The Legendary Mechanic

Despite constructing many strongholds on Planet Milton, all the big guild alliances had a main base, usually the first stronghold they built. It had no difference from the other strongholds in terms of rules, but to the players, it was a symbol, like the main city.

Dragon Hill was a large hill that surrounded the Golden Alliance's main base. It originally had no name. The name Dragon Hill was given by the Golden Alliance after they occupied this place.

On the day of the beginning of the war, hundreds of battlefields of varying sizes appeared on Planet Milton. Most were between strongholds. Among all these battlefields, Dragon Hill attracted the most attention. This was because the Anti-Black Star Faction had placed their main forces there, planning to get rid of the Golden Alliance's main base on the first day of the war. The Golden Alliance, too, placed their main forces there and prepared for it. They had decided to fight head-on.

Almost ten million players from both factions gathered on Dragon Hill, looking forward to the battle. The countless troops turned this hill into a colorful sea. Teams of players kept shifting locations like tides on the sea.

The mixed colors came from the troops of the Anti-Black Star Faction, as they wore very different equipment. As for the Golden Alliance, they were wearing the army's standard mechanical suits, which were black and silver. It was very neat. The Golden Alliance looked like a huge official army, unlike the Anti-Black Star Faction, which looked like a mere mix of small forces.

The people of the Galactic Business Alliance and other guilds were stationed at the south, east, and west sides, planning to attack from all three directions. The Golden Alliance troops' formation was circular, wrapped around the main base. The formations of two sides were separated by a wide belt area.

Inside the strategy surveillance room, the 3D satellite map hovered in the middle.

Morning Snow Twilight Frost, who took the position as the main commander of the battle, stared closely at the map, giving out orders one after another. The dozen military strategists around him occasionally gave suggestions, while the group of assistants sent the orders down.

For such a large battle, fighting without an overall strategy would spell certain defeat, so the commanding system was very crucial.

To prevent electromagnetic or virtual technology disruptions that might prevent the frontlines from receiving orders, both sides chose to use the chat system in the interface as the channel to give out orders.

The main commander looked over the entire battle and analyzed the situation with the military strategists. The orders would then be passed down by the messengers in the command room to the various high commanders. The high commanders would then swiftly adjust the detailed strategy based on the orders and the situation of the frontlines before giving orders to the intermediate commanders under them. The intermediate commanders would then pass the order down to the team captains at the frontlines, who would then communicate with their team members in the team channel and execute the orders.

On both sides, there were as many as more than a hundred thousand commanders, the majority being the team captains.

This procedure looked complicated, but because the chat system was not restricted by distance and everyone did their job properly, it was very efficient.

If all the players made up a body, the main commanders and the high commanders would be the brain giving the orders, and the intermediate commanders and the team captains would be the nervous system responsible for controlling the body based on the orders the brain gave.

Morning Snow Twilight Frost gave a round of orders. Seeing that the troops on his side were all almost in place, he exhaled softly, turned to Jade Green Sky, who was one of the military strategists and asked, "… The setup is about complete. How much time till the war starts?"

"Six minutes and eleven seconds."

"It's about time. Tell all teams to preheat their weapons. Activate the shields of the base and the frontlines too. At the three-minute mark, have the enchantment Mages start applying buffs and the rest start consuming whatever combat capability enhancement potions they have."

The order was quickly passed down. A thick, light-blue energy shield rose around the main base and shrouded it.

The defense Mage teams at the frontlines started to apply shields and enchanting spells on the other teams around very soon. The Pugilist teams who would be leading the charge also started to inject enhancement potions. These bonuses all had a time limit, so using it right before the start of the war would maximize the effects.

The Anti-Black Star Faction's men were doing the same thing. Colorful lights appeared on both sides like a fireworks competition.

Seconds felt like years in the last three minutes. All the players present were exhilarated and nervous. They held their breath, focused, and waited for the war to start. The atmosphere of the battlefield was silent and intense.

As the countdown continued, it finally reached zero.

"Go!"

At that instant, the earth started trembling!

