On the side, Lerden did not understand what was happening. Were they still speaking with a real language? Why could he not understand?
Herlous hesitated for a while, but his expression showed that he had given up. He went into the house and came out after a while with the journal in his hand. He slammed it on the desk and said, “Leave when you are done.”
Han Xiao touched the journal, and the interface popped out a hint.
_____________________
You obtained [Delvis’s Journal].
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He had finally obtained it! Han Xiao suppressed his excitement as he opened the diary. He acted like he understood everything, but the journal was written in the Sunil language, which looked like cursive English. However, it did not matter if he don’t know the language. The interface showed a progress bar, and as long as he finished ‘reading’ the book, he could change his class.
Through the normal mission, one needed to be extraordinarily lucky to obtain the journal. The procedure to obtain the journal was complex, since no one knew the identity of Herlous. Most people would not think that a stranger working in a bar was that man. Most of the time, the players would only find out about the journal by becoming friends with Herlous and drinking with him. Only then would Herlous would start talking about his brother when he was drunk.
However, Han Xiao knew the information, so he directly cut to the end without going through the complicated procedure.
Lerden was surprised and asked, “Can you read Sunil?”
Han Xiao closed the book and said, “I can’t”
“Then why are you reading it‽” Herlous stared at Han Xiao with his eyes wide open.
“Just think of it as me paying my respects to your brother. Thanks for the drink.”
Han Xiao put down the journal and smiled as he turned away.
“What a weird guy. Don’t disturb me again!” Herlous shouted from behind Han Xiao.
“Maybe I will.” Han Xiao looked back playfully.
After walking out of the bar, Han Xiao opened up the interface and looked at the new hint. He was in a good mood. He had finally gotten the subclass, and the explosive amount of experience points could finally be used!
_____________________
You obtained the class [Ordnance Engineer].
Chapter 339 - The Rush Strat
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
_____________________
[Ordnance Engineer] Lv.1
+1 END, +3 INT, +1.5% Machinery Affinity, +2 Free Attribute points, +1 Potential point.
You acquired the skill [War-machinery Mastery].
You acquired the skill [Quick War-machinery Repairs].
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There was a chain of effect between Ordnance Engineer and Mechanic class. The skills and attributes perfectly fit with the Mechanic class, and this subclass was equivalent to half of the main class. The levels used for this type of subclass were used at their maximum potential value.
Engineer-type classes focused on intelligence, and they did not provide any combat abilities. However, being an Engineer was more valuable compared to having some additional combat skills. Ordnance meant war machinery such as turrets, armor, shields, and so on. This subclass would provide additional buffs when creating and using war machinery.
Han Xiao pulled out the stack of experience that he had accumulated and spent it all on those two skills.
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[War-machinery Mastery] Lv.10: When using war machinery, get an additional 18% attack and defense bonus.
[Quick War-machinery Repairs] Lv.10: When repairing war machinery, the efficiency increases by 24%. During the repairing process, randomly restore 3% – 6% durability. The chances depend on INT. No maximum occurrence.
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The effects on these two skills were simple yet brutal, and they were extremely useful for the current Han Xiao. However, the main reason that he wanted to obtain the subclass was the ability unlocked after maxing it out.
He directly used 90 million experience points to max out the subclass.
_____________________
[Ordnance Engineer] has reached Lv.10 (Max.).
+1 END, +3 INT, +1.5% Machinery Affinity, + 2 Free Attribute points, +1 Potential point.
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In total, this class gave him 10 Endurance points, 30 Intelligence points, 15% Machinery Affinity, 20 Free Attribute points, and 10 Potential points. There would also be additional Potential points, including the reward, after maxing out the levels of the skills.
Currently, Han Xiao’s intelligence attributes reached 391. If he used all his Free Attribute points, it would surpass the requirement of his class change—400.
Ordnance Engineer was maxed out, and just like the Night Stalker, he also got a new ability.
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You acquire the skill [Military Modification].
You acquire the ability [Military Machinery Enlightenment].
[Military Modification] Lv.10: When creating or modifying war machinery, the status of equipment increases by 8% – 14%. (Note: The buff is based on the original status and does not include statuses from other buffs.)
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This is the same as having another power boost for the machinery. Han Xiao nodded and looked at the other ability, which he valued the most.
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[Military Machinery Enlightenment]: You have been enlightened. When building new war machinery, +30% success rate when building a new production line, +10% Quality of Production Line, -18% resource costs, and +20% speed of production.
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Productivity was the essence of this subclass.
A mechanic had multiple stages in their development, and each of them was indicated by certain benchmarks. One of them was fast building while fighting, which was one of the reasons the mechanic became powerful in Version 3.0. As for the assembly line, it was the mark of the later stages. Mass production was a vital step to develop the most explosive, most brutal, and most costly tactic, which was known as the Rush Strat.
