by <unknown>
Han Xiao looked around at the others and said, “First, of course, money. You will have to pay me Enas every year in exchange for the fixed allocation of using the Evolution Cube. It doesn’t have to be money—minerals, materials, and other resources can be used as well.”
“How much every year?” a Star Cluster civilization representative asked.
“That depends on your needs.”
“The lending fee every year will depend on the basic allocation number you want to purchase every year. Report it to me in advance, and I will arrange the schedule. Every organization can purchase up to a million allocations every year. I’m quite busy, after all.”
Han Xiao’s time was limited, so it was impossible for him to spend all his time using the Evolution Cube for the others. Furthermore, multiple uses of the Evolution Cube for an individual would weaken its effects.
Someone could not help asking, “What if we hope to have the entire race evolved?”
“Good question.” Han Xiao raised his brows. “Other than basic allocations, you can purchase extra allocations, which doesn’t have an upper limit. However, the price for that will be much higher than the basic allocations. I’m not underestimating your purchasing power, but given the large population of your civilizations, that will most likely be very costly.”
Some civilization representatives felt a little regret. To them, having their entire race use the Evolution Cube at once would be best. Sadly, Han Xiao was clearly not willing to do that.
A Star System civilization would have a population of billions at the very least. The fee would be over the roof.
However, after thinking about it, having the entire race evolve was indeed unnecessary. Every high-level civilization had a ton of people that never contributed to society and were just waiting for days to pass. Purchasing evolution allocations for them was obviously a waste.
To have some of the elites’ genes improved every year with the one million slots was acceptable for the representatives of the civilizations.
Han Xiao then said, “Secondly, business partnership. This depends on the nature of your organization. Civilizations can provide the rights to mining planets, transport channels, and military factory usage. Armed forces will have to form an alliance with the Black Star Army and share intelligence. Financial groups can provide more partnerships on the business side… These are the prerequisites of buying allocations from me.”
The people there came from different organizations. Han Xiao did this to expand the Black Star Army’s business to the various industries, hoping to bloom in all fields.
At the same time, through business partnerships, he could form a deeper partnership relationship with these organizations.
This was within their expectations, so they were not surprised.
Through the analysis of various information, they knew that Black Star was ambitious. Since there was a chance for his organization to become a Beyond Grade A organization, he would of course not be satisfied with it just being a pure armed force.
“Last… I hope to have a seat in the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference,” Han Xiao said with a deep voice.
The Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference was similar to the Galaxy Central Civilization Court, a political civilization alliance. Being a Star System civilization was the entry requirement.
The civilization representatives exchanged looks. Someone said hesitantly, “Only civilizations can attend the conference. Black Star, although your forces are powerful, you’re not a civilization.”
Han Xiao smiled. “Don’t worry, I know the rule. I’m planning to use my mother planet’s name.”
Planet Aquamarine?
They exchanged looks.
“If I remember correctly, the civilization on your mother planet has yet to reach the Star System level…”
Han Xiao shrugged. “Hence this term.”
He would only have official political influence after he obtained a seat at the Civilization Conference. This way, even if Planet Aquamarine did not reach the Star System level, it would also be protected by the ‘Peace Treaty’.
He would benefit from it, too. Not only would his personal position be higher, the Black Star Army under his command would also be a semi-government. The army members would be protected by all kinds of laws.
Simply put, if this was agreed, if other players attacked any Black Star Army members, including themselves, and it was discovered, they would all become ‘red names’ and lose Favorability with a lot of organizations.
Hearing Han Xiao’s terms, the various civilization representatives sighed. This was beyond their authority. They all said that this was not for them to decide and that they had to ask their superiors before getting back to Han Xiao.
Han Xiao was not worried. The Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference was controlled by the Star Cluster civilizations of this Star Field. Since these Star Cluster civilizations wanted to work with him, adding him in as an exception would not be difficult. They just needed an excuse.
During the secret war times, quite a number of Star Cluster civilizations had secretly done things because they did not want to see Black Star rise. However, there was nothing they could do anymore. With resignation, they could only lower their heads and seek cooperation.
The Shattered Star Ring had been affected by the Crimson Tide for a decade. Its structure had changed in subtle ways. This was the time to grasp onto opportunities.
After roughly settling on the terms, the guests left one after another—they had only gone to express their intentions. The details had to be discussed by the corresponding departments of both sides. This would be Sylvia and Phillip’s job.
Han Xiao tapped the table and pondered.
In his plan, this was a key step in the Black Star Army’s expansion—using the Evolution Cube, he would form a connected profit network with the Black Star Army at its center!
Not only would he benefit from the partnerships, the channels of the various organizations would be linked as well, forming an enormous profit network.
In order to achieve this, his organization had to be strong enough. Of course, as a Beyond Grade A organization, the Black Star Army was qualified.
