“It is their technology indeed,” Hao Tian said. “Why can we purchase another organization’s equipment from the faction‽”
The players became curious.
Bun-Hit-Dog had a flash of insight and gave a sensible guess. “A mercenary group might be a faction with growing potential. After completing different mission hires, the faction shop will be updated. The more missions completed, the larger the faction will grow…”
The players thought of Herlous joining and the growth potential on the faction interface when they first joined Black Star, and they felt it made sense. Instantly, they became excited.
The actions of the players could make the faction grow!
“We might have joined a special faction!” Frenzied Sword was overjoyed.
They were all pro players, so they immediately realized the advantages of the mercenary group. If they underwent missions from different organizations, the exchange list would be updated with equipment from those organizations, which meant that the more missions they did, the richer the faction exchange list would become. All they had to do was increase the relationship points with the faction itself—it would save them a lot of time!
They were the first batch of players entering the galaxy, and they had gone through a very difficult selection progress. Was joining this faction the hidden benefit‽
The players felt that this specialness of the mercenary group came from Han Xiao. After all, storyline main characters would definitely possess something special. The players trusted Han Xiao very strongly. No matter how shocking the things that he did were, it all seemed possible—this was the impression that Han Xiao had forged in the players’ minds.
To make the players feel that the growth of the faction was ‘driven’ by them, when they clearly saw the growth of the faction, they would slowly develop a sense of belonging. This was the development path that he had set from the start. Now, the players finally felt this specialness and freshness; his strategy had achieved its anticipated result.
At this time, the players had money in their pockets and were willing to spend. A few of them bought the Enlistee Class armor on the spot. Han Xiao did not have any completed products with him, so it had to be built. The other players wanted to observe when the finished product was made.
During the battle on Sunil, every player had been tempted by the single unit armors, but sadly, they had not been given a way to purchase them. Second Prince almost wanted to steal one.
“We have battled for more than a month; let’s all take a break and rest for some time.”
Han Xiao dismissed them, left the stronghold, and rented a mechanical modification room.
He first spent millions of experience and upgraded the armor blueprint level to Lv.6, only then did he start to build. There was still a lot of material left from what he had brought from Planet Aquamarine—only a small part of the Sunil Enlistee Class armor required him to buy materials from the galaxy. The cost to make one was only about 50 Enas.
For the time being, there was no mission for the mercenary group. The players could finally explore Juberly Hub freely, and naturally, they would not just spend money in one place.
There were many shops in the hub center, and it was full of variety and choices. During this resting period, they witnessed equipment from many different civilizations and bought a lot of gear, such as arms with stronger power, small supportive machinery, and so on.
At the same time, they noticed that some machinery shops were selling single unit armors as well. This was very common in the galaxy, and although these armors’ designs were very different from the ones on Sunil, their technology levels were all rather basic. However, these shops were selling them at a way higher price than exchanging in the faction—even the cheapest one was 3,200 Enas, four times the faction price!
The players became worried because of this. They knew that the price was usually correlated with quality, but Han Xiao’s armor was so cheap. Would its attributes be very low?
They memorized the attributes of the armor in the shop and planned to make a comparison when the finished product from the faction was complete.
Although Black Star’s equipment had good prices, when the pro players were rich, they never looked at price, only quality.
…
Herlous went to the mercenary hall alone to register. He joined the Black Star Mercenary Group then opened the mercenary group records.
_____________________
Black Star Mercenary group
Credibility Rating: 154
Scale: 53 members
Class C: 52 members
Class B: 1 member
Missions Completed: 1 (Daily Low-Level Missions Excluded)
Active region: Garton Galaxy
Records: [Sunil Defense Battle] (Expand/Collapse)
Creator: Black Star – Han Xiao
Creation date: Galaxy Calendar Year 688, 02 October
Summary: A small mercenary group with a certain amount of combat power and one grade B Super.
_____________________
“A mercenary group created little more than a month back. Black Star didn’t lie to me…” When Herlous saw there was only one grade B Super, he knew that he was the strongest in this mercenary group. He could not help but feel a sense of responsibility.
For the future of his race, he had to protect Han Xiao. He hoped that this captain would not choose hiring missions that were too dangerous.
On the other side, Han Xiao received a notification from the interface while he was building armor in the workshop.
_____________________
Faction Reward Limit: 135,7000
Faction Leader Level: 80 (+64,000 reward quota)
Cadres: Herlous (B) (+20,000 reward quota)
Faction Size: 52 (+20,000 reward quota)
Renown: 7 (+14,000 reward quota)
Legendary Points: Leader (3) +15% reward quota
Allies and Enemies: None
_____________________
His friendliness with Sunil was on a personal level, so it had yet to become a faction ally.
Han Xiao felt refreshed. The faction had gained its first cadre and taken its first step. Plus, the quota had increased by 20,000, showing that recruiting cadres was indeed a good way to quickly increase the quota.
Two days later, Han Xiao had built six sets of Enlistee Class armor. The players could not wait to equip them, and they instantly felt the benefits of the armor.
