Chapter 1 Central Star Sea

The Central Star Sea is separated from the Shattered Star Ring by several star systems, interspersed with a large number of desolate cosmic belts. The distance is very far. Back then, even if the Hetero-God's subordinates were riding advanced starships with ultra-high warp speed, it took them several years to cross this distance. If it were replaced by non-warp conventional flight, the travel time would probably be measured in hundreds of millions of years.

The first stop of the long-range fleet was the inter-star system star gate station built by the Crimson Empire in the Shattered Star Ring.

Inter-star system star gates can greatly shorten the journey and are the only stable and fast method of crossing star systems. Naturally generated wormholes are not included.

The longer the distance a star gate crosses, the more difficult it is to pinpoint its location, and deviations can easily occur. The inter-star system channel is a technical threshold that even cluster-level civilizations cannot achieve. Super-cluster level civilizations do possess this technology, but the three major civilizations have stipulated that civilizations other than the three are not allowed to build inter-star system star gates. Therefore, all inter-star system star gates between star systems are products of the three major civilizations and are controlled by them, divided into civilian and military use.

Han Xiao and his party were preparing to use the military channel, which was more convenient and faster. Senior allies of the empire belonged to the privileged class and naturally had the authority.

"I have already notified the garrison of the star gate station. You report your identity, and they will let you pass and help you activate the military star gate channel. When you arrive at the Constellation Corridor, there will be imperial troops there to receive you," Sui said in the communicator.

The Central Star Sea is the collective name for the home star systems of the three major civilizations, forming a triangular position and making up the central area of the universe. These three star systems are the Star Cluster of the Glittering Federation, the Silver Spiral Arm controlled by the Void Spirit Religion, and the territory of the Crimson Empire—the Constellation Corridor.

The Crimson Empire's military star gate station in the Shattered Star Ring is located in a marginal star cluster. It takes more than half a month to reach from the Black Star Army headquarters, using the star gates of various cluster levels, plus full-speed warp.

Han Xiao stayed in the long-range fleet, communicating with imperial elites such as Taine all the way. His status was what it was, and in addition to seeing each other every day on the same ship, most people had established preliminary friendships with Han Xiao.

Only Taine's attitude was always lukewarm, aloof, and indecisive. He was naturally suspicious, and keeping his guard up was his habit.

However, Han Xiao knew his character quite well. If he took the initiative to cater to his preferences, it would backfire and cause greater vigilance. Moreover, it was unlikely that a dignified Super A-grade would lower himself to please an imperial colonel officer. Therefore, Han Xiao showed an equal attitude and never sought out Taine for communication alone.

Based on Taine's preferences, Han Xiao decided to wait for him to come. As fellow mechanics, Taine was very likely to take the initiative to ask for advice. After all, he was an imperial insider, and being together day and night was the best opportunity to ask for advice. Although he didn't know where Taine's wariness came from, it seemed that he had not given up on this opportunity.

About ten days after the departure, Han Xiao finally waited for Taine to knock on his door.

...

"You want to learn my mechanical skills?"

In the room, Han Xiao had Philip control the floating housekeeping robot to bring two cups of calming and soothing green plant beverages to the table, his eyes looking at Taine and his adjutant, Kberes, across the table.

Taine nodded slowly, without touching the drink on the table, and said, "It's not exactly learning, I just want to communicate with you."

Since he had something to ask for, he would naturally not put on a cold face, putting away some of his vigilance, with a sincere attitude and a slightly lowered posture.

In his opinion, there was nothing shameful in this. No matter what achievements he might have in the future, as of now, he was just a colonel in the imperial military, with a huge gap in status and identity from Han Xiao.

Han Xiao was overjoyed in his heart, but his face remained calm as he tapped the table with his fingers, knowingly asking, "I only know that you are a Mechanic esper, but I haven't heard you say which branch of mechanics you lean toward."

