The Legendary Mechanic, page 524
“Did you not look for the Crimson Dynasty and the Purple Crystal Civilization’s men and asked them to send funds? Didn’t I tell you, that you can look for them whenever we’re lacking funds if it’s caused by normal operation?” Han Xiao asked.
“I did…” Sylvia replied with resignation, “They did not reject, they just said that they would only do so when you tell them personally. They only recognize you.”
“Alright then, I’ll contact them later.” Han Xiao’s mouth twitched. These two only recognized him as their ally, which was unavoidable. Although his army was enormous, its true core was still him.
“One more thing. You told me to gather the teams needed to explore the Flickering World, I’ve already done so. They’re split into many fleets and are now in standby at the various sub-bases in Colton, ready to depart anytime,” Sylvia said.
“Good, Zoel will be hurrying me to get going very soon.”
Han Xiao gave Sylvia a very satisfied look.
The three of them then reported some of the details. Seeing that Han Xiao had no other orders, they relaxed and started casually chatting.
“Why didn’t I see Lagi? I’ve returned and my vice-captain isn’t here to see me, what’s he been busy doing?” Han Xiao wondered.
“Hehe, he’s been busy every day, either busy playing cards or busy sleeping!”
Sylvia felt angry whenever Lagi’s name was brought up. He then gave Herlous a stare and said, “You too. He has been dragging you to play cards every day, why don’t you ever reject him?!”
“What do you know about fun between card-mates?” Herlous snorted.
“Don’t mention playing cards in front of me.” Han Xiao complained. “How has Lagi been teaching Tomar?”
Tomar was a protagonist character he brought back, and Han Xiao did not forget about him.
“I heard he’s learning very fast.”
Han Xiao nodded, then looked at Reynold and said with anticipation, “What about my godson? Has he shown any special talent in terms of machinery?”
“Err… no,” Reynold told the truth. “But he’s learning very fast too, he’s quite talented on the path of the machinery.”
Sigh, I wonder if this will help in getting [Perfect Mechanical Sense]… Han Xiao waved his hand with resignation.
“I’ll bring him out in a few days times, that’ll be all.”
The three of them nodded and left the room. Han Xiao took out his communicator and contacted the Purple Crystal Civilization and the Crimson Dynasty, successfully requested for funds.
Zoel also reminded him that the Crimson Dynasty was done preparing their exploration team, and told Han Xiao to lead his people to the Flickering World’s Dawn Star Cluster sometime soon and rendezvous with the dynasty’s army. By then, they would officially start to explore the Flickering World.
After settling the official matters, Han Xiao then looked at how the 700,000 new players were doing in the army’s headquarters.
These Constellation Corridor players were still familiarizing themselves with the headquarters’ structure and map. Han Xiao had noticed something — although these more than 700,000 players have already traveled to another Star Field, they were still posting on their Constellation Corridor forums page out of habit.
Although the players of both sides communicated quite a lot on the forums, only a minority of players interacted with each other in the army’s headquarters. Despite all of them being army members, there were still obvious differences between the players of the two Star Fields. They were not completely avoiding each other, but they were basically playing on their owns.
“This won’t do…” Han Xiao shook his head.
He pondered, then quickly wrote two Faction Missions and gave them out through the faction interface to all the army players.
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[[Teach a Recruit] (Repeatable)]
Mission Introduction: The most recent expansion of the Black Star Army has brought back new warriors from another Star Field. The senior members of the army can choose to teach the new members, helping them to get familiar with the tasks in the army quickly.
Mission Requirements: Team up with one or more new warriors (players) from another Star Field and complete any one army mission.
Reward: 100 ~ 300 Black Star Army Contribution Points.
Remarks: Only players who have been in the army for more than a year can accept this mission.
[Consult A Veteran] (Repeatable)
Mission Introduction: As a new member of the Black Star Army, the veterans are the best people to learn from. Go and consult them, let them help you to know more about the army.
Mission Requirements: Team up with one or more senior warriors (players who have been in the army for more than a year) and complete any one army mission]
Reward: 100 ~ 300 Black Star Army Contribution Points.
Remarks: Only players who have been in the army for less than a year can accept this mission.
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“Hehehe…” Looking at the two missions he had just distributed, Han Xiao giggled mischievously.
After existing for three versions, the army’s Contribution Point had already become a key resource that was just as important as Enas, no amount was too much for anyone.
He did not want to players of the two Star Fields to form their own circles. Those club guilds were commercial competitors with each other so there was nothing he could do, but there was definitely something he could do for those normal players. Since they were all here at his headquarters, they were all leeks in the same field. He needed those new and old members to interact with each other and play together.
The social aspect of a game was a key factor in the players’ game experience!
Since players of both sides were so shy and did not interact with their foreign friends, Han Xiao decided to lure them to socialize.
