Chapter 717 Changing in a Blink
“Oh my goodness, the headquarters is actually this huge toy. How much money is it worth
“The Black Star Army could not have taken over the entire Garton Star System already, right?”
Just as the hundreds of thousands of players looked up toward the sky with dumbstruck expressions, their interfaces all vibrated as they received a notification.
Frenzied Sword recovered from his stupor, immediately opening the interface, and a look of joy appeared on his expression.
All the players who belonged to the Black Star Army had received the same faction mission.
[Ten Years): The First Link
Mission Introduction: The winds of change have blown, and the years passed quickly. Ten years have been and gone, and the situation in the universe is turbulent, with many undercurrents moving. You will participate in the tidal waves of this era. It is time for you to return to your team.
Mission Requirements: Proceed to the nearest Black Star Army satellite fortress.
Reward: 15,000 Experience, +300 Black Star Army Favorability
This is a chain mission.
Han Xiao had been watching the time for the players to come online. It was precisely he who had issued the mission for everyone to return through the faction interface. This was to allow the players to be guided to understand the new version and not allow them to run off with a head full of fog.
Because Han Xiao’s wording was formal, it was akin to a new mission for the players. In any case, any mission issued through the player interface would be a legitimate mission.
With the players having just touched on the new Version, it was the period where they were most eager to understand the changes that had happened in the galaxy. This mission was akin to a beacon in the dark, like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey, attracting their attention through creating an itch in their hearts.
“This is the guiding mission released by the new version. As long as we follow this, we will understand where the storyline has advanced. Believe me, there will not be any problems in doing so!” Bun-Hit-Dog had a firm look of confirmation.
“To actually be a storyline mission released by the Black Star Army Faction...” Frenzied Sword’s eyes lit up. “This should be a hint that the Black Star Army will play an important role in Version 3.0!”
No one would reject the guided mission for this storyline version, and the majority of the players had their own thoughts on their next course of action. They would go over to the dock to take a spaceship, which would ferry them into the sky to squeeze into that sky fortress.
Just as everyone had the thought in their heads, in the direction of the Black Star Army’s Satellite Headquarters appeared many tiny black dots the size of sesame seeds. They expanded at a rate visible to the naked eye and turned out to be a fleet with the insignia of Black Star on them. They hovered above the heads of the tens of thousands of players, the stable anti-gravity device installed in them not even raising a wind.
Those present could not help but pause in shock. At this moment, the bottom of the battleships opened, releasing traction beams toward the ground. At the same time, the cabin crew spoke through the loudspeakers, broadcasting their voices throughout the sky of the entire city.
“All members of the Black Star Army, please board the fleet. I repeat, all the members of the Black Star Army board the fleet.”
All of them were spaceships that Han Xiao had specially deployed to escort the players. The players present did not imagine that the Black Star Army would actually send someone to pick them up, causing them to feel incredibly surprised.
This was Godora’s planet. To be so unbridled in the city, was the Black Star Army so powerful now?
All signs indicated that the Black Star Army was no longer the same. The players could not wait to know what had happened in the past decade.
Everyone lined up to board the spaceship, and the fleet returned right after taking in the passengers.
After boarding the ship, the players started to take action, asking the NPCs around the ship to uncover more intelligence. However, the distance from Planet Golden Gate to their headquarters was too short, not even needing half a minute to arrive there. The players who wished to gather intelligence could only dispel their thoughts.
The Black Star Army headquarters grew larger as they got closer, allowing the players to see more details of this armed satellite fortress. The ground was full of defensive measures, all kinds of weird devices, and there was even a huge thruster. Rather than calling it an armed satellite fortress, it might as well as be called a satellite battleship!
The pro players gathered together and observed through the porthole. Frenzied Sword could not help but click his tongue. “This thing looks freakishly strong. Rather than a satellite, it is more apt to call it a weapon.”
