The fervor for the Flickering World was shared by countless organizations. As the exploration of new Star Fields progressed, the exploration area belonging to the free competition zone got deeper and deeper into the core at a speed much faster than the three previous stages.

Planet Finn was a hub planet of the Emerald Star Cluster located at a superior position where the exterior Star System and the Star System coincided.

Initially, this was first occupied by the Modo Civilization. However, the impact of the conflict between two Beyond Grade A organizations ‘coincidentally’ reached this location. The Modo Civilization’s troops stationed there met with ‘accidents’, so this planet now had no owner again.

Not long after, the Black Star Army ‘happened to’ occupy this planet and generously used it as the future headquarters of the Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union.

This desolate island was already completely different. It was filled with marks of artificial modifications. Countless Black Star Army engineering ships were constructing all kinds of buildings on the surface and satellites.

The most conspicuous landmark was a skyscraper. This was the conference building of the development union’s headquarters. It was shaped like a trophy. An enormous sphere hovered on top of it like a floating fortress. There were also a lot of facilities in that sphere, including the round table conference room exclusively for the Beyond Grade As to host meetings.

At this point of time, a crucial meeting was being held inside it.

After a slight flash before his eyes, Han Xiao’s remote projection appeared in the round table conference room. He looked around and saw that many seats were already occupied while more were appearing.

This was the first time Han Xiao had joined the meeting since returning. All the Beyond Grade As who were willing to join the association had been invited to this meeting, not just the ones who initiated it.

Very soon, all the seats were occupied. Manison knocked on the table to signal for everyone to stop chattering.

“Everyone, Black Star is the one who made the suggestion to form the development union. Now that he’s back and all members are present, this will be our first full meeting. Some of you might not know each other, so let’s start by introducing yourselves.”

Even though some of the Beyond Grade As present never had been in contact with some others, they all knew who the others were. This was just a standard procedure, so everyone briefly introduced themselves.

Han Xiao looked around. Most had attended the Meeting of the Gods, but there were also some new faces, including the direct members of the three Universal Civilizations.

At the same time, some older faces did not show up, like those unlucky fellows locked in the Spacetime Amber. In total, the number of attendees was surprisingly fewer than the Meeting of the Gods.

Whenever they saw him looking over, they would all slightly nod at him as a greeting.

The direct members of the three Universal Civilizations are here too, Han Xiao thought.

The reason behind this was not difficult to guess. The development union had been in conflict with the three Universal Civilizations for a few months. Both sides ended up compromising somewhat. One of the terms agreed was having these direct members join the union. Although the association would not possibly let those people have high power, since it was called the Beyond Grade A Association, there was no reason it should reject any Beyond Grade As from joining, even if they were direct members of the three Universal Civilizations.

The initial goal of everyone there was to have a united battlefront for the Beyond Grade As and increase the position of everyone at this grade. However, skipping the steps in between was totally unrealistic. In the beginning stage, no one really planned to use all their cards, so compromising with the three Universal Civilizations was unavoidable. Anyway, this would not go against the initial goal. As long as this platform was created, a new profit network was formed, and the ability to de-escalate conflicts between Beyond Grade As was acquired, the Beyond Grade As would be able to ignore some of the conflicts that were due to their factions.

As for acquiring more power, that had to be slowly earned in the future.

Han Xiao had not come back for a few months, but he had always been paying attention to the preparation progress of the development union. He had quite a lot of intelligence about it and knew very clearly of the basic system and members of the association.

After a round of introductions, Manison looked at Han Xiao and said slowly, “Over the past few months, the preparation for the development union has been going quite well. Black Star, you’ve only returned recently. Do you have anything to say? You’re one of the main initiators, so we’d like to hear your thoughts.”

Everyone’s attention instantly focused on him.

Han Xiao cleared his throat and said, “I don’t have much to say. Everyone has done a good job. We’ve already spoken about this matter back during the Meeting of the Gods. At the end of it, it was decided that I was to be responsible for creating the communication platform, which is close to completion. As everyone knows, the top priority of the development union is to settle disputes and conflicts between Beyond Grade As. I heard that the relationships between some of you here have not been great lately, so I hope that this platform can be created as soon as possible. The entire universe is in need of a platform like this to bring peace.”

