  You have joined [Black Star Mercenary Group].