Single Unit Armor was something that most civilizations would research on when they reached a certain technological level. Its original purpose was to let users have stronger physical capabilities and adapt better to different environments. The first time wearing single unit armor was like opening the gate to a new world for the players.
In the stronghold, a few players that bought the armor were controlling them excitedly. The fresh feeling had them overjoyed, and the other players surrounded them and touched the armor with curiosity.
“How does it feel?”
“It looks heavy, but it’s actually really easy to move. There are parts inside that helps me move.”
Rainy Kim frowned and said, “Piles of iron, they look so ugly.”
All the male players stared at her. It was the first time that they had shared a common enemy.
“You don’t know sh*t. The mechanical suit is men’s romance!”
Chapter 355 - Speeding! (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After playing with the armor for a while, only then did the players remember to compare the attributes between the Sunil Soldier Armor with the armor in the shops, and the result was that it was almost the same!
Same quality, a quarter of the price—this was more than worth it!
The players were over the moon. The rest of the players did not observe anymore and paid willingly.
Fifty something people, more than 40,000 Enas, about the price of two knowledges…Han Xiao smiled. There was more!
<
br /> Right after, he added a new option in the faction shop page—equipment enhancement!
Han Xiao had held back when he built the armor. Their attributes were just the ‘Basic Version’. This was to provide room for enhancement so that he could open another revenue stream!
Repairs and enhancements were long term incomes. Han Xiao had multiple machinery enhancement abilities, so he had what it took to enter the enhancement business. Naturally, Han Xiao was not going to miss this opportunity. Also, he was going to control the level of enhancement that he gave and would not do full enhancements the very first time, leaving room for improvement, hence attracting the players to keep spending.
The Great Mechanic Han was not greedy—by dividing one thing and selling them separately, he could maximize his profits, and the players that did not know this were willing to pay for it. Han Xiao competed with other shops by using cheap, high-quality equipment, to first let the players buy the equipment, then introduce the enhancement option, turning a one-time sale into long term profit.
After all, he had occasionally played single player games in his previous life too, and he was inspired by the gaming companies turning one game into severalDLCs 1 .
Han Xiao felt nostalgic. Back when he was young, he had been an honest man, but his tiny and pure heart had become polluted by society. Turning bad was not one man’s fault, it was the world’s fault.
For the following few days, Han Xiao built all the armor. Every player wore Enlistee Class armor—it was like the mercenary group had its uniform. Although the players were all Supers, Enlistee Class armor still proved to be helpful.
As a firm supporter of the Great Mechanic Han, Frenzied Sword was the first one to buy the enhancement. The attributes of the armor increased by around ten percent after the enhancement. Multiple enhancements of the same equipment would have an increased cost. As for the Enlistee Class armor, the first enhancement only cost 60 Enas, the second cost 100, and the third 150. Every fourth enhancement in a row, the price would have a big leap from the previous one; the fourth enhancement cost 300.
The attributes increased by eight to twelve percent every enhancement. It was low-cost, high profit, and Frenzied Sword vouched for it. The others thought that it was a good deal and followed. After the Sunil mission, the players all had more than 10,000 Enas, and it was burning a hole in their pockets.
Han Xiao had left plenty of room for enhancements when he made the armor—it had to be enhanced at least seven times to reach the limit of his ability. The enhancement business brought made him 23,000 Enas, which meant on average, the fifty plus players all enhanced their armor at least three times!
Han Xiao made 40,000 from selling the armor and 23,000 from enhancing them. Now with more than 67,000 Enas in his account, he more than enough to buy knowledges.
He was having a great time selling, while Herlous was speechless. He found Han Xiao and said with surprise, “How do you know our single unit armor technology?”
He had built Sunil’s armor, which would definitely make Herlous question him. Han Xiao laughed and said, “I derived the blueprint during battlefield repairs. Aren’t I very skilled?”
Herlous’ face twitched. Han Xiao had stolen Sunil’s technology, yet he had asked a Sunil to compliment his skill. Even his Battleship Slicing Blade could not cut through skin this thick!
Anyway, with Sunil at its current state, there was no point dwelling on this. Herlous still had to stay with Han Xiao, so he did not care about it. Furthermore, it was not any kind of rare technology—most civilizations had basic single unit armor, just with different styles.
…
In the Area Exchange Center of Juberly Hub, Han Xiao was looking to buy some knowledge.
Having finally made enough money, he was about the complete the class advancement that he had been stuck on for so long. It went without saying, he was quite excited.
The Colton Star Cluster area only had eight Mechanic class advancement knowledges, and Han Xiao glanced through and swiftly chose two.
[Heavy Machine Modification], selling at 25,000!
[Advanced Electromagnetism], selling at 37,000!
_____________________
Learning… Successfully learned! You have learned [Heavy Machine Modification]!
Learning… Successfully learned! You have learned [Advanced Electromagnetism]!
