This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 340: Affiliation, someone sent money
There is no benefit without reason in this interstellar world. With the strength and means that Qinglong has demonstrated now, he deserves to be befriended by everyone.

But for Austin, he has the support of Anduin, a dominant figure, so he doesn't need to rush too much.

There must be a purpose behind this action.

Li Ming also understood that it was not that he was unwilling to help, but he just needed to see the other party's needs.

Austin finally spoke, and first he sighed in a pretentious manner, and then said:

"I have a nephew who has never done anything serious since he was a child. He prefers mechanics. When he grew up, he actually figured out something."

"I started a mechanical company, selling weapons, prosthetic limbs and the like."

"But he himself is only a senior mechanic. Although he employs several senior mechanics, the company is not able to make a living in many areas."

Li Ming listened with a lingering look in his eyes. He understood what Austin meant. "You want him to rely on you?"

Li Ming has been in Chaos Star Gap for several months and has gained a deep understanding of the influence of this behemoth, the Mechanics Association.

To put it bluntly, although the level of mechanics can be converted into combat power, it does not represent one's own strength. However, after years of subtle influence, the internal level division can be almost on par with the level of conventional life.

It can even be said that the influence is even higher, which is enough to prove the strength of this association.

As for the modulation of genetic seeds, the disciplines involved are complex enough, but no one has yet to divide them into a biological level.

It’s not that no one has organized similar associations, but most of them ended in failure.

The Mechanics Association is loose yet united. Not only in the Chaos Star Gap, but in every civilization where there is a Mechanics Association, almost all companies and consortiums involved in the machinery industry have close ties with the Mechanics Association.

If you are not a member of the Machinists Association, or if you don’t employ a few mechanics, you will not be able to survive in the related industry.

It was some time after Li Ming founded the Mechanical King's Court that he realized that if Qinglong had not joined the Mechanics Association, the counterattack he would have suffered would have increased exponentially.

Even a few overlord-level figures cannot interfere in related industries. If they want to intervene, they must be affiliated with mechanics.

What’s interesting is that the two master craftsmen of the Mechanics Association do not have many industries in the chaotic star gap, but are instead rooted in the orderly civilization.

Do you really think arms are a good business? Do you understand the value of medical and educational equipment?

“Smart…” Austin raised his thumb, and a wisp of runes emerged from his fingertips and floated in the air.

Soon, there was a knock on the door. Austin didn't say anything, but looked at Li Ming.

Austin's hospitality was very thoughtful. No matter whether he agreed or not in the end, he had to meet him after all.

"Please come in." Li Ming said.

The door was pushed open, and a figure who looked 80% like Austin but younger, wearing a black suit, walked in, holding a black metal box in each hand.

"Uncle..." He nodded to Austin, and then greeted Li Ming: "Sir Li Ming, I'm Trevor. Please give my regards to Sir Qinglong."

Li Ming felt a little weird in his heart. When he first started the account splitting plan, he felt a little awkward when others mentioned Qinglong in front of him.

But now, he himself vaguely felt that there really was such a person as Qinglong.

"Mr. Trevor, please take a seat..." Li Ming also stood up. After all, he was an A-level life form.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Trevor was very efficient and went straight to the point, "Uncle may have already explained the general situation, and there are some additional details..."

"My company specializes in combat prosthetics and armor. Our business scope is in the Inston Star Ring in the Sea of ​​Stars. Because of my uncle's connections, we are very successful in several star clusters." Trevor was frank and straightforward.

"However, I've run into some trouble recently. A new company has stolen several of my orders and seems to want to siege me. There's a Casting-level mechanic standing behind them."

Li Ming was surprised to hear this. He thought Austin wanted to use Qinglong to interfere in the business of Chaos Star Gap, but he didn't expect it to solve the difficulties.

Austin could not help but say helplessly, "Mechanic Harrison, I don't have much friendship with him. He doesn't operate in the Chaos Star Gap, so you don't have to give me face."

"Hmm..." Li Ming groaned, and then said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I don't want to cause any trouble for my teacher."

Then he pushed the dimensional landmark on the table back.

Austin couldn't help but shake his head when he saw this, "This is nothing, no need to be so polite."

Trevor hurriedly explained, "There won't be any trouble. I'm not actually afraid of them. His main problem now is that the few A-level mechanics I employ are unwilling to support me."

"This is an unspoken rule within the Machinists Association. When a high-ranking mechanic wants to get involved in a local industry, he must give up a certain share."

