Chapter 1210 Oathkeeper Returns
Nearly a month later, it was the day when the version would be updated. There was a sea of people in Black Star Palace’s lobby. Countless players gathered there, chatting in twos and threes as they waited to go offline.
Bun-Hit-Dog wandered through the crowd, turning on his recording function as he enthusiastically took pictures of the scene in the hall as an assistant followed him.
In Version 4.0, Bun-Hit-Dog’s business had made significant progress, becoming an important co-reporter of the club, so he founded a studio. He no longer single-handedly edited videos, instead recruiting some employees to be responsible for all aspects of affairs. The most important task was to help him collect material. These employees all have their own work accounts. Their IDs were prefixed with the studio’s name. This assistant beside him had the ID of ‘Bun-Hit-Dog: Little Wheat’. At first glance, he looked like a happy little fat man.
“Boss, why are we shooting in the base? Can this even be used as material?” Little Wheat was curious.
“Are you stupid? Who knows what the army will become in the next version? If there are changes in the future, all of this would become historical data. It’s completely possible to produce a nostalgic video!” Bun-Hit-Dog instructed.
“Boss, you really have foresight!” Little Wheat gave a thumbs up.
“Humph, your business opportunity level needs to be improved. Take a good look and study hard.” Bun-Hit-Dog grunted.
Not far from the two of them, a group of professional players formed a circle, having a discussion.
“I’m going to retire,” King Admiral said, which immediately drew everyone’s surprise.
Frenzied Sword had always treated King Admiral as his idol, and he replied in disbelief, “We’ve just won three consecutive championships. Why are you retiring?”
“That’s right. Right now, China is at its peak,” someone added.
“Haha, it’s precisely because we’ve won three consecutive championships that I can retire with peace of mind. I originally had this idea after getting champion the last version, but I stayed on because I wanted to achieve it again with Dynasty.” He thoughtfully waved his hand. “I’m not young anymore, and I can feel my performance beginning to decline. Now is the right time for me to retire. My application for retirement has also been handed over to the club’s superiors, and they respect my choice. In the future, it will be Second Prince who leads as the captain of Dynasty. I have to give others a chance.” Hearing this, everyone turned to Second Prince.
Second Prince had always wished to suppress King Admiral and steal his position of Captain. However, now that his wish was coming true, he surprisingly did not reveal any happiness. He was silent and depressed.
King Admiral glanced at him before smiling. “Didn’t you always want the Captain’s seat? Now you’ve got it, why are you not happy?”
Second Prince moved the corners of his mouth, showing a wretched smile. “Nonsense, I’m obviously very happy. I finally chased you away, haha.”
Everyone present shook their head. They could tell that Second Prince was being insincere. He was obviously sad and disappointed, but he was still stubborn to the very end.
Ever since entering the team, Second Prince had been competing with King Admiral on the field. While he liked to trash talk, he had always treated King Admiral as his best buddy in his heart. He had a competitive nature and hoped to surpass King Admiral, not to obtain the Captain’s position in this manner.
Upon thinking that he would never be able to fight with King Admiral side by side in the future, Second Prince felt an empty spot in his heart.
“Relax. Although I’m retiring, I’ll still be working in the club. I’ll likely take on the position of coach.” King Admiral patted Second Prince’s shoulder as he smiled. “As such… this means that I’m still above you. You don’t need to miss me.”
While he did not say it directly, the implied meaning was there.
A younger brother will always be one. You want to step over me? Dream on!
Second Prince changed his face faster than an opera face-changer did as he barked out, “Who’s missing you? Hurry and resign and get lost. You irritate me!”
Everyone immediately withdrew their gazes, unable to bear this ‘tsundere’ moment.
“Speaking of retiring, I also have similar thoughts.” Long Sky’s Sleepy Winter sighed. “I should be the oldest player here, and I have almost reached my limits. Now is the best time to retire, since we’ve already achieved something big. I feel that it’s time to allow the newcomers to step up. Isn’t Rivervale doing well as a newcomer superstar?”
“We’re only so-so. That’s right. Since we won this time, it’s our turn to treat everyone.” Frenzied Sword scratched his head in embarrassment.
The group of professional players were there to discuss their respective careers. Li Ge was secretly happy, wishing that all of his competitors would retire. He seemed to foresee the rise of his Temple of God.
Time passed slowly, but it did not take long to finally arrive at the time for the Version update. White lights flashed as the players went offline one after another. The hall of the base suddenly became desolate.
Version 4.0 update initiated.
Saving data… Saving completed!
Player forums closed. Update Duration: Unknown. Please wait patiently.
In his personal machinery factory, Han Xiao withdrew his gaze from the surveillance of the main hall of the base, calling up the interface to take a look.
“The players have gone offline.”
Han Xiao sighed, quickly adjusting his mentality. This time, it would take much longer for his farm to harvest, so he had to properly fertilize his land beforehand.
The fourth Pro League had brought him another wave of experience at the end of this version, but his reserves were still quite lacking. His current experience upgrade cost was too huge, such that it was crippling even with the massive amount of experience the Celestial Star Alliance storyline had given him. In this version update, Han Xiao decided to first focus on the God’s Trait Transformation
– Machinery, raising it to the max before moving onto his Void Branch.
