Recaps

Han Xiao helped defeat the scavengers attacking the ship, killing Sisoli and capturing their leader after the patrol’s arrival was delayed. The scavenger ships fled, leaving the crisis over, and Han Xiao took note of Reldon’s mechanical augmentations.

• Sisoli reached the scavenger ship and told the Gazers' leader that the hostages had escaped and Snake Braid had been captured.
• Reldon arrived and used green screens to block the scavengers from boarding while Temple and Dynasty players fought to hold them back.
• Han Xiao shot and subdued the Gazers' leader, breaking the scavengers’ resistance.
• Sisoli tried to escape aboard the ship, but Han Xiao dragged him out and killed him.
• The remaining scavengers were wiped out, and their ships fled as Han Xiao reviewed the battle and examined Reldon’s mechanical body.

After the Short Horn Star was saved, Han Xiao collected his rewards and unlocked regional reputation, then sold Snake Braid to Reldon and learned more about the Sunil Race. He recognized that the Sunil storyline could provide a rare subclass and a chance to advance his plans, leaving him intent on pursuing it.

• The Goddora patrol arrived, and the captain announced that the Short Horn Star would continue to Juberly Hub for repairs after the crisis ended.
• Han Xiao and the participating players received their mission rewards, while Han Xiao also collected an 8,000-Enas commission and unlocked regional reputation.
• Han Xiao sold Snake Braid to Reldon for 2,501 Enas and noticed Reldon's strong reaction when he revealed that DarkStar had hired the scavengers.
• Han Xiao learned that Reldon was a Sunil and connected the race's history of displacement by DarkStar to a storyline that could offer him a rare subclass.
• Han Xiao decided that pursuing the Sunil storyline could help him advance and support his broader plans.

Han Xiao and the players arrived at Juberly Hub, a vast space station that he planned to use as the center of his operations in the Colton Star Cluster. After disembarking, they entered the bustling hub hall, where Han Xiao could pursue the resources and opportunities needed to grow stronger.

• The Short Horn Star reached Juberly Hub, and the players stared in awe at the enormous space station.
• Han Xiao considered the hub's strategic importance and planned to buy Advanced Knowledge, find a subclass, and establish a source of income.
• Kerlodd told Han Xiao he would report for duty but would not pursue the matter or have him placed on a wanted list.
• Han Xiao and the players disembarked, while Reldon hurried ahead with the wanted criminal.
• Han Xiao led the players through the hub hall and recalled its many facilities, seeing it as a suitable long-term base.

Han Xiao settled his group into a rented lounge at Juberly Hub and bought Advanced Detection Technology, spending most of his remaining money. He left the players at their new base and ended the chapter lamenting the familiar pain of being broke.

• Han Xiao warned Kerlodd to report that Planet Aquamarine faced a possible disaster, then let him leave and joked about which leg to step out with.
• Han Xiao and the players traveled to the central tower, where he explained that the Sky Ring Alliance had VIP privileges at Juberly Hub.
• Han Xiao rented a mid-grade lounge with a storeroom and established it as the group's base, telling the players to learn the hub's rules and stay put.
• Han Xiao went to the exchange to look for Advanced Knowledge and decided he could not yet profitably resell knowledge to the players.
• Han Xiao bought Advanced Detection Technology for 11,000 Enas, leaving himself with just over 2,000 Enas.

Han Xiao learned Advanced Detection Technology and brought the players to the Universe Mercenary Alliance to register as mercenaries. He chose the codename Black Star and was listed as a rookie mercenary.

• Han Xiao spent 2 potential points to learn Advanced Detection Technology and comprehended the Simple Multifunctional Detector blueprint.
• Han Xiao noticed Li Ge and Temple's expert players had left the lounge and decided to put his plan for keeping the players committed into action.
• Han Xiao explained the Universe Mercenary Alliance to the players and showed them its registration terminals.
• Han Xiao registered as a mercenary under the codename Black Star and received a C-grade power rating.
• The Mercenary Alliance created Black Star's profile, listing him as a rookie mercenary.

Han Xiao formed the Black Star Mercenary Group and recruited the players, hoping to build a faction that would bind them to him. The group’s creation unlocked the NPC template’s Faction Management function, giving him new tools to pursue his plan.

