The Platinum Alloy was an alloy composed from a few rare ores. Han Xiao had to spend quite a sum of money to purchase enough of them.

After making the alloy, Han Xiao used it to craft a Retractable Knife and another Lightweight Mecha Arm. Both had above average stats – as expected – and the Retractable Knife was even of a higher grade.

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Retractable Platinum Knife

Grade: Green

Base Stats: 24-28 Damage, 355/355 Durability

Bonus Stats: +3 DEX

Length: 0.77m

Weight: 8.7kg

Additional Effects:

Retractable – This knife’s blade can be retracted.

Durable – The platinum alloy in this knife makes it less susceptible to wear and tear.

Note: This knife can even be used as a shield.

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The following day, Feng Jun came over to deliver the two Berserk Eagles. The Berserk Eagle had a slight longer barrel than the average handgun, and it was much more destructive at close range. Upon testing, they proved capable of blowing a chunk out of a test dummy’s head. The recoil was also extremely powerful, but Han Xiao possessed enough strength to tame the beasts.

They would serve as his protection against assassinations alongside the Platinum Retractable Knife. Han Xiao also altered his clothes to conceal several magazines – two magazines of incendiary ammo and four regular ones. For regular ammo, Han Xiao chose to use steel core bullets as their penetrative power suited the Berserk Eagle well.

Han Xiao brought up the information tab to check his remaining experience points. He currently had close to 200,000.

In Version 1.0 Galaxy, it was thought for a while that investing experience points into skills instead of leveling was optimal.

The reasoning for this was that, since the death cost was low around Lv. 20 to 30, it was an optimal level range to grind PVP. Unfortunately, it had all been someone’s ploy.

When the system congratulatory message popped up to celebrate the first Lv. 60 player in Version 1.0, the entire server was first stunned, then outraged. It was none other than the same guy who had advocated the theory of self-capping one’s level.

Han Xiao decided to spend 180,000 experience points to level up three times.

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[Novice Technician] has leveled up! +30 Energy, +1 DEX, +1 END, +1 INT, +3 unassigned stat points, + 1 talent point.

[Novice Technician] has leveled up! +30 Energy, +1 DEX, +1 END, +1 INT, +3 unassigned stat points, + 1 talent point.

[Novice Technician] has leveled up! +30 Energy, +1 DEX, +1 END, +1 INT, +3 unassigned stat points, + 1 talent point.

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Besides these newly acquired stats, Han Xiao had also gained 30 Energy from regular use of the [Energy Training Technique] over the past few days, so his Energy was now Lv. 4 at a total of 280.

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Lv. 4 Energy (200):

+3 STR, +4 DEX, +5 END, +4 INT, + 150 Max Stamina, +4% Crafting Speed, +4% Machinery Power

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In total, Han Xiao gained +10 STR, +10 DEX, +14 END, +8 INT, +320 Max Stamina, +10% Crafting Speed, and +10% Machinery Power from Energy bonuses, which made up nearly a third of his total stats.

Initially, Han Xiao had invested quite a number of points into STR and END in order to ensure his survival during his escape from the Germinal laboratory, but now, as he could focus solely on INT, which was all that a Technician needed, he immediately spent all 9 unassigned stat points on INT, reaching a total of 58 points.

Now Lv. 24, and also a Lv. 4 Novice Technician, Han Xiao’s combat power was at 160 ona.

“At this rate I should be able to remain much stronger than the first batch of players for a while…”

Suddenly, a notification sound played.

When Han Xiao opened up the notification, he received a huge shock.

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Beta testing has been scheduled

Retrieving Information…

Retrieval Complete

Beta Test Period: 12 Days

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“Beta testing‽

“I completely forgot about that!”

Han Xiao vaguely remembered that the beta test had been a two-day event. As time was accelerated by six times in Galaxy, that translated to exactly 12 days.

The beta test period was extremely short, and only had 30,000 slots. Most of them were taken up by big corporations and gaming organizations, leaving only a fraction to be distributed through a lottery system. Han Xiao was not lucky enough to win a slot.

From his memory, the beta test was held only a week before official launch, translating to about over a month inside the game. Yet, on the system information interface the countdown still displayed 130 days!

“Could it be that the in-game clock runs differently when service is down? That must be it! Each version update takes two or three days to go live, but between updates years could have passed by in-game. It makes sense!”

Han Xiao rubbed his chin with his fingers and realized that a beard was growing. He had been in Galaxy for over half a year. He suddenly remembered a controversial version update from his past life – ‘The Chosen Ones’. This version update was unlike any other. Other updates typically came with world-changing events and incidents, but this one had completely lacked a theme. No one could make sense of the version’s title, nor its contents.

Suddenly, the interface lit up, giving Han Xiao a start.

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NPC functions unlocked!

Discussion board unlocked!

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“NPC functions? What’s this?”

As it did not come with any further information, it seemed that Han Xiao would have to figure it out on his own. In any case, it was likely to do with the ways that NPCs interacted with players, such as handing out quests, buying and selling goods, and imparting skills.

In the beta test, the 30,000 players were distributed across over a dozen planets. Han Xiao was not too concerned over this, as one or two thousand players per planet would not really have much of an impact. Official release would be when all hell broke loose.

Nonetheless, interacting with some of them would be a good opportunity to learn more about his NPC functions.

The discussion board, on the other hand, was something that Han Xiao was already familiar with. It was an internal forum that players frequented a lot – especially while waiting to revive.

“To think that we would meet again. It’s probably only unlocked now due to the time being synced up.”

The button for the discussion board was located on a corner of the interface. Upon opening it up, Han Xiao was greeted by an empty forum. The account name on the top right of the window indicated ‘Guest’, and the registration button was grayed out.

Han Xiao clicked it out of curiosity.

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Attempting to Connect to the Dive-capsule…

No Player Detected

Registration Failed

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It took a few moments for Han Xiao to understand why – accounts for the discussion board could only be created with the unique ID of the user’s dive-capsule. This rule was implemented as a measure against trolls.

“Well, I can’t create a forum account, but at least I can access the forum for reading!”

There were a million questions on Han Xiao’s mind regarding the state of his existence. Perhaps, this forum would be able to give him the answers if he watched out for his own username.

“Interacting with the beta testers will be a good start.”

…

Character Name: Frenzied Sword

Regular Settings Selected

Character Creation Complete

Race: Human (Yellow)

Based on your preferences, you have been matched to Planet Aquamarine

Starting Zone: Big Horn Village (24.152, 182.644)

Spawning… Please wait…