Chapter 1 The Dawning

On the outer border of the Shattered Star Ring, a row of cross-stellar gates bearing the emblem of the empire stood in space, stretching far into the distance. Each gate was separated by an imperial fleet maintaining order, like a chain of blue gems lying across a black velvet cloth studded with diamonds.

Beyond the gates were densely packed fleets, marked with the emblems of various forces, filling nearly every visible inch of space. The scale of the assembled forces was rarely seen, even in history.

Today was the day the empire opened the Flickering World. These were all the spaceships waiting to enter, from civilizations and civilian organizations from various star fields, as well as interstellar citizens eager to go to the Flickering World. Some were there for tourism, others for adventure, and still others to seek development opportunities and fortune.

Time ticked by, slowly approaching the time agreed upon by the empire.

The waiting felt like years. Finally, the empire's announcement echoed through the wide-area communication channel, reaching every spaceship present.

"The time has come. In the name of the Crimson Empire, we announce to the entire universe… the Flickering World is officially open!"

In the next moment, all the stellar gates fully activated. The vortex at the center of each gate began to spin faster and faster, forming a hazy and dazzling blue wormhole, flashing with occasional bursts of colorful light. Every gate was now a fully open passage.

All the spaceships moved, forming long lines that seemed to stretch on forever, entering the gates one after another in a truly magnificent scene.

Not far from these civilian stellar gates was a VIP channel military gate reserved for the empire's allies.

Black Star's flagship waited in line. Remote projections of numerous officers stood in the command room, their gazes focused on the figure by the porthole.

Han Xiao stood with his back to the crowd, gazing through the porthole at the seemingly endless sea of ships not far away. He spoke softly, "Did you all hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The sound of a new era breaking out of its shell."

Han Xiao chuckled softly.

In his vision, which only he could see, the interface floated before him, lines of freshly generated prompts flashing.

[Version 4.0 is now open!]

[Acquiring data… Data acquisition complete!]

[Player forums are now open]

[Welcome to Galaxy Version 4.0 – The Flickering World!]

This day had finally arrived… Han Xiao took a deep breath.

This was a crucial transitional version. From 4.0 onwards, the players would officially step onto the stage of interstellar strife, interfering with the historical process and earning the infamous title of 'cosmic cancer' and 'fourth natural disaster'.

The power wielded by the players had truly crossed a threshold. Their influence on the world had entered a new realm – the version level cap of 150, a stable B+ level combat power, already making them a well-deserved mainstay force in the universe!

Once ignited, the flames of chaos would sweep across the entire universe.

Just then, Sylvia, as if receiving a report, glanced at her communicator, her pupils constricting. She spoke in a deep voice, "Commander, those Undying from the legion have reappeared."

Han Xiao finally turned around, looked at everyone, and nodded slightly.

"Bring them all to me."

…

At the same time, at the Black Star Army headquarters.

Before the version update, many players had logged off at the Black Star Army headquarters. Now, logging back in, countless beams of white light flashed, and the empty hall instantly transformed into a sea of people. The hustle and bustle replaced the coldness, becoming as noisy as a marketplace.

"Galaxy, I, Hu Han San, am back!"

"Bought ten boxes of Blue Bulls already, brothers, let's grind till we drop!"

"Did the new version fix the bug that prevented us from running around naked?"

"There he is! The ambitious schemer who's been around for four versions! I knew it!"

"Speaking of which, have any new features been added? Since it's so realistic, why not add a procreation function? Procreation is the soul of the social system!"

"If we could procreate, this would be the greatest masterpiece of all time."

Countless players shouted excitedly, while in a corner of the crowd, a group of professional players logged in one after another. The top players from China's four major guilds were mostly there, as well as Kuang Dao, Feng Yue, Rou Bao, and others.

"Yo, the new version has raised the level cap to 150." Wang Hou Jiang Xiang glanced at the interface and chuckled.

"The jump in upgrade costs is too much." Tai Er Zi's mouth twitched uncontrollably, feeling a slight ache in his liver.

