The Legendary Mechanic, page 541
The Talos Civilization secretly sponsored Avitan Souls so that those extremists would create trouble for the Star Pupil Holy Race. Although they did not instruct Avitan Souls to attack Planet Aquamarine, this unexpected situation was to their advantage, and they could make use of this matter to create trouble.
Han Xiao got Bennett to criticize Psyker to give the Talos Civilization an excuse, and the Talos Civilization understood his intentions. They had wanted to deal with the Star Pupil Holy Race a long time ago, and standing up for Planet Aquamarine could also win them Han Xiao’s favor.
Thus, Planet Aquamarine did not have to do anything after the first day and only had to watch from the side.
Han Xiao then contacted Ames and asked her about Floating Dragon’s situation.
Both of them talked for half an hour before hanging up.
Walking to the 3D star map, Han Xiao looked at the map of the Garu Star Cluster. The explored green region was still extremely small, and it looked like two toothpicks sticking out from a green blob. These two ‘toothpicks’ were the two long distance routes that were currently under construction.
“Hadavy’s Special Task Force needs another three months before they can complete the long distance stargate…” Han Xiao stroked his chin and pondered to himself.
According to his plan, the Special Task Force arriving at the east of the Garu Star Cluster would be the first phase.
According to his understanding of the Garu Star Cluster, there should not be another huge storm like the Great Cosmos Corps again, and they would have a calm exploration until they had explored about eighty percent of the Star Systems.
…
Time flew by.
Three months later, in the Crimson Dynasty Ruler’s office, Urranrell currently had a report in her hands, and she was reprimanding one of the upper echelons with a stern voice.
“The Federation of Light is moving sneakily and has entered our territory. How are you going to take care of this matter? Just watch from the side and let them do as they please? I asked you to keep guard, not retreat all the way! Come up with a plan immediately!”
“Let me think, let me think…”
Urranrell’s eyes were extremely stern. The exploration of the Flickering World had only been going on for a few months, and the Federation of Light could no longer sit still. They had begun applying pressure on the dynasty from the economic, political, and military side. They were prepared to snatch benefits from the dynasty while the dynasty’s attention was fixed on exploring the new Star Field.
This was only the beginning. The dynasty would definitely invest even more manpower and resources in the exploration, and the Federation of Light would increase the intensity of their operations to make things difficult for the dynasty.
Although this situation was within Urranrell’s expectations, it was something avoidable. Both the Federation of Light and the Crimson Dynasty were at the same level, and their strength was equal. It was extremely difficult for everything to go smoothly and perfectly. If the dynasty wanted to have some reward, they needed to pay the appropriate price. Urranrell had already prepared herself mentally for this.
Beep beep.
The internal comms line rang.
“Your Excellency, the Chief Commander of the exploration army Tarrokov is on the line.”
Urranrell then waved her hand and got the official in front of her to leave. The official felt as though he was pardoned of his crime and hurriedly left the office. Only Urranrell remained in the room.
“Patch it through.” Urranrell nodded.
The next moment, Tarrokov’s figure appeared inside the room, and he gave a military salute to Urranrell.
“Tarrokov, how is the progress for the exploration of the Flickering World?”
The exploration of the Flickering World was of strategic importance to the Crimson Dynasty, and Urranrell was extremely concerned about the situation.
“The information has already been sent to you, and I am here to give you a brief report…”
Tarrokov then began explaining.
Urranrell glanced at the report while looking at the information and nodded.
“In summary, Renault and Crown are being explored by the forces of the dynasty and Klent. Our progress is only average. On the contrary, the Black Star Army, which chose the Garu Star Cluster, has discovered a large number of resource rich planets over the past four months and even took over the territory of a local organization, saving us a great deal of effort. Furthermore, the Black Star Army didn’t bother about their own losses and are constructing a long distance stargate for the convenience of future exploration squads,” Tarrokov said.
Urranrell placed down the information in her hands and said with a satisfied look, “Not bad. He is a reliable ally.”
With a basis of comparison, she was extremely satisfied with Han Xiao’s efficiency.
“The Black Star Army is an ally worthy of grooming. We should increase our support for them in all aspects.”
Although Tarrokov seemed to have received some benefits from the Black Star Army and always spoke highly of them, Urranrell was not bothered about the details as long as the Black Star Army produced results.
“Apart from this, I have something else to report,” Tarrokov suddenly said with a deep voice. “We’ve noticed traces of stowaways.”
The stowaways that he referred to were those who secretly entered the Flickering World without approval from the dynasty.
Urranrell’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure they aren’t natives?”
Tarrokov shook his head and said, “Although I do not have much evidence, our troops stationed in the universe belt between the Shattered Star Ring and Flickering World discovered traces of warp speed hyperdrive by an unknown force. Their technological capabilities have obviously reached the level of a Star Cluster, and they should be arriving in the Flickering World very soon. Some others may have already arrived at the Flickering World before this but weren’t discovered by us.”
