Of course, this was not without cost.
Narrative-level civilizations had their own ans of mass-producing deities to respond to certain special situations—such as the Speaker of "Society".
Even if they couldn’t defeat "Society" itself, killing the Speaker would still be a significant blow to "Society".
The "Obliteration Sanctum" excelled at this. They had a specialized organization called the "Pantheon" to cultivate and organize, nurturing those planetary consciousnesses trained with Spirit Maggots into warriors to resist "Society"’s invasion. These warriors would then be dispersed back to their respective planets, forming a solid Great Wall defense.
The Empire of Heralds’ mass-produced deities were sowhat different in nature, but the principle remained the sa.
Whether mass-producing deities or proper Pathway ascension, all relied on one technology—the Ascension Platform.
"So it’s this thing... I need to be careful."
Li Aozi stood up and paced back and forth a few steps.
Earlier, when discussing the Azure Star problem with Du Zexin, N4, Narrow Space Mirror, and others, he had proposed two solutions:
First, blow up the planet. Li Aozi would purchase another planet in advance as the destination for interstellar immigration.
Second, drag out the larval Lord Entropy and throw it into a black hole to seal it.
The advantage of the first option was that it was relatively stable, truly eliminating the unford Lord Entropy and ensuring the safety of this starfield.
The downside was that even so, a significant number of interstellar immigrants would die.
The advantage of the second option was that it could save the planet, but it would take too long.
At the ti, Li Aozi’s statent had actually hinted that he would try to find a better interstellar immigration company so that the Azure Star People wouldn’t be too optimistic.
Even he wasn’t optimistic about the plan to seal Lord Entropy. He would probe for feedback. If the narrative-level civilization insisted on blowing up the planet, there was nothing he could do but prepare for immigration.
He would try his best to prevent the Azure Star People from destroying their holand where their ancestors had lived for generations, but if the narrative-level civilization didn’t agree, there was nothing he could do.
Whether subjectively or objectively, blowing up the planet was the best option.
But the appearance of the "White Obelisk" changed Li Aozi’s thinking.
"I must, absolutely must protect the Azure Star!"
Once the "White Obelisk" was deployed, it couldn’t be moved, and Li Aozi didn’t want to give it up.
If properly managed... perhaps the Azure Star could follow an independently free developnt path, without being throttled by any civilization, nor becoming a mber state of another narrative-level civilization.
No one wanted to be a pawn; everyone wanted to be their own player.
In the universe, only "Society" and "Narrative" were the players.
And the "White Obelisk" gave Li Aozi a glimr of hope—the hope that the Azure Star could embark on independent developnt and beco a narrative-level civilization!
"If I do this, my fate and that of the Azure Star will be deeply intertwined... but it seems it was always this way."
As a newbie village for Fiery Sumr District players, the Azure Star’s player population was significant. Li Aozi reckoned few planets had more players than the Fiery Sumr District.
Binding was not a loss for him.
Compared to directly facing Lord Entropy’s threat, Li Aozi was more willing to take a gamble.
To nurture a narrative-level civilization with his own hands... what a grand and magnificent undertaking that would be.
Although this was just a very slim hope, there were civilizations that had developed the Ascension Platform, but most were controlled by narrative-level civilizations.
"But in this case, I need to pick up the pace. Although my level is already quite high, for the Azure Star, I rember there are only 20 years left. Even if I don’t provoke Lord Entropy, at most 25 years."
Li Aozi clicked his tongue:
"Within 25 years, I must reach Level 120, change class to ’Bishop’, ascend to Zeta Rank (ζ, the sixth Greek letter), and even dive into a starfield once to qualify for entry into the battle."
Zeta Rank was imnsely powerful—destroying the Azure Star would be no problem. Reaching Zeta Rank ant becoming a central force in the universe.
Based on Li Aozi’s experience, upgrading after Delta Rank was extrely difficult. A single task could take five or six years, and in the late stages, players could spend decades on a single campaign, which was exhausting.
He knew of places to grind experience and levels, allowing him to possibly reach Level 100 within three years.
But first, he needed to reach at least Level 90 himself.
For a quick level-up, Li Aozi could only rely on the players. But he recalled that the open beta for the players was still five years away.
Five years... Li Aozi sighed.
With just a few closed-beta players, there was no way for him to quickly level up. If he could solve his residency and academic credentials within those five years, that would be good enough.
"Let’s see if there’s any news on the forum."
Just as Li Aozi was about to deploy the Pathway buildings, he logged onto the forum to check recent events.
As soon as he clicked into the ga section, he was hit by a shocking news:
"Full Open Beta Version: ’Starry Abyss’ 1.0—New Expansion [Contempt Maxim]!?"
Li Aozi was stunned and quickly scanned the content, greatly shocked:
"What the hell? The open beta already? It’s five years earlier than in my previous life—it’s even several weeks earlier in reality!"
No wonder there was no feedback from players when he broadcast to the Azure Star—they were offline, waiting for the servers to open because the closed beta had ended.