For normal mechanics, they would use the best weapons made out of the best materials. For mass production, the equipment created had low quality. Although the difference in quality would increase between normal Mechanics and Mechanics that used mass production, the latter could stack up an uncountable amount of machinery and suppress the enemy with numbers.
Mechanics and Mages were two powerful classes in the later stage. The Rush Strat from the Mechanic and the Summon Rush Strat could turn a one-on-one battle to survival against a zombie horde. These two battle styles ruined the game experience as exceedingly few players could win against them.
However, even though these two strategies were strong, the cost was obscene. The cost of building one single army was detrimental to the players. Moreover, at the later stages of the game, all players had the ability to fight against an army. So, although the Rush Strat could overpower the opponent, there would also be an unneglectable cost in their own army. If they joined the competitive scene, with matches after matches, the combat ability of the army would also decrease, and after ten or twenty matches, the player would use up everything they had.
And if two used the Rust Strat, then everything became simple. With one team-fight between two armies, both sides would lose all their forces in one match.
Therefore, in the previous world, the Rush Strat was seen as a myth. One hardly found these players. So, if anyone was such a player, they would treasure that moment, since the meta could change at any time.
Han Xiao had analyzed the situation. Because the players were in a weaker stage, he could deal with them with ease. However, the players would be deadlier in the later stage, and different sorts of powers would arise. So, Han Xiao did not want to take risk, and the Rush Strat was the obvious choice.
What, the Rush Strat
was costly‽
In the eyes of the Great Mechanic Han, money was not a problem.
Especially since he had obtained the ability to reduce cost, Han Xiao had no worries about costs and money in the future.
Han Xiao had a long-term plan for his development. Even though he had not learned the knowledge to create assembly lines, he had gotten all the important abilities.
Level 80 would mark another class change, and the class advancement mission required 60 million experience. Han Xiao let out a sigh—it was a piece of cake for him.
In Version 2.0, the maximum level was 90, but that of the current version was level 60. Players in Version 1.0 did not know anything about class advancement missions. Because they could not break the barrier, the players had to experience two class advancement missions at level 60 and level 80. The class advancement at level 60 would make a huge, but not so much for the one at level 80.
The ‘piece of cake’ was just in the standards of the Great Mechanic Han. The players would have to spend an enormous amount of time to accumulated 60 million experience points. Han Xiao spent 90 million experience to go from level 70 to level 80, while the players had nothing in their pocket, so they could only grind level by level.
On top of that, the class advancement did not give back anything after paying the experience, so the players all wanted to quit.
Han Xiao was in a good mood, and he thought to himself, I only need two more class advancement knowledges. If I can get enough money from this mission, then I should just head back home, settle down, find a nice wife, and have kids… Yikes. That sure sounds boring. Well, I can change class and get a new main class.
After leaving the bar, Han Xiao and Lerden wandered in the Forest City.
The sky was filled with stars, and the gentle light from the stars rested on their shoulders. Even though this planet was a dangerous place, it had magnificent views.
The green mountains and forests loomed far away, the rustling sound of leaves echoed as the wind passed by, and the galaxy that was hanging on the night sky glowed. Han Xiao could see why the Sunils might choose this planet for their new environment.
With a shake of his head, Han Xiao recalled a quote. The most dangerous things often has the most beautiful appearance.
“Where are you going?” Lerden asked.
“Just walking around.”
“Then let’s get out of here and head to the base.”
“Is there nothing for you to do here?” Han Xiao asked. “Like going back home?”
Lerden shook his head. “I don’t have a family.”
Han Xiao stroke his shin and said, “What mission do you have?”
“Frontline combat.”
“That’s the most dangerous job. You Supers had already given your money earned from your blood, sweat, and tears to the race, and you still have to go on such a dangerous mission. No wonder you are viewed as heroes.”
Lerden’s eyes leaked his confused emotion. He was about to open his mouth, but he stopped himself and shook his head.
Han Xiao saw everything in his eyes. He was glad that he had gotten the information that he wanted.
I didn’t guess it wrong. The storyline for Sunil already exists…
The mercenary job was not the main goal for this trip; Han Xiao had another goal.
Chapter 340 - The Catastrophe Has Arrived
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lerden left to join the forward reconnaissance forces on his own, and Han Xiao could only sit and wait inside the military base. However, he had already met his objective for the subclass, so there was no longer any need to enter the city again for now.
As the date of the Catastrophe approached, the effect of the waves became more and more apparent to everyone on the planet. A blurry voice would suddenly speak out from the back of people’s minds. The voice somehow sounded foreign and familiar at the same time. However, whenever one tried hard to understand what the voice was saying, it would immediately disappear like it had never been there in the first place.
