The [Secret War] Dungeon was a sub-product of large main storyline missions, just like the [Six Nations and Germinal Organization] Dungeon. He could cut out some battle that he had experienced during the decade-long secret war and create Dungeon Crystals.
Han Xiao immediately thought of another use for this.
“The players only joined the secret war toward the end. The earlier part of the war was just a background introduction to them. Maybe I can show them what the Black Star Army experienced in the decade-long war through the dungeon. They can personally experience how the army rose and learn more about the army’s history. This is beneficial to strengthening the players’ sense of belonging to the faction…”
After pondering for a while, Han Xiao felt that this could work and had many thoughts along with it.
“I can even give them internal honorable titles within the army, just to those players that participated in the secret war, signifying that they witnessed the rise of the army and let the new members know they’re senior members. They can even enjoy a permanent discount in the army in the future. This will be good in keeping the players here…”
Having thought of that, Han Xiao could not help but open the player forums.
He had obtained the secret war main storyline ten years in advance, so his rating being high was certain. Furthermore, winning the secret war increased the Mission Rating—not just for him but for all the Black Star Army players!
Han Xiao wanted to see how the players on the forums would react to this.
Chapter 785 - Forums“ Response and Themed Episode
As soon as he opened the player forums, two top posts marked ‘hot’ entered his sights—the new Galaxy Times episode and Bun-Hit-Dog’s video.
Both of those mentioned him, and the Galaxy Times even used his name as the subtitle of this episode. The name of this episode was ‘Galaxy Times: Legendary Leader—Black Star’!
“Yo, the Times made an episode about me.” Han Xiao was delighted.
The Galaxy Times often introduced large events experienced by the players in the various Star Fields. Sometimes, they would have an episode focused entirely on some grand event or important person.
For example, when Version 3.0 started, the Galaxy Times dedicated an episode to analyze the different storylines the Crimson Tide brought to the players in the various Star Fields. The Shattered Star Ring secret war was just one of them.
If he remembered correctly, although the Galaxy Times had mentioned him many times, this was the first time they had used his name as the subtitle of an episode.
It made sense. He was a renowned character that had existed through many versions, and he was also the first person to advance into Beyond Grade A in the eyes of the players. He deserved to have an episode dedicated to him.
Han Xiao looked at Bun-Hit-Dog’s video. Its title was ‘Black Star Army Specials: Rising in the Star Field’.
These two videos were the most popular posts at the moment. Han Xiao did not open them immediately. He had a habit of browsing through the other ordinary posts first to see what the other players were talking about.
He looked down, and countless new posts appeared, almost all about the secret war main storyline mission. The other players’ secret war main storyline mission had ended as well, which made a lot of players create posts out of surprise. Everyone was talking about this new topic.
“Damn, the main storyline mission ended? A notification suddenly popped out of the interface. I was not prepared for it at all!”
“I just saw the news. The Bloodshed Land retreated.”
“The news said that Purple Crystal initially had very slim chances and that it was the captain that turned the tables this time single-handedly, making Klent give up on the invasion.”
“Wow!”
“The Mission Rating is so high. Is it because we won the secret war?”
“Definitely. The Mission Rating details said that winning the war would increase the Mission Rating by an entire grade!”
“That’s amazing!”
“Captain is the best!”
“I’m crying over here. I went to do the storyline of the Mercenary League. If I’d known about this, I would’ve joined the secret war too.”
“Regret +1.”
On the forums, most of the Black Star Army players were overjoyed. This was a Grade S main storyline mission. Increasing its rating an entire grade should have been extremely difficult, but this time, it basically fell right down from the sky.
Only the army players had this benefit. The players were over the moon and liked Han Xiao even more.
As everyone was getting excited, some people thought about Summer Night Flower again and brought his post encouraging the army players to betray the army up to the front page.
“@Summer Night Flower, come out!”
“@Summer Night Flower, how are you feeling? Surprised? Shocked? Overjoyed‽”
“Yo, why aren’t you teaching us about the ‘right way to play the secret war’ now?”
“Didn’t you say the Bloodshed Land would win? How did this happen?”
“Very few can understand the truth? Ha!”
Summer Night Flower’s speculation had three key points. Today, the truth had proved all of them wrong.
He felt that the Black Star Army had no way up. Suddenly, the Black Star Army became the Crimson Dynasty’s ally, and the faction leader, Black Star became a Beyond Grade A.
He felt that the Bloodshed Land would win the secret war. The Black Star Army won.
He said that the Black Star Army had too many members, and the privileges given to each member were limited, which was even more ridiculous. The current army players made a killing, while those ‘traitors’ that joined the Bloodshed Land were almost going mad from being chased by the army players.
The players kept mentioning Summer Night Flower. Summer Night Flower basically acted as if he was dead and did not appear at all, afraid of exploding from the mockery from the players.
