Two days later in Hesla’s Morning Wind City…

A coastal city near the border, Morning Wind City had a massive seaport that handled a massive volume of transcontinental ships. The city was a metropolis with many high-rise buildings.

Hesla had the strongest maritime force among the Six Nations—it focused on developing its navy to protect its numerous coastal cities. There were four continents on Aquamarine. They were separated from one another by the massive oceans.

There was an old saying—he who controls the sea controls everything.

There were tons of resources beneath the seafloor, including petroleum and natural gasses. Extraction of fossil fuels from the sea was the main pillar of Hesla’s economy.

Han Xiao remembered that Hesla had a secret military strategy called ‘The Forth Contingency Plan Against Great Crisis’. The plan was to produce many thousand-meter-long motherships in preparation for the scenario that the country suffered from massive calamities, such as nuclear world war. They could transition into a drifting nation on the sea and preserve their population.

Although this strategy eventually paved way for others, their spirit of preparing for the worst in times of peace was worth emulating. As the saying went, one who prospers in worries and hardships perishes in ease and comfort. It meant that if one did not create some sort of trouble, one might as well not live.

Wait. That does not sound right… Well, it’s not important.

Now, Han Xiao, with a new face, was waiting at the branch of Fabian Company in the city. He had used the black gold card from Matthews to receive VIP treatment at the place. It was his temporary rest stop.

There were three months to open beta, and moving around on his own would yield him the greatest amount of benefits. He could use Fabian Company’s channels to purchase mechanical parts with the huge amount of cash that he had accumulated to make more machinery. He could then earn a lot of EXP from this and even sell his products for more cash.

Old Man Lu’s secret quest would only be triggered after the open beta. He had established a good relationship with him, so he was in no rush to continue this mission.

Han Xiao wrote down the key points for personal development for this last period of time before the open beta.

– Trigger all the high-reward quests, and subsequently obtain rare skills and abilities to improve my power.

– Obtain stable supply channels for mechanical parts so as to allow myself to make machinery during the course of my quests and earn more EXP.

– Continue to cause destruction for the Germinal Organization.

– Increase my personal mission issuance’s reward limit in preparation for the open beta

These are roughly the points of focus.

Han Xiao put down his pen and began thinking carefully. The first point was easy since he remembered many large-scale quests. Also, supply channels could simply be obtained from the Fabian Company with the help of the black gold VIP card.

Destroying the Germinal Organization was his A-class quest. He had some initial thoughts on how he could maximize his large reservoir of intel—he could utilize the help from all the powers that were hostile toward the organization.

As for his personal mission reward limit, Han Xiao’s goal was to increase his Universal Reputation. Because there were two types of reward limits—daily limit and individual quest limit—he could increase both by improving his Universal Reputation. This was the most cost-effective method.

His Universal Reputation was now zero, but that was okay. Han Xiao would definitely increase it in due time.

There were three ways to obtain Universal Reputation. The first method was by achieving high contribution ratings in advanced and rare quests. Normally, only a planet’s main quest line would reward Universal Reputation—his A-class quest [Fall of the Germinal] was one of them.

Every planet, not only limited to novice planets, had at least one or more major storylines that linked to the respective main quests. For example, in Planet Aquamarine Version 1.0, there were two main storylines and one hidden storyline. The conflict between the Six Nations and the Germinal Organization was one of the main storylines; the others would only appear in the open beta. On the other hand, the hidden storyline could only be discovered by luck.

That method of obtaining Universal Reputation was highly difficult and time-consuming—he could not achieve it in a short timeframe.

The second method was rather random. It involved doing things related to one’s reputation with a camp that could potentially become well-known; the things could be very varied and circumstantial. Nobody had a clear idea of how to do it, and it was quite unreliable.

Han Xiao was keen on applying the third method—getting on top of some ranking lists—the easiest way to obtain Universal Reputation.

Some factions had created publicly-recognized rankings. By climbing to the top of rankings, he could easily obtain Universal Reputation. However, if some new guys were to push him down the ranking, his Universal Reputation would decrease, making this method unreliable. That was the method employed by most ‘real’ players. Universal Reputation quickly helped one accumulated camp reputation, which in turn, gave players discounts on NPC items and provided opportunities to trigger rare quests.

Han Xiao’s fingers on one hand tapped the table surface as he continued to contemplate on this, and with his other hand, he picked his nose.

Well, before I make a move, let me get rid all the burdens (EXP) I have now.

He looked at his Character Interface, which showed a grand total of 720,000 EXP. He directly channeled all the EXP into levelling his character to thirty. His stats consequently increased.

Mechanic (Novice) reached the maximum level. The last level-up always gave players the greatest stats increase. This time he received a ninety-point increase in his energy between levels nine and ten.

He then threw all six unassigned stats into his Intelligence, making it one hundred.

His mind instantly became much clearer, and he felt more at ease controlling all the machinery. Intelligence affected many different areas of a Mechanic, including production speed, production quality, and the damage bonuses when using Mechanic weapons. For example, when a Mechanic used a pistol that normally dealt twenty damage points, the pistol would deal more damage due to the Mechanic’s damage bonus. As such, even though other classes of players could still use Mechanic weapons, the damage would be lower.

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[Mechanic (Novice)] has reached the maximum level. To advance, learn 20 blueprints.

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This randomized requirement for advancing class is quite simple.

Han Xiao was delighted, and he counted the blueprints that he had learned so far. He was only short of eight.

