Han Xiao raised his hand and shattered a holy light shockwave from Aurora. He then scratched his ear, feeling like he was almost going deaf.
Ever since Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy found out that Han Xiao had found the Holy Light Particle a master, he instantly went mad.
Initially, he wanted to drag his old friend down so that they could happily be locked inside machines together. He did not want to feel lonely anymore. However, to his shock, although he was the one who led the way to the Holy Light Particle, the Holy Light Particle received much better treatment.
Why do you have a master by I have to be locked inside this metal‽
I want a master too!
Lately, as long as Han Xiao called him out, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would nag nonstop around him.
“Master! Master! Master!” Han Xiao said with resignation. “Can you stop complaining?”
“No!”
A vein appeared on Han Xiao’s forehead. His patience had reached the limit. “Are you forcing me to turn on silent mode for the Mysterious Energy Host? You won’t even be able to speak at all then!”
Hearing this, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy finally shut up.
Being trapped in a tool was bad enough. He could only speak because Black Star was kind enough to let it. If he was not even able to speak, he would have zero means of entertainment.
However, Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was still frustrated. After less than a minute, he uncontrollably spoke again with a soft tone like a wronged wife. “But I really want a master…”
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and said, “How old are you? Can you have some pride? Are all Primal Esper Abilities as shameless as you?”
Holy Light Particle who was watching the show from the side heard that and said, “Bullsh*t, most Primal Esper Abilities have class. It’s the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy who spoiled our name!”
Furious, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy yelled, “Shut up! You’re not much better than me!”
“Alas, it’s so comfortable to be inside my master, so much warmer than being in a metal tin,” the Holy Light Particle said with a lazy tone.
Staying in Aurora’s body and being nurtured by her Vital Energy was as comfortable as enjoying hot springs. No matter how the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy yelled at him, he always used this response to make the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy even more frustrated and irritated.
Listening to the two Esper Abilities fight, Han Xiao could not help but massage his temples.
These two must be the floor of virtue among the Primal Esper Abilities…
“Alright, alright, that’s it for today.” Han Xiao waved.
Hearing this, Aurora obediently deactivated her ability. Like a duck that got suffocated, the annoying Holy Light Particle suddenly shut up and went silent.
“Erm… uncle, how did I do?”
Aurora looked a little anxious.
She had not been a combatant in the past, so she rarely accepted combat training from Han Xiao at all. The only times she did was as Hila’s support, and that was many years ago.
During the combat training, Han Xiao was not as kind and gentle as usual. He was quite strict.
Aurora did not have many opportunities to take part in direct combat, so her combat experience was limited. Therefore, she was worried she might not have done well.
“Not too bad. You need to make smarter choices…” Han Xiao called Aurora close and guided her step by step.
After Aurora learned to control the Holy Light Particle, she had the ability to take on direct battles. Although she would still not really have the chance to fight, Han Xiao still trained her personally to help her master the combat techniques of the Holy Light Particle.
While doing so, Han Xiao also tested the Holy Light Particle’s special ability to ‘punish evil’. This ability was completely subjective. Whether something was evil or not completely depended on the feelings of its master and the target.
The punishment effect Han Xiao received was very weak. According to the Holy Light Particle, in Aurora’s heart, he was a great man, and she had never once felt he was evil. The weak damage mainly came from how Han Xiao felt about himself. He had never felt he was a righteous man.
After a bit more guidance, Han Xiao sent Aurora away, summoned Phillip, and looked at the changes that had occurred in the army after the Holy Light Seed system was announced.
Quite a few days had already passed after the Holy Light Seed announcement. The impact was enormous. Many people had applied to join from every Star Field. Therefore, the army had to, of course, filter the applicants. Also, the cost of recruiting and paying salaries to those people was not a small amount.
The good news was, most ordinary people came for the chance of acquiring extraordinary power, so their goal was clear and straightforward, meaning they were resilient to pressure.
Therefore, without any internal moral conflict, Han Xiao told Sylvia to lower the basic salary of these newcomers to cut costs. This way, the army would be able to recruit more people at a lower cost. Anyway, these people were not here for the money, so it was a great opportunity to let the army acquire a large amount of cheap labor. Furthermore, in order to gain merits, these people would definitely work hard.
What? This is oppression?
No, no, no, this is called fighting to make their dreams come true.
Showing them what they could obtain by working hard was a must-learn for leaders.
Seeing the rocketing business performance across all industries, Han Xiao nodded with satisfaction and asked about another matter.
“How’s the Army Tournament plan I told Sylvia to come up with? Let me take a look.”
The virtual screen before him turned into a plan drafted by Sylvia.
Han Xiao looked through it in detail. Sylvia basically followed the structure he gave. Sparring was just one of the many programs. There were also all kinds of technical, sports, and entertainment competitions. Of them, the sports and entertainment competitions were the highest in number.
