Chapter 57: Increasing Citizenship Rank, Blue Star’s Shock (3)
While Grey was busy creating his own mansion and exploring the new perks he had obtained from his citizenship level, the world outside was going crazy.
Tonight, many people on Blue Star would be sleepless.
The Aether Evolutionary Path had already been uploaded to the Blue Star Network. The instant it appeared, the Evolutionary Path Rankings of Blue Star changed drastically, and people who always kept an eye on such things immediately noticed.
Soon, an entire discussion erupted across the internet.
"The Evolutionary Ranking just updated! Could it be... a new evolutionary path has been uploaded?"
"How long has it been since the last one?"
"It’s been five years! The last one—the Knight Evolutionary Path—became especially popular among young evolvers, particularly ordinary ones. Its success rate of reaching the second rank was relatively high. Unlike martial arts, which required comprehension of the Yin and Yang Laws to advance to the middle stage of second rank, this path only demanded mastery of the Law of Strength—a much simpler task. Its potential is capped at the peak of second rank, but that was already more than enough, since most evolvers never even surpass the second rank’s barrier, let alone reach its peak. That’s why it became so popular."
"Enough chit-chat! Let’s check the Evolutionary Rankings and see what new path was added!"
Everyone immediately shifted their focus to the rankings.
They began with the standard Evolutionary Chart—a general list displaying every path capable of producing evolvers.
Next came the ranking for paths capable of reaching Rank Four, and there were only five in total.
At the top three, as always, were the Immortal Cultivation, Martial Arts, and Esper Paths. Ranked fourth was the Bloodline Evolutionary Path, which strengthened its practitioners through the infusion of powerful beast bloodlines. Fifth was the Elemental Evolutionary Path, which harnessed the powers of fire, water, wood, and other elements to grow stronger.
Then came the ranking for paths capable of reaching Rank Three, with ten in total.
Among them were notable paths such as the Meridian Flame Evolutionary Path (ranked sixth), the Stone Body Evolutionary Path (seventh), and the Spirit Vitalizing Evolutionary Path (eighth). These were all direct subsidiary branches of the top three evolutionary paths—created by ancient scholars to help more people evolve and grow strong.
Below these were the sub-paths derived from the Bloodline and Elemental Paths.
The Beast Transformation Evolutionary Path, ranked ninth, allowed its practitioners to partially transform into beasts, growing stronger with each stage as they gradually awakened powerful abilities.
Finally, there was the Element Soul Evolutionary Path. It borrowed elements from the Esper Path, focusing not only on elemental power but also on nurturing the soul. However, its immense resource consumption made advancement difficult, earning it the tenth rank.
Below that was the Rank Two category, where the number of paths increased significantly—reaching over seventy. The top ten remained the same, with eleventh onward filled with subsidiary paths inspired by the mainstream ones.
"Hm, I don’t see any changes in the top twenty. Did the new path fail to even reach that far? How disappointing."
"H-Hey, guys! Check the Evolutionary Ranking Chart for first-rank paths!"
"Huh? What happened?"
Everyone opened the chart for first-rank paths—and immediately fell silent.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"WHAT THE F*CK?!"
"Am I seeing things?!"
"H-How is this possible?!"
The rankings had changed.
The Immortal Cultivation Path had been dethroned.
In its place stood a brand-new evolutionary path—The Aether Evolutionary Path.
"How could this happen?! The top three have never changed for countless years! It’s been the same since ancient times! How could it suddenly shift like this?!"
"That’s right, it must be a system error!"
"Yeah! How else can a newly uploaded path surpass the top three?!"
"E-Everyone! I reported it to the Eterna System—and this is what it replied with!"
The attached message read:
"The Evolutionary Path Ranking Chart has been verified to contain no errors. The issue you reported does not exist."
Silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
Everyone stared at the screen in disbelief.
There was no room for doubt—the ultimate AI that governed all of Blue Star itself had confirmed it.
The Aether Evolutionary Path had surpassed the top three in the realm of first-rank evolvers.
"Everyone, download it! I want to see what makes this path so special!"
One by one, members of the Evolutionary Research and Oversight Community began reading through the Aether Evolutionary Path’s contents.
"This... what the hell is this?"
"Am I dreaming?"
"I once dreamt of a path like this before..."
"It strengthens the body, mind, soul, and energy—all at once—without increasing the overall cost? How is that even possible? Who created this? Are we in a collective hallucination?"
"That’s what you’re worried about? Did you not check the success rate? It’s at 100%! One hundred percent! Do you realize what that means?"
"I-It means... everyone, even those without talent, can become evolvers!"
Silence.
Everyone sucked in a cold breath.
"I’ve already posted an article about it—and in less than a minute, it’s hit a million views!"
Meanwhile...
"Alright, I’m done with creating the mansion."
Grey stretched with a satisfied smile as he disconnected from the virtual reality system and left the information layer.
He checked the time—it was almost 1 A.M., already past his usual bedtime.
"Guess it’s time to sleep," he muttered.
Just then, Eterna’s voice rang softly in his mind.
"You might want to check out the news."
"The news?" Grey tilted his head curiously. With a thought, several news panels appeared in his vision.
"Oh," he said, realization dawning.
"It’s my evolutionary path."
His expression remained calm.
The entire news feed was filled with nothing but one topic—the Aether Evolutionary Path.
Multiple news channels were already live, discussing its potential and impact.
Grey yawned.
This was all within his expectations. He knew it would blow up the moment it was released.
In fact, he didn’t even need to bother promoting it—people would download it automatically and start cultivating. So far, he hadn’t sensed any new connections through his Creator Invocation, meaning no one had begun cultivating it yet—but that would change within a week or two.
He opened his personal terminal and checked the statistics.
The Aether Evolutionary Path had already been downloaded over a million times.
It would only grow higher from here.
"Alright. Time to sleep," Grey said with another yawn, closing all his interfaces. Just like any other Tuesday, he jumped onto his bed and drifted into the land of dreams.
While the entire Blue Star was in turmoil—Grey slept soundly, a satisfied smile on his face.