At night, the palace was brightly lit. Everyone accepted the invitation and changed into exquisite formal attire brought by the steward to attend the banquet. The palace attendant led the way and everyone came to the garden courtyard. It was already set up as an open-air banquet venue. The bright and warm firelight dispelled the darkness of the night. Exquisite food was placed on the long tables. There were green, yellow, and purple vegetables and fruits, fragrant roasted meat from unknown beasts, sweet pies overflowing with fresh milk, and light blue clear wine brewed from Origin Water. The attendants carried plates and shuttled among them. The musicians sat in the center and played strange instruments. The notes danced happily on the strings while the light blue-skinned Vainian nobles chatted with each other in the courtyard. The banquet had just started. There was a pavilion in the corner of the courtyard. The Vainian King and the high-ranking nobles were sitting in it. They kept looking at the path in the courtyard. When they saw the arrival of the Upper World warriors, the king cleared his throat and stood up.
"Welcome to the banquet. I'm Galo Mio. Thank you for your generous help …" said the king. 'Mio' meant 'king' and 'leader' in the Vainian language. It was also how the king addressed himself.
King Galo was a rather sturdy middle-aged man. As he thanked them, he walked down from the pavilion and welcomed them personally without any arrogance. The other nobles stopped talking and bowed to Han Xiao and the rest. In front of the guests from the Upper World, they knew that their noble status was meaningless. This was a difference in level. It was similar to how the chiefs of a primitive tribe faced the guests from a civilized city, but the difference was even bigger. The Upper World warriors were powerful dragons that could ignore the local snakes.
Lin Ge looked like he was following Han Xiao's lead. Han Xiao had no choice but to answer as the leader. He said a lot of polite words like it was a small matter. Then, King Galo tried to get closer to them and said a few jokes that were not funny at all. The nobles burst into laughter as if it was some extremely funny joke.
A group of Kingdom Protectors walked out with the galactic communicator in their hands. They were so careful as if it was some kind of holy item. After a few operations, the virtual projection of an 'ascender' appeared in the middle of the courtyard, causing the Vainians to exclaim in shock. Han Xiao heard an old noble beside him say to his son, "Cherish this moment. Only when important guests arrive can we see such a miracle."
The eldest Volga curled his lips. "These people have never seen the world."
The second brother glanced at him coldly. "Weren't we like this when we were young?"
The eldest brother was speechless. He snorted and stopped talking. He turned around and saw the third brother gnawing on a beast's leg happily, oil dripping from his mouth.
King Jia Le exchanged a few words with the ascender. The ascender thanked everyone for their help and transferred the reward to everyone's account. Then, he ended the communication. King Jia Le smiled and said, "Please enjoy the food and wine to your heart's content. This will be a wonderful night."
The host and guests enjoyed themselves, and everyone blended into the atmosphere of the banquet. Different civilizations and races had their own cultural customs. Everyone followed the customs. From time to time, nobles would come over to chat with them. Their attitudes were cautious and curious. There were also programs at the banquet. Not long after, a group of dancers came on stage and shuttled through the crowd.
Han Xiao did not have any feelings for these blue-skinned Vainians. He drank a few mouthfuls of Origin Water Wine and turned around to see Aroshia staring at the dining table, as if she was hesitating whether to eat or not.
Han Xiao walked over and habitually put his arm around her shoulders. He glanced at her and said, "There haven't been any battles recently, so you don't need to use your abilities. Eat something."
Aroshia ignored Han Xiao's actions and picked up a purple fruit. She bit her lips and hesitated. She did not need to eat to survive. She would automatically absorb the free energy in the environment to maintain her own consumption. This was the characteristic of an energy life form. However, Han Xiao was curious about how she would feel when she ate, so he teased her to eat some food. Although Aroshia did not feel hungry, when she tasted the delicious food, she felt that eating was a very interesting thing. Eating became her entertainment activity. Compared to the ignorant and extremely calm personality nine months ago, the current Aroshia had more human characteristics.
Aroshia's digestive ability was very powerful. All the food would be broken down into energy without leaving a single residue, so she did not need to excrete. However, a strange accident happened. The energy transformation could only be used on herself and could not be applied to external objects. Before the food was completely digested, the energy transformation would lose its physical form, and the residue in her stomach that had not been completely digested would fall out in the form of sputtering. At that time, everyone was about to start a battle with a group of enemies. This scene shocked both sides. Everyone looked at the sputtering food residue under the energy transformation and fell into deep silence.
Ever since then, Aroshia would count the days with her fingers before she ate, calculating whether or not she would need to use her Esper Ability before the food was digested. Oh, her Esper Ability's strength was increasing rapidly, not losing out to the players at all. It had already reached C +, and she was only half a grade away from the mission requirement of Grade B.
After picking up and putting down the fruit several times, Aroshia finally took a bite of the fruit and showed a happy expression. She handed the fruit that she had taken a bite of to Han Xiao and said, "It's delicious. Try it."
Han Xiao took a bite, and his face suddenly wrinkled. He pushed Aroshia's hand away and said, "Eh! It's sour! You have such a strong taste. Keep it for yourself. "
Han Xiao guided her to train her energy. After getting along for a long time, Aroshia became closer and closer to Han Xiao. The interaction between the two was very intimate, but there were no improper thoughts. Han Xiao did not treat Aroshia as a normal female creature at all. In his eyes, she was an energy body without gender, very pure. Aroshia herself did not feel like a female, so it was very natural for her to put her arm around his shoulder.
