The calm sea began to boil, the entire world trembled, and the crystal wall spread outward at a visible speed.
A new continent rose on the other side of the ocean. Initially bare, it soon saw its mountains and rivers constantly changing and expanding, as if a great hand from the creator was shaping the world, infusing the newborn continent with boundless life in just a few days.
Great rivers flowed majestically, ancient trees stood verdant, and mountains stretched like waves or towered like sword edges.
The sun, moon, and stars hanging high in the sky rotated dozens, even hundreds of times faster than usual. Sunrise, sunset, stars filling the night sky… the passage of time itself seemed to have accelerated hundreds of times.
The old continent also underwent earth-shattering changes.
The only thing that remained unchanged, perhaps, was the base suspended in mid-air… no, the Sky City.
This was the Xin Huo Secret Realm.
Fang You quickly used the World Origin Stones and Secret Realm Stones obtained from the Central Trial Ground on Blue Star and the Xin Huo Secret Realm.
The investment of over a hundred Secret Realm Stones;
The promotion brought by several rounds of Blue Star’s expansion;
The vast accumulation required for the Xin Huo Secret Realm to advance from Lv6 to Lv7 was finally met. The secret realm was promoted, and its earth-shattering changes began.
This transformation lasted for several days.
Fang You felt it most deeply.
His vision, senses, and the secret realm were inextricably linked. As the secret realm advanced, he felt like a creator, possessing omnipotent power.
"This must be an illusion, but this power of creation is not an illusion. It just seems a bit profound."
He mused, his consciousness spreading out, a single thought scanning the Xin Huo Secret Realm at that moment.
The Lv7 Xin Huo Secret Realm could no longer be adequately called a 'secret realm'. Its area was no less than the original Blue Star, and its resources, the stability of its world crystal walls, and the richness of its life far surpassed ordinary or even high-level worlds.
Secret realms were characterized by their smallness, but they were small yet complete, condensing countless essences into one.
A secret realm that had integrated several Secret Realm Stones and had been managed for a period was comparable in stature to an ordinary world. And the Xin Huo Secret Realm? Quantitatively speaking, the secret realm had integrated hundreds of Secret Realm Stones, its power as vast as it was indescribable.
Blue Star’s stature could not be quantified by levels, but with the integration of as many as 5 World Origin Stones, the changes on Blue Star were equally immense.
Several more new continental plates emerged.
On the new and old continents, some intelligent life even began to appear.
There were human lives, as well as some special fantastical beings.
These all evolved within a few days or weeks. Compared to the creation of mountains and trees, these were truly the great power of a creator.
However, the experience Blue Star’s changes brought him was not as deep and clear as the secret realm’s promotion.
After all, he only held the highest authority over Blue Star.
He looked towards various parts of Blue Star.
Since Blue Star began to expand a few years ago, giving rise to new continental plates, the base cities on Blue Star had dispatched exploration teams to land on these new continents, mine resources, and build cities.
To this day, in addition to the initial 16 base cities, Blue Star had built another 33 base cities.
These base cities were distributed on the continents of the old Blue Star or located along the coasts of the new continents.
However, compared to the vastness of Blue Star today, humanity’s footprint seemed even smaller. The speed at which exploration teams opened up new continents was far from matching the speed at which Blue Star’s land was expanding.
"Other human forces complain that their oases are too small, while here, Blue Star is too vast, and there are too few people to manage it all. It’s a happy problem."
Blue Star’s stature was very high, and the land it gave birth to was by no means infertile.
This place was not like an oasis with infinitely exploitable resource nodes. Instead, it was somewhat similar to the shallow layers of the Ghost Realm – new continents were filled with materials and treasures everywhere.
Even if the first batch of materials were all mined and excavated, over time, new materials would emerge from the continents and oceans.
It just took a relatively long time. The Great Wind Novel Network.
Blue Star was now a super-large treasure land, yet only a very small part of it had been opened up.
Blue Star’s population numbered in the billions, which was a lot before, but now it was too little.
And among them, awakened individuals capable of going out to explore and collect resources were even fewer.
In recent years, Xin Huo had also rescued many small oases on the verge of collapse and relocated them to a new continent on Blue Star.
The people of these small oases also participated in the opening-up efforts, building their own villages and towns.