This would be beneficial for the Constellation Corridor to embrace the army’s system. Not only would they be able to adapt to the new environment quicker, but the “Constellation Corridor” tag on those players would also slowly disappear and they would soon just think of themselves as “army players”.
This way, the personal connection between the players would become another reason for them to stay in the army. Using players to “attract” players, indirectly enhancing the appeal and sense of belonging of the faction!
Han Xiao suddenly patted his forehead and his expression became weird.
“Why does it feel similar to the oldest profession…”
Chapter 815. Socializing Mad Genius |
As Han Xiao distributed the two new missions, notifications popped up on the interfaces of all the army players.
“Doing missions with new members gives bonus Faction Contribution Points? That sounds like a great deal.”
“Any mission? Does running errands count?”
“For sure, even using the army Dungeon Crystals counts.”
“These can be repeated? Awesome!”
“Must team up with players who have been in the faction for less than a year, so only the new players born on Planet Deirdre in Version 3.0?”
“The Constellation Corridor players count too, right? Didn’t they just join the army?”
The two faction missions became a faction event and stirred up a wave among the players.
Han Xiao’s missions were not compulsory. He used the reward to lure them instead. Most of the players would not miss such a rare opportunity to farm Contribution Points. It was just teaming up with new players; they had nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
Maybe some players could not be bothered, but most players were willing to grab this opportunity.
As long as most people were deliberately teaming up with new members and not just with their inner circle friends, they would have taken the first step to socializing with players from other Star Fields, and Han Xiao’s goal would be achieved.
When playing together, they would build some kind of relationship in one way or another. At the very least, adding each other to their friend lists would be common.
The two missions were a set targeted at different groups. [Teach a Recruit]’s purpose was to make the older members willing to team up with the new members, and [Consult a Veteran]’s aim was to make the new members look for old members to help them.
The Constellation Corridor players were not the only ones considered as ‘recruits’. The players from the Version 3.0 novice planet, Planet Deirdre, were also new members of the army. The Shattered Star Ring old members would, of course, be more willing to play with them, so [Consult a Veteran] ensured that those foreign players would look for the senior army members as well.
Compared to those senior members of the army, these new members needed the Contribution Points more and were more passionate about this mission.
Secretly guided by Han Xiao, the situation in the army headquarters changed very quickly. The areas where players gathered became boisterous, and groups of people asked to team up in the public channel.
“LF1M[1] new army member above level 100, no Pugilists. All old army members here. Let’s do missions together to farm Contribution Points.”
“Level 88 Cannon Master, newbie here, need an old member to team up with to farm Contribution Points!”
“Thirty-man team here, planning to enter the [Secret War—Protection Warfare] dungeon. LF4M high-level Constellation Corridor players above Grade C+. Tank and disables needed, no damage dealers! Again, no damage dealers! Come quick!”
The interactions between players immediately became frequent.
The foreign players entered different army player teams and quickly mixed in with the environment. As the players were waiting for the Flickering World main storyline, they were mainly farming dungeons, which indirectly increased the sales of Dungeon Crystals.
The players had no suspicion of these two missions—to the players, it was very normal for the army to encourage the old members to teach the new members since a group of new members had just arrived from another Star Field.
“Hey, Chinese pal, do you know when this event will end?”
“Who cares? Just farm it as much as possible.”
“You guys don’t seem surprised at all. In our Star Field, group activities like this are very rare.”
“Haha, this happens very frequently in our army. I’ve already taken part in many large missions that had hundreds of thousands of participants. You’ll get used to it soon. This is a specialty of the Shattered Star Ring.”
As the normal players were teaming up, so were the club guilds. The four biggest Chinese guilds were overjoyed.
They had just made the price difference agreement with the foreign guilds, and this mission popped up right after. The Russian and Australian guild players were all recruits, so these guild representatives came back right after they had just left.
Even the faction was helping them!
After monitoring for a while, Han Xiao nodded and was rather satisfied with the impact he had made. This was a good start to make the players from different Star Fields mix together.
This would largely increase the efficiency of communication between the players from two sides and was beneficial for the faction.
He planned to keep these two missions active for some time.
They would have to explore the Flickering World very soon, which would have countless missions, so this mission would encourage the players from two sides to work together.
Closing the forums, Han Xiao left the office and returned to his bedroom.
His bedroom in the army had a very minimalist layout. The walls were metallic, and there was a window on the ceiling that looked right into the vast universe. A large black bed sat in the middle of the room, with a bookshelf, fridge, automatic cooker, waste bin, and other simple items beside the wall. The one plant pot in the corner of the wall grown by Han Xiao personally gave this cold and boring looking room a sense of liveliness.
Han Xiao took off his clothes and took a shower. He then took out a hand full of special grade nutrition pastes of different flavors and casually gulped them down. This thing recovered stamina extremely quickly, and it was not cheap.