The battlefield that was silent just seconds ago was suddenly filled with roars and battle cries. The battle erupted instantly!

The two stationary seas suddenly turned into raging tsunamis, charging at each other!

Countless energy beams formed an enormous net on the empty area between the two sides. Tons of players fell during the charge from the opponent's long ranged attacks. The black and the mixed colored tides quickly closed in on each other and clashed!

Boom boom boom boom!

Chains of explosions left cracks and pits on the ground. Dragon Hill swiftly became a mess.

The charging teams of both sides collapsed in large areas. In just an instant, countless mechanical soldiers, Pugilists, and melee-ranged Esper players died on the spot. It was a bloodbath!

This was not a stage for any one person. No matter how strong a player was, once they got out of the main formation, they would be killed in an instant. Carrying out their individual duties in groups was the only choice.

"Area C5 and D2, target their Psychic teams! Their AOE is too strong. The shield durability is almost at the warning line!"

"Defense Mages, keep giving the Pugilists enhancing spells. Throw fire or poison spells or whatever you have toward the enemies! Trap experts, stop f*cking throwing spells and keep planting traps! Summoners, get your babies out quicker… Where's the attack Mage team of Area B2? Don't fall out of formation!"

"Area A1, A4, B2, B6, C1, and D1 Mechanics, quickly disassemble the traps. D9's artillery is broken. Go repair it. Army Style and Mechanical Pugilists, keep advancing. Cannon Masters, don't stop attacking. Target their Psychics and Mages. Virtual Mechanics, handle their fleets. Armed and Energy Mechanics, bring out your heavy weapons and continue to fire. Target their Pugilists!"

"Psychics, focus on their Mechanics. Remember to save your mana… Nice! Someone landed a Super Critical Hit! A ton of enemies have just died!"

"Espers who are not melee types, don't rush forward. Stay behind, and step back to recover your mana when you're out… Didn't I f*cking tell you not to rush forward? That's the job of Pugilists! Why the f*ck are you fighting for it‽"

"Area C2 Pugilists, try to die slower! Get back to the frontlines after reviving. What are you waiting for‽"

The battle entered the climax instantly. The chat channels were filled with energy, and the commanders were yelling at the top of their lungs.

The players of the five classes all had their job to do. Psychics were responsible for AOE attacks and applying debuffs. Espers and Mages were responsible for whatever their ability was or what they excelled at.

The Pugilists were the most tragic, they could only lay down their bodies at the frontlines for the rest to advance. The Pugilists were strong and incredible in the early versions, now they were weak and helpless. How the tables turn.

After all, Pugilist was a civilian class, the pros of it were that it was easy to play, the fighting style was cool, and it was not bad in duels.

However, in large battlefields like this, everyone was targeting Pugilists, hoping to deplete their revival times so that their opponent would lose the teams who were leading the charge. In situations like this, the Pugilists' death rate was far higher than the other four classes. Even the term 'cool' was lost on them. They were basically competing on who could die in a flashier way.

Furthermore, Pugilists did not have any other choices. No one would want them even if they wanted to do construction work in the logistics department; their efficiency was far lower than all kinds of mechanical devices.

At this time, the thoughts in the various Pugilist players' minds were shockingly similar.

F*cking hell, how am I supposed to play this class‽

Comparatively, Mechanics who were weak in the early stages were shining brightly in battles. They were the busiest in the battlefield. They could fight, manage logistics, charge forward, deal both single target and AOE damage, repair, and produce. They were irreplaceable.

Due to how strategically crucial the Mechanics were, the Golden Alliance had an edge. Because of their faction, the most elite Mechanics among the players were all in the Black Star Army. Basically all of them were members of the Golden Alliance.

As the battle carried on, the situation started shifting—the Golden Alliance gained the upper hand, and it was expanding.

The top tier professional players all had the privilege of getting resources poured onto them by their clubs, so the difference between them was not too obvious. However, in terms of overall strength of the players, the Golden Alliance surpassed the Anti-Black Star Faction.

