The metal bulkheads were riddled with scratches and holes, and the exposed energy lines were broken, constantly sputtering sparks. The ship's cabins had been the site of a fierce battle; flames crackled and burned, and the floor was littered with the mangled corpses of crew members.
A group of Space Marines in full-body armor, armed with blaster rifles, searched the bodies, firing a shot at any survivors they found.
The fallen crew members were all Rock Elves, a relatively ancient mammalian race with rough, yellowish-brown skin, averaging about three meters in height, and covered in thick hair. Although they were made of flesh and blood, they were naturally as hard as rocks and were skilled at discovering rare minerals and metal resources. They were a relatively powerful star system-level civilization in the Sea of Star Spirits.
The crew members' uniforms bore the insignia of that civilization, proving that the ship belonged to the civilization's official regular forces, yet it was attacked and its entire crew was wiped out.
At the far end of this cabin was a huge metal door leading to a warehouse. At this moment, a man who appeared to be the leader of the attackers stood in front of the tightly closed warehouse door, took out a disc device specifically used to crack keys, and pressed it on the control panel of the warehouse door, emitting a high-frequency beeping sound.
With a bang, the warehouse door unlocked and slowly opened.
The raider leader strode inside and saw hundreds of Evolutionary Totem neatly arranged in the warehouse.
"We've got the goods. Go check them and move them back to our ship."
The leader of the attackers nodded in satisfaction, waved his hand, and ordered his men to carry out their orders.
The Rock Elves purchased a batch of totem devices from the Black Star Army. News of this leaked, and the attackers laid an ambush, their goal being to steal these Evolutionary Totem.
The accompanying escort fleet was wiped out by the attackers... A group capable of plundering the regular forces of a star system civilization is clearly no small fry.
These attackers were also interstellar mercenaries, but their nature was different. Mercenaries are generally divided into three types: the first type are regular practitioners who are registered with the Mercenary Alliance, such as the Black Star Army; the second type are independent mercenaries who are not registered with the Interstellar Mercenary Alliance and do not have a business license; and the third type are black market mercenaries who are active in the black market and are willing to take on shady jobs.
"Black jobs" refer to criminal activities that violate Interstellar General Law and cannot be conducted in the open. They are usually posted on the black market network, such as robbery, kidnapping, assassination of civilized officials, planetary massacre, espionage, instigation of war, etc. These black mercenaries are actually criminals... In fact, most people engaged in this industry are themselves wanted criminals.
These attackers were black market mercenaries who specialized in taking on shady jobs; they came from the Blood Gold Organization, one of the top black market mercenary forces in the entire universe.
The Blood Gold Organization is a cross-stellar mercenary force, primarily active in the Sea of Star Spirits, the Ancient Star Desert, and the Ancient Star Desert. The whereabouts of its members, ships, and bases are highly secretive, and its operations are low-key. The exact size of the Blood Gold Organization is a secret, but its ability to operate in three star regions clearly indicates that it is a behemoth.
At the same time, the Blood Gold Organization is also one of the high-ranking members of the Interstellar Black Market.
Where there are trade controls, black markets will emerge, and as they proliferate, they gradually form a vast network.
The black market also has different levels, distinguished by region and scope of business. From planets to star systems, and then to star regions, the black market becomes more and more formalized with each level. The highest level is the Interstellar Black Market, whose business scope covers almost all star regions and nominally governs all black markets.
This top-level black market force is adept at making money quietly, and it wouldn't bother to give itself a separate name. It's simply called "Interstellar Black Market," and those who don't know the situation might think it's just a noun.
Of course, not all independent black markets are subservient to the highest-level Interstellar Black Market, just as some low-level thugs are unaware of the giants in the international community.
The Interstellar Black Market is extremely large, with operations spanning the entire universe. Some civilizations, hoping to obtain technologies that advanced civilizations have blocked, also have a demand for the black market. Thus, some turn a blind eye and even act as a protective umbrella. On the other hand, the Interstellar Black Market is also a communication platform for interstellar criminals, a huge underground society.
Not all criminals exist to cause trouble. A large portion of criminals are simply after profit. They also need order and credibility, and they need someone to set the rules. Therefore, the managers of the Interstellar Black Market came into being. They come from various gray industries such as black market mercenaries, intelligence organizations, smuggling trade, and contraband production, and are among the most powerful organizations in the field.
The Blood Gold Organization is one of the managers of the black market, essentially a dominant force in the underground criminal world.
The Fallen Ark is not the administrator of the black market. Black market administrators are mostly lawful evil, and they also dislike chaotic evil Sorokin. Although both are criminal forces, they are not on the same side. After the Fallen Ark disintegrated, the Blood Gold Organization took in a large number of criminals and helped them find new jobs.
