While bloodline transplantation dominated at the time, a significant portion of people refused to accept becoming neither human nor beast. They poured their resources into the other two research directions, hoping for further advancements that would make them comparable to bloodline transplantation.
Abundant research funding, coupled with the mutated flora and fauna brought back by the beastmen, undoubtedly propelled the research into inducing human abilities and gene enhancement, leading to increasingly refined results in both fields.
Finally, twenty-five years after the spiritual energy resurgence, researchers finally identified the key to ability activation and invented ability potential detection instruments. These instruments could analyze a person's probability of activating an ability and what type of ability they might awaken.
Essentially, this was akin to the cultivation world's spiritual root detection, determining a person's general type or attribute of ability. Then, mutated flora and fauna of that attribute were used to create ability-inducing activation potions. This dramatically increased the success rate of ability activation to over ninety percent, while the mortality rate plummeted to one in ten thousand, making it safe for normal use.
Concurrently, the researchers leading gene enhancement introduced the first set of Gene Body Tempering techniques. Those who chose gene enhancement merely needed to expend significant resources initially to unlock their potential and open their gene chains. Afterward, they could directly improve their gene enhancement level through the first set of Gene Body Tempering techniques, with a cultivation progress comparable to bloodline transplantation. Of course, those with sufficient funds could continue to invest resources, accelerating their gene enhancement speed.
With these two alternative paths that didn't require transforming into beasts, individuals who underwent bloodline transplantation gradually became less popular. This was especially true as those who chose gene enhancement and ability paths grew stronger, becoming capable of directly confronting mutated flora and fauna, and their dependence on beastmen significantly decreased. Consequently, the status of beastmen inevitably began to decline.
They were even viewed as outsiders. No normal human was willing to intermarry with them. Although the human government still recognized them as humans, society had effectively ostracized them, treating them as non-human. They could only intermarry within their own kind.
Furthermore, for them to successfully procreate, the transplanted bloodlines of the partners could not differ too greatly. For instance, individuals with Black Bear, Brown Bear, and Polar Bear bloodlines could conceive normally. However, they could not combine with bloodlines like horses, cats, or dogs. Such unions would either result in no offspring or produce even stranger beasts. They might give birth to bloodlines of higher-level legendary divine beasts, or stillborns, monsters, or even bizarre, irrational beasts incapable of transforming back into humans.
Overall, the probability of birthing a divine beast bloodline was extremely low, on the order of one in a hundred million. Therefore, it was generally accepted that they could only marry within their own type. Marrying within their own clan was even better.
However, if they combined with ability users or gene enhancers, there were fewer restrictions, and the probability of their offspring inheriting the beast bloodline was fifty-fifty. But such occurrences were more common in the early stages. As time went on, it became increasingly difficult for beastmen to find non-beastmen to marry. Over time, although beastmen were nominally considered the same species as humans, they had been relegated to the status of lower class citizens. Many schools and workplaces did not accept them, forcing them to attend beastmen-only schools.
Later, as humanity gradually suppressed mutated animals and plants, ventured into space, and even discovered new habitable planets, the Beastmen were expelled to these new planets through a vote by the Human Alliance Council. This move served both to prevent beastmen from cohabiting with humans and to have them act as pioneers on the new planets, bearing all the associated risks for humanity.
Thousands of years ago, migrations from north to south were fraught with danger and casualties. Interplanetary migration, with its unknown animals, plants, and even environmental conditions, posed even greater fatal risks. Deceiving the beastmen with various incentives was undoubtedly the best option.
Of course, despite the reality of the situation, the Human Alliance Council presented a public front. They officially acknowledged the discrimination against beastmen and stated they couldn't force everyone to be accepting. They announced that the human space exploration team had discovered the first habitable planet, and if beastmen migrated there, they could own the entire planet and live without discrimination, ruling themselves.
Beastmen, tired of being ostracized and scorned, were easily swayed and agreed. After their immigration to the new planet, a multitude of pitfalls awaited them. While they didn't arrive completely empty-handed, they couldn't bring much, and most of what they brought was unsuitable for the new planet. It was no exaggeration to say they were starting from scratch. The resources required to terraform and conquer a planet were immense, beyond the capacity of any single beastman or even their collective efforts.
