Chapter 739: So Good (Beginning of the month, asking for monthly passes, hehe)

"Your Excellency Jino, consider it carefully. Now, the number of members in the A-Tier Alliance has dwindled to only a third; the vast majority have already broken away."

The person speaking on the screen wore a gray robe and held a black wooden staff, resembling a priest of some ancient race.

"The Dragon Sovereign has not stepped forward to respond, and several major directors remain silent. As far as I know, several lawyers have already secretly withdrawn."

"You are bitterly holding on here, but who will care?"

Jino's expression was solemn, without the slightest emotional fluctuation on his face: "Cliff, you don't need to look for me anymore. I won't withdraw from the alliance. The A-Tier Alliance supported me when I needed it most, and I won't forget this favor."

"I know you joined the Superpower League and became a regional person-in-charge, and now you're even poaching people from me."

"Times have changed." Cliff didn't get angry at this rejection, shaking his head and saying: "In the past, A-Tier Lifeforms were active in their own small circles, thinking highly of themselves."

"No one knew there were actually so many A-Tier Lifeforms in the Interstellar space. To those big shots, you are merely an insignificant Pawn. Why bother."

"I promise, as long as you join the Superpower League, we can provide 'Mental Fruits' for you to develop your Superpower."

Cliff Proceeded Orderly, saying: "This is a welfare benefit only available during the founding era; there won won't be any later."

"Mental Fruit..." Jino's expression shook slightly. Mental Fruit was an extremely precious resource in the Interstellar space.

It could assist in enhancing Mental Power, thereby impacting Superpowers.

He had been stuck in his Superpower advancement for a very long time, exactly at the A2-tier. The Ability Derivation Stage was a distant prospect, let alone the Ability Sublimation Stage.

That was a lifeform at the A4-tier. In the A-Tier Alliance, they could already serve as directors.

Jino also didn't expect that the Superpower League would actually be willing to pay such a price.

Cliff acted as if victory was in his grasp; this was his usual trick.

First, win them over with empty promises. After the other party refuses, then present the price, and clearly state that this welfare benefit isn't always available, subconsciously generating a sense of urgency in the other party's heart.

Although those who could persist in the A-Tier Alliance until now without withdrawing were basically because they had received huge favors when the A-Tier Alliance was founded.

Because the A-Tier Alliance had taken action to protect their civilizations from being annihilated by Terror Lifeforms.

Some A-Tier Lifeforms put interests above all else, but there were also some who didn't forget favors.

However, after all, it was just a loose organization with a short history. As long as a sufficient price was paid, it was impossible not to succeed.

"Think about it. The Energy Extraction incident has already happened twice, and some members were even heavily injured because of it, nearly losing their lives. Hasn't that awakened you yet?" Cliff immediately added.

This matter hadn't been widely publicized in the Interstellar space, or rather, many ordinary Citizens didn't care much about it, and some even wished for them to die.

It was only causing a massive uproar within the small circle of A-Tier Lifeforms.

They were all experienced and knowledgeable people. Some believed this was a manifestation similar to a Cosmic Calamity.

Extracting Energy for no reason was hard to understand, but if Energy Extraction was equated to an attack, it was very easy to grasp.

It was like some kind of Curse, targeting members of the A-Tier Alliance and launching indiscriminate attacks.

This method was extremely astonishing, entirely without warning, and impossible to defend against.

Although currently it was only extracting Energy, no one could guarantee whether the situation would worsen later.

Some people believed this matter was inextricably linked to the High Echelons of the A-Tier Alliance, with President Dragon Sovereign being the biggest suspect.

After all, that baffling roar somehow felt somewhat similar to the Dragon Sovereign's.

However, the Dragon Sovereign's strength was unquestionable, and no one dared to question him, so they could only discuss it within a small scope.

"Although in the eyes of ordinary people we are already at the apex of the Star System, in the eyes of big shots like the Dragon Sovereign, we are still similar to ants."

"If the initiator was truly the Dragon Sovereign, do you think they would care whether we live or die?"

"You should still think more for yourself."

However, contrary to Cliff's expectations, even after he had said so much, Jino didn't consider it for too long, shaking his head and saying: "Forget it, you guys keep the Mental Fruit. I still need to develop my Superpower, goodbye."

