Star-Lord agreed to Ethan's request because Ethan had just saved him.
Don't talk about how they might have defeated Ego even if Ethan hadn't shown up. The fact is, Ethan had helped him kill Ego.
Of course, for Star-Lord personally, the most important thing was that he had avenged his mother.
So even if Ethan didn't pay any compensation, Star-Lord was willing to accept the commission.
"Are you crazy?"
Rocket Raccoon didn't know what Star-Lord was thinking. He just thought this guy must be out of his mind to take on a job without asking for payment.
"Did your dad beat you stupid earlier?"
"This is my ship, and this is a job commissioned to me. Whether I accept it or not is my business."
Seeing the two of them about to start bickering again, Ethan quickly finished what he had to say. After that, he wouldn't care how much the human and the raccoon argued.
"Not being able to offer monetary compensation doesn't mean I'll let you help for free. You can make some requests, or is there anything you'd like to get? I will try my best to fulfill your requests. Things like daily necessities can be included as extras."
Ethan couldn't pay with money because he didn't have the universal currency of this universe.
But this didn't mean he was poor. The resources he possessed were things that even some of the more powerful civilizations in the galaxy might not have.
For example, many civilized races in the galaxy have genetic modification technology that can optimize their own race, making them powerful in physique and even perfect in appearance. Due to differences in aesthetics between races, some civilized races might not conform to Earth people's aesthetics, but that doesn't mean they are ugly. They become higher life forms with long lifespans.
Although many civilizations possess such technology, not all modification techniques have such good effects, nor does it mean that all life forms in the galaxy that have entered space can enjoy this kind of evolution.
The top-tier technologies are held by the most powerful civilizations, such as the Kree Empire. These technologies are not publicly available and are only provided to their own people.
As a lone individual who came from Earth, grew up in a group like the Ravagers (similar to space pirates), and even recently fell out with the Ravagers, Star-Lord had even less opportunity to use this technology to complete his life level evolution.
So Ethan felt that this reward would definitely satisfy Star-Lord.
Considering that Star-Lord possessed Ego's bloodline, it would be much simpler to evolve him into a higher life form than an ordinary Earthling, because he himself possessed astonishing potential. All that was needed was to activate this potential, and Ethan had plenty of potions that could do this.
Ethan would also provide perfect follow-up services, such as teaching Star-Lord how to control the energy in the universe. If he had Ego's enduring perseverance and persisted for countless years, he could also possess such terrifying power—and have a humanoid body that could move freely, unlike Ego, whose core body was always a planet.
Considering that much of Ego's knowledge was self-taught, things like initially collecting and learning to control and use these energies must have wasted a considerable amount of time.
Star-Lord could completely finish this part of the learning in a shorter amount of time, which meant he could significantly increase his strength in a very short period.
A long life and powerful strength were his capital for surviving in the universe.
Besides life evolution, Ethan could also provide various supplies from other worlds. Leaving aside common things like food, which were easy to obtain and available in most worlds,
Anything slightly more high-tech could be obtained from Tony. If Star-Lord had any requests, Ethan could ask Tony to carry out a complete modification of Star-Lord's spaceship.
Since traveling around the universe and purchasing a large amount of various technical knowledge common in space, Tony had spent some time learning and thoroughly understanding this knowledge and had begun converting it into practical items.
From how quickly Tony mastered nanotechnology back then, one could tell that this guy was basically cheating. Let alone having ready-made technology for him to learn and use, even if only given some development directions, vague concepts, and partially incomplete technology, he could restore or even improve the technology in a very short time.
Therefore, Ethan could conclude that the current Tony absolutely had the ability to upgrade and modify the Milano.
Besides the Milano, Star-Lord's personal equipment could also be upgraded. Ethan could help with this, especially after teaching Star-Lord how to control energy. Perhaps Star-Lord would need to start trying new fighting styles.
If Star-Lord didn't have needs in this area, he could also ask Ethan to help him with something else. Presumably, there weren't many things that could stump Ethan.
And even... Ethan might be able to help Star-Lord resurrect his mother.
Listening to the various options Ethan presented, this time Rocket Raccoon stopped mocking Star-Lord. He even thought the terms Ethan offered were too good.
