Chapter 1026: Leek Field Expanding

Chapter One Thousand Twenty-Six: The Expansion of the Leek Fields

"Philip, purge the computational traces and the experimental logs."

"Acknowledged. A low hum followed."

The experimental report dissolved from the display. Han Xiao gestured with a sweep of his hand, retracting the virtual interface, then turned to face Aurora and Fodin behind him, his voice dropping to a grave register.

"For now, only the two of you are privy to this. Keep it from outsiders for the time being, or we shall invite trouble. Do you understand?"

"...Are you suggesting someone like the Sprout leader might emerge?"

Aurora pressed her lips together. A shadow of past anguish flickered across her mind, casting a fleeting tremor of fear upon her features, only to be swiftly supplanted by steely resolve.

The tides had turned. With Han Xiao and her sister by her side, she knew she would never again be forced to tread the same treacherous path.

"Indeed. Should this matter leak, it will inevitably draw the gaze of numerous cosmic leviathans, placing you in grave peril." Han Xiao nodded slowly.

Hela's life-shortening aura inspired dread among the Super-A ranks, whereas Aurora's gift could drive them to madness. Possessing power that eclipsed the cosmos, the vast majority of Super-A entities were desperately scheming to prolong their existence, even those born of long-lived lineages. Take the former Alien God, for instance; were he still extant, he would undoubtedly spare no resource to seize Aurora's ability, prioritizing it far above the Evolutionary Totem.

Nor were the Super-A entities alone in their covetousness; certain advanced civilizations would likewise be tempted. Having ascended to the Calamity tier, Aurora's daily yield of vital energy was exceptionally high, reliable enough to sustain others without hesitation. Such civilizations might not treat her as brutally as the Sprout faction, but they would certainly confine her, compelling her to continuously distill life elixirs.

Consequently, he too would find himself at the eye of the storm. To quell the avarice of countless Super-A entities, he would require a might far surpassing his current standing. Aurora's gift was a double-edged sword; thus, until he ascended to a higher echelon, Han Xiao had no intention of revealing her existence, nor would he leverage her power to bargain with others.

Fodin nodded in agreement. "Rest assured. I have always regarded Aurora as my own sister. I shall not let a single word slip."

After imparting a few final instructions, Han Xiao dismissed them. As the chamber emptied, leaving him alone, he fell into quiet contemplation.

Since Aurora's ascension to the Calamity tier, her bond with Hela had grown profoundly tighter. In his estimation, it appeared they were forging a true symbiotic existence.

Aurora was still acclimating to her newfound station. Once she awakened the ability to remotely channel healing to Hela, the amplification it would grant her sister would be nothing short of terrifying.

In his past life, Hela had lost Aurora far too early. Deprived of her symbiotic counterpart, she had been left to rage alone through the frigid void. The Hela of this era had not succumbed to an endless path of slaughter; her growth was considerably slower, and in single combat, she would undoubtedly fall short of her past-life counterpart. Yet, with Aurora serving as a boundless, distance-defying reservoir of vitality, Hela's combat prowess would vastly eclipse that of his former self.

"I daresay Hela's durability will eventually rival my own..." Han Xiao sighed in resignation. Hela essentially possessed an infinite-use character card of Aurora.

The ultra-high-risk abilities were formidable enough on their own, but the sisters' flawless synergy and soul resonance rendered them truly fearsome. Only powers rooted in the mental or spatial domains offered a slight means to disrupt their shared life-link.

Pondering for a moment, Han Xiao opened a communication channel and dispatched a message to Emrys, briefly informing her of Aurora's ascension to the Calamity tier.

...

Above the Azure Sea Planet, the floating isle of Longtan.

Emrys had abstained from the competition within the Shining World, remaining instead within the Shattered Star Ring. She allowed Longtan to develop quietly, eschewing fleeting trends and opportunistic gambits, fully embracing her languid nature.

Though she stood apart from the era's bustling currents, Emrys remained thoroughly apprised of the Shining World's affairs. Knowing her fondness for the peculiar and entertaining, Han Xiao shared daily firsthand dispatches with her, recounting the day's amusing occurrences to satiate her curiosity. Emrys devoured these updates with great relish, treating them as a daily necessity; checking for Han Xiao's messages had become an ingrained habit.

Within the palace chambers, Emrys reclined against the headboard, condensing a sphere of force fields to tease a massive white bear sprawled upon the floor. Much like one might dangle a wand before a kitten, she coaxed the beast. Despite its formidable stature, the bear behaved with utter docility in her presence, playfully rolling across the ground.

After Emrys relocated to the Azure Sea Planet, Aurora had entrusted her terrestrial pets to Longtan, leaving them in her mentor's care as a pastime.

