Chapter 832
"Those with insufficient talent?" Vianis was momentarily stunned by the phrase, not expecting to hear it from Ke Mu.
In the past two centuries, the Empire had only seen three new True Immortals emerge, and Ke Mu was one of them. By any measure, "insufficient talent" seemed utterly unfitting for him.
"I despise this antiquated nation. It grants no opportunities whatsoever to those with insufficient talent."
"..."
To speak of despising the nation right in front of her, the Empress, left Vianis at a loss for words.
Ke Mu's sentiments stemmed from his own past.
A childhood friend of his, hampered by poor aptitude, would have needed to spend several times the amount of other cultivators to acquire rare spirit items just to have a glimmer of hope for advancement.
However, the Empire had, at that time, already enacted strict property restriction laws, stipulating that personal assets must not exceed the limits permitted by one's cultivation level. Violators faced severe penalties.
Ke Mu's friend thus fell into a dead end, eventually dying of melancholy.
"The cultivation resources in this world are finite..." Vianis tried to express her viewpoint delicately.
"So, those with insufficient talent, are they to be deprived even of the chance to try?"
"..."
"I refused to believe it, which is why I created the Boundless Magic Net."
...
"Are first-tier Magic Net Mages, with only eight spell slots... perhaps too weak?" After a long silence, Vianis steered the conversation back to the Black Magic system. She had no desire to dwell too much on such fundamental ideological differences with her ally.
A first-tier cultivator following the traditional path of a wizard, mage, or arcanist would possess enough power to cast twenty to thirty ordinary spells in a single battle.
Yet, a mage who relied on the Magic Net for casting could only prepare eight spells in advance. It was practically no different from a gun that needed to be loaded.
Once they expended their few "bullets," they immediately became useless.
"I've optimized it as much as I could. The power of Black Magic isn't easily controlled. Eight spell slots were the limit of my experiments; any more, and their spiritual power simply couldn't handle it."
"..."
There were many ways for mortals to touch the transcendent, but the Magic Net was arguably the cheapest. And cheap, after all, always came with a price.
"I will unveil the Magic Net to the world today."
"I will endorse the Magic Net in the Empire's name."
...
The next day, the Empire held a press conference at the Pangaea Palace in Mariejois, announcing the existence of the Boundless Magic Net.
It instantly ignited a fervor among the many fleet societies connected to the Spirit Net.
After all, for merely a few hundred coins to purchase some inexpensive spell materials, mortals had the chance to touch the transcendent. Compared to the previous costs that routinely exceeded millions, its appeal to commoners was indeed immense.
In days past, many charlatans would exploit this banner to swindle people, proclaiming "spiritual medicine packs" that could enable mortals to cultivate immortality. They'd claim "not seven or eight thousand, not three or four thousand, but just nine hundred ninety-eight," specifically targeting those infatuated with cultivation but short on funds.
After centuries of such antics, places with even slightly informed populations no longer fell for these old, foolish scams.
Only a few extremely isolated fleet societies could still be reeled in.
But today, the news came directly from the Pangaea Palace, spoken personally by Her Majesty the Empress.
Under all of heaven, no charlatan dared to impersonate the Emperor or the Electors to deceive people.
For they all possessed "Word Spirit," allowing them to perceive anyone who dared to utter their names.
...
"Counting the Magic Guild's four thousand disciples, over one hundred and fifty thousand people have already activated the power of Magic Net Mages." Less than two hours after the press conference, Ke Mu and Vianis in the Pangaea Palace watched the constantly increasing points of light on the Magic Net projection model, their gazes growing ever more complex.
According to real-time data, among the more than three thousand Grand Fleet Flagships connected to the Spiritual Energy Internet, over eighty billion people had already watched Vianis's live broadcast.
As for the numerous noble flagships beyond the Grand Fleet Flagships that weren't connected to the Spirit Net, their data was difficult to compile.
On these private territories, a large proportion of lords chose to block the Spirit Net, especially those who were Divine Path cultivators.
Aside from a few special Divine Path cultivators who followed the idol path and needed to use the power of the internet to spread information about their existence and cultivate fans across worlds, other Divine Path cultivators were generally more closed-off and conservative.
"One hundred and fifty thousand people?" Hearing this unexpectedly high number, Ke Mu seemed to be in good spirits.
He had originally estimated that two to three tens of thousands activating the Magic Net's power immediately would be quite good, but ultimately, he had underestimated mortals' obsession with transcendent power.
...
Qi Luck.
Massive amounts of Qi Luck began to gather in the Pangaea Palace.
The Empire had been peaceful for centuries; indeed, as Ke Mu had said earlier, it was peace that bordered on stagnation, like a pool of still water.
Its structure had become highly solidified. Especially after the property restriction laws were enacted, the number of new cultivators at Five Tiers and above gradually dwindled, and the hope of becoming new nobility became increasingly slim.
As a result, over two hundred years, the Empire's population increased by trillions, yet only three new True Immortals emerged in total.
And one of them was from the demon race's side, a Divine Path demon cultivator who called himself the "Rabbit Buddha."
Never had there been such drastic changes in Qi Luck.
The insane influx of Qi Luck made Vianis feel somewhat ethereal, as if she could, with a mere flick of her finger, push open the door to True Immortality.
However, after a half-second of distraction, she forcibly suppressed this impulse with her formidable willpower.
She hadn't yet completed her entire plan. The Reincarnation Tribulation was fraught with unpredictable dangers, and she absolutely could not go to another world to undergo it now.
Ke Mu himself also received the blessing of massive Qi Luck.
Although his primary goal wasn't to acquire Qi Luck that stirred up storms, being able to incidentally collect such treasures that could reduce the difficulty of the Reincarnation Tribulation was an unexpected boon.
...
Yuan Yang Realm, Nanyazhou.
The flow of time in this world seemed to differ from the outside.
While only a mere few months had passed outside, decades had already elapsed within the Yuan Yang Realm.
Every few years, Mo Fengwu would come to pay respects to her adoptive father, Mo Tianxie.
And each time she performed her respects, she would see the White Daoist beside the tomb.
"Senior, we meet again." Carrying three gourds of spirit wine, a slightly flushed Mo Fengwu arrived, riding the wind.
In the Yuan Yang Realm's environment, akin to a pit for venomous insects, she had slain person after person and demon after demon, seizing resource after resource, completely numbing herself in an endless cycle of killing and plundering for treasures.
Now, she was already a Golden Core cultivator, a figure who, in many smaller and medium-sized sects, could be addressed as an Old Ancestor.
"Senior, would you like a drink? It's a treasured collection from the Spirit Lake Sect; I just 'liberated' it." After dozens of encounters with the other party, Mo Fengwu had become completely relaxed, speaking with extreme casualness.
"..."
"I'm a little tired."
"..."
"Senior, tell me, what exactly should we do to escape this damned 'involutionary' world?" After pouring herself another two cups, Mo Fengwu, now even more intoxicated, continued to ask herself.
Approximately twenty years ago, as more and more cultivators in the Yuan Yang Realm began to systematically ponder everything that had happened in recent years, a term named "involution" was born and spread to describe the current situation..
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