Through player forums and internal legion programs, players logging in from other bases also learned about the discounted participation.
More than ten days later, over a million Legion players gathered at the Legion headquarters and chose to participate in the war.
A significant number of these people fell for the promotional tactic, handing over their wallets and generating billions in net profit for the Black Star Army within half a month, a very lucrative gain.
However, players' main focus is still on leveling up. For example, a number of professional players concentrate on leveling up in the early stages of the version, while only a small percentage of players choose to learn new skills.
But Han Xiao was not discouraged. Once the players became richer and had excess experience, they would definitely buy all the knowledge in the legion. This experience would be in his possession sooner or later. The experience he gained in just half a month was already more than the total experience he had gained in seven years. His efficiency was off the charts.
The players happily enjoyed their new equipment, while Han Xiao happily counted his money.
Within half a month, he intermittently leveled himself up to level 217, still three levels of experience away from advancing to level 220.
After this round of exploitation, players' savings and experience points were basically wiped out, leaving them with nothing and needing time to recover.
"Players still don't have enough experience. That makes sense. Towards the end of the last version, many people went to the professional league qualifiers just for fun, and they used all their experience to upgrade their skills. These people didn't save up much experience. We still need to fatten them up first."
Meanwhile, in the lounge of the conference room, a group of cadres were shouting and yelling around a card table. Han Xiao leaned back on a sofa to the side, not participating, and was all alone, concentrating on thinking about the problem.
"Once this battle is over, I should have enough experience to advance, and maybe I can level up a few more times, narrowing the gap to Beyond Grade A."
Han Xiao pondered to himself.
Although he won't reach Beyond Grade A so quickly, Han Xiao is quite satisfied with his current progress. Other Beyond Grade A Seed are struggling to find a way to become Beyond Grade A and are stuck at a bottleneck, unable to make any progress. But he only needs to level up to grow rapidly, and there is no real bottleneck for him.
Not to mention he also stockpiled Mission Settlement Card; as long as he had enough experience, success would come naturally.
As Han Xiao was pondering, a cheer erupted from the other side of the card table.
Lagi looked helpless and muttered, "I knew we'd lose." He stood up and left his seat. His side of the game had been completely crushed. On the other side of the table was Reynold, who sat upright with a serious expression and nodded slightly, as if to say, "Thank you for the handicap."
"Great, our logistics manager has won five straight games, crushing five opponents."
"Tsk, what a loss of 50,000 Enas. I should have bought Reynold instead."
"The deputy commander was completely outmatched; his skills were far inferior."
"The mechanic's logic is indeed impressive... but why is Lord Black Star's card skill so poor?"
"Teacher! Someone is talking bad about you!" Sylvia shouted at Han Xiao as she turned around.
Han Xiao snapped out of his daze, walked behind Sylvia with his hands behind his back, bent down and rested his chin on Sylvia's head, his gaze sweeping over everyone with an expression that said, "Let me see who's behind my back. jpg".
Since most of the officers will be participating in the battle a few days later, the core members of the legion are basically on standby at headquarters. Han Xiao just held a short meeting, and after the meeting, everyone went to the lounge to play cards and gamble, just like a bunch of old buddies.
Han Xiao refused to participate in any activity that relied on luck.
Reynold was looking at the blueprints on the side, Sylvia couldn't stand losing several games in a row and insisted on pulling Reynold over to vent her anger.
Although Reynold doesn't like wasting time on casual games like Veyne Cards, he is occasionally invited into games by others and has his own decks.
If you can't play the Veyne Cards, you'd be embarrassed to be a high-ranking officer in the Black Star Army.
Although the officers of the legion possess great power, when they are not handling affairs or fighting, they have their own interests just like ordinary people and enjoy having fun.
Since he was already in the game, Reynold took it seriously as always. He possessed strong logical abilities and consistently excellent card skills. With the Veyne Cards game being so versatile, he executed his maneuvers with various clever maneuvers, and all that was left was to push through the opponent's defenses. He crushed five opponents in a row, showing no mercy even to his own sister, Lothaire.
Reynold slowly put away his cards, glanced around, his expressionless face revealing extreme arrogance. "Who else?"
