Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 2: Prologue

For Zhang Qiming now, there are still many problems he needs to solve.

First, there's the issue of player resources. Because the Homeworld timeline is too confined, very few players choose Homeworld as their birthplace.

The five initial starting civilization points and the other four origins in the border star system all have clearly advantageous routes, with fast leveling up, abundant rewards, and enough wheelchairs.

In the Homeworld timeline, life is like being in prison from birth. You live illegally in the city for seven days, and before your identity is legalized, you can hardly move an inch. Your early career level is locked at Tier 1, resources are scarce, but the combat intensity is not low. You are also exploited by the Terra government and the Martian Church of Gouba.

Psionicists are treated like pariahs on Terra, while cyborg players on Mars are being treated like cyber lunatics by the Inquisition... This is infuriating and hilarious to players.

In the eyes of the players, the horse in the Homeworld timeline has already taken to the skies with an Armstrong-style jet-powered gyroscope.

Most players would rather go to the frontier star system to hunt alien monsters or work as miners in other civilizations than come to Terra or Mars to go to jail!

Therefore, I have to do something drastic to make players willing to come to the Homeworld... and go to jail.

Moreover, during the two weeks after the server opened, he also confirmed another thing.

"The situation is even more unusual than I expected... It's been two weeks, and none of the wealthy families or professional gamers I knew from my past life have shown up... I can now conclude that these players are not from my original world, which means I won't encounter my past self..."

"Fortunately, apart from the players, nothing else went too wrong."

He rubbed his temples, his mind racing.

Player changes need to be put aside for now; he still needs to deal with the old guys who are affecting the progress of the game and the level cap for classes.

The mechanical age has stagnated for some time now because of the infighting among the four major factions on Mars. At the same time, they have reached a consensus on monopolizing core technologies, which affects the progress of the situation.

The Labor Commune controls the authority to transform grassroots industries, the Mind Choir monopolizes high-level research channels, the Forging Brotherhood controls material circulation and transformation standards, and the Iron Templars hold the technology of the combat system.

For him, the Cardinal Council, the high-ranking members of the four factions, a group of old-fashioned people who insisted on old ideas, was one of the sources of obstacles to the development of the situation.

They insist on the traditional sub-light speed travel route. In their eyes, so-called hyperspace propulsion technology is nothing but an unproven heretical theory, a dangerous spark that could tear apart the order, and an uncontrollable variable that could shake the authority and rule of the church.

Meanwhile, Terra's psionic ascension has also stalled.

The system for transcending the ordinary is suppressed by the institutional structure, organizational meditation becomes a mere formality, psychic resources are centrally managed by a few factions, and progress has even begun to regress, at -0.5% per month.

The progress bar for the war of unification, however, is steadily rising.

+5% per month

He knew all too well what this meant: if things dragged on for another ten months, war would inevitably break out in full force.

If the Mechanical Age cannot break through the first stage before then, Holy Terra will enter the Interstellar Age with a low industrial ceiling and a fragmented structure, and the situation will only become more precarious.

Zhang Qiming slowly withdrew his gaze and lightly tapped his fingertip on the table.

He had to advance the mechanical age and break the technological blockade before the war broke out.

His primary goal is to first integrate the forces of Mars, then use Mars to push back Terra, end the state of division, and establish a unified human regime.

"The College of Cardinals..."

He kept repeating this obstacle hindering technological development to himself, his eyes growing colder.

Cardinal Old Den, the stubborn old man who insists on traditional routes, rejects hyperspace theory, and closely monitors the movement of technical elites... he's really a nuisance.

Old Deng, who's in the way, can be removed.

"The time is almost right; the Skydrive organization can now make its first public appearance."

A cold glint flashed in Zhang Qiming's eyes.

The exhibition on the Tharsis Plateau is a stage where the church showcases its proud SA mechs, explains ship propulsion systems, and gathers believers and media. Everyone's attention will be focused on the church.

