Faced with overwhelming power, no matter what the Pangurid Giant Elves thought or did, they could not interfere with the fleet's resource extraction.
The efficiency of the interstellar mining equipment is very impressive. Every resource point around the world is producing a steady stream of various raw materials, and batches of minerals are filling warehouses, resulting in considerable daily profits.
During the mining process, some exploration teams discovered more resources deep underground, further increasing the planet's estimated value.
Han Xiao looked at the report and felt relieved.
While mining the resource planets of other civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring is quite profitable, it involves sharing profits on someone else's territory, which is somewhat restrictive and restrictive. However, mining the resource planets of the Shattered World that they themselves have discovered can be done openly and without much interference from the Empire, as long as it is not destructive mining.
These rare materials can be sold to the Empire or brought back to the Shattered Star Ring for wholesale distribution. Han Xiao temporarily stockpiled them and let professional market personnel handle the sales, aiming to fetch as high a price as possible.
After the stargate was completed, a small Imperial team crossed over and greeted Han Xiao before joining the resource gathering effort. The professionals they brought took over the education of the natives.
After a brief handover, Han Xiao recalled some of the personnel.
With the initial exploration of Planet Pangurid complete, all that remains is mining. He decided to stay on the planet for two days to allow players some time to explore before setting off to explore the next planet.
Now that all Legion players have explored the first planet and have a certain understanding of the mechanics of the Shattered World missions, players who encounter resource planets face a choice: they can choose to stay and mine the resources.
Ordinary players would naturally refuse; how could they give up the whole forest for a single tree? But many top-tier guilds in Huaxia felt the opposite way, because most of their core members were following Han Xiao's main fleet, and they were reluctant to give up the abundant resources of Planet Pangurid.
For guilds, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. They need long-term resource points to generate revenue. The four major guilds and top-tier guilds in Huaxia have a large number of members, leaving behind a group of peripheral personnel to mine resource points here.
Since the output of large-scale mining equipment belongs to the Legion, these guilds purchased a batch of Worker Bee Armor from the Legion and distributed it to the personnel who stayed behind, allowing them to mine on their own. This output is the long-term income of the guilds.
Players have their own ways of generating revenue, and Han Xiao won't stop them. It's just a small profit, not enough to hinder players from exercising their initiative. The more these guilds profit, the more they will identify with the legion.
The old Russian and old Australian club guild from the Constellation Corridor has recently developed a group of peripheral members who, following suit, have managed to spare some manpower to remain at the resource points, hoping to get a share of the spoils. Seeing this, the four major guilds plan to wait until the main force leaves before having other top-tier guilds help them cause trouble for these outsiders, preventing them from collecting resources in peace. Once the main force leaves, the manpower left on this planet will be at their mercy.
In the previous 4.0 version, guilds from various countries were having a great time destroying each other's resource points in the Shattered World. Now, the old Russian and old Australian guilds are located in the headquarters of the Huaxia, Huaxia will not sit idly by and watch its competitors develop in peace.
Because Han Xiao allowed some players to cross star regions ahead of time, guild competition appeared earlier than in the previous life.
Planet Pangurid, a certain sea area.
A violent storm raged, with towering waves crashing against the shore.
A mining base stands motionless on the churning sea, its semi-circular energy shield looming over the entire base. Waves crash against the shield, leaving trails of white foam.
At the edge of the base, soldiers clad in underwater work armor, carrying detection equipment, descended into the water one after another; some of them were players. Below this base lies a molten crystal vein, and these men were scouting the area.
Maple Moon accepted the mission. Wearing underwater armor, she cruised underwater and quickly dived thousands of meters.
All I could see was deep blue seawater, which stretched into the distance and turned pitch black, filling me with a sense of unknown dread. There was complete silence in my ears, except for the beeping of the radar, my own breathing, and the pounding of my heart.
The eerie silence made Maple Moon shiver, almost wanting to curl up into a ball.
"Let's go back... At worst, we won't do this mission..." Maple Moon was scared. Although her combat power had reached Grade B, the character's attributes did not provide any mental bonus. She was still afraid of the same things. She thought she might have a mild case of thalassophobia.
Just as we were preparing to surface, the radar suddenly sounded an alarm.
"Large life form detected! Target is approaching!"
The surrounding seawater surged, and Maple Moon's body was out of control, drifting with the current. She hurriedly activated the stabilizer, and white light shot out from the armor's ribs, which finally helped her stabilize herself.
Before she could even survey her surroundings, the radar showed a point of light hurtling toward her at missile speed.
Maple Moon turned her head in alarm, and suddenly, a huge monster appeared in her field of vision. It had countless webbed claws and a head like a plesiosaur, with its gaping maw open.
Everything went black before her eyes, and she was swallowed whole.
