Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The chosen location for Base No. 3 was not far from Forest City. All 200,000 of the players that were outside returned immediately after receiving the mission. With the help of spaceships, they gathered in no time.
Outside Forest City, 200,000 players gathered and focused their eyes on Han Xiao. Han Xiao borrowed the Dragon Emperor’s style once again, sitting on a mechanical throne that hovered in midair. He was not really trying to look cool. There were so many players, so they would not be able to see him if he was not flying.
It had been a while since Han Xiao had last been in close contact with players. He briefly observed the players. The equipment of the 200,000 players that had stayed on Planet Sunil for a few months had visibly changed. They could roughly be grouped into three types of people. The first type was those that wore heavy armor, mostly Sunil Enlistee Class armor and some Worker Bee Armors. What was worth mentioning was that the Sunil Armors these players wore all came from his army. The Sunils clearly knew that Han Xiao had secretly learned about their blueprints… but it did not matter even if they knew.
The second type of players were those that did not wear armor; these players made up about one-tenth of all the players. The Great Mechanic Han could not figure out whether they were poor… or poor. Be it Pugilists or Espers, buying a set of armor had pros and no cons. Even Bloodshed Land’s Vanguard Officials wore specially made armor.
Although these players did not wear armor, they still had some mechanical equipment on them, such as firearms, melee weapons, shield generators, and other sorts.
The third type of player did not use armor, too. What they wore was the Nuclear Flying Backpack. It was clear they were all ‘artists’.
In conclusion, all the players were using the Black Star Army’s products. Their equipment had been updated from head to toe, and they all looked refreshed. Finally, these players looked somewhat like galactic warriors. However, in Han Xiao’s eyes, they looked more like yards of green leeks.
Planet Sunil was the resource ground of NPCs. He had left 200,000 players to grow here for months, and they had stocked up a large amount of resources. Every single leek was looking fresh and nutritional.
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Han Xiao coughed, put on a serious expression, and said in a low voice, “Due to your hard work, Sunil’s troubles have been alleviated. However, a new obstacle has appeared in this mission, and we need more help. Hence, the original plan is being brought forward, and we will be building Base No. 3 on this planet as a stronghold.
“Phillip has sent the exact location to your communicators. Building a new base requires everyone’s help…”
Han Xiao explained the situation briefly. The players had no problems with it. They followed him to the chosen location for the base and started to clear out the trees and flattening the terrain.
[Army Expansion—Base No. 3] was a faction mission; it included many construction jobs that needed the players to complete. Every sub-mission rewarded experience and Contribution Points. The players were very motivated, not only because of the reward but also because they were personally taking part in the construction of the base, contributing to the growth of the faction.
The addition of Base No. 3 was beneficial to them. A new base meant that the army would store much more resources there. By that time, the players would no longer have to pre-order faction products and could collect them directly at Base No. 3. Furthermore, as hire missions could only be accepted in the base, the players now had one more place where they could accept hires and rest, other than the Planet Aquamarine and Planet Golden Gate bases. This was the Black Star Army’s new stronghold in the vast universe.
Han Xiao notified the galactical construction team that had been working with him from the beginning; they would arrive at Planet Sunil very soon. However, the construction teams could only build the buildings. The facilities still had to be completed by his own people. With 200,000 players, the construction speed of Base No. 3 would be tremendously increased.
The Noriosse and Rossozzi financial groups provided some help, too, and sent a large amount of supplies through their channels.
Han Xiao made a rough calculation. These two investors saved him about 600,000 Enas. This time, he planned to put in 2,700,000 Enas to build Base No. 3. His account had close to 50 million Enas saved up, so he could easily afford this expense.
One and a half years ago, he had only had the three to four million Enas that he had borrowed, and it had taken him more than half a year to build Base No.1. Less than two years later, his assets had multiplied more than ten times. It was a very remarkable increase.
The players were very efficient. Not long after, a huge, flat area appeared in the forest. As the construction materials that he had bought had yet to arrive, the players could not start working for the moment.
The tens of battleships that were on standby around Planet Sunil were all moved there, forming a temporary camp. Players were gathered there, as did Han Xiao.
