Chapter 1 Welcoming the Legion Commander

Han Xiao did not arrive silently, but with great fanfare. The legion's branch sent out a notice to all members, welcoming the legion commander's arrival. Many newly joined players came to watch, having heard of Black Star's reputation in the Shattered Star Ring, but never having seen this big boss in person.

On Jilman Star and at the legion branch, countless players gazed out of the viewing windows, watching as a spaceship flew out of a blue stargate not far away, slowly approaching the branch, becoming increasingly clear.

*Chi-*

The spaceship entrances of the spaceport were densely packed, like a beehive. The spaceship entered one of the openings, embedded itself in the electromagnetic rail, and entered the spacious dock along the slide rail.

The branch's dock and port were already crowded with players, and countless people turned on the video recording and screenshot functions, uploading them to the forum, excitedly.

The hatch slid open, and Han Xiao, wearing a black robe and surrounded by floating sentry robots, walked out, glanced at the crowd, smiled slightly, and mind-linked to the quantum network.

In the next moment, Han Xiao's face appeared on the communicators of countless people present, and the same voice rang out.

"I am Black Star. Welcome to the legion. Serve the legion."

The voices in all the communicators were perfectly synchronized, overlapping into the same voice, with a buzzing echo, creating a sense of grandeur and solemnity.

The crowd immediately stirred and clamored, looking surprised. They had never seen a high-level mechanic hack into so many communicators at once, and it seemed effortless. The crowd felt that this ability had the air of a strong person, and the display was impressive. Unlike the old players in the Shattered Star Ring who had been with Han Xiao for three versions, the crowd's previous storylines had at most encountered Calamity Grades. This was the first time they had come into close contact with the legendary Super-A Grade powerhouse at the top of the galaxy.

Having heard so many rumors about Han Xiao on the forums, the players in the Star Cluster Corridor had various opinions about Han Xiao, but this first meeting left them with the impression that he was unfathomable.

VodkaLover mingled in the crowd, throwing a player-acquired [Detection] ability at Han Xiao, and the actions of the surrounding players were surprisingly consistent with his.

[Based on your level, you can only obtain the following information.]

[Han Xiao - Black Star Legion Commander] (Green Name)

[Level: ??]

[Attributes: ??]

[Abilities: ??]

[Danger Level: Extremely Fatal]

"As expected, it's a bunch of question marks," VodkaLover muttered softly.

Ames followed closely behind, standing side by side with Han Xiao. Hela and her group also walked off the spaceship, guarding Han Xiao.

Scanning the surrounding sea of people, Ames tilted her head and glanced at Han Xiao, with a playful smile, "Congratulations, your legion has expanded again."

"Doesn't sound like you mean it," Han Xiao joked.

Before he finished speaking, an unexpected event occurred!

*Pa!*

A strong light suddenly lit up in the crowd, blinding everyone's vision.

*Rumble!* Dozens of figures popped out from the crowd, launching a sudden attack, simultaneously attacking Han Xiao and his group, throwing all kinds of shells, magic, and superpowers at Han Xiao as if they were free.

Hela remained expressionless, stepped forward, and flicked her fingers, shooting out beams of dark red energy, piercing through everyone's bodies, taking the lives of these attackers, easily killing them.

In the next moment, these attackers turned into white light and disappeared, revealing that they were a group of players.

Han Xiao's mouth twitched when he saw this, unsurprised.

Although a large number of players served the legion, he had not forgotten the chaotic nature of "players." There would always be a small group of people who took risks or created trouble for fun. At their first meeting, with this big boss making an appearance, dozens of particularly chaotic and silly players attacked recklessly, probably with the mentality of fighting a boss.

If it were at the home base in the Shattered Star Ring, the Chinese players who had known him for three versions would basically not do this kind of thing. However, the legion had no foundation in the Star Cluster Corridor, and what's more, the players here liked to boldly try various possibilities and were foreigners who would not be comfortable without causing trouble.

Many players were startled, and after regaining their senses, they looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Someone actually attacked the Super-A Grade boss Black Star! They were simply a group of gamblers who knew that success was impossible but still wanted to cause trouble! The players present had just joined the legion, and did not have a sense of camaraderie, but were mostly watching the excitement.

Just looking at the detection information of the characters did not give a very intuitive feeling. The cadres around Black Star casually killed dozens of B-Grade players, and the displayed combat power made many players feel a chill in their hearts. Some players who had evil intentions but had not yet made up their minds secretly dispelled their thoughts.

Just kidding, this boss was stronger than all the NPCs they had ever seen. The efficiency of them going up to give away their lives was probably not much different from a plot kill, right?

Among the players who joined the Star Cluster Corridor, there must be some time bombs mixed in. Han Xiao was not surprised by this. He instructed Philip in his mind, and Philip immediately released a wanted reward for the attackers through the legion assistant subprogram. The legion branch was under Philip's surveillance, and it was not difficult to lock down the identities of the attackers.

