Seeing the sullen look on Lovell's face, Sorokin eased his brows and calmly replied, "Forget it, it's just the first phase anyways. Although this is unexpected, this profit is not worth mentioning compared to our dealings with the three civilizations. The Bloodshed Land might have fewer territories, but they are also valuable. We can focus on investing here and need not go over to Black Star to compete with the other financial groups."

Lovell pursed her lips and could only nod.

Sorokin paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he indifferently continued. "The Black Star Army has now gained such a huge territory, and there's a lot of room for development. Its ability to resist pressure has increased, but this is not completely to our disadvantage. The focus of the army will be directed toward the Flickering World, which allows us to weaken their original business dealings.

"First, attack the interest consortium of the Black Star Army within the Shattered Star Ring. We are still unable to shake their core businesses and can only start with the cooperative organizations of various industries that the Black Star Army is affiliated to. We can help Bloodshed Land to snatch a part of the business channels and cut off the arms of the Black Star Army, reducing the scope of their business. In this case, they will return to the original scope, which will make him unable to expand and develop comfortably."

Lovell hesitated before speaking in a whisper. "Father, the Black Star Army has great prospects, and their business is also booming. In all honesty, it is unlikely for such methods to shake them."

"Naturally, a Beyond Grade A organization is not so easily suppressed. That's especially so for Black Star with his growing momentum… but it's because this is difficult that the three Universal Civilizations came to me. Rice should be eaten a mouthful at a time. As long as one is willing to fork out the costs, they will be able to gradually erode everything."

Sorokin shook his head, his expression still cold. "Furthermore, I'm not here to destroy the Black Star Army but to make him feel uncomfortable. This will take a long time to take effect, so I'll take my time. Those cooperating with me are not even in a hurry, so why should I rush?"

While the father and daughter were cooperating, on the other side of Bloodshed Land, Heber was also in his palace reading the terms of the contract proposed by Lovell. He secretly nodded to himself.

The contract described the plans for the Limitless Financial Group to invest in Bloodshed Land. The goal was to let the Bloodshed Land learn from the Black Star Army and complete an organizational transformation, dealing not only in armed force employment but expanding to different industries, developing in an all-round manner.

Such business channels need not be laid out from scratch. They focused on the channels that many of the local organizations within the Shattered Star Ring had operated and perfected after many years. They would obtain them through acquisitions, where most of the costs would be borne by the Limitless Financial Group.

Seeing the investment amount proposed by the Limitless Financial Group, Heber coldly snorted.

"Really rich."

…

The Black Star Army had recently entered a busy state.

After the preliminary selection made by Han Xiao, each financial group then sent people to negotiate with the personnel of the Black Star Army.

Dillard, the team leader of Negotiation Team 098, was currently involved in the discussions with one of the higher ups of a financial group.

"Mr. Dillard, this is the third time we have modified the terms of cooperation according to your wishes. Are you satisfied with it this time?"

The executive of the financial group carefully watched Dillard's expression.

"You want the mining rights of at least ten resource rich planets for fifteen years, management rights for three of the planets and the right to modify its surface, operation rights for two regional quantum network channels, and preferential sales channels for dozens of rare resources… Hahaha, don't you think that this investment amount is insufficient to request such treatment?" Dillard raised his eyebrows, giving a smile that was not a smile.

"Based on the calculations done on my side, the amount of investments is equivalent to our requirements…"

"Do you wish to take advantage of our Black Star Army? If you don't have enough sincerity, we can stop the negotiations. We still have many others to choose from." Dillard's tone sank, and he looked ready to end the discussion.

"Wait a minute." The executive got a shock and immediately scrambled to reply. "Don't misunderstand, we never intended anything like that. Which part are you not satisfied with? We can always talk it out…"

As he observed the other party's careful expression, there was no outward change in Dillard's face, but in his heart, he was secretly very proud of himself.

He was just an ordinary worker in the Black Star Army with limited pay. In the galactic society, be it in status or assets, he was far inferior to the executives of various financial groups.

However, these rich and powerful executives were now trying to please him, a clerk, with enthusiasm as well as treading on thin ice to speak to him. Dillard had never been treated with such enthusiasm before.

Now that countless financial groups were seeking cooperation with the Black Star Army, as a negotiator, he held the initiative and power, and he had more confidence.

If not for the fact that he had joined the Black Star Army earlier, how could he have gotten such an opportunity, where those in the high ranks bowed to him?

In order to satisfy his own vanity, in addition to obtaining more benefits for the army, Dillard would set harsher and more unyielding terms, holding firmly to his initiative.

