https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-108-Star-Domain-Evolution-Rankings-Founder-s-Circle/12529907/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-110-Desperate-Situation-Ten-Years-End-of-Chapter-/12529909/
Chapter 109: Fifth-Rank Citizen, Fourth Shuttle
Chapter 109: Fifth-Rank Citizen, Fourth Shuttle
In the virtual world of Chi Kun, the main star shone brightly.
The Central Plaza buzzed with activity, a focal point for any planet-level virtual realm. Here stood the grand and imposing Evolution Board, a testament to the strength of the star domain. It showcased the top hundred evolution paths from over a million life-bearing planets within the domain.
Even with the popularity of the arena district due to the ongoing tournament, the Central Plaza remained a hub of attention. But on this particular dawn, a subtle change occurred—the hundredth spot on the star domain's Evolution Board quietly shifted to a new evolution path.
"Wow!"
"Look, the Evolution Board has changed!"
The evolutionists in the area immediately noticed the alteration, and excitement spread like wildfire.
Although it was just the last spot on the list, it was still part of the star domain's Evolution Board, where each entry had fought its way through countless other paths. To be ranked among the top hundred evolution paths of Chi Kun, even at the very bottom, meant it was an elite sixth-rank evolution path with the potential to ascend to the seventh rank.
"Martial Arts Evolution Path? What kind of evolution path is this?"
"Good heavens, is this evolution path only fourth-rank?"
"A fourth-rank evolution path surpasses a bunch of sixth-rank paths and makes it into the Chi Kun Evolution Board?"
Countless people in the plaza were stunned.
The Chi Kun Evolution Board encompassed the entire star domain, so it was common for the rankings to fluctuate. With such a vast population base, the odds of producing top-tier sixth-rank evolution paths were significantly higher.
However, even with constant changes and new entries into the top hundred, they were always sixth-rank evolution paths. So, a fourth-rank path was truly unexpected.
It was like a group of freshmen in a prestigious university, all around eighteen or nineteen years old, only to have a child of eight or nine show up and make the rest look a bit awkward in comparison.
"The Evolution Board can't be wrong. This has been audited multiple times by the three goddesses, which means that this fourth-rank evolution path truly has a higher comprehensive evaluation than those top-tier sixth-rank paths."
"Let me see."
"Martial Arts Evolution Path."
Someone couldn't contain their curiosity and pulled up more information on the path.
"Yes, the Martial Arts Evolution Path originated on Canglan Planet, an ordinary intermediate life planet in the Morning Star Galaxy."
"Wow, when the Martial Arts Evolution Path first appeared, it only had the first stage. Then, every half a year or so, a new stage was added."
"From the first stage to the current fourth stage, the Martial Arts Evolution Path has existed for less than five years."
"And get this, a mere fourth-rank evolution path has the potential to be promoted to the seventh rank?"
"It has to be the research achievement of one of our Human Alliance's esteemed evolution scholars."
In the plaza, countless evolutionists and high-level citizens debated endlessly, but they all shared one belief—the founder of this evolution path must be a high-ranking evolution scholar.
Here, it's essential to clarify a common misconception.
Generally, the founders of evolution paths fall into two categories.
The first type is those who forge their path as they cultivate, like Lin Yuan, where the evolution path progresses as they reach new cultivation realms. However, such founders are extremely rare.
The second type comprises the majority, and they are the high-level evolution scholars who, from their lofty perch, create brand-new evolution paths based on their extensive knowledge and research.
These scholars are the mainstream among the founders of evolution paths in the Human Alliance. After all, high-level evolutionists have a significant advantage in creating new evolution paths, both in terms of experience and efficiency.
Consider the teachers in schools; even the most basic primary school teacher has a university education, and many hold doctoral degrees from research institutes. Their elevated perspective allows them to more easily identify and solve problems.
It is this common understanding that leads most people in the plaza to believe that the Martial Arts Evolution Path was established by a senior evolution scholar. After all, the short intervals between the releases of the first four stages and their regularity resemble the periodic release of research findings by those erudite scholars.
"I want to see what makes this evolution path so extraordinary that it can surpass those top-tier sixth-rank paths with just its first four stages."
