Changes and Arrangements

On a small, gray-green ship.

Tim and Sariel were monitoring the data in the control room.

"Lord Tim, what exactly is our mission?"

The warship had been sailing for three days and had long since left Merrick's original star system.

As a lieutenant commander, Sariel respected Tim not only because of his status as a senator from the Merrick Civilization Senate, but also because Tim was Lister's former butler.

But despite his respect, he couldn't help but ask questions while they were aimlessly wandering around the Galactic Federation.

The Merrick Civilization has only just advanced to level four, and its various construction and development projects require their joint efforts.

As a devoted follower who has been guided by Lister since childhood and joined the Merrick Civilization when it was only a level two civilization, Sariel's sense of belonging to the Merrick Civilization is now unprecedented.

"You didn't know? I thought Colonel Sannand had mentioned it to you."

Tim stroked his chin, his facial wrinkles becoming more pronounced as he spoke.

At over seventy years old, if it weren't for the foundation laid by Class Holder, it would be difficult to even maintain this middle-aged appearance; one would only age faster.

"Our mission is crucial; we need to redefine the directly controlled star systems of the Merrick Civilization."

Upon hearing that it was a mission to demarcate territory, Sariel was immediately overjoyed.

It seems that I am not being undervalued, but rather overvalued, having been assigned to complete such an important task with Lord Tim!

That's right! As Lister's former butler, how could Tim possibly be wandering around aimlessly at a time like this?

The thought of the heavy responsibility he carried instantly made his face serious.

"Sir, do we have the designated coordinates?"

"No."

"Do you have a pre-arranged plan? I need to get the warships heading straight for the target point."

"The planned strategy? It's just to fly forward, no rush. Our mission is important, but we have enough time!"

Tim hadn't thought that far ahead.

On the contrary, Sariel seemed a bit reserved and rushed in his actions.

Unlike the other person's composure and boldness in their youth.

"Just fly forward? How do we determine the designated star field then?"

Hearing this, Tim finally realized that the other person genuinely had no idea what he was doing!

He couldn't help but chuckle, and after a long while, he explained.

"No need to confirm, the area we've flown over so far is within the territory of the Merrick Civilization!"

"The main task is to record this flight path and, at the same time, investigate whether there are any new Chaotic Star Region or unknown forces in this area, in preparation for future star system cleanup missions."

Everywhere they went became Merrick Civilization!

As one of the Federation's four new major civilizations, the Merrick Civilization has the confidence to do so!

Only now did Sariel finally realize the current status and power of his civilization.

Having risen from an unregistered individual to his current status, even though he is now Galactic Noble envied by 99% of the Galactic Federation, his mindset is still difficult to change in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Merrick Civilization is also under construction.

The original Merrick Governing Planet has been changed to the Merrick First Governing Planet.

In addition, after the new directly administered star system is determined, it is also planned to establish a second and Third Governing Star on two other planets in other locations.

"Galactic Federation Government Notification: Congratulations on becoming the Vice President of the Galactic Federation Senate, the rotating president (1489 years until the next term)."

The power we've been entitled to has finally arrived.

Looking at the information in the notification, Lister felt much more at ease.

Despite the numerous powers announced recently, the real power lies here.

As the true power institution of the Galactic Federation, the Senate is the core authority that mobilizes all resources of the Galactic Federation.

Lister may possess exceptional individual strength, but in terms of development, especially resource mobilization, he still needs to rely on the old ship that is the Galactic Federation.

Even if his ultimate plan is to dismantle and rebuild this old ship, it won't prevent him from using it to improve himself in the present.

The vice-speaker's power, provided there is no interference from the other vice-speakers, is sufficient to decide 99% of federal affairs.

The only thing he couldn't participate in, like Boren Leviathan, was the Soul Barrier.

"Lord Lister, the Arcane Civilization wishes to speak with you."

Quint hurried into the parliament hall, his face showing signs of exhaustion.

Even a level 14 Class Holder like myself couldn't escape mental exhaustion after working non-stop for two months on official business.

Given the current state of the Merrick Civilization, it seems that the speaker is likely still holding on and will not be able to extricate himself from the situation.

"What's wrong? Can't we talk?"

"After all, they were one of the earliest civilizations to cooperate with us; we should provide them with support."

Quint thought that the other party was asking for too much or using his name excessively, which was why he was unwilling to agree.

Lister already had a lot on his plate and didn't want to be involved in everything personally.