*Ding ding.*

The communicators of the crowd immediately issued a prompt, and they were shocked to see the wanted order.

"Those people were just wanted, it seems like there are rewards for killing them each time?"

"I seem to know a few of them, and I even added them as friends."

"Hey, there are tracking coordinates on the communicator, they were resurrected on Jilman Star?"

"Hehe..."

Most people gloated, and many restless people saw the consequences of attacking the legion cadres and all calmed down.

Being wanted by the legion meant that these attackers became red-named players in the eyes of the legion members, and would be hunted down by countless players. Their future days... were probably going to be ravaged by other players.

Han Xiao was already quite familiar with this process. The attackers made him not surprised but happy instead. This was like a pillow being sent when he was sleepy, a good partner who took the initiative to help him establish his authority.

What kind of spirit was this? This was an internationalist spirit, a spirit of leading by example and sacrificing oneself for others!

It was just right to let the players in the Star Cluster Corridor know the consequences of messing around, let them see the price they had to pay for causing trouble, and remind the players in the Star Cluster Corridor that there was a cost to doing bad things!

This little episode did not cause much of a storm. Looking around at the foreign players, Han Xiao did not intend to stop and give a speech, and led his group through the crowd.

The players gave way, watching Han Xiao leave, discussing and gradually dispersing.

Walking on the road, Han Xiao pondered secretly.

"The players in the Star Cluster Corridor naturally have no sense of belonging to the legion. Material incentives are the main reason. In the future, I will slowly popularize the legion's history to increase their sense of identity..."

He did not intend to cultivate relationships with this group of people personally like he did with the players in the Shattered Star Ring. There were several main reasons.

First, the Black Star Legion had been operating for many years according to his plan, and the factional attraction formed by its foundation, reputation, fame, etc., was already the main tool used to attract players. The faction panel could basically meet all the needs of the players. As long as they spent money in the faction store, they could provide him with revenue, and he did not need to come forward personally.

Second, too many players wanted to improve their favorability with him, trying to trigger missions or learn skills, so they flocked to chat and give gifts. Han Xiao did not want to be receiving gifts twenty-four hours a day.

Third, because of his identity as the legion commander, he could not be too easily accessible to everyone. The legion's hierarchical system still needed to be maintained. Therefore, Han Xiao had stipulated long ago that only members who had accumulated a certain amount of contribution in the legion and reached the middle level in the merit system could apply to see the legion commander or senior legion cadres.

For the players, it was an opportunity to get skill teachings from characters. Han Xiao used this to stimulate the players' enthusiasm for doing tasks and earning contribution points for the legion, and to give them the opportunity to improve their favorability with the cadres. Only with high enough favorability could they learn the special skills of the characters. This move was to package the personal favorability of himself and the cadres as scarce commodities, making them rare and valuable, thereby increasing their value and making the players put in more effort.

Having harvested the players for more than ten years, Han Xiao was already adept at this method.

"Now most of the players in the Star Cluster Corridor are considering whether to stay or leave. I will stay here for more than a month and then go back, let the influence ferment, and just wait for the Crimson Empire to prepare the troops to explore the Flickering World."

……

Originally, he thought that the players in the Star Cluster Corridor attacking him was just a small matter, but he did not expect it to cause an unexpected impact on the forums, making the Chinese players in the Shattered Star Ring dissatisfied.

After three versions, the Chinese players had the deepest feelings for the Black Star Legion, regarding it as their own main faction, and Han Xiao, as the legion commander, was recognized as the faction leader.

But now, the legion commander went to other star fields to recruit people, but was attacked by the players in that star field, which made people feel that he was being treated like a fool.

Although this could not cause any danger to the legion commander, many Chinese players felt that it was too much, like a beloved thing being treated roughly by others, arousing a sense of shared hatred. The public opinion on the forums suddenly changed, and many people on both sides began to argue.

However, this did not affect Han Xiao's plan. He continued to stay at the Jilman Star branch with his group, sitting in this place, waiting for a steady stream of players to gather here.

Of course, he was not just waiting idly. While waiting for the players to gather, he spent every day in the mechanical workshop, investing a lot of time in expanding his mechanical legion and developing new advanced mechanical blueprints.

After settling down for two days, Han Xiao contacted the people of the Crimson Empire and applied for the ultimate knowledge. This time, the Empire did not refuse, and after spending 6,000 points of faction contribution, he finally exchanged for the first ultimate knowledge that he had been thinking about.

Energy Branch - [Mechanical Life Spark]!

This was the prerequisite knowledge for activating the core skill of the Emperor Mechanic, [Teacher of Kings].

The mechanical class's skill tree was divided into five levels: basic, advanced, high-end, cutting-edge, and finally ultimate. The increase in the mechanic's abilities became larger and larger. Ultimate knowledge, as the top-level professional knowledge, could bring earth-shattering changes to a mechanic's technology in a certain aspect!

