At the outer edge of the Shattered Star Ring, interstellar gates bearing imperial insignia stand in the starry sky, lined up and stretching far into the distance. Each gate is separated by an imperial fleet maintaining order, like a chain of blue gemstones strung across a black velvet studded with diamonds.
Opposite the stargate, there were countless fleets, bearing the insignia of different factions, covering almost every inch of visible space. The sheer size of these forces was unprecedented, even in history.
Today marks the day the Empire opens its doors to the Shattered World. These are all spaceships waiting to enter. Besides civilizations and civilian organizations from various star systems, there are also many interstellar citizens eager to travel to the Shattered World. Some are there for tourism, some for adventure, and others to seek development opportunities and strike it rich.
Time passed second by second, gradually approaching the time agreed upon by the Empire.
The waiting felt like an eternity. Finally, the Empire's notification rang out on the wide-area communication channel, reaching every spaceship present.
"The time has come. In the name of the Crimson Dynasty, we proclaim to the entire universe... The Shattered World has officially begun!"
The next moment, all the stargates were fully activated, and the vortex in the center of the stargates began to rotate faster, forming a hazy, dazzling blue wormhole that occasionally flashed with seven-colored light. Every stargate passage was open.
All the spaceships moved, forming long lines that seemed to stretch Infinite, entering each stargate one after another, creating an incredibly magnificent scene.
Not far from these civilian stargates are the military stargates, which are VIP passages reserved for the Empire's allies.
Black Star's vehicles lined up, and numerous remote projections of cadres stood in the command room, their gazes all focused on the figure in front of the window.
With his back to the others, Han Xiao gazed through the porthole at the seemingly endless sea of ships in the distance, and spoke softly, "Did you hear that?"
"What did you hear?"
"The voice emerging from the shell of a new era."
Han Xiao chuckled softly.
In his field of vision, visible only to himself, a panel floated in front of him, with newly generated prompts flashing in the light.
[Version 4.0 is now available!]
[Retrieving data... Data retrieval complete!]
[Player forum open]
Welcome to Galaxy 4.0 – [Shattered World]!
The day had finally come... Han Xiao took a deep breath.
This is a significant turning point. Starting with version 4.0, players officially step onto the stage of Galaxy warfare, interfering with the course of history and earning the infamous title of "the Cancer of the Universe" and "the Fourth Calamity."
The power wielded by players has truly crossed a boundary, and their influence on the world has entered a new realm—with a level 150 cap and a stable B+ combat power, they are undoubtedly a mainstay force in the universe!
Once the sparks of chaos are ignited, they will sweep across the entire universe.
Just then, Sylvia seemed to receive a report. She took out her communicator, glanced at it, her pupils contracted, and she said in a deep voice, "Commander, the Legion's Immortals have reappeared."
Han Xiao finally turned around, looked at everyone, and nodded slightly.
Bring them all here to me.
At the same time, at the Black Star Army headquarters.
Before the update, many players went to the Black Star Army headquarters to log off. When they logged back in, countless white lights flashed, and the empty hall instantly became crowded with people. Liveliness replaced the desolation, and it became as noisy as a vegetable market.
"Galaxy, I, Hu Hansan, have arrived!!"
"I've already bought ten cases of Blue Bull, guys, let's grind to our hearts' content!"
Has the new version fixed the bug that prevented players from running naked?
"He's here! The ambitious mastermind who spans four versions! I knew it!"
"By the way, have any new features been added? Since it's already this realistic, why not add a reproduction function? Procreation is the soul of a social system!"
"If it could reproduce, it would be a masterpiece among masterpieces."
Countless players cheered excitedly, while in a corner of the crowd, a group of professional players logged on one after another. Most of the top players from the four major Huaxia teams were there, along with Frenzied Saber, Maple Moon, Meat Bun, and others.
"Hey, the level cap has been raised to 150 in the new version." Kings and Generals glanced at the panel and chuckled.
