Chapter 1 Maple Moon's Tactics

Feng Yue answered the communication, and a mercenary-looking figure appeared on the screen, with vigilance and curiosity in his eyes.

"This is the armed escort fleet of the Crescent Consortium. I am Commander Fakeman. Who are you?"

Hearing this, Feng Yue was overjoyed.

Chang Kong, Jiang Cheng, Stormy Rain, and other guild players had investigated the current situation of Harkstar in advance. Seven forces occupied this planet, competing with each other. They guarded the outer space of the planet in different directions, repelling other foreign forces, not wanting more people to share the resources. If they encountered armed forces or a galactic-level civilization's gathering team, the difficulty of negotiation would increase.

Directly encountering the consortium's forces would make things very smooth.

Of course, with the players' current abilities, they could not independently investigate these situations. The source of information was naturally the Black Star Army, allowing players to query the real-time intelligence of the Shattered Star Ring. This was the superior treatment of being a member of the army.

Feng Yue calmed herself down and said, "This is the joint armed force of Sky Territory, Stormy Rain Guild, Jiang Cheng Guild... and other organizations."

Fakeman looked puzzled.

He had never heard of the names of these organizations, let alone recognized the marks of these player guilds.

A small organization that popped up from nowhere...

Fakeman shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Harkstar does not welcome any foreign forces at the moment. Please leave immediately, otherwise, we will take necessary measures."

"You misunderstood. We are not here to enter Harkstar. You can think of us as mercenaries." Feng Yue took out the prepared statement, "Didn't you post recruitment notices in the Shattered Star Ring regional channel? We plan to cooperate with your consortium and accept armed employment."

Fakeman was stunned, somewhat surprised.

Now the Shattered Star Ring has no shortage of jobs. Almost all forces are recruiting soldiers, and the attraction of high-level forces is the strongest. The probability of a small consortium like them recruiting people in the free competition zone is too low. He did not expect that this group of people came to apply for mercenary work.

But why didn't they contact us in advance? What does coming here directly mean... They should be a third-rate organization that doesn't understand the rules of this business.

Fakeman felt that he had guessed right and secretly shook his head.

He estimated that such an organization would not be very powerful, and he didn't hold much hope, but the other party was at least a combat force, which was somewhat useful.

After a pause, he casually asked, "Okay, first tell me about your organization's situation. We need to consider whether it is worth hiring you."

Feng Yue excitedly squeezed her fingers, pretending to be calm, and said, "Well, our joint armed force has 7,000 Esper warriors, of which 5,800 are Grade B members..."

"Wait, what the hell?!"

Fakeman thought he had a problem with his ears.

The scale of 7,000 Espers is nothing, but the problem is that 5,800 are Grade B Espers?!

Harkstar doesn't even have that many Grade Bs!

From Han Xiao's perspective, Grade B is almost cannon fodder, but in the eyes of ordinary interstellar forces, Grade B Espers are undoubtedly the backbone force, enough to serve as the backbone of large mercenary groups, and they are also the main combat members.

When Han Xiao was wandering in the mercenary world in his early years, Grade B was already a master, and even a big figure in the eyes of ordinary people.

Like the famous mercenary groups in the region, such as Heavenly Ring and Zijing, before they were led by Han Xiao, the number of Grade Bs seemed to be only dozens or hundreds. If there were not two Calamity Grade experts in charge, their combat power was just a fraction of theirs!

Could they be lying to me?! Fakeman looked suspicious, and he only had this thought.

Chang Kong, Jiang Cheng, and other official guilds have a large number of peripheral members, and it is still very easy to gather thousands of people. Most players have been promoted to Grade B since the opening of Version 4.0. Those who have not reached it are mainly new players who have just entered the game, or those who are leveling up alt accounts.

Feng Yue deliberately ignored him and continued to say to herself, "At the same time, we are an affiliated organization of the Black Star Army. Our predecessor was the Undying unit under Black Star..."

"Wait for me again!! You said that you are an affiliated force of the Black Star Army, and also the Undying unit?!"

Fakeman's whole body shook, dumbfounded.

