Chapter 586: Payment in Hand
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Godora sent out one of their leaders, who said with respect, “I welcome all the Army Commanders on behalf of Godora to participate in this celebration ceremony. The ceremony is currently in preparation, and we will be in charge of all of your lodgings and needs during this period. Please feel free to inform us if you have any requests. Everyone, follow me. We have already arranged your lodgings.”
The millions of mercenaries made a majestic appearance. If not for Godora being a Star System level civilization, they would not have been able to make proper arrangements for all the mercenaries easily.
They needed a few days to prepare the celebration ceremony, and the mercenaries could only wait for the ceremony to begin on the mother planet.
The ceremony was being held in the capital, and everyone’s lodging was also arranged in the capital. All the Army Commanders stayed in the same place, but their subordinates were to stay in a separate location. Furthermore, only the Army Commanders were invited to participate in the ceremony, and their subordinates could only watch the live broadcast on screen.
The players who were scattered all around the capital definitely would not stay in their rooms obediently. Furthermore, Han Xiao did not intend on restricting their freedom. The players would not feel a sense of belonging to a faction that tried to restrict their movements. The only way to go was using benefits to entice them, which was what he had been doing.
The treatment of the players was like the other mercenaries. They were free to do whatever they wanted when there were no missions, as long as they did not break the law.
Besides, the only way to create a warm sense of belonging for the players was to expose them to the prices of the galaxy.
...
Han Xiao was split up from his Officers and followed the other Army Commanders to a government guest house. This guest house was used to host visitors and was not open to civilians.
Along the way, Han Xiao chatted with the different Army Commanders, and the few like Justin who were not in cooperation with the Black Star Army took the initiative to form an alliance with him.
Han Xiao enjoyed Godora’s scenery as they travelled. The sky was a beautiful shade of dark blue, and the pedestrians who were making use of their flight devices stuck closely to the prescribed flying routes. They formed a long human bridge that extended up into the skies. Every building had a landing point at the top of the building, which made it look as though the crowd was being sucked in. This scenery was exactly like how he remembered it to be.
The luxurious government guest house was located on top of the mountain, and their guide led Han Xiao and the others to their rooms. Every room had identical designs, and they were two story rooms, with huge, full-length windows and a balcony. The view on the outside covered half the capital, and the air was extremely fresh.
When Han Xiao got into his own room, the guide left and did not disturb him further.
“This is truly luxurious.”
Han Xiao looked around the place and opened up the fridge to take a look. The fridge was lined with all of Godora’s specialties as well as many different kinds of drinks.
Having picked out a frozen piece of red meat, Han Xiao placed it into a simple reheating machine that looked like an oven. He then set the flavor to ‘Godora’s traditional taste’ before turning the machine on.
After a short while, a plate of steaming hot diced meat was served. It was topped with thick golden gravy that looked like honey and gave out an irresistible aroma.
“I can finally save my taste buds, which crave nutritious and high energy food.”
Han Xiao took a deep breath of the aroma, and his appetite was whetted. He then ate the diced meat as though he was snacking. The sweet, juicy meat bounced around in his teeth as though he was eating jelly.
Godora was a magical civilization, and its mother planet had once had countless magical beasts roaming the planet. Now, all those beasts were locked up in zoos for exhibition with a portion of them being turned into everyday delicacies. After all, beasts who had magic in their bodies usually had extremely fragrant meat.
Han Xiao grabbed a red fruit that looked like a baboon’s ass and a light gold liquor that had not been opened yet. He then walked to the balcony and sat down in the deck chair, enjoying Godora’s beautiful scenery while enjoying the fruit and wine in his hand.
In his past life, DarkStar had bothered Godora for a long time, but DarkStar had been destroyed much earlier in this life. The billions of lives that would have been harmed by DarkStar had been saved.
The greatest threat to him had already been wiped out, and Han Xiao no longer had an enemy to be wary of. A period of peace would follow this, and Han Xiao could finally develop his Black Star Army in peace. Before the release of the next version, there should not be much danger. Since the danger was already over, it should be alright for him to relax for a moment, right?
Not too long ago, Han Xiao had used the Destiny’s Child Card to prophesize about Ember’s situation. Ember was indeed still alive, but the outcome of the prophecy was actually Ember’s death. Ordinarily speaking, the prophecy should have been about how Ember would bring him a bloody calamity in the future...
A prophecy could also fail, but it was a pity that he was not able to determine Ember’s location and give chase.
