“Where did this happen?”
“Sea of Star Spirits. The identity of the robbers is unknown, and preliminary judgment points toward it being under the same organizations as the previous few.”
Han Xiao stroked his chin. “Pay attention to the black market. If there are no Evolutionary Totems on the black market for some time, it should be the black market mercenaries. They usually hand things over to their employers.”
“Teacher, do we need to deal with this problem?”
“No need to care. I’m not in charge of after-sales. Whether they can protect what they bought, it is not my problem… of course, if they choose to hire my machinery troops, then it would be a different problem.” Han Xiao waved his hand. “What did the Rock Sprite tribe say?”
“They’re hoping that you’ll give him another batch?”
“Give? Not buy?”
“That’s right. They know that the Evolutionary Totem has a low base cost, and they are unwilling to buy another batch at high costs, so they hope you can send them a batch. You also know that the Rock Sprites are direct with their words.” Sylvia helplessly shrugged.
“Tell them that I don’t run an insurance business. If they want to buy, they can buy another batch. There’s no such thing as a replacement batch. This is a matter of principles.”
Han Xiao shook his head. If he agreed to this, who knew if some civilization would choose the method of ‘robbing oneself’ to obtain a replacement. He would not do anything that would bring him a loss.
This sort of thing was hard to predict. There might be civilizations privately reaching agreements with other civilizations who were not close to the dynasty, indirectly helping them to purchase these Evolutionary Totems.
Moreover, Han Xiao did not mind the Evolutionary Totems being stolen. The more they were robbed, the more he would sell, and a larger market would help to ease the pressure off him. He was not losing money at this rate anyway.
The only problem would be the dynasty, not him. As long as it did not reach the Black Star Army side, he did not really care.
“Understood, I’ll relay the message to them.” Sylvia then switched off the projection.
Han Xiao spat out a sigh, leaning back in his chair as he pondered.
In the past year and a half, the Black Star Army had gradually stabilized and consolidated their businesses and operations. They had been developing well. His style of doing things was finally akin to a mechanic. He stayed at home to build machinery and expand his legion while his mechanical army went around to hoard missions for random rewards, using them to draw his Mission Completion Cards.
His experience reserve had also slowly accumulated, and a part of his accumulated Potential Points were used to upgrade his Ultimate Knowledges. During this period, he got his fifth Ultimate Knowledge, [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering], from the Dynasty for six thousand Contribution Points.
This knowledge was related to the manufacturing of machinery, greatly improving one’s manufacturing technology and production line capacity. He also unlocked a large number of blueprints, giving him the talent of [Ultimate Manufacturer] as well as an ability [Inspirational Creation].
[Ultimate Manufacturer]’s effect was simple and practical, increasing the base performance of his machinery by 25 – 30%, as well as his production speed by 300 – 500%. Obviously, this was the talent needed for creating an explosive number of soldiers.
As for [Inspirational Creation], it was an inactive ability. The activation condition was for [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering] to achieve the max level of five. Its effect was to combine an unlimited number of blueprints in any combination to undergo Blueprint Refinement, creating new improved or merged blueprints. One could also choose advanced settings such as focusing on certain aspects such as attack or defense, which was more stable than random blueprints.
Levelling up this ability just needed experience… an ocean worth of experience.
For players who were unable to change their blueprints manually, this skill was akin to magic, but Han Xiao could improve his own blueprints, so this skill was not very useful. However, it was not completely worthless, as it had an irreplaceable role.
[Inspirational Creation] had a slight chance to synthesize the blueprints of Universal Treasures and was the only way for a Mechanic to create Gold Equipment!
Right now, Han Xiao possessed two Universal Treasures, but he would definitely not complain about having more. It was just that synthesizing a Universal Treasure was not that easy, as it was not like gambling for blueprints. There was no fixed combination, and even if two people combined the same blueprints, the synthesized final blueprint would still be different due to randomization.
In his previous life, there were players that indeed created Universal Treasure blueprints, but there were two problems with it. The first was that they did not disclose the combination, and the second… none of the blueprints were for Mechanics.
The prerequisites were too harsh, and there was basically no possibility of manufacturing it below the Beyond Grade A level, so many players could not even satisfy the prerequisites.
Thus, Han Xiao temporarily placed [Inspirational Creation] at the back of his mind. To even reach max level for [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering] required too many potential points, and while he had a large experience reserve, trying to synthesize the blueprint of a Universal Treasure would mean less experience in other areas, particularly since he needed to leave a reserve for during the version upgrade period. Thus, he did not dare waste his experience.
…
The overall situation in the Gulal Civil War had also been stabilized, and they were progressing step by step. There were no issues in the process as the Pioneer Party was about to taste the fruits of victory. However, the attention of the players had already shifted to the Pro League.
