The Legendary Mechanic, page 523
Ames' expression became odd. She stared at Han Xiao and said in a shocked and doubtful tone, "You actually think I'm pretty‽"
"What's so strange about that?" Han Xiao was confused. He had no idea why Ames had such an exaggerated response.
Han Xiao shook his head and got back to the topic. "Have you decided on where Floating Dragon should stay?"
"That's what I wanted to discuss with you…" Ames calmed her emotions. She seemed to hesitate for half a second before slowly saying, "I'm planning to have Floating Dragon stay at Planet Aquamarine. What do you think?"
Han Xiao was stunned in place.
"No?" Ames raised her brows and gave a faint smile. "More than ten years ago, your mother planet faced a disaster. Through the galactic media channels, you announced that Floating Dragon was interested in Planet Aquamarine. Using Floating Dragon's name, Planet Aquamarine has received a lot of investments and funding from a ton of financial groups and has been developing very well. Even Godora allowed Floating Dragon's control over Planet Aquamarine… You're not going to go back on your word, are you?"
Han Xiao shook his head with resignation. During that time, the Black Star Mercenary Group had still been a tiny organization that belonged to Floating Dragon. Only through using Floating Dragon Island's name had he been able to give Planet Aquamarine the opportunity to so quickly step into the galaxy.
After he left Floating Dragon, the Black Star Army had taken over the management of Planet Aquamarine. Floating Dragon did not say anything about it, so he thought Ames did not mind. Unexpectedly, Ames suddenly brought it up.
"Since Planet Aquamarine is a planet ruled by my Floating Dragon on paper…" Ames' smiled brightly. Han Xiao's troubled expression made her very delighted. She smiled and said, "It should be justifiable for me to choose Planet Aquamarine as the location of my headquarters, shouldn't it?"
"Are you going to chase my people away from my mother planet?" Han Xiao was surprised. Planet Aquamarine was the foundation of his seat in the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference. There was no way he would give it to anyone else.
"Am I such a horrible person to you?" Ames said with a displeased tone. "Don't worry, just like your army's headquarters, Floating Dragon Island will just be parked outside the planet's atmosphere and will not interfere with Planet Aquamarine's government. That's why I'm discussing it with you."
Han Xiao's eyes spun around. If that was the case, not only would it not be a bad thing—it would be a great thing.
In the time that the army headquarters had stayed around Planet Golden Gate, it had brought Planet Golden Gate an almost unparalleled chance for development. Its economy, security, and many other aspects had improved tremendously since then, and it had become a beyond top tier colonial planet of Godora.
If Ames did the same, Planet Aquamarine's development speed would rocket instantly as well and indirectly receive tons of resources. Furthermore, with a Beyond Grade A as its neighbor, Planet Aquamarine would be massively safer, which would free Han Xiao of many worries.
With some thoughts flashing through Han Xiao's mind, he understood what Ames was thinking—the reason for her choosing Planet Aquamarine as the headquarters of the Floating Dragon was much more than it just being 'justifiable'. He sighed and said, "Looks like I'm going to owe you another favor."
"Good that you know." Ames smiled.
"Alright, I agree. I'll have the army subdivision at Planet Aquamarine work with you. Sylvia and the others will take care of the details…"
"Hmm, I'll let Jenny settle it…"
Speaking of Jenny, Han Xiao suddenly thought of something. "By the way, about this, have you told Jenny yet?"
"No."
The two of them stared at each other and stayed silent for a moment.
So, this is indeed a sudden idea… Han Xiao sighed. He really thought that Ames had seriously considered this, but as it turned out, this was exactly her style.
"Ahem, now that that's settle, I shall get going." Ames coughed with her fist covering her lips to hide her awkwardness before turning around and leaving.
Han Xiao watched as Ames and Aesop boarded the small spaceship and split off from the fleet, turning into a stream of light. He then ordered the fleet to continue advancing back to the army's headquarters.
The task of traveling across Star Fields was completed. Han Xiao opened the forums to see what the players' responses were.
When they just passed through the stargate, the more than seven hundred thousand players inside the fleet did not really react to it much, but instead, the Shattered Star Ring players had bigger responses. It was because the players from another Star Field had come to their territory, and they could not wait to meet them.
The first example of players crossing to another Star Field had extraordinary significance. The players from the various Star Fields recorded this moment in their Chronicle posts.
"Galaxy Calendar: Year 705, March 18th.
"Led by the Black Star Army, more than seven hundred thousand players left Constellation Corridor and arrived in the Shattered Star Ring. This was the first example of players successfully traveling to another Star Field in the entire Galaxy."
The recruitment of players in the Constellation Corridor this time went quite smoothly, and Han Xiao knew exactly why—there were not many factions that the players could choose in Version 3.0, and he knew what the players needed. Therefore, the Black Star Army was a top-notch faction in this stage and had excellent appeal.
