Chapter 194 A Helping Hand

Han Xiao released the two quests, and all the legion players’ panels immediately reacted, each taking a look, their expressions changing.

“Taking newbies on quests gives extra Faction Contribution Points? This seems pretty worthwhile.”

“Any legion quest counts, so does that include errands?”

“Definitely, even legion-produced Dungeon Crystals seem to count.”

“These two quests can be repeated, awesome!”

“Must team up with players who joined the faction less than a year ago, does that mean only newbies born on Dildell Star in Version 3.0?”

“The Constellation Corridor players should count, too, they just joined the legion.”

The two Faction Quests, disguised as a faction activity, caused a wave among the players.

Han Xiao’s quests didn’t force the players, but rather enticed them. Such a rare chance to farm Contribution Points would be hard for many players to refuse. It was just teaming up with a newbie, it wouldn’t cause them any loss and would instead benefit them greatly.

Maybe some players wouldn’t be moved, but comparatively, more players were willing to seize this opportunity.

As long as the majority of people weren’t restricted to their own small circles, but instead actively teamed up with newbies, taking the first step in socializing with unfamiliar players from other star systems, he would have achieved his goal.

When the old and new players played together, they could build some kind of relationship, at least add each other as friends, right?

The two quests were linked and aimed at different groups. [Guidance for New Recruits] made veteran players willing to team up with newbies, while [Inquiries for Veterans] allowed newbies to actively seek out veteran players to carry them.

The “newbies” weren’t just the players from the Constellation Corridor. Han Xiao had also absorbed local newbie players on Dildell Star, another newbie planet in the Shattered Star Ring in Version 3.0. These were also newbies. The Shattered Star Ring veteran players had a choice, so naturally, they were more inclined to play with their own people. [Inquiries for Veterans] was to get foreign players to actively find veteran legion players, instead of only letting Shattered Star Ring players be active.

Compared to those veteran players who had been in the legion for one or two versions, these newbies needed Contribution Points more and were more enthusiastic about this quest.

Secretly guided by Han Xiao, the situation at the legion headquarters changed quickly. The various areas where players gathered became lively, and teams of people were broadcasting to find teammates.

“Three DPS and a healer needed, all veteran legion players, looking for a newbie above level 100, no martial artists, let’s do the newbie and veteran quest to farm Contribution Points together.”

“Level 88 Gunners, I’ve maxed [Fatal Firepower], [Ammo Dump], and all main output skills are at level four or above. Main weapons are the O-38 Arcane Lightning Cannon and the ‘Snake Bone’ Electromagnetic Kinetic Submachine Gun, using the eighth-generation Black Snake Mobility Armor, all legion Purple Equipment. A newbie begging for a veteran to team up with to farm Contribution Points!”

“Thirty-player team, preparing to do the [Secret War – The Beast-like Battleship Defense] Dungeon. There are currently four slots open, looking for a few high-level Constellation Corridor players, at least C+, need tanks and crowd control, NO DAMAGE DEALERS! Repeating, NO DAMAGE DEALERS! Come quick, full team ready to go!”

The communication between players suddenly became enthusiastic. Constellation Corridor players actively sought out veteran legion players to team up with, and veteran players basically accepted everyone. The situation where everyone played separately was immediately improved.

One by one, foreign players entered different legion players’ teams, quickly integrating into the environment and doing quests together. Because the players were waiting to do the Galaxy Calendar main storyline, they were mainly farming dungeons, which indirectly promoted the sales of Dungeon Crystals.

The players had no doubts about these two quests. A batch of newbies had just arrived from another star system, and in the players’ eyes, it was normal for the legion to have veterans guide the newbies.

“Hey, Huaxia brother, do you know when this event will end?”

“Who cares, just farm!”

“You guys don’t seem surprised at all. In our star system, there are rarely such collective activities.”

“Haha, our legion’s faction activities are very frequent. I’ve participated in large-scale quests with hundreds of thousands of players acting together many times. You’ll get used to it after a while. This is a characteristic of our Shattered Star Ring.”

