<strong>Chapter 689 Leeks Coming from Everywhere! (2)</strong>
The moment the recruitment order from the ck Star Army was sent out, practically half the star field exploded from excitement, and all the responders began to gather!
In just ten days, Phillip had already received countless resumes from various sectors of the Shattered Star Ring.
Riding on this wave of heated public opinion, the number of applicants was far greater than any of their previous recruitments. The target was not just toward original mercenaries. As long as one did not have a ‘Wanted’ tag on them, everyone would be treated equally.
Philip first eliminated the weaker candidates and did a screening of the first batch of top-rated talents. Just these people already totaled 1.4 million, more than the total count of the ck Star Army. This would effectively double the official staff of the ck Star Army a few times over!
More than a million people had already been selected, and this was not even the final result. Han Xiao was prepared to open the floodgates fully instead of restricting entry this time. With his fame and reputation, he already possessed the qualifications to form arge organization. This time, he was making full use of the opportunity.
Now was not the time to consider if over-recruiting would cause them to be able to absorb the members properly. This recruitment was not just targeted toward talents but also a way to show his influence. The more sensational this response was, the higher the position of the ck Star Army in the entire Star Field. If onebined the results of the recruitment with his current fame, he would be able to engrave his existence into the hearts of countless influences around, ascending to the top in one step and bing a famous force in the Shattered Star Ring!
Compared to the otherrge organizations, the ck Star Army, while huge in scale,cked reputation and influence. However, this did not prevent the poprity of their faction from rising. This was of great benefit to their future development, so from Han Xiao’s perspective, the storm of public opinion was perfectly utilized.
Most of the recruited talents in the first batch had some sort of fame in their respective sectors. At least sixty percent were also battle-hardened elite interster warriors as well, with the lowest being at Grade C. While the number of Supers was small, if one cast their eyes across the entire Star Field, the total sum was still exaggeratedly huge.
Recently, the secret war had begun turning into a full-fledged tug of war. There were no signs of activity on both sides, and there was free time to deal with his own internal affairs. Purple Crystal attached great importance to Han Xiao’s potential and was d to see the ck Star Army develop itself. Furthermore, this indirectly meant a supplement to Section Zero.
More than a million of the neers then travelled thousands of miles from various star clusters to the Garton Star System, going through the procedures at the ck Star Army Base. Han Xiao also returned to his own base to deal with the various issues caused by the huge swelling in his faction.
In the reception room of the ck Star Army Headquarters, Sylvia brought in three new recruits of different races and appearances, and Han Xiao stood up from the sofa to greet them.
“Your Excellency, ck Star.” The three of them had respectful attitudes and stepped forward quickly to exchange handshakes with Han Xiao.
“Come, sit.”
Han Xiao waved his hand, and they all took their seats, beginning to chat.
With millions of neers, Han Xiao had no time to meet up with them individually. The reason he was meeting with these three was because the new recruits were actually all at the Cmity Grade!
A Cmity Grade Super would never submit to another easily. Before he became known as a potential Beyond Grade A seedling, Han Xiao had tried many times to recruit a Cmity Grade, but other than Lagi, everyone else had rejected him.
However, his status today was greatly different whenpared to that of the past. Being a highly anticipated Beyond Grade A seed was enough to make some of the Cmity Grades stop hesitating and run under his banner. If their bet paid off, they would then be the backbone of a Beyond Grade A organization!
If one likened the Beyond Grade A to an Emperor ascending to the throne, they would be the dragons that became his officialsbright futures awaited them!
It was a pity that Ames was too much of a cker. Even if she was a bona fide Beyond Grade A, her attraction toward Supers might not exceed that of Han Xiao’s. Not many Supers would deign to follow a leader without any ambition. Furthermore, Ames could not even be bothered to actively recruit Officers.
Those three Cmity Grades were the cream of the crop among the leeks, probably considered leeks that had grown legs, running a thousand miles to deliver themselves to be harvested by him.
Status and strength went hand in hand, and the Cmity Grades in an organization were destined to be the upper echelons. That was the only reason they hade. After all, they could not be expected to climb slowly from the bottom like a Grade C Super, right? Thus, Han Xiao had to personally take a look at the three of them and use this opportunity to observe them.
Before meeting with them, Han Xiao had already flipped through their resumes.
Karmbe, Grade A Pugilist, male. Tall with extremely pale skin, he seemed to have the bloodline of the Blood Race. He used to be an external instructor in one of the Super institutions with a civilization in some Star System. He resignedter, walking through multiple gxies and taking a lot of private employment.
