Goddora paid close attention to this news. Nagokin had already reported on Han Xiao's personal abilities, so the higher-ups were mainly concerned with another issue— Han Xiao had released the news of Planet Aquamarine's binding with Dragon Calm to the interstellar community through reporters.
Although Dragon Calm is a neutral force without political factors, its influence is extraordinary.
Even though Planet Aquamarine is located in the Garton Star System under the control of Goddora, they will find it difficult to manage Planet Aquamarine under the name of Dragon Calm. This planet may become a special area within their jurisdiction.
The value of winning over Dragon Calm far exceeds that of Planet Aquamarine, Planet Aquamarine is merely a low-level planet. As long as there is no political conflict, Goddora decided to turn a blind eye.
Of course, compared to DarkStar, Planet Aquamarine is a minor issue. After the news broke, the official spokesperson for Goddora also jumped on the bandwagon, promoting the story and further increasing its popularity. They were willing to publicize whoever defeated DarkStar, as long as it dampened DarkStar's arrogance.
Floating Dragon Island.
Jenny's face turned ashen after reading the news, and she immediately contacted Ames.
Ames is currently traveling in interstellar space, and her virtual projection appears above the communicator.
"What's wrong?"
"Look at the news! Black Star's causing trouble again!" Jenny pressed a button on her communicator and sent the news link.
Ames watched for a while, then smiled faintly.
"As expected of someone I value, quite capable."
"That's not the point! He announced to the public that Planet Aquamarine is a branch base of Dragon Calm without my consent!" Jenny said, looking exasperated.
"But I agreed." Ames blinked.
Jenny swallowed back the swear words she was about to say.
"I recently took on two apprentices, both from Planet Aquamarine. Black Star will bring them to Dragon Calm in a while; please settle them in."
After saying that, Ames hung up.
"Ah-- Black Star-- "
The office staff outside the door were all startled when they suddenly heard Jenny's angry scream coming from the office.
In a certain area of Shattered Star Ring, within the sphere of influence of a certain Beyond Grade A.
"Holding the main guns together... that's my style! Ames now has a formidable leader."
In the shadows, a robust giant, seven or eight meters tall, sat on his throne, gazing thoughtfully at the news footage on the virtual screen before him.
"Dragon Calm has begun to expand, Ames has finally become interested in power. Hmm... I'll find time to propose to her again; maybe this time I'll succeed."
The DarkStar mothership that attacked Planet Aquamarine is drifting in space, Ashes and his two companions have seen the news.
"Bullshit! When did he beat us up?!"
Degulish flew into a rage, shouting, "Black Star was clearly no match for them! These reporters are just making things up!"
Terry said helplessly, "In any case, we really failed to kill him."
Ashes snorted, offering no comment, and secretly pondered what methods he could use to kill Han Xiao.
"He must have a weakness. We need to start planting spies in his mercenary group. Only by getting close to him can we discover his weakness."
"So what should we do next?" Terry asked.
Degulish frowned and said slowly:
"Black Star's abilities were unexpected; we failed to kill him. This operation has failed. The leader said it wasn't our fault; nobody knows how much power Black Star is hiding. He ordered us to regroup with the main force and prepare for the next plan."
What are the next steps?
"The specific details are still unknown, but since the motherships have been assembled, it must be a large-scale operation," Degulish said.
DarkStar is still planning his next attack.
However, DarkStar was unaware that Han Xiao had planted a ward in their spring.
All the Stealth motherships were now under Resta's surveillance, rendering DarkStar's reliance useless; they remained completely unaware.
As the news spread and gained traction, Black Star's name was discussed in many places around the Shattered Star Ring, making him famous and bringing Han Xiao a lot of additional fame and benefits.
DarkStar was repelled twice and seemed to have finally calmed down.
However, this was only the calm before the storm; a storm, instigated by Han Xiao, was brewing in the shadows.
Resta monitored the location of the DarkStar mothership. Every so often, Han Xiao would reveal the coordinates to the high command of the War Bureau through Nagokin. Goddora, intending to wipe them all out, secretly mobilized its troops and did not act rashly for the time being.
Goddora continues to employ large mercenary groups as a safeguard, but has not revealed any specific plans, only ordering large mercenary groups such as Sky Ring, Purple Gold, and Blades to remain on standby for the time being.