However, a small oasis often had only a few thousand inhabitants. Even if a hundred small oases were rescued and relocated, the population growth was still a drop in the bucket.
The purpose of rescue was not about the number of people, but about saving them.
"Billions of people are actually not few. The reason the development progress seems slow is simply because too little time has passed."
"Overall, Blue Star’s promotion has brought significant long-term benefits. Short-term benefits are also not insignificant. For example, as Blue Star expands, the number and rank of evil spirits generated within the Blue Star world are also increasing."
This was beneficial for Blue Star at present.
Blue Star lacked a sufficient number of awakened individuals, making it impossible to clear out evil spirits inch by inch. However, Blue Star had powerful individuals. Following the six-star and seven-star evil spirits displayed on the map radar and regularly clearing out areas where evil spirits congregated, they could reap a large number of Destiny Points.
The income from Destiny Points was continuously increasing.
…
Blue Star, Sixth Continent.
This was the sixth continent born after Blue Star’s promotion, hence its name.
At the northern end of the continent stood a majestic base city, named Kaiyang Base City. Starting from this base city, towns and strongholds continuously spread inland.
However, compared to the vast Sixth Continent, this human safe zone still occupied a very small area.
Beyond the stronghold fortresses were giant trees tens or even hundreds of meters tall. The roars of evil spirits could be heard from afar, and wisps of gray mist drifted through the air, making the originally lush giant forest appear extraordinarily sinister.
The awakened individuals were not afraid.
This was the most common sight in the Mysterious Era and on the new continents.
Primitive, cold, and uninhabited. But this also meant that deeper within the forest lay countless materials and treasures, waiting for explorers to discover.
Kaiyang Base City, 9th Exploration Zone, 36th Outpost.
This was the forefront of the base city’s radiation range, beyond which lay dangerous wilderness.
On this day,
"Whoosh—"
A train, entirely black, like a giant python tens of meters long, glided in from a distance and slowly stopped at the train station of the 36th Outpost.
Sunlight streamed down, making the train’s body, like a giant python, sparkle with a brilliant glow. However, some of the surface coating was slightly mottled, and in some places, blood from red, gray, and green evil spirits was splattered. Furthermore, a large evil spirit limb, several meters long, hung conspicuously from the train, being dragged along and leaving terrifying bloody trails.
This outpost was already the furthest and most inland outpost from the base city.
Even though it was still within the exploration zone, reaching this outpost from Kaiyang Base City required passing through several stretches of wilderness, and encountering evil spirits or even evil spirit tides was not uncommon.
—Evil spirits also bred within the outpost.
The explorers were not afraid at all. The ones who should be afraid were the evil spirits. Often, an evil spirit would emerge from the Ghost Realm and, upon arriving at this outpost, would be met by at least several awakened individuals.
Explorers now treated ordinary evil spirits as entertainment.
And within the outpost, even an ordinary vendor was an awakened individual.
The truly safe places were Kaiyang Base City and its four satellite cities, as well as eight fortress towns. Those places were built with the legendary Dawn Lighthouse.
Under the protection of the light of dawn, humans were immune to all evil.
"The train has arrived at the station. This is the terminal station, 'Outpost 36 Station'. We wish all explorers good fortune in their martial endeavors and a safe return."
The doors of the Winged Serpent-class train opened, and a dense crowd of awakened individuals disembarked.
Most of them were experienced veteran explorers, their backpacks bulging, already carrying various instruments, tools, and potions needed for external exploration.
They were also wearing third or fourth-generation combat suits and wielding white or green grade weapons that had also undergone several generations of improvements.
Only a very few explorers wore casual clothing and had no bulging backpacks.
These people were either lunatics or powerhouses. The latter had already stored the required supplies and items in their storage ghost artifacts.
"Storage ghost artifacts…"
Some explorers envied.
"I heard that storage ghost artifacts have developed their fourth generation, and the price has dropped by another 30%, but I still can't afford it at all."
"Indeed. They are usually only usable by non-human level powerhouses."
"After all, the demand for storage-type ghost artifacts is too high, and the materials are very rare and scarce. The price cannot truly drop to civilian levels. Now there is at least some hope."
