Chapter 518: Faith
Compared to those who had lived through the pre-Earth era and experienced different systems, the issue of system dependency was actually more severe among the new generation born after the establishment of the Land of White.
On one hand, the system incorporated all the functions of traditional smartphones; in a sense, the internal terminal and retinal imaging completely replaced the mobile phone as an external device.
From major functions like communication and entertainment to minor details like choosing today's lunch or checking the arrival time of the next bus, everything could be accomplished through the system's programmed interface.
On the other hand, the issue lay in emotions. The system was virtually the intelligent life form they had interacted with for the longest time since birth, treating everyone without discrimination.
This point might not be obvious to those with harmonious social lives; in their eyes, the system was merely one of their close contacts.
But for some who were neglected by their families for various reasons, who were introverted and self-abasing, often isolated and looked down upon, a system that treated everyone absolutely equally and occasionally allowed for limited communication was undoubtedly a beacon in the dark.
Their trust and emotional investment in the system even surpassed that for blood relatives with whom they had strained relationships. Most problems would be confided to the system, even if the pure white light in their minds remained silent most of the time.
...
As time passed, Bai Mo, as the sentient aspect of the Destiny System, discovered faint wisps of Faith Power quietly coalescing.
Given enough time, even if Bai Mo had no intention of becoming a god, he was very likely to be elevated to godhood because of the system.
...
"The system can even project our consciousness into other worlds!"
"By the omnipotent System above, I hope I can live for a few more decades after my body modification on Earth is complete." A middle-aged man, whose true age was no longer young, silently prayed.
"Yes, this alone makes it worth staying on Earth!"
After waking up and generally figuring out the situation, the crowd gathered in small groups, chatting back and forth. They were all ordinary people who had been tested and found to have no cultivation talent, once the most stifled yet most numerous group in the era of Spirit Qi.
Through nearly two decades of census-taking, only about five percent of the total human population possessed the talent for cultivating Spirit Arts, spells, or witchcraft, enabling them to self-initiate their cultivation path without relying on elixirs, merely by using foundational techniques.
The remaining ninety-five percent could, in theory, achieve immortal cultivation as mortals by utilizing certain special heavenly materials and earthly treasures, but the required resources forced the vast majority to give up.
Furthermore, as humanity engaged in near-extinctive exploitation of various cultivation treasures and the concentration of Spirit Qi declined, the cost of forcibly breaking through this barrier soared.
Someone once lamented that in the second year of the Spirit Tide's outbreak, even those without Spirit Arts talent only needed one million Huaxia coins to begin cultivating. By the tenth year, that figure had become ten million.
Finally, by the time the Human Federation left Earth, the total value of treasures required just to take the first step had exceeded eighty million.
The exorbitant cost deterred ordinary people, truly fulfilling the saying, "Cultivating the Dao can ruin a family."
In contrast, cultivation in the Martial Path had lower requirements for innate talent, but the initial body tempering phase was a massive drain on resources, and advancement still posed a considerably high threshold for mental willpower.
Conversely, various cultivation techniques and tutorials, due to the endless suppression of piracy, could mostly be acquired at low prices. Unfortunately, much like the college entrance examination, even with cheap study materials flying everywhere, only a select few could consistently achieve high scores.
...
Aside from no one being able to grasp the true essence of Spirit Qi, the so-called cultivation aptitude was equally a profound and abstruse mystery.
Over twenty years, wave after wave of researchers dedicated themselves to the question of cultivation aptitude, from the non-invasive full-body scans of Dove Faction researchers to the vivisection performed by seasoned Eagle Faction dark researchers.
Sadly, all research eventually pointed to the same conclusion—everything was just God rolling the dice, a random draw to see who got lucky.
...
"I've read the system's overall plan. This time, a hundred thousand people have come, and the ultimate goal is to seize something called a "Source Seed" and bring it back to the main base to preserve it for a year."
"Listening to this objective, it feels more like a competition."
"I feel the same way. Stealing something is one thing, but the goal is just to keep it for a year after stealing it..."
"Are you saying this is a real alternate world? Or is it just a virtual world created by the system?"
"It wouldn't have any reason to lie, would it? For so many years, I haven't heard of the system ever speaking falsely."
"That's true."
"What's your mission? Mine is to build a solar-powered life support factory."
"I'm a solar receiver panel. What even is a life support factory?"
"No idea, never heard of it before."
"You don't even know what you're building, and you dare to do it?"
"Just follow the system's instructions, you can't go wrong!"
"The system's encyclopedia has information on this life support factory, let me see... Solar-powered life support factory, its main equipment consists of high-efficiency external photosynthetic enzyme devices. Each unit can produce approximately three tons of starch per day."
"According to the mission brief, since we're going to war with the indigenous civilization to compete for wild Source Seeds, they will definitely impose a food blockade. Production from near this city alone won't be enough to sustain us, so we'll need to rely on synthetic starch as our main food source in the early stages."
"But where would we get the industrial mother machines to manufacture these devices..."
"The system says there's a batch of equipment and some weapons in the tower north of the city."
"It's just like a game, starting with a base vehicle, and everything else you have to build yourself."
...
Aside from the identities and stakes of both parties being concealed, all the detailed rules of the wager between Bai Mo and Star Compass were displayed in the system's announcement.
Long before he even conceived this plan, he had used his psychic powers to perform molecular-level 3D printing, conjuring a large batch of starting equipment out of thin air.
These were hidden deep within the lowest levels of the "Telescope" tower, precisely for this day, so that the arriving individuals wouldn't have to waste too much time building an industrial system from scratch.
...
"It's your turn." Star Compass handed the semi-finished Judgment Array to Bai Mo, for him to inject a portion of his power and complete the other half of their agreement.
It didn't understand industrial systems and naturally couldn't comprehend what Bai Mo had been secretly manipulating. However, from the relaxed expressions of the people below, Star Compass instinctively sensed that something wasn't quite right.
P.S.: Recommending a book, "Hearthstone: Dominate the World". It's a fanfic for Hearthstone fans, if you play it, you can check it out..
Comments