Furthermore, the army members could also request certain competitions. As long as they were not nonsense, there was a chance these requests would be approved. Han Xiao had no doubts the players would request soccer and play some ‘Shaolin Soccer’.
Based on the strength of army members, each Grade was classified into a group, ensuring that the participants would only meet competitors of the same Grade. At the same time, he also gave the players the freedom to choose either to join their own groups or the NPC groups.
Of course, encouragement measures could not be left out. No matter what group or program, as long as the participant’s placement was high, the army would give out a grand reward. This would ensure that most army warriors would be interested in taking part.
In order to let members who did not take part or were eliminated early still participate in some way, Sylvia suggested opening up bets for all the programs and competitions.
This way, it would receive attention from the entire army. As an armed force, there were tons of gambling addicts. Even those who did not gamble normally would also be influenced by the atmosphere to place some bets.
At the same time, this would also earn back the cost of hosting the event. Sylvia even planned to sell tickets, broadcast it across the entire universe, and charge for it. She had a way of making money.
Han Xiao thought this was a good idea. He could use this opportunity to start a competition league, like the sports competitions in his previous life, building a platform where Supers could display their prowess. This might be quite popular.
In the future, perhaps other Beyond Grade A organizations could take part. Since the development union prevented physical conflicts, this might be one way for the Beyond Grade As to display their strength, by letting their subordinates earn some honor for their organizations.
“According to this plan, this is going to be a festival the entire army will take part in, which will affect business operations. However, the sens
e of unity brought by this kind of large faction event is quite impressive. Not only the players but the normal army members also need ways to relax outside of work,” Han Xiao murmured.
To the players, the focus of the Flickering World version was to ride the tide of the era and fight each other, carrying out the first round of national wars on this grand stage. The clubs’ final goal was to be placed high in the International League.
Hence, if he, an NPC, hosted an even larger competition in the early- to mid-stage of the version, it would definitely be loved by the players as a warmup for the Pro League. This way, the appeal of his faction would evolve from a powerful organization with a lot of benefits to the host of a competition in the players’ eyes.
In order to take part in the Army Tournament, one naturally had to be in the army. No players from other factions would be able to take part in it. Therefore, once the players recognized the importance of the Army Tournament, the army would become a faction many players had to join like when it was the guiding faction in Version 2.0.
“This kind of large-scale faction event is not suitable to be hosted too often. Once every five to ten years should be best. Also, it needs a better name. ‘Army Tournament’ lacks personality.”
Thinking of his pitiful talent for naming things, Han Xiao was not confident and called Phillip out.
“Give me a name.”
Phillip tilted his head and said, “How about… Army Gala, hum?”
Han Xiao’s face trembled. Why not just call it the Spring Festival Gala?
“Too boring, give me a cool and flashy one.”
“Then… Galaxy Super Clash! Top of the Universe, Black Star Army Peak Tournament! Hum!”
What the hell? What stupid information did those players share with Phillip?
“Let’s not make it too flashy…”
Phillip gave another few names. In the end, Han Xiao officially decided to call it the Black Star Cup Army Tournament, or Black Star Cup in short. Simple and easily understood, it even included his name.
Han Xiao then made some adjustments to the plan and sent it to Sylvia. He decided to make an announcement about the first Black Star Cup another day. A lot of time was required to prepare for such a large event, so he decided to announce it first to preheat it like the players’ Pro League.
The scale of the Black Star Cup was so much bigger than the Pro League. The Pro League only included the players, while the entire army could take part in this. Although there were more than eight million army players, this was still a small number compared to the total members of the army.
However, most players had reached Grade B. Their importance was completely different compared to before. They could already be considered a very important force in the army.
In the universe, Grade Bs were considered the backbones of their forces. They were powerful in any non-Beyond Grade A organization. Even many Beyond Grade A organizations did not have as many Grade Bs as there were army players.
In the past few months, he had attracted a lot of attention, so he needed time to digest the influence it had brought. This was a good opportunity to direct all the attention to the army, so it was the best time to host the Black Star Cup.
Furthermore, Han Xiao had another more important goal.
The period of time when the players had the strongest desire to spend was before the Pro Leagues of every version. The players would only spend without hesitation to turn their money into strength before a large event.
Currently, the Flickering World was going from the early stage to the middle stage. Although no player had reached the maximum level yet, after accumulating for close to a year, many players had quite thick wallets.
“Some leeks… are ripe.”
Han Xiao sighed.
His scythe was ready.
Chapter 1090 - Announcemen
Chapter 1090 Announcemen
In Emerald Star Cluster, on a certain planet was a desolate desert filled with strangely shaped rocks. Hundreds of shuttle-shaped, low-altitude battle carriers were fighting intensely, crisscrossing between mountains and cliffs, using them as cover.Light beams crossed each other, landing on the cliffs around, causing landslides and rocks rolling down the slopes.