Marian, Grade A Mechanical Pugilist, male. He was wrapped from head to toe in heavy, dark-gray armor and always wore a helmet, seldom revealing his face to others. He looked like some knight from a fantasy civilization, and the reason he hade over was the same as Reynold, because he looked up to Han Xiao as a Mechanic.
Misecech, Grade A Esper, male. His resume was clean. Other than him being a Cmity Grade, there was nothing worth noting. He had hung around with multiple mercenary groups but had not worked long. He was a typical spectator.
These people who took the initiative to sign up would not be very strong, but they were at least at the Cmity Grade. The ck Star Army had originally only had three Cmity Grades. With the addition of three more, this doubled the total number, raising the advancedbatants inside the army.
Thus, the Supers that took the opportunity to rush over were basically ‘career men’. They were ustomed to changing jobs and moved to wherever had some benefit. Naturally, they would not be loyal of this, Han Xiao was clear. He also did not hope for them to sell their lives to him. As long as they couldplete the work based on their scope as Cmity Grades, that would be good.
After chatting with them for a while, both sides had observed enough by now. Han Xiao stood up and extended his hand, smiling. “Then, I’ll represent ck Star Army to wee you three on board.”
“That is our honor.” Misecech immediately took the opportunity to speak first. Karmbe replied shortly after, and Marian nodded in silence.
“I’ll need some time to consider what roles to assign you. Don’t worry, I will not treat you badly.”
“Haha, our requirements are not high.” Misecech had a ttering smile.
After replying with some pleasantries, Han Xiao sent the trio off before asking Sylvia to take them through the formalities.
Han Xiao did not rest after but immediately entered another reception room.
There were tens of people within there waiting. The moment they saw Han Xiao, they immediately stood up, greeting him warmly.
“Everyone, please sit.”
Han Xiao waved his hand, ncing at everyone present.
Within this reception room, everyone present were the emissaries of various civilizations from the Colton Star Cluster. They hade to seek cooperation of their own initiative.
Originally, the influence of the ck Star Army had been limited to the Garton Star System, but now, the other Star Systems around the Colton Star Cluster had started to notice the potential of Han Xiao, as well as the momentum of the ck Star Army’s development, thusing to seek opportunities for development and mutual benefit.
“Your Excellency ck Star, I’m the emissary from the ck Raven Civilization. I hope that the ck Star Army will be able to establish a sub-base within the territory of our civilization. To this end, the ck Raven Civilization is willing to pay a cooperation fee each year, at the same time opening the internal resource trading channels. Furthermore, we’ll give the ck Star Army the mining rights for a sector.”
“I’m the emissary from the Holy Stone Civilization. Our terms are the same as the ck Raven Civilization’s, but our cooperation fees can be raised further if needed.”
“I am...”
Everyone introduced themselves one by one, giving their own prices just for ck Star to build a sub-base in their territories. This was akin to offering themselves up to aid Han Xiao in expanding his influence.
The Star System Civilizations could clearly see that ck Star had already been tied to the big boss of this Star Cluster. With him also having the hope of bing a Beyond Grade A Super, the ck Star Army could very well turn out to be the Colton Star Cluster’s Beyond Grade A influence. Attracting him to their side early was naturally the most cost-effective scenario.
Right now, the base of the ck Star Army was situated within the Garton Star System. It was unknown just how many times Serbia the Fifth had woken up from his sleep due toughing out in joy, as this implied that there would be a Beyond Grade A Super holding the fort in Godora in the future. The other star systems also wished to have the ck Star Army expand his organization into their territory, simply because of this same consideration.
As for those star systems that did not originally have this idea, after seeing all theirpetitors doing so, they decided that they could not sit still. Thus, over eighty percent of the civilizations in the entire Colton Star Cluster had sent their emissaries to this reception room.
After listening to everyone, Han Xiao nodded, his face remaining impassive, but his heart was secretly moved.
The conditions given by the various civilizations in the star systems were extremely rich. Leaving aside the cooperation funds and resource channels, the most profitable thing would be therge-scale mining rights of a resource.
A resource was different from a barren one. The former was chock full of resources, and all of suchs were recorded clearly, with only the region’s ruling civilization having the power to mine them on arge scale. If any external organizations tried to mine without receiving a permit, they would have to ount to the civilization of that region or even be hunted down by their guards.
Every civilization would definitely pay close attention toward a resource. Even though the Star Cluster Civilizations had mining ships that were able to dissect an entire, they rarely used them as even these big shots paid much attention to sustainable development.
A barren star, however, allowed for private mining because the profit obtained from there could not bepared to that of a resource. The quality-price ratio was too low, so the civilizations found it a waste of their manpower and material resources, deigning to sell the mining rights to others instead. For those private miningpanies, while the profits to be obtained were not high, the barrens were rich in oil and water.