“I recall that in the previous version, having tens of thousands of flagships was already extremely scary. To think that the moment this version opens, there’s something even scarier appearing. There was no such thing in the previous version, if I remember,” Hao Tian mused.
“We don’t even know if this was designed by Black Star...” Maple Moon was curious.
Very quickly, the fleet reached the airport, and the tens of thousands of players streamed out, quickly occupying a large area of the dock and looking around, curiously taking in their surroundings.
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they arrived, the players felt the lively atmosphere. There were NPCs milling about, every one of them carrying the insignia of the Black Star Army. This was far more crowded than looking at the base from the planet surface.
“Is this our new headquarters? Why are there no NPCs to welcome us?”
“What do we do next?”
Just as the players started to hesitate, their interface changed, showing the completion of the first chain mission (Ten Years). Han Xiao immediately released the second chain mission.
(Ten Years]: The Second Link
Mission Introduction: In the past decade, Galaxy has undergone huge changes. You need to review the deeds of the Black Star Army in the past decade.
Mission Requirements: Update and activate the internal procedures of Black Star Army, and watch the video lesson (History of the Black Star Army (Required)].
Reward: 25,000 Experience, +500 Black Star Army Favorability
Han Xiao had been observing the players movements from inside the base. He did not need to show himself but used the mission function to dictate the players’ movements. This would be more natural and secretive.
“This must be the backstory for the new version!”
“I told you, there’ll definitely be some notification for this version, just like in Version 2.0!”
“How convenient. I thought we’d have to look for leads ourselves.”
Frenzied Sword’s eyes gleamed. He was actually thinking about what had happened between the two versions. He did not expect this guiding mission to directly publish the information they most wanted to know. How good this was!
Their mission requirement was to update their internal procedures, which was the Phillip subprogram. This was the toy installed by all members of the Black Star Army and contained the ability to check their resumes, accumulated achievements, browse the faction store, call airdrop supplies, and more.
The tens of thousands of players took out their communicators and opened their subprograms. This time, there was some response for them at last. Phillip’s virtual image turned into a 3D projection, which was suspended above the communicator.
“Coordinate detection... Coordinates confirmed. Your current position is the base of the Black Star Army. Permissions have been unfrozen. You have obtained permission to update your database. Please scan to verify, hum...”
Before the version update, Phillip’s subprogram could not support the function of stereo projection. Players could only use words to tease Phillip. However, he now had an avatar. Phillip appeared as a finger-sized boy that appeared as cute as a girl would.
Many of the female players’ eyes lit up when they saw him, and they could not help but touch Phillip with their fingers. Although there was no tactile feeling being transmitted, Phillip acted as though he had been hit and covered his little face, which was full of tears. His innocent expression seemed to convey that he was in pain because his projection had the function of virtual sensing.
Instantly, the majority of female players, including Maple Moon, were captivated by Phillip, their motherly love disastrously overflowing:
“Waa, how can something be so cute!”
“Oh no, this is the feeling of having a child!”
“He’s so cute. My heart is gonna melt...”
“So cute, how apt.”
Hao Tian squeezed on Phillip’s head, causing it to explode and turn into a pile of light debris. The next moment, it reformed, and Phillip shivered in a corner of the screen. Hao Tian mused, “There’s no notification on combat information. It seems like he cannot be reared as a pet to fight.”
Standing by the side, Frenzied Sword’s mouth was twitching incessantly. “Are you the Devil himself?”
The crowd teased Phillip for a while before he announced that the update was completed. The players present all then opened the subprogram. Phillip retracted back into the screen before issuing a notification.
“Permissions have been reactivated. Welcome back to the Black Star Army. Please access your academic program.”
A beam of light shot out from the communicators of everyone present, forming a 3D screen as the video played. The title of the video was ‘History of the Black Star Army’, and this was exactly the academic program that they were required to watch.
Han Xiao had set up the activation program to automatically play the academic program. Not just the players, every single member of the Black Star Army had to undergo this course. This was basically a textbook used to establish the culture of Black Star Army, and the producer was Rossellin.