After saying that, Jino hung up the communication, which left Cliff somewhat stunned.

He had done detailed investigations on every target he tried to win over. Jino wasn't a pedantic person and couldn't possibly sink with the sinking ship that was the A-Tier Alliance.

He frowned tightly. Actually, it wasn't just Jino. Recently, the Superpower League's poaching operations against the A-Tier Alliance seemed to have fallen into a stagnation, as if they had hit a brick wall.

The remaining A-Tier Lifeforms seemed to be die-hard supporters of the A-Tier Alliance. No matter what price was promised, they absolutely refused to leave.

This gave him a rather bad premonition.

And after hanging up the communication, Jino pursed his lips, a hint of mockery involuntarily flashing through his eyes.

In reality, he hadn't firmly held on until now without withdrawing; he had withdrawn before, but secretly joined back again.

Because he discovered that after withdrawing, the development speed of his Superpower had suddenly dropped by a large margin.

This caused him immense panic for a period of time.

But after careful study, he found that it wasn't his development speed that had slowed down, but rather it had returned to its original state.

Not long ago, his Superpower development speed had suddenly leaped up a level for some unknown reason. He had even thought he was about to break through his limits, which was why this change occurred.

But after withdrawing, he suddenly realized this didn't seem to be the case.

His Superpower development speed that had suddenly increased by a large margin seemed to be inextricably linked to the A-Tier Alliance.

So he secretly joined back, and sure enough, his Superpower development speed increased again.

This discovery shocked him. Joining the A-Tier Alliance could actually increase the speed of Superpower development!?

This was too outrageous.

But thinking about the phenomenon of his Energy being inexplicably extracted twice before, it didn't seem entirely incomprehensible.

And later, after paying careful attention, he found that there were frequently people in the A-Tier Alliance who withdrew and then quickly rejoined.

It was as if they were testing something. He knew others must have also discovered this phenomenon, but everyone tacitly kept it a secret.

Benefits naturally had to be clutched tightly in one's own hands; grabbing more advantage was always better.

The period when the Superpower development speed increased actually only appeared half a month after the second Energy Extraction incident occurred.

At that time, a massive number of members had already withdrawn, and many people didn't know about this.

And Cliff's premonition didn't disappoint him. Half a month later, Jino successfully broke through the Superpower development barrier, entering the Ability Derivation Stage and becoming an A3-level Lifeform.

His civilization held a grand celebration for this, and many small surrounding civilizations flatteringly sent congratulatory gifts.

Praying for protection or to avoid being targeted.

At the same time, a piece of news of unknown authenticity rapidly circulated within the A-Tier circles--

Joining the A-Tier Alliance could increase the speed of Lifeform Evolution.

At first, everyone scoffed at this information.

Are you kidding? Do you really think this is a holographic game where joining a certain Guild gives you buff bonuses?

However, having one's Energy extracted just by joining the A-Tier Alliance was equally an extremely absurd thing.

Since such a thing had already happened, then increasing the Lifeform Evolution speed wasn't impossible either.

Not to mention, there was no harm in giving this kind of thing a try.

So, there were fewer and fewer skeptics, because they all rejoined the A-Tier Alliance.

Risks and opportunities coexist. Since it could increase Evolution speed, then being extracted of Energy wasn't unacceptable.

Of course, more A-Tier Lifeforms still hoped that the next time something similar happened, they could be notified in advance, to avoid being startled while fighting or doing other things.

So, the number of members in the A-Tier Alliance slowly increased again, growing steadily.

As for Li Yu, he didn't invest too much energy into the affairs of the A-Tier Alliance. With the [Gift of Justice] buff present, the development of the A-Tier Alliance would eventually return to normal.

And he had now stepped into the Territory of the Star Glory Empire.

Li Yu had looked into it carefully and found that this so-called Interstellar United Conference really wasn't just for show.

Essentially, it was an extension conference of the Interstellar Pan-Civilization Alliance.

Besides small groups of civilizations like the Returning Star, there was also a large Civilization Alliance on the Interstellar surface, although its presence wasn't strong and no one paid attention to them.

