Chapter 1 Recent Developments

Somewhere in the shining world, a spaceship bearing the emblem of the Black Star Army cruised slowly.

Inside the ship's main hall, a group of players were busy with their own affairs. Some were playing cards, some were browsing the forums, and some were browsing the army's store. The IDs above their heads showed that everyone present was from the Jiangcheng Guild. Kuang Dao and Feng Yue were also among them. This ship was filled with the core members of the guild, heading to a mission location.

At this moment, in a corner of the cabin, Kuang Dao was pulling aside the team members for a pep talk.

"After logging in, we haven't had any serious training. Everyone hasn't found their rhythm yet. Although we're on the road, we can't waste time. No entertainment until we reach our destination. Follow me and grind dungeons, practice tactical cooperation."

As he spoke, Kuang Dao took out several nightmare-level dungeon crystals from his pocket.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

"Captain, how long has it been since the last league ended? We haven't even had a proper vacation. The new version just started, and the next league is still far away. Do we have to be so competitive already?" Feng Yue complained.

Kuang Dao explained, "The Wanghou Jiangxiang and Changkong's Mingyue Changzhong from the Imperial Dynasty are about to retire. Their teams are introducing new members, and they need time to adjust. Their strength will probably weaken. That makes our competitiveness even more obvious. This is a great opportunity. We have a good chance of winning the league this time, so we must work twice as hard."

"... I feel like you're becoming more and more like Hao Tian, always wanting to drill us," Feng Yue pouted.

At this time, Rou Bao, who was hitching a ride, chuckled and said, "He's the captain, after all. In recent years, Jiangcheng has lived up to expectations and achieved good results. That's inseparable from his dedication and responsibility. I still remember how terrible Jiangcheng was during the first league. Fortunately, your club's executives regarded Kuang Dao as the cornerstone and rebuilt the team. Facts have proved that your club made the right choice. Jiangcheng now has the reputation of being the fifth-largest powerhouse in Huaxia."

Kuang Dao felt comfortable all over and gave a thumbs up. "You get it. I promise to give you an exclusive interview."

"Great, licking got me the goods. Worth it," Rou Bao laughed.

As the group was joking around, the president of the Jiangcheng Guild, Qian Jiang Yue, walked in and went straight to Kuang Dao, saying:

"Kuang Dao, another NPC force contacted me just now, wanting to win us over and have us leave the army to join them."

"Again? Who is it this time?" Kuang Dao asked curiously.

"It's someone from the Glorious Federation," Qian Jiang Yue said helplessly.

Recently, they had received many such private solicitations in various forms. All kinds of forces were offering generous conditions, hoping that their entire affiliated organization would defect and leave the army. Not only Jiangcheng, but various affiliated guild forces under the Black Star Army had been frequently encountering this kind of thing lately.

"The Glorious Federation is trying to win us over? When did our reputation become so big..." Kuang Dao muttered, "Don't bother with them. We're not defecting anyway."

He was a staunch supporter of the army. Even if the three great civilizations were trying to win him over, he had no interest in changing allegiances. As far as he knew, most of the army's guilds had the same attitude and basically ignored such recruitment messages.

"Recently, major interstellar forces have been snatching players from the army. The intensity is even greater than in the last version. During this period, I analyzed the current situation and estimated that a great war between the civilizations and the association is inevitable. So, we 'Undying Ones,' who are most suitable for rushing to the front lines, have become hot commodities that both sides are vying for. Otherwise, why would forces of the level of the three great civilizations send people to win us over specifically?" Feng Yue said thoughtfully. Although she had become a professional player, she still retained her interest in analyzing the plot.

Just then, everyone present's communicator suddenly sounded the Black Star Army's internal program notification tone in unison.

"What new announcement did the army release this time?"

Kuang Dao and others took out their communicators and opened the internal program. An internal document titled "Recent Institutional Reforms of the Army" immediately caught their eyes.

Everyone quickly browsed through it, their faces filled with surprise.

The document stated that the army was making expanded adjustments to the duties of the Undying Ones, opening up more mid-level positions. They could serve in various new long-term positions within the army. Logistics, instructors, captains, intelligence personnel, and other positions were all available.

In simple terms, new channels for advancement were opened for players. Originally, the nature of most players was mercenaries and combatants, but now they could become mid-level cadres in departments, gain power, lead a group of subordinates, and command a group of grassroots personnel to handle affairs as players. This was quite attractive to players who liked role-playing.

At the same time, such positions also represented more formal staffing, allowing them to receive a fixed salary from the army, which was very much in line with the preferences of Huaxia players.

The promotion conditions were a sufficiently high army authority level, which depended on the player's accumulated faction contribution, and they also had to purchase a digital qualification certificate called "Cadre Registration Application Form," which required a small amount of Einar and a small amount of experience. Then, they could wait for the personnel department to review it.

In addition, the army stated that in response to the demands of the majority of members, it was introducing a new insurance service called "Army Main Force Special Protection," which included discounts at the army store, free medical treatments, free equipment repairs and enhancements, discounts on army logistics fees, access to loan qualifications, lower loan interest rates, lower rental fees for spaceships, and discounts on the purchase of army territory properties. According to the degree of protection, it was divided into different protection levels.

