“Wait here. Black Star will arrive in a while.”
Hadavy did not struggle as well. After quietly sitting for a while, he seemed to feel that the atmosphere was a little awkward. He looked at Hila and asked, “What’s your Esper ability? I’ve been roaming around the Shattered Star Ring for so many years, yet I haven’t heard of you. Someone like you would not be able to mask the news. Which civilization are you from?”
Hila did not even bother to reply, keeping a passive expression.
Seeing that she had no interest, Hadavy could only cough dryly. “Seems like you don’t like to converse.”
This time, the door opened, and Han Xiao walked in, smiling. “She’s from my hometown; we’re both from Planet Aquamarine. Because she was learning under Ames, she only appeared recently to help me with my matters.”
“The Dragon Emperor’s disciple?” Hadavy was stunned, and the look he shot toward Hila changed, filled with admiration and envy.
Planet Aquamarine, a surface civilization, could actually give rise to people like Hila and Black Star. This intrigued Hadavy.
Ka-la!
Moving his hand, Han Xiao freed Hadavy from the restraints. He suddenly had a thought, saying, “Ok, you may leave now.”
Hadavy was given another shock, and his mouth gaped open as he said, “You’re letting me go?”
“That’s right.” Han Xiao smiled. “No matter what, we’ve fought so many times, and I respect your abilities. This time, I’m letting you go. The bet can be nulled.”
“No no no…” Hadavy immediately stammered. “I’m a man who keeps his word. Since I’ve lost, I must accept my promise and work for you.”
“Well, such a strong Super like you would not agree to simply being someone’s subordinate in such a manner,” Han Xiao replied, half-seriously and half-jokingly. “I might have reached the Beyond Grade A level, but to peak-level Calamity Grades such as you, I have my respect and will not force you.”
Hadavy was so anxious his face turned red. He had initially thought that his plan would be successful and that he could succeed in his gamble and join under Black Star’s flag. He did not expect Black Star to actually reject him, with the reason so moving that even he could not reply to that.
“I… you…” Hadavy was speechless, unable to voice his thoughts.
Should he just say that he wanted to serve Black Star? Hadavy felt that this was a little shameful, and he could not bring himself to do it. However, if he just walked away, that would defeat his purpose of going there. In that instant, he fell into a dilemma, not knowing what to do.
Seeing this situation, Han Xiao smiled. “I won’t mess with you any further. If you wish to join the Black Star Army, I’ll welcome you with open arms. If you are trying to use such tricks to fool me, we can stop the discussion.”
Hadavy’s face turned red. “You already knew‽”
Upon having his thoughts seen through, he was so embarrassed that he wished to find a hole to hide in.
For Hila, who was standing by the corner with a passive expression, the corners of her mouth curled up into a barely discernible smile.
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, leisurely saying, “In that case, I’ll formally extend an invitation to you. Hadavy, my legion requires your strength. Are you willing to come under my banner?”
Hadavy found it hard to open his mouth at this time. His mouth seemed to be glued shut, and he applied all his Grade A level strength just to unlock his jaw.
“I… I am willing…”
After saying those three words, Hadavy felt as though his entire body had gone soft. The feeling was as though he had just finished ten consecutive gladiator matches.
“Good.” Han Xiao nodded with a smile. “On behalf of my army, I welcome you.”
Seeing that Han Xiao was no longer fooling around with him, Hadavy finally breathed a sigh of relief, putting down the embarrassment in his heart. “What role do you require me to take?”
Han Xiao thought about it before pointing to Hila. “You can join the Black Star Guards, which is under Hila.”
With Hadavy having a well-known reputation, him joining the Black Star Guards would also increase their renown.
“Black Star Guards?” Hadavy stroked his chin before replying, “That’s fine, but I have a request. I hope that you will be able to impart some of your experience in achieving Beyond Grade A to me…”
Han Xiao nodded before shaking his head. “Every Beyond Grade A has a different method for their promotion, and everyone has their own path. I’m unable to pass down my experience to you, but what I can do is spar with you, allowing you to feel the difference between your level and that of a Beyond Grade A to give you more inspiration.”
“This…” Hadavy shook his head helplessly. “That works as well.”
While this was a little different from his expectations, being able to spar with a Beyond Grade A was also what he wanted. He originally loved to squeeze his potential out through battles.
The average person could not give him much pressure, but facing Black Star would remind him of his fear of the beasts when he was young and weak. This sort of fear would be a catalyst for growth.
Han Xiao waved his hand, allowing Hila to take Hadavy to meet his new colleagues.
He now had a total of five guards, of which Hadavy, Feidin, and Hila were the strongest, all high-level Calamity Grades. The other two were Marian and a Pugilist named Deluno. Both of their combat capabilities were average, not extraordinary in the Calamity Grade, but it was good enough to be a mini-boss. In this manner, all his guards were actually elites.
After dealing with Hadavy, Han Xiao called Sylvia over to talk about the expansion of the Black Star Army.
Since he had personally announced the matter of reaching Beyond Grade A, he would have to start making some big moves, increasing his influence, and making more allies in the Star Field. His plan was to make the Black Star Army reach the level of a true Beyond Grade A force.
But before that, there was still another matter he needed to address.
“Sylvia, help me prepare a fleet. I’m going out.”
“Noted. Where are you going, Teacher?”
Han Xiao paused, his tone strange.
“Floating Dragon.”
…
The countless interstellar news outlets released the article about Han Xiao personally acknowledging that he had broken into the Beyond Grade A class. At its peak, ninety-five percent of the entire news channels in the Shattered Star Ring were occupied by news about this matter, setting off a new storm of public opinion.
