Why did Black Star ask me to stop? And with such a strange tone…

Brock stopped instantly. He was shocked, and various guessed flashed through his mind.

Did I show the cloven hoof?

That’s impossible… Brock took a deep breath, suppressed his worries, and turned around to face Han Xiao with a surprised expression.

“Your Excellency Black Star, is there a problem?”

Han Xiao sized Brock up then looked at the information on the interface again.

His level was way higher than those freelance mercenaries, so none of their attributes, abilities, or talents were secrets to Han Xiao.

Brock was Grade B borderline. Most of the freelance mercenaries there were Grade Cs with only a few Grade Bs. Brock was an elite among them, and he was the first Grade B tested by Han Xiao.

However, inside the Class List of Brock, there was a [DarkStar Elite Warrior], and there were also DarkStar abilities in his Ability List. Han Xiao had dealt with DarkStar for a few years, so there was no way for him to mistake it.

Plus, Brock was a hybrid Godoran, so the identity of this person was crystal clear.

He was one of the remnants, a secret member of DarkStar!

Some guts this guy has, coming to join my faction…

Han Xiao slightly squinted his eyes. Within a short moment, Han Xiao had guessed what Brock was thinking.

Wants to gain my trust, hide in my faction as a spy? Was this his decision, or was he ordered to? Han Xiao thought. What he was thinking of was further into the future. Not long ago, the Godorans had told him a piece of bad news—they had lost the DarkStar leader and Ember.

The DarkStar leader was a dangerous person, and Godora had let the master evil escape. Han Xiao kept feeling that they would make a comeback. He was wondering if Brock had been ordered by the DarkStar leader. If he had been ordered, that would mean that the DarkStar leader had secret means to contact his remaining forces!

He might be able to follow the lead brought by Brock and find the DarkStar leader!

With those thoughts, Han Xiao raised his eyebrows and smiled. He said to Brock, “You are quite skilled. I want to give you a special job. Are you interested?”

Brock was finally relieved. Suddenly, he felt like he had been too anxious.

I’ve really overthought this. There’s absolutely no way that I’m exposed. Brock was completely relaxed now. Acting as if he was flattered, he said, “What do you need me to do?”

“Er, I want you to become the drill sergeant of the training camp temporarily, helping me train the mercenaries who have yet met the requirements.”

“Sure, no problem.” Brock nodded, secretly overjoyed.

Although the trainer was not considered an officer, and there was no opportunity to touch the core of the Black Star Army, this was a good start. The fact that he had been given a special position as soon as he joined meant that Black Star had taken notice of him. This way, it would be easier for him to gain Black Star’s trust!

“Do your best. Go to the side and wait. After the test ends, I will make the appropriate arrangements.”

Han Xiao encouraged him and sent away the excited Brock, then secretly threw an Observer’s Mark onto the spy.

The Observer’s Mark could locate up to five targets at once, he had the last slot left, and he used it on Brock. Next time, if he wanted to mark a new target, he would have to remove one of the five old targets.

Brock’s spy identity was already exposed. However, not only was Han Xiao not going to eliminate Brock, he was boldly going to use him. With Phillip and the Observer’s Mark, none of Brock’s actions would escape his eyes. As soon as he did anything unusual, Han Xiao would know of it. Of course, Brock had just joined, so he definitely would not do anything bizarre for the sake of his disguise.

Most importantly, a spy would definitely work extra hard to gain his trust without any complaints. This was great manual labor. If he did not drain him properly, he would feel wasteful.

It just so happened that the training camp of Base No.1 had not yet been built, so only a Grade B could be the trainer of a large group of Grade C Supers. Training others was very troublesome, and Han Xiao did not want to waste his free time. Initially, he was going to call Ginette back, but now that Brock was there, it was enough. After all, no matter how much Han Xiao used or overworked him, he would not feel sorry for him.

…

This small incident did not cause any commotion and made many people more excited.

In their eyes, this meant that Black Star cared about talent. As long as they were strong enough, there was a chance for them to get a better position on the spot.

Time passed by, and Han Xiao tested them for another few hours more. More than 5,000 passed and became official mercenaries, and more than 1,000 failed and were sent to the training camp.