"So, in a week, civilian players will be swarming into the Azure Star?"
Li Aozi glanced at the update list, which mostly hadn’t changed, aligning closely with his mories.
Except for one point: it also included enhancents to the respawn chanism, so players no longer had to return to a respawn point like before.
"Players of the ’Redemption’ class can create three types of Redemption buildings: field hospitals, simple life altars, and small churches, allowing players to rest and respawn in the wild—this was a patch from version 2.0!"
With this, players essentially had the ability to save in real-ti. Originally, players only had three respawns per day. Now, as long as they managed well, every ti they rested at a respawn point, it would refresh a respawn opportunity.
"This patch greatly lowered the entry threshold, reducing player frustration... It was after this update that ’Starry Abyss’ saw a massive influx of players."
"Wait, according to my mory, the reason they released this ’Lai Anding dical Optimization Protocol’ was due to the arrival of the David Lyn era. With the unsealing of cloning technology and artificial wombs, the Azure Star’s population was no longer a problem, so they could support billions of players, leading Qiqiao Network to reduce player frustration and respawn chanism difficulty..."
"In other words,"
Li Aozi was sowhat incredulous:
"David Lyn is already in power?"
Li Aozi hadn’t expected his influence to be so great.
His first thought was of Du Zexin—Du Zexin’s whereabouts had been unknown for a long ti. Without gravity wave communication technology, Li Aozi couldn’t find him.
Yawen was David Lyn’s daughter, but she was essentially useless. Having run off with him to outer space, she had practically transford from a third-rate agent into an independent, self-reliant woman, making fashion items by hand and embodying a feminist superhuman.
After thinking things over, Li Aozi found a problem: David Lyn’s early rise didn’t seem related to him, but saying he had no effect was also untrue upon closer examination.
At the very least, no one had launched him into space in his previous life.
It could only be blad on the butterfly effect.
"Anyway, this is a good thing."
David Lyn was a practical man, pragmatic and foresighted, but his thods were too gentle and he was too lenient toward enemies—that was Li Aozi’s impression of David Lyn.
If David Lyn could co to power five years earlier, then Frost Plated’s Federal Era would also be advanced by five years.
"In this case, there would only be more players. Could it exceed five billion? Maybe even six billion is possible, given that Frost Plated has already beco human-like—wait!"
Li Aozi suddenly realized sothing:
"Previously, those forum votes wherein a large number of players were swayed by to decide to ss with Frost Plated—are they still planning to do so!"
Would this make things difficult for David Lyn?
Li Aozi thought for a mont and decided it might not necessarily be the case.
Because no matter how much havoc the players wreaked, it wouldn’t be as brutal as the civil war on Frost Plated in his previous life. The ones who slaughtered Azure Star people the most were their compatriots.
Players had to play the ga with a cognition filter, sotis acting erratically, but the true butchers and conservative military officers during the Frost Plated civil war were pure scum and devils.
If worst cos to worst, he’d wield divine authority and issue high-difficulty tasks to players as an "Echoer", diverting their focus.
The remaining hardships would be David Lyn’s to handle.
Li Aozi continued browsing through bursts of forum updates. Based on the number of registered accounts and votes, the majority of players chose the Sky Ring Country as their birthplace, as it was a great place to grind levels.
But because Li Aozi had ventured into space, the "Sovereign" players were unsure if there were any ntors left, so 96.81% chose the Red Arrow Empire—where there were specialized Arcane Energy institutes and superpower organizations. The Red Arrow Empire also did not discriminate against Arcane Users, rather welcoming them.
Li Aozi had already opened the "Sovereign" Pathway before leaving the Azure Star, and even made his Arcane Awakening Elixir formula public.
He didn’t care for those useless papers on the Azure Star and simply wanted future Arcane Users to all beco "Mutants".
With this move, those awakened by Lord Entropy’s influence, like Qiu Ran and Nomi, would beco history.
The legitimate, correct, and safe "Mutants" would completely replace dangerous human experintation, making Arcane developnt standardized and legal.
Li Aozi always believed that technology itself wasn’t wrong; it was the misuse and unscrupulous use of technology that was the problem.
The Red Arrow Empire also had many densely populated cities. However, he had to consider many factors, including comfort, faith output, prosperity, and player preferences.
He needed to find a city most inclusive of Arcane Energy, with a large player base, preferably slightly remote, ideally along the old coastal lines, to avoid building in a seabed area only to have his structures subrged after driving Lord Entropy away.
After sorting through the information, Li Aozi made a decision.
Considering his high level of legendary status and renown on the Azure Star, he decided to continue making his presence felt.
[You have chosen the "White Obelisk"]
[Please select an area on the Azure Star as the drop point for your Pathway structure.]
[Selection complete—Pathway structure will be generated at the target location.]
[Target location: Azure Star—Red Arrow Empire—Erga Coast—Erga City]
[Pathway landmark set. Wishing you an early ascension to divinity.]
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