"I know that I've agreed to almost every request for help they've made."

"This time, Major General York contacted me, saying he wanted to speak with you directly. Should I refuse him?"

"Never mind, I'll talk to him."

Upon hearing that it was Major General York, Lister still felt indebted to him.

They should now proactively turn on their personal terminal chip.

His feed was completely full of messages from above, and he was too lazy to read or reply to them.

He pulled out Major General York's contact information and proactively requested to contact him via holographic projection.

"Speaker Lister! Congratulations!"

In the footage, Major General York's familiar face appears.

With a smile, she congratulated him, surprised that he was so well-informed, having received news of his appointment as vice speaker so quickly.

"Major General York, it's been a long time."

"Quint told me you wanted to see me?"

"I've been quite busy lately, so just let me know if you need anything."

"The thing is, our Arcane Civilization wishes to be subordinate to a higher-level civilization and transferred to the Merrick Civilization..."

Knowing that Lister is currently very popular in the Galactic Federation, and aware that the other party's time is running out.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, York got down to business.

The two earliest friendly allied civilizations were Arca and Yalan.

With the advancement of the Merrick Civilization to level four, it has rapidly gained fame.

The fact that an ordinary civilization can establish official friendships with the four major civilizations is absolutely unprecedented among all civilizations at present.

Of course, this title is merely symbolic; the true power relationship will only revert to a hierarchical one, and can only be a hierarchical one.

Otherwise, the other three major level-four civilizations wouldn't be so easy to talk to.

"No problem, I will contact the Leviathan Civilization."

Frankly speaking, whether the Arcane Civilization changes its allegiance or not is not very meaningful.

The Merrick Civilization and Leviathan Civilizations were originally on the same side, and the movement of subordinate forces between them has become merely a formality.

"Then... could we... have a seat for a legislator?"

So that's what happened. Lister said that Major General York called him, so it couldn't be just about this.

So they've come to ask for seats in the House of Representatives.

How many do you want?

"Could we... add one more person?"

"Let's add two more, but your civilization will need to increase its resource extraction accordingly during the coming period."

"No problem! Don't worry!"

"Thank you very much... Lord Lister!"

I heard that two more seats will be added, making a total of three seats in parliament.

Major General York's eyes were filled with emotion as he watched the projection!

He knew this opportunity was given to him by Lister out of consideration for him.

The friendship established with Lister back then has now yielded a huge return.

As for the large warship that was gifted back then, it was the finishing touch.

This is all because Lister cherishes old friendships.

Three seats—even Quasi-Hegemon civilization couldn't have that many.

Even when their Arcane Civilization's founding archmage was still alive, they didn't have this kind of power.

Thinking of this, Major General York's voice inexplicably choked with emotion.

But the Lister in the projection didn't think that far ahead.

On the one hand, it was to give Major General York face; on the other hand, he also needed to have more of his own people in the Galactic Federation Council.

This will help him make connections with more civilizations, bring them under the wing of the Merrick Civilization, and prepare him for future plans with Kavin.

Six months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside Merrick Castle, Lister administered the last dose of reagent.

That familiar yet wonderful feeling surged through my entire body.

The refreshing and invigorating sensation, accompanied by an increase in power, intoxicated him each time.

The wonderful sensation subsided after about ten seconds.

Notification: Congratulations! Your Strength attribute has been increased.

[Attributes: Strength 400 (200 base + 200 bonus), Stamina 400, Intelligence 400, Agility 400]

Having become the vice speaker, he now has the power to freely utilize the Galactic Federation's level-four resources.

[Federation Military District Standard Level 4 Resource (S-Tier): Increases each of the four main attributes by 1 point. (Note: Can only be repeated 10 times) (1.13 million Military Merit Points)]

Looking at the three remaining bottles of golden potion in his hand, Lister shook his head regretfully.

What a pity!

The Galactic Federation is indeed still Third Advancement power, lagging far behind in Fourth Advancement potions.

It's clearly a stripped-down version, with a limited number of uses.

Furthermore, it cannot be used in conjunction with federal special level four resources.

Fortunately, at level 200, with the attribute points accumulated beforehand, this batch of Federation resources has finally been maxed out.

Store the remaining three bottles of golden potion in the castle's storage space.

Tap your fingertip on the castle's control panel to bring up the current resource report for the Merrick Civilization.

