Chapter 1 Setting off on a Journey

After seeing everyone off, Han Xiao entered the room alone and let out a long breath. He finally had the chance to be alone. The first step into the interstellar era was complete.

With countless possibilities in the interstellar world, there were many plans for his next move. He needed to decide on a route.

First of all, his location was in the Garton Star System of the Colton Star Cluster. Based on his strength, this area was dangerous but suitable for development. As a level 70 Mechanic of Grade C, he could be considered a mainstay among the Supers in the Colton Star Cluster, better than most but not the best.

The visible universe was divided into many star fields. The Colton Star Cluster belonged to the Shattered Star Ring star field. The Shattered Star Ring was located at the edge of the visible universe, a remote place named after its star map structure. This star field was like a scattered, broken ring of stars, with each star cluster being part of the "ring".

The ring surrounded the central core of the Shattered Star Ring, a dangerous place with an enormous, unstable wormhole cluster that constantly ejected space debris from all over the universe, creating a junkyard. As a result, scavenger factions were very active in the Shattered Star Ring.

As the saying goes, wherever there are people, there is jianghu (martial world). The universe was full of shady professions, such as space pirates, scavengers, mercenaries, colony pioneers, and so on. The Shattered Star Ring lacked a strong ruling power, only scattered star cluster-level and star system-level civilizations, so there were many lawless areas with poor security.

The Shattered Star Ring nominally belonged to the jurisdiction of the West Mountain Delin, but this civilization only sent envoys to resident offices and rarely interfered in management… West Mountain Delin was the official name of the cosmic civilization, the Glorious Federation.

The larger the region, the greater the danger. Han Xiao remembered many opportunities, but based on the current situation, staying in the Colton Star Cluster to develop and grow stronger first was the best decision. Now it was Version 1.0, and he didn't know all the interstellar plots of this period. After all, in theory, players couldn't access the interstellar world at this stage, but some large-scale missions probably remained unchanged.

"The first step is to get information channels. Juberly Junction is a mixed bag, and there are many faction offices. I can try to attach myself to a faction and obtain early intelligence." Han Xiao thought to himself. As long as he had information, he could deduce some large-scale plot missions suitable for him.

The most important goal was naturally to grow stronger. He could remain ahead of the players, unaffected by version limitations, and he had to maintain this advantage. Danger was everywhere; it was like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you retreat.

Currently, Han Xiao's main class was stuck on the class advancement mission. He needed to find a sub-class first, level up to 80, and obtain enough attribute points to break the 400-point mark for his Intelligence stat. He wasn't someone who would act carelessly. Leveling up consumed more and more experience, so he wanted to find a valuable, rare sub-class before choosing to advance.

Thanks to the reaping since the league, Han Xiao had accumulated about 2.7 billion panel experience points. This would be his foundation for a long time, and he didn't have to worry about experience consumption in the short term. The accumulated materials and equipment were worth about several thousand to tens of thousands of Enas, the specific value depending on the needs of the trading party and the fluctuating value of the machinery, which could not be estimated before the transaction.

Another requirement for class advancement was five advanced Mechanic System knowledges. In the universe, there were many channels to obtain Super knowledge. The most advanced knowledge was controlled, but advanced knowledge was not difficult to obtain. Some consortia and forces sold advanced knowledge, which could be bought with money.

Earning money could solve this problem. As long as he had enough money, he could buy all the advanced knowledge. With enough money, he could do whatever he wanted.

And when it came to making money, Han Xiao wasn't bragging, he really wasn't afraid of anything.

"Players are equivalent to labor. I can indirectly obtain Enas through them. They are also my help. If I'm a mercenary, they can do the missions, and I can collect the money behind the scenes... But to make big money, it's best to sell rare items, such as mining some rare minerals... Or take on some long-standing bounties..."

The existence of player teammates was his advantage. If he used it well, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort. This was also the reason he chose to bring the players along.

Growing stronger and leveling up were the core goals. Han Xiao had another goal, which was to stay ahead of the plot and try to solve the Heteromorphy disaster on Aquamarine Star in Version 2.0 ahead of time.

Speaking of the Heteromorphy disaster, the evil faction of the Colton Star Cluster, DarkStar, had to be mentioned. In Version 2.0, many planets in the Shattered Star Ring suffered from the Heteromorphy disaster, and this force was the culprit. The novice planets in other star fields experienced different plots.

DarkStar originated from the reactionary forces of the Godora civilization. Han Xiao knew the history of DarkStar very well.

A large part of DarkStar's origins came from the discrimination of Godora's pure-blood theory. Many of DarkStar's members were mixed-blood Godorans who were discriminated against because of their bloodline and had extreme ideas. They always wanted to overthrow the Godora regime, believing that Godora was a decadent system and that they were the "New Godora" of the new era.

