The Legendary Mechanic

by <unknown>

  The second was the permission to counterattack. All players in the army could thus be mobilized, and players in the other factions could be hunted down. Not only could they vent their frustrations and enhance their sense of identity, this would also allow the older players to fight together with the newbies to build friendships.

  In addition, he even dragged the players from other countries into the water, tying everyone to the same ship. In this manner, it would be much more difficult for any foreign clubs to incite discrimination between countries.

  They wanted to divide based on nationalities? Even their own countrymen would end up attacking them, so there was nothing to fuss about!

  The manpower used by the clubs to incite trouble was limited, which was only considered annoying to the army players, but if all the army players turned around to hunt down the hostile players, the foreign club players would be overwhelmed and choose to change factions, which would in turn weaken the scale of players in the faction and would help expand their own leek farms.

  The third announcement served to specifically fish out players that liked to cause chaos, killing the chicken to warn the monkeys. This would reduce the number of players who engaged in trouble together, thus reducing the manpower available for the clubs as much as possible.

  Under the Soaring Clouds was pleasantly surprised. He turned his head, seeing those people he suspected of being spies now standing still, as though frozen stiff.

  Under the Soaring Clouds felt as though all his grievances had been vented. He felt extremely good and comfortable, and if there was a faction identity score, one would see his score have continuously rising.

  “Haha, this is the judgement from heaven. Who will Black Star forgive!”

  Under the Soaring Clouds laughed out loud, feeling extremely comfortable.

  A perfectly normal casual player was actually rubbing his knuckles, as though he could not wait to form a team and cut down people.

  From today onward, Black Star will be my big brother. Whoever tries to mess with the army, I’ll show them who they’re messing with!

  …

  Once the three announcements were issued, a storm was set off among the players.

  The players were no strangers to this sort of mission. Was this not a faction war?

  The army players felt like they had been brought to a carnival, where many of them did not even bother with the normal missions any longer, calling for their friends and rushing for the clearing list, exiting the base like locusts leaving empty fields.

  The Black Star Army was the first organization to organize a faction war mission. In the memory of the army players, some people in the previous version had switched over to Bloodshed Land, causing the army to issue a similar killing list, but it paled in comparison to the current operation.

  This was a large group consisting of more than a million people!

  The players were more prone to chaos than NPCs. Missions could be skipped, but how could such an interesting event be passed up?

  Whether it was an old player or a new player, their enthusiasm was stimulated!

  In particular, the new players from the various countries who had joined recently were even more enthusiastic than the Chinese players. Because many of them had jumped from such factions, they were familiar with the formations of these organizations, and they had naturally rushed faster than anyone to fight with their own people. The veterans naturally took on a few of such ‘pathfinders’ in their parties.

  The hostile factions listed by Han Xiao were those organizations that the clubs worked for. They came from different Star Fields and did not have a particularly strong background, let alone being in the Flickering World where Black Star reigned supreme.

  Thus, facing the warning of the Black Star Army, most of them were bewildered.

  What are you warning us about? We didn’t provoke you guys at all!

  But after a short check, they discovered the truth and almost had a stroke.

  They obviously had no intention of targeting the Black Star Army, but some of the immortals under them had acted spontaneously and caused trouble, resulting in them being wronged.

  It was literally the scenario of sitting at home, but a pot descended from the sky to strike at their head!

  Most of the organizations immediately responded to Black Star Army’s warning and hurriedly stated to Han Xiao that those were not their intentions. It was only some crazy subordinates who had acted without permission. They had no intention of becoming an enemy of the army, and their weak hearts could not withstand such a ‘surprise’.

  Internally, these organizations started to strictly restrict the movement of their immortals, ensuring that without their orders, they were not allowed to provoke anyone, lest they suffered from dire consequences. They also punished those troublemakers and instigators… Reflected in the player interface, those players experienced a decrease in Contribution Points and Favorability.

  However, there were a small portion of organizations with a rather unique way of thinking. Considering the special reputation Black Star Army had among the immortals, they came to a startling conclusion.

  Spies!

  This group of troublemaking subordinates must have been spies sent over by the Black Star Army!

  The Black Star Army must have plans to swallow us, so they purposely got the spies to create trouble. That way, they will have a just cause to attack us!

  These smart alecks began to brew their own conspiracy theories and decided not to fall for the evil plot.

  There were even a handful of organizations whose thought process was more refined, thinking that these Immortals that caused trouble were neither their people nor the people of Black Star, but rather a third party.

  Their goal was to cause a conflict between them and the Black Star Army, thus acting as the fisherman that benefited in the fight between the sandpiper and clam!

  Anyway, regardless of whether this was a truth or not, the organizations already believed it to be so.

  And for the Limitless Financial Group, which was the keenest on recruiting the players, it had turned into an excellent target.

  Hearing this, Sorokin was in a mess.

  There was no problem. I really had such a plan…

  But I haven’t even started implementing it!