"The Black Star Army's faction panel is still there. The legion hasn't collapsed." Kuang Dao checked the faction interface as soon as he could.

"The current Black Star Army wouldn't fall so easily…" Feng Yue muttered softly.

Players from other star fields had to worry about whether their faction would disappear after the version update, fearing that the contribution points they had accumulated in the previous version would be wasted. That was why stable factions were the most popular.

But the players of the Black Star Army no longer had such worries. After three versions, they had developed extreme trust in their faction leader, Han Xiao.

At the end of the last version, the legion's position had been gradually consolidated. They had frustrated the Arcane Church, defeated the Hetero-God, and gained control of a super business called the Evolved者 Totem (Evolved Totem). Even the players knew that the legion had already risen to the ranks of a high-level faction and wouldn't fall so easily.

With the opening of the new version, the most important thing was to figure out what had happened during the version update and the current cosmic situation. This had become a habit for the players.

Many players took out their communicators, opened the calendar, and were immediately shocked.

"Wait, is it Star Sea Calendar 729 now?!"

"When we logged off, it was 709…"

"So, this version update spanned twenty years?!"

"I thought the 3.0 jump was long enough, but 4.0 actually doubled it!"

"Terrifying, it actually stole twenty years of my time…"

Kuang Dao's expression suddenly changed. He exchanged a glance with Feng Yue, and a hint of excitement flashed in both their eyes.

It had jumped directly to twenty years later!

That was not a short period of time.

What kind of developments would the Black Star Army have undergone?

Just as the two of them had this exciting thought, a chorus of communicator alerts suddenly rang out in the hall. Every player had received a new email, uniformly distributed by the legion's internal program.

Everyone hurriedly opened it, and virtual screens appeared before them, all displaying Han Xiao's face, playing the same recording.

In the video, Han Xiao sat upright, only his upper body visible, speaking in a very formal tone.

"To all legion colleagues, I am Black Star. In these twenty years, we have achieved countless accomplishments. Especially in the Flickering World, the legion has acquired territories spanning ten star systems. This is the result of every colleague's hard work, collectively forging our glory today.

And now, the Flickering World has entered its fourth phase of exploration, officially opening to the outside world. The entire universe will flood into this star field. At this time of epochal change, we should seize the opportunities and forge ahead… Here, in the name of the legion leader, I issue a Flickering World recruitment order to all colleagues. The legion needs everyone… The Flickering World needs everyone!"

The short video ended there, and the eyes of the many players present gradually widened, receiving a great deal of information from it.

It's the fourth phase of exploration now? When we logged off, it seemed like the first phase hadn't even ended yet!

The legion has territories spanning ten star systems in the Flickering World? How did that happen?!

What has the legion been doing for these twenty years?!

Countless people were itching with curiosity.

What the crowd did not know was that this video was a "cutscene" that Han Xiao had specially tailored for the players to help them quickly understand the situation.

At this moment, Hao Tian suddenly realized something, "By the way, if the Flickering World has reached the fourth phase of exploration, are our main quests still there?"

Hearing this, many professional players reacted. Their original main quests were still in the first phase of exploration. Now that the version update had directly jumped to twenty years later, would the quests be cancelled?

If they were gone, that would be a huge loss.

Everyone hurriedly opened their interfaces and breathed a sigh of relief. The [Flickering World] main quest was still there, but the quest requirements had changed, becoming to build the Black Star Army's territory and explore the several star clusters of the fourth phase.

"Although there are some changes, it's still exploration."

Many players shook their heads, not feeling as excited, and even a little unimpressed.

They were curious about the information revealed in the video, but they didn't have much interest in the Flickering World quest, because the legion players had already tasted the flavor of this quest in the previous version. Although the exploration target had changed, in the eyes of the crowd, the way to do the quest was still no different from before.

Opening up new star fields was indeed quite refreshing, but it lacked opportunities for combat. In the previous version, many players were tired of doing the Flickering World main quest and would rather return to the Shattered Star Ring to do mercenary quests than continue to explore.