Beyond Grade As basically did not need to sleep or eat at all, but he decided to retain his habit as a human. The increase in strength and change in the race would make beings look at the world in a different way. He did not need to rest, but he wanted to remind himself he was still human.
Due to the astonishing control that Beyond Grade As had over their bodies, there was no way for Han Xiao to fall asleep naturally. He could only control his brain to enter a rest state.
Since travelling to the Central Galaxy, this was the first time he had slept.
Han Xiao lay on the bed. Before sleeping, his consciousness entered the quantum network and told Phillip, “I’m sleeping. Call me up if anything. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, master, hum…” Phillip replied.
…
After sleeping for a night, Han Xiao’s eyes opened exactly on time. He came out from under the blanket, washed up, took off his pajamas, and donned his black robe, once again recovering to the image of Black Star.
The first thing he did was open the forums. Due to the team-up missions, more and more new members of the army had become active on the Shattered Star Ring page and interacted with the Chinese players.
Han Xiao noticed a new pinned post—it was the new episode of Galaxy Times.
“They should mention the Star Field migration…”
Han Xiao opened it up.
After the familiar opening, the two hosts shared what interesting things were happening around the various Star Fields. They soon mentioned the first batch of players to travel to another Star Field.
“Not long ago, the renowned NPC faction of the Shattered Star Ring, the Black Star Army, provided the Constellation Corridor players a way to go to the Shattered Star Ring. Based on statistics, there are a total of 713,000 players who chose to leave with the Black Star Army, completing the first known event of any player traveling to another Star Field.
“In Version 2.0, the Black Star Army was the guiding faction to lead the Shattered Star Ring players to the galaxy. Now, they have once again guided the players of another Star Field to cross Star Fields. Maybe this is a signal—in the next version, the players might be able to cross Star Fields on a large scale and go to different areas freely!
“So far, this is how the activity areas of the players have developed: Version 1.0, novice planet; Version 2.0, entering the galaxy; Version 3.0, exploring the Star Cluster… The activity range of the players has been expanding every version. Initially, we thought that the players would be exploring their birth Star Field mainly in the next version, but the Black Star Army has given us new ideas. Due to the theme of Galaxy, the players of the various Star Fields will interact sooner or later. Therefore, according to this trend, we can speculate that the next version will be the stage where players can freely cross Star Fields.”
Han Xiao shook his head and smiled as he finished watching the show. This speculation was very logical, but Galaxy Times was only half right.
In the next version, the players would indeed be able to cross to another Star Fields on a large scale. However, unlike what Galaxy Times had speculated, the players would gather in the Flickering World instead of freely going to different areas.
Galaxy Times misguided the players, which was unavoidable. Other than Han Xiao, no players knew that the Flickering World would be the main stage of the next version.
…
“The players who are following me to the Flickering World still don’t know how much of an advantage they’ve gained.”
After looking at the forums for half an hour, only then did Han Xiao start to do other things. He patrolled around the army headquarters before heading to the Logistics Department.
When he entered Reynold’s office, he saw Nero, who was buried in the mountain of books.
“Godfather!” As soon as Nero looked up, his deep and dark eye bags were clearly visible. Realizing that it was Han Xiao, joy bloomed on his exhausted face. He immediately threw away the theory book in his hands and dashed into Han Xiao’s arms.
Looking at the terrifying amount of homework Reynold had given, Han Xiao’s mouth twitched.
This is almost on the level of child abuse…
Scolding Reynold in his mind, Han Xiao patted Nero’s head and said, “Come, I’m taking you out.”
“Really‽” Nero was so overjoyed and surprised that his tears almost gushed out.
When he left Planet Aquamarine, Nero thought that he had followed his godfather out to play. To his absolute shock, there was an infinite amount of homework that he could never finish waiting for him!
Given Reynold’s personality, the thing he was best at was forceful education. In the past two months, Nero felt like he was in living hell, and seeing Han Xiao was like seeing an angel who had come to save him—he could finally escape this endless misery!
“I promised you, right?” Han Xiao smiled. Actually, the main goal was not to take Nero sightseeing but to go to the Tyla Civilization, which Harrofal had been part of, and search for the set of wormhole travel data back from when EsGod’s doppelganger entered it.
Other than Nero, Han Xiao only took Hila, Aurora, and Feidin along. They took the extremely quick Blacklight Stealth, so it would not take long for a return trip and would not delay the Flickering World mission.
As Harrofal had been killed by EsGod’s subordinate long ago, the chances of finding the wormhole data were very slim, which was why Han Xiao brought his two lucky mascots—Feidin and Nero—to offset his luck.
After all, those who believed in luck were… the unluckiest ones.
…
The Blacklight Stealth flew through the stargate and did not make any stops along the way. Not many days later, Han Xiao and the others arrived at one of the Tyla Civilization’s governance planets to visit the high-level mechanic school that Harrofal had been part of.