Walking to the side, Han Xiao estimated that it was about time. He found King Galo and said that he wanted to talk. King Galo invited Han Xiao into the pavilion and asked with a smile, "Captain Black Star, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Han Xiao lowered his voice and said, "It's like this. I want to ask you about a situation. To tell you the truth, I have a special intuition ability. When I arrived, I felt that there seemed to be some kind of virus from the galaxy existing on Planet Dawn."
King Galo was shocked. He sat up straight and said, "You're saying that our planet is infected with some kind of disease?"
"No, no, this is just a feeling. I still need you to check if there are any large-scale similar symptoms recently. Only then can we confirm whether there is a virus or not."
King Galo took it very seriously. He ordered the affairs officer to organize the intelligence of the various territories. The Vain Kingdom had existed for many years and had a very large intelligence network. Every time, the lords would submit reports about their territories, so it was very convenient to collect them.
Not long after, the affairs officer returned to the banquet courtyard and organized a few pages of reports. King Galo took a look, shook his head, and said, "They are all normal infectious diseases. There doesn't seem to be any large-scale new symptoms …"
Han Xiao raised his eyebrows and said, "It might not be an illness. It could also be an abnormal behavior, such as … drowsiness?"
King Galo was stunned. Who would check their sleep for no reason? Everyone would close their doors and sleep. Who would talk about the quality of their sleep the night before? There was no record of the sleep situation of the people.
"Hmm …" King Galo suddenly thought of something and said, "The mine production of the various territories this year has decreased by sixteen percent compared to last year, but the mine veins have not dried up. Plus, there are more miners than last year. The only factor that can affect the production … seems to be working hours. Could it be related to this?"
"Maybe." Upon hearing that, Han Xiao took another look at King Galo. To be able to find a hidden connection from a seemingly unrelated matter, this king seemed to be quite capable.
The incubation period of the mutation virus was very long, and there were many ways for it to spread. The early symptoms of the infected were drowsiness, and they became more and more prone to drowsiness. The symptoms would continue to worsen, and at most, they could sleep for two to three days. At that time, the mutation virus was about to break out. The higher the growth rate of the virus, the shorter the incubation period, and the more severe the symptoms. It could even skip the drowsiness and enter the next stage.
I wonder how Blue Star is doing now, Han Xiao thought to himself.
King Galo was a little worried and asked if there was a solution. Han Xiao shook his head and said that he did not know what it was, but they had better be careful. Then, he left. Han Xiao had already obtained the information he wanted and reminded King Galo so that Planet Dawn would not be caught off guard. After all, this planet was also one of the mission targets.
During the incubation period of the mutation virus, Han Xiao did not have any solution unless he was willing to give up on the [Mutation Disaster] mission that had not started yet. Furthermore, he had to take a huge risk and hand over the seventh generation of the mutation virus to Godora to create the antidote before the disaster happened. He also had to face Godora's suspicions and interrogation … Doing so would be too much of a loss. He could only wait until the disaster happened and cause a commotion. When Godora and Dark-star officially clashed, only then would he be able to bring out the greatest value of what he had.
"The only thing I can do to prepare for the Mutation Disaster is to increase my own combat strength. I will have to wait for the right time for everything else."
…
The next day, Han Xiao rejected King Galo's invitation again and left the King's Capital. He called for a nearby partner's spaceship in the wilderness, picked up Herlous and Rezar, and returned to Juberly Hub.
Brother Lin received Han Xiao's communicator number and happily left with his men.
The Black Star Mercenary could be considered a celebrity in Juberly Hub. He finally enjoyed the treatment of the Sky Ring Army that he had seen when he first came to Juberly Hub a year ago. He did not need to line up, and he had priority in many services. As the group walked on the road, many mercenaries and passersby looked at them kindly and nodded.
After returning to the stronghold, Han Xiao knocked Rezar unconscious and placed him in an empty room to be used as a prison. He left him there for the time being, as there was something more important that he needed to pay attention to.
The International League would begin in three days!
The International League was split into two stages. The first round was the regular season, where all the participants would be split into groups and take turns to battle. The top eight teams with the highest points would enter the International Finals, and the top sixteen teams with the highest points would enter the Singles competition.
The second stage of the Finals would be a fight to the death. The winner of the best of five would be decided in the end.
On the Chinese side, the qualified teams were King Admiral's Dynasty, Hao Tian's Long Sky, and Li Ge's Temple of God. As for the Singles competition, the participants were King Admiral, SnowFlower, and Mad Blade's Raging Sword.
The other professional players who did not make it into the finals would train with them day and night, generously lending their equipment to the participants. At such an important moment, everyone put down their daily grudges and were united. The clubs of every country were like this, giving the best equipment and skills to the participants. Every participant had the best essence.
This was their first time appearing in an International League. Other than King Admiral, who was the calmest, the other participants were more or less nervous. Not only them, the professional players of every country had the same mentality — nervous and expectant.
With the big event approaching, the passion of the players was ignited again. The forums were filled with information about the clubs of every country. All sorts of analysis and prediction posts were posted. Compared to the Regional League, the excitement of the International League was even higher. Players from different countries discussed it together, and the forums were very lively.
Pork Bun was the first to enjoy the benefits of being in a favorable position. He temporarily stopped the Black Star chapter that had already been done for sixteen episodes and made a special chapter to interview the Chinese participants in the mercenary group before the competition.
…
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