Exploring a new Star Field naturally had its own benefits, and the players knew that the Flickering World was definitely a huge event. However, after exploring the Flickering World for some time, the sense of novelty was gone, and a portion of them preferred to remain in the Shattered Star Ring. There were numerous NPCs in the Shattered Star Ring with plenty of different things to do.
Han Xiao would not force the players to do anything. Although he always joked that the players were laborers, he was extremely clear about the players’ personality. Sometimes, their benefits would have to give way to their interests, and this was what the majority of players chased after.
He would not restrict the players’ freedom and would only issue a mission and the relevant reward. As for whether or not the players wanted to complete the mission, it did not have anything to do with him. After all, they players still did not know that the Flickering World would become the most exciting place in the universe during the next version.
On the forums, Bun-Hit-Dog transformed the battle on Planet Lighthouse into a video to let all the players who were not present watch it to their heart’s content.
All the players were extremely curious and shocked after watching the video. This was the battle between eleven Beyond Grade As, and it was the first time the players had witnessed such a scene.
Something worth mentioning was that Han Xiao began selling the Dungeon Crystal in the faction store after the battle. Although the dungeon was not one that the players could complete at their current level, he was certain that the players’ curiosity would overcome them, and this was a good business opportunity.
Indeed, the sales of the Dungeon Crystal were extremely high, and the average survival time of the players was about forty-seven seconds.
The players were all curious about the strength of a Beyond Grade A and wanted to know the true strength of their captain. The players now had a deep understanding of this.
The ordinary cannon fodder mechanical soldiers that had the boost of the Mechanical Force was like a boss-level monster to the players. They could easily dice the players up like vegetables, and the players did not even have the ability to fight back.
Looking at the battlefield, there were millions of such mechanical soldiers…
After going through this bitter journey, the players were clear about Han Xiao’s strength.
Ever since Version 1.0, Black Star’s danger level had always been ‘Fatally Dangerous’ because the highest danger level had been limited to ‘Fatally Dangerous’.
…
Knock! Knock!
Someone knocked on the door of the machinery modification room, and Han Xiao, who was currently adjusting his assembly line, stopped working.
Phillip opened the door, and Lagi and a Forbidden Sorcerer clad in red robes walked in.
“Paying my respects to Your Excellency Black Star.” The Forbidden Sorcerer bowed. “Master Austin sent me to collect the materials.”
“Alright, I have already prepared them. Wait a moment. I will get some men to help you carry it onto your spaceship.”
Han Xiao then waved his hands and got Phillip to contact the logistics department to prepare a few cartons of amber balls for the other party.
This was one of the conditions that he and Austin had agreed upon. Since the darn old man had kept his promise, he would not go back on his word.
The Forbidden Sorcerer then bowed and took his leave.
Han Xiao was about to get back to work but realized that Lagi was still standing by the side without the intention to leave.
“Why are you still here?” Han Xiao raised his brows.
“You despise me?” Upon hearing that, Lagi spoke with a bitter expression. “Indeed, someone like me will never be liked no matter where I go. Even my boss doesn’t like me. I’d better jump ship…”
“Nonsense. Since when did I despise you?”
Han Xiao felt his head ache and said with exasperation, “Just what do you have to tell me? Go back to slacking off if you don’t have anything and stop disturbing me.”
“Sigh, you didn’t use to have such an attitude. You were so respectful back when you asked me for an enchantment,” Lagi said with sorrow. “Indeed, you no longer think highly of me…”
Just what is with this insecure attitude of his today‽
Han Xiao restrained the urge to punch Lagi and said, “Say whatever’s on your mind. Don’t disturb me if there’s nothing!”
Lagi then shook his head and said, “I am actually here to make a suggestion.”
Han Xiao’s eyes immediately widened in shock the moment these words were said.
Just what is going on? Wasn’t my vice commander just for show‽
Since when did he learn how to give suggestions?
Did the sun rise from the wrong side today? Wait, an artificial sun can rise from any direction.
“What suggestions do you have?” Han Xiao asked carefully. He was like a hunter that had met a deer in the forest, afraid that he may scare his prey away.
“I heard from His Excellency Milizaus that all of you failed to find anything over the last few months.”
“And then?” Han Xiao nodded. Milizaus was a Mage and seemed to like Lagi for some reason.
As the vice commander of the army, Lagi was also an individual with status. He had encountered Milizaus frequently in recent times and sought advice from Milizaus. Even if it was for Han Xiao’s sake, Milizaus would not reject Lagi.
“With the Shattered Star Ring being so large, it will be impossible for us to find a Beyond Grade A if he wants to hide. I think that we should give up the search and let the Crimson Dynasty find them on their own. There’s no need to waste our manpower and resources,” Lagi said.
“How strange. Why do you suddenly care about such a matter? Did you eat Emerald Grass’ medicine by accident?” Han Xiao asked with doubt.
