The Legendary Mechanic

"I'll give the Black Star Army more support. For all the services and resources you purchase from the Limitless Financial Group in the future, you will only be charged the cost. At the same time, I'll bring in a lot of discounted business projects and partner up with the Germinal Financial Group under you, helping it grow. Also, I'm willing to invest and build factories in the Black Star Army's territory without any cost or profit in mind. Through investing and helping your business to grow in various industries on your territory…"

Sorokin mentioned a lot of things. In conclusion, other than monetary compensation, he was also going to use the Limitless Financial Group's businesses and funds to help the Black Star Army grow and develop.

Han Xiao made some calculations in his head. If these terms were all to be carried out, despite how wealthy the Limitless Financial Group was, it would not be a small expenditure at all. To the army's territories, the construction would be sped up tremendously.

This guy really seemed serious about fixing the relationship.

In the past, Sorokin used a similar method to help the Bloodshed Land grow. Now, the Bloodshed Land had mostly completed their business transformation and become a strong competitor of the army in the Shattered Star Ring. Sorokin was now offering the same treatment to the Black Star Army, with even better terms.

As for the support he had been providing to Heber, even though Black Star did not mention it, Sorokin was going to stop it for the time being.

"Hmm…" Han Xiao neither agreed nor disagreed. He then brought up a new term. "Although the construction in the Flickering World territories is important, the army has a larger goal. I'm planning to develop the army in the other Star Fields too. Your Limitless Financial Group has influence and businesses in various Star Fields too. I suppose you can share some of that too."

"…Okay." Sorokin was smiling on the surface but actually clenching his teeth in his mind.

He knew that this request meant that Black Star was not satisfied with just resources but had his eyes on the Limitless Financial Group's channels and connections across the Star Fields. Black Star wanted to suck the Limitless Financial Group's blood and take its businesses to nurture the army's businesses in the other Star Fields. It was quite an outrageous demand.

Although Sorokin was mentally prepared for it, he was still quite hurt.

One reason he was willing to give so much compensation was to fix his relationship with Black Star. It was worth investing in him despite the fact that the chance of Black Star no longer targeting him was only fifty percent. Another reason was to display his stance to the dynasty.

Although the Black Star Army might become a parasite to the Limitless Financial Group, leeching on its meat to grow, the most urgent matter now was to deal with the dynasty. Suffering from losses was inevitable, or Sorokin would not have compromised like this. The Black Star Army was strong indeed, but he was not afraid of Han Xiao in the field of business. It was the dynasty behind Han Xiao that concerned him.

After getting by this incident, the profit he lost could be slowly earned back in the future, and the agreements made now could be ignored in various ways too. Therefore, Sorokin decided to agree with it for the time being.

"Also, I like Universal Treasures. Be it complete products or blueprints, I like to collect them all. The Limitless Financial Group should have some ways to get them—share them with me," Han Xiao said.

"I'll do my best to collect them after I get back." Sorokin agreed without hesitation. He was already agreeing to pay a lot of debts; agreeing to more did not really make a difference.

"That's it then. Carry out these terms as soon as possible." Han Xiao waved his hand. "I have some things to attend to later, so let's end our chat here today."

"Okay, I won't disturb you any longer."

Sorokin stood up, nodded slightly, and hung up the communication. His remote projection disappeared.

Han Xiao leaned back and pondered.

"Traveler is dead loyal to the Star Arc Civilization, and only I know about it for now. I wonder if the dynasty can get that from him in the interrogation. No matter what, as of now, Traveler is firm about Sorokin being the one behind it on the dynasty's side. The dynasty will definitely send someone to question Sorokin's motive.

"At that time, Sorokin will surely blame it on the Super Star Cluster Alliance. I told him Modo is the true mastermind, so he will most likely say the same to the dynasty. If the dynasty continues to ask, he'll probably say I told him. The dynasty knows that I have beef with Modo, so they'll know my motive. Although they clearly know this is a lie and framing, they might be happy to go along with it. In the future, they might use this as an excuse to cause trouble for the Modo Civilization and other Super Star Cluster civilizations.