"Pure mechanic, armed branch. I crossed the A-grade boundary two years ago and became a Calamity Grade," Taine said.

"Well, although I'm not an armed branch, I can still impart some experience to you." Han Xiao smiled. As a Super A-grade, he was qualified to teach people.

"That's exactly my request." Taine nodded.

Every Super A-grade Mechanic has their own areas of expertise. Some have special personal styles, while others have unique techniques. Taine's current level made it difficult for him to contact Super A-grade Mechanics on a regular basis, and now that he had Black Star as an object, he didn't want to miss the opportunity to ask for advice.

He had this idea when he learned that he was coming over for modification, and after observing Han Xiao for a period of time, he decided to put it into action.

Han Xiao exchanged techniques with him, chatting for several hours, and Taine felt that he had benefited a lot.

"Let's stop here for today." Han Xiao stopped talking, a smile on the corner of his mouth, and deliberately tapped his temple with his finger, saying, "I just transmitted some theoretical data to your communicator. Some are my summarized experiences and insights, and some are technical theories that I collected. Take a look."

Hearing this, Taine nodded and said, "Then thank you very much."

"You're welcome." Han Xiao waved his hand, suppressing his laughter, and pretended to be casual, "Anyway, there's nothing to do on the road. If you have anything you want to ask, you can come to me again."

"Okay." Taine squeezed out a smile, with a better attitude, after all, he had taken the man's stuff.

Han Xiao understood that the benefits should be moderate, and did not continue, indicating that he was seeing him off. Taine gave a salute and left the room, his footsteps a lot lighter.

Watching Taine's back being separated by the door, Han Xiao shook his head and laughed. He was quite satisfied in his heart. With this relationship, there was room for the friendship between the two to continue to rise, and his favorability was about to reach "Friendly".

"Having my current identity makes it much easier to make friends with high-level figures than before," Han Xiao said secretly.

If it were replaced by players, it would be almost impossible to make friends with Taine, but his situation was different. The current Taine did not have the high achievements he had in his previous life, and his status was higher than Taine's. Moreover, he was an imperial ally, a true insider. Under various factors, even if Taine seemed to be wary, he still took the initiative to come to his door.

The gap in status brought a bonus. With Han Xiao's current identity, it was much easier to farm character favorability than players.

...

In the following dozen days, Taine would come to ask for advice every other day. The relationship between the two progressed gradually, slowly transforming into friendship. As the saying goes, those who achieve are teachers, and this future marshal of the empire interacted with Han Xiao as a student.

Of course, due to his identity, it was impossible for him to really become Han Xiao's student, but Super A-grades had no obligation to impart experience in the first place. Han Xiao was so generous, which was a small favor to him. Although Taine was suspicious, he was not a guy who couldn't tell good from bad. He kept this favor in mind and naturally would not keep Han Xiao at arm's length.

However, Taine would bring Kberes with him every time he came to ask for advice. Han Xiao also had a certain understanding of this character. This adjutant was loyal to Taine, and Taine was really good to his subordinates, letting this guy get a lot of extra benefits from following him.

Han Xiao felt that he might be able to make a fuss about Kberes. Just like chasing a girl, buying off her best friend was a shortcut. When dealing with Taine, although he couldn't buy off his loyal subordinates, if he helped Kberes a great deal, maybe Taine would be more likely to raise his favorability toward him.

More than half a month passed, and the long-range fleet finally arrived at the Empire's military star gate station in the Shattered Star Ring.

In the dark universe, a hexagonal star gate floated, with rich spatial energy flowing inside, presenting a deep blue vortex. Surrounding it were heavy imperial space fortresses, stationed with garrisons. Unlike civilian stations, there were no starships entering or exiting the star gate here, and it was only supplied to imperial troops.

As the fleet approached, the star gate continued to enlarge in the field of vision. The closer it got, the upper, lower, left, and right edges of the star gate seemed to extend to the end of the line of sight, incomparably huge and very spectacular.

