Shattered World, Renault Star Cluster, Jerrydon Star System.
In the War Realm, the joint exploration team of the Krent Empire is executing the pre-set plan step by step. The fleet, adopting a range-based exploration approach, is like a paintbrush, slowly turning the gray, unexplored areas on the star map into the green of the explored areas. The stargate transportation network within the first star sector is gradually being built, planets are being explored one by one, detailed information is being entered into the database, and a large number of space buoys are being left in the areas they pass through.
The exploration in the War Realm has been uneventful. There are many resource-rich planets in the Jerrydon Star System, but so far they have not encountered a single indigenous civilization.
Heber had a lot of free time for the past ten days or so. The massive fleet operated on its own according to plan, without his command, so he found a star to hone his strength.
On a blazing red star within the star sector, Heber walks on the star's surface. A vortex of plasma and stellar energy, tens of kilometers in diameter, forms a moving vortex that revolves around him. Stimulated by the force of the energy, the cells in his body absorb the intense radiation around him at a special rhythm, converting it into their own energy, and dazzling white patches appear on his skin.
The Stellar Furnace Training Method that Han Xiao extracted came from Heber. Every martial artist is a fitness addict; if they don't train for a day, they feel uncomfortable all over.
Huff... Heber exhaled, releasing excess energy from his body, and spewed out an arc of energy like a solar prominence, resembling a red scorching wind.
With a powerful push of his legs, the immense force transformed into a shockwave that spread outwards, instantly dispersing the surrounding vortex of fiery red energy. Heber, enveloped in dense flames, broke through the star's powerful gravity and launched himself into the air like a beam of light shooting into the universe. He quickly left the outer region of the star and returned to the fleet stationed outside.
Stepping into the spaceship, Heber casually draped his cloak over his shoulders and took the communicator handed to him by his subordinate; it was a message from Krent.
"Tyrant Excellency, we have just received news that the Commander-in-Chief has issued an order to the Black Star Army, requiring them to eliminate a local force."
"Attack local forces?" Heber paused. "The Empire's Exploration Code forbid the indiscriminate use of violence."
"Our people on Lighthouse Star have learned that Black Star's situation is unusual. The local force is a raider group entrenched in the center of the star cluster. They were discovered by chance by the Black Star Army. The Empire wants the planetary data accumulated by this local force, so the Commander-in-Chief has authorized the Black Star Army to eliminate them."
Upon hearing this, Heber frowned slightly.
While they're steadily building their strength, the Black Star Army has already started raiding the wilderness?!
If the Black Star Army obtains the intelligence accumulated by the local forces, it would be a significant achievement, granting them access to a vast amount of planetary data at once.
Originally, the star system they were exploring was much more fertile, and their findings should have consistently outpaced the Black Star Army. Unfortunately, Black Star was just a bit too lucky...
Heber shook his head.
He didn't want to see the Black Star Army achieve this result, but he could only watch helplessly, which made him somewhat frustrated.
"Tyrant Excellency, our commander has a bold idea..." Krent's liaison officer said at this moment.
"Another one against Black Star?"
"That's right, we plan to..."
"Alright, enough nonsense." Before the other party could finish speaking, Heber interrupted, "I've reached a ceasefire agreement with the Black Star Army and don't want to provoke them now. You'd better not do the same; it's pointless."
After saying that, he hung up the call.
The Krent Empire, still harboring treacherous intentions, was unwilling to let its enemy, the Black Star Army, easily reap the rewards. Heber, did not want to waste his time with this bunch of scoundrels from the Krent.
The commander sent by Krent this time was a radical in the Secret War, so he harbored deep hostility towards Han Xiao. He simply intended to steal the credit from the Black Star Army and annoy Black Star. In Heber's view, not only was the success rate slim, but it would also arouse dissatisfaction from Black Star and the Empire, and it would not have much impact on the Black Star Army. It was really not worth the loss.
In the Shattered World, Heber truly did not want to be hostile to Black Star. With such a large pie to be won, it would be much better to honestly explore one's own territory. Instead, constantly hindering each other with the Black Star Army would only benefit other imperial allies who would participate in the exploration in the future.
In the previous 4.0 version, when players entered the Shattered World, many star clusters had already been explored, and numerous external forces had moved in and were fighting each other, so players had plenty of opportunities to fight... But the situation is different now.
This is only version 3.0. Han Xiao has allowed players to experience the Shattered World storyline a version ahead of time. While gaining an advantage, they also face a different environment than in the previous life. In the early exploration, there are only the Empire and its allies. Everyone is on the same side, so players lack the storyline of factional warfare and don't have many opportunities to fight.
Therefore, as soon as the mission [Eliminate the Great Cosmos Army] was released, all players who followed the Black Star Army to explore the Shattered World enthusiastically participated in this collective action. There was no limit to the number of participants in this mission, and the vast majority of players chose to participate.
Han Xiao was pleased with the outcome, because the players were currently in different exploration teams and were quite scattered. So he casually arranged tens of thousands of spaceships to reunite these players and form an expeditionary fleet.
