The Greedy Demon God's Future Path

Following the completion of this transaction, not only Green Field City but also the Haishen Civilization was very satisfied.

The leader, Dong Bi, excitedly said, "Thank you so much!"

"Mr. Lu, if you have time, you can visit the Eastern Continent. I'll introduce you to some powerful civilizations from the Eighth Era. I'm sure we can do even bigger business together."

Lu Yuan hesitated about the matter of the Eastern Continent.

Green Field City couldn't travel to the Eastern Continent anytime soon. After all, the development of "Mythical Industrialization" was in full swing; how could they leave in the middle of it?

As for him personally leading a team there... he would likely have to spend extended periods in the Northern Territory and wouldn't have the time.

"Can't they come to us? Level Five Civilizations should be able to use some naturally existing Space Fissures by now, right?"

"Of course, they can indeed travel here by spaceship... but cooperation is more than just business."

The leader of the Haishen Civilization lowered his voice. "Your civilization... we think very highly of it... In the Eighth Era, there are still some legacies remaining. I believe you understand what I mean?"

Old Cat's eyes widened, and it chimed in, "I really don't understand."

Dong Bi chuckled twice. "It's a bit embarrassing to say, but the Eighth Era was indeed slightly inferior to the Sixth and Seventh Eras. It didn't make any epoch-making breakthroughs in the supernatural domain, nor did it reclaim the moon... It was a mediocre era spent in a state of inaction."

"However, there are still some Level Six Civilizations willing to take on responsibility... They actually left behind some things..."

"These Level Six legacies are kept by some old folks. They are quite well-established. Like us, many civilizations possess the Aberrant Phenomenon [Yao], and some even have [Guai], [Guai], and [Demon] civilizations..."

Lu Yuan frowned, remaining silent.

[Yao], [Guai], and [Guai] lacked intelligence, so they weren't worth mentioning. Only [Demon] possessed intelligence and had a unique stance.

He thought of the "Myth of the Demon," also known as the legacy of the Ink Sect, and wondered where it had gone.

The Haishen leader spoke vaguely, "Many truths from the end of the Era can only be barely accessed by Level Six Civilizations; even our Level Five Civilization isn't qualified."

Lu Yuan said, "But we haven't developed to be a Level Six Civilization yet, so it seems we can't accept that legacy."

Dong Bi smiled again. "This matter isn't urgent. At the very least, Mythical Industrialization needs to develop to a certain extent to persuade those old fogies. Otherwise, those guys are unlikely to give up their power."

"I'm just mentioning it. The Eastern Continent has a very strong foundation. With a little support from your side, integrating these civilizations into the great river of Luck of the Ninth Era would make you no less than the Neutrino Alliance."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Understood. We will carefully consider your suggestion. After all, as long as Acquired Mythical appears in the Haishen Civilization, those old guys won't be able to resist."

Dong Bi narrowed his eyes. "Haha, naturally!"

After the negotiation, the man and the cat left the meeting room.

Old Cat was immersed in blissful joy, about to control unprecedented wealth.

Lu Yuan, on the other hand, was thinking about matters related to [Spirit].

What kind of existence [Spirit] was, remained an unsolved mystery.

Since entering the "Concept World," Lu Yuan had a vague realization that [Spirit] was most likely a collective.

Since he had encountered and killed a white-haired [Spirit], were there other [Spirits] active on the Pangu Continent?

The answer was affirmative.

"Our current normal activities are likely a deliberate concealment by the Pangu Continent... [Spirit] cannot discover civilizations like us with potential, otherwise, they would have already come to our door to slaughter us."

Thinking this way, he couldn't find peace. "If there's an opportunity, I really should go and see the legacies of the Eighth Era."

"Vroom—"

The roar of the jet engines echoed as the spaceship returned to the base behind them.

Lu Yuan, with nothing else to do, sat in his seat, thoughts bubbling up in his mind like bubbles.

"Everyone is developing rapidly now, but my personal combat power has started to stagnate... Ever since forging the Demon God's Heart, there hasn't been much improvement."

He had a small annoyance.

In reality, this was the norm. When could personal might continuously surpass the power of a civilization?

But Lu Yuan's way of thinking might be what they called "greed." He had no pursuit of material possessions now and only wanted to improve his personal might?

"But the combat power of the [Greedy Demon God] has indeed reached its limit, and it's still a long way from the Eternal Level."

"And right now, I can't defeat two [Spirits]. Once two white-haired [Spirits] appear simultaneously, they will likely be able to kill me. Moreover, the white-haired [Spirit] might not be the strongest type."

