The Legendary Mechanic, page 69
He could arbitrarily attribute the reputation points with a certain value. This method was like the theory behind paper currency, whereby something was made to appear valuable, but in actual fact, it was worthless. This could be effective in attracting the Sky Territory guild, Destroyer guild… any guild’s players into picking up the quest.
Han Xiao had always felt that the currency system was built on a bubble. With this thought in mind, he would spend any cash he earned.
Unspent money could become a hindrance to one’s motivation to work!
Most of the players went into the forest to set up traps. The traps that they could use were the more elementary ones—they were monster traps. Han Xiao took some time off and visited the forest. The forest was so full of traps that anyone with claustrophobia would have been triggered and covered with goosebumps instantly.
The retreating troops from the Germinal Organization would definitely be horrified when they entered the forest.
The monster traps that the players had set were very much useless and were mainly to attract attention. Han Xiao set up some other traps by himself, and those traps were the ones that would be the deadliest.
Chapter 129. Uproar in the Esports Circle |
There were four continents on Planet Aquamarine and many more assembly points for novice players. There was a perennial stream of new players joining the open beta, so the total number of players kept increasing. However, compared to the entire population of the planet, it was still an insignificant number.
The players were all doing beginner quests and advancing slowly. They mostly camped in the areas around the novice villages. The players in Big Horn Village had been envied by many since they encountered a high-rank character, Han Xiao, who could teach them basic knowledge, whereas the players in other novice villages could only advance slowly through grinding for the secondary class.
Generally, players could be divided into three types: casual players, studio players, and professional esports players.
On the forum, there was a live broadcast. A godly player from the Deluxe Sanctuary Club, who was ranked 2nd in the country’s esports field and 21st in the world, had officially announced that he would join Galaxy! His ID was Song.
The number of viewers had already reached millions, and yet, it was still rising rapidly!
“Song, may I ask if your work from now on would be entirely focused on Galaxy?”
“May I know why you only chose to join the during the open-beta phase?”
“May I know…”
Even when he was bombarded by questions from reporters, Song remained calm and charismatic, and he answered each and every question elegantly. He was a handsome young man who always wore a mesmerizing smile. Due to his excellent skills and dashing looks, Song had gained a huge fan base.
“Galaxy is the game of the century with unparalleled potential. It has countless possibilities, vast maps, and an incredible amount of freedom. From my personal point of view, I believe that Galaxy will become a phenomenal game. The World E-sports Association has already begun to prepare the first league for Galaxy, and it will be on a world-wide scale. Not only me, but all Chinese players will participate in this grand event to compete with players from America, France, Korea, and other great esports countries, aiming to win glory for our country.
“Yesterday, major America guilds like Key, Devil, and Thunder Snake also announced their entry into Galaxy. They chose the in-game planet with the greatest potential, Planet Winterfrost, to be their base camp. They will become tough opponents in the future. Our guild also contacted major e-sports clubs such as Long Sky and Thunder Storm to invite them to join the game. We, as a nation, will definitely not lag behind in this game!”
“Do you have any comments on the issue where your old nemesis, Lost Angel, claimed that he is going to defeat you in Galaxy?” one reporter asked.
Song chuckled before he spoke with a strong sense of self-confidence. “I will never be afraid of any enemy. I will be the best in Galaxy and lead the Chinese players to defeat every player from other countries!”
This conference was like a signal that hinted the rise of Galaxy. Its influence soared immediately after the conference. The entire esports field roared, and countless professional players announced their plans to enter the game.
With the arrangement of their respective clubs, players such as Sleepy Winter, Twinkle Fried Rice, and Rainy Kim, who joined the game during the close-beta phase, also held a press conference. This further fanned the enthusiasm in the e-sports field. The topic of the game became more and more popular, and the activity in the game forum was at a phenomenal level! Countess players were also looking forward to the sales of the second batch of VR capsules.
Just as the popularity of the game soared, Galaxy released its first official trailer. The trailer showed the different landscapes of the novice planets as if it was a documentary film. The different styles and appearances of the planets, coupled with magic and technology from both ancient times and the future, attracted countless eyes. This trailer was made from the collection of closed-beta players’ clips, and they were all recorded from their point of view.
This trailer introduced the background and the environment of the world of Galaxy through moving images. Soon, Galaxy would release other similar publicity videos to introduce other aspects of Galaxy. They announced that the next video would show the battle scenes of different classes, giving players a greater insight into the variations of different classes and their fighting styles. Many were eager to watch this video.
The activity level of the forum was constantly through the roof, and Han Xiao kept an eye on the trends on the forum. Seeing the IDs of many professional players whom he had previously battled in his last life, Han Xiao felt a little emotional. He could still remember the times in his past life when he was an enthusiastic new player in the game. After many years, he had become a highly-experienced professional power leveler in the game, and then he was transmigrated. Things had changed so much for him—indeed, reality was more dramatic than a novel.