When the frequency of the spiritual whispers started to match the wavelength of a living being’s brain, it would cause a ripple of emotions through their mind. The mercenaries were no exception and were all getting aggravated due to this phenomenon. The Sunil soldiers, on the other hand, treated this like any other day and carried about their business with their usual determination.
That was the mental disruption that the Prophecy Stones were capable of. More intelligent creatures would have a better chance of suppressing it and not being affected much by it. However, whenever the ‘waves’ exploded, the intensity of these disruptions would increase, and everyone would be able to experience what the beasts had been going through every day. Living in such conditions all the time meant that a tiny push would be more than enough to nudge one over the line of sanity. In other words, the ‘waves’ were the spark that would bring about the Catastrophe.
Woo! Woo!
That day, ear-piercing sirens sounded throughout every single corner of the base. Everyone was already familiar with what that sound signified—enemies had attacked!
The atmosphere in the base suddenly grew tense. The Sunil soldiers ran back to their respective positions in uniform steps, and the mercenaries were also able to quickly find their way back into their groups due to the previous days’ training.
Different kinds of tanks and armored vehicles were all started up, and a dizzying number of anti-gravity turrets floated into the air.
Hum!
Nine Galactic-class battleships slowly took off into the sky, causing ripples of sand and wind to spread around the area. They were like nine fortresses in the air that guarded the skies above Forest City, each facing a different direction.
Han Xiao suddenly lowered his head as he noticed that a few small rocks were starting to jump around on the ground.
The ground only slightly shook at first, but the intensity grew stronger and stronger until, eventually, the sound of massive footsteps reverberated throughout the base. One could hear the bone-chilling roars and shrieks of different beasts from every single part of the surrounding forests.
Trees were being parted by the beast hordes as if giant snakes were slithering toward them, and they were about to make contact with the border of the plains around the city.
Something was about charge out. Countless people were so nervous that they could not only gulp in fear, their sweat constantly dripping down their foreheads.
“Roar!”
The beasts’ roars were like thunder, and the trees toppled in swaths to reveal beast hordes as far as the eye could see!
The beasts trampled over each other and charged over as if they had gone mad. It was as if a tide of darkness was washing toward them, quickly filling up their vision.
Just this scene alone terrified the hearts of many of those who were present.
“Open fire!” an officer desperately yelled.
Boom!
At the next moment, the countless artillery installations around the defensive circle all opened fire at once, causing ear-shattering explosions all over.
The Catastrophe had arrived!
…
Forest City had a total of five main defensive walls. The first consisted of massive numbers of mines and automated turrets. According to the battle plan, this section would coordinate with the supporting fire from the back to disperse the monster hordes. The second consisted of many fortresses, ditches, traps, and electric walls, all to slow down the movements of the beasts, allowing the anti-gravity turrets, main batteries, as well as the battleships to deal significant damages to the beast hordes.
The third was the iron defense line. Squadron after squadron of armored vehicles and defense teams lined this section. When the beasts entered this part of the defenses, the battle would enter its close-quarter stages, and the defense teams would unleash the fury of their metal weapons on the beasts here. This was also where Neville was stationed.
> The last two sections were full of artillery formations. Its purpose was to provide supporting fire for the frontline forces. The rapid-response troops and other reinforcements were also stationed at the second last section. During the calmer periods in the Catastrophe, personnel from the last section would carry out repairs and first-aid work for the troops.
Black Star Mercenary Group was stationed at the second last section. They were assigned to a long-range heavy armored division, with the code name G7. Three Fortress-class main battle tanks served as the core firepower of the formation. These tanks could attach themselves onto the ground and transform into a single gigantic turret. They were also equipped with eighteen mobile heavy artilleries and a decent number of ground troops that moved with the tanks.
As a mechanic, Han Xiao’s job was to control one of those heavy artilleries. He had only one mission—fire the canon! Most people with the mechanic class were assigned to similar roles in the base. With their special affinity and machinery-related abilities, they could increase the damage output of these weapons. Han Xiao was of no exception. With a crisis-level event such as the Catastrophe, it was basically impossible for individuals to influence the battle by themselves, with only a few exceptions.
Boom!
Artillery shells drew arcs over the multiple perimeters and covered the sky before they smashed into the distant beasts, causing red mist to bloom all over the hordes. Flesh and bones of the beasts were blown apart, causing a horrifying scene.
The black tide was momentarily stopped. However, the beasts in the back were not afraid at all and charged over the broken bodies of their brethren, forcing their way through the storm of artillery shells and explosions.
The smell of gunpowder and gore mixed together and wafted into the military formations with a gust of hot wind due to the many explosions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Han Xiao could feel the tremendous recoil every time that he opened fire with his artillery cannon. He fired shot after shot as he watched the shells drew a blazing arc before landing in the middle of the beasts thousands of meters away, blooming like an orange flower in the middle of the black tide.
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