After scanning through the posts for a while, Han Xiao returned to the top posts. He opened the new Galaxy Times episode and watched it.
The opening was still those never-changing male and female hosts, as well as the same old opening speech that even the audience had memorized.
“Hello players,” the female host said, “this is Galaxy Times, dedicated to sharing first-hand game information. Your gaming career is our top priority.”
“We have only one topic to talk about in today’s episode—the renowned character who’s caused a sensation in Galaxy recently—Black Star!” the male host said.
The image changed. It was a screenshot from a certain player, and the background was the duel scene from not long ago.
The perspective of the screenshot was from the Black Star Army formation, which was behind Han Xiao. In the image, Han Xiao’s back was facing the player, and before him were countless enemy battleships. As if he was facing countless enemies alone, it looked very cool.
Then, the episode sorted out Han Xiao’s life story, introducing the rise of the Black Star Army and the large events experienced by the players.
In the Black Phantom era, he stirred up the Planet Aquamarine structure behind the curtains, starting a war single-handedly, getting his revenge, and eliminating the Germinal Organization.
In the Black Star Mercenary Group, he led the first group of professional players to battles in the universe, joined Floating Dragon, grew at an astonishing speed, and built the fundamentals of the future army…
In the Mutation Disaster era, for the promise he made, he led the Black Star Mercenary Group back to Planet Aquamarine, helping his mother planet fight against the disaster. He then guided the players into the galaxy, officially creating the Black Star Army, helping Godora eliminate the notorious DarkStar, becoming the rare example of an outsider receiving Godora’s Golden Gal Badge.
In the secret war era, he expanded and made the Black Star Army grow in the ten years unknown to the p
layers, became a Beyond Grade A, single-handedly turned the tables, and helped Purple Crystal to win the war. He then made the army an ally of a Universal Civilization, the Crimson Dynasty.
The episode narrated Han Xiao’s life story from the players’ perspective in a rather official tone, accompanied by some Black Star Army sub-storylines recorded in the Galaxy Chronicles. It even played some players’ daily life experience in the army and added some interactive factors to the episode, showing how the players grew together with the army.
This episode ended with a conclusive remark.
“In just more than twenty years, Black Star left his mother planet and created an enormous and astonishing base in the Shattered Star Ring. From the once Black Phantom to the Black Star today, we witnessed his growth. He’s the first character we have seen advance to become a Beyond Grade A.
“As a leader, he is undoubtedly legendary. His ambitions, abilities, and intelligence are extraordinary, and he’s still active today. However, it’s as if he always wore a mysterious mask. We never fully understood his beliefs and personality.
“No one knows how much the Black Star Army can achieve under his leadership, but what’s certain is that… we’re witnessing the birth of a legend.”
The video ended there. The Galaxy Times used this episode to summarize what he had done. It was a rather official positive report.
Han Xiao felt that this was quite beneficial. To the old players from Version 1.0 and Version 2.0, he was an old friend, but to the new players in Version 3.0, there were still quite many people that had limited knowledge about him.
This Galaxy Times episode basically introduced him to more new players and brought him some fame.
“Not bad.” Seeing that he was on TV again, Han Xiao was glad. He then opened Bun-Hit-Dog’s video.
Compared to the Galaxy Times’s official tone, Bun-Hit-Dog’s video had a strong personal bias—an almost fawning tone.
At the start of the video, the image was pitch black, and a narrative sounded.
Han Xiao’s brow suddenly twitched. Bun-Hit-Dog’s narrative used the first-person perspective and spoke as if he was him.
The black image coated the deep voice with a layer of mystery.
“When I first stared at the night sky, it was filled with countless stars, bright and beautiful like diamonds. But at the edge of the sky, there were two overlapping stars. The front star blocked the starlight of the back star, making it a pitch-black star.”
“At that moment, I thought that maybe, one day, I can also block the light of other stars… so that everyone only sees me.”
Chapter 786 - Everything Comes at the End of Fawning
“Tsss…” Han Xiao felt a sense of numbness on his scalp.
This guy was still remarkable at fawning, and he had learned new tricks. Han Xiao could guess what this video would be like just by watching the start.
As expected, Bun-Hit-Dog used self-narration at the start to create a mysterious atmosphere. Then, the image changed as he began to describe his history since Black Phantom era. Although the Galaxy Times episode was similar, Bun-Hit-Dog had a completely different style. He used first-person narration most of the time, using material from many older episodes to create a strong sense of storytelling.
The first-person narration made the video strongly immersive. Bun-Hit-Dog described Han Xiao’s past using his perspective, creating a sense of personal experience, making the audience feel as if they were there.
Another specialty of the first-person narration was that through speaking his thoughts as ‘Black Star’, the audiences would have an even stronger impression of him.