“As the vice commander of the army, it is only normal for me to bother about the development of the army,” Lagi said with a bitter expression. “In your heart, it seems like…”
“Stop!”
Han Xiao felt his head ache upon hearing Lagi’s words.
In fact, most people would have such a reaction after spending enough time with Lagi, and Han Xiao decided to call this symptom ‘Lagi Syndrome’.
Han Xiao smiled and tried to say with patience, “Alright, I heard your advice and will make a decision based on the circumstances. Can you leave now?”
“… You indeed despise me.”
“Scram!”
…
In some large, neutral space harbor, Taylor and Sagman were hiding within the crowd on the street. Both of them had currently disguised themselves with magic into two ordinary looking civilians of the Aso Clan. This was a type of human-shaped living being with blue skin, purple eyes, and three fingers on their hands.
They walked into the harbor and had their identities checked. Their status as galactic residents was verified with a card, and they successfully passed through the checks.
Their current disguise came from the Arcane Church’s spies that they had met not too long ago, and their identities had truly existed. They had also obtained tens of other identities that they could easily switch into.
Entering the harbor, they looked around and noticed a few suspicious individuals at the corners. They were sizing up the passersby and had an extraordinary aura.
Upon seeing that, they communicated with their consciousness.
“Spies who are here to search for us.”
“There are even spies over here. The dynasty has truly exhausted a great deal of resources in order to find us.”
“Who knows how Ninjia is doing…”
After escaping from the Flickering World, the four of them split up into three groups. Ninjia escaped alone with the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter, Sagman and Taylor travelled together, and Psyker travelled alone by borrowing the strength of the Star Pupil Holy Race.
During this period, the Crimson Dynasty and Federa
tion of Light spies were scattered all around the Shattered Star Ring. Sagman and Taylor felt every step of the way to be extremely precarious, but thankfully, they received aid from the Arcane Church’s spies.
They were both extremely frustrated in their hearts. As Beyond Grade A Supers, they would be respected wherever they went. Despite having such strength, they had to avoid these weak spies and hide like mice. It was truly too frustrating!
They had switched between plenty of spaceships. They had arrived at this harbor not too long ago, and a new spaceship was waiting for them in the harbor.
As they walked, some commotion could be heard from the pier, and this little commotion did not escape their senses.
Turning around to take a look, they saw a group of galactic warriors walking in their direction with the Black Star Army insignia on their chest.
The crowd immediately let out a path for them and stared at the Black Star Army warriors with awe.
As a new Beyond Grade A organization, the members of the Black Star Army had such special privileges.
Sagman frowned. “They are from the Black Star Army.”
“The subordinates of Black Star are all extremely queer. Avoid them.”
They changed directions.
At the same time, the group of Black Star Army warriors casually looked around.
Right at that moment, a member of the group looked in the direction of Sagman and Taylor and nudged his teammate.
“Strange, I saw two red names just now, and they disappeared in a flash. I wonder if I saw wrongly.”
“This is a neutral harbor, so could they be galactic pirates?”
“Shall we go over to take a look?”
“Er, alright. Since we are here to hand in the mission, we can fight some pirates and earn a quick buck.”
Chapter 864 - Whereabouts Exposed
Amid the bustle of the neutral space harbor, the duo headed toward the storehouse while planning their route of escape.
“We have a few plans. Two of the most stable plans are to borrow the aid of the spies and escape through the stargate or continue hiding out identity and slowly travel through the Shattered Star Ring.”
“Both plans have their risks. If we want to travel through the Star Field, the Seoul Star Cluster and Colton Star Cluster are regions that we must avoid.”
“There is another method that would be to try our luck. There is a wormhole cluster in the middle of the Shattered Star Ring, and we can make use of the unstable wormholes to escape into another Star Field.”
Just when they were discussing the matter, they suddenly felt people following them from behind. Their footsteps paused, and they turned around to take a look, only to see the few Black Star Army members that they had spotted earlier following behind them.
Taylor was stunned for a moment. “Why are the members of the Black Star Army eyeing us?”
“Don’t make a commotion and see what they want to do. It may just be a misunderstanding…” Sagman frowned and pretended that he did not spot anything.
After going down a few split paths, the number of people in the surroundings decreased, but the Black Star Army members were still following them. Only then did they confirm that these Black Star Army members had their eyes on them. It seemed as though they wanted to find where their spaceship was docked.
The duo looked at each other.
“What should we do? Did they recognize us?”
“Doesn’t seem that way… but we should get rid of them just to be safe. We can then change into another disguise.”
“This is a neutral harbor. Don’t make too big a commotion or let others notice that we are the culprits.”
“Alright. I will make them disappear without a trace.”
On the other side, the players were following behind and chatting in their party chat.
“Both of the red names are Fatally Dangerous. Will we be able to win?”
“It’s alright. The army will give us the bounty for catching the pirates, but we can also request aid from the nearby members of the army.”