Ordinary players were inviting people to team up, and the club guilds were also organizing themselves. The four great families were ecstatic.

They had just reached a price difference agreement with the foreign guilds, and it was still hot, and this quest popped up. The Russian and Australian guilds were all newbies, so those guild representatives had just left and came running back to ask for their help.

Even the faction was helping them!

After monitoring for a while, Han Xiao nodded, quite satisfied with the impact he had created. He had broken up countless small player groups from the two star systems that always played together, and let ordinary players actively accept newbies, gradually integrating into each other’s groups. This was a good start.

If there were no activities to guide them, the worst-case scenario in the future might be that the situation where the Huaxia, Russian, and Australian players each formed their own groups would slowly become fixed. Of course, the probability of this extreme possibility was very low. If the players were allowed to develop naturally, there wouldn’t be too much communication between the various groups, and the factions would still be obvious, which would not be conducive to the legion players’ internal harmony.

With his rhythm, he could greatly speed up the efficiency of communication between the players on both sides, which was very beneficial to the faction.

He planned to keep these two quests running for a while.

He would be exploring the Galaxy Calendar soon, and there would be countless quests, so it would be good to let the players on both sides act together.

Closing the forum, Han Xiao left the office and returned to his bedroom.

His bedroom in the legion was very simple. The walls were made of silver alloy, and there was a transparent viewing window in the ceiling, allowing him to look directly at the vast universe. In the center of the room was a large black bed. Along the walls were rows of mecha display cabinets, bookshelves, a refrigerator, an automatic cooking machine, and a biological waste disposal box, among other simple living equipment. Only a pot of green plants was placed in the corner, adding a touch of life to the cold-colored room. This was planted by him personally.

Taking off his coat, Han Xiao took a shower, wrapped in a loose bathrobe, his strong and slender body covered in water droplets, emitting hot steam. He grabbed more than a dozen tubes of different flavors of special nutrient paste from the refrigerator, casually bit them open, and poured them into his stomach one by one. This stuff recovered energy very quickly, and the price wasn’t cheap either.

Super-A Grades basically didn’t need to eat or sleep. They could replenish themselves by absorbing various energies, but he chose to retain his habits as a human. The improvement of strength and changes in race would also change the way life looked at the world. He didn’t need to rest, but only used this to remind himself that his humanity still existed.

Because of Super-A Grades’ amazing control over their bodies, Han Xiao could no longer fall asleep naturally and could only actively control his brain to enter a dormant state.

After going to the Central Galaxy for two months, it was only now, in his own home, that he fell asleep for the first time.

Lying on the bed, before falling asleep, Han Xiao’s consciousness entered the quantum network and greeted Phillip.

“I’m going to sleep, call me if there’s anything. Good night.”

Phillip: “Master, good night, beep.”

…

After resting for a night, Han Xiao woke up on time, opened the blanket, got up to wash up, took off his bathrobe, put on his black coat, and returned to the image of Black Star.

The first thing he did was open the forum and take a look. Because of the cross-teaming, more and more new players were active in the Shattered Star Ring section, communicating with the Huaxia players.

After scanning it, Han Xiao found that a stickied post had been added to the forum. It was the hot new episode of *Galaxy Times*.

“It should mention the cross-star system thing…”

Han Xiao’s heart stirred as he opened the episode.

After watching the familiar opening, the two hosts shared events and interesting things from various star systems and soon mentioned the first batch of cross-star system players.

“Not long ago, the famous NPC faction of the Shattered Star Ring, the Black Star Army, provided the players of the Constellation Corridor with a way to go to the Shattered Star Ring. According to statistics, a total of 713,000 players chose to leave with the Black Star Army, completing the first known cross-star system event for players.”

“In Version 2.0, the Black Star Army was the guiding faction for the Shattered Star Ring players to enter space, and now, they have guided the players of another star system across star systems. Perhaps this conveys a signal: in the next version, players will be able to cross star systems on a large scale and freely go to different regions!”

