Super Spender

Moreover, Lewis could feel that Keller had become even more powerful. However, Keller remained as respectful towards Lewis as ever.

“Supreme Ruler, should we maintain the current status quo and continue to accumulate our forces?” Keller asked directly after Lewis had inspected all units of the Insect Species.

“There’s no need to hoard too many troops. However, we could increase our space exploration efforts. How long before we can finish exploring the planets we’re interested in?” Lewis turned to Keller and asked.

Perhaps going to the Galactic Federation and claiming his inheritance might be a good choice. However, even if Lewis were to inherit everything as mentioned, it wouldn’t necessarily deter others from coveting this place. The reason was simple—there was a high potential for profit.

The allure of a substance equivalent to the elixir of life was irresistible to the upper echelons of society. Its price, undoubtedly more extravagant than any luxury on earth, was unimaginable to ordinary people. Yet, the pursuit of extended life was a powerful motivator.

There’s no substitute for this luxury—paying any price to acquire these items would be reasonable. If not, why would the Federation enact such stringent bans yet still have so many people risking everything to defy them? The profit in this was self-explanatory.

Therefore, Lewis believed he was in danger. If danger was indeed imminent, Lewis felt relying solely on Zero might not suffice for his protection.

Lewis now had another trump card—the large quantities of powerful units. They were undoubtedly strong, and Lewis believed that the evolved high-level Insect Species units would make formidable opponents. However, this required a base where they could develop unimpeded.

As for distant hopes, Lewis wasn’t that ambitious. Mars was the closest option. Venus and Mercury were too close to the Sun. Whether Venus was suitable for development would require further exploration.

“All spores have been launched into orbit, but it will take approximately three days to reach their respective destinations due to the need for continuous acceleration. We cannot determine when the spore’s planetary exploration will be complete, but at least twenty spores have been released onto each planet. Given the existing conditions within this star system, the spores should survive,” Keller quickly replied.

“Great! If contact is established, begin building our forces as soon as possible. The sooner we establish our presence, the better we can avoid complete eradication,” Lewis said curtly.

“Yes, Supreme Ruler.”

Ten months wasn’t very long, but it was enough time for Lewis to begin facilitating some changes. The most noticeable were large cosmic spaceship launch sites or more accurately, efficient aircraft for atmospheric travel that Lewis chose to build.

Just when Lewis was preparing to negotiate the next step with his home nation, Zero’s long absence was eventually broken by its voice: “A new mission node has been reached. New mission opened. Rewards for completing the new mission: unlocking all items worth less than a million points, two storage warehouses each storing thirty-six selected materials, a bonus of one hundred million points, one multi-functional production base, a controllable fund reward of one million star credits and one jar of gene harmonizing fluid that can extend life by 500 years. Mission failure incurs no penalty. However, failure results in unpredictable consequences. Be careful, you must personally complete this mission. Acceptance countdown: 6 hours.”

The sudden emergence of a new mission startled Lewis, but after fully comprehending it, he was stunned. It wasn’t the massive reward points that shocked Lewis, but the incredible appeal of the rewards. With all items worth less than a million points unlocked, that of course meant a myriad of things.

Many of these items were already extremely advanced. Having two storage warehouses filled with thirty-six selected materials was also overwhelming. If he were allowed to choose, could Lewis opt for gold or platinum, or even diamonds? By the looks of it, they were categorically materials, weren’t they?

Lewis wasn’t sure how large the warehouses were. All he knew was that they were definitely not small. If he were to choose, he could essentially amass an unimaginable fortune. The reward of a hundred million points was the largest ever since the advent of the point system. But what surprised Lewis most was the cash reward.

He already had control over a tremendous amount of money, but this wasn’t in Federal coins or Flame Nation coins. Instead, it was in a currency called star credits that Lewis had never heard of before. However, he quickly realized they were likely the Galactic Federation’s currency.

Without a doubt, its purchasing power was impressive. Money that could buy extraterrestrial technology that is at least a thousand years more advanced than Earth was invaluable compared to Earth’s currency. Regardless of the exchange rate, the worth of Earth’s currency was negligible. If Lewis chose to publicize this, whether it was the Flame Nation or the North Federation, they might willingly offer an exchange rate of one to ten thousand or even one to a hundred thousand for these one million star credits.

This was the purchasing power of a higher civilization’s currency. If not, why would Federal coins be acknowledged as the world’s currency and also be universally accepted in many less developed countries? In countries like Cambodia, Federal coins were practically replacing Cambodia’s national currency. This was because the strong economy of the North Federation guaranteed the worth of their Federal coins. A powerful nation naturally had its benefits.

“Can I know what the mission is?” Lewis asked straightforwardly.

“You may choose to accept the mission,” Zero responded simply.

“Well… alright then. I accept the mission,” Lewis said immediately without a second thought. Refusing wasn’t an option simply because the rewards were too tempting. More importantly, the consequence of refusing the mission, as implied by Zero, was too dreadful to consider.

What did ‘unpredictable consequences’ mean? They added that there were no penalties, so this consequence wasn’t additional but rather something that might arise from other aspects. Consequently, Lewis had to take it seriously, not least because of what Zero had mentioned earlier about the mission node.

What was a node? A node was a crucial juncture. Could it be that because he had gotten to know these two extraterrestrials, he had reached a certain mission node?