832 Merit Seeker

After getting rid of Atimo, the [Wipe Out the Great Cosmos Corps] mission did not end immediately, and there were still other players chasing after the other members of the Great Cosmos Corps who had escaped.

With the battle ending, the hundreds of thousands of players checked their interface and saw a notification.

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The Black Star Army has submitted [Great Cosmos Corps Exploratory Information]!

[Flickering World—The First Phase] rating increased.

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Through the Flickering World Main Storyline Mission, Han Xiao was not the only one who received this notification, and the players also received it.

This was the army helping them to increase their benefits.

The players were all overjoyed, and the accumulated Exploration Points should be enough to let their Mission Rating increase from D to C after this mission.

Apart from the players, no living beings were left behind on the battlefield. The players then entered the wreckage of the different battleships in search of their spoils of war. Although the technological standard of the Great Cosmos Corps was far from that of the Black Star Army, the players would never leave empty handed and swept across the battlefield like a swarm of locusts, taking everything that was valuable away.

The circular mountain range was left with craters all around and the wreckages of the different battleships sticking out from the ground. The players boarded the spaceships and left the planet, leaving behind the mess of their battle and a ground full of corpses that none of them could be bothered to deal with.

…

On the forums, the players who participated in the battle to kill Atimo began to show off their achievement. As the first Calamity Grade Super that they had killed, it was an extremely memorable event. There were some who had immediately recorded the event in the Galaxy Chronicles.

‘In year 705 of the Galaxy Calendar, we completed the first kill of Atimo.’

All of them were naturally proud of their achievement. It has already been three versions, and they had first seen a Calamity Grade Super in Version 2.0. During Version 3.0, they had personally participated in battles with Calamity Grade Supers, and the strength of the Calamity Grade had already been imprinted into their hearts. At this moment, they had finally gotten rid of one by themselves.

Even though they had surrounded their enemy with well over a hundred thousand people, their enemy was a native, and they had only succeeded because the army blocked their enemy’s escape route—the players were still extremely excited.

Since a long time ago, many had analyzed that as long as there were no major changes to the various grades, the players would become more and more important in the galaxy as their levels increased. This first kill was evidence that supported this theory.

As such, many players looked forward to the next version.

Perhaps we can also have a fist fight with Heber and kick Psyker around some day.

It was a pity Han Xiao did not know of the dreams of these players. If he did, he would definitely not allow them to continue enjoying their dreams and show them that their dreams were completely empty.

The one who took the reward for the kill was Dynasty. As a famous Chinese guild, the players were not too surprised that they were able to get the kill. In fact, the Chinese players would not be surprised if it was anyone of the four great guilds that got the kill. However, if it was any other guild or an ordinary player who got the kill, the players would then think that it was dog-sh*t luck.

Looking at Dynasty showing off their reward for the kill, all the players could only watch with envy with the other guilds being the ones who were the most envious.

This was the first kill for a Calamity Grade Super. The reward aside, the fame brought about by this first kill was what the guilds sought the most. This would be the glory of the guild that they could use to attract other members. Even if the other guilds could kill a few Calamity Grade Supers after this, the meaning would be completely different from a first kill.

Second Prince was the one who completed the final attack, and he posted the pictures of the kill happily on the forums. He could not help but boast about his achievement.

Although he was a professional player, he had never bothered about his own personal image. As the number two player in Dynasty, he had always wanted to overthrow King Admiral and gave off the impression of someone both mischievous and arrogant.

However, after Maple Moon revealed her own mission under the urging of Frenzied Sword, all the players’ attention was immediately drawn over to her.

Maple Moon revealed how she had discovered the coordinate marker and her own personal mission.

All the players had assumed that attacking the Great Cosmos Corps was an order from the dynasty; they only realized that this entire mission was a storyline created by a single player after seeing her thread!

To them, this was the largest influence that the players had on the army!

“Oh my goodness, this was actually a player-triggered hidden mission‽”

“Maple Moon? This name sounds pretty familiar… Eh? Isn’t she the one who followed our Army Commander since very early on in the first version?”

“To think that she was actually able to discover such a hidden mission. What good luck she has.”

Many players became extremely envious of Maple Moon. She had remained extremely quiet throughout the past two versions, and she had stunned the entire world with her actions in one fell swoop.

In Han Xiao’s previous life, Maple Moon had been extremely famous for digging out hidden storylines. She had gradually become famous in Version 3.0 and emerged as a black horse in the third Pro League. This was not too strange as there were black horses every year, with the third Pro League having the most. Version 3.0 was the time for the Mechanics to rise and, almost 80% of the black horses were the Mechanics who had an extremely awkward position in the first two seasons.

The rewards of her solo mission were extremely plentiful, and it was even more than the reward to kill Atimo. Thus, the players on the forums all had their eyes turn green with envy. She did not even need to kill the boss and could get a reward even greater than killing the boss just by slacking off by the side! This was too good a deal!

Second Prince also stopped boasting and joined the envious army. Compared to the other aloof professional players, he was extremely active and enjoyed playing together with the ordinary players.

However, Maple Moon’s thread also contained the reward that Black Star gave to her through the faction interface.

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You have triggered Faction Mission [Black Star’s Generosity]

Mission complete!

Due to your contribution, your faction [Black Star Army] has rewarded you for your exploration.

+10 Favorability with Black Star

You have received 25,000,000 Experience, 200,000 Enas, and 2,000 Black Star Army Contribution Points.

Your army rank increased by one grade.

