_____________

You have joined a new faction—[Black Star Army]!

You have received a new identity—[Black Star Army Member]!

[Black Star Army] Faction Interface activated.

[Black Star Army] Contribution System activated.

[Black Star Army] Faction Store activated.

According to the relationship between [Black Star Army] and other factions, some organizations now have a different attitude toward you.

_____________

In the crowded Planet Gilman army subdivision hall, Vodka and the officers of his guild walked out of the Combat Testing Room with the crowd. They were all looking at the notification on the interface with joy.

Looking at the new unlocked faction store, they could not take their eyes away from the tons of items in it.

“Vice president, the club side just asked us how things are going.”

“Haha, tell them it’s great, and those professional players can join too. Almost all the knowledges up to Advanced Knowledges are sold here.” Vodka rubbed his hands with excitement.

At this time, a group of guild players approached them. The one at the front was Captain Old Henry, the vice president of the Kangaroo Guild, which was the official guild of the famous Australia professional guild, Kangaroo Boxing. He was also an old rival of Vodka’s; the two sides had fought quite a number of guild wars.

Captain Old Henry saw Vodka and the others and greeted them. “G’day mate, I see you guys have come earlier than us.”

“You guys are here too?” Vodka stopped his footsteps and chatted with them.

After having fought each other and played together for three versions, they were considered semi-friends. When they were not fighting guild wars, their relationship was quite good. Although they were competitors, there was no need to hate each other.

“You guys have already joined?”

“That’s right. There are quite a lot of people. Have fun queuing.”

After chatting for a while, Captain Old Henry led his people along to take the test. Vodka watched them leave and caressed his chin.

“All the guilds will send someone to join the army,” a guild officer said softly. “This means we will all be in the same faction in the future. Does that mean that competition will decrease?”

“Humph, not at all. Since the Black Star Army is planning to expand, there will definitely be a lot of missions in a short period. Among these missions, there will be good and bad ones. The large guilds will definitely fight for better missions and better resources. I think that not only will the competition between guilds not decrease, but it will be more frequent instead.” Vodka shook his head and was not very optimistic.

“Really? The Chinese in the Shattered Star Ring seem to rarely have guild wars to fight for resources.”

“Who said so? They’re doing the same, just not as intense. After all, most guilds there are from China, so they don’t fight as much with each other. Here, however, there are a lot of guilds from different countries, so we’re destined to be opponents. Furthermore, we’re used to opposing each other here.”

Then Vodka suddenly thought of something.

“By the way, speaking of the Shattered Star Ring… we’re now members of the Black Star Army. The army is an inter-Star Field faction, and its headquarters is at the Shattered Star Ring. I wonder if we can follow the army back to the Shattered Star Ring.”

This was a very important question and got everyone curious.

Vodka took out the communicator and downloaded the mini army assistant.

Phillip’s holographic projection appeared above the screen. He was about a finger’s size and very adorable. He bowed and said with a childish voice, “Welcome to the Black Star Army’s internal assistant. I’m the sub-program of the army’s artificial intelligence, Phillip. Glad to be of service to the brave Black Star warriors. If you want, you can give me a new look and even give me a new name, hum…”

“Ohhh, how cute…”

The adorable projection struck Vodka’s soft spot. His heart was almost melting. The originally tough and bearded muscular man was now smiling like a wrinkled flower. Traces of a Russian bear-fighting warrior were nowhere to be found.

“Ahem, vice president, maintain your image.” The guild officers at the side almost wanted to carve their own eyes out.

“I want to ask, for us the new members, can we follow the army back to the Shattered Star Ring?” Vodka hastily asked.

“According to the highest order from the army commander, the members recruited here will usually be stationed here to help with the army’s expansion. However, if you want to head toward the army’s headquarters, it is indeed possible. According to the army’s schedule, we will occasionally borrow the Crimson Dynasty’s military stargate and transport resources from the headquarters to the subdivision here in the Constellation Corridor. If you want to go to the Shattered Star Ring, you can submit a request to follow the transport team on their way back, hum…”

Vodka and the others’ bodies shivered as they exchanged looks of excitement—they really could go to another Star Field.

Vodka suppressed his excitement and asked, “Will the army have any teams that are heading back to the Shattered Star Ring soon?”

“Yes, hum…” Phillip said. “The Army Commander will be heading back after some time, in about one to two months. You can follow His Excellency Black Star back if you want, hum…”

Vodka nodded heavily and looked back at the others.

“We must have a chat with the president and the club…”

…

Those who happened to be on Planet Gilman joined the army one after another and shared the news about the army on the forums.

Players from all Star Fields were paying attention to the Constellation Corridor’s forums page. Most people came to know that the Constellation Corridor players could choose to cross Star Fields and were very jealous.

Those who were still rushing back to Planet Gilman discussed this topic passionately, arguing over whether to stay or leave.

The majority of people hesitated.

“We’ve played here in the Constellation Corridor for so long and are very familiar with it now. We’ve farmed so much Faction and Character Favorability. If we go to the Shattered Star Ring, won’t all that go to waste? We can still do the army’s missions here. Is there really a need to start from scratch in the Shattered Star Ring?”

“That’s right. We mainly joined the army for their benefits. Why would we go to the Shattered Star Ring? There are millions of players there, mostly Chinese, and they’ve been there since the start. We’ll have to compete with them once we’re there, and we have no advantages.”

“Exactly. We have yet to even explore the Constellation Corridor fully, so why should we go to another Star Field?”

“This is the Central Galaxy, the most prosperous place in the entire universe. What good will it do to go to a much more rural border Star Field?”

Many players were not willing to give up the results they had achieved with the time and effort over the past three versions.