In his previous life, the players basically had to dig out the background of each version update by themselves, which was very inefficient. Han Xiao simply used his advantage to directly tell the players the history of the version update in this way, such that they would be able to figure out the situation earlier. This would save them a lot of trouble while improving the sense of identity the players felt, increasing their belonging to the Black Star Army.
The spirit of the players was stoked. They were trying to know what the Black Star Army had become at this point, so they quietened down, their gazes staring fixedly at their virtual screens.
“The Black Star Army was established in the Year 688 of the Galaxy Calendar and has been established for 17 years. Its original name was called the Black Star Mercenary Group, and its founder was (Black Star] Han Xiao...” Rossellin’s voice sounded, and the screen showed a silhouette of Black Star at the forefront, with the figures of his Officers behind him.
Just by looking at the opening, Bun-Hit-Dog’s eyes lit up. “This feels like a blockbuster here...”
After explaining the creation as well as the leader of the army, Rossellin’s tone changed as she immediately began to describe the process of the Black Star Army’s transformation in scale.
The picture showed a star map of the Garton Star System. On the upper left corner, there was a time indication of Year 688. This was exactly when the Black Star Mercenary Group was first established. Within the vast star map, a humble and small green dot represented the forces of the Black Star Mercenary Group at that time.
As the time on the upper left corner started to move, the tiny green dot slowly moved around, finally finding a base and beginning to expand into a small, irregularly shaped green area. This gradually expanded over time, showing the development trend of the Black Star Army.
Not only were the hundred thousand players at the headquarters watching this, but players from the other bases were also watching the video at the same time. This portion was the events that had taken place from Version 1.0 to 2.0, and to have it displayed in this manner attracted the attention of all the players.
As the green area slowly expanded in the Garton Star System, the time shown on the upper left-hand corner finally reached the mark of ten years ago, just before the version update.
The players started to pay attention. From now on, it would be the decade that they had not experienced, which was the unknown changes.
At this moment, the view on the virtual screen suddenly zoomed out tremendously, directly expanding to show the entire Colton Star Cluster. The star map was enlarged dozens or hundreds of times!
At the same time, the green area that was originally confined to the Garton Star System suddenly ballooned out to spread to more than half of the Colton Star Cluster, occupying half of it!
Everyone present was stunned silly.
Following the time skip, the sphere of influence rose sharply. If the expansion of the Black Star Army in Version 2.0 was considered that of running, then the period of ten years between the two versions was as though it was riding on a fighter jet!
The time finally arrived at Year 705. Out of the entire Colton Star Cluster, close to ninety percent was green in color.
At this moment, Rossellin’s voice sounded in the background.
“Today, the Black Star Army has completed its transformation, having branches throughout the whole Colton Star Cluster. Its business scope includes warfare, planet mining, and more. It is also the long-term ally of the Purple Crystal Civilization, the ruler of the Colton Star Cluster, with over ten other civilizations as collaborators. The Calamity Grade Supers under His Excellency have also grown to almost twenty people, with tens of thousands of battleships and hundreds of planet mining rights. The Black Star Army stands at the forefront of the organizations in the Shattered Star Ring.”
Frenzied Sword and Bun-Hit-Dog stared at this commentary. They were not alone, as the players around them had the same expressions as them, full of shock and surprise!
When they originally arrived there, Frenzied Sword had already grossly inflated the power the Black Star Army had after a decade, but even he did not expect that he had still underestimated the Black Star Army! His imagination had truly limited him.
This sort of feeling was like, after falling asleep for a night, waking up and finding out that the factory in town that you worked for had turned into the world’s top five hundred companies! Overnight!
I only looked away for moment, and you had already ascended to the sky?
The curiosity of the crowd was so great that they were anxious about the deeds of the Black Star Army in the past decade. They could not help but wish to scrub the video straight to the end.
Just what exactly happened when we were not here? How did the Black Star Army leap up to become such a great influence?