Forge another Demon God organ?

No, forging organs had diminishing returns. The Heart had already been forged. Adding some new organs would only provide a little more functionality and wouldn't cause a qualitative change.

Even worse, carelessly forging organs could disrupt the internal balance and weaken the Greedy Demon God.

"In the future, I can at most forge some minor functional organs. It will be difficult to achieve another qualitative leap in combat power."

"However, there is another path I can take."

The first is ability fusion.

Lu Yuan originally wanted to fuse an ability stronger than [Gale Wind], but after trying for so many years without success, he had to strategically give up.

Because the prerequisite for ability fusion was that the ability must have already existed in the first place before it could be fused—whether it was [Gale Wind] or [Eternal Tinder], they already existed before there was a path for fusion.

The Chaos Sea might have abilities stronger than [Gale Wind], but trying without direction would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

"It's better to create a new one myself..."

The second path is... absolute ability.

[Greedy Demon God] still doesn't possess absolute ability.

This thing can undergo a leap in qualitative change.

Based on Lu Yuan's current understanding, absolute ability might involve "concepts."

For example, [Guai]'s [Indestructible] and [Demon]'s [Undying] aren't truly and absolutely indestructible. However, as more intelligent beings cognize this, corresponding concepts form, further strengthening these abilities.

"So, absolute ability is actually related to the cognition of the vast majority of intelligent beings."

"What should I do? Deceive the world again?"

Lu Yuan pondered for a long time but couldn't think of a good idea. However, this path seemed to have a higher success rate...

Suddenly, the communicator emitted a "beep beep" sound.

After Old Cat answered, his whiskers trembled a few times.

It seemed some major progress had occurred.

"Good... good news!" Old Cat said excitedly, "The Neutrino Industrial Union, upon hearing that we lent out Li Datie, finally got anxious... they want to offer a high price to rent him!"

"Anyway, we still have a few Grandmaster Artisans, just slightly less skilled than Li Datie, and they can fetch a high price."

Lu Yuan had just comforted himself that he didn't need to be greedy, that he wasn't lacking such small gains.

But as good things kept coming, he still felt a faint pang.

His children had finally grown up, and he could eat the cakes they made, while he, Old Lu, remained stagnant.

"You negotiate it yourself, I'm heading to the Northern Territory!"

"Old Lu... please! Without you to step in, I, Old Cat, can't suppress them!" This damned cat was shamelessly persistent, "Please, comrade!"

The member planets of the Neutrino Industrial Union had a wide variety of appearances, composed of species with relatively high intelligence, such as Human, Dwarf, Giant Elephant, and Octopus races.

Due to mechanical modifications, their clothing exhibited a cold, streamlined aesthetic.

"Lord Lu Yuan, let's get straight to the point."

"The terms our alliance offers are the same as before: knowledge of the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] in exchange for 'Acquired Mythical'. This bargaining chip is no less than that of the Haishen Civilization."

Yan Ri, the craftsman from the Xingyao Civilization, true to his belief in efficiency, didn't engage in pleasantries.

"Our alliance's luck is boundless, but... our artisans' strength is somewhat lacking. So, you need to train our artisans first before teaching them knowledge related to the [Future Mirror]."

"However, offering the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] as compensation is sufficient. Because this is a genuine Level Seven Civilization legacy, possibly the only one on the entire Pangu Continent."

Yan Ri presented a report.

The other leaders wore stern expressions and remained silent.

It was evident they were somewhat reluctant... this involved their foundation.

But the Haishen Civilization had already borrowed Li Datie. If they hesitated any longer and were intercepted by other civilizations, it could delay them by decades.

Lu Yuan took the report and calmly flipped through it.

He possessed the ability to read a page of text with a single glance.

The report, over a hundred pages long, took him only two minutes to read.

This formidable learning ability caused the Neutrino Alliance members to discuss amongst themselves. Even with their brain chips and the Aether Network, they couldn't achieve such reading speeds. It seemed the so-called "Acquired Mythical" truly had some merit.

Lu Yuan let out a soft sigh.

The [Aether Spirit-Core Network] was indeed a legacy of the Gear Civilization.

Which meant... [Spirit]!

Of course, it wasn't the white-haired monster [Spirit] that manipulated concepts.

It was the "Spirit" that distributed civilization milestone rewards and protected the major cities within the safe zone.

