“Sir, you may use it now. This computer is charged by the hour, ten thousand Federation credits per hour. May I ask how long you plan to use it?” The staff member asked with a smile.

Brian Carter felt a pang in his heart. Ten thousand per hour—so much money would have been enough to support him for half a year in the past.

“Two hours, I guess.” Brian Carter thought for a moment and said.

The staff member started up the computer and left the room. All around was silence.

This computer wasn’t for ordinary people; only Federation Class A citizens were eligible to apply.

In fact, Earth had only recently joined the Pan-Human Alliance, and there were very few Class A citizens in the Federation. Most of the time, these ten machines sat idle.

The machine was square, gleaming with a beautiful silver sheen. After it started up, a light screen popped out, and a young woman’s mechanical voice said, “Alpha 379 intelligent computer has been activated. Connection is normal. Please give instructions.”

She was speaking in a universal language—Charlottean. Since Earth was still at the early stage of cosmic civilization, there were very few humans familiar with alien languages. This was also the main reason for the low usage rate of intelligent computers.

Of course, none of this was a problem for Brian Carter, who had an intelligent translation chip installed.

“Connect to the interstellar internet,” Brian Carter said.

“Yes, please wait a moment…” the cold female voice replied.

The light screen flickered, and a jumble of text appeared before Brian Carter’s eyes.

The chaotic words and images made Brian Carter dizzy and overwhelmed.

Brian Carter just felt a headache coming on. Sure, this was advanced alien technology, but it was so messy and unreliable that anyone with poor eyesight wouldn’t be able to make out a thing.

“You’ll get used to it. Once you have money, you can buy a virtual helmet. Then you’ll feel like you’re really there. For now, you’ll have to make do with this basic display system,” Shadow said.

“A virtual helmet? Sounds interesting. How much does one cost?” Brian Carter asked.

Shadow chuckled, “It’s not that expensive. If you have money, you can even upgrade the intelligent computer. Right now, this machine is only in basic mode and can only access the network of the nearest star region. There are countless star regions in the universe. If you want to browse comprehensively and use all the functions of the intelligent computer, it’ll cost a lot more.”

“It’s all about money.” Brian Carter shook his head. “Shadow, are you sure your method can really make money? The usage fee here isn’t cheap, and I can’t afford to come here many times with the little money I have.”

Shadow nodded vigorously. “Absolutely no problem. Your poems will drive poetry lovers crazy. Honestly, I’ve been in the poetry world for decades, and I’ve never heard such outrageous verses.”

Chapter 0006: First Cultivation

There are many poetry lovers in the universe, and poetry forums are naturally where these people gather.

The star region where Earth is located is called the Endaro Star Region, and the Blue Sea Star that Brian Carter visited is also within this region.

After wandering around the poetry lovers’ forum, Brian Carter was stunned.

The poems written by these aliens were practically cast from the same mold as Shadow’s. They didn’t even qualify as doggerel, yet so many people were obsessed with them. Who knows what these alien civilizations, with their tens of thousands of years of history, have been researching all this time—they’re so backward in poetry studies.

Following Shadow’s instructions, Brian Carter first registered an account at the Endaro Interstellar Bank.

Registering an interstellar bank account was free, but the registrant had to be an ability user, and at least at the Starlight level.

Brian Carter’s passport number was already entered in the Pan-Human Alliance database, giving him an identity recognized by the entire Anti-Human Alliance, so Brian Carter easily got an interstellar account without much trouble.

With an account, the next step was to publish poems for interested buyers.

The Endaro poetry lovers’ website had an automatic trading system. Authors only needed to upload their works to the site, and if other enthusiasts liked them, they could purchase them with star coins.

This trading method was a bit like the popular reading websites on Earth: the author uploads half of a poem, and the other half is sold for a fee.

It’s quite painful to only see half of a complete poem. As long as readers like it, most people will buy the other half without hesitation, just to collect a complete work.

According to the Pan-Human Alliance’s intellectual property protection law, if the original author has died, their works are no longer protected by law.

So it was perfectly legal and reasonable for Brian Carter to sell ancient poems.

The civilization level of the Earth Federation was very low, and there was very little that could be traded. Precious metals and chemical drugs were considered worthless by aliens—practically garbage. Trying to trade with the Federation’s existing resources was pure fantasy.

The Federation government was helpless about this. Without star coins, it was impossible to trade with other civilizations. To introduce higher-level technology, they could only rely on the meager annual subsidies from the Pan-Human Alliance. Unfortunately, those subsidies were a drop in the bucket and far from enough.