In Ames’ palace, two people were standing outside the gate. One of them was Aesop, and behind him was a tall, purple-haired human lady. Her skin was a little blue, her face looked gentle and pretty, and she had alluring eyeshadow on. She was looking up at the palace apprehensively.

Aesop looked at the beautiful, purple-haired woman and said with resignation, “Vilna, don’t be so nervous. It’s just meeting Ames.”

“I–It’s my first time meeting a Beyond Grade A. What kind of person is Her Excellency Dragon Emperor? It’s rumored that she’s very controlling. Is that true?”

Vilna bit her lips and crossed her fingers nervously.

“Fake, of course! That’s a rumor that only appeared in the last few years. It’s to deliberately vilify Ames because Black Star… Sign, let’s not talk about this.”

Aesop seemed to have thought of something troubling. He shook his head and sighed.

“Anyway, Ames is very friendly. This is your first time meeting her since joining Floating Dragon, so leave a good impression, will you?”

“I—I’ll try my best.”

Vilna still did not have much confidence. She inhaled deeply and tried to calm her emotions.

After walking into the palace, Aesop got to know where Ames was by asking the guard. He took Vilna to an outdoor area. From afar, they could already hear the sound of energy clashing

When they got closer, Vilna noticed two people fighting in this open area, and three people were watching from the side.

She looked at the fight, and her eyes were immediately caught by the two sides of the battle.

Ames was personally training Hila, flipping the light green force field barrier with her fingertips, spinning in midair. Her black dress was blossoming like a lotus, showing her long, snow-like legs from time to time.

Hila’s face was cold. Her body was surrounded by thick dark red streams, and she kept attacking Ames’ force field, making loud bangs.

Ames maintained the strength of her force field at the Grade B level. Still, she controlled it extremely accurately and completely overpowered Hila.

“Stop for a moment. Someone’s here.”

Ames suddenly stopped her Esper ability and slowly landed on the ground.

Hila glanced at Aesop and Vilna, slightly frowning, unhappy with how her spar had been interrupted. She deactivated her Esper ability as well, and the dark red energy surrounding her entered her body. Then, she followed behind Ames like Aurora, who had been watching from the side, sizing up Vilna.

“Your Excellency Dragon Emperor, I’m…” Vilna hastily wanted to introduce herself.

Ames raised her hand and said, “I know your name. Since you’re Aesop’s friend, stay around and see if there’s anything you can do. I don’t have any requirements here.”

“0—Okay.”

“You seem to be a little nervous.” Ames slightly raised her eyebrow.

“Er… you’re the first Beyond Grade A I’ve ever seen. I’m your idol… um, I mean, you’re my admirer…” Vilna blushed and could not even speak properly.

“Don’t be nervous. Beyond Grade A isn’t a big deal. I don’t bite.” Ames smiled faintly and spoke with a gentle tone. She raised her hand and touched Vilna’s cheek.

Feeling the touch of Ames’ palm on her face, Vilna’s body stiffened, and she did not know where to put her hands.

Aurora, who was at the side, pulled the hem of Hila’s shirt and softly asked, “Sis, is this woman Floating Dragon’s new officer?

“Yeah.”

As usual, Hila spoke with very few words.

Aesop coughed and said, “We shall take our leave and not disturb you guys. I’ll take her to get familiar with the job.”

As he was speaking, he took Vilna away, who was still stunned, disappearing before the other three.

Ames’ smile slowly faded. She looked in the direction that Vilna had left from and kept silent with complicated emotions in her eyes.

“I heard this new officer is someone Aesop called over from another Star Field. I wonder what she’s doing here.” Aurora was curious.

Hila pushed her red hair aside and said emotionlessly, “Aesop is training a new officer so that she can replace Han Xiao’s position in the future.”

“Han Xiao won’t leave, right? Big Sis Ames is so good to him,” Aurora said.

“Humph, there have been a lot of rumors in the past few years. Many people created rumors so that Han Xiao and Floating Dragon would be separated.

“Plus, don’t I know him? If he really becomes a Beyond Grade A, he will definitely further strengthen the organization under his command. Because of that, he won’t be able to continue using Floating Dragon’s name, so he will definitely create one for himself.”

Ames turned around and glanced at the two of them. “It’s nothing worth chatting about. At least for now, he’s still mine. Hila, continue to attack.”

Three years had passed, and Ames was no longer troubled anymore. She was waiting for Han Xiao’s choice.

The three of them stopped chatting and continued the combat training.

On the other side, Aesop took Vilna out of the palace.