During the test, he discovered another three Grade B Supers. Sadly, they did not have any outstanding talents or abilities. They were considered regular Grade B Supers. Nonetheless, they were Grade Bs no matter what, so Han Xiao promoted these three to team leaders on the spot, giving them the authority to gather a certain number of Black Star mercenaries and form a fixed team.

There were two ranking systems implemented in the Black Star Army. One was based on merit, from 1-Star to 5-Star, followed by the honor title of ‘Black Star Eighteen Knights’. They were promoted through contribution points, earning better benefits.

Another was based on position, meaning the management structure of an army. Han Xiao had learned from the Sky Ring Army about using both the class ranking system and merit ranking system. The higher one’s contribution was or the stronger one was, the higher their position would be, and the more people they would be able to manage in a team.

Grade B Super met the requirement in terms of strength, so they got the position of team leaders.

Currently, the Black Star Army was divided into numerous factions: the Sunil Faction led by Herlous, the Battle Alliance Faction led by Harmon, the Associates Faction including Aroshia and other officers, and the Free Faction made by the players and some mercenaries. The Free Faction had the most people and could be considered the most common group of people.

Only Han Xiao could command everyone. Usually, these factions all did their own thing. This was most obvious for the Sunil and the Battle Alliance Factions; their members were close and very united.

Where there were people, there would be competition. Forming groups and factions was a problem that was definitely going to happen with larger numbers. As the Black Star Mercenary Group’s size grew, so did the difficulty in managing it. In order to develop better, they had to imitate other large mercenary groups and design a layered management system, making sure everyone had their own responsibilities. This was also something that Han Xiao had been thinking about recently.

The upper positions were a difficult problem.

Currently, all the officers were basically combat personnel; there was no clear difference in their positions other than Herlous, who could barely be considered his assistant. Many positions were unoccupied, such as Deputy Captain, Area Manager, Business Manager, Logistics, Spaceship Commanders, and many more.

These positions were like screw holes, and elites and officers were the screws. Han Xiao needed to find suitable screws, fit them into the right holes, and tighten them. Only then would the management structure of the Black Star Army become solid.

“The army has hundreds of thousands of members. The base manpower is very high, but we’re short of elite manpower. Sigh, I need to recruit more high-level people.”

Han Xiao shook his head. Although the size of his base troops was superior compared to many large mercenary groups, high level combat powers were the drawback of his faction at the moment. He was the only Calamity Grade Super in the Black Star Army, and they only had about ten Grade B elites. When compared to the Sky Ring Army who had three Calamity Grades and hundreds of Grade Bs, he was far below.

Han Xiao was not short in people with potential under him. Sylvia, for example, had been Grade A in the previous life, Herlous had the potential to reach Grade A, and Hila and Aurora’s Esper Potential even exceeded Grade A, not to mention the players with enormous potential.

However, the potential was not strength. These people had yet to fully grow, and Feidin who had the protagonist aura above his head was not his subordinate, just an employer who tagged along. The players had the version restrictions too. They could not become Grade B yet, at least not in Version 2.0.

It would be great if I could get a Calamity Grade Super.

Han Xiao sighed. Expanding his faction meant more accompanying difficulties. There were too many things that needed improvements.

The last candidate stepped forward. Han Xiao tapped him, and that person’s attributes appeared on his interface.

With just a single glance, Han Xiao’s expression changed.

Level… 135‽

This person’s level was the highest in all the freelance mercenaries!

Just seven levels lower than himself!

Han Xiao felt wide awake. He looked up at this freelance mercenary called Reynold.

Hmm… Spacehuman, snow-white skin, seems to be a hybrid. Longer than the usual face, high nose bridge, not as handsome as me but gives off a special vibe. Looks like his character is colder and more rational. This guy’s eyes are really bright… and he’s staring at me too.

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows and looked at the other attributes of this person.

Reynold… 1147 INT, Grade B+ Mechanic? Wow, that’s rare! This guy is the strongest among these people… Hmm, more than 600 blueprints, he has quite the rich pool of knowledge. Tsk tsk, as for talents… wait a minute, this guy has a Molding Talent‽