The Legendary Mechanic

Shattered Star Ring, Crimson Dynasty Military Stargate Station.

The Black Star Army transport ships rode out from the blue vortex stargate one after another, the space energy covering their shields quickly dissipated.

“We’re back.” Inside the main ship’s command room, Han Xiao exhaled.

Despite being prosperous and peaceful, the shadow of the universal civilizations always shrouded over the Central Galaxy like a mountain, giving him an invisible sense of pressure. Although Shattered Star Ring was rural, he had been here for more than 20 years and this was the army’s headquarters, he felt calmer and secured here.

Ames walked to his side, looked out the universe outside the porthole and said, “I had quite a good time traveling with you guys for the past two months. Since now we’re homed, I shall get going.”

“What’s the hurry? Come with us.”

“Floating Dragon recently drifted to another Star Cluster, we’re not along the way.”

Han Xiao reluctantly nodded and said, “Alright then, I’ll let my men prepare a spaceship for you. By the way, the preparations on dynasty’s side are almost complete, I’ll be departing very soon to explore the Flickering World, do you want to come too? There should be much new and interesting stuff there.”

Ames waved and said, “That’s the Crimson Dynasty’s mission, I shall not go.”

Aesop rubbed his beard and interrupted, “Yesterday, I had a new prophecy that’s related to the Flickering World.”

Another prophecy? Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled and said with curiosity, “Old man, you’ve helped me with your prophecy ability again?”

“Erm, let me explain. I did not help you particularly, it’s just that those people who are close to me will have some kind of fate connection with me, and my ability can randomly sense what might happen to these people in the future. It’s like a dream, very blurry, basically just a feeling.

Yesterday, I sensed what might happen to you in the Flickering World…”

Then, Aesop paused and said with a very serious tone, “You better be careful about the Arcane Church.”

The Arcane Church? Have they still not given up taking back the Evolution Cube? It does indeed seem possible.

Han Xiao blinked and realized Aesop did not continue, he wondered, “That’s it? Don’t you have any useful information like time and location or something?”

Aesop shrugged. “Things can change anytime since the future is so far ahead, there’s no accurate prophecy, just intuition.”

“Got it, I’ll keep a lookout and let people keep an eye on the movements of the Star Pupil Holy Race. If the Arcane Church does want to do something to me, Psyker will definitely be part of it.”

Han Xiao nodded and patted Aesop’s shoulder.

“Oh, by the way, one more thing.” Aesop rubbed his beard and said, “I heard some Ancient Ones members have been secretly asking around about you, a few of them seems to be interested in you.”

Han Xiao looked at Aesop from head to toe and said with a doubtful tone, “Where did you hear that?”

“I used to be one of them too, what’s so weird about me having a few friends?”

Aesop tsk-tsked, shrugged and said,

“When I followed you to the dynasty’s capital and met those dynasty allies, Ravenlaude told the other Ancient Ones about me. Now those guys all know that a former member of The Ancient Ones is now with you and Ames, so some friends contacted me.”

Having heard with Aesop said, Han Xiao could not help but feel amazed. For someone this ancient like Aesop, both his connections and history were unfathomable. Somehow, Aesop could always obtain information that was extremely rare and inaccessible to most people.

“Who are the ones that are asking about me?”

“Mechanic Empire, Sun Hunter, Void Overlord…” Aesop’s voice suddenly got deeper and said with a soft voice, “And Thousand Shadows.”

Other than Mechanic Empire, Han Xiao did not have any contact with the first few Ancient Ones. Sun Hunter was a CannonMaster, Void Overlord was a Void being, and Han Xiao had no idea why they were asking about him. However, when Aesop mentioned Thousand Shadows, Han Xiao’s eyes narrowed immediately.

Back then when they interrogated Thousand Shadows’ “Shadow Warriors”, Aesop was the one who helped. Aesop knew Thousand Shadows once had his eyes on Han Xiao, so he mentioned this to alert him.

“Maybe he still wants to capture me or something. He’s at the Federation Of Light’s Star Field so I can’t do anything for the time being. I shall wait till I have the chance to deal with him.” Han Xiao registered this matter to memory.

The mission [Prey] was still inactive. In the past, he did not know if Thousand Shadows had given up on him, but now, it seemed that this guy had yet to give up. However, he was no longer the Calamity Grade he was back then, so Thousand Shadows would not be able to capture him so easily.