An officer approached the leader, watching his subordinates carry the Evolutionary Totem, and couldn't help but chuckle.
"The price of Evolutionary Totem is currently very high on the black market. As far as I know, many civilizations are secretly purchasing them. If we were to acquire this batch, how much do you think we could sell it for?"
"Don't get the wrong idea. This is what the employer wants. Our job is to bring the goods back. Do you think you can keep it for yourself?" The leader shook his head.
After a year and a half of operation, the Evolutionary Totem's business has basically stabilized. Some civilizations that have sided with the other Glory and Arcane races are unlikely to have any dealings with the Empire, so they can only have ulterior motives. Meanwhile, some large interstellar conglomerates, which have been watching for so long, have also begun to take action.
No one has forgotten Black Star's achievements a year and a half ago. Seizing the Black Star Army was too difficult, so these forces opted for a second-best solution: seizing the fleet transporting the Evolutionary Totem, keeping a watchful eye on every civilization that made the purchase.
Because this violates the universal laws of the Galaxy, black market mercenaries, represented by the Blood Gold Organization, have come into play. Now, Evolutionary Totem are in high demand and short supply on the black market.
Having stolen the Rock Elves's Evolutionary Totem, the Blood Gold Organization members returned to their spaceship, blasted up all the wreckage, and turned to leave.
Similar scenes have played out many times in various corners of the universe in recent months.
Shattered Star Ring, Black Star Army Headquarters.
"Another user who bought the Evolutionary Totem had their order snatched away halfway through?"
In the Legion Commander's office, Han Xiao closed the player forum and looked at Sylvia's remote projection, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Yes, including the Rock Elves, thirteen star system-level civilizations have been plundered, and thousands of Evolutionary Totem are now scattered on the black market."
Where was the robbery taken?
"The identity of the robbers in the Sea of Star Spirits is unknown, but preliminary assessments suggest they belong to the same faction as the perpetrators of the previous attacks."
Han Xiao stroked his chin. "Keep an eye on the black market. If you don't see Evolutionary Totem being sold there after a while, it's probably the black market mercenaries who did it; they've handed the items over to their employers."
"Teacher, do we need to address this issue?"
"Don't worry about it, I'm not responsible for after-sales service. If they can't protect the items themselves, it's not my problem... Of course, if they hire my mechanical army, that's a different story." Han Xiao waved his hand. "What did the Rock Elves say?"
"They said they hoped the Legion would send them another batch."
"Send a batch? Not buy?"
"Yes, they said they know the cost of the Evolutionary Totem is very low and they are unwilling to spend a high price to buy it again, thinking we should give them another set... You know the Rock Elves are quite straightforward." Sylvia shrugged helplessly.
"Tell them I don't run an insurance business. If they want more, they can buy it again. There's no such thing as free compensation; that's a matter of principle."
Han Xiao shook his head. If this door were opened, there might be people trying to steal from him and demand compensation. He wouldn't do a losing deal.
However, such things are actually unavoidable. It is possible that a civilization may have made a private agreement with other forces to deliberately pretend that the totems were stolen, thereby indirectly helping other civilizations that are not close to the empire to purchase the Evolutionary Totem.
However, Han Xiao didn't mind the Evolutionary Totem he sold being stolen. The more they were stolen, the more he could sell, expanding the market and even relieving some of his pressure. After all, Evolutionary Totem needed to be charged to be used, so he wouldn't lose out either way.
The Empire is the one that needs to worry about this problem, not him. As long as it doesn't directly provoke the Black Star Army, he can accept it.
"Understood, then I'll tell them that."
Sylvia turned off the remote projector.
Han Xiao exhaled, leaned back in his chair, and pondered deeply.
Over the past year and a half, the Black Star Army has been operating steadily, gradually absorbing the results of its rapid expansion, consolidating its various businesses, and developing well. Its style of doing things has finally become like that of a mechanic—the main body stays at home to focus on building machinery and expanding the legion's size, while the mechanical troops roam around outside, doing missions and accumulating random reward attempts to draw Mission Settlement Card.
He also accumulated experience, using some of the upgrade blueprints and skill accumulation potential points to improve the level of Ultimate Knowledge. During this time, he exchanged 6,000 Imperial Contribution Points for the fifth Ultimate Knowledge, the [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering] of the Armament Department.
This knowledge relates to manufacturing machinery, significantly improving manufacturing technology and production line efficiency, unlocking a large number of combinable blueprints, and granting a feat [Ultimate Manufacturer] and a skill [Inspiration Creation].
