"Take this statue and find the other two as soon as possible," Morning Star said.
Han Xiao examined the new statue. It was a faceless humanoid creature, lying on its back with a huge eye on its chest. It was also very strange and bizarre. When he got it, the item description on the panel was also [Mysterious Statue], but there was an extra note.
[You discover that these statues seem to be a set; collecting all the statues may lead to something unusual.]
After putting away the two statues, Han Xiao asked, "For the sake of 100,000 Enas, I'll accept this job. Where should I find you after it's done?"
"My schedule is packed, and you won't be able to find everything in a short time. I'll give you my assistant's contact number later; just let him know when you're done." Morning Star smiled, exuding charm.
Although he knew the location of the statues, Han Xiao did not choose to collect all three before coming over, as that would seem highly suspicious. At least for now, Morning Star believed that encountering Han Xiao was just luck.
Morning Star herself was also Find the Statues, but had no luck with it. Only by having two statues could she sense the location of the other statues over a wider area. If it weren't for her sensitivity to the psychic frequencies of the statues, Morning Star wouldn't have been able to spot Han Xiao in the crowd.
Unexpectedly, this performance trip led me to encounter another statue.
Despite Morning Star's seemingly calm and gentle smile, Han Xiao knew that the guy was actually very excited inside.
Morning Star's claim that he was a collector was obviously nonsense; Han Xiao knew all about his background.
This singer is a psychic, using his singing to unleash his psychic power. Although he looks gentle and weak, if Morning Star is willing, he can unleash a few banshee screams and soul high notes at any time. His combat power is at least Grade B. It is precisely because of the psychic power he possesses that his singing sounds so powerful. These four statues have a special effect on Morning Star, as they can enhance his psychic power.
The four statues were originally a set of sacrificial totems, which were prayed for day and night by believers and came from the Arcane Church.
Unlike the pragmatism of the Crimson Dynasty and the liberalism of the Federation of Light, the Arcane Church cult is a cosmic civilization with a strong religious cult atmosphere and is very mysterious.
In the understanding of most planetary and galactic civilizations, religious belief is merely a source of spiritual comfort and intellectual enlightenment, at most guiding individuals to choose a different set of values to face life. Some civilizations even regard religion as a social cancer.
However, evolutionary paths are diverse. Most religions worship fictional gods, while some are real. The Arcane Church was fortunate enough to be the latter. Initially, they were also barbarians. However, unlike the historical processes of those who first awakened through technology or magic, the early people discovered ways to communicate with real gods. When the worshipped gods could genuinely "return" to the believers, and when religious worship could lead to technological and social progress, the structure and atmosphere of their civilization were naturally quite different from most technological or magical civilizations.
What are gods? In magical terms, they should be magical entities with immense power, just as some magicians can gain power through contracts. In scientific terms, gods are higher-dimensional life forms that ordinary species cannot detect with their physical senses. The images projected by higher dimensions onto the real world are mostly bizarre and strange—so those that don't look distinctive are basically false gods.
In both interpretations, the relationship between believers and deities is usually mutually beneficial. However, the more advanced a civilization is, the more cautious it is in its study of deities, and it never draws hasty conclusions.
The Arcane Church has its own explanation for the existence of gods and possesses an incredible technology that allows it to make the objects of worship real! For example, if a religious deity is fictional, the Arcane Church has a way to make it real—of course, according to them, "All gods have long existed, waiting to be worshipped; we are merely building bridges for lost seekers." In short, it's all very mystical, and Master Han is not interested in it.
Therefore, in addition to the Supreme Spirit they worship, the Arcane Church also gathers believers from countless other religions, making it a common holy site for all faiths in the Galaxy —and these four statues are religious totems that have materialized a deity, embodying the intention of long-term worship.
Most of this information came from various documents Han Xiao had read. All three cosmic-level civilizations possessed incredible abilities. However, he wasn't concerned with such a massive issue at the moment; his only goal was to complete this mission.
After the celebration, Han Xiao bid farewell to Morning Star and returned to the rented spaceship.
What did you learn?
Melos looked on with curiosity.
