The Legendary Mechanic

In Galaxy, Star Fields were like individual servers with different main storylines and events. The players all had different experiences, worked for different civilizations, met different characters, and saw different scenery.

While the events in the various Star Fields were different, the overall direction was the same.

In Version 1.0, the players were born on their respective novice planets and experienced events there. In Version 2.0, the players experienced upheavals on their novice planets. Then, under the guidance of different factions, the players officially stepped into the universe and started their adventure within the Star Systems. Now, in Version 3.0, the players’ stage started to gradually expand to the Star Clusters they were in. At the same time, they began to understand and become involved in more matters across Galaxy.

The professional clubs of the various countries chose different Star Fields as their base so that obtaining resources would be easier, and their local players would be more willing to start their character there. The Constellation Corridor mainly consisted of Russian and Australian professional players, as well as some clubs from smaller countries. Of course, the players could start in any Star Field they wanted, so there were players from other countries in the Constellation Corridor too.

The players there had experienced the Sodrian Rebellion on their novice planet. This planet was originally a rural territory of a Star System civilization, but it was a self-ruled area due to its history. The ruler of the planet was involved in a certain sensitive matter and was punished by the Star System civilization. Sodrian’s ruler was not willing to give in and rebelled.

In the mid to late stage of Version 2.0, the rebellion was resolved, and the Star System civilization regained Sodrian. The ruler led his fleet and escaped. The players entered the universe due to external factors. As they did not have guidance like the Shattered Star Ring players had, the players of the Constellation Corridor went many separate ways. Some were recruited by Star System civilizations, some escaped with Sodrian, and some traveled the universe. They were scattered around in various factions and civilizations in the Star Systems around, completely unlike those in the Shattered Star Ring.

In Version 3.0, as the Constellation Corridor was the Crimson Dynasty’s base, almost every civilization there was ruled by the dynasty, and none dared cause any trouble. Therefore, it was very peaceful there, unlike the other Star Fields. A few months after the start of the version, when the secret war main storyline in the Shattered Star Ring ended, the players in the Constellation Corridor triggered the main storyline.

As there were many factions and not much trouble, the players there looked for fun themselves. PVP became a norm, and guild wars were very frequent. As both Russia and Australia saw this place as their base, the normal players on these two sides took each other as the opposing faction. It was very boisterous.

To make communication more convenient, the players would always have public areas. The biggest safe area recognized by the Constellation Corridor areas was a trading planet called Gilman. It was a prosperous stargate transit station. Many players set up stores and looked for teams there.

The location that the Black Star Army had chosen was exactly Planet Gilman.

Just like the usual days, on this day, many players went to Planet Gilman by galactic flights and queued at the space dock of the planet. The spaceship queue extended like a river. It was quite crowded.

The guild Power and Glory’s vice president ‘Vodka’ was in one of the spaceships together with many guild members. This guild was the official guild of the most famous club in Russia. Its goal was to provide resources to the club’s professional team, ‘Glory’.

Vodka was doing missions with the rest in other civilizations and gathered some equipment. This visit to Planet Gilman was to rest and store this batch of equipment in the warehouse at the guild base on the planet.

A guild officer walked into the room and reported to Vodka. “The fleet captain sent a message saying that there were some problems with the identity inspection of a certain fleet in front of us, and it will take about ten minutes till it’s our turn.”

“Good work.” Vodka nodded.

Like the others, Vodka was browsing the forums while waiting. Many Black Star Army related posts entered his sights. He shook his head and said, “The Black Star Army topic has been trending for half a month. I wonder if they really are going to open a new division here at the Constellation Corridor.”

The others joined the conversation.

“We can’t even make contact with the Crimson Dynasty now. Who knows if the Black Star Army is already here?”

“Even if they’re indeed coming to start a division, we might not meet them. Who knows where they will appear?”

Currently, the players at the Constellation Corridor had yet to join the Crimson Dynasty, and Han Xiao had not taken any players with him. As no player witnessed the army, the players in the Constellation Corridor did not know the whereabouts of the Black Star Army.

As they were chatting, one of them casually glanced outside the porthole. His expression suddenly stiffened. Shocked, he stared right outside the window.

“What is that‽”

The others looked over and were shocked too.

A fleet was guarding an enormous portable satellite base out of the stargate from not far away and slowly approaching Planet Gilman. Not just Vodka and the players there, all the players and the galactic residents queueing at the dock saw this.

These spaceships were marked with the Black Star Army symbol, which the Constellation Corridor players recognized.

“Black Star Army‽”

“They’re here‽”

The Black Star Army’s satellite base slowly stopped outside Planet Gilman and communicated with the guard army of the planet.

Looking at this, Vodka was stunned. “Wow! Could it be that… the Black Star Army is going to build their division on Planet Gilman‽”

Realizing the possibility, the surrounding guild members’ expressions changed drastically, and they were overjoyed.

Not long after, news of the army’s arrival spread across the entire Planet Gilman.

Very soon, the negotiation between the army and Planet Gilman’s authorities was complete. Due to the identity of the army’s commander and the authority given by the Crimson Dynasty, Planet Gilman had no right to prevent the army from building a division here. They had no choice but to send people to help the Black Star Army build their base.

As the players were waiting with anticipation, the army finally announced to the entire planet that they were going to build a division there!

The news became a storm in the forums. All the players in the Constellation Corridor were overjoyed and filled with excitement.

After more than half a month, the Black Star Army had appeared. The players had speculated a lot about how they would come into contact with the Black Star Army, but no one thought that the Black Star Army would directly appear in their public area!

The responses of the players were clearly displayed on the forums. The topic of the army appearing on Planet Gilman instantly became the most discussed topic on the Constellation Corridor page!

The anticipation from the past half a month turned into flames of passion!