Because of the increase in players, the popularity of this version’s Pro League had also risen, attracting much attention. This time, they were similarly separated into the nine major regions, and the schedule had already undergone fine tuning.
For example, the heats and qualifiers started earlier, allowing for ample time and enabling more players to participate in the Pro League. At the same time, this also allowed them to decide the wildcard quota, as well as the Pro League regular season list.
Han Xiao just watched the video of the qualifiers through the forums, appreciating the weird antics and idiocy of the players.
During the official competition, in addition to the ring, group, individual, and team survival battles, there would be three special battle types added.
The first was Capture the Flag, which was a free for all, and each player would be resurrected indefinitely. The winner would be decided by overall points.
The second would be a team dungeon game, where many teams would enter the same dungeon and challenge missions to earn points.
The last would be the survival game. Just like its name, it competed on which team could survive longer in the dungeon, which was also referred to by the players in his past life as the ‘competition to see who could hold their pee back the longest’.
The competitive form was much richer this time round, and the goal of the Pro League was to enhance the competitiveness and interest in the players. The goal of adding the dungeon battles was also to attract more PVE players.
The rules of this Pro League were also much stricter, with a ‘Prohibited Items List’ being released. Not out of his expectations, the [Black Star Army Badge: Evolution] was placed at the top of the list!
The Black Star Army players did not feel much about it since everyone in their faction could use it, but the clubs in other star fields heaved a sigh of relief. This equipment was too overpowered, and if the Shattered Star Ring all had one in their hands, they could just directly admit defeat!
However, Han Xiao did not think that this was the reason. He believed that because the aberrations were too ugly, it would be easy to scare off the ladies…
If one was ugly, they would have no rights. What an accurate saying!
Chapter 911 - Opening of the Pro League
The Black Star Army Badge: Evolution was a divine tool for completing missions and dungeons. In addition to this item, there were several items within each region that were banned.
“The qualifiers are almost over, and the Pro League opening is close.”
Han Xiao rubbed his fingers before reopening the forums, browsing through the information of the qualifiers.
All players were eligible for the qualifiers. After three versions, there were already many players signing for the third Pro League season. They were competing for forty team spots and sixty-four individual tournament places during this regular season, so the competition was fierce.
The saying ‘every version has its own generation of Gods’ was apt. With the compression technology, the Mechanic class that was originally weaker now started to rise in Version 3.0. Their average record in the team and individual games also improved significantly. This was especially so for the individual matches. The mechanics that were originally limited in the individuals now shone in the qualifiers. Their rating was re-evaluated as a T1[1] profession.
The combat capability of a mechanic had started to shine. Unfortunately, it was too much of a money burner, and the players finally experienced this happy problem.
Throughout all the competition regions, the most powerful mechanics all came from the Shattered Star Ring, which had become a feature there. The Black Star Army was indeed one of the best camps for Mechanics.
Along with the rise of the Mechanic profession, many dark horses also appeared.
However, this did not include Maple Moon like in Han Xiao’s previous life, as she only took part in the Pro League for the first time in Version 3.0 back then. In this life, she had participated in the previous Pro League and had even finished in the thirties, so the effect was different.
Because of her good relationship with Frenzied Sword, Rivervale had offered her an olive branch early on and chosen to sign her up before the Pro League started. Thus, Maple Moon was not considered a free player now but rather part of the professional players.
Regardless of her character attributes, equipment, or skills, Maple Moon was one tier higher than in her previous life, and she firmly gained a seat in the top sixty-four in the individual category, allowing her to qualify for the Pro League.
What was worth mentioning was that the Australian and Russian clubs that were based in Shattered Star Ring tried to send some of their club players to form a team to participate in the qualifiers, to try and eliminate the stronger teams of China.
While this was not considered outsourcing, it still triggered a lot of dissatisfaction among the Chinese players.
Your own professional players remain in their regions to play, but you actually sent over some ruffians to try and make a scene? And you dare claim to be some big club? You’re actually just like a kid!
The Australian and Russian teams were targeted heavily by the Chinese players because they were not professional players and ended up being quickly eliminated during the qualifiers.
The candidates for the qualifiers in each region were mostly decided, and the Pro League would be their stage. Thus, a large number of players were analyzing the performance of these players in the qualifiers and posting their analysis videos.
Han Xiao was also deeply engrossed in this as he had received similar treatment.
After scrolling through the forums for a while, a new post suddenly appeared, and it was pushed to the top, attracting Han Xiao’s attention.
A glance at it told him that this was the new episode of Galaxy Times, which was the final promotion for the opening of the Pro League.
This was something our Great Mechanic Han had always kept tabs on, so he immediately entered.
“Hello players, this is Galaxy Times, dedicated to sharing first-hand game information. Your gaming career is our top priority,” the male host greeted.