Making use of this great opportunity, the players all approached Han Xiao, wanting to learn abilities. Most of them were Mechanics. After not seeing Han Xiao the Mechanic Mentor for a few months, they had all been looking forward to this moment.
This was exactly what Han Xiao had expected. He had planned long ago not to sell knowledge but blueprints this time.
He had a talent from his Scholar subclass—[Research Theory].
The effect of that talent was one bonus Intelligence point for every three abilities, which now gave Han Xiao about three hundred Intelligence points. This meant that Han Xiao now had close to a thousand blueprint abilities, which had cost him countless experience. This was an unimaginable number for the players.
Selling some low-level blueprints had a very limited effect on him. Han Xiao put up tens of low-level machinery blueprints at the same time.
The players were mostly above level 70. At this level, low-level blueprints were no longer rare; the players could fuse these themselves. However, due to the variety of knowledge combinations, hardly any Mechanic players could fuse the blueprints they wanted. Hence, the blueprints that they had were all very different.
He, however, sold blueprints directly, helping the players to escape the bottomless hole of gambling on blueprints.
Seeing so many blueprints, the Mechanic players’ eyes were all sparking.
After working on Planet Sunil for a few months, those players were not short of experience. Although the blueprints that Han Xiao was selling did not involve very high-level technology, they covered all kinds of things. There were firearms, explosives, mechanical soldiers, shields, mechanical suits, energy sources, carriers, and many others. Gambling blueprints relied on luck. Therefore, every player could find useful blueprints for themselves and make up for their weak spots.
Han Xiao was not worried about Mechanic class players affecting the sales of the Black Star Army after learning those blueprints. From a cost perspective, the players definitely could not compete with production lines and had no chance of selling things at the same low price. Furthermore, spending in the faction store rewarded players with Contribution Points. Besides, Han Xiao did not sell blueprints of the faction products; what he sold were the blueprints of the same type of machines but half a standard lower.
Han Xiao’s development plan also included partnering with material industries and selling players raw materials to make more money, expanding the Black Star Army’s business range while at the same time bringing convenience to the players so that they could buy the materials that they needed in the faction store without having to collect them themselves.
Of the 200,000 players, there were about 50,000 to 60,000 Mechanic class players. They bought blueprints joyfully, and most of them bought more than one.
Han Xiao’s experience quickly increased, shooting past the one billion mark, and continued to grow.
The players shockingly noticed that other than the low-level blueprints, there was also an extremely tempting high-level blueprint!
The Void Dragon Mechanical Suit!
“Thi—This is a god-tier blueprint!”
“Holy, now this is something!”
The Mechanic players were extremely tempted. Looking at the price—600,000 experience and 2,000 Enas—many felt a heartache. However, the impressive stats on the Void Dragon mechanical suit were like an erotic dancer in revealing clothing that kept telling the players, “Come and play.”
In the eyes of the players, Void Dragon’s stats were undoubtedly in the ‘god tier’ range. Some players that could afford it hesitated before clenching their teeth and buying it.
Seeing this, Han Xiao faintly smiled. Although this blueprint was high level, he had Berserk Ape now and had no use for Void Dragon anymore, so he sold it to the players.
The difficulty of making the Void Dragon mechanical suit was very high. The players would only be able to build it after level 90. Plus, its core material were Void Dragon bones; this was the most important factor to Han Xiao. Even if some players really built it, it would be impossible to replicate.
What, you want to build in bulk? Sure, go to Ames and ask to have her Floating Dragon. You should be able to experience what it’s like to die from pressure.
Within one to two versions, the chance of a player being able to build it was very slim. They could at most look at it and feel good after they bought it. What if they wanted to build it? Not going to happen!
From the players’ perspective, the mechanical suit blueprint that suited their current situation the most was actually Amphiptere, which Han Xiao had gotten rid of long ago.
With the Mechanic players’ current ability, they would be able to build Amphiptere and keep its cost within an acceptable range. If he sold the Amphiptere blueprint, this Single Unit Mechanical Suit would quickly become popular among the players. The average combat capability of the players would be hugely increased… which was exactly why Han Xiao was not going to sell Amphiptere.
