Now, they had finally received a mission from a Star Cluster Civilization. The Purple Crystal Civilization was the ruler of Colton. As they had invited him by name, it seemed rather important.
Completing a mission from a Star Cluster Civilization would add a huge amount of value to the resume of the army.
A few years ago, Han Xiao had no contact with any Star Cluster Civilizations because he was in no position to, but now he could.
Furthermore, contacting a Star Cluster Civilization was something that he could not avoid on his path of personal growth.
In the past two years, Han Xiao had learned almost all the High-End Knowledges; he now had to look for the next stage of knowledge—Cutting-Edge Knowledges. Star Cluster Civilizations were a very important part of gaining Cutting-Edge Knowledges.
This is an opportunity!
Han Xiao told Phillip to transfer the communication and added protection to the channel at the same time.
The image flashed, and a familiar face appeared. It was the Purple Crystal Civilization representative whom Han Xiao had met during Tyrant’s party, Ralph.
“Black Star, it’s been some time,” Ralph said in a friendly manner.
Han Xiao chatted with him a little before they started to get down to business.
“You people wanted to hire me specifically?”
“That’s right. Your army has a very good name, so you’re one of our top choices.”
“And what are the mission’s details?”
“It’s an elimination operation. The target is a fleet. They have disguised themselves as travelers, but their background is much more complicated than that. We plan to eliminate this fleet as a warning to the people behind them.”
Ralph described the situation very vaguely. Han Xiao could not help but guess what the organization that the Purple Crystal Civilization wanted to warn was.
After giving it a little bit of thinking, he had a rough idea.
Purple Crystal had decided to find mercenaries to deal with this instead of doing it themselves, which was clearly not because they were not able to, but the identity of the enemies was sensitive, which caused Purple Crystal to not want to do things the official way.
“Klentans?” Han Xiao spoke softly. Purple Crystal and Klent looked like they had a very good relationship, but they were targeting each other secretly. In his previous life, Purple Crystal and Klent had even fought.
Ralph smiled and did not answer this question. He changed the topic and said, “There has been a lot of unrest in the Shattered Star Ring recently. These organizations have been crossing the line more and more, so they have to be dealt with.”
Han Xiao stroked his chin.
Two years had passed, and the effects of the Crimson Tide had been fermenting. Many organizations wanted to make use of it, so many organizations had been showing themselves, the disorder was spreading quickly. The waves created by the Crimson Dynasty made civilizations that stayed neutral such as the Purple Crystal Civilization very annoyed. Strange things kept happening in the Colton Star Cluster, and the security of their territories had become more and more threatened. Purple Crystal finally could not take it anymore and decided to make an example of these people.
“So, Black Star, do you want to accept our hire?”
“Let’s talk about the reward first.”
“Of course, what do you want?”
“Mechanic Cutting-Edge Knowledge,” Han Xiao replied.
Ralph’s face became troubled when he heard this.
“That might not be possible. Cutting-Edge Knowledges are very precious. The people above will not agree. I can only pay you with money…” Ralph paused momentarily. “However, you’re Floating Dragon’s officer, and we respect Ames a lot. Therefore, if we have the chance to work together again in the future, Cutting-Edge Knowledge might not be impossible.”
Cutting-Edge Knowledge is indeed not easy to obtain… Han Xiao had expected this, so he was not disappointed.
What Ralph meant between the lines was, this hire was like an entry ticket for the Black Star Army. If he completed it, Purple Crystal would hire him for more missions in the future. Once he made a big enough contribution, Purple Crystal would be willing to give him Cutting-Edge Knowledges. It was basically the path of increasing Faction Favorability.
Cutting-Edge Knowledges were very precious; only at this stage could one study antimatter, psionic energy, and the like. Han Xiao did not think that there was a problem with the way Purple Crystal was doing it. Nothing was free in the world—he needed Cutting-Edge Knowledges, and Purple Crystal needed stronger unofficial military power to do things for them privately. It was all part of a deal.
Han Xiao pondered for a while before nodding. “Okay, I can try it.”
“Great.” Ralph smiled. “I will send you a gathering location later. There are other people on this mission. The mission details will be sent to you later.”
“Okay.” Han Xiao had no objection. This was not the first time that he had a group mission like this.
Chapter 632 - Gundam Is a Man’s Romance
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The gathering location was in another Star System within the Colton Star Cluster, very far away from Garton. Han Xiao had Risda fly him to the planet used for the gathering.
This was an unpopulated planet with just a series number. When the Blacklight Stealth arrived at the coordinates, there were already quite many spaceships parked on the ground, and a crowd had already formed. They all looked up one after another at the newcomer.
The spaceship descended steadily. Han Xiao walked out of the hatch and looked around casually. There were only two people there whose vital signs reached the level of Grade A. It seemed like they were two leaders, but they were unfamiliar. They both led a group of people, meaning there were two organizations present.
“The Garton Star System’s Black Star? I’ve heard of him.”
“He came too.”
“Did he not bring those undying mercenaries?”
The crowd looked at Han Xiao with surprise and chatted among themselves.