This situation was actually normal, because the Flickering World main quest that the 3.0 legion players had access to was actually only a semi-finished product. With only the empire's forces pioneering, there was naturally a lack of conflict.

But at this moment, everyone suddenly froze, abruptly realizing something.

Just now, Black Star said… the Flickering World is open to the outside world?

So the forces of other star fields have finally entered?

Then… what about the players from other star fields?

Kuang Dao came back to his senses and hurriedly went online to search for information, quickly confirming the truth of the news. Moreover, not only that, but the forces of various star fields were also recruiting large numbers of Supers as manpower, transporting them to the Flickering World in batches.

The mobilization of the entire universe, the greatest impact on the players, was the complete opening of cross-star field channels!

Compared to the previous version, the players now had a channel to cross star fields if they needed to!

The crowd present reacted and hurriedly logged onto the forums.

Unsurprisingly, the entire forum, all sections, were now in an uproar over this news!

Kuang Dao instantly understood, his eyes gleaming, and exclaimed:

"This is… the World Server!"

All the players born in various star fields could finally come to the same stage, gathering in the Flickering World!

What did this mean?

Nation Wars!!

The cross-star field conjecture made by the Galaxy Daily had come true!

The emotions of all the players in the hall were boiling!

"Holy crap, it's the World Server!"

"Hahahaha, I knew this day would come sooner or later!"

"Finally, we can fight Nation Wars!"

In the next moment, everyone suddenly realized that the Flickering World was the World Server of this version, but they, as legion players, had already entered it ahead of time in the previous version.

What an advantage this was?!

The expressions of many legion players changed, becoming ecstatic!

"Oh my god, we already conquered territory in the Flickering World in the last version. That's a whole version ahead!"

"I'm crying! I thought the exploration was too monotonous and went back to the Shattered Star Ring to do mercenary work. Huge loss!"

"We have such a big advantage, then this version will be awesome! Wouldn't it be easy to beat up the noobs from other star fields?!"

"Brothers, enough talk, just shout 'Legion Commander is awesome' and that's it!"

All the players who had run from the Star Cluster Corridor to the Shattered Star Ring in the last version felt fortunate… if they hadn't followed the Black Star Army back then, where would they get such treatment now?!

Conversely, the players in other star fields were in an uproar.

In Version 1.0, Black Star took a portion of the Planet players and entered the universe ahead of time. Okay, we tolerated it.

In Version 2.0, the Black Star Army became a guiding faction, allowing the Shattered Star Ring players to take the lead again. We tolerated it.

In Version 3.0, the Black Star Army gave birth to a Super-A Grade, and was the first to connect with a universe-level civilization. You're awesome, we tolerated it again. We'll have our day eventually.

But now in 4.0, your Black Star Army is one step ahead again?!

Are you guys dogs!

Why do good things always happen to you?!

Is there still justice, is there still law!

You guys are freaking… short on people?

Until now, everyone understood how terrifying an advantage their faction had, since Black Star had laid the foundation for them in the last version!

The many legion players only felt that the game experience was excellent and extremely comfortable.

Other star fields and countries' players were envious of such a reliable faction, but it was no use.

There was only one such faction in the entire universe!

Now, the legion players' interest in the Flickering World main quest was higher than ever before.

Originally, many people disliked the monotonous exploration gameplay, but now, the Flickering World had become the players' World Server, and would become the most chaotic and exciting star field in the entire universe, with countless conflicts of interest – this was the complete experience of the [Flickering World] main quest!

With this in mind, Kuang Dao and the others hurriedly went online to search for the Black Star Army's achievements over the years, eager to understand exactly what advantages their faction had in the Flickering World.

As soon as he opened the Black Star Army's resume, Kuang Dao's eyes widened sharply.

He had made many assumptions and was mentally prepared, but the first piece of information he saw was completely different from what he had imagined, directly shocking him.

"What the hell? Old Black became a god?!"