Army members with higher authority could purchase higher-level protection, and the fees were not one-time payments. They had to be renewed and paid periodically. Players not only needed to pay money, but also a small amount of experience—the faction store discount alone was enough to stimulate players to buy this special protection one after another, not to mention the various additional services. Just looking at it made them feel like they were making a killing!

In particular, the price of dungeon crystals was reduced the most. This was currently the player's main source of experience, like an inexhaustible "experience mine," which was also to facilitate players' "mining."

In addition to these favorable systems, the army also stated that it would soon increase the scope of missions that the Undying Ones could accept and set up some special missions with generous rewards. Players needed to spend experience points and a certain amount of money as a "mission deposit." After completion, the money would be returned, but the experience could not be returned.

However, with the mission rewards, players would not care about this little bit of experience... Nowadays, the army's scale was too large, and the daily disposable experience amount was astronomical. By distributing the experience amount to players through missions, and then Han Xiao harvested it from the players, this positive cycle had been maintained for many years.

At the same time, Han Xiao stated in the document that the use of the Evolutionary Cube was completely open to qualified players, requiring them to spend money and experience to purchase it.

Because players in this version could only experience a level 160 advancement, the Evolutionary Cube's extra race sublimation was only useful before that, so players' desire to buy it would not be too low.

Han Xiao's move was not only to harvest experience, but also to curb the players' leveling speed with the side effects of the Evolutionary Cube, pushing back the time when Disaster Grade players would appear.

During the side effect time, players would probably feel that leveling up was a loss, thus tending to spend their experience elsewhere, which would kill two birds with one stone and make it easier for him to harvest.

After reading the document, Kuang Dao and others were dazed by this series of favorable policies, and were pleasantly surprised.

"The army is responding to other forces poaching people."

"Sure enough, when there is competition between camps, we can eat our fill."

"Comfortable, Old Black still values us as always."

Kuang Dao, Feng Yue, and the others only felt excitement in their hearts.

Everyone and the army were like an old married couple. They never wanted to leave, and they didn't expect the army to react, but the army responded to the forces trying to poach people with a series of benefits, which made them see more importance and feel happy.

At the end of the announcement, the army also announced that it would hold a military exercise among the Undying Ones soon. The mission rewards were extremely generous, but the quota was limited. Experience points were required to accept the mission.

This was the only large-scale collective action of the army in the near future. Although it was only an exercise, the rewards were considerable. Kuang Dao and others naturally did not hesitate and directly paid experience points to sign up.

In just five minutes, millions of places were snapped up, which showed the popularity of the army at the moment.

The Black Star Army's welfare announcement made many players in other camps feel sour in their stomachs, and their eyes turned red. The forums were in an uproar again.

Han Xiao didn't need to pay special attention. He could guess the players' reaction to these benefits. He had long mastered the players' G-spots. He could use this method of harvesting players' labor output with different tricks even with his eyes closed.

According to his estimate, this wave of operations would probably allow him to gather enough experience for a level 360 advancement several months ahead of schedule.

...

"President, our plan to win over the Undying Ones has had little effect. Almost no Undying Ones from the Black Star Army are willing to defect."

"... What a troublesome bunch of guys."

In the office of the Glorious Federation's presidential palace, Louis frowned slightly as he listened to his subordinate's report.

In order to study the Sanctuary Revival, major interstellar forces were vigorously wooing the Undying Ones, but looking at the movements of the Undying Ones throughout the universe, there was a trend of gathering towards the Black Star Army. Many forces found it difficult to understand the Black Star Army's bizarre attraction to the Undying Ones.

They thought that recruiting the Undying Ones in the name of the three great civilizations and with a lot of benefits would be a sure thing, but now, not many people were buying it. Louis didn't understand.

He naturally had no way of knowing the version name "Black Star Era," and he didn't know how much the name of this version had helped Han Xiao.

Louis frowned and pondered for a while, then said in a deep voice:

"It should still be the impact of the Scattered Stars Return incident... The matter has passed for a year, but the repercussions have not disappeared. In this year, too many small super-powered organizations have invested under the command of the Super-A Grades, alas..."

He couldn't help but sigh, secretly feeling sorry.

If it hadn't been for the Star Cluster Alliance causing trouble, the assassination of hundreds of Super-A Grade seeds might have succeeded. If the Scattered Stars Return incident hadn't happened, then killing the chicken to warn the monkey would have worked. Now, because of fear, fear, and other emotions, it would be easier for the current super-powered people to compromise with the three great civilizations... Unfortunately, such good things can only be thought about now.

The Chief Speaker Elder paused his cane and said slowly:

"This situation needs to be further dealt with. After a year of preparation, those prepared sanction-type policies should be implemented. We can't let these Super-A Grade forces be so comfortable anymore. If we keep being afraid of openly clarifying the contradictions, they will only seize the opportunity to continue to develop rapidly."

Louis nodded and said in a low voice, "Indeed, we have to curb their development momentum... I will talk to the Void Spirit and the Empire and jointly issue those prepared decrees. I want to see, how can the Super-A Grade Association continue to grow when it is blocked by most of the interstellar society."