As the players' level increased, the number of powerful factions they would be able to choose would increase, including the three universal civilizations and beyond Star Cluster civilizations. By then, the army would not be able to recruit players as easily. This was unavoidable; there would always be people who wanted to try out new factions for a new experience.
This was also one of the reasons Han Xiao kept expanding his army and increasing its competitiveness. From a certain perspective, it was a good thing to have chosen the rural Shattered Star Ring as his headquarters as there were fewer direct competitors there.
…
After traveling for more than ten days, the fleet finally returned to the army's headquarters.
Millions of Shattered Star Ring players were gathered in the army headquarters, looking forward to meeting the foreign Constellation Corridor players. The majority of them were there to rubberneck.
The seven hundred thousand Constellation Corridor players looked at the army headquarters satellite outside the porthole, their hearts filled with excitement.
After staying on the ships with anticipation for so many days, they had finally arrived.
Chapter 814. Players: I Don“t Want To Socialize. Han Xiao: No, You Do. |
The transport spaceships landed on the headquarters’ docks one after another.
As the more than 700,000 Constellation Corridor players stepped onto the headquarters’ grounds, the millions of army players quickly came. The harbor and the hall were all filled with players. Luckily, the army headquarters satellite was large enough to carry billions of members.
This was the first time players from different Star Fields met outside of professional competitions. Be it the Chinese, Russians, or the Australian players, they all sized each other up in this first meeting.
When comparing the two sides, the difference was obvious.
The equipment on the more than 700,000 Constellation Corridor players varied broadly in terms of color and models, it looked quite messy.
On the millions of army players’ side, the color of their equipment and weapons were mainly black and silver. Although their equipment models differed, they were not as messy as the Constellation Corridor players. Most of the army players used the few sets of widely recognized army combat armors with the best performances, they looked like an elite military force and looked neat. The individual tiny differences between them were not that obvious. Furthermore, their equipment all had the Black Star Army symbol on them.
After getting down from the ship, some of the more than 700,000 newcomers greeted and talked to the others, some curiously observed and looked around the headquarters, and some went to communicate with the army NPCs. Generally, they scattered around and familiarized themselves with the headquarters.
Vodka and Captain Old Henry brought along their guild officers and looked for the guild leaders of the large Chinese guilds.
While the Long Sky club was in their rented base in the Black Star Army headquarters, the leaders of Sky Territory and Ancient Dynasty, Jade Green Sky and Morning Snow Twilight Frost came to meet the Russian guild officers.
“It’s good to see you, my Chinese friends. I’m the vice-president of Power And Glory, Vodka.”
Vodka and his friends introduced themselves.
“Good to see you too,” Jade Green Sky smiled and said, the translation function relayed the meaning of his words to Vodka and the others.
They chatted casually for a while before getting down to business.
“The people above told us to build a guild branch here. Some time ago, the guilds on your side and our side have already contacted each other. The people above said that your guilds would provide us with some help in the early stages…”
Morning Snow Twilight Frost smiled and said, “That’s right. If I may ask, how many guild members did you bring here to build your guild branch?”
“I brought 12 guild officers, 150 official members, and 1,200 external members,” Vodka said.
The representatives of the other guilds said their numbers too, all were around 1,000. Being an officer or an official member of the large professional guilds was a proper job, they received salaries for playing the game. As for the external players, some of them were casual volunteers and some were similar to studios, they received bonuses from the clubs as well.
“For the thousands of you to start guild branches here, the road ahead is quite tough. You have to start from zero in every aspect. You will need to purchase all kinds of tools, items, carriers, which all require money; it’s the same for equipment repairs, enhancements, and renewals; building your bases is quite costly as well, and don’t forget about the traveling fees to do missions too. Furthermore, you need to search for channels that can provide stable streams of EXP, materials, and money. The earlier you turn losses into profit, the better, right?”
Vodka and the rest nodded continuously. To them, operating the guilds was a job, they were here on a mission. Their job performance depended on how well they operated the guild branch.
Morning Snow Twilight Frost secretly exchanged looks with Jade Green Sky, smiled and said slowly,
“Some time ago, we completed the Black Star Army’s main storyline mission [Secret War], many of us obtained the army exclusive honorable title [Secret Warrior]. Anyone with this title can enjoy a 10% off discount on any purchases within the army. Of course, you guys don’t have that treatment.”
Only the army players who took part in the secret war had such privileges, this was a limited time only title, the players who joined later had no chance to obtain it anymore.
These guilds who had just come from another Star Field knew about this long ago through the forums, of course, they were jealous.
“You mean…”
“Yes, we can provide a channel for you to enjoy that discount. We will purchase products from the army at 10% off, and we will sell them to your two guilds at 3% off. Large guilds like us have more than enough funds and Contribution Points to fulfill your mass purchase needs… Of course, you can also look for normal players and ask them to help, but there’s a risk of getting tricked.”
Vodka did not give a response. It was clear that Dynasty and Long Sky were planning to profit from the price difference. As the manager of this guild branch, he had to be calculative.