There were four different symbols on these low altitude carriers. One was the guild symbol of the Rivervale guild, and the other three were all symbols of different foreign clubs.
Rivervale was not in a good position right now. They were being attacked by three foreign clubs together. They had no choice but to flee while fighting back, or they would be surrounded.
Maple Moon was piloting one carrier. Her hands grabbed onto the sphere-shaped control devices on two sides specially made for Mechanics. Sparkling Mechanical Force connected the device to the spaceship, making the spaceship her extended body and allowing her to control it with ease. The spaceship swiftly made a turn, avoiding a round of fire while shooting a Main Cannon, which blew up one of the enemy spaceships.
However, a few visible black silhouettes flew out from the flames of the carrier’s explosion. They were the players on the ship. Among them, a Mechanic player threw out compressed orbs that turned into a new carrier, and they continued the chase.
Seeing this, Maple Moon spoke in the team channel with resignation. “Sword, there are too many enemies. Our inventory will run out sooner or later if we continue like this. Should we just die? We can leave these resources.”
“Hold on for just a while longer. Our allies are rushing here.”
Frenzied Sword focused on dealing with the enemies. He was quite frustrated.
This planet was originally controlled by a small mining organization. Rivervale, Long Sky, and other guilds partnered with it by providing armed defense in exchange for part of the mining profit. This was a common scheme for the player guilds in the free competition zone.
However, a few middle-level officers of this mining organization were bought by a few Southeast Asian clubs. They helped them hide on this planet. When Frenzied Sword brought his men and came to collect this batch of resources as usual, the three clubs who had set up an ambush jumped out and surprised Frenzied Sword and the others.
The mode of conflict between players had been becoming more and more complicated as they learned to make use of smaller organizations more effectively. They acquired skills such as bribing and threatening the NPCs. This incident was just a small one; the bigger guilds were already involved in infiltrating, backstabbing, and many other things.
The carriers of Rivervale were being destroyed one after another; the players had no choice but to land on the ground. Maple Moon led the Mechanics to build a fortress to attack the enemies in the sky. The enemies then also sent a group of players down. The two sides started slaughtering each other on the desolate land. As Rivervale was at a numerical disadvantage, their situation was quite worrying.
After fighting for a while, a few battleships suddenly appeared deep in the starry sky and quickly approached. They were the Long Sky and the other allied guilds. Seeing this, these three foreign clubs instantly took off and returned to the spaceships that were on standby in the outer atmosphere. Before reinforcements arrived, they escaped with hyperdrive in a very well-practiced manner. It was clear they were prepared.
“Are you guys okay?”
Hao Tian and the other Long Sky members landed beside Frenzied Sword’s side. They looked around at the mess around.
“Alas, they got me. We’ve lost quite a lot this time. Some died multiple times and lost EXP too,” Frenzied Sword said with resignation. There was a limit to the number of times the players could die each day, and the punishment increased gradually after every death. The players were not afraid of death, but they had to die for a reason. Clearly, dying like this without getting anything in return was a huge loss.
“These foreign clubs have their eyes on us Chinese clubs now. They’ve been working together to attack us,” Maple Moon complained.
“Well, it is what it is. We’re
making the most profit, after all, and our faction is the strongest.” Sleepy Winter shrugged.
Currently, thanks to the Black Star Army, the Chinese clubs were having the best time in the free competition zone. Naturally, along with the benefits they received, they were also targeted by the foreign clubs. These clubs’ plan to stir up hatred between nations failed, so they could no longer use the players in the Black Star Army. Hence, they had no choice but to do it themselves. They had been harassing the Chinese clubs frequently over the past few months, attempting to slow down their growth.
Frenzied Sword was a little worried. “It wouldn’t matter if it was just during normal times, but if we get harassed even during the Pro League, it’s going to be very tough for us to achieve something this season.”
“If we get a champion this season too, China will have acquired the champion three times in a row. The clubs from the other countries definitely won’t want to see that,” Rainy Kim said calmly.
Participating in the competitions was a way to acquire fame. Fame meant traffic, and traffic meant profit. The ultimate goal of all clubs was to make profit.
The International League was the only large-scale open competition for the pro teams to increase their fame. There were no other platforms that had as large an audience.
Therefore, if the Chinese had it all, it meant that they had obstructed the others’ way of making money. No clubs from the other countries were content with just participating, so some of them were causing problems for their opponents by any means necessary. They were all competitors, and when one side became too strong, the others would definitely come together to be against it. It was unavoidable.
Beep beep beep!
At this time, the communicators of everyone present suddenly rang simultaneously.
They exchanged looks of surprise and looked at their communicator. When they saw what it was, they were all slightly stunned.
“Black Star Cup?”
On the communicators was a new army announcement.
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The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 765