Chapter 244 Quiet Development

Before leaving the exhibition hall, Han Xiao took the initiative to give Li Ya Lin the hug she hadn't gotten, a moment without the distinction of status, only the friendship of a long-awaited reunion.

More than twenty years had passed, and the first group of friends he'd met had all had their own experiences. Everyone had chosen their own life, and he wouldn't forcibly interfere with anyone's life, so after repaying a "debt", he didn't do anything more for Li Ya Lin.

Saying goodbye to Li Ya Lin, Han Xiao and Ames spent more than ten days touring the main cities of Aquamarine Star. Recognized by citizens everywhere, the trip was lively and bustling. For their final stop, the two came to Black Star City to visit Bennett.

Ever since countless photos of him with Han Xiao had circulated on social media, Bennett knew that Han Xiao would definitely come to him during this time. He simply waited, not disturbing their itinerary.

Now that Han Xiao and Ames both had close cooperative relationships with Aquamarine Star, Bennett put his best foot forward for the meeting.

After discussing the official topics, Bennett couldn't help but ask about Niallo's situation. Han Xiao truthfully related the heavy workload Niallo faced. Bennett sensed Han Xiao's attention to Niallo and was very happy, suggesting Han Xiao increase the level of nurturing.

Ending the inspection of Aquamarine Star, Han Xiao went to Longtan, intending to sneak into Iso's cellar and take some Void Dragon Bone Wine to enjoy with Melos and the others. However, Iso foresaw it, and the old guy moved his bed and toilet into the cellar, guarding it tightly. Han Xiao couldn't very well rob him, so he had to return to the legion headquarters empty-handed.

In the Longtan palace, Ames watched the warp stream of the departing spaceship disappear into the distance, exhaled, and muttered to herself:

"I can't keep slacking off..."

...

Returning to the legion headquarters, Han Xiao immediately sought out Fording and Niallo for a good rub, and while his luck was still running high, he immediately returned to his room to settle the reward for extracting one of Ames's abilities.

[You have received the reward: Randomly extract one of Ames's abilities (Skill/Feat)]

[Hint: Ames is an Esper; the effects of some extractable abilities have been automatically adjusted based on your profession]

[Randomly extracting… extraction complete]

[Please choose one of the following 5 abilities as a reward:]

[1. \[Pure Bloodline] - Feat: Racial Talent Ability is enhanced to a certain extent (cannot be quantified due to different talents)]

[2. \[Advanced Charm Aura] - Feat: Charm +120%]

[3. \[Favored by the Stars] - Skill: Passive ability, randomly triggered, favored by the stars, gaining the \[Strong Luck] state, Luck +90%, lasts 15 days]

[4. \[Potential Activation] - Skill: Release potential, ability strength +10%~15%, Critical Hit Rate +200%, maintaining this state requires continuous consumption of Stamina]

[5. \[Might of the Wrist] - Feat: You possess astonishing wrist strength, a resilient body, and vigorous cell activity. As your character's total level rises, your Strength, Endurance, and Ability Strength will increase - Lv1~Lv100, every 10 levels Strength +30, Endurance +15, Ability Strength +0.6%; Lv100~Lv200, every 10 levels Strength +45, Endurance +25, Ability Strength +0.9%; Lv200+, every 10 levels Strength +60, Endurance +35, Ability Strength +1.2%]

"Yo, my luck is on a roll!" Han Xiao's eyes lit up.

Fording and Niallo, the two Emperors of Europe (lucky people), seemed to have brought him good luck. All five abilities drawn this time were pretty good.

The \[Advanced Charm Aura]'s bonus was considerable. Feats with the word "Advanced" in them were never bad. However, Han Xiao's need for the Charm attribute wasn't high. Although he also used a sea-of-people strategy, a Mechanic didn't rely on Charm as much as a Summoner mage.

\[Favored by the Stars] was a powerful skill with an extremely high Luck bonus. Unfortunately, for the same reason as the Charm Aura, he didn't need it much. Besides... no matter how much you buffed a base Luck of 1 point, it was pretty much the same as having nothing.

\[Potential Activation] was a practical state-type skill that increased output, but compared to the remaining two abilities, it wasn't as good.

Han Xiao's two favorite abilities were \[Pure Bloodline], a rare feat that increased the strength of talent skills, which was very valuable, and \[Might of the Wrist], a growth-type feat like a Tier Feat. Although the bonus was far less than a Tier Feat, it was also extremely rare and powerful.

Since he only got one reward, Han Xiao hesitated between the two. After thinking for a while, he made his choice.

[You have gained a new Feat, \[Might of the Wrist]!]

[Current total amplification effect: Strength +1230, Endurance +680, Ability Strength +24.6%]

He preferred this growth-type feat; it was stable, powerful, and had potential.

In comparison, the effect of \[Pure Bloodline] was uncertain. Judging from Ames's abilities, the bonus from this feat should be very limited.

Moreover, each time his race sublimated, his talent abilities would naturally be strengthened to a certain extent. He wasn't particularly lacking in this area. His own combat mode was mainly based on mechanical legions, while talents could only be used by his main body or Overlord body. The Ability Strength bonus applied to the entire mechanical legion, increasing overall damage output.

He currently only had two Tier Feats, \[Extraordinary Power] and \[Supreme Might], that directly increased Ability Strength, and these two abilities greatly widened the destructive power between different tiers. Therefore, non-Tier Feats like \[Might of the Wrist] that increased Ability Strength were extremely rare.

