The Legendary Mechanic

The meeting then carried on for half a day and ended after Tarrokov introduced the various objectives of the second exploration phase.

"There is one final thing. Take note of any strange occurrences during the exploration. We saw plenty of organizations trying to secretly enter the Flickering World during the first phase, and we took various measures to wipe these stowaways out. However, we would still miss some of them out. If any of you discover any stowaways, you must give chase."

The Flickering World was still in a stage of lockdown, and many organizations attempted to sneak into the Flickering World. Everyone present was extremely clear that these stowaways were generally troops from the various Star Cluster or Super Star Cluster Civilizations, or organizations hired by them.

Because the first exploration phase was already completed, these stowaways had already run into the later unexplored regions and their whereabouts are unknown. The dynasty had also sent some troops to give chase to these stowaways but had little results to show for it.

The way the dynasty saw it, the best way to deal with such a situation was to continue with their exploration. In any case, these stowaways would have nowhere to escape when their main troop arrived.

After the end of the meeting, the various representatives of the organizations reported the details of the meeting to their upper echelons. A portion of the Beyond Grade As did not leave immediately and stayed back to chat with each other.

After chatting for a while, Tarrokov walked over and got Han Xiao to have a private conversation with him.

Both of them walked to the side, and Han Xiao was a little curious.

"What's the matter?"

"Can't I come to you for a chat if there isn't anything?" Tarrokov chuckled. "However, I do indeed have something. The Garu Star Cluster and Russo Star Cluster are neighbors, and your territory is in the region between Russo and Garu. Your territory can be part of the long-term transportation route, and a portion of our troops will go through your territory. We may also need you to help transport some resources."

"Alright." Han Xiao agreed immediately.

Since the dynasty had given him the seven Star Systems, he had absolute control rights over the territories. Since the contract had already been established, the dynasty could not make any decision within his territory and had to seek his permission first.

Allowing the troops from the other organizations to pass through his territory would bring him more benefits than costs. He would be able to set up a proper resource transportation route within his territory and also cement his position as the core of the Garu Star Cluster.

Being in charge of the transportation route meant that he would also be in charge of logistics to a certain extent. The amount of benefits that came from being in charge of logistics was something that everyone clearly understood. During the first exploration phase, the Black Star Army was the Exploration Pioneer, and after gaining their own territory during the second phase, they had even more benefits.

After finishing what he had to say, Tarrokov suddenly suppressed his voice and said, "Did you receive the news? Cries within the dynasty to open up the sales right of the Evolutionary Totem have started again."

Han Xiao nodded and was not too bothered. "It doesn't matter. They won't affect me anyway."

The division within the upper echelons with regards to the Evolution Cube could not affect his status at the moment. In the past six years, none of the upper echelons had targeted him because they knew that it was useless to do so.

"I know, but you should be more careful," Tarrokov said softly. "I heard that a Ruler candidate wishes to receive the support from these factions…"

Upon hearing that, Han Xiao could not help but say with a teasing voice, "You're telling me such news? Aren't you afraid of them taking revenge in future?"

"Ah, I didn't mention any names, and besides, will you expose me? Furthermore, the faction that I am in doesn't really like his methods." Tarrokov smiled.

Han Xiao then came to a realization. He then understood that Tarrokov did not only come to warn him but also had a political objective.

The next Dynasty Ruler would always be trained when the current Ruler was still in power. These candidates would usually be high officials of the dynasty with various different factions supporting them from behind.

There could only be a single Ruler. Thus, some of the candidates who knew that it would be difficult for them to be chosen or had a huge ambition would try to obtain more support during this period.

In his previous life, Urranrell's service period had ended not too long after the Flickering World storyline.

The dynasty would not change because of a new Ruler, but the style of the dynasty was changed subtly with the style of the new Ruler. For example, the way they dealt with competition, subsidiary civilizations, and their Beyond Grade A allies.

The Ruler of the dynasty would be chosen internally, and apart from some special circumstances, the allies of the dynasty would not be able to influence the position of the Ruler.

Thus, it was more important for a candidate to obtain the support of the various factions rather than fawning over the Beyond Grade As. Although Han Xiao was surprised about the situation that Tarrokov had mentioned, he was not too shocked.

In any case, he already had plenty of targets stuck on him, and he would not mind a few more.

