On Planet Golden Gate, at the Black Star Army headquarters, in the combat training room, a battle is underway.
Bang!!
The streamlined, jet-black mechanical warrior slammed into five blue-purple mechanical warriors, braving the lasers spewed from ten ground-based turrets, and charged all the way to Reynold. Its arms Nano Transformation into eight high-speed rotating spiral spikes, striking Reynold's shield and creating intense sparks.
With a serious expression, Reynold stepped back, leaving an electromagnetic trap in his place to control the dark mechanical soldier. At the same time, he released blinding Mechanical Force lightning and used some kind of skill to amplify the turret's power, resulting in a continuous barrage.
Click click click--
In an instant, the pitch-black mechanical warrior suddenly disintegrated, transforming into several torrents of pitch-black nanoparticles. They quickly returned to a figure not far away, where the nanoparticles reformed, transforming back into the humanoid mechanical warrior, silently guarding the person's side.
"Your abilities are getting stronger and stronger; breaking through to the Calamity Grade- level is just around the corner." The figure clapped, his voice full of praise; it was Han Xiao.
Compared to two years ago, Han Xiao is still young and handsome, but taller, and his aura is even more unfathomable. He is still wearing a low-key, luxurious, and sophisticated black trench coat, without any mecha armor.
"This is all thanks to your guidance," Reynold said earnestly.
"It's because you have exceptional talent."
Han Xiao waved his hand, offering a polite exchange of compliments.
After two years of study, Reynold gradually approached the A Tier energy level and often asked to spar with Han Xiao. Since both of them were mechanics, there was no need for them to fight amongst themselves, so each sparring session was a small-scale attack and defense to test the strength and precision of individual mechanics.
The jet-black mechanical warrior beside Han Xiao is one of the new mechanical warrior models he has been researching over the past two years. It has enhanced Nano Transformation capabilities, outstanding individual attributes, and performance surpasses that of the Oathkeeper. It is a true elite machine and belongs to the tier of Calamity Grade weapons in Han Xiao's equipment. Its model name is simply [Shapeshifter].
Every time Reynold sparred with Black Star, he was astonished, because Black Star could always produce different powerful machines. Every sparring match would involve testing his weapons on Black Star, and Reynold couldn't imagine just how many mechanical blueprints Black Star knew.
Even at Reynold's level, learning a blueprint is not easy, and researching a new machine would require even more effort. However, Reynold could not fathom Black Star's level of expertise and could not understand why Black Star's research efficiency was so terrifying, producing new blueprints every few days.
Moreover, every time they sparred, Reynold could sense that Han Xiao was finding it easier and easier to deal with him. Black Star was already a Calamity Grade powerhouse, yet he seemed to have no bottlenecks and was constantly getting stronger. This horrified Reynold, making him feel that Han Xiao was unfathomable.
Reynold had always prided himself on his exceptional talent and was full of confidence, but Han Xiao's words had put him down, making him feel inferior and causing him to become even more humble.
There was so much for Reynold to learn from Black Star, and he grew increasingly fanatical, wishing he could spend every minute tracking Han Xiao and recording his every move.
Putting away the machinery, Han Xiao suddenly remembered something and casually asked, "How are the legion's logistical reserves doing now?"
When the topic turned to work, Reynold's expression became even more serious, and he stated methodically, "All kinds of resource warehouses are well-stocked and in good condition overall. Only bases 17, 21, and 24 are facing a critical shortage of supplies, mainly ammunition, fuel, and conventional machinery materials. Four days ago, I transferred resources from the five nearest bases, and according to the schedule, the first batch of supplies is expected to arrive at its destination in two days..."
Upon hearing this, Han Xiao nodded, dismissed Reynold, and stayed in the room to think.
Over the past two years, the Black Star Army has grown rapidly, just as industry insiders predicted. It has gradually monopolized the business in the Garton Star System, established branch bases on dozens of civilized planets in the Garton Star System, and even built an office on its home planet, Goddora.
Millions of players brought enormous profits to the Black Star Army. Han Xiao used this opportunity to further enhance the Black Star Army's reputation and prestige, attracting more free mercenaries to join the Black Star as its business expanded.
