The main members of the mercenary group are currently players. Once they disappear, the only team you can command is Sunil Squad, so there are still too few NPC characters.
"During the player absence, the mercenary group's income decreased, so we can temporarily suspend operations and free up time to recruit more characters. When version 2.0 is launched, the Mutation Disaster will erupt, and the players of Planet Aquamarine will begin to integrate with Galaxy. Perfect timing, during the version update period, I have time to prepare."
With just over fifty players, he has already generated huge profits for himself. Version 2.0 will be the period of explosive profit growth, with lush green chives growing everywhere, impossible to eradicate, and springing back to life with the spring breeze. Just thinking about it makes Master Han look forward to next year's harvest.
His goal is to attract tens of thousands of players and make the Black Star Mercenary Group the guiding force for players to enter interstellar space. Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds. He has hidden competitors, namely Goddora and DarkStar.
These two forces will engage in localized clashes on planets during the Mutation Disaster event. Players will choose their faction in this situation, and Han Xiao's attempt to intervene is tantamount to snatching food from a tiger's mouth.
However, the advantages are also obvious. While the two sides are mainly engaged in combat, he is the only one who is specifically targeting the players. His status among the players, as well as the factional influence and sense of belonging created by the Meat Bun program, can attract players.
The more players you recruit, the better. This requires thorough preparation. First, there are various benefits, such as equipment, quests, and rewards, to enhance your strength and influence. Second, there are measures to deal with the Mutation Disaster. The former is for players, and the latter is for the main storyline.
"I have over 800,000 Enas, which is roughly enough to buy two High-End Knowledge to complete the job change quest. However, I'm currently level 95, and I'm stuck on an advancement quest at level 100. Even if I spend all my money, I can only level up five times. The most cost-effective way is to first obtain a secondary profession, and then check the advancement requirements at level 100. If I can't complete it in a short time, I won't rush to spend the 800,000 Inars; I can keep them as funds. I also have about 1.5 billion experience points, which isn't enough to directly reach level 120, not to mention I need to save experience for gambling on blueprints and upgrading skills."
Since there were no players to harvest this year, Han Xiao began to plan carefully. The level 100 advancement was the second opportunity for racial sublimation. He obtained the Void Gene from the Void Dragon Bone, which would affect the path of racial sublimation and result in a significant improvement. He still wanted to advance.
"Secondary jobs are easy to find, but the really rare ones are more troublesome..."
Han Xiao searched his memory, recalling those fancy and rare secondary professions. They generally required various complex operations to obtain. Those that were too difficult required too much effort, while those that were too easy were not well-suited to the Mechanic Class. For him, secondary professions were just embellishments. He did not pursue rarity; he only needed them to be compatible with the Mechanic Class.
"In that case, the attribute-based class is quite good. Perfect, I can get this class at the Juberly Hub. Although it's not rare, its effects are straightforward and simple."
Han Xiao's eyes lit up.
After completing the daily cargo delivery mission in Dragon Calm, Han Xiao was, as usual, called to Ames's house for a visit to inquire about the progress of the search for her teacher. Then, he led everyone back to the Juberly Hub to rest.
The professional gamers had just finished a match and were exhausted. They wholeheartedly agreed that running daily quests in the hub city was much easier, almost like taking a vacation.
However, Han Xiao wasn't doing this to take care of them; the main reason was that the version update was coming soon, and he wanted to take this opportunity to reap one last harvest.
Some obsolete machinery was sold to players, and occasionally some high-quality pieces were sold. Then, Han Xiao accepted enhancement and repair missions. For this purpose, he secluded himself to manufacture for several days. As the number of players in the faction increased, no matter how fast he manufactured, he would definitely not be able to keep up with the demand of the vast number of players, unless he could assemble a production line himself, but that was a long way off.
However, Han Xiao already had a solution to this problem: enhance the faction's NPC resources and use connections to open up opportunities for players to do quests and make money in other maps, making money out of thin air. Sunil was a player training base he had prepared.
After selling goods for a few days, Han Xiao arrived at the 57th floor of a high-rise building in the center of the hub city in a flying disc vehicle. This was the office of an absolutely neutral organization called the [Space-Time Research Society]. The name sounded grand, but it had nothing to do with time and space. It was a scholars' association that stored knowledge and exchanged academic ideas. It had offices in various star systems, and it was a membership-based organization with a loose structure.
The Space-Time Research Society aims to preserve the data and history of all civilizations in the universe, such as academic knowledge, historical records of cosmic civilizations, literary works of various races, and so on—a diverse collection resembling a knowledge base. It also provides a platform for many member scholars to exchange new research topics, fostering a strong academic atmosphere. This organization is naturally public, spearheaded by the Arcane Church, a cosmic-level civilization with the richest cultural atmosphere and countless members across various star systems. Even the Federation of Light and the Crimson Dynasty later joined the association as administrators.
