Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Hu!

An old-style small spaceship slowly landed on the devastated gray surface of Fawn-122. The air stream blew out from the bottom of it, stirring up rings of airwaves. The engine produced a buzzing noise from its plain and simple thruster. Its speed, noise reduction, and shock reduction were all very low performance, considered as technology that was going to be eliminated very soon. In the galactic trade markets, only poor people with very shallow pockets would buy such simple spaceships.

Yet, this antique was equipped with top-level stealth devices—optical invisibility, sound reflection, gravitational force penetration, quantum network shield, and many more. A few DarkStar members disguised as travelers got off the spaceship and placed a special signal spreader on the ground. The invisible electric wave passed through the gaps on the surface of this planet at an unbelievable speed and entered the underground.

It continuously went deeper along the twists and turns in the gap. Inside a dark and narrow space, a pair of long-asleep eyes suddenly opened. The back of his palm was giving off a dim light. A microchip was planted inside, which received the signal and vibrated softly. The vibration happened in the vessels and bones, awakening this person from his sleep.

“Finally…”

After a while, the wait for the spaceships on the surface finally ended—their target had appeared. In the fissure far away, a man climbed out and slowly walked over. It was an Esper indeed. He looked terrible, and his face was bony. He was the only survivor of the Sarota fleet. Before the Dragon Emperor arrived, Sarota had given the retreat order. However, when Esper knew the enemy was Ames, he knew that the mothership would most likely not be able to escape, so he had taken a risk. He had decided to stay underground. In a deep cave, he had formed a carbon structure with his power and sealed himself, controlling his heartbeat and blood flow, entering a fake death state. As he expected, these allies that boarded the fleet to retreat were all killed by the mercenary fleet, Holy Stone, and Black Raven, turning into fireworks in space and becoming dust.

After Sarota’s fleet was demolished, the mercenaries had caught the mothership’s highest commander, Sarota. Therefore, they did not bother to search the entire planet for a possible survivor. This DarkStar team had been completely defeated, so there was no need to waste more time. Therefore, Ember had survived. Important officers like him all had a location microchip planted in them. After everyone left this planet, a rescue spaceship came to pick him up.

At that time, Han Xiao was also more inclined to believe Ember died, although he still had a small doubt in his heart. After all, characters with legendary characteristics should not die that easily. However, he had no way to search the entire planet. The other mercenaries had been in a hurry to head to Godora and would not help. With his manpower, God only knew how long it would have taken him to search the entire planet. There was no need for that. Plus, it was not worth it from a probability perspective. Hence, he did not think too much about it. Regardless of whether Ember was dead or alive, Han Xiao could accept it.

The DarkStar warriors wanted to support him, but they were swept away by Ember. He did not need anyone to support him. With a cold face, he said in a low voice, “Tell me, what’s the situation now! Did Sarota and the rest all die?”

“Ames slammed Sarota’s mothership down. We received attacks from both Holy Stone and Black Raven, and the fleet was completely defeated. A part of the members of the ship survived, including Sarota. They were transferred to Godora; this was just reported by the Colton News. They were all sent to the Rainbow Prison.”

Every mothership was a moving stronghold of DarkStar, and losing any of them was a heavy blow.

Ember clenched his teeth and said, “What about the Secret Message Bead?”

“We heart that the Secret Message Bead was picked up by a Floating Dragon guard, then given to the Holy Stone Civilization, which then gave it to Godora.

Ember’s body shook, and he growled in a low voice, “So, you’re saying, our sacrifices were completely meaningless and did not make any impact at all. We suffered such a catastrophic loss. How can it just be over? Even if we cannot beat the Dragon Emperor, she has to pay the price! She attacked us to save Black Star, so we shall find an opportunity to kill Black Star, showing her that we’re not easy to mess with.”

This time, a heavy and powerful yell stopped Ember’s words. “In important times like this, it’s unwise to mess with a strong enemy. Remember, Godora is our true enemy.”

A hologram appeared in front of Ember. It was a hybrid Godoran with light gold skin. On his skin were some strange scales and beast hide like wrinkles. His forehead was covered in markings of a mysterious pattern, extending down to his eyebags and nose, like the war paint of savages. This man was rather old, but his eyes were very sharp, and he gave off a steady aura like the mountains.

The anger in Ember’s eyes was suppressed as soon as he saw this man. He lowered his head and said respectfully, “Teacher.”

The other DarkStar members beside him also lowered their heads in fear and said, “Your Excellency Anur.”

Anur was the mentor that developed the potential of Ember’s power and guided his path. He was a high ranked officer in DarkStar, one of the few grade A individuals in the organization. His position was above all and only below the leader.

