Chapter 191 The Fruits of Labor

"Got it!"

Han Xiao's eyes gleamed.

He had coveted these three abilities for a long time, spanning an entire version before finally reaping the rewards.

Both [Oathkeeper] and [Kunde's Wrath] required sacrificing HP. The former was a passive perk: the more cumulative HP lost in a battle, the more attack power slowly increased, capping at 25%. The latter was a skill that greatly increased mental resistance for up to 40 seconds, and even granted immunity to nearly all negative mental states.

But of the three abilities, the most powerful effect belonged to [Proof of Leadership].

This was what players called a "half-template perk." Even players could obtain it. The mechanism was that being a faction leader granted comprehensive bonuses, with the magnitude of the bonus increasing with the size and level of the faction, the most terrifying feature being that there was no upper limit.

Even the strongest player faction could not reach the level of a Super-A Grade force, unable to obtain sufficient bonuses from this perk. But he was different.

The Black Star Army's position in the universe was unique. After a version's worth of operations, it was already more powerful than when the mission was triggered, able to gain more benefits from the perk.

The bonus range of [Proof of Leadership] was quite comprehensive, including but not limited to basic attributes, HP, Stamina, Qi, ability strength, class-specific Qi attributes (Mechanical Affinity, Magical Affinity), various resistances, attack strength, skill levels, and so on.

Han Xiao glanced at the perk and found that the judgment range was not just one faction. In addition to the bonus from the Black Star Army, it also showed that the Super-A Grade Association provided a portion of the bonus. His position as vice-president also grazed the edge of [Proof of Leadership], but this part of the effect was incomplete; only the position of president could obtain the full enhancement.

Overall, [Proof of Leadership] brought him a huge increase. A single perk directly skyrocketed his energy level by 5400 Ona!

As the energy level increased, the actual combat power gap between each point became increasingly astonishing. He was now at a level above 100,000 energy; an increase of 5400 Ona at this level was a further step forward, greatly increasing combat power.

Feeling the astonishing energy surging within him, Han Xiao let out a long breath, his eyes revealing a joyful brilliance.

"This perk is indeed very suitable for me; it's a big step closer to a higher level."

Han Xiao happily looked at the effects of [Proof of Leadership] several times, cherishing it.

With the fulfillment of a long-cherished wish, he couldn't help but feel a sense of ease.

The Kunde joining the army had to be voluntary. The empire unsealing them in advance would reduce the number of volunteers, but it also allowed him to obtain the greatest benefit ahead of time.

As for the future development of the Kunde, as long as nothing major happened, Han Xiao did not intend to intervene frequently.

Anyway, the Kunde now lived in his territory. Even if they returned to a normal civilization, they would still have to pay taxes to him, equivalent to protection fees. If the Kunde wanted to expand within his territory, they would need to rent or buy planets from the army.

Controlling an area was indeed an excellent means of profit. By selling land, renting land, and providing various services, he could harvest the Kunde's overall surplus labor and share their actual output. And he had the power to regulate the price of planets within the jurisdiction, meaning that the extent of the harvest was entirely controlled by himself. He could drain the pond to catch the fish, or he could keep the water flowing, and Han Xiao naturally preferred the latter.

"Hmm, in that case, I can attract Kunde superhumans to join the army through special benefits, such as every junior officer who rises within the army can provide fee reductions for purchasing resources for the Kunde, or accumulate the contribution value of the entire group to exchange for certain resources to support them..."

Han Xiao secretly calculated.

The empire certainly wanted to get this, and would inevitably be unwilling to see this scene, but could not easily tear up the previously signed agreement.

So when the Kunde were unsealed to a certain stage, the empire would definitely find a way to get the Kunde to request immigration. The behind-the-scenes struggles were complex and troublesome, and Han Xiao could already guess what methods the empire would use.

However, he was raising such a large Black Star Army, so he didn't have to do everything himself. Naturally, someone below would be responsible for dealing with it, and this situation was basically impossible to happen in decades, so there was no need to worry about it now.

Han Xiao shook his head and thought, "In short, first issue the system and guide more talents to join the army."

...

A few days later, the Black Star Army announced a system to the Kunde, claiming that in order to respect the Kunde civilization, the army would not give benefits through charity, but would provide a large number of job opportunities to allow people to be self-reliant.

The Black Star Army claimed that this was to guide the Kunde to integrate into interstellar society on the one hand, and to provide the Kunde with a channel to exchange for resources on the other. All Kunde members could accumulate contribution points through work, which could be counted under the entire Kunde name, and the Kunde could use this special currency to purchase various services to accelerate the reconstruction of civilization.

As soon as the system was introduced, it was enthusiastically responded to by the Kunde. Putting aside Han Xiao's reputation, these tens of billions of unsealed Kunde, although they had gained freedom, were also plunged into confusion. Many people did not know how to integrate into interstellar society.

Now, the Black Star Army had specifically provided a clear direction, and the result was that respondents gathered like clouds.