This time, Vilna finally said with surprise, “The Dragon Emperor is so friendly. The rumors are not true at all.”

Aesop shook his head with resignation.

Over the past three years, many people had been manipulating public opinion to vilify the Dragon Emperor, wanting to make Ames seem like someone who was very controlling and intimidating. Their goal was to split Black Star and the Dragon Emperor apart.

Throughout the last three years, Black Star’s reputation had become more and more firm. The Black Star Army had also digested its rapidly expanding size and slowly stabilized. Its business range had already extended to most Star Systems in the Colton Star Cluster, becoming an enormous Star Cluster level organization.

Furthermore, the Black Star Army had officially become the Purple Crystal Civilization’s long-term partner a year ago, receiving tons of support.

Nominally, the Black Star Army was expanding for Floating Dragon. However, Ames was completely uninvolved, clearly intending to just let things flow on their own. If a conflict could be created between the two of them, Black Star would definitely leave with the Black Star Army. If Black Star and Dragon Emperor became enemies because of that, it would be the best case.

The other Star Cluster civilizations and the various large organizations did not want to see two Beyond Grade As forming a union or alliance. It would only be balanced and aligned with the benefits of these organizations if the two of them were enemies and limited each other in various respects. Therefore, they did everything they could to spread rumors, believing that they would one day influence the mindset of the two of them.

Aesop trusted Han Xiao’s potential fully, so he felt that Han Xiao would certainly leave Floating Dragon in the future. Hence, he decided to plan ahead.

As such, Aesop had found Vilna, a friend whom he had met in another Star Field. Despite having a rather soft and gentle personality, she was very reliable. He asked Vilna to come to the Shattered Star Ring and join under Dragon Emperor so that he could nurture Vilna to become Black Star’s successor.

“You don’t have to work on Floating Dragon Island. You’re responsible for building a new Field Team. Quickly pack your things and let’s get going,” Aesop said.

Vilna nodded and curiously asked, “How do I start exactly?”

“You have to look for someone and express your intentions to him. He will provide help. Just follow his arrangements.”

“Who do I have to look for?”

“Black Star.”

Vilna’s eyes opened wide. After coming to the Shattered Star Ring, she had immediately heard about the famous Black Star. Plus, he was her senior and currently the top officer of Floating Dragon.

“But I heard that our connection with Black Star only exists in name now. Are you sure he will help me?” Vilna was worried that Aesop was sending her into a wolf den.

“Stop talking about that, just a false rumor. Black Star is a core member of Floating Dragon. He will only help you, not hurt you,” Aesop said with a heavy tone.

He deliberately sent Vilna to Black Star to let Han Xiao personally groom his successor. This was a signal of friendliness, expressing that they hoped things would end on peaceful terms.

He wanted Vilna to build a new Field Team to show that they had no desire for the Black Star Army. This way, he believed that Black Star would be willing to guide Vilna, use his Black Star Army to help Vilna develop, and give Floating Dragon a new Field Team.

Of course, if Black Star did not actually plan to leave, it would be even better. This would then just be expanding the size of Floating Dragon’s Field Team.

“Understood.”

Vilna nodded and could not help but be curious about Han Xiao. She wondered what kind of person this extremely famous senior of hers was.

At the same time, in the desolate region between the Seoul Star Cluster and the Colton Star Cluster, an intense war was underway.

The Klent Kingdom had built many logistics channels in the desolate region. Those were key facilities that Purple Crystal was always eager to destroy.

In the past three years, the situation of the secret war had been changing constantly. Finally, the battles in the West Wind, Kaya, and Chaida Star Systems had entered a stalemate. The Bloodshed Land had expanded to a certain extent and was finally stopped.

Han Xiao could demolish the majority of Calamity Grades. After suffering the huge loss of many more high-level combatants, the Bloodshed Land had learned their lesson and occasionally avoided direct contact.

The core members of the Bloodshed Land knew about the Tyrant’s stance, so they took Black Star as a dangerous challenge to train themselves, treating him with extreme caution and not recklessly fighting him head-on. This led to fewer and fewer situations where Han Xiao was needed.

Letting him stay in Colton was a waste of talent. Thus, Purple Crystal had him lead a surprise attack team and move within the desolate region, searching for the Bloodshed Land’s logistics transit stations and destroying them.

This operation had been going on for half a year. Han Xiao had been doing a great job, causing the Bloodshed Land’s advantages to keep getting reduced, almost destroying all the transit stations.

At this time, he was leading his fleet to attack the last logistics transit station…