I Don't Agree to the Terms

Gu Shanhai had spent a month leaving the Imperial Palace, pretending every day to be enhancing the Ghost Energy Seed, but in reality, he was deeply researching. As for the budding phase, it certainly was not reached, but instead, through some minor tricks, he evaded detection.

As for obligations, Gu Shanhai also knew that he needed to condense a piece of Ghost Energy Crystal through his own Ghost Energy and hand it over to the Royal Family.

The Ghost Energy Crystal was essentially the origin of Ghost Energy Technology. Even if it was a secondary Dark Sun or Mo Yue-formed Ghost Energy Crystal, it could not be used directly. It required a Ghost Energy Crystal as a radiation source to immerse ores, water sources, natural gas, and other origins, forming solid Ghost Energy, liquid Ghost Energy, and gaseous Ghost Energy, three special types of Derived Ghost Energy.

And the council used these three forms of Derived Ghost Energy.

Currently, the obligation was to provide only one Ghost Energy Crystal per year, unless Gu Shanhai wanted to further utilize the conveniences of the Navia Empire—the more he used, the more Ghost Energy Crystals he needed.

This was considered a mutual benefit.

Gu Shanhai estimated, taking the seed stage as an example, in one year, he could condense about ten standard Ghost Energy Crystals.

The budding phase was even more prolific, producing a hundred Ghost Energy Crystals, so the tasks given to the Princes were not difficult. Even if one were truly incompetent, as long as you were diligent enough, meeting the target was possible.

However, these had not much to do with Gu Shanhai. After decoding the Ghost Energy and merging it with the Divine Power's Mana, he could easily transform it into a Ghost Energy Crystal.

After becoming a Prince, he was also given a large amount of wealth.

Companies, land, stocks and bonds, as well as direct cash; when integrated, besides possessing a hundred million in funds, other miscellaneous assets were valued at about a billion.

Apart from cash, other property rights were guaranteed. Taking companies as an example, if Gu Shanhai did not participate in management and interference with the company's operations, and if the company, due to its management or production capacity problems, led to a decrease in annual dividends or bankruptcy, the Royal Family would compensate him with a corresponding company.

Of course, if you meddled unnecessarily and then there were problems, the Royal Family would not cover the losses; it would just be considered your management failure.

These benefits were available only to Princes who could condense Ghost Energy Crystals; others did not have them.

However, it made sense, as just one Ghost Energy Crystal, after being immersed, could entirely form a vast industry, and the Navia Empire and the Royal Family would never lose.

So, Gu Shanhai wisely chose not to get involved in managing these industries, but rather used these industries as a stepping stone.

Indeed, he had not given up on the Virtual Reality and Digital Life projects. As a Prince, he did not need to worry about unsightly politicians attacking him, nor did he have to worry about various official institutions of the Empire scrutinizing him.

As long as he showed this identity along with his wealthy assets, whether it was bank loans or investments, these did not require his personal presence; just by showing a bit of interest, there would be endless people knocking on his door to offer help.

As for why he was persistent with these two projects, Gu Shanhai intended to explore the correlation between Ghost Energy and the spirit.

After leaving the Imperial Palace, Gu Shanhai naturally could sense the inadequacy of Ghost Energy outside, not feeling as comfortable as he did inside the Imperial Palace.

The reason was naturally the numerous Ghost Energy essences floating in the air of the Imperial Palace. These could be ascertained not to be natural but converted through original Ghost Energy. As long as they were not absorbed into the body, they were harmless to humans.

Outside the Imperial Palace, there was absolutely no hint of Ghost Energy.

Gu Shanhai suspected that through acts of death, one could quickly condense Ghost Energy, and all the deaths in the entire Navia Empire were gathered by the Great Emperor Navia, naturally occupying the highest ecological tier.

And now Gu Shanhai also wanted it but certainly would not directly collide with the opponent; instead, he would look for another ecological niche.

It was better to create one's own niche rather than fight for someone else's; not only would it be more convenient, but it would also avoid future problems.

As to whether this act of death in the virtual could be feasible, Gu Shanhai was still testing.

Indeed, he was using Virtual Reality and Digital Life as his new ecological niches of Ghost Energy.

If it proved successful, then Gu Shanhai could entirely allow those residing in the virtual world to repeatedly die and respawn, continuously exploiting the bug.

Gu Shanhai certainly would not go in deliberately killing these digital lives, just needed to adjust the time ratio in the virtual world, making the digital lives experience a full hundred years in just three minutes, even though they had complete lifetimes.

Then, keeping their memories to start over, and even constructing more peculiar world views, he achieved a sense of thrill.

"Virtual reality technology isn't difficult; I have it on hand." Gu Shanhai, through his connections with the Royal Family, had been allocated this technology in his properties.

The technology was originally part of the Navia Empire, and Gu Shanhai wanting it was merely a matter of providing him with an authorization letter and sending the corresponding materials.

Having reviewed it, he noted the technology was quite good. The only drawback was that it was an unfinished version; according to Gu Shanhai's estimate, it was only about ten percent complete at present with the rest being empty talk and plans, without any practicality, requiring him to perfect it.