Isn't this a group of unknown small organizations? Their background is so big. Are they Black Star's people?!

His first reaction was disbelief!

In his eyes, Black Star was a cosmic bigshot that he could not reach at all. The Crescent Consortium he worked for was nothing in front of the Black Star Army, and the Undying unit was a well-known trump card of the Black Star Army. How could they come to accept their employment?!

Fakeman hurriedly logged into the Black Star Army's public website to check the information of these forces, but the result shocked him!

Sky Territory, Stormy Rain, Jiang Cheng and other forces are indeed semi-independent affiliated organizations of the army, and their members are all Undyings, and they were registered not long ago!

Next to Feng Yue, Crazy Blade and other professional players and several core backbones of the guild looked at Fakeman's shocked look as if he had never seen the world, and they felt secretly refreshed.

Just by using Black Star's name, this guy was shocked.

Having a backer is comfortable!

Because of the unparalleled authenticity, the source of players' fun is extremely rich. Seeing the NPCs react to their actions, players feel a sense of accomplishment.

The reason why everyone came to apply directly was to show off their strength on the spot and use the prestige of the Black Star Army to enhance their influence. They cannot share the resources of the planet with ordinary employment relationships, but with the name of Black Star, the conditions can be discussed—the benefits of the army are so unbelievably good that many guild leaders almost want to enshrine Han Xiao at home.

They do not occupy the planet exclusively, but look for other forces to cooperate with, mainly limited by funds. Mining equipment costs money, and mining also requires manpower. By finding NPC organizations to cooperate with, they don't have to bear this part of the cost. Although the individual strength of the players is strong, they are far inferior to NPC forces in terms of fleets, so they do have the sincerity to cooperate.

Seeing that the other party had not responded for a long time, Feng Yue couldn't help but cough to remind him, "What do you think? Do you like us? If you don't need to hire us, we will leave."

Fakeman woke up from his dream and hurriedly said, "No, no, no, it is our honor to hire you. Please follow me to land. I will notify the consortium's senior management immediately!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the panels of all the players present rang. When they opened them, they were all refreshed and cheered softly.

"Here it comes, the mission is triggered!"

"Gandhi is beautiful!"

"Haha, I said the plan would work. It really works like this!"

What appeared in the panel was not an employment mission, but a camp mission called [Harkstar Seizure of Power], which prompted them to choose one of the camps and help them drive out other forces on the planet. It belonged to the triggered plot mission.

Soon, the player's fleet followed Fakeman and landed on a base on the surface of Harkstar. As soon as everyone got off the spaceship, they saw a group of cadres wearing Crescent Consortium uniforms waiting at the pier, looking eagerly and nervously excited.

Many players stepped onto the pier, and the people from the Crescent Consortium took the initiative to greet them. The leader walked towards Feng Yue, extended his hand, and was very enthusiastic.

"Hello, I am the person in charge of the Crescent Consortium's exploration of Harkstar. You can call me Smudick. I welcome you all on behalf of Harkstar."

"Your name... is quite unique."

The corners of Feng Yue's mouth twitched, and she tried her best to hold back her laughter, kept a straight face, and shook hands with him.

Smudick didn't understand, but he didn't care, and said enthusiastically, "You came at the right time. We really need the help of mercenaries. I only have one question... Are you here to apply at the Black Star Army's request, or your own?"

"Both." Feng Yue's answer was ambiguous. This question was not in her preparation, but it seemed to be more beneficial to her.

"Then let's talk about the employment remuneration. What are your conditions?" Smudick asked.

Feng Yue and Crazy Blade and others looked at each other, nodded, and said, "We hope it is not a simple employment. In addition to the remuneration, we also want to jointly develop Harkstar."

"Joint development?" Smudick's heart trembled, and he thought of many things in an instant.

If the Black Star Army wants to occupy Harkstar, and this group of people are the advance troops, then their Crescent Consortium has no way to compete at all.

Now Harkstar can accommodate seven forces, precisely because everyone is a small brother, evenly matched. If a behemoth comes, then they will not compete at all, pack up their things and get out, and obediently wash the planet clean and hand it over.