"As long as I am affiliated with them, I will be qualified to compete with them on an equal footing. Besides, the other party is not close to that Casting Star-level mechanic."

Li Ming raised his eyebrows. There is such an unspoken rule?
Then why were they suppressing him in the beginning?
Oh, those who suppressed him were all Casting-star-level mechanics, so they didn’t have to abide by this unspoken rule.

Then can the Mechanical Court make some progress towards the Order Civilization? It would be a waste to make good use of this advantageous unspoken rule.

After thinking about it, I gave up the idea. It was because of the serious shortage of manpower and production capacity.

Especially middle-level managers, there is a severe shortage of them, and it is not the time to fill them yet.

Seeing Li Ming in deep thought, Trevor struck while the iron was hot and put two boxes up, "This is my gift to Lord Qinglong."

After he opened it, Li Ming glanced over and saw two fist-sized cubes of metal material inside.

One is orange-yellow like gold, opening and closing like scales, and the other is crystal clear, like ancient ice that has existed for thousands of years.

Artis alloy, space super crystal...

Li Ming's eyebrows moved slightly, and he recognized at a glance that they were all genuine S-grade materials and were very valuable.

"I'm willing to increase the profit share of the affiliation to 10%..." Trevor glanced at Austin and said through gritted teeth.

Li Ming's heart skipped a beat. Generally speaking, the profit share for a company that operates under a franchise is 5% of the net profit.

Considering the size of the other party, 10% is probably not low.

Li Ming was already tempted, but Qinglong could not easily agree. After hesitating for a moment, he said helplessly:
"My teacher told me that first-level affiliation is not possible, no matter who comes, it can only be second-level affiliation, and the profit share can be reduced to 5%."

The first-level affiliation is on the page of the Mechanics Association. It can be checked that it is directly managed by Qinglong. Currently, there is only one Mechanical Royal Court.

The second-level affiliation is under the Mechanical Royal Court, and is ostensibly under the management of the Mechanical Royal Court.

It is easy for someone to use the first-level affiliation as an excuse to do things under someone else's name, so you have to be on guard.

Trevor hesitated and looked at Austin, who said directly, "Then let's do a second-level affiliation, and the profit share is still 10%."

Trevor's eyelids twitched, but he didn't dare to refute. At least he had connected with this line.

It's not that he doesn't have other options, but Austin asked him to choose Qinglong, which is also an investment.

The two signed an agreement and then carried out certification on the spot.

He took a quick look at the other party's financial statements from last year. The turnover was 20 trillion star coins, with a profit margin of about %. Roughly estimated, the income was around billion star coins.

After Li Ming figured it out, he couldn't help but sigh that he also wanted to do this affiliated business.

After sending the two away, Li Ming checked and found that there were indeed Casting Star-level mechanics who were mainly affiliated with others, and there was more than one of them. The profit share rate for the second-level affiliation was reduced to 0.5%.

The most skilled mechanic has 16,000 companies affiliated with him, and he accepts all requests. "Fuck..." Li Ming was speechless for a long time, and finally understood that the other party was looking for him to solve the problem on the one hand, and to establish a preliminary bond with him on the other hand.

Austin is quite a thief.

Li Ming muttered something, then picked up the materials on the table and casually stretched out his stance. With the level of life he was currently experiencing, it was too casual to see through the wall, and he needed to take more precautions.

It took half an hour to absorb all the materials in the two pieces of metal and obtained 60 million metal energies.

This amount surprised Li Ming. The value of these two gifts was much higher than he had imagined.

"This is the benefit of fame..." Li Ming sighed. He could also use Trevor as a springboard to move closer to the Sea of ​​Stars.

The density and intensity of civilization over there is beyond imagination.

Then, he picked up another dimensional landmark, and after taking control of it, he strengthened and improved it according to the process.

Directly upgrade it to A-level. The upgrade requirements are not high, and in the end it only consumes 6 million metal energies.

The [Exploration] ability has indeed improved, from exploring one dimensional world to exploring four, and the amount of information obtained has increased significantly.

I looked at the metal energy and there were still 70 million left. If I saved up a little, I could upgrade it to a top-level S-level item.

Then, he opened the [Brief Introduction to the Dimensional World] that Austin gave him as a gift. This was a product of the Multidimensional Research Institute, which focuses on the research of the dimensional world.