Another figure occupied the room. Jenny stood by the doorway, delivering a report on Longtan's operations. Even as Emrys paid her little mind, Jenny read the document with earnest diligence.

"...Recent sentiment surveys indicate that thirty-nine percent of Longtan's warriors are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, a seven percent increase from the last assessment. Many enlisted under the banner of a Super-A entity, hoping to forge reputations and achieve glory under your command. Yet, our prolonged lack of combat opportunities has stirred unrest. Our abstention from the Shining World's competition has only deepened this discontent, resulting in the departure of several fighters..."

Emrys turned a deaf ear, content to stroke the bear with her force fields.

Jenny cleared her throat and pressed on. "Ignoring the tide of the times is hardly prudent. We ought to revise our strategy and step into the Shining World..."

Emrys glanced upward, offering a faint smile. "Did I not recall your disdain for labor? This is your twenty-second attempt to persuade me to enter the Shining World. What has sparked such sudden enthusiasm?"

"...Is it not your wish to expand your influence?" Jenny lightly brushed her hairline. Facing this hands-off proprietor, a profound sense of helplessness settled in her chest.

She detested burdensome duties, yet over the years, Longtan had steadily flourished. She could not bear to relinquish it, nor could she deliberately sabotage its operations merely to indulge in idleness.

"As my subordinates, they ought to adapt to me, not the other way around." Emrys dismissed the concern with a sigh. "If only Black Star still served under my command. I would have no need to worry about a single thing."

Jenny: "..."

A sharp pang struck her heart.

Ignoring Jenny's contorted expression, Emrys waved a hand. "In any case, spare me the persuasion. I shall not be going to the Shining World. I have no interest in it."

Jenny opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment, Emrys's communicator chimed. Retrieving it, her eyes brightened slightly.

"Black Star has messaged me again. Jenny, wait outside for a moment."

Seeing this, Jenny swallowed her words, turned, and exited the chamber, a sour bitterness lingering in her heart.

I have not even finished my official report, and merely because Black Star sent a casual note, you dismiss my crucial briefing...

I was here first, after all...

Paying Jenny no mind, Emrys carefully read through Han Xiao's transmission. Beyond the day's shared updates and warm inquiries, it contained a revelation that quickened her pulse.

"Aurora has finally reached the Calamity tier. My student truly excels." Emrys felt a swell of pride.

At the message's close, Han Xiao extended an invitation, urging her to visit the Black Star Palace and meet Aurora.

"To the Shining World, then..."

Emrys hesitated for a brief moment.

If Black Star himself was extending the invitation, a trip to the Shining World was hardly unreasonable...

The allure was undeniable.

With that thought, Emrys summoned Jenny back inside.

"Prepare a vessel. I am going to the Shining World."

"You have finally come to your senses? I shall mobilize the troops at once!" Jenny's voice rang with delight.

"What troops? I shall go alone." Emrys lifted her communicator, a serene smile gracing her lips. "Black Star has invited me to visit."

Jenny's expression instantly flattened.

Oh. All my words were utterly useless. Black Star calls, and you go.

So this is what betrayal feels like...

At this precise moment, only one song could perfectly encapsulate Jenny's state of mind:

--In this mortal realm, who lives without enduring a personal purgatory...

...

The Shining World, Free Competition Zone.

A dozen standard-class vessels drifted slowly through the cosmos, carrying guild players from several prominent Southeast Asian clubs, including Red Bay, Titan, and Archipelago.

"Gentlemen, our forthcoming maneuvers are of paramount importance. They will determine whether we can swiftly establish a foothold within the Shining World."

In the conference chamber, Red Bay's captain, Viper, rapped his knuckles against the table, his tone grave.

"Brother Snake speaks the truth." Red Bay's veteran player, Forest Python, concurred. Once the club's captain himself, he had voluntarily stepped down due to his advancing years to nurture fresh talent, with Viper assuming command last season.

"The Huaxia players currently hold a substantial advantage, clustering together here. Before players from other nations arrive, we must avoid provoking them and develop discreetly," analyzed Titan's captain, Bangkok Great Buddha. "However, the Huaxia players' approach is remarkably forward-thinking. Perhaps we should emulate their methods and establish communication with NPC factions."

The Huaxia clubs possessed an unparalleled lead in the Free Competition Zone, bolstered by the assistance of numerous NPC factions. These newly arrived Southeast Asian guilds naturally dared not challenge them, preferring to secure their footing and cultivate their strength first.

Furthermore, owing to the Legion system, Huaxia guilds had mastered the highly efficient playstyles of version 4.0 ahead of schedule. Clubs from other nations naturally studied these tactics, prompting these Southeast Asian organizations to attempt replicating them.