"Good idea. I've already purchased the entire path and am studying it carefully."
"I've finished reading it, and I've decided to have my son cultivate this path. Since it's the work of an evolution scholar, there will surely be more stages to come."
Back on the continent of Canglan Planet, in the Grand Continent Estate...
Lin Yuan was exploring the 'Founder's Virtual World.' The Founder's Virtual World had two modes.
The first was similar to the virtual worlds of various planets, but access was restricted to founders themselves. Additionally, the evolution path they had created must have the potential to reach the seventh rank.
If one had not founded an evolution path but had made other significant research contributions that met the criteria, they could still enter the Founder's Virtual World. Failing to meet these requirements meant one did not have the necessary permissions to access this exclusive world.
Consequently, the number of people in the Founder's Virtual World was very limited.
While there were quite a few seventh-rank evolution paths in human civilization, most of their founders had perished over the long years. The number of surviving founders was minuscule, and most of them were engrossed in their research, rarely bothering to enter virtual worlds for leisure.
Thus, the Founder's Virtual World had a second mode—the forum mode.
This mode was incredibly primitive. Each founder could post their views or questions on the 'forum,' providing food for thought or seeking answers from those who came after them.
Lin Yuan spent most of his time browsing the 'forum' mode, as he was still relatively new to the Founder's Virtual World.
"This is too profound," Lin Yuan marveled after perusing the forum for a while.
The 'posts' on the forum were diverse and intriguing.
There were topics like 'The Possibility of Traveling to Higher Dimensional Worlds,' 'How Many Methods Are There for Eighth-Rank Evolutionists to Advance to the Ninth Rank?' and 'How to Transplant Peak Bloodlines from the Universe, Such as the Star Sea Dragon, into the Human Race.' After browsing through the forum, Lin Yuan felt his youth and inexperience. Compared to those founders who had lived for tens of thousands or even millions of years, he felt he had little to show for himself.
"This question..." Lin Yuan's eyes suddenly paused on a particular 'post.' The description of this post was simple: For high-level evolutionists, is it better to focus on comprehending a single rule or to comprehend multiple rules simultaneously?
Evolutionists' energy and time were limited. Focusing on a single rule had its advantages, allowing one to delve deeper into its intricacies. On the other hand, exploring multiple rules could lead to unexpected breakthroughs through their interplay.
Lin Yuan scrolled through the replies to the forum post. The earliest response was from 23,000 years ago, with the general consensus being that it was better to focus on comprehending a single rule.
Over time, some evolutionists chimed in with differing opinions, arguing that comprehending multiple rules offered broader prospects. This sparked an ongoing debate that spanned over 20,000 years, with new responses appearing from time to time.
"I can answer this," Lin Yuan said, stroking his chin as he pondered the question for a while before finally finding one that he could understand. After some careful thought, Lin Yuan added his own response: "Comprehend a rule and use it to control all others."
The Tai Ji Principle that Lin Yuan established was based on this very principle. No matter how far Lin Yuan progressed in his cultivation, the foundation would always be the Tai Ji, a fusion of the Yin and Yang.
Beyond this foundation, there was no limit to the means and methods he could master. As Lin Yuan could comprehend various rules, all rules would supplement his Tai Ji Principle.
Tai Ji gives birth to all things, and with Tai Ji, all paths can be navigated.
After browsing for a while longer, Lin Yuan exited the Founder's Virtual World.
"Hmm?" Lin Yuan's eyes widened as he checked the sales figures for the fourth-stage manual. In just a few hours, nearly a hundred copies of the fourth-stage manual, priced at 50 million civilization credits each, had been sold.
To put this into perspective, the pricing for the different stages of the Martial Arts Evolution Path was as follows:
First Stage: 10,000 Second Stage: 500,000
Third Stage: 5,000,000 Fourth Stage: 50,000,000
While 50 million was indeed a large sum, it was still within the means of an evolutionist. For ordinary citizens, however, it was a fortune they could only dream of.
In the human civilization, evolutionists cultivated their evolution paths in stages. For example, a first-stage evolutionist would only purchase the first stage manual of an evolution path. They would consider buying the second stage manual once they reached the twelfth segment of the first stage.