• Han Xiao created the Black Star Mercenary Group as the first step in turning the players into members of his own faction.
• Han Xiao explained that joining the group would let players contribute to its growth and gain a sense of belonging, while advancing his long-term plans.
• Frenzied Saber joined first, and the other players followed, bringing the group’s total size to 47.
• The group interface showed its trainee status, 10 credit points, and no completed jobs or active regions.
• The system announced that the Black Star Mercenary Group had become a faction and unlocked Faction Management for Han Xiao.
• Han Xiao explored the new function and grew excited about its capabilities.

Han Xiao used the Black Star Mercenary Group’s new faction system to entice players with contribution rewards and gear, then assigned them a group mission to raise the group’s credit score. While the players worked, Li Ge’s group discovered the Mercenary Alliance and registered as mercenaries, returning to find the lounge empty.

• Han Xiao examined the faction quota system and found that his new group could distribute 2.4 million experience to players each day, with greater quotas available as the faction grew.
• Han Xiao gave the first members 300 contribution points and filled the faction rewards list with appealing equipment, encouraging them to help build the group’s credit and membership.
• Han Xiao issued a faction mission requiring players to take jobs inside the hub and raise the Black Star Mercenary Group’s credit score to 120, offering experience, contribution points, and extra rewards for the top three contributors.
• The players, including Frenzied Saber and Hao Tian, hurried off to complete daily jobs while Han Xiao returned to the lounge to refine his plan.
• Li Ge and his companions explored the hub, registered as mercenaries at the Mercenary Alliance, and returned believing they had gained an advantage over the other players.
• Li Ge’s group entered the lounge and found that all the other players had left.

Li Ge and his teammates joined the Black Star Mercenary Group late and regretted missing an early-bird reward. Meat Bun’s interstellar adventure video made Han Xiao’s journey and new faction famous, leaving viewers eager to see what Black Star would do next.

• Han Xiao told Li Ge and his teammates that the other players had joined his mercenary group, then gave them a mission to join it; they discovered they had missed 300 contribution points and fallen behind.
• Han Xiao built and sold players dozens of SIN-A Carbon-Based Lifeform Detector helmets for use on outside contracts.
• Meat Bun released the first episode of his Galaxy Adventure Log: Black Star Arc, showing Han Xiao and the players traveling to Juberly Hub and forming the Black Star Mercenary Group.
• Viewers flocked to Meat Bun’s video and demanded a sequel, while Galaxy Times praised Han Xiao as a protagonist whose story extended beyond Planet Aquamarine.
• Han Xiao watched the shows and saw that players increasingly accepted him as a major figure; the video later became known as the origin of Black Star.

Han Xiao used a detector helmet promotion to draw more than fifty players into spending or borrowing money, earning over 6,000 Enas. At the mercenary hall, he accepted a private bodyguard job near the Sunil base, but Mading hesitated after seeing the Black Star Mercenary Group had never taken a combat assignment.

• Han Xiao rewarded Kings and Generals, Hao Tian, and Yan Ran with detector helmets, prompting the other players to test them and want their own.
• Han Xiao’s 800-point helmet price and 600-point starting balance encouraged players to spend money or borrow Enas, bringing in over 6,000 Enas.
• At the mercenary hall, Han Xiao noticed Mading recruiting bodyguards for a three-day survey on Planet Jiaduo-791.
• Han Xiao offered the Black Star Mercenary Group’s more than fifty members for the job, and Mading checked their credit score.
• Mading saw that the group’s work history consisted only of routine assignments and asked whether they had ever taken a combat assignment.

After Mading rejected Han Xiao’s mercenary group and tried to cut its pay, Han Xiao accepted a mission to defend Forest City during the Sunil Race’s beast Calamity. The group arrived on Planet Sunil, where Captain Nivelle welcomed them and directed them to the mercenaries’ rest area.

• Mading dismissed Han Xiao’s group as inexperienced and offered only 200 Enas per person, so Han Xiao walked away.
• Han Xiao applied for the Sunil mission to defend Forest City and was accepted; he also issued the players a faction mission for the same job.
• Han Xiao and the players traveled to Planet Sunil three days later and landed at a military base near Forest City.
• Han Xiao admired the Sunil Race’s machinery and considered its technology and a machinery-related subclass useful for his advancement.
• Nivelle introduced himself as captain of the B12 Defense Squad, welcomed the Black Star Mercenary Group, and escorted them toward the mercenaries’ rest area.

