Future Mirror, Tomorrow Mirror, Today Mirror

Yes, the greatest change of the Golden Age was the abundance of resources!

Acquired Mythicals personally cut flesh from themselves to feed animals and plants. That unbelievable practice alone had brought enormous benefits unimaginable in the past!

Quick results, low costs, high yields!

Back in the First Era, which Acquired Mythical would have been willing to do that? Whoever dared suggest it would have been dragged out and beheaded as a blood sacrifice!

But things truly were different now. All Lu Tiantian had to do was donate a test tube of blood every week, well within what her body could bear.

The researchers extracted stem cells, cultured blood artificially, isolated bloodline factors, and through a whole series of miscellaneous conversions, cultivated the final synthetic meat.

Animals that ate those chunks of meat grew at a frantic pace, while plants watered with scraps of bloody residue shot up just as quickly—such an immense yet effortless scientific achievement left the many observing civilizations green with envy.

Thus, mounting pressure fell upon the high-risk containment laboratory.

There were more and more extraordinary animals, and Painted Skin's level was rising rapidly.

Without enough containment facilities, things would go badly!

The laboratory's chief was Professor Hai Zhiyun, who possessed the dual God's Skills of Parallel Thinking and Super Thinking. Recently, he had been happy, but with a trace of anxiety mixed in.

You're developing so quickly—what are we supposed to do?!

When he saw the Immortal Level material, Dragon Blood Tree Bark, he was briefly at a loss—he had never used experimental material of such a high grade in his life.

Lu Ying, the officer assigned to deliver the materials, said with a smile, "Professor, our task is a heavy one. The Mythical Laboratory is already confident it can upgrade Painted Skin into its mature form."

"At that point, Painted Skin will exceed Level 25 and weigh more than 700,000 tons. It will absolutely be a terrifying weapon capable of destroying a Level Four Civilization all by itself."

"If we can't contain it, that'll be a huge problem too... Our Giant God Soldiers can't beat a Level 25 monster either..."

Hai Zhiyun said helplessly, "Before Painted Skin reaches Level 10, our Ark Shield Type III can definitely trap it!"

"Tell them to upgrade it without worries."

"But Level 25 is a little too outrageous, isn't it? Don't count on it in the short term. Breakthroughs in basic materials are difficult. Money is only a necessary condition, not a sufficient one."

Lu Ying chuckled but did not argue. "Also, Commander Lu Da asked me to tell you that negotiations over the Blood Guai's limbs are underway."

"If the negotiations succeed, we may obtain most of an intact Blood Guai. Then, we might be able to piece it together."

"That's an existence even more formidable than a Level 25 monster. We need to figure out in advance how to restrain and contain it."

Hai Zhiyun's heart skipped a beat.

This was going to be difficult.

Even among guai, Blood Guais were a relatively powerful type. Blood Guai Bullets remained popular items in civilization trade to this day.

But to pursue greater firepower, they would inevitably have to increase the Blood Guai's completeness.

Hai Zhiyun kept scratching his scalp. "This really is a headache."

"You don't think a few Immortal Level materials can make a cage capable of trapping a guai, do you?"

Lu Ying reached out, took the transparent box, and complained, "Professor Hai, I've noticed you've gotten a little carried away these past few days. You don't even think much of Immortal Level materials anymore. You should know that Commander Lu Da found a tiny piece of bark during one of his travels, then spent life force to reactivate it and cultivate it into something a little larger."

"So the Grand Commander has issued an order. If you aren't confident, sell it. The Turtle Civilization might have ready-made cages."

"Don't! Absolutely not!" Hai Zhiyun immediately snatched back the box. "I guarantee I'll complete the task!"

He led Lu Ying to a secret laboratory. Inside was a piece of Silver White, metal-like substance, roughly the size of a fingernail.

Hai Zhiyun said somewhat proudly, "I've named it Enhanced Metallic Hydrogen. Its main principle is that hydrogen atoms form a regular arrangement under Absolute Zero, after which this layer of matter undergoes Idealistic Rendering and magnetic-field alignment. The specific rendering rules are highly special... Space and time attributes are needed..."

"I don't understand. Give me the conclusion."

"Ahem. Its theoretical strength is about 12,230 times that of Ark Shield Type III. Trapping a Level 25 Painted Skin would be more than easy, though it's still inferior to Electron Degenerate Matter."

"As for whether it can trap a complete Blood Guai... I can't judge that for now."

"But mass production may take several years, and it will require substantial funding and more extraordinary items... Its manufacturing cost is very high! At most, we can make a few cages. Covering an entire city is impossible!"

Lu Ying immediately grinned. This was truly good stuff. "No rush... In our future, we may lack everything else, but we certainly won't lack money!"

"I'll go back and report right away!!"

Green Field City, the Hall of Artisans—solemn and dignified, yet bustling with activity—had become a place of pilgrimage for artisans.

Every day, tens of thousands of foreign artisans came here to study the latest knowledge.