Compared to purchasing resources from these Chinese clubs, he was more willing to work with reliable normal Chineses players. He could lend their title to purchase at 10% off and give them some resources from time to time, which would be much cheaper than a mere 3% off.
However, Morning Snow Twilight Frost saw right through them and knew exactly what these Russian guild representatives were thinking. He smiled faintly and said, “If you purchase from us, we will provide help to you in other ways too.
“In what ways?”
“For example, quality mission resources, hidden NPC intel, if you accept some kind of high difficulty mission, we can provide manpower to help you, also… we can ensure your safety.”
“Safety?” Vodka’s expression changed. “What do you mean?”
“The Shattered Star Ring is the territory which us Chinese clubs have been operating in since many versions ago. The dozens of large guilds and many more medium to smaller guilds have split most of the quality resources here. As outsiders who suddenly arrived to build your guilds, I can’t guarantee no other guilds will have conflicts with you. And if it just so happens that you guys will have to fight guild wars with other local guilds, since you’re just a guild branch and have very limited manpower, you will be at quite a massive disadvantage.”
One of the goals those guilds which belonged to clubs had was to provide resources for their professional players, and the large guilds of the various nations were each others’ biggest competitors. There was no way the Chinese clubs here would watch other professional clubs peacefully operate their guild branches here. Their higher-ups have already informed these guilds to think of some ways to restraint the developments of those competitors.
No matter how rich these foreign clubs were, if there were always people disrupting their missions, robbing their resources, and chasing down and killing their members, they would not be able to grow and would always make losses.
What Morning Snow Twilight Frost said was a reminder to Vodka and the others, saying that if they did not pay some “protection fees” to them, there were more than enough people here that could find their troubles.
Of course, the Chinese clubs were not too excessive about it. After all, players from all around the world were watching the situation of these first batch of players who have traveled to another Star Field. As the host, they could not openly bully these newcomers who had absolutely no foundations here. Even though they were competitors, they had to care about how much attention this matter attracted. They did not want the other countries to have a horrible image of the Chinese professional circle, so they still gave a little bit of discount and help, so that it would look like the foreign clubs did not make too much loss on the surface.
The normal players, of course, would not be targeted. However, the clubs of the various nations were first and foremost, commercial businesses. In order for their business to bloom, they had to rely on the glory of their professional players. While they had to make profits, they also had the hopes of the players on their shoulders. Professional players fought in competitions, and they, the official guilds had to fight in the game as well. If the Chinese clubs went to another Star Field to start their guild branches, they would be treated very similarly as well, restricted in many aspects.
Vodka and the others exchanged looks then agreed with resignation. Deep down, however, they did not yield so easily. They secretly decided to look for chances to work with normal players without letting the Chinese clubs know, so they could pay lesser protection fees.
On the other side at the guild base of the Temple of God guild.
The guild president of the other two clubs, Jupiter and Cowherd Star were having a meeting with the Kangaroo Boxing guild branch president, Captain Old Henry, and the other Australian guild representatives. They were discussing the exact same thing as what Long Sky and Dynasty were…
The four largest clubs had already made agreements behind the curtains to do the same thing. Compared to their plans, this bit of protection fees were just minor profits.
…
To the more than 700,000 newcomers, the army headquarters was their new main city.
While they were familiarising themselves with the environment, Han Xiao had returned to the office of the Army Commander. The officers who had been managing the headquarters for the past two months were reporting to him.
Han Xiao leaned on his chair and looked at the group of officers in front of him.
“How’s the army doing while I wasn’t here?”
Sylvia took a step forward and reported, “We have digested the gains we made through the last expansions, as well as successfully linked with the business channels of the various allies in the Shattered Star Ring. The Black Star Army’s current business range covers more than 10 industries, forming a complete trading system, intelligence system, transportation system, and many others.”
Reynold said with a deep voice, “The Logistics Department has built 126 machinery workshop factories in various locations, making rushed orders of more satellite bases. According to the army’s future blueprint, we will continue to build more divisions in all the seven Star Clusters and expand our forces.”
Herlous nodded and said, “Due to the increase in the number of members and the size of our forces, the army’s fleet is expanding as well. The Logistics Departments already have a lot of things on their hands that are yet to be completed, so I made orders with the financial groups we’re working with and there’re new batches of battleships being built every day.”
Han Xiao nodded. These were all things he told them to do before he left. He then asked, “Anything else?”
Sylvia said a little awkwardly, “Erm… our funds are running out…”
Han Xiao’s eyes widened. “We have so many businesses, including the resource planet mining rights from many civilizations, how are we lacking money?”
“The cost of expansion was too high. The current maintenance fee of the army is extremely costly, plus the Logistics Department has been producing at full capacity all the time, which is reducing our funds at quite a terrifying speed. Furthermore, it’s the off-season for trading lately, many of the financial groups working with us have seen decreased sales, so the profit period of the mining of resource planets is extended. Hence, our capital flow is a little tight…”