In his last life, he had been among the players who bought the second batch of VR capsules. Han Xiao was curious if there was another version of him in this world, which was why he always paid attention to the forum for any evidence of it.
Han Xiao had stayed at Big Horn Village for the last past few days, and during this time, there had been old players constantly visiting the village and new players been born here.
A group of curious new players who had just arrived gathered outside Big Horn Village. Their faces were full of curiosity. “This is the novice village, right?”
A player with a pistol around his waist walked past, and he immediately caught the attention of those new players.
“Bro, where did you buy that gun?”
“Oh, you must be newbies. You asked the right guy for this. A word of advice: never head to Big Horn Village to purchase a gun. Go straight west. There is a high-ranking character called Black Phantom who not only sells guns at a really affordable price but can also help you with class advancements,” the player with the pistol said.
“Really? Let’s go take a look now!” the newbies exclaimed as their eyes lit brightly.
“Go on, do not forget to thank me.” The player with the pistol had a look of pride plastered on his face.
More and more players came to find Han Xiao the moment they arrived in the game before heading to Big Horn Village to receive quests. They then used all their hard-earned money from the quests to buy more items from Han Xiao to earn reputation points. They were just like hard working bees, promptly supplying Han Xiao with a large amount of money.
In just a few days, Han Xiao had earned more than 500,000 Aquamarine Dollars and close to a million EXP—such efficiency was unparalleled. It was also a much safer and more convenient way for him compared to earning money and EXP by doing quests himself.
The players now are all only newbies. Now is the best time to exploit them.
The features of an NPC offered him a tremendous advantage when facing players, but Han Xiao knew there was a prerequisite to extracting profits from them—he had to be ahead of players in all areas of advancement.
Although the current situation is really good, I cannot relax and stagnate, Han Xiao thought to himself as he took a puff of his cigarette.
Among the players in Big Horn Village, around twenty percent had chosen to switch to become mechanics while the other players were still on the fence. Only by showing off the combat strength of a mechanic would the other players start to budge.
Han Xiao glanced at the computer and read the intelligence passed from the Dark Net about the Germinal Organization. The retreating troops would be passing by Big Horn Village this afternoon.
As he was in the process of thinking, he heard a female voice.
“Black Phantom, why do you want to be enemy with the Germinal Organization?”
Han Xiao turned his head and saw a petite young female player. She was below his chin and had delicate short hair and watery eyes full of curiosity. Her face was just like an apple, which made people want to poke her cheeks. Her ID was ‘Maple Moon’. She was the first female player who learned skills from him.
I can’t believe we’ve met again… Han Xiao raised his eyebrow as old memories started appearing in his head.
Maple Moon, one of the Mechanic representatives in the third Season, was originally a casual player. She became extraordinary in the third season competition and was then signed by a club to become a professional player.
In his past life, it was revealed on the forum that Maple Moon liked to dig into hidden story plots, and all the benefits she gained from doing so accumulated and compounded until the third season where it was advantageous for a mechanic. It was only then that she really showed her true combat prowess.
Han Xiao blinked and had a new idea.
Players like this seem to be able to…
Chapter 130. The First Step in Building a Large Network |
Based on the quests that Han Xiao assigned to the players, Maple Moon had guessed that Han Xiao and the Germinal Organization were enemies. Most players would just want to complete the task and get it over with, so they would not even bother with understanding any background information about the quest. However, Maple Moon enjoyed exploring the story plot and became curious about the background story of Han Xiao. Black Phantom—this name made her think of all sorts of assassins and stories of vengeance. She believed that there was something she could dig further into.
She is the first player to interact with me outside of assigning quests and selling equipment. Han Xiao’s eyes lit up.
Han Xiao pondered about his relationship with the players and concluded that they were not enemies—except for the players who took on missions that targeted him. He was able to not only extract profits from players but also train players with potential and let them become his allies. By exchanging help and resources, he could make these players willingly fight alongside him.
As the players could resurrect, it was somewhat unfavorable to Han Xiao. However, looking from another perspective, it also meant that the players were best used as fighters and cannon fodder. Although most players did not have principles, and therefore, using players in such a manner could be rather chaotic, Han Xiao was clear about the players’ psychology and what motivated them. As long as he manipulated them properly, he could control the players’ actions to a certain extent. If he made good use of this strategy, he could gain a huge advantage when fighting against NPC forces—the advantage could be as big as his advantage when interacting with players!
What’s this called again—two-timing?
Nah, it should be called focusing on both sides!
A flash of thoughts sprinted through Han Xiao’s mind as he glanced at her. He then suddenly walked up to the vehicle. Maple Moon was startled momentarily before she followed.