For example, this knowledge could allow a mechanic to truly possess the ability to transform mechanical creations into mechanical life, almost equivalent to the creator god of mechanical life!

Making machines change from lifeless objects into real life units, to put it in simpler terms, the form of expression on the panel would no longer be an item description, but a character information, just like NPCs, with levels, attributes, and skills. They could also continue to level up and have complete growth abilities, and even grow into elite templates or boss templates!

Of course, good things were never cheap. Not to mention the difficulty of obtaining ultimate knowledge, just the potential points cost of learning ultimate knowledge was very high.

Originally, the cost of mechanical class knowledge was incremental: 1 point for basic, 2 points for advanced, 3 points for high-end, and 4 points for cutting-edge. However, ultimate knowledge directly doubled, requiring 8 potential points. And this was still the cost of knowledge in the same branch after job advancement. If you were to learn knowledge from other branches, it would be the same as cutting-edge knowledge, and the cost would also become three times the original, which was 24 points!

Han Xiao was a Virtual Mechanic, and [Mechanical Life Spark] was the ultimate knowledge of the energy branch. The cost per level was 24 points.

How difficult was it for ordinary players to gather 24 points! In addition to leveling up, the way for mechanical class players to collect potential points was basically to level up blueprint skills one by one to the maximum level, but this required a massive amount of experience.

Therefore, for mechanical class players, in the later stages, doing tasks and grinding experience was to level up skills to obtain potential points. Even if they reached the maximum level within a version, they still had to earn experience bitterly.

Generally speaking, only hardcore veterans and professional players had such high demands, but professional players had clubs to help them level up their accounts, so they would not grind too much themselves. If they were ordinary casual players, they could only make trade-offs. Most mechanical class players only learned the ultimate knowledge of their own profession.

However, the situation of Master Han was completely different. The high potential point cost of the ultimate knowledge of other branches was enough to make players despair, but he was not unable to bear it.

--If there wasn't enough experience, he would gather players!

Due to the Evolutionary Cube's penalty, Han Xiao had not been leveling up during this time, accumulating a massive amount of experience, which now came in handy. He opened the panel and selected several blueprint skills, investing experience to level them up to the maximum level.

On the attribute panel, the value of the potential points was constantly changing, increasing little by little, and finally reaching 24 points, consuming a lot of experience.

As the character's overall level increased, the cost of upgrading some low-level skills would also increase, and would not maintain the original low cost. Players could choose to suppress their level and slow down the pace of leveling up to reduce the cost of upgrading skills, but there were several problems with this. First, there were too many blueprints, and as the character's level increased, low-level blueprints would gradually be eliminated. Second, if they suppressed their level, they could only do tasks of the corresponding level, and the speed of earning experience would naturally not be as fast as high-level characters, and it would be difficult to catch up with the front ranks if they fell behind. Therefore, suppressing their level had both advantages and disadvantages, and the good and bad depended on the individual.

Generally, only people who leveled up alternate accounts (such as Master Han, who was a power leveler) would choose to suppress their level to earn more potential points.

But from the beginning, Han Xiao was destined to be unable to take the path of suppressing his level.

"22, 23... 24 points!" Seeing that he had enough potential points, Han Xiao immediately invested all of his potential points to learn ultimate knowledge.

The potential points were cleared.

[Learning in progress...]

[Learning successful! You have mastered [Mechanical Life Spark]!]

[Prerequisite requirements have been met, your skill [Teacher of Kings] has been activated!]

[You have obtained the feat [Ultimate Knowledge Master]!]

[[Ultimate Knowledge Master]: The attributes of the mechanical creations you build +15%, Mechanical Affinity +150% -- You have mastered the ultimate knowledge of the mechanical class, and you have a deeper understanding of the way of machines. Now you are a well-deserved mechanical master]

[You have obtained the feat [Mechanical Life Creator]!]

[[Mechanical Life Creator]: The mechanical life created by you will regard you as its creator. Your faith and loyalty exist in the underlying logic. When accepting your mechanical force bonus, it will gain the [Inspiration] effect, basic attributes +10%]

[You have comprehended the skill [Spark Awakening]!]

[[Spark Awakening]: This ability can transform mechanical creations into mechanical life, igniting the thought spark of mechanical life]

[Usage conditions: Can only be used on mechanical targets that have been blessed by [Teacher of Kings] and [Mechanical Fusion - Impart], can be cast in groups, no cooldown]

[Consumption: 50% health, 50% energy, 80% stamina]

[Due to [Spark Awakening], your [Emperor's Gift] has gained a new effect]

[Change: When you use [Emperor's Gift] on a mechanical life, there is a chance to improve the target's template and obtain higher growth potential, such as upgrading from an ordinary template to an elite template. Note: The higher the target template, the lower the trigger chance]

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(Happy New Year!)