This time, Ames suddenly said softly, “Black Star, I’ve been thinking about something recently and I want to discuss with you.”

Han Xiao turned to look at Ames and captured a tint of hesitation on her face. This was very rare for Ames, so Han Xiao said curiously,

“What do you want to discuss with me? Do you want to borrow money? Is 50 million Enas enough?”

“Who’s borrowing money from you? Do you think I’m that poor?” Ames’s brow twitched slightly. “Actually… I’ve been thinking about Floating Dragon’s development plan recently…”

Both Han Xiao and Han Xiao’s eyes widened immediately, their faces were filled with complete shock.

“What happened to you? Is that something you should be thinking about?”

“Am I this unreliable to you?” Ames said with resignation. “I’m the Floating Dragon’s leader, what’s so strange for me to think for my organization occasionally?”

“It’s not strange for others, but for you… it is indeed strange! Who doesn’t know how laz… ahem, carefree you are.”

Han Xiao changed the word he was going to say the last minute and hid his giggle. Ames had never thought about developing her faction all these years, and her slacker image was already deeply rooted in everyone’s heart. God knows why she suddenly changed her mind.

“Stop kidding, I’m serious this time.” Han Xiao gave Han Xiao a glare.

She never had any passion for growing her organization, but that had lasted for too long and she felt like it was time to make a change. Especially after how she witnessed Han Xiao leading the rise of the Black Star Army for the past ten-plus years with her own eyes. With such a positive example, it made her feel a tiny bit interested in growing her forces too. She wanted to imitate Han Xiao and operate the Floating Dragon better. It had nothing to do with her ambition or anything of that sort, Ames mainly saw it as an interesting thing to do.

However, of course, Ames was never going to admit to Han Xiao that the things he did were what piqued her interest.

“Alright then, I’ll pretend it’s serious…” Seeing the not so friendly expression in Ames’ eyes, Han Xiao tried his best not to laugh and waved his hands. “Okay, okay. It’s serious. So, you want to develop Floating Dragon, what do you want to discuss with me?”

Ames stayed silent for a while then said slowly, “Floating Dragon has been drifting in the universe for a very long time, I want to make it stay in one place.”

Han Xiao pondered for a while, the nodded.

“Yo, that’s quite a good idea. With a fixed location headquarters, it’s easier for people to feel confident about Floating Dragon. As a Beyond Grade A, you have an extraordinary amount of appeal. As long as you can turn the image which the Shattered Star Ring Supers have about you around, and show that you’re serious about expanding, the number of people who are willing to work for you will definitely be tens and hundreds of times more compared to now.

Han Xiao caressed his chin, sized Ames up and joked, “Plus, you’re so pretty, so your appeal might even be stronger than mine.”

Ames’ expression became odd. She stared at Han Xiao and said in a shocked and doubtful tone,

“You actually think I’m pretty?!”

“What’s so strange about that…”

Han Xiao was confused, he had no idea why Ames had such an exaggerated response.

Han Xiao shook his head and went back to the topic. “Have you decided on where Floating Dragon should stay at?”

“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you…”

Ames calmed her emotions down, seemed to have hesitated for half a second then said slowly, “I’m planning to let Floating Dragon stay at Planet Aquamarine, what do you think?”

Han Xiao was stunned in place.

“No?”

Ames raised her brows and gave a faint smile, “More than 10 years ago, your mother planet faced a disaster. Through the galactic media channels, you announced that the Floating Dragon was interested in Planet Aquamarine. Using the Floating Dragon’s name, Planet Aquamarine has received a lot of investments and fundings from a ton of financial groups and has been developing very well. Even Godora allowed the Floating Dragon’s control over Planet Aquamarine… You’re not going to go back on your words, are you?”

Han Xiao shook his head with resignation. During that time, the Black Star Mercenary Group was still a tiny organization that still belonged to the Floating Dragon. Only through using the Floating Dragon name was he able to give Planet Aquamarine the opportunity to so quickly step into the galaxy.

After he left the Floating Dragon, the Black Star Army took over the management of Planet Aquamarine. The Floating Dragon did not say anything about it, so he thought Ames did not mind. Unexpectedly, Ames now suddenly brought it up.