He knew that this was merely borrowing the name of the Black Star Army to strut around, like a fox pretending to be a tiger, but he was happy about it. Now that his affiliation was so powerful, if he did not take the chance to flaunt it a little more, there would never be a chance for him in the future.

The executives of the financial group knew what Dillard was doing, and they gritted their teeth in anger inwardly, but they had no choice as they were the passive party.

They would rather suffer a bit than lose out on the golden opportunity to cooperate with the Black Star Army.

…

In the Army Commander's office, a projection of Phillip about a thumb's size sat on the edge of the table with his legs swinging around, reporting to Han Xiao in a crisp voice.

"Investigation completed. There are forty-five negotiators who have received bribes during the negotiation process."

"Fire all of them and cancel the cooperation agreements that they've negotiated. We're no longer cooperating with these financial groups."

Han Xiao frowned.

As the scale of the army increased, it was inevitable for people to develop greed in their hearts and use the army's name to obtain personal benefits.

He did not mind the members flaunting the army's prestige, but if someone betrayed the army's interests, he could not pretend nothing had happened. As a Virtual Mechanic, the entire faction was within his control; nothing could be hidden from him.

After dealing with this annoying problem, Han Xiao rubbed his eyes and prepared to proceed to the training rooms to work on his Energy Training Technique. It was at this time that his communicator rang.

Picking up the communicator, Han Xiao's eyes sparkled.

His request to the dynasty had been accepted!

The Dynasty Contribution Points he had amounted to twelve thousand, and Han Xiao had sent in a request to redeem an Ultimate Knowledge.

In just a few short years, Black Star had made so many achievements that it was enough for him to obtain all the Ultimate Knowledges he needed. This efficiency was probably the highest in history. Because the biggest attraction for a Beyond Grade A to join a Universal Civilization was to obtain Ultimate Knowledges, now that Han Xiao had gathered up all the Ultimate Knowledges of the Mechanic department, the Crimson Dynasty was a little hesitant, and the approval time was much longer than before.

However, if there were merits achieved, the reward had to be given. Thus, Han Xiao finally received the final Ultimate Knowledge of the Mechanic profession.

Control Branch—[Relativity Theory]!

Just like how Beyond Grade A mages could travel through all secondary dimensions, this Ultimate Knowledge of the Mechanic profession could achieve similar results. As a sophisticated spacetime technology, it could be applied to the manufacture of stargates, Interstellar Navigation Technology, Hyperdrive transition engines, next-generation propellers, and many more devices.

In combat, this knowledge improved the maneuverability of machinery, and it was applicable to various spatial based devices. It could be used to attack and defend, and it was extremely good for crowd control.

With this Ultimate Knowledge, the difficulty of facing mechanics would increase more than one level. This played the biggest role in overcoming the core shortcomings of Mechanics, which was fighting people at close range. As Han Xiao was an anomaly, close ranged combat did not matter to him at all, so he had placed this knowledge at the very end of his collection.

Because this was considered general Profession Knowledge, the triple penalty did not apply to it, and every level only needed eight Potential Points. He had just enough to use it to complete the Class Advancement Mission [Erudite].

"After mastering this, all of my Ultimate Knowledges have been collected. The next step is to slowly max out all of my knowledges."

Han Xiao settled himself down and chose to learn it.

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Mechanic Class Ultimate Knowledge detected: [Relativity Theory]. Spend 8 potential points to learn?

Learning…

Successfully learned! You have learned [Relativity Theory]!

You have been awarded with the talent [Hyperspace Thought]!

You have mastered all available Ultimate Knowledge, and your talent [Ultimate Knowledge Possessor] has been strengthened!

You have learned all Class Knowledges. You have been awarded with the talent [Almighty Mechanic]!

Hyperspace Thought: Enhances all spatial device performances, control effect is significantly strengthened, and your domain related abilities and all space-related abilities will be enhanced. +50 – 100% increase in CC duration, +20% to mobility of all machinery equipment, +40% to mental resistance.

Ultimate Knowledge Possessor is enhanced. +15% – +25% Attributes for machinery built, +150% – 600% Machinery Affinity. New effect added: All Mechanic skill levels +1 (can exceed the upper limit).

Almighty Mechanic: +20% Mechanic Creation Attributes, all Mechanic Skill levels +2 (can exceed the upper limit). In addition, +1,500 INT, +500 Free Attribute Points.

Extra Effect I: +1% Machinery Affinity for every 20 points in INT.

Extra Effect II: Passive Aura, any life forms around you gain a boost of +200 INT.

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