"Ha, I've received a job offer of 100,000 Enas."
"Wow, that's quite a lot!" Melos exclaimed in surprise. "With a little more savings, we can afford a decent spaceship."
"It's not necessary for now. Fuel consumption, shipyard maintenance, parts replacement, and equipment upgrades all cost money."
Han Xiao waved his hand, saying that he would have to wait until his skills were good enough to repair spaceships before he could significantly reduce costs, since maintaining a spaceship was more expensive than buying one. In his previous life, it wasn't until later versions that players could all have a spaceship; before that, only large guilds typically maintained them.
Intercepting spaceships from the gray forces and reselling them to shipyards at cost price is a viable way to make money. There's an opportunity to cooperate with those large mercenary groups, but I'll probably only get a small part of it. In aerial combat, those with ships are the main force... unless I get to pilot the ships myself.
Having set its destination, the spaceship rumbled into the air.
Because he was familiar with the key points of the mission, Han Xiao didn't need to waste time. A statue had fallen on a desolate planet and was buried underground. He just needed to go and get it. The normal way would be to gather intelligence and conduct a thorough search. He avoided all the most difficult steps.
The trip went smoothly; he landed on the planet, went straight to the location, and unearthed the third Mysterious Statue. Apart from the time spent on the journey, he didn't waste a single second. Based on players' experiences, he saved at least twenty days.
The last statue, however, already had an owner.
For this mission, the group has traveled to many regions. This time, they have returned to the Terrarium Star Cluster and entered the Fourth Star Zone of the East River Star System.
"The Mystic Blue Star, this planet has a civilization. The interstellar civilization that detected this planet did not communicate with the local civilization or reveal its whereabouts for unknown reasons. This means that the civilization of Mystic Blue Star was unaware that guests had visited and did not know the exact appearance of the cosmic forces. In other words, they are natives in the usual sense, even more native than those of Planet Aquamarine."
However, this planet's geography... well, its astronomical location is unusual; it lies right in the path of a swarm of wormholes ejecting objects, so a lot of space debris frequently falls onto their planet.
Han Xiao opened the star map and introduced it to everyone.
"The extraterrestrial objects allowed them to deduce some technologies that were beyond their own capabilities, but due to the technological gap, they gained limited insights from them."
At the same time, this debris gave them a clear understanding that other civilizations existed in the universe, but their knowledge was limited to this.
It's worth noting that these pieces of space debris from different civilizations showcased diverse technological systems to the Mystic Blue Star. Thus, in the early stages of their civilization's development, they simultaneously researched vastly different technological systems: magic, technology, runes, crystals, and so on. However, this eclectic approach, lacking expertise, was not necessarily a good thing for a nascent civilization. In short, their technological level had not yet reached the standards of spacefaring.
Han Xiao tapped the screen and said in a deep voice.
"And the last statue is actually 'space debris' that fell onto this planet, which is being closely controlled by a local power as a product of yet another new technology."
"Boss, what are you planning to do?" asked the eldest of the Tu Shu brothers, I don't know which one.
"Deploy directly, make demands, and if they don't comply, beat them until they submit."
Han Xiao's tone was resolute.
Melos paused, "That's not a good idea. How about we negotiate and give them some data on the cosmic environment in exchange for the statue?"
Han Xiao shook his head.
In my past life, players who did quests thought the same way.
Due to technological differences, the Mystic Blue Star was divided into different factions that fought amongst themselves. After choosing to negotiate, the faction that possessed the statue considered itself a rare commodity and made exorbitant demands. First, it asked for a large amount of cosmic intelligence, which the player complied with. Then, it asked for a lot of advanced knowledge and technology, which the player also complied with. Finally, the other party even made the excessive demand that the "interstellar visitors" conquer other factions for it, taking advantage of the player's kindness.
The player finally snapped and launched a fierce attack, only for the other side to obediently hand over the statue, proving that the previous negotiations were pointless and that it would have been better to just kick down the door from the start.
When dealing with this kind of target, if you don't show your fists, they'll think you're always willing to help them.