“Since Planet Aquamarine is a planet ruled by my Floating Dragon on paper…” Ames’ smiled brightly, Han Xiao’s troubled expression made her very delighted. She smiled and said, “Then it should be justifiable for me to choose Planet Aquamarine as the headquarter location for Floating Dragon, isn’t it?”

“Are you going to chase my people away from my mother planet?” Han Xiao was surprised. Planet Aquamarine was the foundation of his seat in the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Conference, there was no way he would give it to anyone else.

“Am I such a horrible person to you?” Ames said with a displeased ton, “Don’t worry, just like your army’s headquarters, the Floating Dragon will just be parked outside the planet’s atmosphere and will not interfere with Planet Aquamarine’s government. That’s why I’m discussing it with you.”

Han Xiao’s eyes spun around. If that was the case, not only would it not be a bad thing, but it would be a great thing instead.

Throughout all these years the army headquarters had stayed around Planet Golden Gate, it brought Planet Golden Gate an almost unparalleled chance of development. Its economy, security, and many other aspects had improved tremendously since then and it became a beyond top tier prosperous colonial planet of Godora.

If Ames did the same, Planet Aquamarine’s development speed would rocket instantly as well and indirectly receive tons of resources. Furthermore, with a Beyond Grade A, Ames as its neighbor, Planet Aquamarine would be massively safer, which would free Han Xiao of many worries.

With some thoughts flashing past Han Xiao’s mind, he understood what Ames was thinking — the reason for her to choose Planet Aquamarine as the headquarters of the Floating Dragon was much more than it just being “justifiable”. He sighed and said, “Looks like I’m going to owe you another favor.”

“Good that you know.” Ames smiled.

“Alright, I agree. I’ll let the army subdivision at Planet Aquamarine to work with you by then, Sylvia and the others will take care of the details…”

“Hmm, I’ll let Jenny settle it…”

Speaking of Jenny, Han Xiao suddenly thought of something. “By the way, about this, have you told Jenny about it in advance?”

“No.”

The two of them stared at each other’s eyes and stayed silent for a moment.

So this is indeed a sudden idea… Han Xiao sighed. He actually really thought Ames had seriously considered this, but as it turned out, this was exactly her style.

“Ahem, now that that’s settle, I shall get going.” Ames dry coughed with her fist covering her lips to hide her awkwardness, then turned around and left immediately.

Han Xiao watched as Ames and Aesop boarded the small spaceship and deviated from the fleet, turning into a stream of light and disappeared. He then ordered the fleet to continue advancing back to the army’s headquarters.

The task of traveling across Star Fields was completed. Han Xiao opened the forums to see what were the players’ responses.

When they just passed through the stargate, the more than 700,000 players inside the fleet did not really react to it much, but instead the Shattered Star Ring players had bigger responses. It was because the players from another Star Field had come to their territory and they could not wait to meet them.

The first example of players crossing to another Star Field had extraordinary meanings, the players from the various Star Fields recorded this moment in their Chronicle posts:

“Galaxy Calendar: Year 705, March 18th.

Led by the Black Star Army, more than 700,000 players left Constellation Corridor and arrived at the Shattered Star Ring. This was the first example of players successfully traveling to another Star Field in the entire Galaxy.”

The recruitment of players in the Constellation Corridor this time went quite smoothly, and Han Xiao knew exactly why — there were not many factions the players could choose in Version 3.0, and he knew what the players needed. Therefore, the Black Star Army was a top-notch faction in this stage and had excellent appeal.

As the players’ level increases, the number of powerful factions they would be able to choose would increase too. For example, the three universal civilizations and beyond Star Cluster civilizations. By then, the army would not be able to recruit players as easily anymore. This was unavoidable, there would always be people who would want to try out new factions for a new experience.

This was also one of the reasons Han Xiao kept expanding his army and increasing its competitiveness. From a certain perspectively, it was actually a good thing to choose the rural Shattered Star Ring as its headquarters, as there were fewer direct competitors here.

…

After traveling for more than 10 days, the fleet finally returned to the army’s headquarters.

Millions of Shattered Star Ring players were gathered in the army headquarters at the moment, looking forward to meeting the foreign Constellation Corridor players. The majority of them were here to rubberneck.

The more than 700,000 Constellation Corridor players looked at the army headquarters satellite outside the porthole, their hearts were filled with excitement.

After staying on the ships with anticipation for so many days, they were finally here.