Every civilization had its own ideology and traditions. Advanced and backward were just based on different perspectives and were not absolute. Perhaps tolerance was truly advanced. Civilizations had their own characteristics, and it was important to respect the habits and traditions of other civilizations and species, and to be tolerant of each other during negotiations, but not to accept everything completely. This was the norm for inter-racial communication in the universe.

Of course, in the early stages of cosmic exploration, there was no shortage of civilizations with irreconcilable conflicts due to differences in concepts, characteristics, and habits. For example, there was basically no possibility of communication between the human race and species that fed on humans, but these extreme civilizations died or were injured. As super civilizations spread order, these species had to accept each other's existence.

Godora originated from magic. Before contacting the interstellar world, Godorans were all pure-blooded. It was only after they began to mate with other intelligent species that mixed-blood Godorans were born. Thus, the pure-blood theory began to continue, emphasizing tradition. The people in power were all pure-blooded, so pure-bloods and mixed-bloods began to be divided into classes. As Godora grew, more and more mixed-bloods were born, and the bloodline talents of Godorans themselves were gradually diluted, so they paid more and more attention to pure-bloods. Radical pure-blood theorists even did not regard mixed-bloods as the same race.

The contradictions became increasingly sharp, and finally "DarkStar" was born, opposing Godora everywhere, with an extreme and evil style.

"If you want to solve the Heteromorphy disaster, you must start with the Godora civilization..."

Han Xiao thought to himself. The Heteromorphy virus was very latent. In his previous life, attention was only paid to it after the disaster actually broke out. All he could do now was prepare for a rainy day.

These two goals were the focus of the near future. He pondered the details of the plan and opened the communicator to browse the interstellar channels, focusing on understanding the current situation of the Colton Star Cluster.

At this time, the broadcast announced, "Please return to your rooms. The spaceship will accelerate and enter the light-jump orbit. There may be turbulence at that time. If you experience dizziness, please do not panic. This is a normal reaction."

Dense footsteps sounded outside the door. All the passengers returned to their rooms, and Kerlodd and the players also returned. Black safety buckles popped out of the walls. One shouldn't expect protective cabins or other measures on these low-level tour groups.

After buckling his seatbelt, the room door automatically locked. A roar sounded from inside the spaceship, and the metal walls and floor vibrated non-stop.

Immediately afterward, a sense of being pushed back suddenly pressed down, holding everyone tightly in their seats—and this was after the reaction force was weakened many times by various devices.

The Short Horn Star spewed out blazing thruster flames, and its speed kept increasing.

Outside the dark window, streaks of light suddenly appeared, as if entering a light tunnel.

Buzz——

Just as the feeling of being pushed back reached its peak, the Short Horn Star flashed violently and turned into a beam of light.

The engine operated at full power, entering the warp tunnel. Under the effect of the internal stabilization device, the reaction force was quickly reduced, and everyone's bodies relaxed.

"Next stop, the Fifth Star Zone of the Garton Star System. The journey will take 3 days. Please enjoy your trip."

…

For three consecutive days, Han Xiao kept a low profile on the ship. The players were very enthusiastic, chatting with passengers and helping out. These passengers saw such enthusiastic humans for the first time. When they started chatting, they realized that the players had limited knowledge and were probably natives.

Kerlodd was drinking a glass of deep blue, brightly colored liquor at the bar. At this time, a mixed-blood human with pointed ears and a thin face came over and threw out a Ena coin, indicating that he was buying him the drink. He smiled and struck up a conversation, "Did you board the ship from Aquamarine Star? That low-level planet is just a low-level civilization. Are all the people you brought on board natives?"

"What's it to you?" Kerlodd glanced sideways.

"Hehe, are you interested in doing a business deal? My name is Sissoly, and I do this kind of thing..." This person was wearing gloves. He secretly opened a gap, revealing the tattoo on the back of his hand. The pattern was a chain wrapped around a bird, which was the mark of a slave-trading force, a business extension of the scavengers.

Kerlodd looked impatient and waved his hand. "Get lost. I don't want to waste my breath with you."

Public spaceships were mixed bags, hiding many gray forces that specialized in finding easy targets, so those with the means disdained taking interstellar tour groups. Kerlodd hated contacting scavengers, as it ruined his mood, and he even lost his appetite for his favorite [Deep Blue Star Bubble].

"Don't rush to refuse. I can tell that all the natives you're with are Supers. Supers are in pretty high demand. Consider it?" Sissoly coaxed.

At this moment, Han Xiao's voice sounded from behind the two, his tone indifferent.

"I think you should leave."

Sissoly turned his head and saw Han Xiao standing expressionlessly behind him. He smiled dismissively, ignored Han Xiao, and bid farewell to Kerlodd with a slight bow, then turned and walked away.