While he was not able to personally get rid of Ember, it seemed like Ember would not have a good ending. Han Xiao was truly curious about what kind of dangers Ember would meet. The most likely scenario would be him being chased by Godora and being beaten to death. However, it was a pity that the prophecy had been too hazy, and Han Xiao could only make a wild guess.
“The DarkStar storyline has been changed by me, and all future events will no longer happen. The fate of these DarkStar members will also be different,” Han Xiao mused to himself.
From Version 1.0, the main boss of the Garton Star System had been DarkStar. Now that DarkStar was no more, there would not be another enemy capable of threatening him in the Garton Star System any time soon. Together with the fact that he had a good relationship with Godora, his main camp would be more or less safe.
Thus, Han Xiao was in a pleasant mood and felt that the sun was warm and the flowers red.
“I have been in the galaxy for a few years now...”
As he sipped his wine, Han Xiao could not help but reminisce about his experiences in the galaxy.
He had set up the Black Star Mercenary Group and completed missions all around. He had become a subordinate of the Dragon Emperor and made use of her as a backer to build ties with the various organizations. He had begun his accumulation since Version 1.0 and returned to Planet Aquamarine after Version 2.0 was launched. He had carried out his plan to recruit players and initiated deeper cooperation with Godora. He had resolved the Mutation Disaster and caused the destruction of DarkStar...
Now, he had finally accumulated enough strength to stand his ground in the galaxy.
“The next step will be my uprising.”
Han Xiao swallowed a large mouthful of wine as many ideas sprouted out in his head.
...
After a short rest, an upper echelon of the War Bureau arrived at the guest house and invited all the Army Commanders for a meeting.
Han Xiao also received the notice and made sure that his hair was done nicely before walking to the conference room while singing. He saw Underworld Feather and Gureja the moment he entered the conference room.
He then sat down and made some idle chatter with the two of them. Gureja liked to touch his own thighs when talking, and Underworld Feather liked to eat nonstop. After talking for a short while, the other Army Commanders also arrived.
When everyone was present, a Godoran dressed in old-fashioned attire walked into the room. He was an upper echelon of the War Bureau, and Han Xiao had talked to him through the communicator before.
The War Bureau upper echelon then began his speech about how he was grateful to everyone present before moving onto the things that they should take note of during the ceremony. The majority of the upper echelons of Godora would appear during the ceremony, including the current highest leader, Serbia the Fifth. The ceremony was an official event, and there were many rules that needed to be followed.
The ten or so Army Commanders seated in the room were all local tyrants of their respective regions. However, this was also their first time attending an official galactic civilization ceremony. Despite their strength and unbridled nature, they did not dare do as they pleased in such an official event.
The meeting ended very quickly, and the various Army Commanders stood up to take their leave.
Right at that moment, the upper echelon of the War Bureau called out to Han Xiao.
“Black Star, follow me. Serbia the Fifth invites you to meet him.”
Pa!
All the Army Commanders froze on the spot and looked back at Han Xiao in shock.
The highest leader of Godora was the leader of a Star System level civilization and was a true big figure. His status and influence were not something that they could match. They would only be able to encounter Serbia the Fifth during the actual ceremony!
However, such a figure was about to meet Black Star in private‽
We are all Army Commanders here. Why are you the only one getting special treatment?
Han Xiao’s brows were raised, and he did not think that this was anything strange. Nodding, he said, “Alright, let’s go.”
The Army Commanders looked at their departing backs before looking at each other with puzzled looks.
There was definitely something behind this!
Godora had not made an official announcement, and the Army Commanders did not know that Han Xiao was their true key to victory. The merit that he rendered was on a completely different level from theirs.
...
After taking a long and winding path, they entered the core building of the regime. They then went through many different security checks before finally arriving at the office of the highest leader.
Serbia the Fifth took the initiative to stand up and extended his hand. “Black Star, how is your rest?”
“Pretty good.” Han Xiao shook his hand, and the two of them began exchanging pleasantries.
The three of them then had a casual conversation for a while before finally broaching the main topic.
“Black Star, your intelligence helped us to wipe DarkStar out.” Serbia The Fifth did not display a lofty attitude and spoke with a solemn expression. “I thank you on behalf of the Godoran citizens. Godora will always remember what you have done.”
“As a citizen of the Garton Star System, this is something that I should do. It is just a small matter,” Han Xiao said humbly.
“Your award ceremony would be grander, and we are going to award you with the ‘Golden Gal Badge’. This is Godora’s highest honor, and only thirty-two badges have been given out to date.”