"The upgrade costs are way too far apart." Tai Erzi's lips twitched involuntarily, and he felt a slight pain in his liver.
"The Black Star Army's faction panel is still there; the legion hasn't collapsed." Frenzied Saber checked the faction interface immediately.
"The Black Star Army won't fall so easily now..." Maple Moon muttered to herself.
Players in other star systems need to worry about whether their faction will disappear after a version update, fearing that the contribution points accumulated in previous versions will be wasted. Therefore, stable factions are the most popular.
The players of the Black Star Army, however, do not have such concerns. After three versions, they have developed complete trust in their faction leader Han Xiao.
By the end of the previous version, the Legion's position had been gradually consolidated. They had defeated the Arcane Church, crushed the Sorokin, and acquired a super business called the Evolutionary Totem. Even players knew that the Legion had joined the ranks of the high-level factions and would not fall so easily.
With the release of a new version, the most important thing is to understand what happened during the update and the current cosmic situation, which has become a habit for players.
Many players took out their communicators, opened their calendars, and were immediately taken aback.
"Wait, it's Galaxy Calendar 729?!"
"We went offline in 709, I think..."
"So, this version update is twenty years old?!"
"I thought version 3.0 was a big leap, but version 4.0 is more than double that!"
"Terrible, it stole twenty years of my life..."
Frenzied Saber's expression suddenly changed, and he exchanged a glance with Maple Moon, a hint of excitement flashing in their eyes.
It's already twenty years in the future!
This period of time is quite long.
What will become of the Black Star Army?
Just as the two were having this exciting thought, a series of communicator notifications suddenly rang out in the hall. Every player had received a new email, which was uniformly released by the Legion's internal program.
Everyone hurriedly opened their virtual screens, which unfolded in front of them, all displaying Han Xiao's face and playing the same video.
In the video, Han Xiao sits upright, only his upper body is visible, and his tone is very formal.
"Fellow Legion members, I am Black Star. Over the past twenty years, we have achieved countless accomplishments, especially in the Shattered World. The Legion now occupies territory in ten star systems. It is the hard work and dedication of every colleague that has forged our glory today."
Now, the Shattered World has entered its fourth phase of exploration and is officially open to the public. The entire universe will flock to this star field. At this moment of epochal change, we should seize the opportunity and forge ahead... Here, in the name of the Legion Leader, I issue this Shattered World Recruitment Order to all my comrades. The Legion needs you... The Shattered World needs you!
The brief video ended there, and the eyes of the many players present gradually widened as they absorbed a great deal of information.
Is this the fourth phase of exploration? When we logged off, it seemed like the first phase wasn't even over yet!
The Legion has acquired ten star system territories in the Shattered World? How did this happen?!
What has the Legion done in the last twenty years?!
Countless people were itching with curiosity.
Unbeknownst to the players, this video was a "cutscene" specially designed by Han Xiao for them, to help them quickly understand the situation.
At this moment, Hao Tian suddenly realized something, "Right, the Shattered World has reached its fourth phase of exploration, so is our main quest still ongoing?"
Upon hearing this, many professional players realized that their original main quest was still in the first exploration phase, but now, due to the version update, it had jumped to twenty years in the future. Would the quest be canceled?
It would be a real loss if it were gone.
Everyone hurriedly opened the panel and took a look, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. They saw that the [Shattered World] main quest was still there, but the quest requirements had changed. It had become building the territory of the Black Star Army and exploring several star clusters in the fourth phase.
"Although there have been some changes, it's still exploration."
Many players shook their heads, showing little excitement and even some indifference.
They were curious about the information revealed in the video, but not so much interested in the Shattered World quest, because Legion players had already experienced it in the previous version. Although the exploration objective had changed, in everyone's eyes, the quest was still no different from before.
Exploring new starfields is certainly exciting, but the lack of combat opportunities led many players to tire of the Shattered World main storyline in the previous version, preferring to return to the Shattered Star Ring for mercenary missions rather than continue exploring.