A member of the Purple Crystal Civilization got out of the spaceship and stood in front of Han Xiao. “Welcome, Black Star. I’m the one responsible for this operation, level 3 diplomat of Secret Service Department 4, Dodder.”
“Hi.” Han Xiao nodded. “Where’s Ralph?”
“His Excellency Ralph’s position is very high; I’m his subordinate’s subordinate. This operation does not require him to be in charge personally.”
Ralph’s position was quite high in the Purple Crystal Civilization. What Han Xiao did not know was, of all the people who were invited to this operation, he was the only one that had been invited by Ralph personally. The others only had contact with Dodder.
This special treatment was because Han Xiao had attended the Tyrant’s party before. To Ralph, Black Star was a member of the upper-class social circle, so he personally involved himself in this small operation that he did not need to be bothered about, showing that he took Han Xiao seriously.
“There are three organizations that are going to be working together for this operation. Let me introduce you to the other two.”
Dodder took Han Xiao over and introduced him to the leaders of the other two organizations.
“This is Jayne, a strong Esper. The others call him ‘Seaquake’. This is Gadeli. His nickname is ‘Hundred Rounds Cannon’. He’s a Cannon Master.”
The two of them sized Han Xiao up and shook hands with him respectfully.
Jayne and Gadeli’s equipment was very sophisticated, especially Gadeli’s. His battle suit was made of super-nanotechnology. Han Xiao could see that this battle suit had very strong shapeshifting capabilities from a glance. This guy was a Cannon Master, so he might have turned his trump card firearms into parts of the battle suit and wore it on his body.
Han Xiao had never heard of the two of them before, so he told Phillip to do a search. He th
en realized that the two of them were not mercenaries but small private military organizations only formed a few years ago and had a rather small size.
Speaking of which, the Black Star Army had only been formed for a couple of years, yet it had risen extremely quickly at an unmatched speed.
In Galaxy, the number of such organizations was right below mercenary groups. There were various reasons that these organizations were formed, but it could be mostly categorized under two reasons. One was for private reasons; these organizations had their own goal and did not accept requests.
The other was similar to mercenaries but did not accept public hires like normal mercenaries. They only accepted private invitations or looked for long-term partners. Hence, they were not a part of the mercenary industry. They had much stricter regulations toward their members compared to mercenary groups. The Bloodshed Land belonged to this category.
Usually, as long as the organizer had enough money and strength, forming a private military was simple. The strength of the leader was the ceiling of the private military—those created by Calamity Grades were the comparatively stronger ones. Jayne and Gadeli had both formed such organizations. Their active areas were in Star Systems rather far away, so their name was unheard by Han Xiao. However, they had both heard Han Xiao’s name before. It was clear which one of them was more famous.
This time, Jayne suddenly asked in a confused tone, “You came alone?”
“I alone am enough.” Han Xiao smiled. As this was a sudden mission, he did not waste time to gather others.
Jayne and Gadeli looked at each other with hidden joy in their eyes.
They were new organizations, so this cooperative operation was a good opportunity to get in touch with the Purple Crystal Civilization. To the two of them, this was a competition for the opportunity to have a long-term partnership with the Purple Crystal Civilization. The other organizations were all competitors, so they had to perform well.
Initially, when they saw Black Star, they had been very worried. If Black Star had brought the undying army under his command, the two of them would be completely unable to compete.
However, now that they realized that Black Star had come alone, they felt relieved that they had the opportunity to put on a performance.
After the introduction, Dodder took out the star map and explained the details of the operation.
“We are currently in Star Zone 3 of the Thousand Lights Star System. The target is in Star Zone 7. According to the target’s movements, we can intercept them in Star Zone 9…
“We have three Calamity Grade Supers and forty-four battleships. The target has sixty-five battleships, but some of them are civilian spaceships used as cover. Therefore, the actual combat capability of the enemies will be lower than that. The strength of their members is unknown. They entered the Colton Star Cluster from the desolate universe and did not go through any identity checks. They have also yet to stop and resupply along the way.”
The others nodded. The intelligence network of the Purple Crystal Civilization covered the entire Star Cluster—all they had to do was rush in. They had three Calamity Grades, so the enemy’s advantage of just more than twenty battleships was meaningless.
“Just a small fleet…” Han Xiao raised his brows. He had initially thought it would be a high difficulty mission, but as it turned out, it was just clearing out some shrimps. Yet, the Purple Crystal Civilization had invited a few Calamity Grades for it. He felt that their main goal was probably to select some new private military organizations for future partnerships.
Ding.
A notification popped up on the interface.
_____________________
You have triggered the mission [Purple Crystal Civilization’s Warning]!
_____________________
Han Xiao scanned through quickly and skipped the experience reward. Even the reward of more than a million Enas was not a big deal to him now.
The only reward that he felt was actually valuable was the Faction Contribution Point of the Purple Crystal Civilization, which was 330 points.
The higher level the faction was, the more difficult it was to obtain its Favorability. However, due to Han Xiao’s pile of Legendary Points and titles, his current relationship with the Purple Crystal Civilization was not the initial [Indifferent] but [Neutral], so he had a starting Favorability of 450.