Having finished its hunt, the monster slowed down, preparing to enjoy its meal, when suddenly its massive body convulsed, appearing to be in excruciating pain.
The next moment, a blinding blue light exploded from the monster's body, blasting it into pieces.
BOOM!!
Purple and blood-book-like flesh splattered in the sea, and Maple Moon's armor was covered in a viscous liquid mixed with blood and stomach acid.
Seeing this bloody scene, Maple Moon quickly switched to a green, healthy, and refreshing mode, which made the scene seem much more harmonious.
She was just startled and forgot to fight back for a moment. After she came to her senses, she used her Grade B mechanic skills to easily kill an ordinary beast.
Maple Moon retrieved the explosive turret beside her. Unable to withstand the atmosphere of the deep sea, she was preparing to surface when the radar suddenly alerted her that an abnormal metallic object had been detected inside the monster's tattered body.
"What have I discovered?" Maple Moon's eyes flickered. As a story-driven player, her curiosity was always strong, and she intuitively felt that she might have discovered some hidden element.
After hesitating for half a second, she stopped surfacing, suppressing her nausea as she searched through the monster's corpse, releasing magnetic force from her palm.
Clang! A metal object about one meter tall was attracted to my hand.
It looked like some kind of Detection probe, broken and corroded, with several dents on its surface, like bite marks from a creature.
[You have discovered an unknown detector]
[Unknown Probe: This appears to be the wreckage of some kind of space probe, severely damaged. Its technology far surpasses that of the planet's natives, suggesting it originates from another civilization. Perhaps it contains some information. You can try to identify it, or hand it over to a special person in exchange for a reward... Alternatively, you can try to repair it and activate it, but this will lead to special consequences. Please choose carefully (requires Mechanic Class abilities)]
[You have gained 6 personal exploration points]
"This is a hidden quest item!"
Maple Moon's eyes lit up, instantly casting aside her fear of the deep sea. She examined the unknown probe in her hand with great interest; she loved exploring such unknown scenarios.
Without saying a word, she immediately took the equipment back to the base. Without even taking off her armor, she hurriedly began to examine the detector. Her Mechanic Class abilities met the requirements, and the results quickly popped up on the panel.
[Identification complete! You have obtained the [Damaged Locating Beacon]. This item utilizes technologies such as space beacon positioning, long-distance quantum connection, and gravitational space travel. Current status: Severely damaged, system malfunction, all functions are inoperable.]
"Their technological level is quite high." Maple Moon exclaimed in surprise. This had already reached the level of a galaxy-level civilization. Did this mean that Planet Pangurid had already been discovered by some civilization?
It's also possible that the beacon broke down in space, lost its positioning ability, and was eventually captured by Planet Pangurid's gravity, crashing into the deep sea and being eaten by marine life. Otherwise, Planet Pangurid might have already had visitors.
Maple Moon was caught in a dilemma. This beacon contained valuable intelligence, and handing it over to the legion would surely bring a reward.
However, she couldn't resist her curiosity and wanted to repair the beacon to see what the "special consequences" in the item description were and what kind of people it would attract.
After hesitating for a moment, Maple Moon gritted her teeth, her curiosity taking over.
[You used [Intermediate Repair] on the [Damaged Locator Beacon]!]
[Judgment in progress... Judgment passed. Your level, intelligence, occupational knowledge, and skill level have met the prerequisites.]
[Repair progress 2%...14%...35%...]
[Repair complete, you have obtained a [barely repaired positioning beacon]!]
Maple Moon was overjoyed and, without saying a word, chose to activate the beacon.
Beep beep... The beacon's indicator light lit up, sending invisible quantum positioning data to the receiver of the unknown force.
[You have triggered the hidden quest [The Beacon of Unknown Origin]!]
[Mission Brief: You have discovered a technologically advanced location beacon on an indigenous planet in the Shattered World. You don't know who deployed the beacon, but you choose to repair and activate it, sending out your location information. This may attract unknown forces...]
[Mission Requirement: Make contact with the unknown force that deployed the beacon]
[Task Rewards: 3 million experience points, 70 personal exploration points, [Bold Explorer] skill fragment x1 (2 fragments are needed to synthesize)]
[[Bold Explorer]: Special skill. When exploring unknown locations or identifying unknown objects, you can use this skill to gain inspiration and forcibly acquire partial information. It can be used repeatedly on a single target. Cooldown time: 7 days. Each use will inflict the negative status effect [Reckless], reducing your Luck attribute by 60% for 14 days.]
[Note: If you're bold enough, the universe is your home.]
[This task is linked to the Shattered World main questline. You can report the situation to the faction associated with the main quest and get help from the NPC faction (highly recommended)]
"A skill fragment reward? This kind of quest reward is so rare, and it even allows you to request faction assistance... Does that mean activating the beacon has serious consequences...?" Maple Moon exclaimed in surprise.