They would hold regular meetings every once in a while. Although their presence wasn't strong, they at least occupied the moral high ground of the Interstellar space, and every time the momentum was quite huge.

But those were online meetings, and the Heads of Civilization basically all attended.

But everyone understood online meetings; no one would know if it was just an empty shell logging in.

And the Interstellar United Conference was an offline conference extended from it, hosted by the Star Glory Empire, mainly to discuss the overall development situation and various issues of the Interstellar Society.

Although it was an extension conference, because it was hosted by the Star Glory Empire, the scale was far larger than that online conference.

The Star Glory Empire inviting Li Yu was mainly to ease the awkward situation between the two parties and to dispel rumors.

Li Yu didn't reject their face either; he didn't mind establishing some deep connections and exchanges with the Star Glory Empire.

.........

Near the Ancient Starpath in the Empire's Territory, five small warships were patrolling in the Starry Universe space.

The spaceship models were uniformly Shuttle Ships, known for their speed. Although they were standard warships, there weren't any Emblems on the hull.

In the Command Center of the leading spaceship, the Captain stared intently at the Star Map in front of him, while reporting:

"My Lord, the target should have fled near here, and very likely has reinforcements, causing the original tracking plan to fail."

"Keep searching!" A gloomy and icy voice came through, a sharp tail stinger swaying in the air, making one involuntarily feel Apprehension.

The Captain hurriedly nodded. He knew that this woman codenamed Widow would really kill someone if she got anxious!

Beep beep--

Right at this moment, large swaths of glowing blue Spatial Undulations suddenly appeared on the Star Map. That was the influence generated by Warp Fluctuations.

"Found it!"

The Captain's expression turned excited, immediately ordering the fleet to change direction and head towards the source of the Spatial Fluctuations.

The five spaceships immediately turned, their Engines spewing rainbow light, shooting off into the depths of the Starry Sky.

After navigating for a while, the squad arrived at the target location.

Skilled in doing this, they turned on the Detection Devices, and massive amounts of Space-Time Fold Traces surfaced on the Radar View.

These were traces left by High-Speed Warps, each streak representing one spaceship.

These kinds of traces would disappear with time, but at this moment they hadn't completely dissipated yet, extending far out, indirectly pointing out the course of these several dozen spaceships.

"A total of fifty-seven Warp Trails, it's a small-to-medium fleet. Follow the traces and chase them!" The Captain didn't hesitate.

Going at full power, following the Warp Trails forward, they quickly tracked for several hours, and this was already the fringe area of the Ancient Starpath.

Going a bit deeper, there would be Patrol Fleets of the Star Glory Empire searching, and no one was allowed to go deep.

The traces broke off here, indicating the target had exited Warp Mode here.

"Report, the target's traces have disappeared. It's possible they entered the planet below. Requesting instructions for the next move."

The Adjutant glanced at the Radar, which had no warnings, and spoke up.

The Captain glanced at Widow, pondered for two seconds, and said: "Ship Number Two, scan the planetary Surface; Ship Number Three, circle to the back of the planet; Numbers Four and Five, prepare to activate the blockade equipment."

"I will remain on standby in Ship Number One, keeping the Engines online to ensure we can evacuate at any time."

"Understood."

The five spaceships immediately split up, and before long, there were results.

A docked fleet was discovered somewhere on the planet's leylines.

The faction emblem on the outer Armor matched a certain commercial Company of the Star Glory Empire. They mainly dealt in Civilian Armor and some high-energy Weaponry, with a fairly large overall scale.

At this moment, they were extracting Underground resources, and the scale matched the number of Warp Trails exactly.

"The target might be hiding among them, very likely having snuck in."

"But this Company has quite a large influence. Should we negotiate first?" The Captain asked.

"Blockade the planet, kill them all!" Widow's voice was full of chilling killing intent.

Although they only had five warships, they were all Evolutionary Lifeforms. The other party had quite a few warships, but they were basically all industrial spaceships with little combat power.

"Kill them all..." The Captain's heart shuddered, but he didn't dare to say anything.

The target of this pursuit was extremely important. It was said she was originally a High Echelon of the organization and had stolen organizational secrets. No matter what price had to be paid, she had to be eliminated.

(End of this chapter)