The fourth stage of the Martial Arts Evolution Path was intended for evolutionists who had cultivated the path to the twelfth segment of the third stage. For a third-stage limit evolutionist, 50 million credits was not an unattainable sum.
However, at present, there wasn't a single cultivator who had reached the third stage of the Martial Arts Evolution Path, let alone the twelfth segment.
"It must be the effect of being featured on the Star Domain Evolution Board," Lin Yuan mused. A similar surge in sales had occurred when he uploaded the third-stage manual and topped the Canglan Evolution Board.
Lin Yuan checked the current number of cultivators of the Martial Arts Evolution Path:
First Stage: 26,783 Second Stage: 394
Third Stage: 0 "Not bad," Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction. When he had uploaded the third-stage manual, there hadn't been a single cultivator who had reached the second stage. Now, in just half a year, nearly four hundred people had advanced to the second stage.
Lin Yuan speculated that this rapid progress might be due to the wider spread of the Martial Arts Evolution Path, as well as the fact that the citizens cultivating it had favorable conditions to begin with.
While the Martial Arts Evolution Path didn't heavily rely on external resources and environments, that didn't mean that having access to better resources wouldn't accelerate one's progress.
"With 149,000 merit points, I can raise my citizen rank to the fifth level," Lin Yuan noted as he checked his merit point balance. To advance from a fourth-level citizen to a fifth-level citizen, one needed 50,000 merit points.
Without hesitation, Lin Yuan chose to advance. After a few breaths, he successfully became a fifth-level citizen.
Fifth-level citizens enjoyed even more privileges than fourth-level citizens, including the ability to command a fleet of warships for their protection.
"A fleet of warships?" Lin Yuan glanced at his newly acquired permissions. If he wished, he could immediately summon a fleet of warships from the main star of the Morning Star Galaxy to station themselves outside of Canglan Planet for his protection.
"Never mind," he decided. "It's not really necessary."
After some thought, Lin Yuan concluded that with six sixth-stage evolutionists and twelve fifth-stage evolutionists guarding him, as well as the three protection tokens granted by the Star Master, summoning a fleet of warships would be excessive and might even draw unwanted attention. After all, the movement of a fleet of warships would be much harder to keep discreet compared to when Hou Ming and the others had arrived.
Time passed, and ten days later, Lin Yuan suddenly opened his eyes. "It's time for the fourth shuttle," he said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
The majestic light gate in the depths of his mind was now completely illuminated, indicating that he could attempt the fourth shuttle at any time.
"Let's try again," Lin Yuan said as he gathered his consciousness at the light gate, simultaneously extending a strand of his consciousness beyond it. This allowed him to gain some preliminary information about the world he was about to shuttle into.
During the third shuttle, he had used this method to learn that the world he was entering was related to warfare and to gain insights into its world flow speed.
A moment later, the strand of Lin Yuan's consciousness entered the light gate.
Boom! His consciousness arrived in a vast world, roughly ten times the size of the World of Divine Weapons. From a distance, he could make out five continents, each one larger than dozens of Canglan Planets.
"Warfare," Lin Yuan whispered, sensing the endless turmoil and disasters that plagued this world.
In the next moment, his strand of consciousness was obliterated.
Back in the real world, Lin Yuan fell into deep thought as he processed the information he had received from his brief connection with the new world.
First was the duration of his stay. This time, he would be shuttling into the new world for 200 years, with half a month passing in the main world for every 200 years there.
"200 years," Lin Yuan noted. This duration was slightly longer than his stay in the World of Divine Weapons but marked a decrease in the rate of increase compared to the previous shuttles.
"Warfare? Disaster?" Lin Yuan recalled the sensations he had felt.
Afterward, Lin Yuan informed Hou Ming, the captain of his sixth-stage evolutionist guard team, that he would be entering seclusion for half a month and was not to be disturbed during that time.
He then made his way to the nutrition cabin and carefully stored the three protection tokens before settling into the cabin.
With one last check to ensure he hadn't overlooked anything, Lin Yuan took a deep breath and activated the Myriad Worlds Gate, his consciousness being drawn into the gate.
(End of Chapter)
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