These players had already used their detection skill on Sagman and Taylor, but their names were not revealed. Instead, their disguised names appeared. However, the other party were red names from a hostile faction.
It was not too strange for them to meet a red-named monster out in the galaxy. The majority of them were galactic pirates or scavengers. Thus, these players only thought that they were galactic pirates. It was not that they could not talk to the red-named characters, but it would be extremely easy for them to be attacked since the other party was hostile toward them.
The Black Star Army was in the same camp as the Crimson Dynasty. With the Crimson Dynasty being in open confrontation with the Arcane Church, all members of the Arcane Church became red names for the players in the Black Star Army.
Just when the players wanted to continue tailing the two, their bodies disappeared, and they were suddenly waiting to be revived.
“Eh? Why did I die?”
“Me too. Why didn’t we even see the attack?”
The players were all taken aback and hurriedly opened the interface to see the battle notification. Although they were not able to see how the enemy attacked, the interface would show the damage that they took and the attacker’s name. It was one of the two red named characters, and he seemed to have used a mental attack to one-shot all the players.
It would not be much if this was the case. However, what truly shocked the players was that they suffered 84,000 damage points!
They almost thought that they had read an additional zero!
Just what kind of strength was this?
Just what was the level of the red-named character who attacked them? Was he a Calamity Grade‽
The players were all extremely curious.
“We seem to have met a fantastic character.”
“This is a large fish. Coming into contact with them will definitely trigger a hidden storyline, right?”
Just as they were discussing, one of the players suddenly asked, “For them to easily deal 84,000 damage… do you remember the Planet Lighthouse dungeon we fought yesterday?”
“Wait… I think I understand something!”
The players came to a realization. This party did not join in the Flickering World exploration mission and had been performing missions for the Mercenary League in the Shattered Star Ring. Thus, they had immediately seized the chance to experience the battle the moment the dungeon was released. They still had a vivid memory of how they died an unknown death at the hands of a Beyond Grade A.
Furthermore, damage of such a level seemed to be at the Beyond Grade A level in the dungeon!
This meant that the two Fatally Dangerous red-named characters might not be just Calamity Grade Supers but Beyond Grade A!
Thinking about the mission recently issued by the army to find the Arcane Church’s Beyond Grade As…
The players suddenly realized that they might have met the targets.
After using a spell to get rid of the Black Star Army members, Sagman and Taylor found the warehouse and flew out from one of the docks.
They purchased an extremely common model that could be found anywhere.
Following that, they looked toward the neutral harbor and heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that there were no Black Star Army fleets pursuing them.
Taylor began to relax.
With the large difference in strength between both parties, they had been able to get rid of the few Black Star Army warriors without anyone noticing. It seemed like their identities would not be exposed.
In order to be safe, they decided to change into their next set of identity and purchased a new spaceship again.
However, they just could not understand why the Black Star Army members would suddenly follow them.
Indeed, all the subordinates of Black Star were extremely strange.
…
Ka ka ka!
In Han Xiao’s workshop, a few mech
anical arms were currently assembling a human-shaped machine, and it was gradually being formed.
The robot that left the furnace was burning hot, and it was quickly cooled down by the coolants being sprayed on it from the sides.
This step was completed extremely quickly, and the next step would be to apply a coat of paint.
Han Xiao waved his hands and said, “Phillip, conduct a test.”
“Understood, hum… RX001 generation mechanical body. Nickname ‘mammoth’. Conducting the first test…”
The nanoparticles then flowed around the body of the robot.
The test was very quickly concluded, and the data from the test was presented to Han Xiao.
Han Xiao looked through the numbers of the test and nodded with satisfaction.
He was not creating a mechanical soldier this time but a host for his [Lord’s Descent] skill.
Han Xiao had already tested the effect of the [Lord’s Descent] skill. During his tests, he realized that there was a difference when he used the different mechanical soldiers as a host. The difference was largely due to the attributes of the mechanical soldier and the materials used to craft it.
He realized that mechanical soldiers were not the best hosts, and using [Lord’s Descent] on Mechanical Life was not ideal. A Mechanical Life had its own consciousness, and it would be counterproductive to have two consciousnesses in a single body. Furthermore, the consciousness of the body might be damaged if he sent out too much energy.
Thus, after a series of calculations, Han Xiao decided to create a special mechanical container to serve as the host of the [Lord’s Descent] skill to fully maximize the effect of this skill.
At the same time, if he used [Lord’s Descent] on the same target multiple times, there was a chance to have a soul connection, which would probably strengthen the effect of the skill. He was not prepared to treat this container as a disposable product but a long-term host.
This host was created from many precious materials, including a new material that he had forged with [Endless Material Combination] called ‘First Generation Black Star Alloy’. It was able to endure high energy, temperature, and pressure and also had the ability to repair itself. It was able to absorb various types of materials and could take a heavy load. These were the conditions required to endure [Lord’s Descent].
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 577