Chapter 1023: Blazing Traitor Soul

Chapter 1023: The Blazing Soul of a Traitor

In the Dawn Star Cluster, vessel after vessel emerged from the stellar gates, stepping onto the territories of the Radiant World.

The great powers had long since roamed the Radiant World at will; now, only tourists drawn by its fame, obscure minor factions, and follow-up reinforcements dispatched by various powers to support the front lines arrived anew.

This very fleet comprised reinforcements drawn from the home bases of numerous Black Hole Rim factions, a motley assembly of cluster and galaxy-tier regular armies, armed mercenary syndicates, corporate conglomerates, and more, each harboring players to varying degrees.

Across the entire cosmos, only the player faction composition within the Shattered Star Ring stood as an exception, entirely composed of Black Star Legionnaires, whereas player affiliations in other sectors remained hopelessly fragmented.

Within the Black Hole Rim, the faction boasting the highest player enrollment was merely a membership-based neutral entity known as the Nineteen Towers Psionic Association, best understood as a regional guild for mages and telekinetics that traded arcane services for contribution points, which were then exchanged for resources and lore, functioning essentially as a professional networking hub.

Aboard a single starship, a cohort of professional players from the Black Hole Rim gathered, representing several distinct national esports clubs.

On the international stage, Southeast Asian clubs had never commanded much attention, consistently languishing at the bottom of the standings, leaving audiences with but one vivid impression: a profound disdain for tactical maneuvering, a penchant for reckless aggression, and a ferocious combat style that rarely yielded to protracted stalemates.

Among the region's more recognizable professional squads were Vietnam's Red Bay Club, Thailand's Titan Club, and Indonesia's Archipelago Club, three perennial fixtures of the international circuit bound together by the shared misery of annual first-round exits.

At that moment, the subject of their discourse naturally turned to the current season's league.

"The league authorities have yet to drop any hints, but the launch of the global server will likely trigger a format overhaul, possibly abolishing the regional qualification system," murmured the captain of Red Bay, [Viper], his voice low and grave.

"Without the regional brackets, advancing would be a near impossibility for us," sighed [Gravel Castle], captain of the Archipelago squad, shaking his head with profound pessimism.

Their annual qualifications relied entirely on that very system, surviving the petty squabbles of the Black Hole Rim; strip it away, and even reaching the international stage would be a distant dream.

"Therefore, those of us from the same sector must unite, seize the opportunity presented by the global server's launch, and advance together as a cohesive force," Viper stated.

"It will be difficult; the Chinese factions hold an overwhelming advantage on the global server. We cannot compete alone, so we can only hope other national clubs form an alliance."

"Regrettably, we have invested too heavily in our current factions to defect. Even if we joined the Black Star Legion, we could not outmaneuver the Chinese local powers. We must devise a way to engineer our own advantage."

At this, Viper narrowed his eyes, a confident smirk touching his lips. "Though we cannot defect ourselves, we can still exploit the Legion's benefits. We should have some guild members join the Black Star, build up their standing, and then fund them to procure supplies on our behalf using their discounted rates. Simultaneously, they can gather intelligence on Legion player movements, which would greatly benefit us."

"Plant spies?" The group exchanged glances. "That is indeed a sound strategy, but will it draw the Black Star Legion's ire?"

"What concern is our player affairs to them?" Viper dismissed the worry lightly. "The true threat lies with the Chinese players. We should be wary of them intercepting our procured supplies."

"Very well, let us proceed!"

With the strategy settled, they bowed their heads, deeply engrossed in plotting the details.

...

The Reysack Regiment was a massive private mercenary syndicate operating within the Black Hole Rim, yet it harbored a covert official backing, serving as a clandestine mercenary arm for the Ursa Minor Civilization. Named after its commander, Reysack himself led these reinforcements, having just arrived in the Radiant World.

"All hands, increase thrust. Raise warp velocity. We must reach the Free Competition Zone without delay."

Within the command deck, Reysack bellowed his orders, his tone laced with a subtle, simmering excitement.

The Ursa Minor Civilization commanded numerous such shadow regiments, and Reysack was but one among many. Rarely granted direct missions, he typically masqueraded as a standard mercenary, making him deeply eager for any chance to distinguish himself.

Initially, he had dispatched only a vanguard, remaining at headquarters to maintain the regiment's routine operations. Yet, precisely as the Radiant World officially opened, the players of the Black Hole Rim, vanished for two decades, suddenly logged back online.