The greatest task now was naturally replicating the Future Mirror. If humanity could not even make a replica internally, Mythical Industrialization would become a tree without roots.

But the hardest thing in the world was stuffing the knowledge in my head into yours.

They simply couldn't learn it!

"Teacher Li, this is too difficult!" an artisan complained after class.

"An Epoch Masterpiece is simply beyond our forging abilities."

"We can't sense our civilization's river of fortune either... Is there an easier method?"

Li Datie was left speechless by them. Damn it, this didn't work, that didn't work—then what had they come here for?

A bunch of... trash!

But they were the clients, and they had paid tuition. No matter what, he had to teach them properly.

Li Datie was deeply troubled. He was always troubled by the fact that he could not see Commander Lu Da's figure, but when he turned around and saw that his companions were absent too, he became even more troubled.

In the end, he took a deep breath. "Everyone, then let's settle for the next best thing and temporarily stop demanding the creation of Future Mirrors."

"Let's simply forge a simplified mirror. Its function will be... to use Space-Time Tidal Energy to elevate one's fate."

"Yes, it is similar to the Future Mirror, but far less powerful. At most, it can elevate an ordinary person into an Advanced Bloodline Adept."

"Its forging cost will naturally be far lower than that of the Future Mirror, but it won't be so cheap that it can be forged casually. We can't afford Immortal Level materials, but Epic Level and Legendary Level materials are essential, since it must account for space, dreams, and time attributes."

"Its name will be... the Tomorrow Mirror. What do you all think?"

As expected of a newly promoted Grandmaster Artisan, Li Datie came up with a new line of thought in just a few words.

The many listening artisans also fell into thought.

They came from all corners of the world, and their civilizations varied greatly in strength.

The Future Mirror cost over one thousand Civilization Points to forge, while its spiritual essence cost tens of thousands more.

If they failed, the loss would be unbearable.

But after some estimates, the Tomorrow Mirror only required 70 Civilization Points plus several thousand units of spiritual essence. Most Level Three Civilizations and Level Four Civilizations could afford that...

Even if its effects were inferior and it could not create Acquired Mythicals, the Tomorrow Mirror still offered good value for money.

Moreover, Advanced Bloodline Adepts were themselves a major direction of research.

If they could produce tens of thousands of Advanced Bloodline Adepts, it didn't seem like a loss...

Of course, if it only created Advanced Bloodline Adepts, no one was willing to be the first to try it either. Even a loss of seventy or eighty Civilization Points was no small sum.

They all wanted to wait and see until the plan matured.

"Since everyone wants to wait and see, I'll forge a Tomorrow Mirror for the Buzhou Alliance and connect it to the Buzhou Alliance's fortune," Li Datie said. "Most people contribute only so much to civilization and are not qualified to become Acquired Mythicals. I'm not trying to be harsh, but it involves affinity with a civilization's destiny."

"If civilization's history is a vast web, then only those few people positioned at key nodes on that web matter. For ordinary people, one more or one less makes no difference. Such ordinary people have no chance of becoming Acquired Mythicals."

"Therefore, Advanced Bloodline Adepts are already a benefit of this era."

"The Tomorrow Mirror we are forging now will not bind the fortune of a single civilization, but the destiny of the entire Buzhou Alliance! As long as they are members of the Buzhou Alliance, they can make use of it."

"The Buzhou Alliance has destiny too?" Everyone's hearts stirred.

"Of course. Since the concept of the Buzhou Alliance has been created and widely recognized, it naturally possesses fortune. However... the alliance will pay for the forging materials and expenses."

"That is only natural!"

Several alliance leaders quickly agreed. Under the current circumstances, the pressure of public opinion was too great. Producing some Advanced Bloodline Adepts quickly would at least let them answer to the major civilizations.

As for subsequent Acquired Mythicals, all they could say was... there was no great urgency. They could not be replicated in a day or two.

Just like that, the emergence of Mythical Industrialization brought comprehensive changes to every industry!

An Industrial Chain centered around Acquired Mythicals was rapidly taking shape.

In particular, the great success of the Tomorrow Mirror offered ordinary civilizations a relatively suitable option—its cost was acceptable, its benefits were passable, and most importantly, it allowed them to keep pace with the times!!

If a civilization did not even have Advanced Bloodline Adepts, it had no way to enter the latest production system.

For a time, the status of Advanced Bloodline Adept swept across the Great Desert, with tens of thousands of bloodline reversionists appearing every day.

It was as though obtaining that status immediately made one superior to others!

But that was indeed the case. Though Advanced Bloodline Adepts were nowhere near as exaggerated as Acquired Mythicals, surpassing their original racial limits was effortless. Their Extraordinary Level could reach Level 10 or even Level 11, and their Spirit Attribute would rise accordingly.

Although everyone usually claimed, "What era are we in? Extraordinary Levels are useless," when it came to themselves and their levels rose, making their thoughts clearer, each of them still felt immensely proud and promoted it even more enthusiastically.