If they could go and come back any time they wanted, they would not hesitate at all. However, they could only follow the army to cross Star Fields, and who knew when the army would send another transport team? Furthermore, they also did not know if their return would be approved. If things did not go well in the Shattered Star Ring, they would waste a lot of time before they could return.

Of course, there were players who supported going to the Shattered Star Ring.

“We’re the first batch of players to ever travel across Star Fields. Why give up such a great opportunity? The others can’t do it even if they want to.”

“I want to play with my Chinese friends over there in the Shattered Star Ring.”

“Don’t forget about the Flickering World mission that is pinned at the top of the army’s mission list. It’s clearly a new main storyline. Furthermore, according to the mission introduction, exploring the Flickering World is the Crimson Dynasty’s operation. The Black Star Army is just a participant. This main storyline looks more like the dynasty’s storyline! Therefore, us joining the army and exploring the Flickering World is actually doing things for the Crimson Dynasty!”

“That’s right. Maybe helping the dynasty to explore a new Star Field is one of the main storylines of the Constellation Corridor, and the hidden meaning behind the Black Star Army recruiting us is to take us there so that we can participate in it.”

In the past decade, the Crimson Dynasty’s desire for the Flickering World had become known to the world, and those players were no exceptions. Although they still did not know how important the Flickering World would be in the future, they were very interested in it.

After the Tyrant Party, Han Xiao had kept the Flickering World’s main storyline mission pinned at the top of the army’s mission list, and it was very effective. It attracted the Constellation Corridor players to explore the Flickering World with him, which basically made it easier for him to move the wild leeks back to his own field to grow them together.

Of course, there was no way he could bring all the Constellation Corridor players back. Meeting the Ruler and other official matters would only take a few days, but the Great Mechanic Han had already planned to stay in the Constellation Corridor for two to three months so that the players there would have enough time to make up their minds. From his perspective, the more players that were willing to follow him back to explore the Flickering World, the better.

…

As the arguments on the forums became more heated, the issue’s influence grew. After a few days had passed, more and more players rushed to Planet Gilman to join the army.

Very soon, the number of players on Planet Gilman exceeded two million and was still growing every day.

Almost all the big guilds had a stronghold on Planet Gilman. Very soon, the clubs of Russia, Australia, and the various smaller countries started to discuss this topic.

At the stronghold of the Power and Glory Guild, the presidents and vice presidents of the six large Russian guilds gathered. These six guilds were the biggest guilds in Russia, and they all had a club behind them. They basically represented the entire Russian professional player circle. They would occasionally have guild wars with each other, but when there was something crucial, they would also discuss the matter together.

“Guys, have your clubs decided? Will you stay or leave?” the president of the Power and Glory guild asked.

“The people above said that the professional players won’t be going but told us to send some of the guild’s people to the Shattered Star Ring and try to open a sub-guild.”

“Us too. Those people at the club feel that the opportunity to cross Star Fields is rare, and we can’t give it up. It might lead to greater benefits in the future.”

The rest replied one after another. Power and Glory’s president looked around the group and said, “Looks like our plans are all similar. For us, we decided to have the vice president take some people there and open the way for us.”

Vodka stepped out and nodded at everyone.

“I wonder what the Australians will do. Probably the same as us.”

“So, we still have to compete with them even at the Shattered Star Ring. Then we must take some normal players there, or we will be at a disadvantage in terms of manpower.”

As these six guilds were the recognized representatives of the professional circle, they had a certain amount of authority to the normal players. If they expressed their stand to the normal players, it would attract quite a number of people to do the same.

“Hey, not just the Australian guilds. That place is the Chinese’s territory.”

“Let’s communicate with the Chinese clubs first. They’ve been there for three versions. It’s better to notify them before going.”

At the same time, the Australian guilds also gathered and came to a similar conclusion.

…

The Russia and Australia clubs contacted the top Chinese guilds very soon. As they were all in the professional circle, they had the contact details of each other.

The various large Chinese guilds had a conference.

[Jade Green Sky entered the chat room.]

[Morning Snow Twilight Frost entered the chat room.]

[Jupiter entered the chat room.]

The presidents of the four biggest clubs—Temple of God, Long Sky, Dynasty, and Fried Eggplants With Fish—as well as Thunder Storm, Fanatics, Rivervale, and other known official guilds all joined the chat room.

“Those Europeans and Australian guilds are planning to come here? What are they trying to do?” Sky Territory president, Jade Green Sky, asked.

Drizzling Rivers president, Mountain Rain, sight. “The Shattered Star Ring is our base. We’ve worked here for three versions. What are the people at the club thinking to agree with this?”

“Whatever the club says, I’m okay with it,” Nine Gates president, Three Times Three Equals 9, said in his local dialect.

“… Type in Mandarin, I can’t understand!” Guild of Gods president, Jupiter, exclaimed.

Although they were the managers of the guilds under their clubs, they had no say in this matter and could only follow what the upper echelons of the guilds wanted them to do. The people above told them to prepare for the possible competition, so they could only obey.

Of course, the clubs were not willing to fight for resources with more competitors and wanted to have the army’s resources for themselves, but this was not for them to decide.

The actions of the Black Star Army were decided by the storyline. Since the army had decided to bring some people back, they could only accept the truth.

Of course, they were not worried. The Shattered Star Ring was their headquarters, so they were at a massive advantage. The players from the Constellation Corridor had no way to beat them.

If those foreign guilds were not going to cause trouble, there would be no problem. However, if they wanted to fight for profits with the Chinese clubs… the Chinese clubs would not mind starting a war to secure the resources of their professional players and show those foreign guilds who the real masters of the Shattered Star Ring were.

As this topic triggered discussion between both the Constellation Corridor and the Shattered Star Ring players, Han Xiao, who had been taking his time sightseeing on the way, finally arrived at Planet Gilman. This was the first time that the players of another Star Field had seen him in person.