Chapter Summaries

Han Xiao organized passengers and players to prepare for the scavengers boarding the Short Horn Star, then received an emergency mission to defend the ship. As the scavengers breached the vessel, their leader Snake Braid ordered his forces to find the Goddoran.

• Han Xiao recognized the Boneless Bird insignia and learned that Sisoli had moved to a VIP cabin.
• Han Xiao led Kerlodd and the players toward the warehouse to retrieve weapons and prepare for an attack.
• The Short Horn Star failed to enter warp, its shield was breached, and Han Xiao received the mission to defend the ship.
• Han Xiao split the players into teams to secure weapons, reach the control room and officers, and search for escape craft.
• Snake Braid and the allied scavenger groups boarded the ship, and Snake Braid ordered his men to find the Goddoran.

The Short Horn Star was trapped by scavengers who jammed its communications and boarded the ship, while Han Xiao recovered his mecha and organized the passengers into teams to fight back. Green Knight Reldon held off Snake Braid’s forces near the main control room as Han Xiao and his group prepared to join the battle.

• The Short Horn Star’s captain failed to contact help and asked passengers with combat abilities to defend the ship, promising a generous reward.
• Snake Braid and his scavengers took passengers hostage, searched for Han Xiao, and then headed toward the main control room.
• Green Knight Reldon fought off scavengers blocking the way to the main control room, and Snake Braid charged him.
• Han Xiao recovered the Flying Serpent Mecha, gave Kerlodd several weapons, and divided the players into teams to secure an escape route, block the scavengers, and reach the main control room.
• After hearing the captain’s broadcast about a reward, Han Xiao’s eyes lit up.

Han Xiao reached the Short Horn Star’s main control room as Snake Braid’s scavengers overwhelmed Reldon, then stopped Snake Braid and accepted the captain’s commission to defend the ship. The captain’s reward offered Han Xiao another way to profit while the scavengers still threatened the ship.

• Han Xiao hurried toward the main control room, judging that the scavengers’ strongest fighter was likely no stronger than C-grade.
• Snake Braid wore down Reldon with his attacks and the scavengers’ gunfire, then drove him off after destroying part of his body.
• Han Xiao blasted Snake Braid with Garetan’s Wrath, blocked the scavengers’ return fire, and used Hila’s Character Summon Card to incapacitate him with mental shocks.
• Han Xiao seized Snake Braid by his braid and held the main control room doorway, saving the captain from the immediate attack.
• The captain offered Han Xiao a reward to protect the Short Horn Star, triggering the Captain’s Commission mission for 8,000 Enas.

Han Xiao held the main control room against Snake Braid’s scavengers until Kerlodd and a group of players arrived, turning the fight against them. As the battle spread, more players logged in among the hostages and attacked Sisoli’s men.

• Han Xiao defended the main control room from Snake Braid and the scavengers’ concentrated fire while waiting for backup.
• Snake Braid abandoned the attempt to seize the control room and ordered his men to search for Kerlodd, their true target.
• Kerlodd arrived and blocked the passage, but Snake Braid overwhelmed him until more than a dozen players appeared behind him.
• Han Xiao, Kerlodd, and the players attacked Snake Braid’s gang from both sides, reversing the battle and routing the scavengers.
• Sisoli tried to take the hostages back to the scavenger ship, but Hao Tian, Long Sky, Jiang Yuluo, Meat Bun, and other players appeared in the hall and attacked his men.

Frenzied Saber’s group guarded the escape craft while Han Xiao defeated Snake Braid and learned that DarkStar had hired the scavengers to capture Kerlodd. With the main control room secure, Han Xiao set out to help the players block the scavengers’ escape, despite the captain’s pleas for him to stay.

• Frenzied Saber and the other players guarded the escape craft, and Reldon turned back to join the fight after learning that others were resisting the scavengers.
• Han Xiao defeated Snake Braid and forced him to surrender, then learned that DarkStar had hired the scavengers to capture Kerlodd for a blood-sacrifice scheme involving pureblood Goddorans.
• Han Xiao checked the other squads’ progress and learned that Temple and Dynasty were struggling against another powerful scavenger leader as the enemy forces retreated toward their ships.
• The captain urged Han Xiao to remain aboard for protection, but Han Xiao said he would support the players while Kerlodd stayed to guard the main control room.

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.