The God’s Trait Transformation had changed on the tenth layer, adding prerequisite missions. The Mission Completion Card was tested to be effective, so Han Xiao planned to do more missions with random rewards during the Version update to obtain more Mission Completion Cards. This could save him a lot of God’s Trait Transformation points.
The main source of God’s Trait Transformation points was in creating Gold Grade equipment from blueprints. There were many Gold grade blueprints in the inheritance left by Jayz, which was a large source of points for himself. Han Xiao decided to first study that technological information.
With this technical inheritance, there was no longer a need to go to the three Universal Civilizations to acquire blueprints, and there was no need to perform missions for Contribution Points. This saved a lot of time and energy, also allowing the three Universal Civilizations to misjudge his technical background, thinking that he did not have many Gold-grade blueprints. This was killing many birds with a stone.
“In the next few decades, there’ll be another batch of new Beyond Grade As. I wonder how many of those under me will be promoted…”
Han Xiao stroked his chin.
In his eyes, the officers who had a chance of promotion would be Aurora, Feidin, Hadavy, Jotina, Lothaire, and Lagi.
Among them, Aurora had no bottleneck to speak of. It was just that her normal development was slow. However, with the Holy Light Seed as a leek field, it would greatly accelerate her development process. For Feidin and Lothaire, they were just that talented, with the possibility of a breakthrough. As for Hadavy, Jotina, and Lagi, they all had deep accumulations, which granted them a chance to grow further.
Evans’ training career was still too short, and a few decades would not be enough for him to grow. The ‘New EsGod Cultivation Program’ would take some time.
As for Karlot, he belonged to the late bloomer type, and this timing was far from the peak of his previous life. However, because of Han Xiao’s own influence, his maturity might have some changes.
“It’s still more reliable to focus on cultivating Aurora, allowing her to reach Beyond Grade A so that the spirit of Germinal will resurface in
US…”
Han Xiao sneered in his mind.
Within a certain base of the Holy Accord, a secret hall had been redesigned as a huge laboratory. In the center of the room was a circular mechanical base with a diameter of about fifty meters. It was covered in complex patterns, energy transmission pipes, and magic circuits. At first glance, it looked like some sort of ceremonial venue.
In its surroundings, many members of the Holy Accord Organization wearing white lab coats were intensively debugging the various instruments. Law and Fay were present to supervise.
“How much longer till the agreed period?”
“There are three minutes left to enter the preset time range. The receiving device has been warmed up and can be activated at any time.”
“The Information Form stabilizer has also been set up. All procedures are ready.” Looking at the time, Law had a solemn expression, his palms full of sweat.
It was the day of appointment confirmed by Destiny’s Child. According to the information passed down by the organization, the flow of spacetime within the Sanctums was special, only briefly coinciding with the main universe at random points. If the time node was missed, it would take a long time. The layout of the current venue was just to allow Oathkeeper to return, and everyone present was testing this out for the first time, not knowing how effective it would be.
Everyone’s spirits were taut as the time ticked by every minute. It finally arrived at the determined time node.
“Begin!” Law immediately shouted.
The next moment, all the instruments were activated in sequence. The circular mechanical base in the center of the room came to life, and the energy loops on its surface lit up in sequence from bottom to top.
Ohm!
A loud noise sounded in the room, as the space above the pedestal produced a distortion visible to the naked eye. This continued on for more than ten seconds before a gate of light appeared in the sky, spitting out a figure before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Everyone hurriedly looked up, their faces overjoyed. On the ground was Oathkeeper, who had been missing for many days.
Law and Fay rushed up to help Oathkeeper, only to see him in a daze, as though he had just woken up.
“Leader, you’re finally back. How do you feel?”
Oathkeeper looked at the two with a dazed expression, only remembering his identity after a while. His eyes gradually focused, and he slowly recovered, covering his forehead as he mumbled, “It feels like I’ve had a long dream. There’s a strong sense of illusion within the Sanctums, just like being in a dream. I’ve discovered many amazing secrets, but only a small part of the fragmented information remains in my memory. Let me sort it out…”
He clutched his forehead as he struggled to recall what he had seen in the Sanctums. He vaguely remembered the shock that permeated his soul, but the relevant memory had faded quickly, leaving only fragments in his mind.
After a long period of time, Oathkeeper gradually restored the information he obtained, and a look of horror flashed across his face.
Fay noticed the shocked emotions on Oathkeeper’s face and asked, “Have you recalled something?”
“… No, I cannot.”
Oathkeeper took a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent emotions.
The Great Reboot, Universe Iterations, the function of the Sanctums… all of this information flashed through his brain. All of this knowledge subverted his worldview, and he intended to keep it a secret, not prepared to share any of the information he discovered in the Sanctums.
Throughout the universe, I should be the only one who has obtained this information at the moment. Its value is immeasurable, akin to the advantage of prophecy. The future course has to be drastically altered…
This thought flashed past his mind.
At this moment, Law surveyed the surroundings, and not seeing anyone else, he asked, “Leader, did our plan succeed? Have you resurrected them?”
Hearing this, Oathkeeper seemed to recall something. Turning his hand, he discovered a peculiar golden imprint on the back of his hand. In his remaining memories, this was a one-time use Sanctum imprint, which would allow him to resuscitate the historical Beyond Grade As using the Sanctum as a medium. “It should have succeeded…” Oathkeeper paused, surveying his surroundings before raising his tone. “Empty the venue immediately and follow me to welcome the return of the Primordial Ones!”