Chapter 165: As Unlucky as Usual

Hopefully what I replicated is forty percent accurate—that will be enough. Han Xiao’s advanced knowledge was insufficient; hence, he could only create a prototype with less functionality, just like the Ghost sniper rifle. However, there was an advantage for the mecha. Even if his version was a castrated version, it would not have various defects that the Ghost sniper rifle had.

Self-creating a mecha was a huge project and could not be completed within a short time. Han Xiao planned to finish his work on the various modules as he moved from novice village to novice village.

In addition, he would have to combine some new blueprints to improve the power of mecha.

The core source of the power would come from the ‘Bonfire’ Mini Reaction Furnace, and Han Xiao needed to wait for Lei Zhen Yu to place an order for him. This was also an advanced machine, so he was not able to build it on his own. Luckily, he had met another mechanic and could use some help from the other masters.

Talking about it, Old Man Lu’s four blueprints were also rare items. The opportunity for the mission would be when Lei Zhen Yu left Black Pine. Hence, he had to wait a while longer. Those four blueprints could be combined to build an attack and defense system, which could be incorporated into the mecha.

The mecha was Han Xiao’s second important piece of tactical equipment, and with the four blueprints from Old Man Lu, he would be able to start on the third. Han Xiao was excited. With three pieces of tactical equipment that complemented one another, all of which would have very strong mechanical stats, there would be no need to worry in battle—even against Bennett.

After finishing the visits to the novice villages and obtaining large amounts of experience, I can finally do some big things. Han Xiao calculated his time and suddenly frowned.

If I’m not remembering incorrectly, the Alien event should be starting soon. ...

The Southern Continent had five novice villages. Besides Big Horn Village and Green Valley Ville, Han Xiao spent eleven days visiting the other three. Most of his time was spent on travelling. When he arrived at each novice village, he need not do anything; players would quickly crowd around him. Those who wanted to advance would advance, and those who had their own things to do would engage in their own things. It was super effective.

His popularity was all thanks to Galaxy Times and the advertising through the forum. Han Xiao had left a deep impression on the players, and they knew what he was capable of.

Han Xiao did some math—round 25% to 30% of players came to him to advance into mechanics. This ratio was way greater than that in his previous life. Even though there were only three main classes in Aquamarine, the ratio was not even. In his previous life, the ratio had been 30% Esper, 50% to 60% Pugilist, and only about 10% Mechanic. After Han Xiao’s promotion, the ratio was three times greater!

Apart from Basic Knowledges, he also shared [Basic Shooting] and [Basic Combat]. These basic skills had attracted many novice players, and most had approached him to acquire these two basic skills. That was the real money tree!

Han Xiao was making a small profit from each novice player, and these small gains accumulated to a veritable fortune.

Three novice villages had earned him a total of 9.023 million EXP!

The efficiency was shocking!

With these eleven days of gaining experience at a rocket-like efficiency, he had earned an amount comparable to completing ten or so high difficulty missions! Players of the same level from his previous life would have needed to to spend many months to acquire the same amount of experience!

The cumulative effect from the interface and the NPC template helped him improve tremendously. Well, at least he had found himself a steady channel for experience.

The player market had the most potential, and since he was able to monopolize it at the moment, the profit was simply amazing.

With countless experiences on hand, Han Xiao went ahead to level up his class rank [Mechanic (Trainee)] to Lv. 15!

When his level reached LV 55, he would need to advance in order to continue levelling up. In version 1, the level limit was LV 60, so he was five levels away. However, he was not restricted by the limit in this version. Han Xiao could in fact become the first character in Aquamarine to reach LV 60. Unfortunately, the advancement requirements were a real headache for him.

_____________________

[Mechanic (Trainee)] levelled up to Lv. 15 (MAX).

+120 Energy, +1 DEX, +1 END, +4 INT.

Acquired 3 Unassigned Stat Points and 1 Talent Point!

Advancement mission: Create 5 [Admirable] quality machinery with an energy rating no lower than 60.

_____________________

Damn, am I so unlucky? Out of so many advancing conditions, how unlucky am I to get the most troublesome one‽ Han Xiao was stunned.

Admirable quality meant a grade higher than blue. Since he started building his machinery, his machinery was about 15% to 20% blue, and only 1% to 2% of his machinery might have reached purple.