The thought of handing it over brought the image of the legion commander to her mind.
"You've discovered a beacon of an advanced civilization on this planet?"
Looking at the beacon in Maple Moon's hand, Han Xiao's eyes showed a look of doubt.
He originally thought Maple Moon was just there to learn skills, but unexpectedly she brought him a hidden item.
Currently, only the Empire is developing this area, so this beacon could only have originated from an unknown indigenous civilization in the Shattered World. Based on its technological sophistication, the sender must have a galactic-level level of development.
This beacon uses conventional propulsion and gravity-assisted flight technology. Even if it flies for hundreds of years, its speed will be limited. Therefore, the civilization that deployed the beacon should be located in this star system.
However, Han Xiao remembered that in his previous life, there was no native star system civilization in the southern border star system of the Gaolu Star Cluster. The exploration data of the Crimson Dynasty did not show that they had encountered a star system civilization here, and he had not heard of similar events from the NPCs who explored during the version update in his previous life.
Could it be that the civilization that deployed the beacon has long since perished, leaving only ruins? This possibility cannot be ruled out.
However, when Han Xiao took the beacon from Maple Moon, a notification popped up on his panel, indicating that the hidden quest had also been triggered. The quest requirements indirectly indicated that this unknown force still existed.
Han Xiao's heart skipped a beat. The initial exploration of the Shattered World in his previous life occurred during a version update. Players later reconstructed the exploration through various records and accounts from characters. Could this current situation be a hidden plot point that even the Empire hadn't discovered in his previous life?
Maple Moon was unaware that Han Xiao could also accept the mission, and was pondering how to explain that she knew the beacon was useful.
At this moment, Han Xiao spoke up:
"Let me study this for a while; I might discover some problems."
Upon hearing this, Maple Moon assumed it was a quest item to be handed in, so she did not refuse.
After watching Maple Moon leave, Han Xiao carefully examined the beacon in his hand, his eyes gleaming.
"I didn't expect such an unexpected discovery on Planet Pangurid. These players are really good at finding hidden quests." Han Xiao chuckled to himself.
The reward for this hidden quest tempted him: [Bold Explorer] was an appraisal ability that reached the level of special precognition, something few players possessed in his previous life. Although it didn't help in combat, it was a god-tier skill for completing quests and uncovering hidden storylines.
All we know is that triggering hidden quests gives you a chance to get skill fragments; there are no other fixed ways to obtain them.
Although the skill has great limitations, it is still useful to me. Not to mention anything far away, there is still no clue about the strange data left by the Sorokin. Iso can't predict any scenes either. If I get this professional skill, I might be able to get some clues.
"It's a pity it's not a complete skill, only a skill fragment." Han Xiao said with a hint of regret.
Shaking his head, Han Xiao then entered the Quantum Network Vision to study the beacon and decipher its location data encoding—this beacon used quantum link technology, which meant he could use the virtual mechanic's abilities to track it in reverse.
The mission requires contact with this unknown force, which seems like all you need to do is wait and see, but there's more to it than meets the eye.
Unlike the Explored Universe, the Shattered World lacks the order of interstellar societies. The indigenous civilizations here are still in the Dark Ages, unaware of each other's existence. Therefore, once a beacon is activated, it means war for the one who deployed it.
Making contact is tantamount to facing an attack from the attacker.
Therefore, rather than having the recipients come to him, Han Xiao preferred to send people over proactively, since the only requirement was to make contact, and it didn't matter who found the other party first.
After searching along the quantum link for a while, Han Xiao suddenly opened his eyes, opened the star map, searched for a while, and then pointed to a location several star sectors away from Planet Pangurid, which was also within this star system.
"We've found you."
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes; he remembered that in his previous life, this location did not have any indigenous civilization.
After thinking for a moment, Han Xiao snapped his fingers, and the Dark Emperor surrounding him immediately merged into a physical form and stood in front of him.
"Owner."
"I have a mission for you," Han Xiao said slowly. "Take some mechanical lifeforms and a portion of the mechanical army, and find the guys who dropped the beacon by following the direction of the beacon's data transmission. If they attack, subdue them."
"Understood, Master."
Dark Emperor nodded, making a rustling metallic sound, and then he split into many floating guards, flew out of the room, and immediately went to form a team.
Because it's several star sectors away, going there rashly would be too abrupt and a waste of time, so Han Xiao doesn't plan to go himself.
Now that he has mechanical lifeforms that can stand on their own, and with the [Quantum Non-Distance Transmission Channel] allowing mechanical soldiers who are not by his side to also receive Mechanical Force boosts, his mechanical legion has the ability to launch expeditions, possessing Beyond Grade A combat power even across countless light-years.
The Beyond Grade A Mechanic is feared in the Galaxy, and this is one of the reasons why: their ability range and battlefield scope are the most terrifying of all classes!