“Now that the qualifiers are about to end, the countdown for the Pro League begins,” the female host said. “Today, we have the honor of inviting various professional players from the clubs in the Shattered Star Ring for an interview. Please give them a round of applause.”
Claps and cheers played in the background.
Everyone came online and faced the camera, introducing themselves.
“Welcome everyone to the Galaxy Times,” the female host said. “On behalf of the majority of players, I congratulate you for qualifying in the Pro League. We have a lot of new faces in this version, and many say that this version is one where the dark horses will shine. Let me ask those players first, what do you think?”
The host began to interview a batch of newcomers. All of them were familiar faces to Han Xiao. In his previous life, these newcomers were people who rose up in Version 3.0, and a considerable number later joined as professional players, becoming important players or even the aces in their respective teams. Their future statuses were equivalent to Li Ge and Hao Tian. Looking at all these young people in the group, Han Xiao liked this fresh perspective.
After interviewing the newcomers, it was the turn for the professional players. This interview was the highlight, and the teams interviewed were Long Sky, Dynasty, and Rivervale.
“Hao Tian, King Admiral, and Frenzied Sword, the three captains. You achieved an excellent international ranking in the previous league. Now that the third Pro League is about to open, do you feel any pressure?”
Frenzied Sword nodded. “The pressure is real. The better one’s results, the more eyes will be on you. A small mistake will be magnified infinitely, but that’s where we have more motivation. We have a potential rookie, Maple Moon, and the team is good, so we are confident of going further in the competition and earning greater glory.” “That’s great, and we wish Rivervale all the best. How about Long Sky and Dynasty? As the Champion and the Second Runner-up, what goals do you have, and where do you hope to finish?”
“We only have one goal, to defend the championship,” Hao Tian replied. “Anything else is considered regressing.”
King Admiral smiled. “Coincidentally, our only goal is obtaining the Championship.”
“Seems like both captains are confident, and they wish to win the champion’s position for China.” The hostess quickly rounded off as the smell of gunpowder grew heavy.
After finishing this episode, Han Xiao glanced down at the players’ responses.
[If You Lick to the End, You Get Everything]: “We took three of the eight quarterfinal spots last version. If not for the fact that Dynasty had bad luck and fought twice with our country’s people, maybe even the Runner-Up position would have been ours!”
(Twin Lotuses on a Stem]: “What would be called a strong battle team?”
[A Cart of Bread): “We have a great chance of defending our title. This version, the Mechanic profession rose sharply because of the Black Star Army, and our Mechanic profession is the most powerful! This is our advantage, and our overall ranking will definitely be better.”
With optimistic people, there would better be ones that badmouthed them, and however small they were, their existence could not be covered up.
[Rewind): “Can you stop boasting? They were lucky and got the championship, and now they’re all arrogant. Hehe, don’t even know if they can get into the quarter finals.”
[Father of DuDu: “I really find it revolting that they put these professional players on a pedestal. I don’t get what’s so good about them.”
Scrolling through all the comments, Han Xiao could not help but raise his thumb inwardly.
These people are really good at inciting hatred!
A few days later, the opening ceremony came as scheduled, and the long-awaited moment for the players finally arrived, causing the forums to go wild with excitement.
Before the competition officially started, the number of viewers on the live broadcast channel skyrocketed. Han Xiao, who was at the
headquarters, also opened the forums to watch the opening battle. [1] T1 = Main Tank, T2 = Sub Tank, and so on. The author mentioned this very early on in his series. So, this should be gauging the mechanic as being able to tank a lot now.
Chapter 912 - Warning
“Welcome to the opening match of the Third Galaxy Pro League. I’m the commentator of this game, Wind Chimes.”
“Hello everyone, I’m a guest commentator, Bun-Hit-Dog.”
“I’m a guest commentator, Li Ge.”
The three of them were being filmed in a studio. This studio was located within a spaceship that hovered above the competition planet, overlooking the scene.
As soon as the live broadcast was connected, there was a barrage of pop-up comments flying across the screen. It was really lively.
Han Xiao took out a bag of nibbles, and reclining in his chair, he ate as he watched in comfort.
“The two teams against each other this time are Long Sky and Dynasty,” Wind Chimes said. “They were the Champions and Second Runners-up in the previous Pro League. They last met in the semifinals, where Long Sky defeated Dynasty and made them miss the final, so there will definitely be some grudges. Their fans have been giving off the smell of gunpowder before this match. One side are the champions, who have to secure the first win, while Dynasty wish to wipe away their previous humiliation, so this match will be one of epic proportions. What say you two?”
“I feel that Long Sky might win,” Bun-Hit-Dog said. “Hao Tian is a typical example of a competitor who grows stronger the stronger his opponents are. I’m very optimistic about him.”
“There was some luck factored in during Long Sky’s last win,” Li Ge countered. “I’m more optimistic about Dynasty, as they will definitely have done more research after losing the previous time.”
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