"Warning! Warning! Detecting psionic annihilation cannon lock-on!"

The main ship's intelligence where Han Xiao was located issued a warning, but everyone's faces remained unchanged. They had already known that they would be locked on by the garrison once they entered a certain range of the military star gate.

"Stop moving forward and report your identity." The main ship's intelligence received the garrison's message.

"Black Star." Han Xiao verified his identity.

After a while, they received the message confirming their identity. The garrison lifted the artillery lock and signaled the fleet to move forward.

At this time, the main ship received a communication request from the garrison. After connecting, a stern-looking guy who seemed to be the commander appeared on the screen and opened his mouth in a deep voice.

"Your Excellency Black Star, Special Envoy Sui has instructed us to set up a route for you in advance. This star gate transmission is a direct mode, and the transmission location is the eighth star area of the Crimson Ring constellation, directly entering the imperial territory. There is a guard team sent by the home planet to meet you there, and they will open a specific astral projection channel for you, taking you on a second jump. Only in this way can you pass through the psionic prohibition ring belt around the home planet and reach the imperial home planet."

Han Xiao nodded.

Cosmic civilizations all possess powerful weapons. In order to prevent the other side from going crazy one day and using long-range psionic star-killing strikes to destroy their home planet, the home planets of cosmic civilizations are equipped with various high-end prohibitions and defense measures, as if wrapped in layers of filter nets, and can only be entered and exited through specific methods. Normal flight simply cannot enter.

Then, the commander looked at Taine on the side, a smile squeezed out of his seemingly emotionless face, "Taine, it's been a long time."

"It's you." Taine's expression was a little strange. "How did you end up guarding the star gate here?"

"This is the order of the higher-ups." The commander shook his head, a hint of bitterness in his eyes, which he quickly suppressed.

This commander and Taine were classmates from the same class at the Empire's "Conquest" Advanced Military Academy, knew each other, and their grades were excellent. They should have had a bright future, but Taine didn't expect him to be assigned to guard the star gate.

Guarding the star gate was not a good job, especially the military star gate. There were no opportunities to make meritorious service, and he had to take responsibility if something went wrong. But for the sake of star gate security, they had no choice but to send elite troops to guard it. Therefore, the officers guarding the star gate were either randomly assigned or unlucky people who were squeezed out in factional struggles. No one would actively choose this position.

Hearing this, Taine knew that this friend of his had obviously suffered in factional struggles, and helplessly shook his head, "Then guard it well. Anyway, you'll be transferred away in a few years, and treat it as a chance to train your troops in peace."

The rotation period of the star gate garrison troops was not long, generally changing every six to ten years. The empire would not sit idly by and watch elite troops waste away at the star gate station.

After chatting briefly, the garrison commander ended the communication. At this time, the long-range fleet was about to enter the star gate.

An extremely strong pulling force came from the other end of the star gate, which was unknown how far away, like a black hole, wanting to pull them all in.

As the fleet entered the star gate, the world outside the porthole instantly lit up.

The interior of the star gate channel was filled with violent spatial energy, but it was constrained by the star gate technology, constructing a stable channel, as if it had transformed from a ferocious beast into a tamed pet.

The movement of the starship seemed to be frozen, and everyone could not feel any sense of speed, as if the fleet had stopped in the star gate and was not moving.

However, as if only an instant had passed, the ship suddenly shook, and the spatial energy light around it disappeared like a receding tide. The scene outside the porthole once again became the dark universe dotted with gem-like starlight.

The star gate that was originally in front was now behind the fleet.

The distribution of the surrounding fortresses had also changed, and the garrison scale of this star gate station was more than ten times larger than before.

A special fleet was waiting in front of everyone. The appearance of the starships was different, seemingly some very unpopular and rare starship model.

Didi...

At this time, every quantum network receiving terminal simultaneously received a regional broadcast from this special fleet:

"Welcome to the Central Star Sea, Your Excellency Black Star."