Chapter 1024: Job Hopping

Chapter One Thousand Twenty-Four: The Great Defection

As the armada drifted through the dominions of the Black Star Legion, the self-assured Resack soon found himself struck by a devastating blow.

Upon reaching Blackgate Star, the Immortals he had so painstakingly recruited at the Black Hole Frontier suddenly erupted into a massive mutiny!

These players did not merely sever their allegiance; they seized the very vessels that carried them!

Players from every sector are accustomed to maximizing their gains, and when one decides to depart, it is only natural to take whatever advantage lies within reach; moreover, fleeing without a ship is hardly convenient. Many seized control of their transports, broke from the fleet’s course, and veered toward the Black Star Legion’s territory.

A handful of passengers who had not initially intended to jump ship were forced into compliance; bound together on the same hull, they knew that if violence erupted and the vessel were destroyed, none would survive unscathed.

With so many players aboard each vessel, ownership could not be easily determined, leaving most to follow their ships to the transit stations before scattering on their own, a fragmentation born of the absence of a unifying factional command.

As countless players commandeered ships and fled, Resack’s contingent instantly halved in size; coupled with the loss of vessels and their cargo, the devastation was profound, leaving Resack bleeding at the heart, caught between shock and fury.

“Madness! Utter madness! These wretches possess not a shred of honor!”

Within the command chamber, Resack paced in a blind rage.

This sudden upheaval lay entirely outside his calculations; steeped in the anticipation of earning merit, he had never imagined these players would suddenly strike him in the back with such treachery.

Had they not been reasonably disciplined at the Black Hole Frontier? How could they collectively descend into such frenzy the moment they entered the Radiant World?

He found it utterly incomprehensible, instinctively suspecting a hidden conspiracy, convinced that some shadowy power must have whispered in their ears; the notion of individual volition never crossed his mind.

After all, Resack knew nothing of players; to him, sabotage was the only logical explanation, for what reason could possibly drive so many to revolt in unison?

As the stolen vessels scattered and vanished from his radar, Resack pursued them perfunctorily before abandoning the chase; the sheer strength of so many Immortals filled him with dread, and with ship speeds nearly identical, catching them after such a sudden betrayal was nearly impossible, especially within the Black Star Legion’s domain, where caution was paramount.

“A pack of scoundrels!”

Seething with frustration, Resack furiously logged this transgression into the records of the mutineers, downgrading their credit ratings and tarnishing their histories.

Even after this act of retribution, his anger lingered; only upon realizing that half the Immortals remained did his temper cool slightly, granting him a sliver of relief.

“Half remain. Even if the merit is diminished, it still counts as a victory. At least this journey was not in vain.”

Daring no longer to loosen his grip on the players, he ordered, “Divide the remaining Immortals into separate units. Reinforce the defenses aboard every transport vessel...”

Scarred by this experience, his vigilance toward the players hardened considerably.

Yet, despite his precautions, upon reaching the Free Competition Zone, a second wave of mass defection erupted. The players themselves constituted the primary armed force Resack had transported; however tightly his remaining guards held their posts, they were utterly powerless against this tide. These players had stayed only to ride the current to the Free Competition Zone.

Of those brought from the Black Hole Frontier, fewer than one in ten remained, and Resack’s fury boiled over completely.

So much for his grand ambitions. He had traveled halfway across the cosmos to the Radiant World, dreaming of glory, only to watch his efforts dissolve like water through a bamboo sieve.

Worse news followed in rapid succession. Intelligence from the rear soon revealed that despite his black marks against the first wave of defectors, elite factions were still absorbing these Immortals wholesale, with the Black Star Legion standing as the foremost example.

Resack felt a profound sense of injustice, as though he had been wronged and trampled upon, his heart swelling with bitter grievance!

By the gods, why?!

This fate is unbearable!

What he failed to realize was that among this dwindling remnant lurked spies like Thai Kick Warning, who had already conspired with Legion members, betraying Resack’s movements and leaving him utterly ensnared.

In terms of factional allure, the chasm between his standing and the Black Star Legion’s hard-earned reputation was too vast; he might command their presence, but he could never capture their loyalty.

...

Resack was hardly the only power to suffer such mass exodus. Upon entering the Radiant World, every faction from the Black Hole Frontier experienced varying degrees of player attrition, with the Black Star Legion emerging as their primary destination.

Years of cultivated factional prestige had triggered an exponential surge in Legion membership. Han Xiao needed exert no effort whatsoever; what once required manual harvesting had evolved into a fully automated reaping.

Within the Black Star Palace, Han Xiao gazed at the experience bar on his status panel, his eyes gleaming.

“This influx of experience is remarkably steep.”

His strategy to expand the harvesting grounds was finally bearing fruit. The first wave of foreign recruits had uprooted themselves and transplanted into his garden.