Han Xiao always kept his distance when interacting with the players—he only expressed his surface thoughts. Therefore, the players could never understand his true thoughts. Bun-Hit-Dog wanted to use this episode to give ‘realness’ to the players’ impression of Black Star.
His goal was to strengthen his position as the official and authentic Black Star Army video series creator, making this episode a must-watch for anyone that wanted to know about Black Star in the future. Through deduction, analysis, imagination, and the strongly immersive narration, he created a lively image for Black Star, making this character more real in the eyes of the players.
To the players, a character-focused episode like this was not a new concept. They loved giving NPCs more direct personalities. After all, they could portray the NPCs any way they wanted, and the NPCs would never see it.
The basis of Bun-Hit-Dog’s analysis was what Han Xiao had done throughout the years. He deduced the reasons and motives for Black Star to do those things through his own perspective, beautifying Black Star’s image. A larger portion of the personality was based on speculation and guessing, but the players loved this.
From the Black Phantom era until now, it was as if the players experienced Black Star’s thoughts from the first-person perspective. Bun-Hit-Dog used Han Xiao’s very few public speeches, giving him a ton of positive personality traits—such as ambitious, loving his mother planet, wise, loyal to his friends, a man of his word, decisive, daring but careful, and many more.
“Damn, that’s way too much fawning.”
Bun-Hit-Dog made him sound like he was the essence of all virtues. Even Han Xiao himself was embarrassed.
But it felt good indeed…
The image that Bun-Hit-Dog had built was far off from him, but the benefits were obvious. Only players themselves could create a clear image of him this way. With such loyal paparazzi, it was beneficial in increasing his personal charm to the players. There were clearly more comments on this video than on the Galaxy Times video. Tons of people were praising their captain.
In the later part of the video, Bun-Hit-Dog emphasized on the future of the Black Star Army and made a new speculation.
“The secret war is the main storyline in our eyes, but the way I see it, this might just be the surface. The true hidden storyline is the rise of the Black Star Army!
“The secret war is actually the background of Black Star’s journey to becoming a Beyond Grade A Super and the rise of the army within the Star Field!”
This speculation gained approval from most of the army players. They remembered when the Black Star Army was far smaller than what it was today. When Version 3.0 started, the Black Star Army became completely different after the war and grew at an astounding speed.
Now that Black Star had ended the secret war, the rise of the Black Star Army felt more like the real main storyline that had snatched the attention from the secret war.
Seeing that most of the army players agreed with this, Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled.
This was an opportunity to carry out his plan to make the history of the secret war into Dungeons.
…
The next day, the army players received a surprise gift.
For the players that had participated in the secret war, their army assistant in the communicator notified them that due to their involvement in the secret war, they had received the honorable title [Secret Warrior]. This was a title that was displayed on the army resume. It was a form of recognition from the army.
This was a title that was linked to the faction and had nothing to do with their interface. However, all players with this title would forever enjoy a ten percent discount when spending in the army!
The players that participated in the war were overjoyed, not just because of the discount but also because of the honor this title represented. There would only be one secret war, so this title would only be granted once, which meant that it was a faction title that would never be awarded again. This represented that they had witnessed the rise of the army; it was an honor that proved their position as seniors in the army.
At the same time, the faction store put up a ton of [Secret War] Dungeon Crystals that included many wars that spread across the ten years that the players did not experience.
The Dungeons had always been one of the players’ favorite activities, and this had piq
ued their interest. These secret war Dungeons clearly belonged to the same series. Just like the [Six Nations and Germinal Organization], it was suitable for their current level. The players considered this as one of the specialties of a growing faction. After every main storyline, the Black Star Army would create a corresponding Dungeon series. The players were used to it.
Other than farming rewards in Dungeons, the secret war Dungeons could help the players learn about the Black Star Army’s journey during the ten-year version update period. Personally experiencing it in the Dungeons was much more enjoyable than words recording the story.
Han Xiao had another motive for doing this. The secret war had ended, so the players had entered the free exploration stage. By giving out a ton of Dungeons at this time, it would give them new things to do to fill the time between the main storylines. When the Crimson Dynasty’s order to develop the Flickering World arrived, he would take the Black Star Army to explore the Flickering World. Then, there would be more than enough things to do.
The Flickering World was the storyline of the next version. After the Crimson Dynasty finished their early-stage development, only then would they let the various organizations of the Star Fields take part in the exploration. To players, this would be like a ‘World Server’. They would gather there, explore the unknown, and fight for resources. For him, however, he could take the army players into it in advance in Version 3.0.
Currently, all Han Xiao could do was wait and focus on expanding his army, grabbing as much profit from his sudden increase in influence. He kept the Evolution Cube exclusive for the time being, filling the various civilizations of the Colton Star Cluster with temptation.
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