Han Xiao looked at his attributes with satisfaction, then closed the panel and turned to consider his current situation.

"It's the mid-game now. The external environment is relatively peaceful. The three great civilizations need time to quell their conflicts, and I've established my position. Nothing major should happen in the short term... so until the end of the version, it should all be an opportunity for me to develop steadily."

Han Xiao pondered. In the past year or so, he had shown his edge and driven the legion's power to soar rapidly. He needed a period of stability to slowly digest the various results he had achieved, such as the empire's greater emphasis on him, the fermentation of his deterrence, and the profits from the Evolver Totem, and so on.

"The legion now needs to keep a low profile and digest the spoils of victory, consolidating its rapidly growing power and business while waiting patiently for the next opportunity for development," Han Xiao nodded inwardly.

In his plan, the next opportunity for development would be the end of the first phase of the exploration of the Flickering World when the empire would allocate territory belonging to the legion, and he could vigorously develop the mechanical civilization and the Black Spirit race.

At the same time, this was also an opportunity to seize the advantages of Version 4.0. When the World Server of Version 4.0 opened, players from all star clusters would finally gather together and launch a true camp melee. The nicknames Fourth Heavenly Disaster and Cosmic Cancer also began to spread from this version.

In the next version, it was inevitable that players would cause trouble. Seizing a territory in the World Server in advance would be of great benefit to both him and the legion players. At that time, as the largest player camp in the Shattered Star Ring, the Black Star Army could not avoid being involved in the camp battles between players, which had both advantages and disadvantages, but there would definitely be plenty of disturbances.

The players in the Shattered Star Ring had already experienced quite a few major events in Version 3.0: the early secret war, the legion commander's breakthrough to Beyond Grade A, the legion's alliance with the empire, the mid-term opening and exploration of the Flickering World, the Beacon Star battle, the fall of the Otherworld Deity, and the later Gular Civil War mainly fought by players.

Han Xiao estimated that there would probably be no major events in the Shattered Star Ring for the rest of Version 3.0, and he could take advantage of this time to recuperate.

He was also very tired after fighting the Void Spirit and the Otherworld Deity. He could take this opportunity to slowly accumulate experience from the players while expanding the mechanical legion again.

It had been less than two years since he became a Beyond Grade A Mechanic. If he wanted the scale of the mechanical legion to reach the level of Mannison, there was still a long way to go. Not to mention Mannison, compared to other veteran Beyond Grade A Mechanics, his legion size was not that great.

"Let's keep a low profile and farm for a while, and not cause any trouble for the time being."

Han Xiao made up his mind.

...

Under Han Xiao's strategic guidance, the Black Star Army temporarily slowed down its aggressive pace of development and instead focused on stability, consolidating its current scale and business, while optimizing its internal structure and reducing burdens.

The Evolver Totem trade had set off a craze in the universe. Many wavering civilizations in various star clusters had made up their minds and reached cooperative relationships with the empire in various aspects, joining some trade and political alliances led by the empire in exchange for the qualification to purchase totems.

The Crimson Dynasty gained political influence, Han Xiao gained a huge number of civilization clients, and the legion's funds were extremely abundant, achieving a win-win situation.

This monopoly trade made countless interstellar consortia jealous to the point of distortion. Even super consortia, including the Infinite Consortium, were interested. Unfortunately, with the Crimson Dynasty protecting it, and with the Black Star Army being a super local tyrant far away in the Shattered Star Ring, these consortia were unable to intervene even if they wanted to.

On the other hand, due to previous conflicts, the three great civilizations were consciously reducing friction. Therefore, the Shining Federation and the Void Spirit Religion temporarily chose to wait and see on the issue of the Evolver Totem.

Due to the peaceful stance adopted by the three parties, the interstellar environment had become stable again. The impact of the Red Tide, which had lasted for more than ten years, was also gradually fading. The three great civilizations had given disobedient children a social beating, using practical examples to explain to the entire universe what it meant to be a noisy child who got punched, and the effect was remarkable.

The division of the Ark of the Fallen had also gradually come to an end. Some of the criminals were captured by the three great civilizations and brought to justice, some of the criminals defected to criminal organizations in other star clusters, and some of the criminals became self-reliant and became scattered soldiers and vagrants.

And the small number of criminals that remained were integrated by some people, and they continued to operate under the name of the Ark of the Fallen. The new leader seemed to be Hakesson, the former deputy of the Otherworld Deity. The new Ark of the Fallen's power had shrunk significantly and entered a state of hibernation, not operating when the wind was blowing, but keeping a low profile.

The legion players focused on participating in two major events: one was to conduct long-term exploration of the Flickering World, and the other was to actively participate in the Gular Civil War, helping the Pioneer Party to recover lost territory step by step and blow up the Ancient Emperor Party and the Advent Party. The players' influence on the civil war situation continued to increase, so they were happy to participate in the war.

In summary, the interstellar situation was occasionally frictional, with undercurrents surging, but overall stable.

Under the tacit low-key attitude of the three great civilizations, a year and a half passed quietly.

Version 3.0 had finally entered its final stage.

——

(To thank my brothers for their two years of support and love, at 6 p.m. on May 19th, I will send out a wave of red envelopes to everyone on the public account. Search for the public account "Qi Pei Jia" on WeChat, follow it to participate in the event (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و)