Foreign players possessed their own allegiances, and only a fraction would join the Legion, yet the numbers remained substantial. By his calculations, those from the Black Hole Frontier who ultimately pledged themselves would comprise seventeen to twenty-four percent of the total, a figure reaching into the millions, predominantly consisting of ordinary players.

“This is merely the first cohort. Once players from other sectors arrive, the Legion’s ranks may swell to two or three times their current size,” Han Xiao mused, secretly delighted.

Among the newly arrived Southeast Asian players were countless novices, their professional knowledge riddled with gaps, making them a fertile market for consumption and causing Han Xiao’s experience-harvesting efficiency to skyrocket in the short term.

Each new wave of recruits translated directly into a massive influx of experience points.

“I suspect the Southeast Asian clubs will also dispatch guild players into the Legion.”

Han Xiao smiled faintly, harboring no intention to intervene.

To whom else could he sell his gear if not to them? It was merely an opportunity to double his profits. Guilds possessed considerable purchasing power, and the national wars across various regions presented a lucrative market; supplying arms to factions destined to clash made him a perfect arms dealer.

Moreover, to avail themselves of discounts, one must attain the requisite Legion rank and contribute to its cause; even spies who infiltrated would first have to serve their time before reaping any benefits.

“At this pace, a few more waves of players will rapidly fill the experience required to leap directly to level three hundred twenty,” Han Xiao thought, thrilled by a progression far swifter than he had anticipated.

As for the mass defection scandal orchestrated by the Black Hole Frontier players, it had long been within his foresight, having unfolded identically in his past life. The steady erosion of player reputation was a crucial step in cementing their moniker as the Cancer of the Cosmos, a title never bestowed in praise, but rather laced with external dread and vigilance.

One of the defining markers of players ascending to the cosmic stage was the convergence of scattered individuals into a unified world server, amplifying their presence, drawing the intense scrutiny of numerous powers, and forging them into a singular demographic.

In his previous existence, as players propagated chaos, their collective credibility plummeted, causing minor organizations to shy away from recruitment. The inevitable consequence was a migration toward elite powers, completing a cycle of factional evolution and consolidation.

These were events Han Xiao had witnessed firsthand. He understood perfectly that factional perks could not compel players at this stage to remain obedient; as their strength grew, so did their ambitions, rendering them increasingly ungovernable.

Players only forge bonds with familiar faces, and to secure personal advancement and national war advantages, they must pursue profit and cultivate slaughter.

As power accumulates, chaos inevitably takes root. Han Xiao had dedicated himself to building his faction, with one primary objective being precisely to navigate this coming storm.

He also knew that because the Legion served as a prime destination for defectors, this trend would inevitably be noticed by the myriad powers keeping watch over him, breeding countless speculations.

For now, the impact upon him remained minimal. His elevated status and formidable strength provided a buffer, and since many players were also joining other factions, the situation was hardly alarming; rival powers could only watch with wary uncertainty... Yet as more foreign players pledged themselves, the Legion’s unique nature would grow increasingly conspicuous, and only then would true complications arise.

Han Xiao shook his head, as another matter surfaced in his mind.

“I did not expect Evans to have already made contact with the Chaos Secret Energy...”

Not long ago, Philip, who had been shadowing Evans, transmitted his report. Han Xiao reviewed the footage, confirming that the crimson orb was indeed linked to the Chaos Secret Energy, though its emergence predated the intelligence on the Alien God’s Legacy by a considerable margin.

By his estimation, this was merely one of several offshoots of the Chaos Secret Energy, returning to the primary universe ahead of schedule, perhaps to calibrate dimensional coordinates. Its subsequent vanishing into thin air was simply it being dragged back into a secondary dimension by the main entity; the primordial energy body itself had not yet made its formal descent.

Nevertheless, this revelation unraveled several of Han Xiao’s lingering doubts... No wonder the Chaos Secret Energy ultimately selected Evans as its vessel; it had been observing him all along.

When the crimson orb passed through Evans’s form, incompatible hosts would have been torn apart by the surge. Evans, however, emerged unscathed and invigorated, convincing the Chaos Secret Energy of his suitability as a prime vessel, marking him as a viable candidate.

“The day of the Chaos Secret Energy’s emergence draws ever nearer. Judging by my current rate of experience accumulation, I should be able to achieve the three hundred twentieth tier before it fully manifests.”

Han Xiao calculated silently.

——

(A recommendation for a League of Legends novel by a friend, Little Wood Is Not Little Dusk, titled I Do Not Want a Fifty-Fifty Split. The reception is decent, the writing quite engaging. It follows a certain incense-burning streamer reborn to rectify past regrets. It has reached eight hundred thousand words. Fellow readers who are interested may wish to take a look.)