Sylvia tilted her head back and nudged Han Xiao's chin, saying with ill intent, "Teacher, why don't you play a round too?"
Harmon honestly replied, "I bet on Black Star to lose; it's a sure thing."
"Fine," Han Xiao scoffed. "Whoever beats me, I'll kill them. Who wants to play with me?"
"No, no."
Everyone waved their hands repeatedly, saying, "You're the boss, you're the coolest, we don't dare to play, we don't dare to play."
Reynold tapped the table lightly and said seriously, "If no one wants to play with me, then I'm leaving."
At this moment, Melos stepped forward, sat down opposite him with an air of superiority, and sneered, giving off a "I'll take you on" vibe.
"You're pretty arrogant, aren't you? Let me show you what real skill is."
Reynold remained expressionless. "You want to show me what real luck is, don't you?"
"Hmph, Great Luck is also a kind of skill."
Melos scoffed.
"It's over, Reynold's winning streak is about to end."
"What's the panic, Reynold? Punish this bastard!"
Everyone looked delighted.
After seven years of honing his skills, Melos finally crossed the threshold of the Calamity Grade. His talent is indeed superior, befitting a character with the protagonist's halo. It's as if he suddenly became Grade A while playing cards, which is infuriating.
Of all the officers, Melos was the most enthusiastic about Veyne Cards, beating anyone he could get his hands on. Since victory usually belonged to the "God-Draw Dogs Association," and Fording didn't like playing cards, Melos held a de facto authoritative position in the Veyne Cards world of the Black Star Army.
Even the players know that Melos welcomes everyone; they can even play cards with Melos, and there are even corresponding quests. Winning against Melos with Veyne Cards rewards experience and gives you a chance to win rare cards from Melos.
After exchanging a few words, Melos and Reynold officially began their match, both bringing their Black Star Army decks.
Five years ago, the Veyne Cards was updated. Now, the Black Star Army, as an affiliate of the Dragon Calm faction, has surpassed the Dragon Calm in the number of cards on the list, with a total of eight cards. Among them, Han Xiao's personal card has been enhanced, with numerous special effects and extremely high health, making it a rare card.
Before long, Melos drew a series of incredible cards, and although Reynold had excellent card skills, he still fell into a passive position.
Han Xiao suddenly had a mischievous urge and cast a [Luck Curse] on Melos.
"Hmph, you're already dead." Melos said confidently, but after glancing at it, his face immediately froze.
The Veyne Cards is practically a luck-based identification technique, with luck playing a significant role in card games. Melos, despite having 90% less luck, still had a higher luck rating than himself. However, against Reynold, he lost the Lucky Halo and drew several bad hands in a row, allowing Reynold to easily counterattack and quickly turn the tide of the game.
"Oh, so your luck has finally run out?"
"Haha, you've finally met your match."
Melos, his face dark, stubbornly argued, "What do you know? This is called strategically giving up an advantage. I'll turn the tide in a minute."
The onlookers burst into laughter, and the room was instantly filled with a joyful atmosphere.
Han Xiao stopped joining in the fun, sat back on the sofa, and opened the forum to observe the recent activities of the players.
With version 3.0 having been released for less than half a month, and players in other star systems still in the exploration phase, the information revealed by Han Xiao has become an important clue for players in other star systems to find their respective main storylines, benefiting all players.
This time, the new main storyline for the Shattered Star Ring was the first to appear, causing envy and jealousy among players from other star regions. As a result, the Shattered Star Ring section of the forum became the most active, with many other players from other star regions coming to leave comments and discuss.
Coincidentally, Meat Bun released a new video series, speculating that the Black Star Army was the hidden main storyline in the three consecutive versions of the Shattered Star Ring, providing various analyses, and praising Han Xiao excessively, which sparked widespread discussion. Han Xiao and the Black Star Army have become hot topics in the past half month.
Han Xiao glanced at the posts, which were mostly discussing his importance and past achievements. Meat Bun had given him a boost in visibility, which wasn't a bad thing.
To his delight, the latest episode of the Galaxy Times, while introducing the new version, also highlighted the current benefits offered to the Black Star Army based on player information.