  Could this be retribution?

  Han Xiao’s announcements stirred up the situation and directly caused the entire player population in the World Server to turn into chaos.

  And the foreign clubs were immediately forced into a corner by Han Xiao’s triple attack.

  This is not right. Us players originally liked to PK, so why is it you as the NPC that reacted most strongly‽

  We only attacked your Immortals troops, and you already made such a big hoo-ha. Do you even feel embarrassed‽

  Their plan was hit hard right after it started, and they almost got destroyed because of it. In this situation, even if the plan could continue, it would be far from achieving their desired results.

  The executives of the clubs were also unable to do anything.

  If they fought a faction war, they would not be the ones suffering. Including all the affected factions, even if they could not beat the Black Star Army players, they would not lose too badly. They could even rally the ordinary players in their respective factions through this faction war.

  However, the factions they belonged to directly complied. Not only did they not allow a counterattack, they even restrained the players under their command.

  Since their superiors did not allow them to retaliate, the faction war could not take place. All they could do was withstand the enemy’s attacks.

  The Black Star Army had encouraged their players and even released faction rewards. Not only did their organizations not have rewards, but they even held them back. The contrast was just too jarring.

  They all knew that if they were bullied like this, the casual players in their faction would be disappointed, maybe even jumping over to
the Black Star Army since they could not beat them.

  The benefits of staying in a strong faction were just too much!

  However, it was not these clubs that had the worst. It was the casuals.

  Faced with such a situation, many of them were caught totally unawares.

  I just got out of bed, without even brushing my teeth, and you’re telling me that I’ve been marked by hundreds of thousands of players‽

  What are you trying to do‽

  …

  Just as these players were tearing up in confusion and desperation, Hila, who was situated in the Emerald Star Cluster, suddenly received a special communication request.

  It came from the Arcane Church, from the Pope himself!

  [1] Squatted is gaming slang where the PKers spawn camp the corpse.

  *

  Chapter 1044. Exposing One“s Fangs |

  At the frontline exploration base of the Black Star Army in the Emerald Star Cluster…

  In the bright, empty training room, Hila was levitating in midair, her eyes closed and breathing slow. A red brilliance surrounded her body, and the energy fluctuations she emitted made the high collared cloak of the Crimson Snake uniform flutter like dancing black and red clouds.

  In front of her floated a deep red ball of concentrated death energy, and suspended in the middle was a faint golden glow. Golden blood vessel-like threads radiated from that glow, spreading throughout the ball.

  At this moment, Hila’s brows suddenly frowned, and the energy ball in front of her boiled as though a violent chemical reaction had occurred. It exploded, the death energy reverberating across the room.

  “We failed again, Sis.”

  Aurora’s annoyed voice sounded in Hila’s mind.

  “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Hila shook her head.

  With the qualitative change in one’s Esper Ability’s strength, control, and other characteristics, the Esper would be able to bring out and develop more uses for this ability.

  Because there existed an exclusive vitality link between the two, after Aurora entered the Calamity Grade, this link was further strengthened, giving birth to a two-way telepathic channel for them to communicate with each other.

  As for the transmission of life energy, this was originally limited by the distance. Right now, their personal project was to develop an energy transmission channel that would ignore the factor of distance. However, they had not succeeded yet and were still looking for a method.

  Now that Aurora had entered the Calamity Grade, Hila reckoned that she could protect herself. Thus, she no longer restricted Aurora, allowing her to utilize the abilities and life energy freely.

  “Sis, actually, the life link that ignores distance already has an embryonic form. The life energy is constantly emitted from my side, but it cannot be transmitted to yours.”

  “It’s not a complete failure.” Hila nodded. “Actually, I did receive a small amount of life energy, but the energy loss is too severe, which limits me to only receiving one ten thousandth of it. The way I see it, most of your energy seems to be absorbed by an unknown secondary dimension, and that secondary dimension has a weak connection with me, which is why I could feel its presence.”

  “Is that so? I didn’t feel anything.” Aurora was surprised.

  “I only sensed this when I advanced to the Beyond Grade A realm. I think that if we wish to complete the link, we need to first solve this obstacle. I previously sent my death energy into this secondary dimension, but once it entered, it was cut off from me entirely. I’m afraid I’ll need to find time to go there in person. I always feel that it has some secret related to us. Call it the intuition of a Beyond Grade A.”

  As she spoke, Hila shook her head and lifted her finger. There was a bright golden light floating on her fingertip, about the size of a peanut. This was the life energy she had obtained from Aurora.

  With just her eyes, she manipulated the sesame-sized particles of death energy into this cluster of life energy, and the next moment, a brilliant light flashed as the two energies melted together. The red and golden light spots merged into a light spot with the color of orange gold.

  “Sis, did you succeed?”

  “Nope, I’m still exploring the ratio needed to successful fusion. Right now, I can only merge this small amount of energy.”