“Black Star is absolutely right.” Manison took over. “As you all know, there have been some obstacles on the path of creating the development union. Currently, these obstacles are already mostly cleared out. The only thing that’s holding us back is the negotiation regarding the Ultimate Knowledges. We have to put this thing aside for the time being. The most crucial matter at hand is the members of the management level so that the development union can be officially formed soon.”

As expected, the three Universal Civilizations did not compromise at all on the matter of Ultimate Knowledges. After a series of intense conflicts, both sides put the matter aside and decided to go for a negotiation. However, either side could give the other side what they wanted, nor could either side do anything more. Therefore, this matter would not come to a conclusion any time soon.

Due to this situation, some peak Beyond Grade As like Manison had changed their minds and decided not to let this matter delay the formation of the development union. Hence, this matter was put aside, and Ultimate Knowledge being one of the benefits of the association was not publicized. As for whether the knowledge would be taught privately was another matter.

The last thing standing before the official formation of the association was that the management position holders were yet to be decided, and the reason was that Black Star had yet to return. Now that Black Star was finally back, everyone could not wait to settle this crucial issue.

“That’s right. It’s time to decide who’s to be the president…” A member of The Ancient Ones looked around. “Over the past few months, His Excellency Mechanic Emperor has been enduring a lot of pressure representing the development union. What he has done has been witnessed by all. I nominate Manison as the first president.”

As soon as this was said, many supporters followed after. Suddenly, the entire place was discussing Manison.

In the past few months, Manison had been using the connections he had built up over the years. Not only were more than half of the peak Beyond Grade As supporting him, but he had also wooed many of the remaining Beyond Grade A members, especially members of the Ancient Ones. Most people agreed that Manison should be the president.

The other two candidates could not compete at all in the past few months. Knowing that they had no chance, they had basically quit the competition.

However, at this time, subconsciously or consciously, everyone was looking at Han Xiao. He had disappeared for a few months, and his opinion was the most unpredictable to the others.

Manison also could not help but look at Han Xiao. This was the one and only thing that might stop him from becoming the president. He had no choice but to take it seriously.

However, Han Xiao only smiled and did not speak, nor did he intend to.

Kasuyi looked back and forth between the two of them and said, “If there are no objections, let’s start the vote. Who here agrees that Manison should be the first Development Union President?”

“Agree.”

“Agree.”

“Abstained.”

“Agree.”

Since there were not many people present and everyone there was important, a simple voting process was more than enough.

Everyone had voted, including Han Xiao, who abstained.

Seeing this, Manison was no longer worried. As long as Black Star did not interfere, this position was certainly going to be his.

The direct members of the three Universal Civilizations all abstained their votes. Clearly, they had an agreement. In the end, Manison easily won with an absolute number of votes.

Seeing this, Kasuyi took a deep breath and said with a deep voice, “It’s decided then. His Excellency Manison ‘Ancient One’ Palpatine will, from now on, be the official president for the first term.”

“Okay.”

The muscles on Manison’s face did not move at all. He maintained his poker face and did not say anything. He had no need to be humble.

Clap clap…

Those in attendance clapped a few times symbolically.

After the applause stopped, Kasuyi looked around and asked, “Now, as for the Vice-President, who…”

This time, Han Xiao suddenly smiled and said, “The formation of the association has relied a lot on the Black Star Army’s forces in the Flickering World. I think that it’s suitable for me to take this position. What do you guys say?”

Everyone exchanged looks and was not surprised.

With Black Star’s strength and position, he would be a director at the bare minimum even without the crucial help the Black Star Army had provided. Therefore, of course, he had the right to be the vice president.

Actually, there was a reason Han Xiao did not fight with Manison. He had already decided not to compete for the position of the first president the moment he knew that the president position was term-based.

One of the reasons was that his connections were not as rich as Manison. Another was that he did not want to be the one getting the pressure during the initial stage of the association. If someone else became the president next term, he would have worked for nothing.

This was also one of the reasons Han Xiao had gone to hide in the secondary dimensions for a few months. He would not be able to become the president anyway, so he might as well let Manison and the others endure the pressure and come back later.