The Space-Time Research Society's archives contain practical knowledge, such as the technology and magic of different civilizations, and knowledge about superhumans. Practical knowledge is even more valuable, and highly sensitive information is generally not exhibited to the outside world—this is also a requirement of advanced civilizations. To access this important knowledge, one must obtain higher access. The only way to improve one's alignment with the association is to donate unknown materials and documents, but improving access is extremely complex, with no clear path; one can only wait for the administrators to select candidates. First, one must participate in various exchange meetings organized by the association, offer new insights, establish a presence, and improve one's status and reputation among members. Only when one's alignment is strong enough, one has been a member long enough, has a clean background, and possesses actual social standing—such as having a high level of positive Legend Points or having extremely high alignment with the advanced civilization that is the administrator—will there be a chance for the administrators to improve one's access. In short, it is extremely complex.
In his previous life, players only started paying attention to the Space-Time Research Society in the later stages of the game. At that time, it was to seek the most advanced professional knowledge, which was extremely rare. The research association had relevant information, which was one of the ways to obtain the most advanced professional knowledge. However, to get it, one had to spend a huge amount of time and energy, and there were no shortcuts. In any case, he didn't need to think about it for a long time, so Han Xiao decided to join the association now rather than later.
There are no barriers to joining; you just need to pay a fee. Compared to the pretentiousness of the research association, the membership fee is quite affordable, costing only 500 Enas.
Of course, Han Xiao's goal for this trip wasn't that far-reaching. Joining the research association would give him a secondary profession, which was what he really wanted.
The membership process was smooth sailing; entering information, filling out forms, paying fees, and even flirting with the receptionist were all done in one go, taking no more than ten minutes.
Stepping out of the research association's office, Han Xiao opened the panel, where a new item had been added to the secondary profession section.
[Scholar]!
He directly invested experience to raise it to level 5, reaching the advancement cap of level 100.
[Scholar] upgraded to level 5, Intelligence +10, gained 1 potential point.
There is a type of secondary profession called "attribute profession," such as the [Scholar] at this moment. With each level up, a single attribute will be greatly increased, and there are no free attribute points, only potential points.
[Scholar] gains 10 points of intelligence with each level, and after 5 levels, a total of 50 points of intelligence are gained.
Intelligence is a core attribute of the Mechanic Class, and it relates to Mechanical Affinity. Han Xiao's current specialty, [Mechanical Analysis Comprehension], increases Mechanical Affinity by 1% for every 10 points of Intelligence.
Han Xiao basically allocated all his points to Intelligence, and now he has over 600 Intelligence points, which is more than 60% of the bonus. This is his core specialization, and Han Xiao knows that this is only one of the skills related to the Intelligence attribute in the Mechanic Class. He will gain more professional skills in later stages.
Furthermore, the [Scholar] secondary profession grants him another specialty called [Research Theory], which increases Intelligence by 1 point for every 3 skills mastered. This is extremely suitable for Mechanic Class and Mage Class, both of which are known for having a large number of skills and whose combat power benefits from Intelligence. Compared to Mage Class, which also require Mystic attributes, Mechanic Class receive the highest bonus from the [Scholar] profession, making them a perfect match.
In the Mechanic Class, a blueprint is considered a skill. Han Xiao now knows over a hundred blueprints, and his level 5 [Scholar] skill alone gives him a 90-point boost to his intelligence.
Of all the secondary professions that are currently the easiest to obtain, attribute-based professions are the most useful option in Han Xiao's opinion.
Every player can easily obtain this attribute-based secondary profession (provided they know it exists), the bonuses are extremely considerable, and it provides a growth-oriented attribute specialty that can even play a significant role in the later stages of the game. In the previous life, many top professional players would choose to learn one or two attribute-based professions because it was extremely useful.
The most awesome one is the "Lucky" attribute class. Just from the name, you can tell what kind of class this is: [Gambler]!
He still remembered the [Gambler] perk effect: winning a certain amount through gambling, betting, and other such activities would increase luck; the more he won, the higher the luck bonus became. Conversely, losing a certain amount would decrease luck, perfectly illustrating the meaning of the sub-profession's name and its luck attribute...
Actually, Han Xiao really wanted to get the [Gambler] profession. After all, even if he lowered his rank, it would only be from 1 to 0, which would be useless. But if he won, he would make a fortune!
After experiencing the clarity of mind that comes with leveling up, Han Xiao looked at the panel and realized that the level 100 advancement quest was his main goal.
After just one glance, Han Xiao suddenly began to question the meaning of life.
"Should I learn the profession of [gambler] first...?"