"Yet it is not so simple," someone hesitated. "The Huaxia players benefit from Black Star Legion's system, allowing them to transform into legitimate affiliated organizations. Our factions lack such a framework. Without independent status, we cannot formalize our structures."

The guilds of these major clubs had not yet defected, remaining affiliated with the factions that had once served on the Black Hole Frontier.

Those other factions lacked the Legion system. To become legitimate organizations, they would have to sever ties and establish independence, a move they clearly dared not make at present.

Moreover, these men were no longer free agents, already bound by the summons of their factions; before they could report to their designated outposts, their guilds were granted but a fleeting window of autonomy, a pale shadow compared to the unshackled liberty of the legion’s players.

"The faction’s primary directive has been issued," Viper murmured. "Our window to drift through the free competition zones is swiftly closing. We must seize our chances before the sands run out."

The assembly deliberated in hushed tones, ultimately resolving to cast their nets as wide as the tide would allow.

Yet rejection met them at every turn; lacking the stature of an established order, they were forced to cloak themselves in the banner of their patron faction, masquerading as an elite detachment. The vast majority of contacted houses turned them away without ceremony, for they were but another foreign encroachment, no local sovereign like the Black Star Legion, and in this theater of rivals, no one would foolishly invite the wolf to their hearth.

A handful of lesser houses, recognizing the steel in their blades, deigned to entertain their proposals; though these Southeast Asian syndicates could not rival the sprawling might of the Han or American colossi, their united banners could still muster a host of several thousand, perhaps even ten thousand souls.

As for the club guilds of Crimson Bay and the Archipelago, their lack of independent standing barred them from mercenary contracts; mirroring the accords of the Han syndicates, they proffered pacts of alliance, insisting that only through mutual covenant could a foothold be carved from the stone.

Upon hearing such terms, even those houses that had harbored a flicker of curiosity severed the transmission without a word, leaving their envoys to vanish into the static.

Viper and his companions stood bewildered, the reality clashing sharply with their expectations; the Han players had navigated these waters with effortless grace, so why did the non-player houses prove so impenetrable when their own turn came to parley?

Only after long scrutiny did the truth unravel: the houses did not merely decline them, they scorned them, deeming their bloodlines unworthy of alliance.

The factions backing the Crimson Bay and Archipelago players were, at their zenith, merely cluster-tier civilizations; in the current gilded age of the Radiant World, such titles were as common as dust, carrying little weight in the grand ledger of power.

The Han players’ seamless parleys with the minor houses stemmed from a borrowed majesty; their very presence echoed the shadow of the Black Star Legion, and many lesser powers offered planetary shares and pacts solely to drape themselves in that legion’s prestige, fortifying their own strongholds against the greed of foreign wolves.

Other cluster-tier civilizations, sharing the same outsider status, naturally lacked such commanding aura.

A heavy resignation settled upon them; with their patron faction lacking true might, mirroring the legion’s grand design was a fool’s errand, explaining why every door they knocked upon remained sealed.

The deeper they probed the Black Star Legion’s vast machinery, the more their envy for the Han players curdled into bitter admiration.

Only through sheer, grueling exertion did these Southeast Asian syndicates carve out a handful of modest outposts, a meager harvest that paled against the legion’s sprawling dominion; soon after, bound by the faction’s urgent summons, these professional players were conscripted into grueling labor, their fleeting autonomy surrendered to the yoke of service.

If premier houses like Crimson Bay and the Archipelago faced such a treacherous dawn, what hope remained for the scattered players of the Black Hole Frontier who had not pledged to the Black Star Legion? Lacking the fortune to emulate the legion’s grand strategies, they were forced into a brutal, unyielding genesis reminiscent of the fourth iteration in their former lives, their progress lagging by a chasm rather than a step.

The vanguard of the Black Hole Frontier had only just set foot upon the soil when waves of travelers from distant star domains followed in relentless succession, weaving the tapestry of conflict into a labyrinthine web as the global realm slowly crystallized into being.

Yet even as these tides converged, Han Xiao had already slipped into the emerald depths of the Emerald Star Cluster, vanishing into the shadows.

Han Xiao’s meticulous machinations for the legion had borne fruit; his cultivated fields of fresh recruits expanded with seamless precision, functioning as a ruthless, automated harvester.

With each wave of tender, inexperienced souls defecting to the Black Star Legion, his rate of harvesting experience multiplied exponentially, a torrent of power flooding his veins in mere moments.

And when the legion’s ranks swelled to nearly eight million warriors, the reservoir of experience required to ascend to the three hundred and twentieth tier was, at last, brimming to the brim.