In the past six months, with the Merrick Civilization officially advancing to a Level 4 civilization, the speed of its development has been nothing short of terrifying.

The technological barriers that were previously limited by a Level 3 civilization have been completely broken down.

Furthermore, as a result of the previous blockade of basic technologies, the Merrick Civilization has now established its own Academy of Sciences.

Cutting-edge technology from the Galactic Federation's core database is continuously being fed into the Merrick Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, it recruited top talents from all fields across the galaxy to develop the Merrick Civilization.

"Sir, the reorganization of the Seventh Central Army is complete."

A holographic projection of Sannand appeared before me.

The newly appointed deputy commander of the Seventh Central Army reported respectfully.

"As per your instructions, we have received 13% of the officers from the former Seventh Central Army, and the remaining vacancies at the Seventh Army headquarters have been filled by the Merrick Civilization Army."

Lister nodded slightly.

Since Vidal "faded out" of the Galactic Federation, the original Seventh Central Army was reorganized into the Fifty-First Army.

Many officers still couldn't accept the drop from being among the top ten elite Central Army to the very bottom.

They proactively applied to Lister's Seventh Central Army.

Faced with such a good opportunity, Lister naturally did not refuse.

Only after Sannand rigorously screened the backgrounds of officers, eliminating those from the Beta and Witchcraft Civilizations, were they included.

"The Seventh Army is about to officially enter service. Are you confident in completing the mission independently?"

Upon hearing this, Sannand immediately looked troubled.

"My lord, I'm afraid this will be difficult."

"The Undead Legion has not yet awakened. Without them as the main force, I'm afraid this mission will easily bring shame to you and the Merrick Civilization."

The current Seventh Central Army was directly transferred from the Merrick Civilization Army.

The inherent strength of the Civilization Army... goes without saying.

Without the Undead Legion, even the Arcane Civilization Army would struggle to reach its level.

That is, only after absorbing a wave of former Seventh Army officers did they manage to make up for it.

However, now that it is the Central Army, missions are issued directly by the Federation Military District.

And each mission will be as difficult as a recruitment mission.

Sannand finally succeeded in his bet, and with his abilities, becoming the deputy commander of the Seventh Central Army was definitely a stroke of luck.

Moreover, he was guaranteed a promotion to major general by Lister, so the pressure was immense, and he really couldn't afford to lose.

The Seventh Army, which doesn't even have a Quasi-Hegemon, really lacks confidence if it were to go out alone to take on a conscription mission, especially if it encountered a major task.

"We still need to keep looking for talent and recruit more officers. We can try to find good candidates from other Civilization Army."

"We can't just rely on the Undead Legion. If they don't wake up, are you going to skip the mission?"

"Or do you mean I, the general, should personally accompany you on this mission?"

"My lord! I... I will do my utmost!"

Upon hearing this, Sannand paused in his speech.

The reality is that our strength is insufficient, and for now we can only guarantee to do our best and not tarnish the reputation of the Seventh Army.

"Alright! I know the current situation of the Seventh Army."

"When you do quests, you can recruit Arcane Mages and the Glimmer Civilization. Roland, the Quasi-Hegemon of the Glimmer Civilization, will do his best to help you in the next two years."

"But only for two years. After two years, I want the Seventh Army to be truly independent!"

Lister was simply giving Sannand a warning, fearing that the latter might become arrogant after becoming a deputy corps commander.

He had already contacted Roland before the Seventh Army's actual buffer period ended.

Compared to his advancement, Roland's development has been slow, and he remains Quasi-Hegemon at level 16.

However, its overall strength has increased rapidly, unlike before.

I feel that if I go too high a rank, I could easily slip down to the Lord Tier.

Compared to him, Roland cannot do without the Soul Crystals supplied by the Soul-Devouring Spider for the foreseeable future.

During these few years of waiting, I'll also do Lister a favor by keeping an eye on the Seventh Central Army.

Without a cutting-edge Quasi-Hegemon, the Central Army, to some extent, lacks confidence.

For complex missions, it is still necessary to rely on the power of Quasi-Hegemon, rather than the large warships themselves.

At the same time, we still need to recruit or cultivate geniuses, especially those who are at the level of Quasi-Hegemon.

Lister hadn't realized the importance of talent when he was alone, but now that he had real power, he understood its significance.

Two years should be enough time to recruit one or two Quasi-Hegemon, or to pull one out of the new recruits to take Quasi-Hegemon!