Han Xiao learned how the Whispering Stone Tide would drive Planet Sunil’s beasts into a three-stage Calamity and was assigned to defend Forest City. When Nivelle barred him from entering the city, the returning Green Knight Reldon agreed to take him through the checkpoint so he could visit an acquaintance.

• Nivelle explained that an early Whispering Stone Tide was expected to trigger the Calamity within seven to thirteen days, and described its phases and the beasts the mercenaries would face.
• Nivelle assigned Han Xiao’s group to defend the second-to-last ring of Forest City while Sunil warriors took the most dangerous reconnaissance and field combat posts.
• Han Xiao asked Nivelle for permission to enter Forest City, but Nivelle refused and said his friend could visit the military base instead.
• Returning Sunil Espers arrived by spaceship, and Han Xiao recognized Reldon and asked him to help get into the city.
• Reldon agreed to accompany Han Xiao through the checkpoint, and they followed the returning Espers as Sunil civilians welcomed them as heroes.

Han Xiao learned how the Sunil Race relied on espers to survive the Calamity, then tracked down Melos to obtain his brother Delphis's journal. Reading it unlocked the Ordnance Engineer class, leaving Han Xiao ready to spend his accumulated experience points.

• Reldon explained that Sunil espers supported their people by working as mercenaries, while the race mined Whispering Stone to weaken the Calamity.
• Han Xiao followed his memories to a bar and confronted its drunken owner, Melos, by naming his older brother Delphis.
• Han Xiao explained that he wanted to borrow Delphis's journal, and Melos reluctantly brought it out.
• Han Xiao pretended to read the Sunil-script journal until his interface confirmed that he had unlocked the Ordnance Engineer class.

Han Xiao maxed out Ordnance Engineer, gaining a mass-production talent that could support a future mechanical legion, and met the requirements for his level 80 advancement. While walking with Reldon, he confirmed that the Sunil Race’s storyline was already underway.

• Han Xiao raised Ordnance Engineer to level 10, invested his free attribute points in intelligence, and unlocked Militarized Modification and Ordnance Mass Production Insights.
• Han Xiao reflected on the expense and power of legion-style play and decided to develop it as a future trump card.
• Han Xiao reached level 80 and received an advancement mission requiring him to sacrifice 60 million experience.
• Han Xiao and Reldon walked through Forest City, where Reldon said he had no family and undertook dangerous field-combat missions.
• Han Xiao noticed Reldon’s complicated reaction and concluded that the Sunil Race’s storyline had begun.

As the calamity began, Han Xiao and the Sunil defenders fought off escalating waves of beasts around Forest City. After days of bombardment and mounting fatigue, burrowing beasts breached the outer defenses and brought the battle to the third perimeter.

• Psionic whispers grew stronger as the tide approached, and an alarm warned the military base that the beast horde was attacking.
• Sunil forces and mercenaries opened fire from Forest City's defensive lines, while Han Xiao operated a heavy cannon at the G7 position.
• After four hours of fighting, the defenders replenished ammunition and rested before reconnaissance warned that another wave was coming.
• Flying beasts appeared earlier than expected, and artillery and fighters attacked them as the battle intensified over the next three days.
• On the fourth day, burrowing beasts passed beneath the first two lines and erupted at the third perimeter, beginning close-quarters combat.

Han Xiao persuaded Nivelle to assign the Black Star Mercenary Group to field reconnaissance while he joined the battlefield repair team. Over the next two days, Han Xiao repaired Sunil armor and made progress reverse-engineering its blueprints as the defense squads kept fighting.

• Nivelle led the B12 Defense Squad in repelling burrowing beasts, but one soldier died during a surprise attack.
• Han Xiao asked Nivelle to send his team on field reconnaissance, and Nivelle secured approval for the dangerous assignment and an 8,000 Enas reward.
• Han Xiao demonstrated his repair skills and convinced Nivelle to let him work with the battlefield repair team.
• The players prepared for reconnaissance while Han Xiao began repairing armor to reverse-engineer Sunil equipment blueprints.
• Over the next two days, Han Xiao repaired damaged armor across the defensive perimeter, helping save Sunil soldiers and advancing his reverse-engineering progress.

Fumi’s reconnaissance team was ambushed by a vast swarm of Nightmares, while Han Xiao continued repairing armor during the battle at Forest City’s third defensive perimeter. Han Xiao reached Nivelle’s damaged armor at the B12 position and began restoring it as burrowing beasts broke through the line.