The Black Star Army had united the Chinese players long ago, saving the players the cost of continuously changing factions. Furthermore, there were all kinds of faction privileges from time to time. Their growth was much more organized than the 'wild' players who had been in many different factions in the past versions.

After close to four versions, the Golden Alliance players were clearly superior in terms of abilities and equipment overall.

Furthermore, the fake main storyline Han Xiao concluded in advance gave the army players another wave of funds and EXP. One or two players receiving it would not make a difference, but tens of millions of players all received the reward. When that materialized in this battlefield, it increased their edge even further.

"The casualty count statistics are out!"

Inside the main base's command room, Morning Snow Twilight Frost was giving out orders when he received a set of smart statistics. His eyes gleamed.

"The enemies died 0.742 times on average. For our side, it's 0.631 times. Wonderful!"

The people present were overjoyed.

This data represented the average deaths per player on both sides. Though the difference was only 0.111, in this battle of tens of millions of players, this meant that the players on their side died about five hundred thousand times less than the opponents!

"The revive limit is only ten every six days. Finishing those revives means you're out. Today is the first day of the war, so their bottom line is probably between 1.8 to 2.2. Their charging team has died more times than the average at almost 1.2. They'll soon be unable to hold on!"

Morning Snow Twilight Frost narrowed his eyes and said, "Send in fifty demolition divisions. Advance at my command!"

As they were not fighting NPCs, both sides did not use large-scale suicidal attacks. Everyone could revive multiple times, and if used wrongly, they might lose more than they had to gain instead.

The Golden Alliance had piled up a ton of Evolution Badges when preparing for the war. Fifty demolition divisions meant forty thousand players, which was about a 0.01 increase in the overall average death count after conversion. They now had an enormous edge, so they could totally take the risk. The goal was not to kill more enemies but to make use of the tankiness and the high melee damage bonus of the Aberrations to break the opponent's formation.

As the order was passed down, a special team was escorted into the frontlines. With countless flashes of light, their bodies expanded into Aberrations one after another and charged into the enemy formation, unstoppable like a hot knife cutting through butter!

A total of forty thousand monsters with multiple buffs charged into the enemy's formation, instantly creating areas of enemy Pugilist players that were separated from the rest. The attacks from the Golden Alliance followed right after and wiped them out on the spot.

The violence of the Evolution Badge was recognized by all the players. The advance of forty thousand Aberrations messed up the Anti-Black Star Faction's command system for a while.

They spent quite a lot of time before killing all these Aberrations. The chaos had caused the Anti-Black Star Faction's average death count to increase by 0.018, meaning about a hundred thousand players died. The difference between two sides was getting bigger, especially among the Pugilist teams.

"We can win!"

The morale of the Golden Alliance players in the frontlines rocketed. The players of the Galactic Business Alliance were clearly not as energetic.

Battles between large armies would not be turned around easily. As soon as one side had the upper hand, the remaining battle would just be the process of snowballing.

The situation continuously became better for the Golden Alliance and worse for the other side. The results of the battle were gradually growing certain.

…

While the battle on Dragon Hill was going on fiercely, Han Xiao, who was far away in Black Star Palace, was holding a bag of popcorn in his one hand and a drink in the other, watching the broadcast from Bun-Hit-Dog on the forums.

However, his focus was not the situation of the battle…

"Nice, nice, using forty thousand Evolution Badges at once. Charging these Evolution Badges is going to get me a wave of EXP again. Keep using them."

"Haha, hundreds more mechanical teams are destroyed. More repair fees."

Han Xiao was joyous. He did not feel heartache about the battle damage the Golden Alliance was suffering at all. He was practically laughing.

In his eyes, every batch of resources the Golden Alliance lost meant a new round of sales for him. If not because the faction benefits could not be given out randomly, he would even sell to the Anti-Black Star Faction.

"War is still the most profitable!" Han Xiao grinned.

At this point, he felt like he was a shameless strategist reclaiming the resources he gave out from the players in all kinds of ways.

After all, the players would only be motivated to create more value when their hard-earned resources were emptied.