"Heh, a candidate is only a candidate, and he may not be the future Ruler." Han Xiao smiled.

"You're right. I also thought so." Tarrokov nodded.

After pausing for a while, he suddenly said, "I still have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

"How well do you understand the inheritance that EsGod left behind?"

Why would he suddenly bring EsGod up? Han Xiao was a little puzzled.

"Isn't his inheritance already spreading throughout the universe? Which aspect are you referring to?"

"Ah, this matter is related to you… Do you remember the spatial coordinates that you gave us previously? The ones that EsGod was looking for."

These words sounded like thunder in Han Xiao's ears, and he tried to suppress his shock.

Those spatial coordinates were the key to the World Tree!

Why would he ask such a question? Has the Crimson Dynasty found something already?

"Have you guys found anything?" Han Xiao asked in a low voice.

"I don't know. I am not a researcher." Tarrokov shook his head. "However, the head of the research team in charge of EsGod's inheritance seems to have some idea about the data. He asked me to ask you about the situation back then."

After the inheritance of EsGod was leaked, the spatial coordinates were hidden within the wealth of information and seemed extremely insignificant. The research team would rather spend their time researching other things rather than this set of coordinates without any records.

But after spending a few years, the research team had almost finished their research of the majority of EsGod's research and thus set their eyes on the mysterious coordinates.

"I only coincidentally found EsGod searching for these coordinates, and I am not clear about the details."

Han Xiao heaved a sigh of relief and hid the truth with a perfunctory response.

"Alright." Tarrokov was not too suspicious of the reply.

After a casual chat, Han Xiao turned off the long-distance projection and returned to his room. He then heaved a sigh of relief with a look of resignation on his face.

…

Following the meeting's conclusion, the Crimson Dynasty announced the start of the second exploration phase to the universe.

After the first exploration phase, the Black Star Army was already extremely familiar with the procedures and made sufficient preparations. They also began their exploration during the start of the second exploration phase.

He was assigned to explore the Russo Star Cluster this time with many exploration troops accompanying him. The job of every organization was more carefully detailed and orderly.

Han Xiao's [Flickering World] Main Storyline Mission was also refreshed when the dynasty announced the start of the second phase.

_____________________

[Flickering World] Second Chain Mission Completed.

Your Mission Rating is: A

You have obtained 1,500,000,000 Experience, x2 Random Reward Draw, 1,500 the Crimson Dynasty Contribution Points, and x1 Blank Character Summon Card.

[Exploration Pioneer] Current Progress: 2/3

The Third Round has been refreshed.

Mission Introduction: Complete the second exploration phase of the dynasty.

Current Exploration Area: Russo Star Cluster

Personal Exploration Point: 0

Total Exploration Point: 0

Current Rating: E-

_____________________

The third round of the mission was for him to explore the Russo Star Cluster. There would not be a problem for him to complete the mission, and his main objective would be to increase his own mission rating.

Han Xiao was still extremely confident about this. Although there were many more organizations exploring the region with him, his advantage of being familiar with the map would still come in handy. Although he might not be able to achieve an S+ rating, an A rating should not be difficult.

With the exploration troops being sent out, Han Xiao remained in the Black Star Palace and only sent out a Lord avatar and mechanical army to the Russo Star Cluster.

The graduates were also broken up and sent to the various troops toward the new exploration region. Han Xiao had intentionally split Nero and Mia up into two different forces.

According to his understanding, nothing would go wrong in the Russo Star Cluster; the exploration fleet would only face trouble in the Dust Light Star Cluster.

Han Xiao was waiting for trouble to erupt on the other side so that he could throw Nero over. He had already come up with more than a dozen different plans to trigger Nero's storyline mission. He definitely would not let the matter rest if he did not make Nero feel despair and pain.

Feidin was an expert in the mind anyway, and even if a shadow was left behind in Nero's heart, Feidin would be able to take care of it.

…

At the border of the Dust Light Star Cluster, one of the dynasty's exploration fleets began constructing a stargate shortly after arriving.

At this moment, a group was spying on this fleet from a few Star Systems away using special equipment.

The dynasty's exploration fleet was displayed on a large screen within the conference room, and there were many creatures with carapaces, like gray lobsters, seated in the room. They were the local intelligent race of the Flickering World and called themselves the 'Kunde Race'.