  Hila lightly breathed out. She had tried to fuse their energies a long time ago, but due to their lack of control over their Esper abilities, they had never succeeded. At that time, they had thought that it was a conflict in their energy natures that caused this.

  However, now that Hila was in the Beyond Grade A realm and Aurora had also entered the Calamity Grade, Hila reattempted the combination, only to find out that their energies were actually combinable, but they were unstable and required powerful manipulation abilities to maintain the balance.

  After the fusion, it would turn into an orangey-gold light cluster, with different characteristics. Although the healing and killing effects were still present, these two characteristics were not strengthened but in fact weakened. Hila had not yet studied the special effects the fused energy would have.

  At this moment, a communication request sounded.

  Beep beep!

  A virtual screen appeared, and the vice-captain’s image popped up. The shock on his face had not faded as he said, “Your Excellency, the Pope of the Arcane Church wishes to speak to you. Should I transfer the call over?”

  Hila’s pupils shrank.

  For someone seated at the very top to come knocking, Hila thought it was surprising.

  She thought for a while before saying, “Transfer it.”

  Very quickly, the screen in front of her changed to the shadow of the Pope.

  The three Universal Civilizations often had their leaders appear in the news, so Hila naturally knew who he was. Thus, her expression was indifferent as she spoke.

  “May I know your intention in looking for me?”

  Because of the conflict between the Arcane Church and the Black Star Army, Hila did not bother showing much respect.

  The Pope did not bother beating around the bush either. “I would like to invite you to join our Arcane Church.”

  “The leader of a Universal Civilization actually came to personally invite me, I’m really flattered… If Black Star was here, that’s what he would say.” Hila remained impassive. “But I’m not him.”

  The Pope slowly continued. “We’ve looked into you, and you’re someone who values and pursues strength. The Arcane Church can help to give you incredible strength. I…”

  “It’s alright. I reject your offer.” Hila did not even wish to listen on and refused flatly.

  “… So long as you join as an ally, you can state any conditions.”

  “Not interested.”

  The Pope paused, expressionless. “The reason you insist on following Black Star, is it because of your own personal feelings?”

  “Nothing to do with you.”

  The Pope nodded. “My offer will stand. If you happen to have a change in heart, the Arcane Church will forever welcome you with open arms.”

  He then ended the communication.

  Looking at the darkened screen, Hila could not help but frown.

  The Arcane Church’s Pope had personally appeared, which meant that he had more sincerity than the Crimson Dynasty. However, this could be because of their relationship as enemies, which would require him to step up if he wanted to poach her.

  If it was an ordinary Beyond Grade A that had received such a treatment, they would likely have accepted it on the spot. However, she would not consider leaving the Black Star Army for the time being. Thus, no matter how good the offer, she did not hesitate to refuse.

  …

  On the other end, there was a fleet of spaceships making their way toward the Black Star stronghold in the Emerald Star Cluster.

  The insignia of the fleet represented a small mercenary group, but it actually carried several Beyond Grade A
combatants from the Arcane Church.

  ‘Child of Light’ Sagman glanced at his communicator. “The Pope’s intentions have been conveyed. The poaching has failed. We can begin our operation.”

  The Arcane Church had long prepared both plans. During this time, the Beyond Grade As had assembled, and if the Pope failed to persuade her, they would strike and eliminate Hila, preventing any mishaps in the future.

  “The situation now is beneficial to us, as both the dynasty and Black Star have yet to discover that we have assembled. It’s best to do a quick battle and make no mistakes like before,” Taylor said.

  In the past, it would have taken the Beyond Grade As a long time to gather because of the different Star Fields, so any action would have been discovered a long time ago. However, because a large number of them were in the Flickering World, they were close to each other, facilitating their actions. Before their enemy discovered them, they could take action whilst they were unaware.

  “It’s best to shift Hila away from the stronghold. Otherwise, the allies of the dynasty can quickly support her through the stargate.”

  “Then we’ll leave this job to you, Tolaen. You go provoke Hila and draw her out. The further the better,” Sagman said.

  Tolaen paused for a while, his heart unwilling. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, “Let me try.”

  “Well, if Hila does not accept the challenge, we will first destroy the stronghold’s stargate. It’s a pity that Sun Hunter will not be able to participate in that activity. Taylor, you’re a Mage with more flexible means. Destroying the stargate will be left to you and me.” Sagman hesitated, before continuing in a deep tone. “As for the Lord’s Avatar of Black Star that will be beside Hila…”

  At this moment, the doppelganger of Kasuyi, which had always been silent, said, “I’ll hold him off.”

  The Arcane Church had brought out enough benefits to allow Kasuyi to participate in this operation. However, he did not like the act of besieging others or bullying newcomers, so he merely sent a doppelganger over as insurance.

  “Alright, we have no guarantee of beating Black Star’s avatar. Only you will be able to suppress him.” Sagman nodded.