When attention is focused, crowds are dense, and order is shrouded in propaganda and glory—that's when upheaval is most likely to occur.

What he had to do was very simple: he had to assassinate the Holy Cardinals of the Church in front of the players and in front of the world!

Thinking of this, Zhang Qiming raised his hand and slid open a hidden menu on the interface of his personal terminal. The fingerprint and psionic dual verification was completed in half a second, and the interface then switched to an encrypted link with no public network node records.

The contact list on the interface is very short.

He chose one of the names.

Contact Person: Zhang Nanhai

He entered the information.

"South China Sea, begin operations."

A reply popped up in less than a second.

"The Skydrive Type I SA aircraft has entered its designated orbit. The orbital parameters are stable, with a deviation of less than 0.03%..."

"The on-site security network and the internal identification system of the martial arts hall have been written to the temporary cache and replaced, and the blind spot of the target area has been confirmed."

"The machine is ready to deploy."

Zhang Qiming's gaze remained calm as he quickly replied.

"I've already arranged for the cleanup crew to handle any unexpected situations. Just follow the plan."

The other side only replied with two words.

"clear."

Communication ended.

Zhang Qiming closed the interface and instead brought up the public channel, clicking on the global live broadcast projection of the Tharsis Volcano City-State Cathedral Square.

The screen filled the entire field of vision.

"Now, the show is about to begin."

……

……

Volcano City-State, Sanctuary Square, Mechanical Martial Arts Hall.

The volcanic rock of the Tharsis Plateau forms a dark gray ground. The entire training hall has a semi-open structure, with several rows of ground defense cannons and retractable energy barriers arranged around it. The viewing area and media area are arranged on both sides, and high-altitude suspended cameras slowly rotate, synchronizing the images to various channels on Mars.

In the central area, a humanoid machine nearly eighteen meters tall stands quietly on the platform.

Cardinal Marcus, a Knight of the Steel Templar, slowly walked onto the podium. He was 112 years old and had an astonishing 92% cyborg alteration.

Marcus can now be described as having a brain on metal. His remaining biological tissue is encased in a precision mechanical frame, and his silver-gray exoskeleton covers his chest and neck. His vocal cords are tuned by a synthesizer to produce a deep and stable tone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," his voice echoed through the loudspeaker system, "what we are showcasing today is the latest generation SA unit of the Steel Templar Knights—Star Knight-α."

The camera pans to a panoramic view of the aircraft, then zooms in from an aerial perspective.

The silver-gray machine stood in the center of the martial arts hall. Its nearly nineteen-meter-tall steel body gleamed coldly under the lights, and the power core on its back slowly lit up, with blue and white tail flames flowing between the metal shells.

The pilot in the cockpit is named Elias, who has just turned 18. At such a young age, he has already piloted the latest generation SA mech on Mars, truly a rising star among the young talents of Mars.

As for why he was able to pilot an SA machine at this age, it was of course due to the hard work he put in and his outstanding talent. Of course, most importantly, this kid is incredibly filial.

His short essay, "My Holy Cardinal Grandfather," moved the high command of the Knights so deeply that they shed tears of joy.

They were so moved that they gave the piloting slot of the SA mech to this exceptionally talented young man.

At this moment, inside the cockpit, Marcus's grandson was focused, his hands on the control interface, and a pale blue signal stream lit up the neural interface.

The defensive artillery opened fire simultaneously.

Several training bullets traced parabolic trajectories.

As Star Rider-α shifted its stance, its center of gravity shifted downwards, and its thrusters fired sharply, causing the entire machine to sidestep within half a second. The beam dagger drew a bright arc, slicing the approaching projectile in two.

The next instant, the hand grenade launcher was raised.

boom--

The two ground defense cannons were precisely detonated, and fragments exploded within the energy barrier.

A murmur of amazement rippled through the audience.

The newly arrived person who doesn't eat beef stood at the edge of the crowd, while the live stream camera was pointed at the center of the martial arts hall, and the barrage of comments scrolled like a tide.