My name is Tomar Tekin.
I was born in Yellow Leaf Town of the Kingdom of Heruin. Before I could remember, I was adopted by the town's only orphanage and spent my childhood there.
I remember when I was six years old, I saw several children in town, a few years older than me, doing strange things around my older sister Shanna in an alley two streets away from the orphanage.
Sister Shanna was the oldest child in the orphanage. She took good care of everyone, and we all treated her like an older sister. She had freckles on her face, and I thought she looked very beautiful and gentle when she smiled, with cute dimples on her cheeks. I often dreamed about her when I was little.
I thought they were bullying my sister Shanna, so I picked up a stone and hit one of them on the forehead. Then they beat me up. When I grew up, I found out what they had done to my sister Shanna.
After that incident, Sister Shanna left the town without saying goodbye, and we don't know where she went.
Later, the parents of the guy whose head I smashed came to the orphanage to complain. The director scolded me, and I asked him why my parents didn't stand up for me. He said my parents had died a long time ago and that they had encountered a demon while gathering things in the mountains.
That's when I realized that I had no one in the world I could rely on.
When I turned ten, I left the orphanage and became an apprentice in a carpenter's workshop in town.
When I was fifteen, my teacher took us to a job in the nearby Stoneheart City. We worked there for half a month and finally finished. That night, Piller mysteriously said he was going to take me to a good place—he was a senior apprentice in the carpenters' workshop and a few years older than me—and then we went to a tavern in Stoneheart City called "Honey." That was the first time I drank alcohol, and there I saw my sister Shanna, whom I hadn't seen for many years.
She worked at the bar, wearing heavy makeup, and smiled more than before, but I felt her smile was so fake, reminding me of the smiling dolls I've sculpted a thousand times.
Her job was to deliver food to customers. Whenever she passed by, people would touch her inappropriately. Whenever this happened, she would smile more obviously and more fakely. I remember she was very young, but I noticed that wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her eyes.
Piller said I was an adult now, and he had already paid. Sister Shanna would take me upstairs to help me complete my coming-of-age ceremony. Only then did I realize that she had become a prostitute, and that business was booming with many customers.
I remember my mind went blank at the time. I got into a fight with Piller, but I lost—he was taller and stronger than me, and he pinned me down and beat me up. My sister Shanna didn't come to help, and I don't know if she recognized me.
Then I was thrown out of the tavern. My eyes were swollen and my body ached, but I didn't want to go back to the hotel, so I wandered the streets alone.
It was on this very night that I met the legendary wizard.
Sometimes I can't help but marvel at how unpredictable life is. When I was a child, I never imagined that I would become a wizard.
For the next five years, I studied various spells and potion-making processes at the Stoneheart City Guild Hall. Mr. Lanli often praised me for my talent, but I don't know if it was true... In any case, I stepped into another hidden world, and my former life became unattainable.
Others have given me a mission: to defeat a man named Wosumede, whom I know nothing about, but everyone says is my enemy.
When I was twenty, I met four guys who claimed to be "gods". I never imagined that this would be the turning point in my life.
Their appearance changed everything. They easily accomplished what the assembly had been striving for for fifty years. I met my enemy, Wosumede, for the first time, and then he was casually killed by the gods.
The gods chose me and took me to the Kingdom of God. I thought I would become a devout believer, but everything that happened afterward overturned all my understanding.
We boarded a giant metal box, and this metal box could actually fly, venturing deep into the starry sky. The world I was in was actually a sphere?!
Why is it a ball?! I don't understand!
My lucky star told me that my world is called Planet Nalen, which is something called a "planet". Outside the planet is a space called "universe", and in the universe, there are countless planets like Planet Nalen.
I was truly terrified. This was more shocking than the existence of gods; even my wildest imagination couldn't have conceived of such a situation.
However, my lucky god told me that the so-called "gods" were just a joke, that they were just visitors from outer space, and that I was the only person from Planet Nalen to enter interstellar space—good heavens, I simply couldn't believe I would encounter such a thing!
He said his name was Fording, and he told me what the real world is like, which shattered my previous worldview.
Fording said they were all members of the Black Star Army, and the guy who lied to me was the legion's leader. I've never seen such a shameless person...
But I'm actually quite grateful to him. If he hadn't chosen me, I would still be the ignorant native that Fording described, never able to grasp the true face of the universe—Lord Black Star changed my life.
The Black Star Army seems to be a very powerful organization in the universe, and I naturally became a member of the Black Star Army... Well, I'm used to this kind of thing. Just like the Gathering Hall, I inexplicably joined some faction again.
For several days in a row, I was in a state of confusion. Fording taught me common sense and advised me that if I didn't know what to do, then I should take helping my home planet as my life goal—it was the mission of a pioneer of civilization.
To be honest, I prefer this mission.
Mr. Fording helped me a lot, and I think he's a good person. He also has a beautiful smile, just like my sister Shanna used to have.