He looked down at Ember and said in a low voice, “I can see you’re resentful. Tell me, who is the source of your anger?”

“Black Star… He’s a mercenary group captain under the Dragon Emperor. I failed against him twice… no, thrice. Ever since I started working for the organization officially, these are the only three failures I’ve ever experienced. He’s caused me great shame, and he has special abilities that counter my power… Only his death can brush away my shame!”

Anur intercepted and said coldly, “Childish! Narrow-minded! The organization has spent an enormous amount of resources on you and raised you to be a strong warrior, not to let you fight irrelevant people. The organization has a lot of hope for you. The responsibilities that you bear are beyond your imagination. A small mercenary is not someone that you should concern yourself with. Focusing your thoughts on him is a waste of time!”

After a pause, he added, “Furthermore, Black Star is under the Dragon Emperor. Now is not the time to provoke them. When the bigger matters are dealt with, you can settle such issues.”

Ember lowered his head and asked, “What should I do?”

“Anger has affected your sanity. This is an unforgivable mistake. For the next year, you’re not allowed to carry out any missions. Stay in the base, focus on training and self-reflection.”

“Understood.” Ember nodded. He respected Anur a lot. His mind calmed down, and he accepted the arrangement. The hostility toward Black Star was pressed down to the bottom of his heart… His teacher was right. He was destined to be an ace of the organization; what they planned for was much bigger. He should not spend energy on irrelevant people.

After pondering, Ember asked the last question, “Teacher, what about the Secret Message Bead?”

“Godora has the Secret Message Bead. Sooner or later, they will know what’s inside. The newest seventh-generation Mutation Source is in Godora’s hands, and the organization’s plan faces the risk of being exposed. This matter needs to be discussed again. In a few days’ time, the leader will host a high-ranking meeting to discuss this. The strategic planning afterward will all have to consider this as a factor, and we will need to make some adjustments.

Having received the answer, Ember did not waste any more time. He boarded the plane and took off.

…

Ten days passed in no time. The players were standing by in the stronghold and had nothing to do. They spent most of their time in the dungeons.

They tried [Warfare: Power of the Dragon Emperor] many times, discussed and exchanged experiences, and found a possible way to clear the dungeon.

Firstly, they had to choose the reinforcement faction. The countdown clock was the same as the DarkStar faction, three hours. Between the three factions, this was the easiest choice. Then, they had to get lucky and meet a main character—specifically, Goa of the Sky Ring Army—within the first twenty minutes and follow her for two hours without doing any side missions.

Next, they had to pay close attention to the time and leave before meeting the next enemy that would cause the players to be wiped out. This way, two hours and twenty minutes would have already passed. The difficult part was the last forty minutes. If everything went well up to this point, there should be at least six to eight players left. By using the method of leaving teammates behind one by one, there was a chance for the last person to clear the dungeon. Doing this would cause the reward to be reduced by ninety percent, but at least it could be cleared.

However, although there was a theoretical method, most of it relied on luck. So far, no one had succeeded.

Initially, these pro players thought that if they chose the mercenary faction and met Han Xiao, they would be able to live. However, this was just what they thought. No matter what faction they chose, it was certain death once they met Han Xiao. Not mentioning the DarkStar faction, in the case of the mercenary faction or the reinforcement faction, after meeting Han Xiao, they would be able to pass a long time safely, but they would definitely meet Ember in the end. When that happened, everyone would be killed in an instant. Even if they left Han Xiao in advance, they would still meet Ember.

The pro players placed their focus back on the level 60 Germinal Organization dungeon. Its level was suitable and much easier. No matter how rich the level 90 dungeon’s rewards were, they could only look at them for now.

With this failure, Bun-Hit-Dog was not able to record materials about the Dragon Emperor. He had no choice but to do another episode about the past. He recorded parts of the level 60 Germinal Organization dungeon and continued on the previous Black Phantom Series. This series had yet to arrive at its ending, and most of the players had only heard of Han Xiao’s past but never seen it.

Bun-Hit-Dog’s video included the dungeon process. The Germinal Organization dungeon was a large team dungeon extending from Han Xiao’s infiltration into the Germinal Organization headquarters to the end of the Germinal Organization. The story built up very well and was very interesting.

Initially, Bun-Hit-Dog just wanted to use this episode as a filler, but the response after he posted the video far exceeded his expectations. It was just as popular as the Black Star Series, which really surprised him.

Through the influence of the Black Star Series, more players from other planets came to learn who Han Xiao was and knew that he was the first NPC to bring the players off their planet. The players from other areas were very curious about his history, and the Black Phantom Series happened to be Han Xiao’s origin story. Many new viewers were attracted by it.