"However, compared to storage ghost artifacts, I’d rather be able to get into the training camp, but it’s too difficult. I’ve tried six times and still haven’t gotten in."
"Wow, brother, you're amazing. I gave up after trying twice, seeing no hope at all."
The end of the universe is taking civil service exams.
The vast majority of wild awakened individuals dreamed of getting into the training camp. As long as they could study at the training camp, they would be absolute powerhouses in the eyes of their old friends when they emerged.
Unfortunately, the training camp assessments were too stringent.
A young man who was already a third-tier awakened individual sighed.
"If we were born a few or a dozen years later, we could have entered the junior training camp through the junior high and high school channels. I heard that the selection criteria for the junior training camp are much more lenient."
An uncle beside him shook his head, "The junior training camp is easier, but it's still a fierce competition."
He paused, "The cultivation environment we have now is very generous. Even if we can't enter the training camp, we can still awaken and become stronger. You should know that back then, even the first awakening had a high risk. Awakening was gambling with your life. How could it be like now, where everyone has a chance to awaken?"
"Yes…"
The sighing youth nodded, "But Uncle Yang, you've already broken through to the fourth awakening and become a non-human. Haven't you thought about applying for the adult training camp? With your abilities, your chances of passing should be very high, right?"
"I'm old. Irregular awakenings in my early years left some hidden dangers. Even if I could get into the training camp, I wouldn't have much potential to advance further. The future belongs to you young people."
"Besides, my child is promising. He was admitted to the basic training camp last semester. As a father, I naturally have to support him and provide him with more assistance."
Uncle Yang, whose surname was Yang, couldn't help but smile as he said this. "The current environment is very good for being an explorer. Not only is the income high, but you can also contribute to the country and the Blue Star Alliance."
He patted the sighing youth's shoulder, "Let's go. We'll register at the Explorer Association first."
The Explorer Association was the most magnificent and eye-catching building in this outpost, without exception.
Similar association outposts were located in various places on the new continent.
The Explorer Association was responsible for organizing and registering explorers, communicating and issuing missions, and also handled the recycling of explored materials.
The recycling prices at the Explorer Association were slightly lower than on the market, but the slight reduction saved a lot of time and hassle, and was safer.
Most explorers chose to sell their materials in bulk directly at the association.
Explorers had become the hottest profession on Blue Star.
Explorers were indeed very profitable. Sometimes, if an explorer found epic-grade materials or treasures, they could become rich overnight. However, even more profitable was Xin Huo, and Teacher Fang.
He did not lower the purchase price of materials; there was no need to.
He wished his explorers could earn more money. When they earned enough money, they would update their equipment, buy potions, or cultivate items to improve their strength.
In the end, wealth still flowed into Xin Huo's pockets.
Xin Huo obtained materials and resources, Blue Star awakened individuals continuously improved their strength, and the dangerous new continent was opened up… this formed a virtuous cycle.
It fully leveraged the value of awakened individuals as laborers.
"This is truly good."
Teacher Fang cast his gaze towards several other exploration base cities and nodded slightly.
This was the Blue Star of the new era, where everything was moving forward positively.
We must not let the Evil God ruin it.
His gaze continued forward, sweeping across the uninhabited deep mountains and ancient forests of the new continent. He looked for a full hour before withdrawing his gaze with satisfaction.
"The scenery of the mountains and rivers is beautiful."
"As expected of Blue Star, which I have nurtured with so many World Origin Stones, growing bit by bit."
He thought.
His divine sense suddenly detected something, and he exclaimed, "Oh?"
"A vast but hazy consciousness."
He could not see this consciousness; it seemed like an illusion.
But the intangible connection told him that this vast consciousness truly existed.
This is…
"Blue Star consciousness!"
High-level worlds had the opportunity to give birth to world consciousness. Blue Star’s stature had already surpassed this, and its promotion to a high-level world had only happened in the last few years.
After several years of brewing, a hazy consciousness was finally born.
"The data states that worlds with autonomous consciousness are more capable of resisting external disasters, but most world consciousnesses are very hazy and have no concrete form of existence."
"As for how to communicate with world consciousness…?"
Sorry, there is no data on this.
Perhaps communication is impossible at all.
He thought.
The vast and hazy consciousness drifted towards him, rubbing against him like a kitten or puppy, very affectionately.