But Smudick thought again, this may not be a bad thing. It seems that he can hug the thigh... uh, the leg hair of Black Star.

Currently, the biggest brands on Harkstar are two galactic-level civilizations, but those on the planet are just their gathering teams, so they can still stalemate for a while. If the civilization's main force comes, their consortium can only leave... But if they get the protection of this group of Undyings, it is equivalent to being able to use the Black Star Army as a protective charm.

Moreover, as competition becomes more and more fierce, other forces may come to Harkstar in the future. Having one more backer seems very beneficial.

With this in mind, Smudick made a decision and nodded heavily, "No problem, we will draft the specific terms and show them to you when they are done, okay?"

"Okay."

Feng Yue nodded. She was only responsible for the negotiation, and she didn't understand such terms. But it doesn't matter, the official guilds of professional clubs have talents in this area. The guild leaders are considered middle-level managers of the club, and they have some knowledge. It's no problem to look at the terms. If it doesn't work, they can also search for templates in the quantum network to compare, or spend some money to let Phillip help check.

That's the good thing about being in the army. As long as you spend money, you can get almost any service. Spending money is indeed the strongest superpower.

……

The Crescent Consortium vacated an area to serve as a stronghold for Chang Kong, Jiang Cheng, and other guilds, allowing everyone to rest. The next day, the two sides reached a consensus and signed a formal cooperation agreement.

After signing the contract, many players immediately triggered corresponding employment missions. There are now a large number of Harkstar-related missions in their mission list. Some were triggered by themselves, some were released by the Crescent Consortium, and some were special incentive missions issued by Han Xiao, such as "Finding a planet to establish a resource gathering point," etc., in order to encourage players to expand like dandelions.

The same thing, but there are so many missions. If all of them are completed, they can get extremely generous rewards, which is twice the result with half the effort.

After getting the contract, Feng Yue and others approached Smudick and took the initiative to propose a suggestion:

"We are now partners. You have not publicized our origins, so other forces do not know our strength and identity. This is an advantage, so I hope to take immediate action and carry out an armed raid to seize resource bases."

Smudick thought for a while and nodded, "That's right. Where do you want to attack?"

Feng Yue opened the holographic three-dimensional map of Harkstar and pointed to several locations, all of which were large resource bases of other forces on Harkstar.

"Y-you want to capture so many resource gathering bases at the same time?" Smudick stammered.

"Don't worry, we are confident." Hao Tian interjected.

In the interstellar battlefield, the fleet is very important, but capturing resource bases is a ground battlefield, and the Esper force is the focus. Now the total number of Grade B Espers on Harkstar is less than them, so there is no problem with multi-line operations.

"...Then do as you say. My troops will try their best to cooperate." Smudick secretly decided to hold on to this leg hair.

……

Ursa Minor Civilization is a galactic-level civilization on the edge of the Black Hole Realm, participating in the Shattered Star Ring's free competition. One of its gathering teams is one of the seven forces on Harkstar. It is the most powerful and has established several resource gathering bases on the planet.

On the edge of a canyon, there is a base. Floating gathering equipment rises and falls in the canyon, mining the unique minerals here. Transport vehicles constantly transport resources to warehouses. There are a large number of Ursa Minor soldiers in the base. There are chariots patrolling around. Various turret positions and traps are arranged on the periphery. Small warships hover in the sky, with strict defenses.

Somewhere in the base, two guys in officer uniforms slowly walked and inspected the base.

"I heard that a small fleet arrived at Harkstar yesterday, and the Crescent Consortium let them in?"

One of the sturdy figures asked in a deep voice. He was the person in charge of this base, a mid-level officer of Ursa Minor, named Handgarb.

The other person was the captain of the Esper force stationed at the base, a Grade B Esper. It is said that he was specially recruited for the Shattered Star Ring. He curled his lips and said casually, "It should be reinforcements hired by the Crescent Consortium. The defense fleet took a picture of their fleet's mark. I checked it. There are no files of those organizations in the Mercenary Alliance. It is estimated that they are just some irregular small fries."