This expeditionary force consisted of only a small number of Legion NPC warriors; the majority were players.
Since it would take a considerable amount of time to reach the central region of the Gaolu Star Cluster from here, Han Xiao did not intend to have the players stay in the spaceship the whole time, as that would be a waste of the time of these valuable laborers. He planned to have the expedition team conduct linear exploration along the way, surveying some planets along the route, making the best use of their resources.
Similarly, they also need to build stargates along the way to facilitate the players' return.
As a result, the Black Star Army's exploration plan also changed. The main force slowly explored the border system, while the first task force led by Hadavy opened up the passage from the south to the east of the star cluster. The player's second expedition opened up the second passage from the south to the central region of the star cluster, which meant fighting on three fronts.
As a result, the legion's manpower was once again thinned out, so Han Xiao instructed Sylvia, who was staying at the Shattered Star Ring headquarters, to send out a second fleet as soon as possible to replenish the exploration team's manpower.
After the development of the previous two versions, players can now possess Grade B combat power, and the millions of legion players are capable of standing alone, which puts Han Xiao at ease.
As the game updates, players become stronger and stronger, gradually growing into a force to be reckoned with, shedding their cannon fodder status and slowly taking center stage in the universe.
After sending out the player expedition team, Han Xiao stopped worrying about them. He routinely directed his fleet to explore resource planets every day, and used his spare time to expand his mechanical forces. Nothing unexpected happened, and things returned to normal.
Two more star sectors have been explored, and more than a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Han Xiao finally received Phillip's report that the player expedition team heading to the central part of the star cluster had finally encountered the scouting force of the Great Cosmos Corps.
The scout force encountered a player squad that was deploying space buoys. It consisted of only a small Detection ship carrying just over 300 players, while the opposing scout force had three warships.
The skirmish broke out immediately. As soon as the scout unit spotted the group of players, they rushed in to engage in boarding action, intending to use their numerical advantage to capture the enemy and interrogate them for information about the Black Star Army.
Shells struck the shields of the small Detection ship, causing a series of explosions, but the flashing shields remained unmoved.
"Warning! The spaceship is under attack. Shield energy remaining: 97.1%...99.7%... Recharged. Threat assessment in progress... Assessment complete. Enemy firepower cannot penetrate our shield. Threat level: Extremely low."
The hundreds of players inside the spaceship looked at each other in bewilderment.
The Black Star Army's ships employ sophisticated galaxy-level technology, and in some aspects even reach cluster-level standards, such as energy cores, weapons, and shields. In comparison, the ships of the Great Cosmos Corps are far too backward. Without a significant numerical advantage, they cannot pose any threat to the Black Star Army's ships.
The boarding action was exactly what hundreds of players wanted. As three enemy scout ships approached and were preparing to dock their hatches, a dozen catapult pods were ejected from the side of the small Detection ship, instantly "biting" through the three enemy ships and embedding themselves in their hulls.
The players inside the assault cabin were like tigers unleashed, wreaking havoc inside the enemy ship, unstoppable in their rampage. These players were almost all above level 100, while the enemy ship's crew were mostly ordinary people.
Before long, hundreds of players cleared out the enemies inside the enemy ships and captured the three spaceships.
Meanwhile, Atimo, who was leading a large army, also received news that one of his scout units had been involved in an encounter and lost contact.
However, he did not receive the video footage that the scouts were supposed to send back, and the Black Star Army's combat strength remained unknown to him.
"Before the scouts lost contact, they only sent back news of encountering the enemy, and then the link was broken. We don't know the details of their battle with the enemy," the adjutant said, sounding puzzled.
"Just like with Qiqijia..." Atimo narrowed his eyes, a rare seriousness flashing in them, "The enemy's quantum technology may surpass ours..."
When the battle broke out, Phillip used the quantum network to infiltrate the enemy's intelligence and forcibly blocked their communications to prevent the Legion's intelligence from being leaked. The same thing happened when Qiqijia encountered the Dark Emperor. So to this day, Atimo still doesn't know how many ships the Black Star Army has or how powerful it is.
Instead, Phillip, having located Atimo's main force through the quantum link, is recalling the detachments that were exploring and ordering the expeditionary force to march directly towards the enemy's main force.
In any war, the importance of intelligence cannot be ignored. The legion's virtual technology overwhelms the enemy, making the Great Cosmos Corps seem like a blind group in comparison.
Since dominating the "universe," Atimo had not encountered an enemy who could put him under pressure, but the sudden appearance of the Black Star Army shook his confidence in his invincible record.
This might be the most formidable opponent I've ever faced.
"The Black Star Army, not bad." Atimo's tone was solemn. "I would call you the strongest."
"However... once you encounter my fleet, your fate will remain unchanged!"
Atimo's eyes were cold and sharp, full of confidence. He had brought all his forces with him this time, a total of 100,000 warships!
This is the fleet he has built up over many years, the foundation of his confidence in ruling the "universe".
In his mind, such a large army was enough to sweep away all enemies.