Han Xiao remained on Planet Aquamarine, focusing on his plan to recruit players, which had reached a crucial stage.
Taking advantage of this attack, Han Xiao changed the faction name through the faction panel and the Mercenary Alliance user interface.
The Black Star Mercenary Group has been renamed...
[Black Star Army]!
Those that dare to use "Legion" as a suffix are basically large mercenary groups.
With the influx of players, Han Xiao's faction has grown to hundreds of thousands of people. In terms of sheer numbers, it has long since joined the ranks of those in the mercenary world, and no one in the mercenary community would object to changing the suffix to this one.
In response to this decision, Han Xiao gave a speech to all players, emphasizing that it was precisely because of the players' participation that the faction changed its name, making the players feel that their actions helped the faction grow.
Replacing a name for this reason makes it easier to cultivate a sense of collective honor and belonging among players, making them feel that this is their faction and fostering a sense of belonging.
This also serves as a signal, implying that they are about to leave Planet Aquamarine and soon begin the next phase, giving players a sense of anticipation.
From the players' perspective, this faction name change is a transitional event marking the upcoming entry into interstellar space!
Such practices, similar to cultivating corporate culture, only work better when paired with tangible benefits, and Han Xiao launched a new product at the opportune time.
He purchased two new advanced Pugilist Class and Esper Class Advanced Knowledge through the interstellar online exchange, spending over 100,000 Enas and placing them in the faction shop. To the players' astonishment, these two new knowledge items did not cost money like the other knowledge items; they only required experience points!
There are also no prerequisites for purchasing items based on faction affinity.
Han Xiao explained this matter through Phillip:
The Black Star Army will provide two Advanced Knowledge "free of charge" to cultivate and train its newly recruited mercenaries.
This move immediately ignited the players' excitement!
Han Xiao sells his Mechanic Class knowledge through skill transfer, while knowledge of the other two systems is sold through the faction shop. This means that players can immediately learn these two free Advanced Knowledge as long as they join the Black Star Army!
This immediately became a faction-exclusive newbie perk, similar to how accumulating enough merit points in Goddora could be exchanged for class knowledge. However, Han Xiao directly removed those restrictions, eliminating the need to spend money to purchase it; users could directly consume experience points to "learn."
Countless players were overjoyed, feeling they had struck it rich!
A team of experienced StarCraft players who entered the game in version 1.0 shared the price of professional knowledge in StarCraft. If you don't join a faction and simply buy it with real money, Advanced Knowledge costs tens of thousands of Enas.
In comparison, the Black Star Army's treatment is truly the epitome of kindness!
Players see this as their achievement; it was because they expanded the faction's size and renamed it the [Black Star Army] that the faction shop was updated with these new benefits. They truly deserve to be called a growing faction!
Han Xiao deliberately chose to charge only experience points, not money, targeting players from the other two factions to quickly accumulate the experience needed to reach level 140.
Master Han's account now has over ten million Enas, and he has already spent over a hundred thousand on it, which he doesn't care about at all. He's even too lazy to charge a symbolic fee, because even if he only charges one Enas, the effect is far less than if he gives it to him for free.
Advanced Knowledge is a necessity, and the number of buyers basically covers all Planet Aquamarine players except those in the Mechanic Class!
If you invest over 100,000 Enas and don't reap a massive amount of experience, you'd be doing yourself a disservice!
Such affordable Advanced Knowledge was only available from this one store, and players bought it without hesitation. This move was very effective, and Han Xiao's experience points on his panel skyrocketed at Berserk speed.
Three hundred million... six hundred million... one billion...
The impact of "free" is terrifying!
Han Xiao felt pleased as he watched his experience points increase rapidly.
"The experience gained this time will probably be enough to level up to 140, and it will be useful for a while."
In just one day, the panel accumulated a massive amount of experience, enough to level up to 140.
In order to advance to Grade A first, Han Xiao hadn't even had time to repair the mechanical legion. This attack made him realize that once the leeks are ripe, they should be harvested as soon as possible. If he had been at the Calamity Grade when facing the three Ashes, he would never have been in such a dangerous situation.
Han Xiao arrived at the training room in Number Two Base, locked the door, and opened the attribute interface.
Take a deep breath and upgrade your experience.
"Finally, I can advance to the Calamity Grade and officially step into the realm of advanced combat power!"
Han Xiao was secretly excited.