Soon afterward, the Buzhou Alliance introduced another item called the Today Mirror, whose function was to create—Low-level Bloodline Adepts.

The Today Mirror was a further degraded version of the Tomorrow Mirror. Its quality had dropped to Legendary Level, and its function was at most one-thousandth that of the Future Mirror.

But its cost was lower, and the manufacturing process was much simpler.

Most importantly, its consumption was extremely low.

"What is this thing?"

Lu Yuan had not participated in this research. As he read the relevant report, he felt both amused and helpless.

"Future Mirror, Tomorrow Mirror, Today Mirror—there are more and more of them. Are we going to need a Yesterday Mirror too?"

"Mm... Probably not. The Future Mirror's operating principle involves future causality. The Today Mirror is already the smallest causal relationship."

Lu Yuan looked over the design principles and muttered to himself, "Collective wisdom really is powerful. The design for finding this smallest causal relationship is quite ingenious."

"The Today Mirror is the one most worth promoting. As long as a civilization has a few master artisans, it can forge one. And the Space-Time Tides needed to produce a single Acquired Mythical can create 300,000 to 400,000 Low-level Bloodline Adepts!"

"However, the productivity of 300,000 Low-level Bloodline Adepts still can't compare to one Acquired Mythical... This really is..."

"Lu Yuan, you're wrong about that," Old Cat said. "The alliance's intention is to lower the difficulty drastically first, then spread it everywhere. Low-level Bloodline Adepts can raise one's Extraordinary Level by one and increase the upper limit of Spirit Attributes by one or two points. That's already a pretty good result."

"Moreover, Low-level Bloodline Adepts also possess a trace of Bloodline Power within them. Even if it's only a trace, it can still be used to cultivate bloodline seeds and such..."

"As long as enough civilizations bind themselves to this technology, they will have no choice but to set foot on the path of Mythical Industrialization."

Lu Yuan was equally speechless. His Future Mirror had an anti-corruption capability: if one's fortune was insufficient, one could not become an Acquired Mythical.

But this Today Mirror even included a few cheating tricks.

In any case, Low-level Bloodline Adepts consumed very little. With the aid of certain external forces, all it took was a slight disturbance to stir up that bit of fortune and elevate one's fate.

The success rate was practically one hundred percent!

"All right, let the leaders go first. It really is a powerful tool for promotion."

"Now Bloodline Adepts have become an identity politics tool for showing off."

Lu Yuan could not help feeling despair toward this world. Even within the Buzhou Alliance, there were all kinds of unspoken rules, let alone among outside civilizations.

Fortunately, he did not like becoming deeply involved in politics or promoting ideology. Otherwise, this world would truly be full of malice everywhere.

In the end, he could only console himself. "Everything rises in a spiral. As long as the overall direction is progressing, that's enough."

"There are two more negotiations that require your participation," Old Cat suddenly said.

"You mean the Neutrino Industrial Union and the Haishen Civilization?"

"Yes. They are eager to meet you. Their progress through studying public materials has been too slow."

There was no need to say much about the Neutrino Industrial Union. Because its artisans were not very capable, it was studying the forging process for the Today Mirror—the Neutrino Industrial Union lacked extraordinary resources, but its sole output was an absurd number of Civilization Points.

Lu Yuan estimated that fewer than ten civilizations made up the entire Neutrino Industrial Union, yet together they might possess 200,000 to 300,000 Civilization Points. They were truly lavish on the level of heaven's favored children.

After arriving in the wealthy Buzhou Alliance, these fellows began spending extravagantly. Their spending power rivaled that of nouveau riche who had mines at home and no idea what money was. They drove up the prices of extraordinary resources throughout the market!

They had even directly purchased one thousand Artisan Talents and one thousand Glyph Reading abilities in the temples. Lu Yuan was stunned by their extravagance.

The Haishen Civilization, on the other hand, was a long-established civilization from the Eighth Era and was extremely stingy, refusing even to visit the Greedy God Temple to purchase God's Skills.

They had only just awakened in this era. Though the world's will had tacitly allowed them to reproduce a small population, they could never achieve Civilization Milestones, so naturally they would not possess many points.

Thus, the Haishen Civilization's potential was indeed inferior to that of the Neutrino Industrial Union.

Still, it was an old Level Five Civilization no matter what, so they truly needed to go learn more about it.

Lu Yuan put on the formal attire his wife had personally designed for him and casually brought along a few small gifts.

They were plant seeds from the Qiankun World. They were not innate plants, but they needed long-term nourishment through Bloodline Power before they could be cultivated. For most civilizations, they were precious gifts.

"The defenses of their city... are far stronger than ours."

From afar, Lu Yuan looked through the spacecraft window and saw a massive seashell inhaling clouds and exhaling mist. Its rings resembled blade-carved patterns, forming natural glyphs.

"It was able to preserve itself intact even through an Era Disaster. That monster's defensive ability is naturally first-rate," Old Cat said. "The light-screen defenses of our Green Field City aren't even one-tenth as strong as its."