"As for Sorokin, he might not believe what I said, but even if he doesn't believe Traveler belongs to the Modo Civilization, he'll definitely investigate it…"

Han Xiao shook his head and smiled.

This way, the one who suffered the most damage from this entire incident would be the Modo Civilization. It basically all fell onto their head out of nowhere.

In the three Universal Civilizations' future operations to deal with the Super Star Cluster Alliance, the Modo Civilization would probably receive the most 'love'.

"This way, the second requirement of that Grade S mission [Kunde Race Leader's Last Wish] should be about complete…"

Han Xiao's eyes slightly sparkled, and he rubbed his hands.

He had been tempted by the reward of this mission for a very long time. [Proof of Leadership], [The Enemy], and [Kunde Rage], a total of three excellent abilities. Currently, the Modo Civilization was protected by the Super Star Cluster Alliance and was keeping a low profile, so he could not target them directly. The only thing he could do was wait for the certain conflict in the future.

…

News about the Black Star Cup quickly spread. The entire army showed an extremely high passion for it; countless members registered.

Most people joined for entertainment purposes, but a few ambitious army warriors saw this as an opportunity to display their strength.

The Black Star Cup had also received a lot of attention among the army players. The forums were filled with posts about it once again.

Heaven Is Below Me: "What's going on? Wasn't Black Star just going to enter the show business not long ago, and now the army is going to enter the sports industry?"

Itchy Head: "That's how large factions are."

Never Starve Even Dead: "This feels more interesting than the Pro League."

Tiny And Weak: "The scale of this tournament is the biggest I've ever seen. It has a lot of events and a lot of participants. All participants are allowed to even join as many as five events. How many competitions are there going to be? There are card games and even bets too‽"

Two White Rabbits: "Not just card games, there are even singing and dancing contests. I even saw people request stand-up comedy competitions, and it was even approved!"

Dragon Emperor Licker: "Honestly, I want to see Black Star dance…"

Sky High Professional Account Boosting Studio: "The rewards for these competitions are quite rich, and the items with the greatest rewards are still related to combat. The top 300,000 will all be rewarded, and our weapons are not even limited. This means that if we participate in group battles, use our explosion backpacks and evolution badges, and utilize similar dirty tactics, will we take all of the top positions?"

Feidin Supporters Group President: "Let me take a look. Whose wallets are getting thick again? (Black Star's Smile.jpg)"

Cow Lover: "Army Commander, this is my protection fee for this year."

While the Black Star Cup was still in preparation, countless players were already getting their wallets ready.

For the days that followed, the sales of the logistics department skyrocketed. The EXP Han Xiao received every day increased by a huge portion too. Tons of players spent more than half of the resources they had been accumulating since the start of the Flickering World version on studying and leveling up abilities.

Seeing the EXP growth every day, Han Xiao felt very good.

If I don't take the players' hard-earn money, am I still human?

At this rate, level 340 was not going to be far away. However, to obtain one more God's Trait Transformation Point during Promotion, he decided to use the EXP he earned to level up some blueprint abilities and all his class knowledges to the max level.

Sylvia and Phillip were very efficient. With the Black Star Army's current position, all the administrative procedures were approved smoothly without any hiccups.

Han Xiao selected many desolate planets as the event venues. The professional galactic construction teams called over by the Limitless Financial Group quickly built up the facilities needed, while the army members participating in the Black Star Cup arrived one after another.

The schedule was similar to the Pro League. Due to the extremely large number of participants, a group of people would first be eliminated in the qualifiers, then it would move on to the actual event.

After preheating it for more than two months, the preparations for the first season Black Star Cup were finally complete.

On October 28th, Year 730 of the Galaxy Calendar, the Black Star Cup opening ceremony was held as scheduled. With help from the media groups, the eyes of the entire universe were focused on this giant festival.