In order to obtain Cutting-Edge Knowledge, farming Faction Favorability was the method with the highest odds of success.
This time, Dodder suddenly thought of something.
“By the way, one more thing. The Star System Civilization ruling the Thousand Lights Star System requested backup from the Purple Crystal Civilization. One of the strongest people in their territory has gone missing, so they requested that we help them find him. The missing person is called Kernid, nickname Dark Purple Warlock. This is what he looks like. If you happen to discover any clues, do remember to tell me.”
Han Xiao was stunned for a moment. The name sounded very familiar.
Kernid seemed to be one of the names on the hunting list.
Han Xiao kept this in mind.
…
The target of the cooperative operation—the fleet that was disguised as galactic travelers—was slowly moving through Star Zone 9 of the Thousand Lights Star System.
In the command room of the main ship, the captain, Bret, was recording the various data.
“Voyage dairy K-003015: It has been 134 days since entering the Colton Star Cluster. Everything is normal at the moment. Currently carrying out the 6th data collection. The scouting area is the Thousand Lights Star System. The transfer of data for civilization development, civilian planet ecologies, security, and the others have been completed. The next station is the core area of the Colton Star Cluster, the White Ceiling Star System. We will gather intelligence on the Purple Crystal Civilization there.”
After the voyage dairy was sent out, the system completely destroyed its data.
Bret rubbed his eyes and soothed his tiredness.
“Alert! Alert! An unknown fleet is approaching!”
At this time, the lights inside the room turned bright red. The alarm of the spaceship artificial intelligence rang and instantly alerted Bret. He rushed to the radar screen, where an unknown fleet was shown to be heading directly toward them and would soon enter their vision.
“Send a message to them and ask about their entity,” Bret yelled. “Tell them we’re just galactic travelers.”
However, like throwing a pebble into the sea, the message got no reply at all.
Very soon, the fleet appeared and, without any hesitation, started firing at Bret’s fleet. The battle erupted in an instant!
“They’re not galactic pirates; we’ve been targeted!” Bret was experienced. He instantly knew that this would not end well for them.
Being very decisive, Bret ordered to counter-attack while recording a video and sending it back to his organizations, letting the headquarters know who these enemies were.
This fleet that suddenly attacked belonged to Han Xiao and the others. Jayne and Gadeli were commanding the fleet and fighting with the enemy. The Blacklight Stealth was watching from the side.
In the cockpit, Han Xiao looked at the battlefield and squinted.
“Although the enemies are not much of a threat, it is a good opportunity to test my new weapon.”
As he thought, Han Xiao switched to autopilot and walked to the ejection area in the middle of the ship. Berserk Ape quickly covered his body as he directly jumped into space.
The difference between Han Xiao’s size and the battleships’ was like the difference between an ant and an elephant. However, the next moment, the light of Mechanical Force flashed. Countless mechanical parts expanded from within the Berserk Ape mechanical suit, and compressed orbs opened up one after another.
In the blink of an eye, a more than thirty-meter-tall Giant Soldier mechanical suit was assembled. Its size was not much different from smal
l assault ships. The huge energy wave attracted the attention and surprised both sides of the battle.
Giant Soldier, Ship Destroyer, Gen 3 Improved Version!
In the past two years, after obtaining the various High-End Knowledges, Han Xiao had finally reverse engineered the blueprint of spaceships and learned to build battleships. With this technology, he had improved the Ship Destroyer blueprint that Carroll had lost to him. He had enhanced it two times and updated many parts of it. Compared to the first generation, the third generation Ship Destroyer looked much more aesthetically pleasing. From a tube-shaped body, it became human-shaped, possessing four limbs and a head.
Giant Soldier mechanical suits were made for galactic battles, so their performances were all very high. With Han Xiao’s Mechanical Force bonuses, this Giant Soldier was terrifyingly strong. Other than Virtual Intrusion, Han Xiao now had a more direct method to battle in space.
Inside the cockpit of the Gen 3 Ship Destroyer, Han Xiao completed the nerve connection. The giant mechanical suit became as easy to control as his arms and legs, and the small burden it brought to Han Xiao’s mind was nothing to someone as strong as him. Han Xiao could not help but feel a little nostalgic.
“It’s been so long since I piloted a large mechanical suit. I wonder if I got rusty.”
Bret’s eyes opened extremely wide. His voice was breaking as he said, “It’s a Giant Soldier mechanical suit! Focus fire on it and destroy it!”
Every qualified commander knew what a Giant Soldier could do in galactic battles. Compared to bulky battleships, the mobility of the Giant Soldier mechanical suits was a nightmare for the entire fleet. As soon as a Giant Soldier appeared in galactic battles, they would definitely become the primary target.
Countless missiles rocketed through space and expanded in Han Xiao’s eyes, yet a sense of anticipation for battle appeared on Han Xiao’s face.
With just a thought, the three-dimensional mechanical body of the Gen 3 Ship Destroyer activated. Like a bullet, it entered the rain of fire, barely dodging the attacks one after another while the high level energy shield blocked the stray attacks.
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 391