“The Federation of Light and Arcane Church have indeed taken action,” Urranrell said.
“I think that they will avoid the first three Star Clusters that we have chosen and explore the Star Clusters located deep within the Star Field,” Tarrokov said. “They want to swallow our Star Field on the sly and avoid coming into contact with us.”
“You’re right,” Urranrell said slowly. “Send out our forces to patrol the universe belt between the Shattered Star Ring and Flickering World. Destroy any stargates built by the enemy that you can find.”
Those stowaways were probably planning to create their own secret stargate to connect the Flickering World to the outside so that they could send a large troop quickly in the future. The hidden stargates would usually be hidden within the universe belt between the two Star Fields.
The Crimson Dynasty had publicly forbidden other organizations from privately setting up their own stargate because of such a consideration. The most effective way to deal with stowaways would be to destroy their stargates and ensure that the control of the stargates remained firmly in the dynasty’s hands.
The only way to maximize the dynasty’s benefits was to ensure a monopoly on transportation.
Tarrokov shook his head in response. “We will need more manpower.”
“I know.” Urranrell nodded. “I will deploy more troops to head to the Flickering World. It is also time for our second batch of allies to move out.”
…
At the same time, an Arcane Church fleet had secretly arrived at the border of the Flickering World.
“We’ve finally arrived! Contact the branch division. Have they chosen a location in the desolate universe belt?”
“Reporting to the captain, the location has been decided, and they are only waiting for us.”
They required two stargates to form a new path, and stowaway troops would usually split up into two groups. One group would choose a location for their secret stargate, and this would be the ‘entrance’.
The troops that arrived at the Flickering World would then build the ‘exit’.
“Very good. Make sure that we avoid all the detectors of the Crimson Dynasty. Go around the Dawn Star Cluster and head to the desolate universe belt near the Garu Star Cluster to construct a stargate. We will also build a temporary base.”
The Arcane Church also wanted to set their sights on the Flickering World, but this was a long-term job. At the same time, the Arcane Church was even more interested in the Evolution Cube.
They had chosen to set up a stargate near the Garu Star Cluster so that it would be easy for them to store their army.
It would only be convenient for them to send out Beyond Grade A Supers after constructing their stargates. After all, an expert of such a level would not be willing to spend a few months slowly crossing the desolate universe belt.
Black Star had already proven himself to be someone extremely difficult to deal with. In order to guarantee their success, the Arcane Church had sent out more than one or two Beyond Grade A Supers.
Of course, the three Universal Civilizations kept an eye on each other’s Beyond Grade A combatants, and the moment any one of them displayed any strange movements, the other two parties would be alerted.
If they wanted to allow their Beyond Grade A Supers to move sneakily, they needed to find a reason to fool others.
Chapter 835. Four Months |
Ever since the players took over the remaining territories of the Great Cosmos Corps and set up a long distance stargate, Han Xiao had led his forces to the middle region of the star map. The famous planets within the center region of the Star Cluster were much greater, and their quality was higher.
One of these planets was called Planet Shining Gold, which had been extremely prosperous in Han Xiao’s previous life. It was one of the first-rate planets that the dynasty had in the Garu Star Cluster and was an iconic planet of the Flickering World. There was also Planet Auspicious Forest, which was a transit station within the Garu Star Cluster. During its most prosperous time, it had over five hundred stargate entrances and was the heart of the Star Cluster.
Apart from this, Han Xiao had also occupied many resource rich planets that were famous for producing various valuable resources.
In his previous life, these famous planets had an important status in the Garu Star Cluster, and the dynasty might take back these planets after opening up the Flickering World to the public. But during the exploration period, these planets were all the territory of the Black Star Army, and the Black Star Army had the right to enjoy the special produce of these planets.
The exploration had already been going on for four months, and the progress of the various exploration squads was similar. The Bloodshed Land had taken a steady approach in their exploration and had almost completed the exploration of the Jeraton Star System. Although they had pretty decent rewards, the outcome was within the dynasty’s expectations, and it would not cause too big a storm. In comparison, even though Han Xiao’s exploration squad had taken the approach of spreading out their forces, which resulted in taking a longer time to explore a single Star System, Han Xiao had managed to provide the dynasty with quite a number of surprises because he had managed to find a large number of famous planets from his previous life.
Because of this, the dynasty increased their support for him as well.
Han Xiao had heard rumors about the Klent exploration team mimicking his method and sending out troops to the planets of the other regions. However, it was a pity that they were not familiar with the situation on the other planets and did not have good results.
Over the past four months, the benefits of the Flickering World had begun to show. The rewards that the Black Star Army received from the Flickering World almost rivaled the combined total of the other armies.
As more and more planets were explored, their rewards continued to snowball.
Countless uninhabited planets were waiting to be excavated. If not, why would they say that the Flickering World was a huge opportunity?