I’m the main initiator anyway, and the Black Star Army has provided a lot of help to the development union, so that’s a big enough contribution.

Since he could still compete for the next term, Han Xiao was in no hurry. He did not want to directly compete with Manison, so he took the second-highest position as the vice president and planned to only compete for the position of president in the future.

Furthermore, even if he decided to directly compete with Manison now, he would not be able to succeed. Han Xiao never planned to compete with Manison in terms of connections but through the benefits of having him as the president, as explained by Kant and Milizaus. However, the people there still voted for Manison, which meant that they had already made their decision. Therefore, even if he had said anything earlier, these people would not have voted for him.

Although he did have some resources that he could use as chips to obtain some support, such as the Evolution Cube, there was no way he could do the same thing every term. Furthermore, much of those resources could only be used once. If he used it for this term, he might not be able to achieve the same amount of support next term.

Since he completely understood the situation, Han Xiao made the decision not to compete. He would only be able to wrestle with people on Manison’s level when his connections and influence reached a higher level.

After all, he had leeks he could harvest, so he would grow much faster than everyone else. With such a unique advantage, this strategy seemed more suitable for him.

Quite a number of people had their eyes on the vice president position. Sadly, none were competent enough, and Kasuyi and the others had no interest. Since Han Xiao was the local, most people gave him face. Manison was in a good mood and supported him too. Therefore, Han Xiao became the vice president smoothly.

After getting this position, Han Xiao was relieved.

Now, this is what I call materialization of position. Getting the vice president position without spending anything is definitely much more cost effective than paying a huge price for the president position.

The director positions that came after had no suspense. They had been decided long ago and belonged to the group of peak Beyond Grade As. Other than that, there were also three ‘Honorable Director’ positions that had no actual power. They were given to the direct peak Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations. Of course, this was one of the conditions of the compromises.

As the positions were decided, the date of the official formation of the development union was also decided. After these things were dealt with, the meeting ended. Remote projections disappeared one after another, leaving just Manison and Han Xiao’s remote projections behind.

“Congratulations, president,” Han Xiao said casually.

Manison gave a rare smile and said, “Don’t be discouraged. This is too early for you. The future is yours.”

Han Xiao blinked with a strange expression.

Although things were going in a different direction compared to the previous life, Manison’s goal should have remained unchanged, so he knew about it.

In his previous life, Manison had both pride and ambition. He wanted to make all the Beyond Grade As his shield to help him enter the next territory.

The two of them had different but similar goals. At least for a very long time, Manison would not be able to achieve his goal. He would have to wait for everyone in this grade to become stronger as time passed by.

Han Xiao put this thought away, pondered for two seconds, and asked, “About the negotiation regarding the Ultimate Knowledges, what’s the price the three Universal Civilizations have asked for?”

As this issue was brought up, Manison wiped the smile off his face and said meaningfully, “A Super Star Cluster Civilization.”

Han Xiao understood instantly and shook his head with resignation.

So, this is what they’re planning to do, killing two birds with one stone by using the association against more important opponents and ruining the association’s name.

“Will you agree?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see.” Manison did not give a response. After he said that, his projection went offline, and Han Xiao was the only one in the conference room.

Han Xiao looked at Manison’s empty seat and suddenly chuckled.

Mr. Director, being in this position isn’t going to be that easy, you know…

…

Galaxy Calendar Year 730, July 11th. A sudden news bomb exploded in the Flickering World.

Close to a hundred Beyond Grade As made an announcement together. Due to the recent frequent conflicts between them, they had decided to form a guild-type organization to settle physical conflicts between Beyond Grade As and reduce the public damage caused by their battles.

The organization’s headquarters would be located in Flickering World, on Planet Finn of the Emerald Star Cluster. Manison would be the president, Black Star would be the vice president, and there would be close to a hundred Beyond Grade A members.

The three Universal Civilizations had also publicly announced that this organization was not illegal. At the same time, they encouraged the Supers in the universe to learn from this and reduce the damage caused by their powers.

The Flickering World Beyond Grade A Development Union was officially founded on this day!

A few months after the explosive news of the ambush on Hila, countless citizens and organizations of the various Star Fields were in an uproar once again!