There would, however, be times when the private mining team struck gold. During their mining process, if they found out that the ‘barren’ was actually a hidden resource, the civilization would evaluate the total value of this resource before offering a bid to buy it back. In this area, the majority of the civilizations were honorable enough to not force the mining team to hand over the for free.
Han Xiao was still quite clear about these basic concepts. From his previous life, during theter versions, yers could even purchase mining rights to the resources from civilizations.
With such a clearparison, Han Xiao was acutely aware of the value of giving him the mining rights of a resource. This was equivalent to taking out a cake from the civilizations and cutting him a small slice. It could easily him a profit in the region of billions of Enas!
This was fertile ground!
Tsk, I risked my life to earn that small amount of money. Any random mining operation on a resource would bring me back thousands of times more profit. Why am I still a mercenary? Han Xiao could not help but silently curse.
Indeed, the most profitable way of earning was to establish a civilization!
After settling his mind, Han Xiao put on a solemn expression as he said in a stately tone, “Everyone, you have shown me too much sincerity. To be honest, the terms and conditions you have given me are quite tempting. I’m very willing to cooperate with you, but my ck Star Army is currently in its recruitment phase. After this recruitment has ended, I’ll schedule time to visit your areas to build a base.”
Hearing this, everyone agreed and began to chatter.
“No problem, we can wait.”
“Of course, we understand. We can sign the contract first.”
Han Xiao smiled. “Since no one has any objections, let’s fix it this way.”
Everyone present handed in their contracts, and Han Xiao signed them with some emotions in his heart.
In the past, there had not been so many good opportunities avable for him. However, opportunities were knocking constantly on his door. This led to Han Xiao recall the words that Aesop had once said to him.
As long as you surpass Grade A, many powers will immediately offer up benefits to you. You will rise to the heavens with a single step and be at the highest level of the dining table!
Right now, he had only revealed a chance of breaking through Grade A, but this sort of situation had already happened. It seemed as though the old man Aesop had not lied to him.
Having finalized this business, the emissaries all heaved sighs of relief. This time, they would be able to answer to their superiors.
After sending off this batch of satisfied emissaries, Han Xiao did not stop but instead approached yet another reception room. He still had matters to settle.
The impact of his expansion this time was too great, so he had to meet all kinds of leeks every day, to the point that he was so busy his feet did not have time to be fixed on the ground.
Therge influx of people that he had caused had to be solved by him, even if he was crying internally from fatigue.
However, everything would lead to extremely rich rewards, making Han Xiao satisfied.
Opening the door of yet another reception room, the people within the room looked over and greeted him as they smiled.
The upants there were people who were more familiar to him, the great figures around Shattered Star Ring. This included the leader of the Dark Underworld Army, Underworld Feather, the captain of the Sky Ring Army, Gureja, and a few other Army Commanders.
“Brothers, it’s been a long time.” Han Xiao greeted them and curiously said, “You guys were being very secretive on themunicator. What happened for all of you toe look for me to speak face-to-face?”
The few armymanders exchanged nces before suddenly smiling.
The Sky Ring Army Commander Gureja stroked his steel- like bristly beard, winking as he spoke. “This time, we’re here to invite
you.”
“Invite me for what?”
“As you already know, the situation in the Shattered Star Ring is currently quite turbulent. With opportunities everywhere, it’s hard for an organization topletely swallow all the opportunities alone. I’ve already discussed this with these few armymanders, and we’ve decided to integrate the entire Shattered Star Ring and establish a Mercenary League so that it is convenient for us to participate in various missions between the Star System Civilizations. In such troubled times, we need tobine forces and seize this opportunity!”
Without waiting for Han Xiao to speak, Underworld Feather, who was by the side,zily interrupted, “ck Star, with you being so popr recently, how about you juste and lead our Shattered Star Ring Mercenary League as the leader? Anyway, you don’t seem to mind having a lot of things to do.”
Gureja coughed and hurriedly added, “Her meaning is, since your current appeal is far greater than any of our Grade A Mercenary groups’, we came to you this time to rmend you to take the spot of leader and founder of the Mercenary League.”
Han Xiao’s eyebrows jumped up, feeling a little surprised.
This was one of the branch storylines of Version 3.0—[Shattered Star Ring Mercenary League]. The major mercenary groups had joined forces to integrate the scattered mercenaries of the Shattered Star Ring, establishing arge-scale mercenary league. The league developed and became a huge factionter that was extremely popr with yers.
He did not expect the captains of each mercenary group to n to make him the head, so he ended up getting involved in the storyline this way.
“You guys are really...” Han Xiao’s mouth twitched, and he raised his thumb. “... SO smart and insightful!”