If the players got what was most suitable for them, how was he going to use the Sunil series armor to harvest those leeks time after time?
Thus, the Great Mechanic Han decided to sell the Void Dragon blueprint, giving the players a dream to chase. A man without a dream was no different from a fish, and this ‘dream’ just so happened to be able to earn him more profits.
Nonetheless, he did not scam the players too much. At the very least, the price of the Void Dragon blueprint was much lower than its value. Mechanical suit blueprints of this level could be sold for at least 100,000 Enas in the galaxy.
After this harvest, Han Xiao’s experience rocketed once again, easily surpassing three billion. Han Xiao could not help but smile in satisfaction.
Maple Moon learned the Void Dragon blueprint, too. She quickly browsed through the materials and murmured, “Void Dragon Bone… Hmm, looks familiar… Isn’t this Floating Dragon’s specialty‽”
As a player who had followed Han Xiao since Version 1.0, Maple Moon had visited Floating Dragon Island personally. She was the only Mechanic player present who had any idea what Void Dragon Bone was.
After about half a day, night came, and only then did the Mechanic players dissipate and return contentedly.
Han Xiao’s experience stash had reached 9.4 billion!
The average price of low-level blueprints was about 40,000, and there were about 50,000 to 60,000 Mechanic players, each buying more than one blueprint on average. There were also a few thousand players that bought the Void Dragon blueprint. All in all, he had earned about 9.4 billion experience.
This is plenty. Han Xiao was rather satisfied. Exchanging some blueprints that he had no use for anymore for so much experience was worth it.
Since he had enough experience, Han Xiao did not delay. He returned to the training room on the spaceship, opened his interface, threw in three billion experience, and leveled up three times consecutively.
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[Virtual Mechanic] leveled up to Lv.20 (max).
+350 Energy, +3 DEX, +3 END, +6 INT.
You have received 6 Free Attribute Points.
You have received 1 Potential Point.
Main Class level limit achieved. Complete Class Advancement requirements to continue leveling up.
Class Advancement requirements: INT > 1,300, Machinery Affinity > 580%. (Active ability bonus not included)
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I got attribute requirements? Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled.
Increasing attributes for regular players was quite complicated; it would usually be difficult for them to achieve the Class Advancement attribute requirements, and they would often have to learn subclasses.
However, to Han Xiao, this kind of Class Advancement was the easiest. The Class Advancement requirements were related to the nature of the class itself most of the time, such as the core attributes, Intelligence and Machinery Affinity. For these things, Han Xiao had always been well above the regular standard for his level.
For his Intelligence, his basic value reached 1,536 after spending all the Free Attribute Points that he had just earned on it, which was already above the Class Advancement requirements. Adding on the ten percent bonus as a Calamity Grade Super, as well as the more than three hundred Intelligence given by [Research Theory], his Intelligence was close to two thousand!
As for basic Machinery Affinity, including his talents and passive abilities, it was 686%, also exceeding the Class Advancement requirements.
This meant that Han Xiao had no need to learn any new subclasses. His attributes had already met the Class Advancement standard.
Huh, I’ve become lucky recently. Han Xiao rubbed his hands with excitement. Could it be that the effect of touching Feidin is permanent‽
Since he met the requirements, without hesitation, Han Xiao put the experience in and leveled his main class up once more, completing his Class Advancement.
With the regular sharp pain in his head, he suddenly gained insight into many new things.
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Class Advancement requirements completed!
You have received a new class [Galaxy Mechanic Lv.1].
+180 Energy, +1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 END, +8 INT.
You have received 6 Free Attribute Points.
You have received 1 Potential Point.
You have acquired ability [Master Machinery Affinity]!
You have acquired ability [Rapid Virtual Intrusion]!
You have acquired ability [Quantum Network Matrix]!
You have obtained talent [Machinery Theory Summary!
Your talent [Virtual Technology Essence] is enhanced!
Your ability [Strengthened Smart Defense] is enhanced!
Your ability [Strengthened Hacking] is enhanced!
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