Players in Green Valley Town took screenshots and boasted about the arrival of the Black Phantom on the forum, sparking another wave of discussion.
"First it was Big Horn Mountain, now it's Green Valley, will he go to another beginner location?"
"Was this high-ranking character arranged by the game developers? The timing of his appearance seems strange. If he's a Mechanic Class professor, wouldn't his whereabouts be too elusive? Could he be the planet's main character as stated in the official website?"
"It doesn't seem like it. I think the planet's protagonist should be related to the main storyline, and we wouldn't be exposed to him so early. The Black Phantom is probably just a Mysterious Person who provides the Mechanic Class change... Does this mean that it's difficult to find Mechanic Class change opportunity other than the Black Phantom, so the developers had the Black Phantom as compensation for us?"
"Holy crap, does that mean if you want to switch to the Mechanic Class, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"
Speculation about Han Xiao has not stopped. Before the hype Big Horn Mountain had subsided, he was once again the subject of intense discussion among players from Green Valley Town.
Han Xiao read many posts with great interest and summarized several opinions that players had about him.
The first theory, which holds the view that he is a mysterious businessman who appears in the early stages to provide benefits to new players, is the most popular.
The second theory is that he was a professor in the Mechanic Class.
The third theory is that he is an important plot character who can trigger important quests. Because of this theory, Han Xiao has to deal with a lot of players every day who want to trigger hidden plots. There is an example of Maple Moon on the forum. Players believe that as long as they show hostility towards Germinal, they can trigger his "hidden plot".
The group's lines All Kinds of Oddities, and Han Xiao naturally rejected them all. Some players even took advantage of their good looks (high charm) and tried to defeat Han Xiao, the great master, with their appearance. Female players were the most numerous. The president of the Sky Domain, Azure Sky, once posted a message implying that women would have a positive affinity with the book when facing the Black Phantom, which resulted in Han Xiao now being surrounded by soft and fragrant women.
Han Xiao remained unmoved.
Think you can avoid paying just because you're good-looking? How naive!
Some players are incredibly arrogant and even try to attack him. Han Xiao Han Xiao, adhering to the healer's attitude of using violence to correct all ailments, kills such players as soon as they revive. The number of deaths refreshes every six days in the game; this is the revival mechanism or anti-addiction mechanism. Players who dare to attack are directly forced offline.
These players who act recklessly in games are clearly used to single-player games with save and load functions. When others play online games, they are cautious and develop their characters steadily, afraid of ruining them. They wouldn't dare to be so arrogant. No one sympathizes with players who court death. Skyrim has been around for over ten installments, and there will always be fearless chicken-killing maniacs challenging the world. We're used to it.
One player after another lined up to give money. Many players were attracted by Han Xiao's display of Mechanic Class strength, but because this time the requirement was to give gifts directly, some rational and stingy players hesitated, and the line to pay was relatively sparse.
Han Xiao casually dealt with the situation, browsing the forum in the meantime. Suddenly, a new post at the top caught his attention; its title was "Galaxy Times".
"This segment is out!" Han Xiao's face lit up with joy, and he felt a sense of nostalgia.
"Galaxy Times" is a semi-official column with a wide variety of content, including official news about "Galaxy," various anecdotes, professional player activities, game progress analysis, and so on. Han Xiao used to be a loyal reader of "Galaxy Times," always urging for updates as soon as he finished reading. Now that he's joined, it's unclear whether the content will change.
In the video, a male and a female host sit in front of the camera like a news anchor, with the ever-changing scenes of "Galaxy" and the landscapes of various beginner planets behind them.
Male host. "Hello, fellow gamers! This is Galaxy Times, dedicated to sharing firsthand gaming information and supporting your gaming journey."
Female host. "It's been ten days since the open beta started, and the players' enthusiasm hasn't waned at all. So let's first review the major events that have happened in these ten days..."
The first issue of the Galaxy Times was quite comprehensive. The next ten minutes quickly reviewed the players' activities on various planets over the ten days of the open beta, introducing the civilization backgrounds of each planet. Among them was the ancient Planet Long Song, where people wore armor and fought with melee weapons such as swords, spears, and warhammers. The background resembled a mixture of ancient Huaxia and medieval Western civilizations. Clearly, this planet was dominated by Pugilist Class and Mage Class. If the main storyline were given a subtitle, it would probably be something like "Total War," "World Domination," or "I'll Use Your Skull as a Bowl."
There is also the Planet Palayton, where the magical civilization is highly developed. The city is like a floating island, with ninety-nine towering magic towers distributed on the city's edge, resonating with the main tower in the city center to form a city defense array. The huge crystal balls at the top of the towers provide magical power to keep the city suspended. Occasionally, one can see giant dragons soaring across the sky. It is very difficult for novice players to survive in this world, and they can easily exhaust their death limit.
Of course, there's an even tougher start: Planet Frostwinter, one of the territories of the Extinguished Legion of the Void Demon Race, and the only planet where you can see interstellar warships. The Demon warships are ferocious and ostentatious, a blend of magic and technology, and the individual Demons are incredibly powerful, even capable of briefly riding cosmic creatures into space. Their strength level is extremely high, and players here are less than cannon fodder. Fortunately, Planet Frostwinter is just a branch territory of the Extinguished Legion, and the main storyline isn't about fighting the Demons; otherwise, United States players who chose Planet Frostwinter as their base wouldn't even be able to leave the starting area.
The richer the resources on a beginner planet, the higher the starting difficulty. In comparison, Planet Aquamarine has a moderate level of difficulty and resources. Its technological background is similar to reality from several decades ago, so there aren't many surprises. Unlike other beginner planets, where even a trash can on the street can be novel to players.
However, the forum is very popular on Planet Aquamarine, and the reason for this is the appearance of Black Phantom, who is the first high-level character to interact with players.
The two hosts then changed the subject and started talking about Black Phantom.
"The next event is on Planet Aquamarine. As those who follow the forum know, Black Phantom was the first mysterious high-ranking figure to appear before the players, and the players know very little about him. Qiuqiu, what role do you think he plays in the storyline of Planet Aquamarine?" the male host asked.
Female host. "Current intelligence suggests that Black Phantom seems to hold a significant position; his identity is shrouded in mystery, and he is an adversary of Germinal."
"Oh, so he belongs to the Six Nations alliance?"
"I don't know," the female host shrugged. "Perhaps only the developers can answer that question."
"Okay, now that we've heard that not-so-funny joke, let's get back to the main topic." The male host changed the subject. "Speaking of Black Phantom, he seems to also be a Mechanic Class instructor, and can trigger hidden storylines. Latest intelligence indicates that Black Phantom has appeared in Green Valley Town, Southern Continent, on Planet Aquamarine. So, those who want to switch to Mechanic Class should seize the opportunity. Black Phantom is currently the easiest way to obtain the knowledge for switching jobs: https://m. hetushu. com."
"However, recently dissenting voices have emerged on the forums, with some players who switched to the Mechanic Class seemingly regretting it."
The female host feigned surprise, "Such a thing actually happened?"
At this point, the chat started arguing. Most players just played whichever class was the strongest, and after being drawn in, they found that the skills of the Mechanic Class were not as powerful as they had imagined, so they naturally complained.
While the two hosts were chatting about this topic, Han Xiao looked down at the replies and noticed that one reply was pinned to the top, with the ID "Luosimen".