• Fumi’s three-person reconnaissance team fled from the Nightmares, and Fumi resolved never to return for another Calamity if he survived.
• A Nightmare’s spiked tails dragged one scout into the woods and tore apart the Grade C martial artist, leaving Fumi and the other survivor surrounded by more than a thousand tails.
• Han Xiao repaired damaged armor behind the third defensive perimeter as the Steel Defense Force fought through a five-hour beast-tide assault.
• Han Xiao responded to an emergency call at B12 and found Nivelle unable to move because his armor’s power unit and leg systems had been damaged.
• Han Xiao held Nivelle down and began repairing his non-commissioned officer armor while soldiers guarded him and burrowing beasts crossed the defensive line.

Han Xiao helped defend Forest City as the Calamity entered its middle phase, then witnessed the heavy losses the Nightmares inflicted. After dawn, the return of Fagorna’s field troops revealed the deaths of many Sunil Supers and an uneasy divide among the survivors.

• Nivelle explained that the Sunils had only four badly damaged suits of General-Grade Armor left after losing the technology to make them.
• Han Xiao killed a charging carapace beast with Garetan's Wrath, then finished repairing Nivelle’s armor.
• The level-two alert sounded as Nightmares attacked, and Han Xiao retreated with the repair crews while the Sunils used searchlights to disrupt the beasts.
• The Nightmares withdrew at dawn after a costly battle that killed at least a thousand soldiers.
• Fagorna returned with the bodies of more than twenty Sunil Supers, including Fumi, while Reldon survived with further injuries.
• Han Xiao noticed that some Sunil Supers showed concealed anger and dissatisfaction alongside their grief.

Han Xiao repaired Reldon's cybernetic arm and heard how Reldon's childhood loss and a veteran's kindness had led him to fight for the Sunil. He then privately approached Melos, claiming to be a prophet who knew the Sunil's future and Melos' inheritance.

• Han Xiao fitted Reldon with a spare cybernetic arm and took him to Melos' bar for a drink.
• Reldon explained that he lost his parents and sisters during DarkStar's attack, then was raised by a veteran who taught him to defend the Sunil.
• Reldon said he became a mercenary to repay the Sunil's kindness and help his race survive.
• Han Xiao interrupted Reldon and told Melos privately that he knew about Melos' strength, inheritance, and the Sunil's future.
• Han Xiao called himself a precog or prophet, surprising Melos.

Han Xiao told the skeptical Melos that the Sunil Race would fracture and be assimilated, then hinted that Melos’s own fate could still be changed. He tried to recruit Melos, but the conversation was interrupted by an argument about Goddora’s role in the Sunils’ suffering.

• Melos doubted Han Xiao’s claim that he could see the future and teased him by asking what he would eat for breakfast.
• Han Xiao predicted that the Sunil Race’s guardian gods would split apart, leaving the race weakened, scattered, and gradually assimilated by Goddora.
• Han Xiao said he knew how Melos would end up but would reveal it only after Melos believed him; Melos claimed he already did, and Han Xiao told him to seek him out later.
• Han Xiao considered Melos a potential recruit for his faction and hoped to draw him away from his current life as a drunkard.
• A dispute broke out in the bar, where a Sunil accused Goddora of deliberately relocating the race to a dangerous planet.

As the Calamity worsened, Han Xiao’s warning about Sunil’s future reached Melos just as Fagorna announced he planned to abandon the race after the crisis. The final stage began with a swarm of aggressive insects approaching the city.

• At Melos’ bar, a drunk blamed the Supers and army for the deaths, and Lana beat him after the patrons argued with him.
• Han Xiao told Melos he could solve Sunil’s problem, then left with Reldon; Fagorna arrived and told Melos he intended to leave Sunil with other warriors after the Calamity.
• Melos told Fagorna Han Xiao’s prediction about Sunil accepting Goddora’s aid, but Fagorna insisted survival mattered most and challenged Melos to stop hiding behind others.
• Han Xiao continued repairing battlefield defenses as the fighting intensified, while Sunil’s warships remained in reserve for the final stage and possible evacuation.
• Seven or eight days later, alarms announced the final stage, residents and some Supers took shelter with breathing masks, and a dense swarm of aggressive insects advanced toward the city.