Now, aside from the millions of cannons... cough, players, the legion also has 100,000 official mercenaries, and the number of trainees in the training camp is three or four times that number. Just relying on NPC mercenaries, the Black Star Army is undoubtedly a large mercenary group.
The trainees in the training camp are no longer unqualified freelance mercenaries, but also many ordinary people without any foundation. On each planet where the branch base is located, there are young people who yearn for a life in space or want to become superhumans, and who sign contracts to become strong men mercenaries.
The ranks of the legion have also become more systematic and standardized, with a clear structure and more efficient management. Cadres have their own responsibilities. Some have become regional supervisors, coordinating hundreds of mercenary squads. Some have become ace mercenaries, specializing in high-difficulty mercenaries. Some have become fleet commanders. Some have become the chief instructors of training camps. Some have continued to serve as mascots. And some have become the female secretary of the legion commander.
The position of vice commander remains vacant. This position requires formidable strength to command respect. Han Xiao is the only Calamity Grade in the legion, and the vice commander must also be at this level to maintain his prestige. Among all the officers, only Reynold is closest to the Calamity Grade.
In the past two years, Han Xiao has recruited over a hundred Grade B superhumans. Some were normal mercenaries who came to join him voluntarily, while others were elites he found based on his memories. Among them was a protagonist-type character with a low-level aura, which supplemented his mid-level combat power.
After monopolizing the Garton Star System, Han Xiao expanded his business, radiating outwards from the Garton Star System to several surrounding galaxies, each seizing a portion of the market.
To succeed, one must be strong oneself. The larger the market one occupies, the greater the demands placed on the capabilities of one's own organization.
As a socialist youth deeply influenced by the values of infrastructure fanaticism, Han Xiao continuously invested his earnings into base construction and fleet expansion, striving to build a virtuous cycle of interests.
Today, the Black Star Army has twenty-six organized fleets, each responsible for different duties such as combat, logistics, and rapid support, with a total of 1,600 warships. It has been proven that the profits from robbing space pirates... cough, and eliminating evil are quite considerable.
The number of bases has reached thirty-four. In addition to Noriosse and Rosoth, three more funders have been added. Two of them are legitimate business conglomerates, and the other is surprisingly the Goddora government. Not only has it relaxed its strategic resource restrictions on Han Xiao, but it has also invested heavily in him. The shady relationship between the two sides has become even closer.
The influence of a faction extends further than its sphere of influence. The Black Star Army has already joined the ranks of iconic private forces in the Colton Star Cluster. This time, it is actually Dragon Calm's status that has risen accordingly. The strength of its field armed forces means that Dragon Calm's deterrent power no longer comes from Ames alone.
However, Han Xiao had already noticed the bottleneck in the development of the faction.
As a mercenary group, the Black Star Army has already reached the top tier. Further expansion will become increasingly inefficient, with distance being a significant limitation. The larger the business scope, the more exponentially the demands on the faction's capabilities will increase. Monopolizing the Garton Star System is currently their limit, and they are not yet capable of monopolizing a second system.
Another factor contributing to the bottleneck in faction formation is the nature of the faction. Mercenary groups are a relatively loose organizational type. To reach a higher level, they need to transform their business, relegating mercenary operations to a secondary role and transforming their faction into a semi-private armed force, similar to the nature of the War Realm.
It's very difficult, and the timing isn't right yet; a transformation is premature. But Han Xiao has a long-term vision and knows that this is an inevitable path for the faction's upgrade, something that must be done sooner or later.
"The only thing I don't need to worry about is my own strength..."
Han Xiao's eyes flashed. He was currently level 170, only twenty levels higher than two years ago, and was stuck on the job change quest after reaching the maximum level of [Galaxy Mechanic].
However, this is because Han Xiao did not focus solely on leveling up. He saved up the vast majority of his experience, resulting in a terrifyingly large amount of experience reserves. Even though the experience cost for leveling up at this stage was extremely high, his experience reserves were enough to support him leveling up dozens more times.