At this point, the Human Alliance Council enthusiastically offered loans and various resources. It didn't matter if they couldn't repay the money; they could use their mineral wealth to settle the debts after developing the planet. Beastmen, due to the influence of bloodline transplantation, generally had slightly lower intelligence, even those with fox bloodlines were not as intelligent as normal humans. Consequently, they quickly fell into the trap and began borrowing to develop the planet.
The blood, sweat, and sacrifices of the beastmen throughout this process are self-evident. It was not a task that could be accomplished by a single generation. Due to the slow pace of development, the loan interest continuously compounded. After beastmen spent over a hundred years developing the new planet to a considerable extent, a staggering ninety percent of the planet's valuable mineral veins had to be used to repay the loans. Failure to repay or further delays would result in the confiscation and auction of the planet to settle the debt.
Thus, the Human Alliance Council not only successfully developed the new planet with minimal effort but also acquired over ninety percent of its valuable resources, effectively resolving the "beastman problem." It was a win-win-win situation.
It was from that point onward that the beastmen officially broke ties with humanity. However, even so, they continued to suffer various forms of oppression and exploitation. Were it not for advanced technology and abundant resources, even basic sustenance might have been a problem.
Of course, none of this relates to the original host's death. The original host was born into the Bearman tribe, with a black bear father and a brown bear mother. However, the original host born from their union resembled a small, pink mouse. Beastmen had significantly suppressed historical and cultural knowledge, and their understanding was based on common sense. Therefore, the original host's father naturally assumed his wife had cheated and initiated a violent altercation.
After a fierce fight, they divorced within a day and abandoned the original host. Later, the original host was found and raised by a couple with hamster bloodlines. When they first found the original host, they mistook them for a rat. As the original host grew fur, they realized their mistake but had already grown attached and couldn't bear to abandon them, so they raised them.
Beastmen are born with memories. The original host remembered these events clearly. However, memories from one to five years old were blurry. This was because beastmen were born in their beast form and only transformed into humans at one year old. Upon transforming into humans, they inherited human characteristics. Their infant memories were quite indistinct. They had to remain in human form until they were ten years old to activate their bloodline, allowing them to freely transform into their beast form and begin cultivating.
However, the couple with hamster bloodlines did not raise the original host for free. To help them raise their own children, the original host began working at the age of ten. This was unavoidable. After the couple activated their hamster bloodlines, their innate divine ability was the hamster's reproductive capacity; they were prolific breeders, with an average of one litter per year, each containing seventeen or eighteen offspring. Since the newborns were in hamster embryo form, there was no issue with fitting them. Over a decade, the original host gained a hundred and ninety-eight younger siblings, not including those who died young, which could have brought the total to over three hundred.
These younger siblings were manageable when they were first born. As they were small, raising them was not arduous. However, once they reached one year old, the cost of raising them became astronomical. After turning one, they all transformed into human form. The cost of raising a human infant was obviously vastly different from raising a hamster. Local poverty relief agencies fled upon seeing them. Although subsidies were eventually applied for, they were a mere drop in the ocean.
Since their pregnancies were a result of their innate divine ability, sterilization was ineffective unless their bloodlines were ruined. Thus, they had to work themselves to death to earn money to support their numerous children. Furthermore, once the first batch of hamster beastmen turned ten, they were made to work to support those under ten.
The original host, considering herself an elder sister, the eldest child in the family, and a bear-like creature far stronger and more resilient than her younger siblings, felt it was her responsibility to bear a greater burden. Therefore, she worked relentlessly. Relying on her robust physique, she worked nineteen hours a day, endured beatings, and scrimped on food and drink. Consequently, she understandably worked herself to death.
After reviewing these memories, Ding Yun couldn't help but shudder. A family with a hundred and ninety-eight siblings was terrifying. No wonder not only the original host only received a rudimentary education but also her younger siblings were illiterate. It was a miracle they survived, let alone received any formal education. It was too dreadful, truly too dreadful.
Fortunately, Ding Yun was well-traveled and quickly calmed her emotions. She retrieved the randomly assigned golden finger for this instance, bound it, and began to examine it. The result brought her immense joy, as this golden finger was incredibly suitable. It was practically a savior; her family's children would finally not go hungry.
The golden finger she randomly obtained this time was called:
The Portable Gourmet Planet.