“We have data to prove that the evolution trend of the players’ activity area is like this. In Version 1.0, it was the newbie planets; in Version 2.0, it was entering space; in Version 3.0, it was exploring the star cluster they were in… In each version, the players’ scope of action will expand. Originally, we thought that the players would focus on exploring their birth star system in the next version, but the actions of the Black Star Army gave us new ideas. Because of the theme of *Galaxy*, players from all star systems will eventually intersect. So, according to this trend, we can infer that the next version will be the stage where players can freely cross star systems.”

After watching the episode, Han Xiao shook his head and smiled. This kind of speculation was logical, but *Galaxy Times* was only half right.

In the next version, players would indeed be able to cross star systems on a large scale, but it wasn’t like *Galaxy Times* speculated, where players could freely choose to go to different regions, but rather gather in the Galaxy Calendar.

*Galaxy Times* had misled a wave of players. Other than Han Xiao, no players knew at this time that the Galaxy Calendar was the main stage of the next version.

Han Xiao smiled secretly.

“These players who are following me to the Galaxy Calendar for exploration don’t know how much of an advantage they have.”

After browsing the forum for half an hour, Han Xiao did his job, inspected the legion headquarters, and then came to the Logistics Department.

Walking into Leonard’s office, he immediately saw Nello buried in a mountain of books.

“Godfather!” Nello looked up, his deep dark circles clearly visible. When he saw that it was Han Xiao, a look of joy bloomed on his tired face. He threw away the mechanical theory book in his hand and ran into Han Xiao’s arms.

Looking at the terrifying amount of homework Leonard had assigned, Han Xiao’s mouth twitched.

This was already child abuse…

Secretly slandering Leonard, Han Xiao patted Nello’s head. “Let’s go, I’ll take you on a trip.”

“Really?!” Nello was pleasantly surprised and almost cried.

When he left Aquamarine Star, Nello thought he was going out to play with his godfather. Unexpectedly, when he came to space, there was still endless homework to do!

With Leonard’s serious personality, his best skill was cramming education. In the past two months, Nello felt like he was in hell. Now, seeing Han Xiao was like seeing an angel who had descended to save him. He could finally escape from the sea of suffering!

“I promised you, didn’t I?” Han Xiao smiled. In fact, he wasn’t entirely taking Nello on a trip. The main reason was to go to the Tera Civilization where Harrofal was to find the wormhole positioning data that the Otherworldly Deities’ clone had traveled through.

Other than Nello, Han Xiao only brought Hella, Aurora, and Feidin. They set off with light equipment on the very fast Blacklight Stealth Ship. The round trip wouldn’t take too long and wouldn’t delay the Galaxy Calendar’s actions.

Because Harrofal had already been killed by the Otherworldly Deities’ subordinates, the hope of finding the wormhole data was very slim, so Han Xiao deliberately brought Feidin and Nello, two mascots, to make up for his luck.

After all, the people who believed in metaphysics the most were… Africans.

…

The Blacklight Stealth Ship warped through the Star Gate all the way without stopping. It didn’t take a few days for Han Xiao and his team to arrive at an executive planet of the Tera Civilization and visit the Advanced Mechanical Academy where Harrofal used to work.

With Han Xiao’s status, as long as he didn’t have any malice, all the civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring would welcome Han Xiao to visit… except for the Klent Empire, who drew circles to curse him every day, and the Star瞳 Divine Race, who secretly stabbed him in the back.

This Mechanical Academy had an official nature and had cultivated many mechanical talents for the Tera Civilization. The academy covered a large area and was very grand.

The principal was already waiting at the entrance of the academy with people. When Han Xiao and his team arrived at the academy, they were welcomed.

“It is our honor to have Your Excellency Black Star visit.” The principal smiled.

“You’re too kind.” Han Xiao nodded.

