Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Even if they gave away all of their knowledge and technologies that far outclassed what the Federation held, if they could obtain the Federation's strength in helping to fight whatever conflict they were involved in, then they would benefit much, MUCH more than the Federation ever would from their cooperation.

So it would suffice to say that they were not thrilled that Alex had figured this out so early into the negotiations, in the first meeting at that.

Alex wasn't naive enough to believe that just because he came from a place called the Warring Sector, it mean't nowhere else in the universe had conflict. In fact, it was perhaps even worse than the Warring Sector had it.

He knew very well that when something of value was discovered, someone else who thought themselves strong enough would want an equal claim to such a thing.

He didn't know why all the civilisations of the universe were so eager and so desperate to claim a spot for themselves closer to the centre of the universe, but that was a question for future him to solve.

Right now, he had arguably bigger fish to fry.

The still active projections didn't offer their response immediately.

Their expressions no longer remained unreadable, as many of them had their brows furrowed in concentration as they thought intensely about how to proceed.

Even the Grand Cartographer glanced sideways at Alex, as she didn't expect him to pick apart their hidden plans for the future so quickly, and so boldly point them out at that.

Still, she said nothing. She, too, wanted to see how they would respond.

Despite being from the same civilisation as them, that didn't mean she wasn't on Alex's side either.

She was a Solari just like them, but her joining their more advanced civilisation at the centre of the universe wasn't a willing move. Every awakened in the Solari race who ascended to become a higher life form was forced into joining the higher civilisation.

In fact, it was like this with every other race as well.

"Despite your claims of us underestimating you, what you just did was very reckless." One of them finally filled the awkward silence in.

Alex nodded, as he knew this too.

But he wasn't in the mood to waste his time, as time was precious right now.

He would rather risk this whole thing with the Solari race than spend an overdrawn amount of time going in circles with them.

They needed him, and the Federation by attachment, far more than he needed them. That much was as clear as day to him now.

Even if they reneged on everything they had discussed that day, it wouldn't stop Alex from continuing with his plans.

He would still explore their realm to find any clues regarding Mikhail's forge whether they liked it or not, and he would find a way to fill his requirement of killing 100 B+ rank Variant class beings in the process.

"Your little Sector of space isn't the only place embroiled in war. The whole universe is embroiled in it, just in a much more silent, hidden fashion. Only in the Warring Sector and the sectors surrounding the centre of the universe war so openly." The Conclave dropped all pretenses and explained, since there was no point in keeping anything from Alex anymore.

If anything, if they still tried to hold back or hide information, it would only strain the negotiations even further.

Alex narrowed his eyes. "I know. I guessed as much."

"No," the elder member of the Conclave said. "You assumed as much. But you haven't understood the scope of things."

He gestured, and the space around Alex and the Grand Cartographer shifted.

Alex wasn't worried, as this wasn't a facet of the powerful S tier's power in play, but rather coming from the room itself.

He wouldn't have stuck around to continue this if he suspected any of them could use their power through their projections.

A new projection bloomed in the centre of the hall: a vast map of what Alex assumed to be the universe – littered with galaxies each as small as an ant on the map, barely discernible by even Alex's naked eyes.

It was clearly a very detailed and accurate map of the known universe.

The most notable feature was a bright shining dot right at the centre of the fixture, which was very obviously what signified the centre of the universe.

Alex thought it was just some special effects to make the centre more obvious, since the entire map itself was too spectacular and easy to lose oneself in to notice it otherwise.

But as he observed closer, he was left surprised, shocked even.

That bright shining dot wasn't some special effects.

It was a galaxy.

A single, impossibly large galaxy, with an equally impossibly large white hole at its centre.

That single galaxy alone probably occupied as much space as ten thousand milky ways would, and that was just Alex's guess after looking at it for a few seconds and comparing its proportions to the small ant sized dots surrounding it.

"As you are already probably aware by now, this is a map of the known universe, and that is its centre."

One of the Solari said as they pointed at the bright, shining galaxy at the centre.

"One question. Why do you keep calling it the centre? How would something that is infinitely large have a centre?" This question had hung at the back of Alex's mind for a while now, and it was just itching to be asked.

"Although it is commonly accepted that space is infinite, when we refer to space and the universe we refer to two different concepts. The universe is everything that we know, all the planets, galaxies, life – everything that makes up our existence – while space is what the universe occupies."

"When the universe came into existence, space was already there, and it will still be there when the universe dies. Space is ever lasting, and it always will be."

"Now that that explanation's over with, we can get to why we call this place the centre."

"The answer's quite simple really. We already know and have evidence to prove that the universe started with a bang, a really big one. That galaxy you see there, no, that white hole occupying its centre, is where that bang started."

The Solari explained, and Alex absorbed the information like a sponge.