The impacts of the bill passed by the General Assembly of the Gaian Alliance could be felt around the world almost immediately. The financial crisis that it caused was not merely a temporary blip, but was the result of very rapidly shifting capital flows away from standard sectors where investors would normally earn a handsome return on investment, and more towards anything that had to do with interstellar space.

It became the newest gold rush, one that was unlike anything ever recorded in the history of human civilization. Overnight, the structure of the economy changed, causing mass disruptions that spread far and wide. Only societies like that of the elves, who didn’t have a free market, were functional, and even they were rocked by the changes that had already begun to occur.

Not a single person was exempt from its impacts.

"This opportunity is the single greatest opportunity I have ever encountered in my entire life," the older voice of Chairman Bradt Patrick hung in the air, laced with more vitality than perhaps any other moment in his entire life.

He was old, quite old. And yet, he felt like he had entered a second youth in his life. Even though he had obtained the opportunity to consume longevity potions, they had never restored the youthful vibrance that he had been blessed with in his younger days.

That was until this moment.

Until he read the reports of the bill that had been successfully passed by the General Assembly of the Gaian Alliance. One that declared that space expansion would be laissez-faire, that was, without governmental intervention.

Not even he could fathom the full scope of this opportunity, and this was a man who had made billions by tapping into opportunity. Including his most successful investment and reaping of the opportunity in his entire life, the Emperor of Water.

Even this opportunity was one that arose from the will of the Emperor of Water.

Chairman Bradt couldn’t help but heave a deep sigh when he thought about his long relationship with Rui Quarrier. He had met the man, now Martial Transcendent, when he was a young Martial Squire in his late teenage years.

Back then, he had indeed estimated that there was a high chance that Rui would become a Martial Senior, and thus was worth offering a helping hand to.

However, not even he could have fathomed in his wildest dreams that Rui would go on to become the ruler of the Kandrian Empire and the Panama Continent.

And a Martial Transcendent.

It was beyond unfathomable, so much so that if he had the opportunity to tell his younger self, the latter would have assumed that his older self was simply senile with such a fantastical story.

"And now, I have this opportunity thanks to him as well."

He immediately pulled up an image of the Local Bubble, studying it with a curious expression. He knew almost nothing about astronomy. That was something that he would have to change if he wanted to do what he thought he could.

"To connect the stars."

His entire career as a businessman had been connecting people and places. That was what he had done his entire life, and he was exceedingly good at it. So much so that some people even called him the Connector. Over the past nine years, since the Unfolding, he had made a powerful career as a connector across the seas.

Earlier, before the Beast Incursion, he had connected people through land. Now that he had done both heaven and earth, he found himself growing enthused about a new challenge.

"Connecting stars will be much more difficult than anything I have done before."

After all, stars were very far apart from each other. The technology needed to go from one star to another was extremely advanced. He would have to start anew in a field he had no foundation.

However, what he was good at was understanding the human side of the need for connection. If human civilization were to form a stable, connected civilization, then somebody needed to transport goods and services across stars.

"I will do it."

His voice was one of certainty.

He didn’t know if he could go back to becoming a tycoon in the field of distribution and transportation services, as he was on Gaia, but he certainly had the capital and the clout to commence an extremely powerful venture into an outer space enterprise for his Bradt Distribution Services.

"Thankfully, I have some time before my services will be truly needed across the stars."

Most likely, in the initial few years of conquest and expansion, there wouldn’t be enough of an establishment for such services to be needed. It was only when the establishments grew larger and more stable that interstellar trade truly took off.

That was good. He knew he needed time to build a powerful distribution network in the stars. In order to travel between stars, he would need a spaceship equipped with one of those cutting-edge long-range negatronic warp drives very recently developed by several entities.

"Put in an order for one hundred spaceships equipped with the long-range," he immediately told his assistants. "No, make it a thousand!"

"Uh, sir, we don’t have the working capital to purchase that many in one go,"

"I am friends with the CEO of Interstellara," Bradt waved his hand. "I’ll handle that. Just get the paperwork ready."

"Understood, sir."

Bradt Distribution Services would be entering the arena for services in outer space. He had no intention of being a colonialist or a conqueror. He simply intended to serve those who sought to venture into space. If he could offer them distribution services at reasonable prices, then they would be able to sustain their exo-colonies much better than they would otherwise be able to.

For that, he needed to develop a comprehensive base of operations in space. Which meant he would need to familiarize himself with space affairs and hire the relevant experts.

He had his work cut out for him.

And yet, he gladly dove into it in the same frenzy that everybody had been whipped into.