Across each sector, players' deeds varied, leaving distinct impressions upon local powers. Due to their fragmented affiliations, the Black Hole Rim players were a scattered multitude, their cosmic visibility pale in comparison to the Legionnaires, rendering them a relatively low threat.

Nevertheless, numerous local factions had taken note of this peculiar player demographic, suspecting them to be of the same species as the Black Star Legion's Immortals, possessing the ability to rise from death. The complication, however, was their dispersion; local powers could not gauge the true number of Immortals. Until players demonstrated this trait, they could mimic ordinary NPCs, remaining indistinguishable, and their twenty-year absence only compounded the difficulty of detection.

Reysack, however, had keenly observed their return, deeply impressed by this cadre of death-defying enforcers, and thus took the liberty of launching another massive recruitment drive.

Coincidentally, many Black Hole Rim players also set their sights on the Radiant World. The alignment of interests was seamless, allowing him to recruit tens of thousands of these players, transporting them as auxiliary forces to the Radiant World, personally leading the charge to claim credit.

Not long ago, en route, he received auspicious tidings: the Ursa Minor Civilization had encountered trouble on the front lines, with a harvesting detachment utterly routed by the Black Star Legion's Immortals. Precisely when reinforcements were needed, Reysack realized he had become a timely savior, swelling with uncontainable joy.

'These elite reinforcements I have gathered will perfectly aid the civilization against the Black Star Legion. Moreover, in conflicts with other factions, I can leverage these Immortals to secure a decisive edge. I shall earn a monumental merit this time!'

Reysack seethed with quiet exhilaration.

...

Meanwhile, within his fleet, waves of Black Hole Rim players stood by the viewports, gazing upon the Radiant World's vistas while whispering among themselves.

"We're finally here. Let's rush to the Free Competition Zone. I'm suffocating with anticipation!"

"Let's see what contracts this mercenary group has available in the Radiant World."

"Foolish. Why cling to this mercenary outfit? The Radiant World is teeming with elite factions. Holding onto this minor clique is sheer stupidity."

"Well said. Once we reach the Free Competition Zone, we can simply discard this regiment."

The crowd murmured in agreement, many harboring identical thoughts.

With elite factions now clustering in the Radiant World, how could they possibly still value a regional outfit like the Reysack Regiment? Only by defecting to a premier faction could they satisfy their escalating demands, particularly for advanced professional lore.

Reysack, brimming with anticipation, remained blissfully unaware that from the very beginning, he had been reduced to a mere instrument in the players' hands.

Defecting from a premier faction carried severe repercussions, but for minor cliques like this, the players felt no anxiety. Betrayal was trivial; they eagerly anticipated a swift transfer.

For ordinary players in the Black Hole Rim, the primary targets for defection were the Three Great Civilizations and the local super-clusters or Super-A tier factions, with the Black Star Legion as a close second.

Players from other sectors naturally felt no allegiance to the Black Star Legion; only tangible benefits and promising prospects could sway them, and in this regard, the Legion shone like a firefly in the pitch-black night.

Across numerous game updates, the Legion's myriad perks had long since ignited envy among players worldwide. Now that cross-sector travel was possible, the reputation and allure accumulated over countless versions instantly bore fruit, steering a massive number of ordinary players toward Han Xiao when choosing their next faction.

Among them, the most resolute in their desire to join the Black Star Legion were precisely the mechanical-class players of the Black Hole Rim!

Due to the differing starter planets in version 1.0, the demographic composition of espers varied greatly across sectors. The Black Hole Rim was dominated by mages, followed by telekinetics, with a predominantly arcane focus. The mechanical class comprised merely twelve percent of the total player base, the smallest demographic, cultivating in relatively barren soil.

By contrast, the Black Star Legion was a veritable paradise for mechanics, with Han Xiao standing as a supreme mentor in the field, entirely eliminating any concerns regarding professional expertise.

To these individuals, a single phrase perfectly encapsulated the Black Star's significance to their mechanical brethren:

--Had Heaven not birthed the Great Black Star, the path of mechanics would remain an eternal, unending night!

As for the Mechanist Nation... though rumored to be formidable, it remained unfamiliar to players. They preferred Han Xiao, largely because Chinese players had paved the way, at least proving him to be a reliable figure.

The crowd chattered incessantly, yet on the periphery, a player with the ID [Muay Thai Warning] stood alone, gazing out the window with flickering, uncertain eyes.