The effect of [Ultimate Manufacturer] is simple yet practical: the mechanical creations it produces have a 25%~30% increase in basic performance and a 300%~500% increase in production speed. Obviously, this is a specialty for mass-producing troops.
[Inspiration Creation] is an inactive skill. The activation condition is that [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering] reaches Lv5 (maximum level). The effect is to combine any number of blueprints to randomly synthesize one or more improved or fused new blueprints. Advanced settings are also available, such as choosing the tendency (attack, defense, etc.) and required functions of the synthesized blueprints. It is more stable than Free Creation and will definitely produce results.
Skills consume experience... a massive amount of experience.
For players who cannot modify blueprints themselves, this skill is a godsend, but Han Xiao can improve blueprints himself, so this skill isn't very useful... However, it's not entirely useless; it also has an irreplaceable function:
--[Inspiration Creation] has a tiny chance of synthesizing blueprints for Universal Treasure- level machines, which is the only way for mechanics to create gold-tier equipment independently!
Han Xiao now possesses two Universal Treasure, and he wouldn't mind having one more. However, synthesizing Universal Treasure -level mechanical blueprint is not easy. Unlike gambling on blueprints, there are no fixed combinations. Even if the combinations are the same, the synthesized blueprint still has a high degree of randomness.
In the past, some players did manage to synthesize blueprints for Universal Treasure- level machines, but there were two problems. First, only the information about the blueprints was released, and no one publicly shared the combinations. Second... even if they had the blueprints, no Mechanic Class player in the past actually created a gold-level machine.
The prerequisites for the blueprints are too stringent; there's virtually no possibility of manufacturing anything below Beyond Grade A, so players naturally can't meet the requirements.
[Inspiration Creation] was temporarily put aside by Han Xiao. Firstly, he needed to max out [Ultimate Mechanical Engineering], which required too many potential points. Secondly, although he had a massive amount of experience to try synthesizing Universal Treasure- level blueprints, he lacked experience in other areas. He needed to leave a substantial reserve for the version update, so he dared not waste it—for him, as long as he didn't gamble out a Universal Treasure- level blueprint, investing experience in this skill was a waste.
Over the past year and a half, the overall situation of the Gural Civil War has been settled, progressing step by step without any surprises. The Pioneer Party is about to reap the rewards of victory. However, players' attention is currently focused on the upcoming third professional league.
Due to the surge in the number of players, the popularity of this year's professional league has also increased, attracting much attention. The divisions are the same as the second season, consisting of nine major regions, but the schedule has been slightly adjusted.
For example, the secondary league and qualifiers started earlier, beginning six months ago, allowing more time for the qualifiers and fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of more players to participate. At the same time, it was also to determine the wildcard slots and regular season rosters before the official opening of the professional league.
Han Xiao had just been watching videos of the qualifiers on the forum, enjoying some of the players' amazing plays and reaping his share of silly fun for the day.
In the official competition, in addition to arena battles, team battles, individual battles, and team survival battles, three new special battle formats will be added.
The first type is the capture-the-flag competition, where multiple teams participate in a chaotic battle. Each player can revive Infinite of times, and the winner is determined by the total points.
The second type is the team dungeon competition, where multiple teams enter the same dungeon and compete to complete the mission objectives set by the organizers in order to earn points.
Thirdly, there's the dungeon survival battle, which, as the name suggests, is a competition of how long both sides can survive (or suffer) within the dungeon. In its previous form, it was also known by players as the "urine-holding contest."
This year's league features a much richer variety of battle formats. The organizers aim to enhance both competitiveness and fun by adding two new dungeon battle modes to attract more PVE players.
The preseason games for team cohesion have been brought forward. After the secondary league and qualifiers are over, the regular season will start directly, followed by the regional regular season, international all-star game, regional finals, international regular season, and international finals. The intervals between the international and regional games are as short as last year, making the schedule very tight.
The rules for this league are much more detailed than the previous two, including a "list of banned items." As Master Han predicted, [Black Star Army Badge - Evolution] is at the top of the list!
Legion players didn't feel anything special, since everyone could use it, so it wasn't particularly remarkable. However, clubs from other star systems breathed a huge sigh of relief—this piece of equipment was simply too powerful. If every player in the Shattered Star Ring had one, they might as well just admit defeat!
However, Han Xiao believes the reason is more than that. It's probably because the mutated form is too bloody and ugly, which could easily frighten the plants and flowers, thus contradicting the event organizers' original intention of attracting crowds...
Being ugly means you have no rights; that's definitely true.