A machine could be compared with the same type of machinery by its quality. For instance, there would be a huge difference in the stats of a white grade Foldable Machete compared to a blue grade Foldable Machete. The blue grade would have additional effects too. However, a blue type Machete could not be compared to a white grade Rover Robot.

For example, Cold Weapons, Guns, Grenades, Robots... these weapons were based on templates of the same kind. For example, a good quality razor could be used to shave comfortably; however, it could not be used to stir fry vegetables. Different kinds of equipment have their own uses and their own specialization.

The more high-end a machine was, the harder it would be to improve its quality. The intelligence stat affected the quality, and this was also the core attribute of mechanics. High-level mechanics could easily create high-quality, simple machines.

The requirement of ‘energy rating no lower than 60’ for advancement limited the possibility of him using low-level machinery as a shortcut. He had to create a purple machine that fulfilled the quality requirement.

This type of advancement requirement was considered the most difficult requirement. Normally, when one reached the level limit of an attribute, it would not be easy to build a stable machine of sufficient quality. It was either by luck or by improving his skills and achieving new abilities. No matter which route he took, he would need a lot of time.

The frown between Han Xiao’s brows deepened like a great ravine.

Advancement was difficult. Moreover, he would need to use his experience points to level up his skills and fuse blueprints together. This could be a bottomless pit, especially for fusing the blueprints.

Levelling up by five levels had cost him almost five million EXP. As for the remaining EXP, Han Xiao kept two million for blueprints fusion and the rest on levelling up his skills. He levelled up [Mid-Grade Machinery Affinity] and [Molecular Refining] to the maximum.

Among the skills, Mid-Grade Machinery Affinity was a core skill; hence, the cost was higher. The effect was also naturally more remarkable. Since it affected a machine’s grade, it was useful in completing the advancement task.

Experience come easily but goes quickly too. Han Xiao let out a deep sigh. As he had spent a huge amount of experiences all at once, he felt a great sense of satisfaction.

Han Xiao had completed his visits to all the novice villages in the Southern Continent. Next, Han Xiao decided to visit the Western Continent. The Nations in the Western Continent were Maple and Ordina. He had stayed in the Southern Continent for too long, and he was finally visiting another continent.

On the way, I can also start on the secret quest. The tragedy of La Potter is set in the Western Continent. ...

Because there was a need to cross the sea, the transport aircraft stopped at one of Hesla port cities’ airports to prepare for the long-distance flight and top up the fuel. This was Antonio’s territory. Han Xiao spent a huge sum of money, almost emptying Antonio’s warehouse, and filled up his aircraft with a lot of materials.

“You are going to the Western Continent?” Antonio held a thick black cigar in his mouth. With his bear paw sized hand, he patted Han Xiao on his shoulder. “A person like you—an assassin—will definitely be blacklisted by many nations. The special agents of Maple and Ordina might find you for afternoon tea. You will have no say over there too. Our power in the Western Continent is limited as well. A piece of advice for you: try not to expose yourself.”

“And so?”

“Be careful.”

Han Xiao laughed and exclaimed in feigned surprise, “Oh, you can actually finish that in one sentence.”

Han Xiao patted Antonio’s strong arm and went up the aircraft. “Don’t worry, I won’t go crazy there.”

Filled with fuel, the aircraft took flight and disappeared into the air.

...

As Han Xiao visited all the novice villages in the Southern Continent, it created a huge discussion on the forum. The novice players from the other three continents were all envious and jealous of the players from the Southern Continent. They wished to meet the Black Phantom, too; however, it was not possible for them to cross over to another continent. As such, they could only watch helplessly as players from the Southern Continents boasted about it on the forum. This made them feel terrible, just like seeing photos of fast food in the middle of the night. Even if you were hungry, you could not eat it.

There was no point being envious, so all the helpless players could do was vent their emotions on the forum.

“Ah, I want Black Phantom!”

“I am suffering from a disease. I will die if I don’t meet Black Phantom.”

“Why are there no characters like Black Phantom in the continent that I got into?”

Players from the Southern Continent started giggling as they thought they were fortunate to have a great birthplace. Looking at players from the other continents grumbling about their lack of luck, the players in the Southern Continent felt a sense of superiority.

Man, luck is also part of power. Not that I’m targeting anyone, but I mean everyone here is trash. By this point, the players from the Southern Continent all had inflated egos.