The player guild is an affiliated force of the army. Han Xiao did not help them register in the Mercenary Alliance. The subtle intention is to turn the army into a platform of the same nature as the Mercenary Alliance, so currently only the files can be found on the army website. The player guild is currently not well-known. The Ursa Minor gathering team does not know their origins, so naturally they do not understand the correct query method.

Handgarb said coldly, "The Crescent Consortium has reinforcements. It is estimated that there will be action."

"Are you saying their target will be us?"

"Impossible." Handgarb said decisively, "The Crescent Consortium doesn't have the guts."

"Are you so sure?"

Handgarb looked determined, "Of course! My base is the most heavily defended, not only with a large number of defensive measures, but also with more than seventy Grade B Espers stationed here. If the Crescent Consortium has any brains, they would never dare to attack my base..."

Boom!!

Before he finished speaking, an explosion rang out from the periphery of the base, and the ground shook. The two stumbled at the same time.

"What's going on!" Handgarb was shocked and hurriedly boarded a floating vehicle and ascended into the air, remotely observing the direction of the explosion.

He saw that there was the outer minefield area. At this time, a large number of anti-gravity ground vehicles with the Crescent Consortium mark were speeding over. The vehicles were equipped with shields and electromagnetic kinetic energy weapons, charging towards the base gate while exchanging fire with the turret positions on the periphery of the base. The artillery fire was flying, making a crackling sound.

"Enemy attack! All personnel return to their posts!" The base's alarm sounded immediately.

Handgarb was shocked and angry, with an iron-blue face. "The Crescent Consortium dares to attack me?!"

He made a judgment in the previous second, and the enemy came in the next second. His face was very ugly. Seeing this, the Esper captain next to him knew not to stimulate his superior, and said, "I will lead the Esper force to meet the enemy."

"Good!" Handgarb nodded heavily.

The Esper captain went to organize his men. Only Handgarb was left on the vehicle. He stared coldly at the enemy force getting closer and closer to the base, and regained his confident look.

"They dare to take me as their target. It seems that I must give them a painful lesson!"

Soon, the Crescent Consortium's ground forces rushed through the outer positions of the base. The ground forces on the base also took the initiative to attack, and the Esper force followed suit to intercept the enemy.

The two sides exchanged fire while rapidly closing the distance. Seeing that they were about to collide, an accident happened at this moment!

The frontmost batch of ground vehicles of the Crescent Consortium suddenly opened their doors, and one figure after another jumped out, about a hundred people. They rolled forward with inertia after landing. However, in the process of rolling, the bodies of these hundred people suddenly swelled up, turning into biochemical aberrations several times their size, and their speed increased sharply, rushing into the base's ground forces.

Boom!

These biochemical monsters charged forward under the artillery fire. They were thick-skinned, strong, and had boundless strength. Their huge palms swept across continuously, blowing away all the vehicles blocking their way, as if they were in a no man's land.

The "Black Star Army Badge · Evolution," improved from the Oviton Badge, was also discounted by 70%. The guild purchased a large number and distributed them to the players.

A hundred players entering the [Limit Evolution · Aberration] state are a sharp weapon for attacking fortifications, instantly tearing the base's ground forces apart!

Handgarb's face sank, and he immediately ordered, "Let the Esper force attack and deal with these monsters!"

As the order was issued, in the front-line battlefield, the Esper captain led thousands of Espers to kill into the battlefield. Most of them were Grade C or Grade D, and the forefront of the force was dozens of Grade B Espers, as the arrow of the charge.

On the other side, thousands of players from the Crescent Consortium also appeared and launched a charge.

A medium-scale Esper war was about to break out. Seeing that the players were outnumbered, Handgarb smiled.

"The number of Espers is only about a quarter of ours, only a thousand of them. They are finished!"

As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, the two Esper forces clashed, but the result was completely opposite to what he expected, startling him so much that his eyeballs almost popped out, full of disbelief!

Each of the thousands of players erupted with Grade B combat power, instantly gaining the absolute upper hand and killing enemies several times their number!

Seeing this scene, Handgarb's face changed drastically, extremely horrified!

"How can there be so many Grade B Espers?!"