A few days later, I was put on another spaceship. They were going to send me to the Black Star Army headquarters to learn magic, saying I had talent—sigh, why does everyone think I'm a magic genius? It's ridiculous. Isn't magic supposed to be simple?
I was handed over to a guy who looked utterly hopeless, and he said he would be my teacher from now on.
To be honest, I don't think someone who tells me, "Magic is actually pretty useless, just learn a little so I can hand in my work," is suitable to be a teacher...
Three months later.
Planet Maixibo.
This is a neutral planet well-known in the Shattered Star Ring, located on the edge of the star system, and not controlled by any civilization.
At this moment, Han Xiao's spaceship is hovering above the Planet Maixibo's.
Three months have passed since the trip to Planet Nalen.
During these three months, the Secret War erupted into its largest battle to date. Due to rumors of initial success in negotiations from the Crimson Dynasty, the Section Zero and the War Realm launched a full-scale war to buy time. Both sides fought with bloodlust, abandoning all conservative tactics and resorting to head-on confrontations.
The battle was extremely fierce; in just three months, nearly a hundred Calamity Grade enemies were killed on both sides.
Han Xiao did not participate in the battle, and Amethyst tacitly allowed him to slack off, but the Black Star Army had consumed so many resources that they had to fight.
The legion was led by Lagi and Melos, with players taking on the sacrificial roles, so the casualties among the lower and middle-level combatants were within acceptable limits. As for the high-level combatants, many of the Calamity Grade officers were injured due to the absence of their leader, Black Star. However, Han Xiao had Aurora produce a large number of super-powerful recovery potions, which could save lives in critical moments. Therefore, the legion's high-level combatants escaped unscathed, with no one dying.
Han Xiao then took Hila, Aurora, and Fording all over the star system, doing side quests everywhere. Tomar was the only main character he managed to recruit. He left this new recruit to Lagi to cultivate slowly. In three months, Han Xiao gained five new specializations.
Three common specializations and two rare specializations, each with its own use, have improved my actual combat strength to a certain extent. However, the biggest gain is not the specializations themselves, but the three months of experience I have accumulated.
The veteran players and newbies in the legion provided a massive amount of experience, which Han Xiao had been hoarding. According to his calculations, this experience was enough to get him to level 235 or higher, getting closer and closer to level 240.
"I'm accumulating experience faster than I expected. It seems like the newbies have also started learning Advanced Knowledge on a large scale. At this rate, I should have enough experience to reach level 240 in about half a month..."
Inside the spaceship, Han Xiao was quite excited.
The experience he had accumulated had not yet been used for upgrades; it was mainly to prepare for possible retaliation from the Sorokin's subordinates, so he treated this experience as a temporary trump card for improvement.
However, after three months of waiting, the Sorokin's subordinates still hadn't appeared.
He wasn't in a hurry to level up since the enemy didn't show up; the experience points were stored in his inventory and wouldn't disappear.
With no one from the Sorokin coming to his aid, Han Xiao focused on honing his special skills on his own, and Planet Maixibo became his next destination.
This neutral planet is known for two things: a vast black market where countless goods circulate, and a thriving interstellar shipbuilding industry.
There are numerous mechanical and magical shipbuilding factories here, where you can order a wide variety of ship models available on the market. Many interstellar travelers who come to Planet Maixibo do so specifically to build ships.
As a neutral planet, Planet Maixibo. Shipyards don't discriminate based on customer identity; they'll place an order as long as money is paid. Many space pirates or wanted criminals disguise themselves and come here to buy or replenish their spaceships.
Neutral planets often have a powerful ruler, Planet Maixibo is no exception. The owner of this planet is named Sedim, nicknamed "Giant Soldier Constructor," a formidable A+ level mechanic.
However, Han Xiao's target on this trip was not him.
Looking down at the steel surface of Planet Maixibo through the spaceship's porthole, Han Xiao turned to the three of them and spoke.
"Let's disguise ourselves and not show our true faces here."
As he spoke, Han Xiao applied a transparent film to his face. The surface of the film flashed with electronic matrix patterns, transforming into the appearance of another person.
This was a disguise mask he had been making for a long time, and now the technology had been improved more than ten times, making it even more difficult to detect.
Hila and the other two didn't ask why, and all put on the film to disguise themselves. They had already gotten used to Han Xiao's strange behavior over the past three months.
The Planet Maixibo's has an available Mechanic Class feat that enhances the ability to manufacture machinery.
This is a mechanic-only mission, requiring Han Xiao to apply for a job at a shipyard and become a shipwright. Given Black Star's identity, it's impossible for him to become a shipwright mechanic at a shipyard. Therefore, Han Xiao can only disguise himself, concealing his handsome appearance and temporarily appearing as an ordinary man in order to trigger the mission.
"Once I finish this quest, I'll have accumulated enough experience to reach level 240..."
Han Xiao took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and gave Phillip the order.
"Landing."