"That hidden quest revealed that the Reysack Regiment is actually a subsidiary of the Ursa Minor Civilization. And a friend mentioned that Chang Kong has recently clashed with them over resource rights. So this convoy is likely the civilization's reinforcements..."

The friend he referenced was a peripheral member of the Chang Kong guild. They had once traded barbs on a forum, evenly matched in wit, each recognizing the other as a kindred spirit of debate, ultimately bonding over mutual respect and exchanging contact information.

Upon this realization, a bold scheme rapidly crystallized within [Muay Thai Warning]'s mind, and the soul of a traitor blazed fiercely.

If one is to defect, a proper tribute must be presented!

...

At the very same moment, somewhere within the Emerald Star Cluster.

A minor conglomerate's exploration fleet had docked at a temporary transit hub constructed by an advanced civilization for resupply. Regular crew members had disembarked for leisure, leaving only logistics personnel aboard, who busied themselves with cleaning, repairing equipment, and conducting manual inspections.

Zzzzt...

Within the ship's internal maintenance corridor, two ground crew members clad in protective suits wielded repair tools before a labyrinth of complex mechanical assemblies, sending showers of electrical sparks into the air.

After some time, the task complete, Evans lifted his helmet visor and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

He accessed the logistics task list on his wrist display, glanced at it, then opened a communication channel to report to his superior:

"Ground Crew Unit 005 has completed its assignment. The latent malfunction in engine assembly component T1018 has been resolved. We are proceeding to Sector C0080 for sanitation protocols."

"Acknowledged. Resume duties. You have three remaining tasks pending."

"Understood."

Finishing the report, he severed the channel and patted his companion's shoulder. "Come along. Let's move to the next station."

His partner waved a hand impatiently. "We just finished one. What's the rush? Let's take a brief rest first."

Evans urged, "The schedule is tight. We ought to see it through before the shift ends today. Best not to rest during working hours—it violates protocol, and we may well fall short of today's quota."

"Then leave it for tomorrow. We are not merely docking here for a single day." His companion dropped onto the floor without hesitation, his tone edged with irritation. "Go ahead if you must. I intend to rest for a while, regardless."

Evans frowned, shaking his head as he let the matter drop. He could not dictate another's choices; his only duty was to see his own tasks completed.

He pressed on alone down the maintenance corridor toward the cleaning sector, the silhouette of his companion left behind swiftly fading from view until he was entirely alone.

The maintenance corridor lay shrouded in gloom, its sparse illumination punctuated only by distant fixtures. After a short while, Evans caught a fleeting glimpse of crimson ahead, a flash that vanished as quickly as it appeared, causing his steps to falter.

"Did it vanish? Or was it merely a trick of the eye?"

A flicker of unease passed through him. He glanced at his environmental scanner, but the readings remained unchanged. Dismissing it as a fleeting illusion, he pressed forward a few paces more.

A resonant hum.

In that very instant, a crimson glow flared to life in his peripheral vision, its source resting mere inches from his side, less than a meter away.

Startled, Evans reacted on instinct. He threw himself sideways, rolled across the grating, and gripped his welding torch in his hand. Rising to his feet, he faced the glow, his posture taut with caution.

Before long, a wondrous sight unfolded. A crimson orb, its origin unknown, hovered in the stagnant air, drifting back and forth in gentle, playful arcs like a lively, nimble sprite. Filaments of luminescent gossamer coiled around its edges, lending it an ethereal, dreamlike beauty.

"What manner of thing is this?" Evans kept his guard up, his fingers slipping silently toward his comm button to report the anomaly.

Yet in the very next heartbeat, his vision swam. The crimson sphere darted forward with a velocity that outstripped his reflexes, piercing straight through his torso.

Panic seized him. He hastily looked down, expecting wounds, but found himself utterly unharmed. Instead, a surge of vitality coursed through his veins; the day's exhaustion evaporated, and his strength returned in full measure.

The orb hesitated for a fraction of a second, then broke into a frantic, joyous orbit around him.

Evans froze, a strange sensation washing over him as if the entity radiated a palpable sense of delight.

Before he could gather his thoughts, the sphere halted abruptly. As though yanked by some unseen force, it tore itself from reality and vanished without a trace, leaving Evans standing utterly dumbfounded in his tracks.

He stood paralyzed for a long moment before suddenly bringing his hand up to slap his own cheek with sharp force.

"It stings. Not a dream... then it seems I have finally lost my mind."