"That's not fair! That's not fair!!"
In the Black Star Palace's private combat room, the Mysterious Energy Envoy and impatient, stood by the door, muttering incessantly to the two sparring partners in the arena, his anger palpable.
Han Xiao raised his hand and crushed the Holy Light Shock that Aurora was launching. He couldn't help but pick at his ears, which felt like they were about to develop calluses.
Ever since learning that Han Xiao had found a host for the Holy Light Particle, Chaos Mysterious Energy's mentality immediately became unbalanced.
He originally intended to drag his old buddy into this mess, so they could all happily become tools together, keeping himself from being lonely trapped in a lifeless vessel. But to his surprise, even though he was the one who had made the contribution of leading the way, the Holy Light Particle received far better treatment than him.
Why can you find a host, while I'm stuck trapped inside a metal shell?!
I want a fragrant host too!
During this time, whenever Han Xiao called him out, the Chaos Mysterious Energy would constantly whisper in his ear, relentlessly harassing him.
"Host! Host! Host!"
Han Xiao looked helpless. "Can you please stop babbling?"
"I'm going to talk!"
A vein popped out on Han Xiao's forehead as he snapped, "Are you trying to force me to activate the silent mode for Mysterious Energy Envoy, so you can't even speak!"
Upon hearing this, the Chaos Mysterious Energy indeed subsided.
Being trapped inside the contraption was bad enough; it was only because Black Star was kind enough to grant him the ability to speak that he was left with no entertainment at all.
However, the Chaos Mysterious Energy still indignant. After remaining silent for more than ten seconds, it couldn't help but speak again, its tone weak, like a wronged little wife. "But it also wants a host..."
Han Xiao squinted and said, "How old are you all? Can't you have some class? Are all people with Primal Esper Ability as unrestrained as you?"
Hearing this, the Holy Light Particle, who had been watching the show with amusement, scoffed, "Nonsense! Most Primal Esper Ability are composed and level-headed. It's the Chaos Mysterious Energy that's ruined our reputation!"
Chaos Mysterious Energy roared in fury, "Shut up! How much better can you be than me?"
"Ah, it feels so comfortable inside the host's body, much warmer than a tin can."
The Holy Light Particle spoke in a lazy tone.
It nestled comfortably within Aurora's body, receiving the nourishment of life energy, as soothing as a hot spring bath. No matter how the Chaos Mysterious Energy cursed it, it only used this method to provoke the other party, smugly pleased with itself.
Listening to the two superpowered beings arguing, Han Xiao couldn't help but rub his temples.
These two must be the lowest level of morality among Primal Esper Ability...
"Alright, alright, that's enough for today, no more practice." Han Xiao waved his hand.
Upon hearing this, Aurora obediently withdrew her power, and the noisy Holy Light Particle immediately fell silent, as if a duck had been choked, emitting a hissing sound.
"Um... Uncle, how did I do?"
Aurora looked somewhat uneasy.
Because she wasn't a combat-oriented person before, she rarely received combat training from Han Xiao. The few times she did receive it were as Hila's support, and those were many years ago.
During combat training, Han Xiao was not as easy to talk to as usual and became quite strict.
Aurora a lot of backers and doesn't usually have the opportunity to fight alone. She has limited experience in direct combat, so she's afraid of not performing well.
"Not bad, but you're a bit smarter in choosing your opportunities..." Han Xiao called Aurora over and began to guide her step by step.
After Aurora mastered the Holy Light Particle, she gained combat power. Although she usually wouldn't have the opportunity to fight, Han Xiao still personally trained her and helped her master the combat techniques of the Holy Light Particle.
Incidentally, Han Xiao also tested the properties of the Holy Light Particle in punishing evil. This function is particularly subjective; the criteria for judging evil depend on the mind of both the host and the target.
The punitive effect on him was very weak. According to the feedback from the Holy Light Particle, in Aurora's mind, he was a great person and didn't think Han Xiao was evil at all. The minor damage mainly came from Han Xiao's self-assessment; he never considered himself a good person...
After giving instructions for a while, Han Xiao saw Aurora off, summoned Phillip, and inquired about the changes in the Legion after the public release of the Holy Light Seed system.
The announcement regarding the Holy Light Particle has been out for quite some time now, and its impact is significant. Branches in various star systems have received a large number of applicants. Naturally, the Legion needs to screen applicants and won't hire just anyone. Moreover, this salary expenditure is not a small amount.
The good news is that a large number of ordinary people are coming here primarily for the opportunity to gain extraordinary powers, demonstrating a clear purpose and strong resilience.
Therefore, Han Xiao felt perfectly justified in having Sylvia lower the base salary of these new recruits to save expenses, allowing him to recruit more people at the same cost. After all, these people weren't there for the money, which provided the legion with a large pool of cheap labor. Moreover, to accumulate merit points, these people would definitely work diligently and wouldn't slack off.
What? This is exploitation?
No, no, no, this is called striving for a dream.
The ability to make grand promises is an essential skill for any qualified leader.
After reviewing the soaring performance across all of the legion's businesses, Han Xiao nodded in satisfaction and then asked about another matter:
"How's the Legion Tournament plan I had Sylvia devise coming along? Let me see."