You have received a new title: [Merit Seeker]

Merit Seeker: A glorious title in the Black Star Army. You can receive materials, resources, or equipment of no more than 500 Enas daily for free and 1,000 army Contribution Points every month. Any member of the army who provides special information can receive this title (Only limited to the Flickering World mission).

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Looking at the reward that the army gave to Maple Moon, the players could not help but drool.

My goodness, the army’s reward is even more fantastic.

Two hundred thousand Enas was no small sum, and there was the unique army title. The effect of this title was just too tempting. Five hundred Enas of resources for free every day. This was 10,500 in a month and 180,000 in a year! The long-term benefits of such a title were truly amazing, and it was akin to earning money just by sitting at home!

It had always been them spending money in the army, and this was the first time that they had seen someone taking money from the army.

Han Xiao’s objective of issuing such a mission was very obvious.

Do you see that? That is the treatment of a meritorious subject!

Even though both were army titles, [Secret Warrior] and [Merit Seeker] were extremely different. The former was given to everyone who participated in the secret war whereas Maple Moon was the only one who had the latter.

This also verified one of the players’ guesses. As long as the method was right, they could directly affect the actions of the entire faction. Many people could not help but be excited at this revelation.

Through Maple Moon’s thread, many players understood how they could replicate this incident. The only way for them to do so would be to search for hidden missions and hand them over to the army!

“Since the army is exploring the Flickering World, we should be able to gain the [Merit Seeker] title as long as we find some hidden information similar to the Great Cosmos Corps, right?”

“This is definitely the case! The army has such a title to encourage us to dig out hidden missions for sure!”

With Maple Moon as an example, all the players became excited, and their passion to search for hidden missions was ignited.

…

Looking at the drooling players on the forums, Han Xiao could not help but chuckle to himself.

He had given Maple Moon a title that had both glory and benefits so that the other players would be encouraged to find more hidden missions and hand them over to him.

After all, it was the player’s specialty to find hidden missions, and they might be able to find the second fragment of the [Bold Explorer] skill.

Apart from this, he also intended to groom Maple Moon. This lady was a character who had risen to prominence in Version 3.0 in his previous life. As the trainer of the Mechanic class, if the Mechanics were able to obtain a good result during the upcoming Pro League, it would give him more opportunities to bluff… ahem… attract new players to choose the Mechanic Class. This way, he would have more crops to harvest.

Maple Moon was the black horse in this Pro League, and Han Xiao did not mind letting this black horse become blacker. With so many rewards, Maple Moon would probably be the first player to reach the maximum level.

The other players were still chasing the remnants of the Great Cosmos Corps and taking over the territories of the Great Cosmos Corps according to the data. Since nothing else would go wrong, Han Xiao left the rest to the players, and he no longer paid attention to it.

Looking around, apart from the various operators, the only two Officers in the room were Feidin and Aurora.

Aurora was currently seated in front of a control panel with her head crooked as though she was about to fall asleep. She did not need to manage the autopilot, and she was already drifting off to dreamland. On the other side, Feidin sat on the sofa and had his eyes shut in meditation. Who knew if he was training his mental force or bickering with Chen Xing in his head?

The other Black Star Guards spent most of their time in the combat room under the lead of Hila. The exploration had already been going on for more than a month, and after the initial excitement during the starting phase, the others could not be bothered to monitor the progress carefully every day. Hila truly could not stand slacking off beside Han Xiao every day and thus dragged the other Black Star Guards to train bitterly with her.

“A woman with the motivation to improve is still pretty attractive.” Han Xiao shook his head and entered the quantum network to contact Planet Aquamarine.

The Black Star Army had already set up a quantum network in the Dawn Star Cluster, and he was able to communicate with the Shattered Star Ring through his army’s channel. He did not have to go through the Crimson Dynasty as a middleman anymore.

Floating Dragon had remained at Planet Aquamarine for more than a month, and Han Xiao’s main purpose of contacting Planet Aquamarine was to ask them about Floating Dragon’s situation.

Not too long later, Bennett came online. After a period of not contacting Bennett, his voice suddenly seemed full of energy.

Bennett reported the recent situation. Floating Dragon had begun their expansion over the past month, and a large number of people and financial groups had flooded over because of Floating Dragon’s name. Because of this, Planet Aquamarine had received new opportunities for growth.

With Planet Aquamarine’s current development speed, Bennett felt that he would be able to move his plan of having colonial planets forward by a few decades. While this was not an easy task to a native civilization like theirs, it would be much easier for them to do so with the aid of so many galactic organizations.

With Floating Dragon’s protection, the immigrants of the colonial planets would be protected, and Bennett planned to use five years to digest the benefits brought about by Floating Dragon before officially starting his plan to expand outward. He called it the five-year plan, and Han Xiao was truly shocked when he heard it.

After reporting the development of Planet Aquamarine, Bennett suddenly mentioned something else.

“With regards to the extremist group of the Star Pupil Holy Race attacking Planet Aquamarine, I have already gathered the necessary evidence and am planning to mention it during the upcoming Civilization Conference…”

“Not bad. We must make good use of our status.” Han Xiao nodded. Since Psyker’s race had made a mistake, there was nothing wrong with making the leader take the blame for it.

“I will join in the meeting through a holographic projection. Black Star, would it be convenient for you to join in the meeting as well?”

Psyker was a Beyond Grade A figure after all, and Bennett felt that his status was not sufficient to deal with Psyker. Since Black Star was the representative of Planet Aquamarine, it was normal for him to participate in the meeting too.

“Me? Haha, of course it’s convenient. I have been extremely free recently.” Han Xiao chuckled.

Joining the meeting personally did not sound too bad. He would be able to personally witness Psyker’s expression.