"Peter, you're too smart! Did you know this guy would offer such great compensation all along?" Extending his short little paw to pat Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon praised him with a look that said, "So you're this shrewd": "With so many things to gain, who cares about money?"
Star-Lord listened, dumbfounded. He just felt that Ethan had helped him, and helping him in return was just repaying a favor. Besides, surveying a planet wasn't exactly troublesome work.
Furthermore, he instinctively felt that Ethan wouldn't really make him work for free. Through their previous interactions, he had also gained some understanding of Ethan.
Now he felt he still didn't understand this person enough...
Leaving aside other things, most of the offers were within his understanding... but resurrecting his mother? Was he serious?
"You can take your time thinking about what you want. I will try my best to fulfill any reasonable requests you make."
Star-Lord nodded. He indeed needed to think carefully. Meanwhile, Rocket Raccoon had already considered himself one of the recipients of this mission and directly asked about the specifics on Star-Lord's behalf.
"What kind of planet is it?"
"You'll need to determine the specifics yourselves. Actually, I don't have much information either, otherwise I wouldn't need to find experienced people to help."
Ethan glanced to the side. He had already noticed that while he was talking to Star-Lord, the sounds around them had gradually faded, and the people gathered on the ship had almost completely focused their attention on their conversation.
The compensation he offered was too enticing. Almost no one could refuse.
Yondu, who had originally intended to leave, also chose to stay, preparing to complete this job with Star-Lord.
Besides the fact that he genuinely needed income right now, he also had a bit of suspicion about Ethan.
Leaving aside genetic modification technology for now, given Ethan's strength, it might not be strange for him to have obtained this technology from some civilization.
But resurrecting the dead? What the hell was that? Was that really something that could be done? How did that sound so ridiculous?
Thinking of Ethan's strength, Yondu didn't want to directly question him. Besides, there were too many strange things in this universe, and he couldn't be sure that Ethan really couldn't do it.
But why would Ethan offer such good compensation just to ask Star-Lord to survey a planet? He suspected there was some hidden secret involved and was worried something might happen to Star-Lord, so he decided to go along.
Ethan could guess some of Yondu's thoughts. He didn't feel the need to explain anything, because before long, the facts would prove that he had no ill intentions towards Star-Lord.
Compared to Yondu, who was just worried about Star-Lord, Gamora and Nebula on the side were thinking more deeply.
Nebula had been constantly undergoing modifications since childhood, so she was accustomed to using various technologies to enhance herself. When she heard the conditions Ethan offered, her first reaction was whether she could further improve her own strength.
And Gamora, through her conversations with Nebula these past few days, had learned about some of the suffering Nebula had endured. She was wondering if Nebula could be freed from her current state as a cyborg.
Everyone had something they wanted, so these people, who were clearly not a team, now acted like one, accepting Ethan's commission together with great tacit agreement—except for Nebula, who had come with Ethan in the first place, piloting the Milano towards Earth.
The fighter jet Yondu was piloting, after clearing out the living supplies on board, was put by Ethan into a glass container only the size of a fist and then handed back to Yondu for personal safekeeping.
This was a temporary container. Ethan told him that when he wanted to take the ship out, he just had to smash the glass container.
Just looking at Yondu's expression as he looked at the shrunken ship, perhaps this guy would never take the ship out again.
As for how the Milano could ensure it entered Earth without being detected by any detection equipment, Ethan actually didn't need to worry about it. Compared to the currently common detection technology on Earth, the Milano had sufficiently advanced anti-detection technology.
Star-Lord flew the spaceship directly to Los Angeles and landed on the lawn in the backyard of Ethan's mansion.
It was no surprise that Tony Stark was already waiting there.
The anti-detection equipment on the Milano could evade most detection equipment on Earth, but it couldn't evade Tony's personal detection device—especially Tony, who had obtained advanced technology from cosmic civilizations and possessed sufficiently advanced detection technology, although he couldn't yet cover the entire Earth with his detection range.
The Milano had come straight towards his residence (actually towards the one next door), so the detection device issued an alert to warn Tony.
After recognizing that it was Star-Lord's Milano, Tony, although he dismissed the alert, still wore his Iron Man suit to greet everyone just in case.
"Oh? Haven't seen you in a while, Peter. You've actually recruited so many people? Looks like the job market in the galaxy is pretty tight!"
(To be continued.)