As soon as she finished speaking, the virtual screen in front of her switched to a planning document, which was the proposal created by Sylvia.
Han Xiao carefully reviewed the design. Sylvia basically designed according to the framework he provided. Sparring and combat were just one of the projects. There were also various technical, sports, and entertainment competitions. The projects were diverse, with sports and entertainment being the most numerous.
Moreover, legion members can also apply for projects on their own. As long as they are reliable, they may be adopted. Han Xiao has no doubt that players will apply for football and turn the art style into Shaolin Soccer.
Based on the strength of the legion members, each rank is divided into a group to ensure that they encounter competitors of the same level. At the same time, he decided to give players the choice: they can be in a separate group or choose to join the rank group of the NPC.
Of course, such activities require incentives. For different groups and projects, the legion will give generous rewards as long as you get a good ranking, so as to ensure that most legion warriors are interested in participating.
In order to involve members who did not participate or were eliminated early, Sylvia suggested that the organizers open betting odds and set up wagers for each project and event.
In this way, they can attract the attention of the entire legion. As a warlord organization, there are a lot of gamblers, and even those who don't gamble will be influenced by the majority.
At the same time, she can also profit from the event by acting as the bookmaker and taking a cut. She even plans to sell tickets and collect broadcasting fees, broadcasting live to the universe, making money in a very lucrative way.
Han Xiao thought this was a great idea. Perhaps he could take this opportunity to run a sports league, just like the leagues for various sports activities in his previous life, creating a platform specifically for superhumans to showcase themselves. It would probably have a large audience throughout the universe.
In the future, other Beyond Grade A forces might be able to join. Since the Development Federation aims to stop armed conflicts, perhaps this kind of competition can be used as a way to demonstrate strength and let subordinates make a name for their forces.
"According to this plan, this will be a grand event involving the entire legion, which will affect the efficiency of normal work. However, the cohesion boost brought by such a large-scale faction event is considerable. Not only players, but also normal legion members need to relax outside of work, just like a school organizing a sports meet... or rather, team building?" Han Xiao muttered to himself.
For players, the focus of the Shattered World version is to take advantage of the era's trends to fight each other, and to hold the first national war in four versions on this stage. The ultimate goal of the clubs is to achieve good results in the international league.
If I were to host a larger-scale competition as an NPC during the early to mid-stages of a new version update, it would undoubtedly be highly sought after by players, becoming a warm-up for a professional league and stealing their attention. In this way, the appeal of the faction would be elevated, transforming it from a powerful organization with abundant benefits into a tournament organizer in the eyes of players.
To participate in the Legion Grand Tournament, you have to join a legion. If you belong to another faction, you can't participate in this event. Once the player community recognizes the importance of the Legion Grand Tournament, then legions will become the guiding faction in version 2.0, a force that many players have no choice but to join.
"Such large-scale faction events shouldn't be too frequent; it's best to hold them once every five to ten years, and they need to have a catchy name. The Legion Grand Tournament is too unoriginal."
Thinking about his terrible talent for naming things, Han Xiao wasn't very confident, so he simply brought up Phillip instead.
"Give me a name."
Phillip tilted his head. "How about calling it the Legion's Grand Party... Hum?"
Han Xiao's face twitched. "Why don't you call it the Spring Festival Gala?"
"That's too tacky, let's get something cooler."
"Then... Galaxy Super Clash! Black Star Army's Peak Domination of the Universe's Number One Martial Arts Tournament! Buzz!"
What the hell did those Japan players upload to Phillip?
"Let's keep it a little simple..."
Phillip changed the name a few times, but Han Xiao decided on the official name: Black Star Cup Army-Wide League, or Black Star Cup for short. It was concise, clear, and highlighted his own name.
After revising the proposal, Han Xiao sent it to Sylvia, deciding to release the announcement for the first Black Star Cup at a later date. Such a large-scale event would take a lot of time to prepare, so he decided to refer to the professional leagues for players and release the announcement first to generate buzz.
The Black Star Cup is much larger in scale than the professional league. The professional league is just for individual players, while this one involves the entire legion. Although there are over eight million legion players, this is a small number compared to the total number of members in the entire legion.
However, most players have now reached the Grade B, and their importance is incomparable to what it used to be; they are now considered the backbone of the legion's mid-level strength.
In the universe, Grade B superhumans are considered the backbone of the force. In any non- Beyond Grade A faction, they would be considered experts. Many Beyond Grade A factions don't even have as many Grade B warriors as the Legion players.
Having made quite a splash in recent months, I need to process the impact and turn my attention to the Legion's internal affairs. This is the perfect time to host the Black Star Cup.
Moreover, Han Xiao has another, even more important goal...
Players' spending impulses are strongest before each version of the professional league—only when there are major events do players generously spend money to turn it into combat power.
Shattered World is now gradually transitioning from the early to the mid-game. Although no players have reached the maximum level yet, after nearly a year of accumulation, many players' wallets are bulging again.
"Some of the chives... are ripe."
Han Xiao sighed softly.
It was as if a sharp glint flashed across the sickle.