The vehicle storage compartment was a workshop full of spare mechanical components. Han Xiao casually pointed his finger to ask Maple Moon to sit wherever she wanted. He then lit a cigarette and began smoking. The smoke created a mysterious atmosphere, and Maple Moon, upon seeing this scene, knew immediately that something exciting was about to happen to her. This caused her heartbeat to thump rapidly. She was very expectant.
Han Xiao flicked the ashes off his cigarette as he said, “The Germinal Organization is an evil organization that is using the grief the people who lost their country to manipulate them into fighting for their personal gains. They outlandishly try to start a world war and add more scars to this world that is already covered in wounds…”
Han Xiao embellished the story with many details of the evil deeds that the Germinal Organization had previously committed, but he did not twist any facts around. The Germinal Organization had indeed committed a lot of bloody acts. Han Xiao was able to know all this based on the memories from his past life and by reading the relevant case files on the Dark Net. He gave a good account of all these incidents to Maple Moon.
As Maple Moon listened to Han Xiao attentively, her emotions fluctuated up and down. Her impression of the Germinal Organization plummeted as she felt the anger brewing within her. Maple Moon was the kind of person who would get emotional from the storyline of a game, and she would always make decisions based on what her heart wanted. She had never been motivated by personal gains.
There were actually a lot of players like Maple Moon since most players were there to enjoy the game. A game was a story that people could easily immerse themselves in. However, most of such players were playing offline games, so it was rare to find players like this in an online game.
Han Xiao, in fact, found players like Maple Moon admirable. He coughed and asked a question that was clearly leading to a quest. “Would you be willing to become an enemy of the Germinal Organization?”
It was basically a yes or no question.
Maple Moon nodded solemnly.
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Your reputation with Black Phantom has increased by 5 points.
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After adjusting her reputation points, Han Xiao took out a mobile phone and handed it to Maple Moon. “Good, I have seen your courage. When you have grown stronger, contact me using this phone.
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You received the quest [Black Phantom’s Invitation]. Reach LV 20, then contact Black Phantom.
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Maple Moon was secretly delighted by her correct choice. She was right—there were hidden plots that could be triggered!
Han Xiao’s secretly chuckled as he saw Maple Moon’s delighted face. He was planning to spread a wide net to catch all these players with good potential. However, due to the limited number of players he could train, choosing each player carefully was a very important thing. Maple Moon would be a famous mechanic in the future and could be a good assistant for him. She was definitely a good spare tire… Cough! I mean an alternative.
As for the remaining candidates, Han Xiao had to think hard about them. He was prepared to choose the players who had good principles and potential. As long as Han Xiao showed players that they could trigger hidden missions from him, the rest of the professional players would automatically come to find him by themselves, and this would allow him to have more choices in picking the candidates.
A rough plan was generated inside Han Xiao mind, and he believed that it was rather actionable, but for the time being, the players still required a period of growth before he could proceed to the next step of his plan.
…
After he sent away the excited Maple Moon, he waited till noon before creating a new quest for the players.
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[Hunting Germinal]: Follow Black Phantom to attack a troop from the Germinal Organization. This quest is a Prize-Pool Mission, and the base reward is 35,000 EXP. 500 EXP will be consumed by accepting the quest and be placed in the reward pool. The total reward will be split proportionally among the top 5 players (or teams).
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Han Xiao had the ability to release different kinds of quests including a Prize-Pool Mission. Unfortunately, the reward he could dispense for a Prize-Pool Mission would still depend on the upper limit of a single mission. However, as the players were mostly around the level of four or five, 35,000 was still an astronomical number to them.
The players wanting to join the Prize-Pool Mission had to pay an ‘admission fee’. Han Xiao tried and realized that he could not manipulate the EXP that the players put into the prize pool. He felt bummed, like he had lost another way to earn—scam—the noobs.
The Kill-all Guild was the first to discover the Prize-Pool Mission. They were shocked by the sheer size of the reward for the quest.
“This must be the first Prize-Pool Mission!”
“Oh woah! 35,000 EXP! Even for the base reward, it is way too much! The quests that I can do now only give me a few hundred EXP!”
“If more players accept this quest, the prize pool will accumulate to an astronomical number!”
All the members from the Kill-all guild could not contain their excitement.
SliceYouUp’s eyes flashed, and he had a different thought. “No, we cannot allow other players to accept this quest!”
Members of the guild were shocked and asked the president, “Why not?”
Slicer eighteen spoke volubly, “Only five players or teams can receive the prize for this quest. The Big Horn Village has few hundred thousand players which even include some professional players. Rather than competing with all of them and rely on luck, why not just get the 35,000 EXP into our hand! If we are the only ones to accept the quest, we can easily manipulate the ranking and distribute the reward without the rest of our guild. Also, if we only win the quest as a team, each member will only gain an insubstantial amount of EXP. If we can distribute the EXP to a few individuals, it will be a lot more useful!”