"Spirit" was built upon the "World Will," essentially being the World Will's conscious aspect. It appeared smarter and more agile, exhibiting preferences similar to normal life forms.

The original "World Will" was the subconscious, possessing greater authority and immense power.

However, it wasn't very intelligent.

But it occasionally had strokes of brilliance, like moving the Summit Civilization to the Pangu Continent.

In other words, the World Will, as a collective consciousness, had a split between its subconscious and conscious aspects. It had agile parts and dull parts. The reasons for this were complex, involving factors such as the vastness of the Pangu Continent, excessive extraneous thoughts among life forms, slow information transmission speeds, and sparsely distributed intelligent block areas.

The purpose of the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] was to strengthen information exchange speed and expand the intelligent block chain through the interconnectedness of all life, thereby transforming the "World Will" into a highly intelligent artificial intelligence.

This was undoubtedly an ambitious grand plan.

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment and asked, "A very interesting idea. So, by giving us this knowledge, you want us to join the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] and become one of its administrators? Aren't you afraid we'll leak this plan?"

"Haha, you flatter me," Yan Ri said solemnly. "You created Mythical Industrialization and are already a thorn in the side of that unknown enemy."

"We are all in the same boat. So, you won't leak it, and many civilizations are aware of this matter, as quite a few external civilizations have already joined the Neutrino Alliance."

"The construction of the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] has spanned a full three eras. Back in the late Seventh Era, the Gear Civilization had already completed the corresponding conception," Yan Ri continued to explain. "In the Eighth Era, it remained dormant for an entire era, collecting vast amounts of data and continuously iterating and self-evolving."

"In the Ninth Era, this network only became smarter and more intelligent."

"Our civilization had contact with the Gear Civilization when we were still at the planetary stage before arriving on the Pangu Continent. This Gear Legacy is their greatest treasure left on the Pangu Continent, far more precious than so-called Immortal Level materials or the 'Great Compendium of Gears'."

"Furthermore, you don't need to worry about safety. The [Aether Spirit-Core Network] has deep linkers, like us; and shallow linkers. Most civilizations that haven't undergone major modifications are shallow linkers, and it's no different from wearing a jade pendant, which slowly enhances Spirit Attributes."

"Moreover, joining civilizations can better utilize the permissions of the World Will. Idealistic anti-gravity and the Great World Seal technology, these Level Five technologies will consume less."

"Especially the Great World Seal technology, if you want to control Calamity-level Aberrant Phenomena, this is a low-cost, low-consumption technology."

"That does sound a bit appealing," Old Cat's ears twitched twice, "but these technologies are merely icing on the cake for us."

"If you want us to join, you need at least high administrator permissions... otherwise... our very survival would be in your hands."

Another leader, who looked like a "Steel Warrior," said with a smile, "You might have some misunderstandings."

"The [Aether Spirit-Core Network] created by the Gear Civilization is distributed and public. It might have a main host, but even we don't know where that main host is located."

"As for what we have in our hands, it's only some secondary hosts."

"Once you join, the permissions you can have are determined by the network's self-contained algorithms; my Neutrino Industrial Union cannot forcibly tamper with them."

"This kind of technology, completely based on algorithms and unalterable, is the core of the Neutrino Industrial Union's foundation."

"Otherwise, our internal factions would have long ago fallen apart due to the struggle for permissions. It's precisely because permissions cannot be tampered with that we have been able to develop steadily until today. The greater your contribution to the world, the higher your permissions. I believe your Green Field City will have a good standing."

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. It sounded a bit like the blockchain technology from the Earth Era, where you provided computing power and received virtual currency.

"What do you leaders think?" Lu Yuan asked the intermediate guarantors from the Buzhou Alliance.

This act of poaching in public definitely required asking the leaders.

An Aberrant from the Bai Ze Civilization smiled, "Lord Lu Yuan, there's no need to worry."

"Our Buzhou Alliance is a loose organization, and we don't oppose you joining other circles. Our goal is to counter Era Disasters, not to become kings and overlords."

"Of course, please ensure confidentiality. We hope you won't make a big show of it and let all civilizations know. If public opinion then arises, it will inevitably be awkward."

"According to our assessment, the [Aether Spirit-Core Network] is indeed a good thing, and it complements Mythical Industrialization without conflict. If the time is right, we will also promote it."

Now that "Mythical Industrialization" was out, all these old Aberrants were broad-minded and portly.

Do whatever you want.

Anyway, our Buzhou Alliance is already the top alliance, standing tall and unshakeable.