Everyone in the room fell silent upon witnessing the fleet.

The leader of the Kunde Race then said slowly.

"The information on that spaceship was real. There are more life forms in the universe, and aliens are eyeing our world."

Everyone fell silent.

The Kunde Race had been slowly developing for millions of years and had started to walk the path of a Galactic Civilization ten thousand years ago. Their territory had continued to expand as they captured more and more planets.

It was not that they had not met any other intelligent races in the process. However, the races that they had met were far weaker than them and had become their pets and slaves.

The Kunde Race had been wondering if there were more powerful civilizations in the universe, but they had yet to meet with any. After so many years, they had taken control of many Star Systems and were the most powerful civilization within this Star Cluster.

However, their observation region was limited to the Dust Light Star Cluster, and everything outside of it was unknown.

Without a galactic society or any other civilizations to interact with them, this place was like a lone island and pitch black forest. The Kunde Race did not have any understanding of Star Systems and Star Clusters, and their technological skill tree was not as complete as the Galactic Civilizations'. They did not have stargate technology, and their hyperdrive technology was backward. They could only make use of cryogenic chambers to pass the long galactic travel duration.

A single day of travel for the galactic society could take the Kunde Race more than ten years.

However, all this changed a few years ago.

The Kunde Race would always remember the day that the spaceship wreckage had landed on their colonial planet. There was plenty of advanced technology that they had never seen before and information about countless alien civilizations.

They had finally met a civilization that was more powerful than them!

After researching the technology on the spaceship, the Kunde Race had finally developed many different technology fields such as hyperdrives, stargates, and quantum networks.

However, a huge shock accompanied the surprise. The spaceship had also recorded a powerful alien civilization called the Crimson Dynasty.

The information showed that the Crimson Dynasty was not only a powerful civilization but also a Universal Grade predator. All the civilizations discovered by them only had two paths to take: destruction or submission.

The outcome of submitting would be the loss of development opportunities, and they would never be able to go up to a higher level. Their future would be bleak, and they would be a vassal forever.

The Kunde Race had suspected the truthfulness of the information, but all the technology of the spaceship was real. As such, this was a form of assurance in the truthfulness of the information. It was a pity that only corpses were left behind on the spaceship, and there was not a living being to interrogate.

The data log of the spaceship indicated that the members of the spaceship were a bunch of escapees. They were escaping the expansion of the Crimson Dynasty and also announced that the Crimson Dynasty was not too far away from the Kunde Race. They had even recorded the possible route that the Crimson Dynasty would take, and this filled the Kunde Race with unease.

Data on long-distance surveillance equipment was also included in the databank, and the Kunde Race constructed the equipment and sent people to monitor the various locations where the Crimson Dynasty might appear. A few years later, this set of data came true, and there was indeed an unknown fleet appearing not too far away from their territory.

"The predators have appeared. What should we do? Should we contact them with friendly intentions or take the initiative to attack?" the Kunde leader said with a grave tone.

One of the upper echelons then slammed the table and said resolutely, "We cannot submit to them! We must make preparations. We must first find a route of retreat and a new homeland for our offspring. We should then seize the initiative to attack them before the enemy can discover us!"

"They are too powerful; we won't be able to win. Our race may end up being wiped out instead. We cannot start a war with them and should first come into contact with them…"

"Stop dreaming! The only outcome of engaging with them is to become a vassal. Are you willing to lose our future and become like those races that we enslaved?"

"Perhaps the other party isn't a predator but a friendly civilization?"

"Friendly civilization? Just how did you obtain your current position? Don't forget. Have we even been friendly to the other intelligent races? Will there be a friendly civilization in the universe‽ Do you want to surrender and get our entire race enslaved‽"

"But how can we know if the information is real without trying?"

"Are you mad? All the technological skills are real. Why are you still doubting the veracity of the information‽"

The upper echelons continued arguing.

If not for the sudden descent of that spaceship, many of them would have agreed to first come into contact with the aliens.

However, many of the upper echelons believed that these alien civilizations were predators to take over their land.

Right at this moment, a strange fluctuation could be seen in the eyes of the Kunde leader, and he said coldly, "Stop arguing. I have come to a decision…"