“Please follow me.” The principal extended his hand and summoned a series of mechanical hoverboards, which were all public vehicles within the academy.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Han Xiao stepped on the hoverboard and followed the principal to the reception room, chatting and laughing along the way.

The group passed through the campus, but Han Xiao didn’t expect to attract onlookers.

It seemed that some students had recognized him, and one spread to ten, ten spread to hundreds. Groups of students stepped on mechanical hoverboards and followed them from afar.

Han Xiao looked back and asked in surprise, “Those are students of the academy, right? What are they following us for?”

The principal said helplessly, “Your Excellency Black Star, you know, this is a Mechanical Academy, and all the students are mechanical espers…”

“So?”

“Cough cough, you don’t seem to be very clear about your status in the eyes of the mechanical students…”

Han Xiao suddenly understood and looked back again. The students who were following him from afar had excited, surprised, and worshipful expressions on their faces. The way they looked at him was full of respect, as if they were pilgrims.

He was the only Super-A Grade Mechanic in the Shattered Star Ring, and his position was even more special in the eyes of mechanical espers. He was equivalent to the mechanical authority of the Shattered Star Ring. His visit to this Mechanical Academy immediately caused a sensation among the students.

The principal smiled and said, “Your Excellency Black Star, why don’t we organize it and let you give a lecture here to impart your experience in the mechanical path? What do you think?”

“Hmm…” Han Xiao thought for a moment and didn’t refuse. He waved his hand and said, “It depends on the situation. If this trip goes smoothly, it’s not impossible.”

“Do you have any purpose for this visit?” The principal’s eyes flickered. Han Xiao had only applied for a visit and hadn’t said the goal of this trip.

“Harrofal was my friend. I’m here to find a set of data he left behind.”

The principal was stunned for a moment and then felt a little sad. “Him… Sigh, not long ago, the academy was attacked, and he was kidnapped and killed by a group of people. He was a good researcher. It’s a pity that we lost a talent.”

“The culprit was a subordinate of the Otherworldly Deities. I’ve already avenged him.”

The principal was sad for a while and suddenly asked, “Then the subordinates of the Otherworldly Deities kidnapped him for the data you mentioned?”

This wasn’t difficult to infer, and Han Xiao wasn’t surprised. He glanced at him and nodded.

“That’s right. I visited Harrofal several times when he was researching the Terrarium wormhole cluster. One of them was attacked by the leader of DarkStar, and I was forced to fight with an Otherworldly Deities clone. However, I couldn’t beat him at that time, so thanks to Harrofal’s help, I managed to lure the Otherworldly Deities’ clone into a wormhole and banished him. The positioning data of that wormhole crossing is what I want.”

The wormhole cluster of the Terrarium Star Cluster was the center of the Shattered Star Ring. The transmission position of each unstable wormhole was random and didn’t have fixed coordinates like the Star Gate. The probability of wormholes repeating was close to zero, so even if he found the wormhole that had crossed over, it would be useless. Only the positioning data recorded by the transmission instrument at that time was valuable.

The principal shook his head. “When Harrofal was kidnapped, all the wormhole detectors in his laboratory were robbed. There wasn’t a single one left.”

“He should have recorded the data in your academy’s internal database, right? I hope you can lend me the authority to check it out.”

“Uh… the internal database involving experiments is top secret. I can only allow outsiders to access it with the permission of the Civilization’s high-level officials… Moreover, I don’t know if Harrofal backed up those data, and he detected too much wormhole data. If you don’t remember the date and time, we won’t know which set of data you want…”

“Then please inform the higher-ups of the Tera Civilization.” Han Xiao said in a deep voice.

This kind of internal database with an official background must have extremely strong virtual defense measures. If there was hope of obtaining the data through official channels, he didn’t want to rashly invade the virtual world and antagonize a Star Cluster level civilization.

As a Super-A Grade, he couldn’t always do things secretly. Moreover, he didn’t know what the situation was with the set of wormhole data that the Otherworldly Deities mentioned.