"…You can imagine the entire dimensional world as a honeycomb, divided into three layers: the shallow dimensional world, the deep dimensional world, and the Eternal Abyss…"

"…Shallow dimensional worlds are mostly dominated by a single element, and are also the main barrier supporting the real universe…"

"…The deep dimensional world is even more complex, and some of it is even the same as the real universe environment…"

“…according to the level, it can also be divided into letters, such as E, F, etc…”

"But please note that an A-level dimensional world only means that its upper limit is A-level life forms, not that there is only one..."

"The unknown is always the danger of the dimensional world. When you pass through the dimensional barrier, you will never know what level of dimensional world you will arrive at..."

Li Ming watched with great interest.

……

Robin, who had returned to the room a long time ago, was also full of anticipation. He placed the skull on the table, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's get started..."

A green light screen shone from the skull's pupils, scanning Robin up and down, and soon a voice came out: "The chosen one will be promoted to A-level, and the authority will be increased."

"Upgrading..." In the void, wisps of silver light like data fell and gradually merged into the skull, leaving many silver patterns on its surface.

"Marking the location of the A-level secret treasure..."

A long, complex series of sounds that Robin had heard and seen many times before, waiting for the skull's upgrade to be completed.

In just over twenty minutes, all the abnormalities disappeared, and Robin couldn't wait to ask, "Butler, how do you feel?"

"The authority has been unlocked. I can now answer some of your previous questions." The butler responded.

Robin shook his head: "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how you feel? Have any souls been born or something like that..."

"Soul..." The butler was slightly startled, and changed the subject: "Don't you care about the A-level secret treasure?"

"Secret treasure?" Robin was indeed attracted and perked up. He glanced at the metal box placed by the wall and said dejectedly, "Forget it. Those secret treasures are placed in extremely strange places. Some have been discovered or excavated."

"Every time I got a B-level secret treasure, I went through a lot of hardships to get it."

Each time he levels up, he gains access to three secret treasure locations, two weapons, and a set of combat armor.

Although it was dangerous before, he was still looking forward to it, but now...

He said solemnly: "To be honest, I might as well lick Li Ming."

The butler remained silent. Robin struck while the iron was hot and discussed, "I've thought about it carefully. I really can't leave without saying goodbye. That would be too ungrateful. Butler, I don't think there's any danger in following Li Ming..."

Although the butler is an intelligent system, he always treats the other party as an elder and is used to discussing things with him.

The butler interrupted: "Okay, let's do as you say."

Before Robin finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked suspiciously: "You agreed?"

"Didn't you urge me to leave before? Why did you change your attitude so quickly?"

"I've been upgraded and my abilities have been enhanced," the butler explained.

Robin was too lazy to think about it, as long as the butler agreed, he could not wait to say: "Butler, can you tell me about the stone?"

"The permissions unlock some information, I can tell you..."

……

When Robin knocked on Li Ming's door with great interest, he was still thinking about [Brief Introduction to the Dimensional World].

"What's wrong? Why are you so excited?" Li Ming looked at Robin and probably guessed that the permissions had been unlocked.

"I suddenly remembered some clues about the stone." Robin said.

Suddenly remembered... Li Ming was speechless, this excuse was really bad.

But he didn't care and cooperated with an interested look: "Oh, tell me about it."

"It's like this..." Robin put the bag he was carrying aside, and a skull was faintly visible.

Li Ming took a quick look and was suddenly startled. Why did the skull change?
“What’s wrong with you, the housekeeper…” Li Ming asked, pointing, without any hesitation.

Robin glanced back, feeling a little guilty, but said casually, "Just a little paint."

"It looks pretty good." Li Ming stretched out his hand, and Robin didn't care and took it out and handed it over.

Li Ming took action and his eyes were suddenly surprised. How come the control conditions changed from 30 million to 50 million?

This skull can actually become stronger?
Where can we get the materials to strengthen him?
Li Ming suddenly remembered what the other party had said about super-dimensional information state transmission. This is a transmission method that ignores spatial distance and is even more powerful than quantum entanglement. Could it be that this upgrade also uses similar means?

"Not bad..." Li Ming handed it back calmly.

Robin didn't care and continued: "That stone is called the Terrax Stone. You have said it before, but Terrax is a civilization..."

"Really..." Li Ming pretended to be surprised, "It's actually a civilization. I hardly found any clues before."

Robin said in a low voice, "Do you know where this civilization is from?"

Li Ming sat up straighter, looking serious. Robin's vanity was greatly satisfied, and he immediately said, "It is not the civilization of the main universe, but the civilization of the dimensional world."

"Dimensional world?" Li Ming was stunned. This time he was really surprised.

(End of this chapter)