With this opportunity, the Black Star Army would be able to become stronger very quickly. Maintaining this profit network would indirectly turn the entire Shattered Star Ring into the Black Star Army’s base, providing continuous resources.
Currently, the Evolution Cube was the key for this to work. As long as he could make the various organizations see that they could benefit from this, even without the Evolution Cube, they would still continue to maintain the cooperation. Similar to how Heber had made the Tyrant Party into a recognized party for the people at the top of the society, Han Xiao’s goal was to make the Black Star Army the core of the Shattered Star Ring’s profit network.
…
After three days, the guests finally all arrived. In the early morning, Heber invited everyone to the palace and officially started the party.
The hall was set up as a banquet. With the musicians playing their instruments in the background, the representatives of the various organizations formed small circles and spoke softly.
Han Xiao and the others occupied a corner, and many people gathered around them.
The players were taken there as well. They looked left and right curiously and kept throwing [Reconnaissance] at the people around. Everyone they saw was someone important. The few Beyond Grade As were chatting with people in the hall as well.
Over the past few days, the players had asked around about the Tyrant Party. Now that they had seen so many organizations’ representatives, this party suddenly felt much more high class.
The guests there were basically the rulers of the Shattered Star Ring. It turned out that Black Star was at this level.
The players would usually not be able to come into contact with the activities between those high-level people. When these players shared the details of the
Tyrant Party on the forums, only then did the players know that this existed. They all discussed it with excitement.
“So, this is the level of people that Black Star has been in contact with now.”
“He’s a faction leader, of course.”
“All Beyond Grade As are there? Haha, won’t they start fighting?”
“Isn’t the Bloodshed Land our enemy? Why did Black Star go?”
This time, Heber stepped out of the crowd. The people stopped chatting, and they all looked at Heber.
“In the past decade or so, the Shattered Star Ring has been through many storms. Fortunately, I can still see so many familiar faces here today,” Heber said slowly. “Before the party starts, I would like to make an announcement.”
Then, he turned to look at Han Xiao and said, “After private negotiations, Black Star and I have agreed to a temporary ceasefire, and we will take part in the Crimson Dynasty’s development of the Flickering World together. Everyone here shall be a witness.”
The others turned to look at Han Xiao, and Han Xiao nodded in agreement.
“Flickering World?” many players murmured. This piece of information attracted their attention immediately.
Han Xiao smiled in his head. He had known for sure that Heber would announce this during the party. He immediately distributed the mission that he had prepared on the faction interface.
At the same time, on the list of acceptable missions on the many players’ faction interface, the Grade S+ main storyline mission [Flickering World] was instantly pinned at the top.
“Oi, a new main storyline mission!”
“What, Grade S+? That’s higher than the secret war!”
“This should be the next main storyline of Version 3.0.”
“Develop the Flickering World. Looks like this will be the next big operation for the Black Star Army.”
The army players were surprised, and many instantly accepted the mission.
A main storyline with such a high grade was clearly a huge event. After the secret war ended, many players had entered the free exploration stage with no clear goal, but now they had a new goal.
Due to the recent chain of events, the players had an overflowing sense of belonging to the army. In their eyes, the Black Star Army’s storyline was basically the main storyline.
The players did not know much about the Flickering World. Countless posts appeared on the forums to discuss it immediately. Han Xiao scanned them and was satisfied with the impact.
However, the army players did not know that not only was [Flickering World] the Version 3.0 storyline after the secret war, it was also a large main storyline that would last the whole of the next version.
…
The business that had to be discussed had already been discussed a few days ago, and the official party was just a routine.
Since Heber had announced the ceasefire, of course, he did not allow his subordinates to cause any trouble. With his restrictions, no matter how resentful Fosters was, he did not make any trouble.
Han Xiao had basically achieved his targets for attending this Tyrant Party, so he was quite satisfied.
After the party ended, he did not stay for long. After he let Austin use the Evolution Cube, he headed back with Ames, Hila, and the others.
Hu!
When the spaceship left Planet Heber, Han Xiao turned on the communicator and contacted Bennett.
Over the past few days, those civilization representatives had relayed his message to their superiors. Those upper echelons had already responded and agreed with his terms.
Very soon, the communication was picked up.
“Han Xiao? How are you free enough to contact me?” Bennett’s frank laughter sounded.
“I have to tell you something…” Han Xiao explained.
Hearing what Han Xiao said, Bennett said with an overjoyed tone, “You helped the Aquamarine Federation enter the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference? That’s great!”
Planet Aquamarine was just an elementary galactic civilization, way too underqualified to enter the Civilization Conference. Being able to enter the conference as an exception was clearly an opportunity of a lifetime.
“Hmm, I’ll be the representative of the civilization. Are you okay with that?” Han Xiao asked.
