With technology now advancing explosively and productivity far exceeding humanity's basic material needs, Nie Yun naturally hoped to invest as many surplus resources as possible into technological research and development.
In the interstellar age, attaining enlightenment through technology was the only path to godhood!
But every elite scientist who had undergone "brain enhancement" consumed a terrifying, astronomical amount of resources once given free rein!
Supporting a group of elite scientists like these was like supporting a group of demanding lords.
Their various requests, reasonable or otherwise, had to be accommodated as much as possible, funding had to be allocated promptly, and any public property they destroyed had to be replaced at public expense...
They were responsible for letting their dreams soar, while Nie Yun was responsible for footing the bill!
With every additional demanding lord, Nie Yun could clearly feel those dreams rushing at him with suffocating force...
Thus, Lawrence and Kael's recruitment was not only necessary for the rapidly growing number of research projects, but also a tangible reflection of Nie Yun's increasing strength and the greater surplus of resources at his disposal.
Over this period, he had secretly devoured countless technological items through the Twin Stars and the Wulf Empire, gaining hundreds of technological subprojects.
Those that could be made public were placed in the Technology Tree Virtual World for scientists with the appropriate clearance to analyze.
Other technologies could not yet be made public but were urgently needed by Nie Yun. These, such as "Wormhole Expansion Technology," were uploaded to the Cloudtop Research Institute's database for internal study.
"This thing... my God!" Kael's eyes shone as he pored over the structural diagrams of the "Wormhole Expansion Device" before him, utterly engrossed.
The three-dimensional images showed that the device resembled a sundial, exactly like the Locke Conglomerate's