The gains of the army soared rapidly, and after the exploration team sent these earnings back to the main camp in the Shattered Star Ring, Sylvia began to expand the army even further under Han Xiao’s instructions. They attracted more new members and increased the scale of their training camp.
On the players’ side, as the resource rich planets increased in numbers, the guilds also ran out of manpower and could only selectively choose the planets to mine on. The best resource rich planets were naturally taken by the four great guilds and the others by the first-rate guilds. The Australian and Russian guilds were bullied badly and no longer wished to play on the same planet as any of the powerful Chinese guilds. Thus, they chose a few lousier resource rich planets and competed with the second-rate Chinese guilds instead.
Over the past four months, the average level of the players had gone up a great deal, and Maple Moon, who had received bountiful rewards from the hidden mission, was the highest leveled player. She was already at level 113 and only needed seven more levels to reach the max level.
With Maple Moon as an example, all the players searched for hidden missions like crazy, and there were a few who had indeed managed to find some. However, it was a pity that there was no reward for the second [Bold Explorer] skill fragment.
Han Xiao had not remained idle over the past four months either. The experience punishment of the Evolution Cube would end in eight months, so he was not in a rush to level up.
Read more chapter on NovelFullApart from monitoring the progress of the exploration and scrolling through the forums, Han Xiao spent most of his time in his workshop, expanding his mechanical army.
Currently, his mechanical army had already exceeded ten million soldiers in number, and their attributes were extremely powerful. Under the boost of his mechanical force, this army of his had the strength to wipe out a weaker Star System Civilization.
Among the five main classes, the destructiveness of a Mechanic was the greatest toward a civilization. The other four classes were more suitable to fight a single target, and only a powerful Beyond Grade A Mechanic had the ability to fight a large-scale galactic war.
Han Xiao was currently standing in front of the 3D star map, waiting for a special piece of news.
Today was a special day as the Special Task Force that Hadavy was leading would complete the construction of the long distance stargate. He was waiting for Hadavy’s word.
But before news from Hadavy could arrive, Tarrokov contacted him.
Beep beep!
Han Xiao looked at his communicator and could only pick up the call with resignation.
“Chief commander, what’s the matter?”
“I need to inform you about something. We found traces of stowaways.”
“Stowaways? They should be from the organizations who ignored the dynasty’s warning and want to have a share of the Flickering World, right?”
This was something that the players found out from the background description in his previous life. This matter happened during the version update period, and the players did not participate in the event. When the players joined in, the Flickering World had already opened to the outside world, and the other organizations were allowed to enter the Flickering World.
In the dynasty’s records, they had fought a long battle with the stowaways. The Star Field was far too big, and there were too many regions to explore. As such, the dynasty was not able to completely uproot the stowaways. Even if they could get rid of one batch, another batch would arrive very quickly.
Tarrokov nodded and said, “It should be the forces of some super Star Cluster civilizations. You should keep an eye out for them and report to me if you find any stowaways. We must find their secret stargates, and we will request aid from your troops if necessary.”
“Okay.”
A new mission immediately popped up on Han Xiao’s interface.
_____________
You have triggered [Stowaways’ Clue] (Repeatable)!
Mission Introduction: A new Star Field is a treasure trove, and every organization wants a share of it. No one is willing to see the Crimson Dynasty swallow all the benefits alone, and even if the Flickering World is the Crimson Dynasty’s territory in name, it is impossible to stop their greed. As one of the dynasty’s allies, the stowaways’ infiltration is also an opportunity for you. The dynasty needs your help.
Mission Requirements: Hand in all information related to stowaways, kill a batch of stowaways, or destroy the secret stargates.
Reward: 2,000,000 – 50,000,000 Experience and 50 – 700 the Crimson Dynasty Contribution Points
Remark: This is a branch mission of the [Flickering World].
_____________
This was a repeatable mission, and he would receive a reward every time he dealt with stowaways. The rewards were only so-so, but Han Xiao was the most interested in the dynasty Contribution Points.
However, stowaways were stealthy in their actions and extremely difficult to find. Han Xiao can only try his luck. Furthermore, the stowaways were not natives, and if they set up a secret stargate, it would only be possible to destroy the stargate with a battle.
Han Xiao only intended to provide the clues and was not planning to pick a fight with the super Star Cluster civilizations. However, the dynasty were not afraid of offending them and would be the most suitable party to do so.
“The Arcane Church should also be included among the stowaways…”
Aesop had prophesied that the Arcane Church would bring him danger in the Flickering World, and Han Xiao was concerned about it.
If the Arcane Church wanted to deal with me, they would definitely have to send a large force. Because they’ll need to build up their forces, they won’t take action soon. However, I’d better remain vigilant during this period, Han Xiao thought to himself.
Psyker was able to locate him, and the Arcane Church would definitely get Psyker to join them. Thus, observing Psyker’s whereabouts would be the most direct way to find out when the Arcane Church was planning to attack.