“I am truly overwhelmed,” Han Xiao replied.
“This is something you deserve. We have already prepared the conditions that you have requested.”
The moment Serbia The Fifth completed his sentence, the War Bureau upper echelon beside him took out his communicator and flashed the image of two different spaceships.
“Fifty Violent Falcon grade battleships that have the ability to attack and defend. One Fortress grade flagship that is made from a powerful alloy. These fifty-one battleships are brand new, and they are currently being stored in the army’s warehouse. They can be handed over to you at any time.”
According to his request, those battleships were in their base form and not special Godoran variations.
Together with this batch of battleships, his fleet now had about seventy battleships.
Han Xiao looked through the data of the spaceships and nodded in satisfaction. Godora did not go back on their word and try to toy with him. Those two spaceships were truly decent. Especially the Fortress grade flagship, which had a selling price of over 10,000,000 Enas and cost price of a few million. Of all the different spaceships, flagships and motherships were the most expensive kind.
Just these fifty-one battleships would be a hefty price.
After confirming that there was no problem with the spaceships, the War Bureau upper echelon continued.
“15,000,000 Enas have been deposited into your account. Please take a look.”
A bank transfer message had indeed appeared on his communicator. After taking a glance, Han Xiao needed to exercise all his willpower to ensure that his face did not break out in a wide smile.
Together with the 3,400,000 Enas from being hired in the war, Han Xiao now had over 28,000,000 Enas in his account!
He was truly a wealthy tycoon!
“As for the Super knowledge that you have requested, we can provide five. This is the list.”
As Han Xiao took a glance, the Super knowledge that a civilization had was indeed more complete than the black market. There were even some that could not be found on the black market. Now that they were being placed before him for him to choose, it saved him a great deal of time. However, the highest-grade knowledge on the list was only a High-End Knowledge.
Without any hesitation, Han Xiao immediately chose to learn the Mechanic High-End Knowledge that he had not learned.
_____________________
Armed Branch: [High-End Material Technology]. Core Mechanic knowledge to research materials with high resistance. The most obvious result would be an increase in Armor for all machines.
Energy Branch: [Super Nanometer Force]. Strengthens the basic attributes of all armor and machines. When used in tandem with [Super Nanotechnology], high grade memory alloys that have the ability to automatically restore Armor can be researched. If the blueprint for Nano Robots is learned, machines may even have the ability to transform!
Energy Branch: [High Energy Weapon Control]. When used together with [High Class Energy Control], many different powerful weapons can be created.
Control Branch: [Interstellar Navigation Technology]. Prerequisite knowledge to building a spaceship.
Control Branch: [Advanced Applications for Quantum Entanglement]. Greatly increase the transmission range of energy and messages. Increases the range and efficiency for virtual intrusion.
_____________________
The upper echelon immediately brought up the data from the knowledge bank and sent it to Han Xiao’s communicator.
Han Xiao suppressed the urge to throw in his Potential Points immediately.
The benefits from the trade had basically been obtained by him, and the only thing left would be for Godora to announce his contributions at the ceremony and increase his Renown.
It could be said that this was truly a happy ending for their cooperation.
After a short conversation, Han Xiao stood up to take his leave. Right at that moment, an idea suddenly came to him, and Han Xiao threw an [Observer’s Mark] on Serbia the Fifth.
The highest leader of Godora would come into contact with top secret information every day, and he could obtain some unexpected intelligence from spying on Serbia the Fifth.
It definitely was not because he wanted to spy on the lifestyle of the highest leader!
...
The next day, Han Xiao rented out a machinery modification room.
Since he was currently on the mother planet of Godora, the time taken for shipping would be negligible. He immediately bought the core materials required for his new mechanical suit.
Despite Godora only charging him the cost price of those three materials, he spent more than 100,000 Enas.
At the same time, of the five new knowledges that he acquired from Godora, [High-End Material Technology], [Super Nanometer Force], and [Advanced Applications for Quantum Entanglement] were raised to the max level, which cost him a total of fifty-one Potential Points.
Han Xiao could finally feel a lack of Potential Points. The moment he started to level up his knowledge, his Potential Points would also be expended rapidly.
Han Xiao made use of his new knowledge to complete his mechanical suit blueprint and also increased the blueprint up to level ten. This was to ensure that he could create the most perfect mechanical suit.
This time, Han Xiao was prepared to create a mechanical suit that could keep up with his new Grade A strength!