The Legendary Mechanic

As soon as he opened the player forums, two top posts marked ‘hot’ entered his sights—the new Galaxy Times episode and Bun-Hit-Dog’s video.

Both of those mentioned him, and the Galaxy Times even used his name as the subtitle of this episode. The name of this episode was ‘Galaxy Times: Legendary Leader—Black Star’!

“Yo, the Times made an episode about me.” Han Xiao was delighted.

The Galaxy Times often introduced large events experienced by the players in the various Star Fields. Sometimes, they would have an episode focused entirely on some grand event or important person.

For example, when Version 3.0 started, the Galaxy Times dedicated an episode to analyze the different storylines the Crimson Tide brought to the players in the various Star Fields. The Shattered Star Ring secret war was just one of them.

If he remembered correctly, although the Galaxy Times had mentioned him many times, this was the first time they had used his name as the subtitle of an episode.

It made sense. He was a renowned character that had existed through many versions, and he was also the first person to advance into Beyond Grade A in the eyes of the players. He deserved to have an episode dedicated to him.

Han Xiao looked at Bun-Hit-Dog’s video. Its title was ‘Black Star Army Specials: Rising in the Star Field’.

These two videos were the most popular posts at the moment. Han Xiao did not open them immediately. He had a habit of browsing through the other ordinary posts first to see what the other players were talking about.

He looked down, and countless new posts appeared, almost all about the secret war main storyline mission. The other players’ secret war main storyline mission had ended as well, which made a lot of players create posts out of surprise. Everyone was talking about this new topic.

“Damn, the main storyline mission ended? A notification suddenly popped out of the interface. I was not prepared for it at all!”

“I just saw the news. The Bloodshed Land retreated.”

“The news said that Purple Crystal initially had very slim chances and that it was the captain that turned the tables this time single-handedly, making Klent give up on the invasion.”

“Wow!”

“The Mission Rating is so high. Is it because we won the secret war?”

“Definitely. The Mission Rating details said that winning the war would increase the Mission Rating by an entire grade!”

“That’s amazing!”

“Captain is the best!”

“I’m crying over here. I went to do the storyline of the Mercenary League. If I’d known about this, I would’ve joined the secret war too.”

“Regret +1.”

On the forums, most of the Black Star Army players were overjoyed. This was a Grade S main storyline mission. Increasing its rating an entire grade should have been extremely difficult, but this time, it basically fell right down from the sky.

Only the army players had this benefit. The players were over the moon and liked Han Xiao even more.

As everyone was getting excited, some people thought about Summer Night Flower again and brought his post encouraging the army players to betray the army up to the front page.

“@Summer Night Flower, come out!”

“@Summer Night Flower, how are you feeling? Surprised? Shocked? Overjoyed‽”

“Yo, why aren’t you teaching us about the ‘right way to play the secret war’ now?”

“Didn’t you say the Bloodshed Land would win? How did this happen?”

“Very few can understand the truth? Ha!”

Summer Night Flower’s speculation had three key points. Today, the truth had proved all of them wrong.

He felt that the Black Star Army had no way up. Suddenly, the Black Star Army became the Crimson Dynasty’s ally, and the faction leader, Black Star became a Beyond Grade A.

He felt that the Bloodshed Land would win the secret war. The Black Star Army won.

He said that the Black Star Army had too many members, and the privileges given to each member were limited, which was even more ridiculous. The current army players made a killing, while those ‘traitors’ that joined the Bloodshed Land were almost going mad from being chased by the army players.

The players kept mentioning Summer Night Flower. Summer Night Flower basically acted as if he was dead and did not appear at all, afraid of exploding from the mockery from the players.

After scanning through the posts for a while, Han Xiao returned to the top posts. He opened the new Galaxy Times episode and watched it.

The opening was still those never-changing male and female hosts, as well as the same old opening speech that even the audience had memorized.

“Hello players,” the female host said, “this is Galaxy Times, dedicated to sharing first-hand game information. Your gaming career is our top priority.”

“We have only one topic to talk about in today’s episode—the renowned character who’s caused a sensation in Galaxy recently—Black Star!” the male host said.

The image changed. It was a screenshot from a certain player, and the background was the duel scene from not long ago.

The perspective of the screenshot was from the Black Star Army formation, which was behind Han Xiao. In the image, Han Xiao’s back was facing the player, and before him were countless enemy battleships. As if he was facing countless enemies alone, it looked very cool.

Then, the episode sorted out Han Xiao’s life story, introducing the rise of the Black Star Army and the large events experienced by the players.

In the Black Phantom era, he stirred up the Planet Aquamarine structure behind the curtains, starting a war single-handedly, getting his revenge, and eliminating the Germinal Organization.

In the Black Star Mercenary Group, he led the first group of professional players to battles in the universe, joined Floating Dragon, grew at an astonishing speed, and built the fundamentals of the future army…

In the Mutation Disaster era, for the promise he made, he led the Black Star Mercenary Group back to Planet Aquamarine, helping his mother planet fight against the disaster. He then guided the players into the galaxy, officially creating the Black Star Army, helping Godora eliminate the notorious DarkStar, becoming the rare example of an outsider receiving Godora’s Golden Gal Badge.

In the secret war era, he expanded and made the Black Star Army grow in the ten years unknown to the players, became a Beyond Grade A, single-handedly turned the tables, and helped Purple Crystal to win the war. He then made the army an ally of a Universal Civilization, the Crimson Dynasty.

The episode narrated Han Xiao’s life story from the players’ perspective in a rather official tone, accompanied by some Black Star Army sub-storylines recorded in the Galaxy Chronicles. It even played some players’ daily life experience in the army and added some interactive factors to the episode, showing how the players grew together with the army.

This episode ended with a conclusive remark.

“In just more than twenty years, Black Star left his mother planet and created an enormous and astonishing base in the Shattered Star Ring. From the once Black Phantom to the Black Star today, we witnessed his growth. He’s the first character we have seen advance to become a Beyond Grade A.

“As a leader, he is undoubtedly legendary. His ambitions, abilities, and intelligence are extraordinary, and he’s still active today. However, it’s as if he always wore a mysterious mask. We never fully understood his beliefs and personality.

“No one knows how much the Black Star Army can achieve under his leadership, but what’s certain is that… we’re witnessing the birth of a legend.”

The video ended there. The Galaxy Times used this episode to summarize what he had done. It was a rather official positive report.

Han Xiao felt that this was quite beneficial. To the old players from Version 1.0 and Version 2.0, he was an old friend, but to the new players in Version 3.0, there were still quite many people that had limited knowledge about him.

This Galaxy Times episode basically introduced him to more new players and brought him some fame.

“Not bad.” Seeing that he was on TV again, Han Xiao was glad. He then opened Bun-Hit-Dog’s video.

Compared to the Galaxy Times’s official tone, Bun-Hit-Dog’s video had a strong personal bias—an almost fawning tone.

At the start of the video, the image was pitch black, and a narrative sounded.

Han Xiao’s brow suddenly twitched. Bun-Hit-Dog’s narrative used the first-person perspective and spoke as if he was him.

The black image coated the deep voice with a layer of mystery.

“When I first stared at the night sky, it was filled with countless stars, bright and beautiful like diamonds. But at the edge of the sky, there were two overlapping stars. The front star blocked the starlight of the back star, making it a pitch-black star.”

“At that moment, I thought that maybe, one day, I can also block the light of other stars… so that everyone only sees me.”