Chapter 89
Two days later in Hesla's Morning Wind City…
A coastal city near the border, Morning Wind City had a massive seaport that handled a massive volume of transcontinental ships . The city was a metropolis with many high-rise buildings .
Hesla had the strongest maritime force among the Six Nations—it focused on developing its navy to protect its numerous coastal cities . There were four continents on Aquamarine . They were separated from one another by the massive oceans .
There was an old saying—he who controls the sea controls everything .
There were tons of resources beneath the seafloor, including petroleum and natural gasses . Extraction of fossil fuels from the sea was the main pillar of Hesla's economy .
Han Xiao remembered that Hesla had a secret military strategy called 'The Forth Contingency Plan Against Great Crisis' . The plan was to produce many thousand-meter-long motherships in preparation for the scenario that the country suffered from massive calamities, such as nuclear world war . They could transition into a drifting nation on the sea and preserve their population .
Although this strategy eventually paved way for others, their spirit of preparing for the worst in times of peace was worth emulating . As the saying went, one who prospers in worries and hardships perishes in ease and comfort . It meant that if one did not create some sort of trouble, one might as well not live .
Wait . That does not sound right… Well, it's not important .
Now, Han Xiao, with a new face, was waiting at the branch of Fabian Company in the city . He had used the black gold card from Matthews to receive VIP treatment at the place . It was his temporary rest stop .
There were three months to open beta, and moving around on his own would yield him the greatest amount of benefits . He could use Fabian Company's channels to purchase mechanical parts with the huge amount of cash that he had accumulated to make more machinery . He could then earn a lot of EXP from this and even sell his products for more cash .
Old Man Lu's secret quest would only be triggered after the open beta . He had established a good relationship with him, so he was in no rush to continue this mission .
Han Xiao wrote down the key points for personal development for this last period of time before the open beta .
- Trigger all the high-reward quests, and subsequently obtain rare skills and abilities to improve my power .
- Obtain stable supply channels for mechanical parts so as to allow myself to make machinery during the course of my quests and earn more EXP .
- Continue to cause destruction for the Germinal Organization .
- Increase my personal mission issuance's reward limit in preparation for the open beta
These are roughly the points of focus .
Han Xiao put down his pen and began thinking carefully . The first point was easy since he remembered many large-scale quests . Also, supply channels could simply be obtained from the Fabian Company with the help of the black gold VIP card .
Destroying the Germinal Organization was his A-class quest . He had some initial thoughts on how he could maximize his large reservoir of intel—he could utilize the help from all the powers that were hostile toward the organization .
As for his personal mission reward limit, Han Xiao's goal was to increase his Universal Reputation . Because there were two types of reward limits—daily limit and individual quest limit—he could increase both by improving his Universal Reputation . This was the most cost-effective method .
His Universal Reputation was now zero, but that was okay . Han Xiao would definitely increase it in due time .
There were three ways to obtain Universal Reputation . The first method was by achieving high contribution ratings in advanced and rare quests . Normally, only a planet's main quest line would reward Universal Reputation—his A-class quest [Fall of the Germinal] was one of them .
Every planet, not only limited to novice planets, had at least one or more major storylines that linked to the respective main quests . For example, in Planet Aquamarine Version 1 . 0, there were two main storylines and one hidden storyline . The conflict between the Six Nations and the Germinal Organization was one of the main storylines; the others would only appear in the open beta . On the other hand, the hidden storyline could only be discovered by luck .
That method of obtaining Universal Reputation was highly difficult and time-consuming—he could not achieve it in a short timeframe .
The second method was rather random . It involved doing things related to one's reputation with a camp that could potentially become well-known; the things could be very varied and circumstantial . Nobody had a clear idea of how to do it, and it was quite unreliable .
Han Xiao was keen on applying the third method—getting on top of some ranking lists—the easiest way to obtain Universal Reputation .
Some factions had created publicly-recognized rankings . By climbing to the top of rankings, he could easily obtain Universal Reputation . However, if some new guys were to push him down the ranking, his Universal Reputation would decrease, making this method unreliable . That was the method employed by most 'real' players . Universal Reputation quickly helped one accumulated camp reputation, which in turn, gave players discounts on NPC items and provided opportunities to trigger rare quests .
Han Xiao's fingers on one hand tapped the table surface as he continued to contemplate on this, and with his other hand, he picked his nose .
Well, before I make a move, let me get rid all the burdens (EXP) I have now .
He looked at his Character Interface, which showed a grand total of 720,000 EXP . He directly channeled all the EXP into levelling his character to thirty . His stats consequently increased .
Mechanic (Novice) reached the maximum level . The last level-up always gave players the greatest stats increase . This time he received a ninety-point increase in his energy between levels nine and ten .
He then threw all six unassigned stats into his Intelligence, making it one hundred .
His mind instantly became much clearer, and he felt more at ease controlling all the machinery . Intelligence affected many different areas of a Mechanic, including production speed, production quality, and the damage bonuses when using Mechanic weapons . For example, when a Mechanic used a pistol that normally dealt twenty damage points, the pistol would deal more damage due to the Mechanic's damage bonus . As such, even though other classes of players could still use Mechanic weapons, the damage would be lower .
_____________________
[Mechanic (Novice)] has reached the maximum level . To advance, learn 20 blueprints .
̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄̄
This randomized requirement for advancing class is quite simple .
Han Xiao was delighted, and he counted the blueprints that he had learned so far . He was only short of eight .
He did not want to produce useless blueprints through random fusions . I should make full use of the EXP I have . Anyway, all the EXP is stored in the Interface, so there is no rush to advance my class .
…
At Fabian Company's Morning Wind City branch, the man in charge, Antonio, was smoking a cigar . He was built like a mountain, filling the entire space on the sofa . He exhaled a puff out and looked Han Xiao, who was sitting at the sofa across, up and down to size him up .
Han Xiao was wearing a black jacket, and his Facial Simulator simulated an ordinary unemployed, middle-age male who looked rather unassuming . This was the face that he had prepared for his new identity .
Han Xiao took out a shopping list for supplies and said slowly, "I want all the items on this list . "
Antonio took the list and looked over it . "The total cost will be $100,000 . After the twenty percent discount from your Black Gold Card, it will cost $80,000 . "
"Also, I want to buy an entry pass for The Dark Net's Blood Pact Society"
"$20,000 . " Antonio's eyes narrowed .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login