This was the first inter-Star Field faction that the players had contact with. Even the players from other pages on the forums were attracted.

Especially the Shattered Star Ring.

…

At the Black Star Army headquarters in the Shattered Star Ring, countless players stopped their footsteps simultaneously and opened the forums.

“The army has crossed a Star Field!”

“The forums over there have exploded!”

“Haha, let those foreigners experience what it’s like to be in our army.”

“Although we’re in different Star Fields, we might all belong to the same faction in the future.”

The players in the Shattered Star Ring were excited and visited the Constellation Corridor page on the forums. They made a post there with the title of ‘Welcome to the army, foreign friends’.

“Congratulations from the Black Star Army headquarters.”

“Congratulations from the Shattered Star Ring.”

“Welcome to the Black Star Army!”

“Remember, our slogan is ‘Captain is awesome’!”

Through the versions, the Black Star Army had become deeply rooted in the hearts of the players. Seeing that their own growing faction had developed to such heights, many Shattered Star Ring players felt proud. It almost felt like raising a child who had finally become successful.

The various players who met Black Star long ago including Frenzied Sword, Bun-Hit-Dog, and Maple Moon felt most deeply for this. They had experienced a lot of things with the Black Star Army, and those memories resurfaced in their minds.

We’ve come so far…

Their feelings were complicated.

To the players, this act of the Black Star Army was like the opening of a new era. Maybe this would be the beginning of the players being able to travel between Star Fields. Maybe, one day, all the Galaxy players might be able to gather in the same Star Field, and this might be its beginning.

…

The influence of officially building a subdivision on Planet Gilman could be seen immediately. Almost all the players doing missions elsewhere rushed right back from various Star Systems as soon as they heard this piece of news.

From Version 2.0 when the players entered the universe, never had the players all gathered in one place in the Constellation Corridor. This time, due to the popularity of the army itself and the impact of crossing Star Fields, almost everyone gathered there!

The army subdivision made an announcement on the quantum network saying that since the subdivision had just been built, they needed to recruit a lot of manpower. The details could be found on the main page of the army.

As the players in the Constellation Corridor did not have any sense of belonging to the army, what attracted them was purely the army’s fame and the potential profit. With the example of the Shattered Star Ring, almost all the older players knew how good the Black Star Army’s benefits were. With Han Xiao working things for three versions, the army’s brand among the players had a very high position.

Vodka finished reading the recruiting information on the communicator and sighed. “The benefits are too good…”

Be it salary, bonuses, internal services, missions, or resources, the benefits of the Black Star Army were miles better than all the factions that the Constellation Corridor had experienced!

The faction store was especially attractive. Han Xiao had tons of low-level blueprints and had mass-produced them throughout the years. Currently, the army sold more than ten thousand mechanical items and equipment of all kinds of uses and functions. There were also tailor-made options, repairs, enhancements, and other services. Other than that, there were many Dungeon Crystals, Genetic Medicines, materials, and many other items, as well as the products from other financial groups. The faction store of the army was like a trade transit station with plenty of products.

“Vice president, are we going to join the Black Star Army?”

“Come, let’s go to their subdivision.” Vodka was thrilled. Not mentioning how attractive the benefits of the army was, just the Black Star Army being the Crimson Dynasty’s ally would have made him not hesitate about it.

Vodka took the guild members along and headed to the army’s subdivision in their spaceship.

They flew into the dock, descended from their spaceship, and followed the robot receptionist to the hall. The hall was already crowded and filled with people at this time—almost all the players who were on Planet Gilman had rushed there.

There were many other big guilds there. Vodka saw many old rivals and familiar faces from guild wars.

They were all there to join the army. They had to submit their resume and participate in a test, which was mainly to test their combat capabilities. Other than the brand-new players, almost no player was still below Grade C, so this recruitment requirement was not a problem for them.

Vodka squeezed into the middle of the hall, and before him were gates leading to Combat Testing Rooms. Tons of players queued there and waited for their turn.

Vodka and the rest waited for a while before it was finally their turn. A mission popped up on their interfaces.

_____________________

Faction Mission: Black Star Army Test

Mission Introduction: The rise of the Black Star Army is filled with legends. It is now a gigantic organization of the Shattered Star Ring and an ally of the Crimson Dynasty. The Black Star Army has crossed Star Fields and built a subdivision in the Central Galaxy. You have received the chance to join the army. However, the army members have all been through strict selection processes. In order to join this faction with seemingly infinite potential, you must prove your strength…

_____________________

The same thing was happening to many other players.

…

At the same time, somewhere in the Constellation Corridor on a boisterous tourism planet…

This was a planet with close to no traces of artificial modification. Its scenery was marvelous, its water was clean, the seas were green, and the skies were blue. Its surface was covered with vegetation, and the plants emitted a faint light at night. It was dreamlike. All sorts of beautiful gentle creatures inhabited the surface. Tiny, silver creatures could be seen flying in groups between the forests, like fish swimming in the air.

“This planet is really beautiful…”

Han Xiao and the others had been passing this planet, so they stopped by to tour it. The spaceship was hovering in midair while the group of them slowly walked in the night forest. The scenery was beautiful everywhere they looked.

Aurora loved nature; it was filled with life. She walked at the front, Ames and Hila and the other Black Star Guards walked in the middle, and Han Xiao walked at the back. He was walking with his hands behind his back, looking at the backs of the others with a smile on his face.

Having lived with the smell of mechanical oil and metal for most of the time, the fresh air seemed to clear up his lungs and made him feel refreshed.

Hila slowed down and came to Han Xiao’s side. She glanced at him and said, “You seem to be in a very good mood today.”

Han Xiao chuckled. He would finally be harvesting the wild-grown leeks. How could he not be in a good mood?