Of course, if one can patiently meet the other party's demands, one can obtain the statue and trigger other quests, but for Han Xiao, resorting to force is obviously the most convenient option.
Since that's the case, Han Xiao didn't want to waste any more time and chose to directly airdrop and kick down the door.
Northwest of the Mystic Blue Star, in the Rune City.
This is a city built with rune technology, located in the center of a forest. The houses and buildings are engraved with winding runes, shimmering with blue and white light. The architectural style is mainly slender, light, and triangular. Every so often there is a towering obelisk, engraved with energy-absorbing runes. The ubiquitous obelisks are the city's energy core. There are no city walls at the city's edge. The buildings gradually become lower and lower, turning into villages that stretch all the way into the forest.
Many years ago, some space debris crashed here, containing the secrets of runic technology. The pioneers deduced some of the technology and slowly built this city, which is now one of the major powers on the Mystic Blue Star.
It was nighttime.
In a forest forty kilometers from Rune City, dozens of people had set up a temporary camp. The Bonfire glowed with a steady red light, spreading warmth. The people sat around it, dressed in leather clothes and armor engraved with runes. At the edge of the camp, beast-repelling runes were arranged, their green light causing the rustling beasts and insects that moved about in the darkness to retreat.
"Captain, how much can we sell this shipment for on the black market in Rune City?" A young man rubbed his hands together, his voice filled with anticipation.
The captain, a skinny man who resembled a mouse, chuckled and said, "Someone is secretly buying up space junk in Rune City. This batch of goods we've stockpiled will earn us at least eight thousand fes."
This is a smuggling gang that sells books that are actually space junk. Every so often, debris ejected from wormholes falls to different locations on planets. This debris has research value, and various forces are collecting it vigorously, but some always slip through the net. Thus, the black market for space junk was born, buying up these extraterrestrial objects. The smugglers are the gangs that search everywhere for space junk to sell on the black market.
Whoosh--
Just then, everyone suddenly heard a sharp whistling sound, which grew louder and louder, like a knife slicing through the silence of the night. They quickly got up and looked, and saw a fiery meteor in the night sky flying in their direction.
The smugglers recognized the voice all too well, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on their faces.
"Space debris!"
The fireball rapidly approached, quickly passing overhead, whipping up a gale that shook the forest and rustled the leaves. Then, the meteor crashed not far away, snapping a small patch of trees with a loud bang.
Boom!!
The ground shook, and everyone stumbled, nearly falling.
Not far away, flames and thick smoke rose, and the captain glanced at them, his face beaming with joy.
"We're lucky! This space debris fell very close to us, and we managed to collect it before the Rune City's looting forces arrived!"
The smugglers acted quickly and rushed to the scene. Before them was a crater filled with thick smoke, and in the center of the crater was an egg-shaped metal object, about two and a half meters high.
"What is this?" the smugglers asked curiously, examining it.
"Don't just stand there, move out quickly," the team leader urged.
Just as everyone was about to step forward, a trembling bang echoed through the forest, and a small crater appeared in the ground in front of the smuggler captain.
"Everyone, stay away!"
A deep, resonant voice echoed from the forest on the other side. As the voice faded, another group of people emerged from the woods, clad in metal armor and armed with grenades and rifles. One of them wore infrared Sniping goggles, and the muzzle of his Sniping rifle was emitting smoke; the sound from earlier was indeed that of Sniping rifle.
"The Steel Fire Fort troops!" The smugglers' expressions changed.
Steel Fire Fort is also one of the major powers on the Mystic Blue Star. It possesses technology in metals, gunpowder, and machinery. Their mechanical war machines are the most troublesome force for all other powers on the battlefield.
It wasn't just these people; rustling sounds filled the forest as more teams rapidly approached. This new "space debris" acted like a vortex, drawing in all the other teams in the forest.
These teams, each with a distinct style, all wore wary expressions and glared at each other menacingly.
In the territory of one faction, other factions will deploy operational forces to seize space debris that has fallen near the enemy's territory, thus preventing the opposing faction from gaining new opportunities.
But if you can't get it
Then...
Destroy it!