Han Xiao was already familiar with harvesting leeks. This method was exactly the way he harvested the players of Aquamarine Star in Version 2.0, turning himself into a guiding faction. It was not only useful on players, but also effective on the Kunde.

Large batches of high-quality Kunde labor poured into the Black Star Army, and the number of grassroots superhumans increased rapidly.

Currently, the Black Star Army was vigorously developing branches in other star systems, and the Kunde manpower had come at just the right time.

The personnel department arranged for Kunde personnel to leave their hometown and go to different star systems to develop branches, working abroad to accumulate contributions for the group, and also breaking them up to avoid large-scale clustering.

The Crimson Empire also introduced similar policies, but due to the short transformation time, only a very small number of people were willing to work for the empire, far less than the scale of the army's recruitment.

However, more Kunde remained in the group to rebuild civilization, not working for other forces, and the empire's approach also had some effect.

While the Black Star Army was digesting Kunde labor, Sorokin began to act.

...

"Finally arranged a retreat, I can make my move at any time..."

In the headquarters office of the Infinite Consortium, Sorokin sensed the actions of one possession body after another, and a relieved expression appeared on his face.

In the past few months, he had returned to the Infinite Consortium headquarters in the Sea of Star Spirits, and prepared a retreat according to plan, leaving a number of secret warehouses in various star systems and some sub-dimensional worlds, storing a large number of resources.

Sorokin knew the power of virtual mechanics and did not leave any traces in the database. All this work was done by mental possession bodies.

The related fund transfers were disguised as normal business dealings, avoiding financial supervision, and using the method of consortium executives embezzling public funds.

But the consortium was originally his, the business was booming, and there was no operating crisis. The boss had no need to run away at all. This behavior was like stealing his own things, and not many people would realize the problem.

At the same time, Sorokin also left hidden dangers of a broken capital chain for the Infinite Consortium through a series of commercial operations. If he was fine, the problem could be easily solved afterwards.

If something happened to him, the trust of all parties would plummet. As long as they came to collect debts, the Infinite Consortium would be severely hit. Other large consortia would not miss the opportunity and would inevitably swallow a large number of business departments of the Infinite Consortium, dismembering it. In this way, all that was left for all the shareholders of the Infinite Consortium was a mess. Even if they wanted to inherit it, they would have to pay a considerable price to fill the hole.

This was also one of Sorokin's backhands. He would rather destroy his years of hard work than make a wedding dress for others, especially Black Star, the guy he hated so much that his teeth itched.

"The cosmic treasures I have collected can be used at any time, but the most helpful for the action is still the Soul Ember..."

Sorokin's eyes flickered.

He was once the host of the Soul Ember and knew the functions of this Esper Ability very well. In his opinion, if he regained this ability, the success rate of the plan could be increased by another 20%.

When he gave up his identity as the Spirit Emperor, he didn't know where the Soul Ember had gone. In order to keep his identity secret and not be recognized by any acquaintances, Sorokin had long used the characteristics of the Esper Ability to change his own soul frequency, which was equivalent to having plastic surgery on the spiritual level.

However, he did not completely disconnect his spiritual induction of the Soul Ember, but separated it out and turned it into a soul seed, which had been in a sealed state. As long as the seal was lifted, he could sense the approximate location of the Soul Ember.

All along, Sorokin had disguised himself as a common mind Esper in the universe and had never shown all the characteristics of the Esper Ability, so although they were both mental Esper Abilities, the specific abilities looked quite different from the historical "Spirit Emperor".

In order not to cause association, he had never dared to take back the Soul Ember. Anyway, with the induction in hand, in his opinion, no matter where the Soul Ember went, it was in his pocket and could be taken at any time.

Sorokin narrowed his eyes slightly, found the sealed soul seed in the Esper Ability induction vision, ignored the distance and took it back into his body, and released the seal.

The next moment, Sorokin's eyes underwent a subtle change, adding a little indifference.

Each soul seed was like a fragment of his personality. The more he recovered, the more complete the personality would be, and the more like the real "Spirit Emperor" Rovir Sithoic.

At the same time as the soul seed was unsealed, a distant induction appeared in his perception, pointing to a direction.

Sorokin turned his head, looked out at the deep starry sky through the floor-to-ceiling window.

"The Soul Ember is in that direction... the Ancient Star Desert, is it?"

...

At the same time, the Covenant Organization.

The Covenanter, who was playing Weien Cards with everyone, suddenly felt something and suddenly turned his head to look out the window, his eyes showing a look of doubt.

Why did he suddenly feel like he was being spied on?

Before he could think about it, Bai Ge'er on the opposite side impatiently patted the table.

"Don't be dazed, I have a Machine Country card, do you want it or not?"

The Covenanter came back to his senses and threw out a card.

"A Black Star, bigger than yours."

"Tsk, lucky dog... I don't want it, I don't want it, you continue."

The Covenanter's attention returned to the card game.

Weien Cards almost included all the forces and characters in the interstellar, so if you want to understand the current universe structure and history, Weien Cards is actually a very efficient way...

It's definitely not because we like to play cards!