Most of the official news sources had acknowledged this matter, making it a sure bet. During this period, almost all the media outlets in Shattered Star Ring were covering the topic. With so many media channels, this was far larger than compared to the rumor and word-of-mouth influence that had spread earlier. As long as the citizens had internet, there was no one that would not have heard of Han Xiao’s name!
Similarly, this sensational news had also been shared by the media of other Star Fields, and their organizations had also learned that the Shattered Star Ring had given birth to yet another Beyond Grade A Super!
The player forums almost detonated from this situation. Although Han Xiao’s name often dominated the forums, it was because of the players’ discussion. That day, even the players from other Star Fields could also see their news channels commenting on Han Xiao’s name!
Those belonging to other Star Fields were shocked. At Version 3.0, players had yet to cross between Star Fields. In their eyes, each Star Field was currently an independent server. Now, the NPC character from the Shattered Star Ring had actually ‘broken’ this barrier due to his fame!
Since the previous versions, Han Xiao had constantly established his main storyline character position in the Shattered Star Ring. The players from the other Star Fields also knew of his name. This wave of public opinion had generated a strong interest within the player base. Not only was Han Xiao filling up the screen in the Shattered Star Ring news channel, his name was also within the forum channels of the other Star Fields. On all channels, he was within the top three topics.
The official news channels also had their own rules, and the various great organizations of the Shattered Star Ring responded appropriately.
…
The Purple Crystal Civilization was extremely happy now.
They had seen the potential revealed by him more than seven years ago and decided to hedge their bets on him. Finally, Black Star had stepped into the realm of the Beyond Grade A, and the Purple Crystal Civilization now had a Beyond Grade A Super just like Klent. Within the seven Star Cluster level civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring, only two of them had such powerful allies.
Their bet had truly paid off!
Furthermore, Black Star had only spent around twenty years to reach the Beyond Grade A rank, with his total age not even being close to fifty yet. With the lifespan of a Beyond Grade A Super, he was considered an infant, and this spoke volumes of his potential.
The moment Han Xiao admitted his promotion in person, the Purple Crystal Civilization had adopted a variety of measures such as adding a huge investment to the Black Star Army as well as putting out more favorable policies and resource conditions for them. They were committed to building a more stable relationship with Han Xiao as an alliance.
At the same time, the Purple Crystal Civilization also issued announcements to the entire Star Field through their media channels.
“In the name of the Civilization, we congratulate Black Star for reaching the Beyond Grade A rank!”
This sort of behavior expressed their attitude to the entire Star Field and conveyed a message that their relationship was extremely stable. Those outside parties who wanted a share of the pie should just save their energy and get lost.
Godora was unwilling to be left behind and followed suit by having Serbia The Fifth coming out to explain Han Xiao’s role in saving Godora, as well as emphasizing that he was the recipient of the Golden Gal Badge. Finally, he represented all Godorans in congratulating Han Xiao on his advancement before revealing that he was planning to add a celebratory festival named Black Star Day to thank Han Xiao for all that he had done for them.
Were it any other civilization that had done this, it would have sounded very much like boot-licking. However, Godora was different, as their ties with Han Xiao ran extremely deeply. Be it the eradication of DarkStar or the Discrimination Transformation Movement, it had a huge impact for their entire civilization. Thus, a festival to thank Han Xiao was nothing extraordinary.
Purple Crystal and Godora quickly took their stand, and to jump on the bandwagon, hundreds of civilizations began to congratulate Han Xiao. This was as though they were attempting to form a trend. Most of these galaxy-level civilizations were half-allies that had chosen the Black Star Army, and they had allowed the army to set up bases on their planets. At this moment, they scrambled to speak up, as though afraid that others would not know they were in an alliance with Black Star.
The behavior of these civilizations was actually understandable. Purple Crystal was the boss of this Star Cluster and thus got the ball rolling. The other civilizations jumped on the bandwagon in order to have a good relationship with this Beyond Grade A faction, but this crazy chain left those on the sidelines speechless and shocked.
The entire Colton Star Cluster was basically standing behind Black Star, shouting and congratulating him. An entire Star Cluster was celebrating for one man!
In such a situation, those on the sidelines could not even reply due to their shock.
The reputation of Black Star in the Star Cluster was so shocking!
Even when the other Beyond Grade As had advanced, they did not receive such a resounding celebration!
At this moment, the entire Star Field remembered the name Black Star. Just like the other four, he turned into an icon of the Shattered Star Ring in everyone’s minds, the Fifth Beyond Grade A Seat!
However, it was at this juncture that unexpected events started to appear, allowing the public opinion to skyrocket to unpresented levels.
The Tyrant Heber and Star Pupil Psyker both openly made a declaration of battle toward Black Star!
Heber’s reason was because of the secret war. Since the Purple Crystal also possessed a Beyond Grade A now, he would personally act. Because both Beyond Grade As were fighting for different sides, there was no problem with that.
However, Psyker’s reasoning caused a huge outburst.
He openly admitted the existence of the Evolution Cube, announced that Black Star had taken the Evolution Cube from his hands, and requested for Black Star to return it!
The Evolution Cube is now in Black Star’s hands? Two elder Beyond Grade As are challenging a newborn Beyond Grade A‽
Those two pieces of news caused a stir.
The entire Star Field burst into an uproar!
The Beyond Grade As… were going to fight openly‽
How long had it been since that last happened!
…
Just as the major organizations and those on the sidelines were shocked at all the ongoing news, Han Xiao had taken his spaceship and arrived on Floating Dragon Island.