This situation is actually normal, because the Shattered World main storyline that Legion players encounter in version 3.0 is only half-finished, with only the Imperial faction exploring the land, so there is naturally a lack of combat.
But at that moment, everyone suddenly froze, realizing something.
Black Star just said... Shattered World is now open to the public?
So, have forces from other star systems finally entered?
What about players in other star systems?
Frenzied Saber snapped out of his daze and hurriedly went online to check. He quickly confirmed the authenticity of the news. Moreover, not only that, but forces in various star regions were also recruiting a large number of superhumans as manpower and transporting them to the Shattered World in batches.
The biggest impact of the cosmic mobilization on players is the complete opening of inter-star system portals!
Compared to the previous version, players can now use channels to cross star systems if needed!
The people present realized what was happening and quickly logged onto the forum.
As expected, the entire forum was abuzz with this news!
Frenzied Saber understood instantly, his eyes gleaming, and he exclaimed in surprise:
This is... the global server!
Players from all star systems can finally come together on the same stage and gather in the Shattered World!
what does that mean?
Nation War!!
The interstellar conjecture made by the Galaxy Daily has come true!
All the players in the lobby were absolutely thrilled!
"Holy crap, holy crap, it's the global server!"
Hahaha, I knew this day would come sooner or later!
"Finally, we can fight a nation-wide war!"
The next moment, everyone suddenly realized that Shattered World was the global server for this version, but as legion players, they had already entered it in the previous version.
What an advantage this is!
The faces of many Legion players changed, and they erupted in wild joy!
"My goodness, we already established our territory in the Shattered World in the last version, we were a whole version ahead!"
"I cried! I thought exploring was too monotonous, so I went back to the Shattered Star Ring as a mercenary. It was a huge loss!"
"With such a huge advantage, this version is going to be awesome! We'll easily crush those noobs from other star systems!"
"Brothers, enough said, just shout 'Legion Commander is awesome!' and that's it!"
Players who ran from the Constellation Corridor to the Shattered Star Ring in the previous version are all feeling fortunate... If they hadn't followed the Black Star Army back then, they wouldn't be receiving such treatment now!
Conversely, players in other star systems were in an uproar.
In version 1.0, Black Star led a group of planetary players into space ahead of schedule. Fine, we tolerated it.
In version 2.0, the Black Star Army became the guiding faction, allowing players of the Shattered Star Ring to take the lead again, which we tolerated.
Version 3.0: The Black Star Army has produced Beyond Grade A being, the first to make contact with a cosmic-level civilization. You're awesome, we'll tolerate you, but we'll have our day to turn the tables.
But now that it's 4.0, your Black Star Army has gotten ahead of us again?!
Are you dogs?!
Why do good things always seem to happen to you?
Is there no law anymore? Is there no justice left?
You fucking... are you still hiring?
Only now do they realize that Black Star laid the foundation for them in the previous version, demonstrating the terrifying faction advantage they possess!
Many Legion players felt the game experience was excellent and incredibly enjoyable.
With such a reliable faction, players from other star systems and countries can only envy them, but that's useless.
There's only one like it in the entire universe!
This sparked an unprecedented surge of interest among Legion players in the Shattered World main storyline.
Many people initially found the exploration gameplay monotonous, but now, Shattered World has become a global server for players, becoming the most chaotic and exciting star field in the entire universe, with countless conflicts of interest—this is the complete experience of the main storyline of [Shattered World]!
With this in mind, Frenzied Saber and the others hurriedly went online to search for the Black Star Army's deeds over the years, eager to understand what specific advantages their faction possessed in the Shattered World.
Upon opening the Black Star Army's resume, Frenzied Saber's eyes widened in astonishment.
He made many assumptions and was mentally prepared, but the first piece of information he saw was completely different from what he had imagined, which shocked him.
"What the heck? Old Black has become a god?!"