He did not want to produce useless blueprints through random fusions. I should make full use of the EXP I have. Anyway, all the EXP is stored in the Interface, so there is no rush to advance my class.

…

At Fabian Company’s Morning Wind City branch, the man in charge, Antonio, was smoking a cigar. He was built like a mountain, filling the entire space on the sofa. He exhaled a puff out and looked Han Xiao, who was sitting at the sofa across, up and down to size him up.

Han Xiao was wearing a black jacket, and his Facial Simulator simulated an ordinary unemployed, middle-age male who looked rather unassuming. This was the face that he had prepared for his new identity.

Han Xiao took out a shopping list for supplies and said slowly, “I want all the items on this list.”

Antonio took the list and looked over it. “The total cost will be $100,000. After the twenty percent discount from your Black Gold Card, it will cost $80,000.”

“Also, I want to buy an entry pass for The Dark Net’s Blood Pact Society”

“$20,000.” Antonio’s eyes narrowed.

The Dark Net was the hub of all intelligence related to the underworld. It was fully controlled by the Dark Net Organization, a neutral faction that strictly followed the principles of not getting involved in conflicts and developing peacefully. Many factions were business partners with the Dark Net Organization. They provided people from the underworld many kinds of services, including, but not limited to, smuggled firearms, package transfers, safehouses, hired assassins, mercenaries, and intelligence.

The Blood Pact Society was the organization for hired assassins under the Dark Net Organization. Using the entry pass, Han Xiao could become a contracted assassin under the organization and enjoy all the services provided by the Dark Net. This meant that Han Xiao could unlock his relationship with the Dark Net just from using the pass.

Although Blood Pact Society was a lousy name, it had another world-famous name.

The Assassin Union!

Of course, one could also call it the assassin social club, which instantly degraded its class.

A player had to go through a series of complicated quests to join the Dark Net Organization. However, time was of the essence for Han Xiao, so he would rather used extra money to buy the pass instead of spending a few dozen days fulfilling the entry requirement. Although $20,000 was a big sum of money to ‘real’ players, it was considered peanuts to him.

“Who says money can’t buy happiness?” Han Xiao muttered. When he was still a ‘real’ player, he had needed to be stingy and calculative about every single purchase. He had never felt the pleasure of having so much money to spend before this.

The mechanical supplies were soon transported to the private workshop that Antonio arranged for him. Han Xiao went on to repair all the equipment that was damaged during the fight against Pan Kuang.

The mechanical parts left were meant for the new machinery.

I will be moving alone without any team support. Thus, my fighting style should focus more on minimizing danger. Sniping better suits me temporarily. I need to develop more powerful snipers and new types of bullets. Also, I will need some explosives, booby-traps, and anti-vehicle weapons. Lastly, I will probably need machinery that enables me to engage in close-quarter fights, such as tiny and covert weapons that can deal maximum damage…

Han Xiao contemplated for a while before he drew out his Interface to start his talent fusion. He decided to start with new bullets.

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Do you wish to proceed with talent fusion?

(Lv. 3 Basic Weaponry + Lv. 3 Basic Material Science + Lv.2 Basic Dynamics Principle)

This fusion will cost you 15,000 EXP!

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Fusion Success!

Congratulations, you have discovered [Spindle-Shaped Penetration Bullet]!

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Do you wish to proceed with talent fusion?

(Lv. 3 Basic Weaponry + Lv. 3 Basic Material Science + Lv.1 Basic Biology)

This fusion will cost you 15,000 EXP!

_____________

Fusion Success!

Congratulations, you have discovered [Hayme Bullet]!

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Do you wish to proceed with talent fusion?

(Lv. 3 Basic Weaponry + Lv. 3 Basic Material Science + Lv. 2 Basic Optics)

This fusion will cost you 15,000 EXP!

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Fusion Success!

Congratulations, you have discovered [Flash Bullet]!

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I still have over 20,000 EXP left, and my sniping capability is not yet up to standard. Let’s continue.

Han Xiao pondered for a moment before he decided to raise the core skill [Snipe] to Lv.5, which increased his accuracy and sniping range.

He had stolen the sniper rifle named Red-Falcon from the Hesla army logistics team. The rifle was black and only a gray-grade weapon. It had mediocre quality. He soon started upgrading the weapon.

Han Xiao focused on increasing the power of the sniper rifle during this series of upgrades. The damage was increased to 92 ~ 103; the rate of fire was two rounds per second; the range was 600 meters. But with [Machinery Affinity] and [Sniping], his range could reach up to 750 meters, which was sufficient for his use.

Han Xiao was still left with tens of thousands of EXP, but he decided to hold onto it first. He started the production of the three bullets that he had previously discovered

…

Soon, batches of new bullets were produced.

Fabian Company’s private workshop was primarily adapted for making firearms and ammunition, which saved Han Xiao a fair bit of time for the whole production. This also reminded Han Xiao of something.

Should I make some robot assistants to help me with the production of mechanical parts?

He already had the blueprint for smart chips and other necessary parts for the robot. All he needed to do was upgrade his [Basic Programming] before he could produce a simple robot rover that could act as his assistant. However, since he did not have a fixed base for now, it was not appropriate for him to produce the robots yet.

Antonio’s footsteps were heard. Soon, he entered the workshop. He placed an intricately designed dark gold coin onto the table and said, “This is your membership pass.”

Han Xiao was delighted.

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You have unlocked a new Camp Reputation!

Blood Pact Society: Cold (0/300) – [Reserve-level Assassin]