The Sunils fought the final phase of the calamity amid poison gas and heavy casualties, while Nivelle died defending his position against a Thunder Leopard. After the battle, the military raised the Black Star Mercenary Group’s pay to secure more reconnaissance, and Melos discovered Lana arguing with his parents about joining the army.

• The Sunils used biochemical poison gas and support from nine warships to fight off swarms of insects and powerful beasts, while Nivelle’s B12 Defense Squad suffered devastating losses.
• Nivelle fought the Thunder Leopard after it breached his position, was poisoned and gravely wounded, then died when a railgun blast engulfed him and the beast.
• Han Xiao repaired soldiers’ armor as the players returned unharmed, revealing that the Black Star Mercenary Group could revive and drawing the military’s attention.
• A military general asked Han Xiao’s group to resume reconnaissance and raised their reward to 12,000 Enas; Han Xiao accepted and sent the players out again.
• Han Xiao learned that Nivelle had died and saw Nivelle’s wife come to claim his body.
• Melos left his bar after watching the battle reports and overheard Lana tell his parents that he planned to join the army when he was old enough for conscription.

Melos remembered his brother Delphis and reclaimed the armor Delphis had left him, deciding to fight again. Meanwhile, Han Xiao’s defensive line faced giant beasts and prepared to fire its powerful particle cannon at an approaching Mountain Beast.

• Lana promised his parents that he would complete compulsory military service but would not enlist, after they reminded him of the dangers and the family they would leave behind.
• Melos recalled Delphis’s death during the DarkStar disaster and the inheritance hidden in his research room.
• Melos opened the secret basement beneath his bar and took out Delphis’s General-Grade Armor, [Shattered Splitting Light].
• Giant acid beetles overwhelmed the defenses, forcing one warship to land for repairs.
• The Sunil detected an approaching Mountain Beast and began charging the high-energy concentrated particle cannon, while Han Xiao watched eagerly.

The Sunil defenders faced a Mountain Beast, a Lava Lizard, and a Hunter King Beast as their battleship’s particle cannon wounded the first two threats. Melos arrived in General-Grade Armor and confronted the Hunter King Beast, leaving the soldiers stunned and the battle turning in his favor.

• The Mountain Beast hurled compacted earth at the battleship, whose particle cannon blasted open its body and severed one of its legs.
• A Lava Lizard and a Hunter King Beast approached, and the particle cannon shot off the Lava Lizard’s wing while troops moved to stop the Hunter King Beast.
• Melos stopped the charging Hunter King Beast with a metal block and told the defenders to leave the beast to him.
• Melos’s combat suit transformed into the legendary General-Grade Armor, and his weapon extended into a ten-meter ship-slaying blade.
• Melos struck the Hunter King Beast with a sweeping blade attack, cutting its torso and reversing the fight’s momentum.

Melos fought off the beast tide in General-Grade Armor, then kept helping the Sunil military while hiding his identity. After the Tide ended, Fagorna publicly announced that he and many Espers were leaving the Sunil Race, bringing the guardians face-to-face in a bitter split as Han Xiao watched for a chance to intervene.

• Melos used the Shattered Splitting Light and his ship-slaying blade to tear through the beasts, lifting the soldiers’ morale and helping stabilize the battlefield.
• Melos continued to aid the Sunils while avoiding the military’s attempts to identify him, torn between protecting his people and keeping the armor as Delphis’s legacy.
• The Tide ended, the beasts fled, and exhausted soldiers were taken for treatment as Sunils celebrated their survival.
• Fagorna announced that he and forty percent of the Espers would leave the Sunil Race, shocking the population and its military leaders.
• Fagorna’s independence faction confronted Reldon and the guardian faction, while Han Xiao watched the escalating division and waited for an opportunity to act.

After the independence faction split from the Sunil guardians, Melos confronted Fagorna, then revealed his identity and stepped forward to protect his people. The Sunil leadership promoted Melos as a new role model, and the mercenaries departed after receiving their rewards.

• Fagorna led the independence faction away, leaving the Sunil soldiers and guardians grieving over the split.
• Melos confronted Fagorna in the jungle, but Fagorna insisted the faction had left to pursue a stable life and would not change its minds.
• After the independence faction departed, Melos returned to the defensive perimeter, removed his helmet, and announced his name to the soldiers.
• The Sunil military and leadership publicized Melos as a hero and promoted him as a new role model for the race.
• The Sunil paid the mercenaries, and Han Xiao earned 16,000 Enas from the expedition and battlefield repairs.