However, Han Xiao did not do that. He had not encountered many strong enemies in the past two years, so he was not in a hurry to level up. Instead, he invested a lot of experience to upgrade his skills in exchange for potential points, and at the same time, he gambled for a large number of blueprints.
More importantly, Han Xiao considered the issue of version updates.
This update comes at a time that's roughly ten years in the game. With almost a decade without being able to "harvest" new players, experience reserves are like food for winter – the more the better, it's better to be prepared.
"It's already late 2.0 version. By the time the professional league is over, the version update will be much faster. Sigh, ten years..."
Han Xiao thought about it for a while, then felt a little worried. He let out a breath, scratched his head, and opened his personal attribute panel to browse through it:
[Total Level: 170]
[Main Occupation: Mechanic Class]
[Race: Chaos Observer) ]
[Strength 254, Agility 634, Endurance 608, Intelligence 1956, Mysticism 263, Charisma 105, Luck 1]
[Free attribute points: 0]
[Potential Points: 31]
[Health Points: 93732]
[Stamina: 94180]
[Stamina: 17580 [Lv11]]
[Lv11 Total Strength Bonus: Strength +111, Agility +158, Stamina +174, Intelligence +204, Mysticism +129, Maximum Stamina +21220, Mechanical Affinity +142%]
[Energy Level: 14780]
[Rank: A]
[Grade A Bonus: Stamina +10, all resistances +8%, highest attribute +10%, other attributes +5%, additional 30 free attribute points, additional 5 potential points]
[You are now a seasoned Grade A superhuman. Those who oppose you will experience nightmares.]
Compared to faction development, individual strength doesn't have many bottlenecks. If you encounter difficult job change or advancement quests, you at least have Mission Settlement Card as a backup plan—although there are none in stock at the moment.
As long as he accumulates enough experience, he can quickly become stronger, so Han Xiao doesn't worry too much about that.
Level is not the only factor in combat strength; in the past two years, he has also been collecting specialties from all over the place.
Although Reynold's specialty was still unknown, Han Xiao traveled a long way to retrieve a common specialty of the same type, [Basic Mechanical Sense], finally giving him a mechanical specialty.
[Intermediate Tenacious Life] also triggered several enhancement prompts. Han Xiao estimated that after taking some gene potions from rare creatures, he could upgrade this specialty.
Unfortunately, template-based feats are very rare; the ones I've acquired in the last two years are all ordinary feats.
Aside from the changes in panel attributes, the changes in actual combat are even more significant!
Han Xiao expanded his mechanical legion many times over, improved and strengthened the tactics of various schools, added a variety of Calamity Grade mechanical equipment, and became rich in resources. His combat mode became more and more comprehensive, completely different from what it was two years ago. Han Xiao felt that he could beat five or six of his two-year-old selves at the same time.
laugh--
Suddenly, the door opened, and Sylvia stood outside.
"Teacher, we've found you. Several mercenaries want to see you, saying they have important intelligence."
Two years ago, Sylvia was a budding, inexperienced young girl. Now she has developed even better, with a tall, slender figure, a curvaceous and shapely body, and is a young and beautiful woman. She is radiant, charming, and has eyes like bright stars, clear and sparkling. She is lively, energetic, and spirited.
Her position was Han Xiao's secretary, and her personal potential was finally revealed after Han Xiao's continuous efforts to develop it.
The homework Han Xiao assigned would have overwhelmed Sylvia two years ago, but it's a piece of cake for her now, and her growth rate is getting faster every day. Although her potential hasn't been converted into strength yet due to the short training time, she can already unleash C+ level combat power using the special mechanical battle suit Han Xiao created. She can even spar with ordinary Grade B superhumans for a few rounds, and is slowly showing the style of the "Mechanical Female Knight" from her previous life.
Han Xiao looked Sylvia up and down, pleasing her eye, before speaking.
"Who wants to see me?"
"These people."
Sylvia took out the documents, Han Xiao glanced at them, slightly taken aback. It turned out to be Frenzied Saber, Hao Tian, and their group.