The seat in the Civilization Conference belonged to the entire civilization. Usually, the representative would be from the government. However, although Han Xiao was close to the Aquamarine Federation, they were still two separate organizations. By doing this, even though this seat belonged to Planet Aquamarine’s government, they would only be able to express their opinions in the future through Han Xiao.
Bennett did not hesitate at all. “You’re the one that gave us this chance. Plus, you’re Planet Aquamarine’s protector. Giving you the position will only be beneficial for us.”
He had a very clear mindset. Planet Aquamarine would not have been able to achieve what the Black Star Army had achieved today even if they had many years. He did not want to see the Planet Aquamarine civilization making the wrong choices in the future. Therefore, he had been working hard to tie the Planet Aquamarine government and the Black Star Army together.
Han Xiao smiled, chatted casually for a while, and then hung up.
He decided to let Planet Aquamarine use the Evolution Cube on a large scale after returning. Since he had obtained a political seat on Planet Aquamarine, the better Planet Aquamarine grew, the more he would benefit from it.
Speaking of which, I shall go and take a look at the Black Spirit Race. I can let them use the Evolution Cube too, Han Xiao thought. This race admired him like a god, so he considered them to be on his side.
Chapter 792. Teny Amenos |
792 Teny Amenos
Somewhere in the Shattered Star Ring, many streams of light hyperdrive dashed across the silent universe.
This was an enormous fleet, formed by metal, beast-like Crimson Dynasty ships.
This was a logistics team that the Crimson Dynasty had dispatched to the Shattered Star Ring. Other than transporting resources, they also had the ability to build assembly and military factories.
This logistics team had two main goals—provide the Shattered Star Ring garrison with logistics backup and enhance their military power, and head toward the Flickering World’s Dawn Star Cluster to build the dynasty exploration team’s main base on the spot.
As for transporting some resources to the Black Star Army, it was just a small matter.
The three Universal Civilizations had many inter-Star Field quick military passages made of enormous stargates that connected the Star Fields. They could also build small to medium-sized stargates between the desolate universe belt to carry out continuous teleportation.
This logistics team spent quite some time gathering the people, but the time taken to travel was not long in comparison. They arrived at the Shattered Star Ring very soon.
On the path of the enormous logistics team, a small recon fleet was leading the way. There were only twelve light recon ships.
Under the 3D map on the radar of the main recon ship, a middle-aged man stood firmly with his hands behind his back, looking up at the map.
Teny Amenos, 0014855 term outstanding graduate of the Dynasty’s ‘Journey’ High-Level Military School. Averaged first among all graduates of the same term in all sixty-two subjects including Strategy, Tactics, and Combat.
Joined the dynasty military after graduation, dispatched into multiple military operations. Galactic wars experienced: more than 1,000. Independent commanding record: 170 times. Promoted multiple times due to exceptional achievements.
Now the colonel of the dynasty’s 33rd army, an important person among the dynasty’s younger generation. He was also one of the elites going to accept modification from the Evolution Cube.
Being in charge of the recon task for the transport team was his own request.
Teny looked energetic and admirable. The air around him was like a burning flame,
bright and tough. His back was straight like a flagpole.
He had one semi-arc shaped alloy ring on each of his two ears. This was an advanced multifunctional analysis device built by the dynasty. It had functions such as communication, detection, analysis, tactical imaging, and so on.
He wore a high-grade officer uniform of the Crimson Dynasty. It was black and decorated with red and gold patterns, and it had the dynasty’s national emblem on the chest.
All the high-grade officer uniforms of the Crimson Dynasty were made from nano-cloth. They were light, tough, and had excellent defense capabilities. It was also equipped with many combat and survival functions.
“Colonel Teny, the radar has received a distress signal. The coordinates are T406.B189.K22, right on our path. According to long-range observation, a group of galactic travelers is being attacked by a galactic pirate group. The pirates have thirty low-grade battleships.”
The exclusive deputy, Corbus, bowed and reported the situation.
“Send an area announcement. Warn them and tell them to leave our route immediately,” Teny quickly said.
“… The announcement has been made. They have not responded.”
Corbus looked at the image detected and said, “They have strengthened their attacks, intending to quickly finish the galactic traveling group.”
“Report the situation to the main team. The rest of you… switch to combat formation. Level two alert. Initiate the long-range kiting strategy,” Teny ordered calmly.
His mission was to scout the route and eliminate unstable factors. As an elite officer of the dynasty, he did not like to be involved in matters of the others. The galactic traveling group’s rescue request was not within his consideration. However, these people happened to be blocking the hyperdrive route of the main team, which was why he commanded the fleet to engage.
The twelve recon battleships formed a fan shape and headed toward the galactic pirate. They started to fire as soon as they were in range.
Those galactic pirates attempted to fight back but to no avail. They could hardly land any attacks on the recon team. Under Teny’s command, the recon team maintained their maximum attack range, which was far superior to the galactic pirates’.