_____________________
Class Advancement Requirements: LV 80, 400 INT, learned 5 Mechanic Class Advancement Knowledges
Class Advancement Succeed!
LV 80 Class Advancement Mission completion detected!
Class Advancement Succeed! END Attribute Boost enhanced. 1 END = 40 Max Health = 50 Max Stamina!
You have received a new class, [Data Mechanic LV 1].
+100 Energy, +3 DEX, +2 END, +4 INT
You have received 5 Free Attribute Points.
You have received 1 Potential Point.
You have acquired skill [Blueprint Refinement]!
You have acquired skill [High Concentration Refining]!
You have acquired skill [Magnetic Vision—Data Flow]!
You have acquired talent [Machinery Analytical Comprehension]!
_____________________
The energy in his body was cheering. His class advancement made Han Xiao feel like he had broken through some kind of shackle. His vision became black, and it felt like hours had passed. However, it was actually only half a second. His vision then recovered, but it was very different with before—he could sense much tinier things.
Every time his strength increased, he felt like he had been reborn.
Data Mechanic was also called Experienced Mechanic. His understanding of machinery became even better. The Machinery Affinity at this period would make a huge leap, and among the four new abilities that he had just received, [Magnetic Vision—Data Flow] and [Machinery Analytical Comprehension] were both able to largely increase Machinery Affinity.
Machinery Affinity was a key attribute of the Mechanic, representing the speed, attributes, and power of building and using machinery. [Magnetic Vision—Data Flow] was an active skill, and after activating it, he would enter a special magnetic vision. His magnetic property energy would become his extended senses, revealing the details of the machinery with a magnetic field.
Han Xiao immediately leveled up this skill to Lv.10. Its effect was a twenty-five to fifty percent increase in Machinery Affinity with a twenty energy cost per minute. The percentage increase changed randomly every minute. As its cost was very low, this skill could be activated almost continuously. Unlike [Surging Mechanical Force], this skill could be used in the building process too.
[Machinery Analytical Comprehension] was a passive talent, increasing machinery affinity directly according to Intelligence. Its effect was very powerful—every ten Intelligence increased machinery affinity by one percent. Han Xiao had more than four hundred Intelligence at this moment. This was a key ability for the current stage, increasing the benefit of the Intelligence attribute toward Mechanics. For the foreseeable future, this would be a core ability.
[High Concentration Refining] was the upgraded version of [Basic Refining]. It increased the strength of the raw materials, a very important effect. [Blueprint Refinement] was a passive skill, and it had a chance to be triggered during equipment building. That equipment’s blueprint level would temporarily increase by at most three levels, increasing the end product’s attributes. There was also a chance to ‘crit’ during the building process, resulting in an equipment of a higher grade. The chance depended on the user’s Intelligence and Luck.
Han Xiao still had 2,500,000,000 experience, so he immediately leveled up all those skills and talents to the max level, using close to 50,000,000 at once. Then, Han Xiao also increased his main class to the max level, LV 15.
After LV 80, the experience to level up multiplied. One level required tens of millions of experience, so leveling up fifteen levels at once cost him 900,000,000 experience. Yet, he
did not even blink.
_____________________
[Data Mechanic] leveled up to LV 15 (max).
+240 Energy, +3 DEX, +2 END, +4 INT
You have received 5 Free Attribute Points.
You have received 1 Potential Point.
_____________________
From LV 80 to LV 95 in a flash! It even exceeded the max player level allowed in Version 2.0!
Han Xiao’s advantages of being ahead were even more enlarged.
Energy filled his body. If it had been a stream before, it was now a wide river!
Han Xiao took a deep breath and felt the strength of his body. Reveling in the raging energy within him, he opened the interface, spending all the Free Attribute points in Intelligence. Then, he observed his attributes go through astonishing changes.
_____________________
Level: 95
Main Class: Mechanic
Attributes: 121 STR, 244 DEX, 214 END, 570 INT, 21 MYS, 14 CHA, 1 LUK
Free Attribute Points: 0
Potential Points: 82
Health: 13,057
Stamina: 15,420
Energy: 5,210 (LV 9)
Power Level: 5,377 Ona
Grade: B
[You’re a strong enough Super, a pillar level even in the galaxy. With this level of strength, you’re superior to most beings.]
_____________________
I became grade B! Han Xiao smiled. 5,000 increase in just max health and a new attribute boost level when my energy reached 5,000. My attributes should be thirty to forty percent higher than before!
Finally, he was grade B. He could now protect himself to a certain level even in the galaxy, his combat power was far beyond grade C, and he had two new class advancement knowledges. His combat style could be improved once more!
Chapter 356 - Breaking News, Universe Royalty’s Reward
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The prerequisite of the Sunil NCO Class armor had been met, and Han Xiao could reverse engineer the armor and draw up the blueprint. He did not want to sell it to the players at the moment. After all, he had just finished selling the Enlistee Class armor, and releasing the new armor would affect the rewarding buff from the Enlistee Class armor. So, he chose to wait for a while.
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