With version 3.0 expected to bring a large influx of new players, the Galaxy Times ' emphasis on the Black Star Army's benefits will likely attract many to spawn in the Shattered Star Ring, indirectly increasing the player base there.
"Knowledge can only be learned once, while new players represent a new market and can bring new revenue. Besides Planet Aquamarine, there are other new beginner planets in the Shattered Star Ring. We should find some time to build the Black Star Army base there and recruit these new players into the legion in advance."
Han Xiao pondered. Besides the hardcore players who started playing from version 1.0, he also needed to increase the scale of his "harvesting" (exploiting new players) base.
"Players in other star systems also represent a huge potential market, but unfortunately, the distances between star systems are too great, and the Black Star Army's forces cannot yet leave the Shattered Star Ring, so there is no hope for the time being."
Han Xiao shook his head inwardly. He had always coveted players from other star regions, but due to distance limitations, he couldn't make a move against them.
While casually scanning the posts, Han Xiao's gaze suddenly stopped; one post caught his attention.
The title is boldly proclaimed. "The Real Way to Play Secret War."
"What the hell is the real gameplay? I don't know any of that."
Han Xiao clicked on it out of curiosity. The poster's ID was "Summer Night Blossoms," and the content of the post made Han Xiao raise an eyebrow:
"... Everyone already knows that you can choose between two factions in the Secret War main storyline. However, since we are in the Black Star Army, almost everyone is on the side of the Amethyst Civilization from the beginning. Given this, why can we still choose the Krent faction...? I think there is a hidden clue here."
The hint is this: Krent offers greater benefits than staying with the Black Star Army!
This is the correct way to play this main storyline!
I'm not making this up. My first reason is that I've researched ten years of events. From the very beginning of the Secret War, Krent has held the advantage in the War Realm and still maintains that initiative. The invading areas are increasing, and based on the trend, Krent's chances of winning are far greater than Amethyst's.
Based on the examples of the Germinal Organization and the Mutation Disaster, I have come to the conclusion that the higher the level of struggle in the main storyline, the less influence we players have on the direction of the plot.
The Secret War is a contest between two star cluster-level civilizations, and I believe we cannot determine its outcome.
In other words, given the prevailing trend, Krent is the one who will win this Secret War!
While staying with the Black Star Army offers many benefits, the main quest will ultimately fail, lowering your overall rating. However, if Krent, even if you slack off throughout the game, your main quest rating will improve due to victory in the war.
The second reason is that almost no one Krent yet, which means there is little competition and more opportunities to obtain resources and chances. On the other hand, the Black Star Army has millions of players. With so many people competing for kills, resources, and missions, it is obviously much more effort required to obtain even a decent reward.
The third reason is the connection to future versions. According to the information, Krent's backer is the Crimson Dynasty, which is one of the three major cosmic-level civilizations in the Crimson Dynasty Galaxy. Future versions are likely to revolve around cosmic-level civilizations, so Krent is equivalent to opening a ladder to ascend to a cosmic-level civilization.
Even if the Black Star Army becomes more powerful in the future, it will never be able to surpass a cosmic-level civilization.
Therefore, in my opinion, staying with the Black Star Army only offers immediate benefits while forfeiting many more opportunities. Perhaps the Black Star Army's perks are a trap, and only the wise can see through it and choose Krent!
After reading the post, Han Xiao's expression was quite subtle.
He knew this player named "Summer Night Blossoms". In his previous life, Summer Night Blossoms was a famous hidden plot discoverer who was passionate about analyzing plots and had an excellent ability to fill in the blanks. She was quite well-known.
To be fair, the analysis in "Summer Night Blossoms" is indeed logical and well-reasoned, with an attitude of "I am the only one who is pure in a corrupt world," which at first glance seems to make sense.
However, the Summer Night Blossoms " theory was fundamentally flawed; it was all orchestrated by Han Xiao on purpose, and there were no "potential hints" whatsoever.
If someone actually believed that and switched jobs to Krent, the consequences would be... well, just thinking about it is enough to make you cringe.
Han Xiao looked helpless. He could have imagined it, but he still had to abide by the basic law.
"Too clever by half... I hope no one actually gets scammed."