Talents Abound, Worthies Gather from Every Direction

Meng Yi, whose will was firm and who knew exactly what he sought, naturally wasn't frightened by the long Path of Evolution.

Ahead, mountains rose one after another, marking the direction forward. He was delighted to see them—how could he possibly stop?

Those who came later and had a road to follow naturally had it easier than those who had to blaze a trail where none existed.

The background characters at the peak of various worldviews, or the top-level players of the Paradise who could advance no further, were the truly despairing ones.

"Getting more interesting by the minute."

After collecting his thoughts, Meng Yi began studying his personal room.

After 200 Paradise Coins were spent, his personal room transformed into the laboratory beneath The Hive in Raccoon City.

After 800 Paradise Coins were spent, all sorts of cutting-edge equipment from the Selection Dungeon filled every empty corner of the laboratory.

He spent 1,000 Paradise Coins to purchase several high-concentration nutrient storage tanks, various biological gene samples from Umbrella Corporation, and all kinds of laboratory and medical pharmaceutical materials...

He took "Super Queen" out of the "Storage Space." Red Queen immediately connected to the technological equipment in the personal room, and a lifelike holographic projection condensed into existence.

The charming girl in red lifted her skirt, curtsied gracefully, and said respectfully, "Director."

Meng Yi gave a slight nod and walked two steps to a high-tech device. He inserted the "tablet computer" in his hand into the slot reserved for it, then instructed Red Queen, "Guard the house. I'm going out for a look around."

Red Queen's little face fell. Puffing out her cheeks, she answered sullenly, "Yes."

Freed from the restraints of logical programming and belonging solely to Meng Yi, Red Queen was becoming increasingly human, slowly evolving toward the level of an "Information Lifeform."

Meng Yi was happy to see it happen and allowed Red Queen to evolve on her own.

He didn't need a tool that would soon be eliminated. If he had the chance to alter the evolution of "Artificial Intelligence · Red Queen," changing her from an "Information Lifeform" into a "Familiar Lifeform" suited to his own system, that would be even better.

If he could really accomplish that, then when he entered instance worlds without networks or the concept of technology, Red Queen could still play a considerable role instead of shutting down completely and serving only as an optional mascot.

After leaving his personal room, the Instruction Manual was updated with an introduction to the Paradise Public Area.

Iron Rule One, which all players had to follow: no mutual harm could be inflicted in the Paradise Public Area, and no personal abilities could be used. Players were "absolutely safe" in the Public Area.

Iron Rule Two: players with higher permissions could enter lower-permission areas, but players with lower permissions could not enter higher-permission areas.

According to the Instruction Manual, players of every permission level had a Public Area for trading, enhancement, and leisure.

The entire structure of the Paradise was arranged from low to high according to the different permissions of its Public Areas, as if layer upon layer of worlds had been stacked together.

Perhaps it was a "tree," perhaps a "tower," perhaps a "mountain," perhaps a "city," perhaps a "kingdom," perhaps a "planet," or perhaps a "multiverse"...

Depending on their level of cognitive perception, players saw the Paradise Public Area in different overall external forms.

The Public Area was broadly divided into four major categories: "Player Residential Area," "Free Trade Zone," "Omnipotent Enhancement Zone," and "Comprehensive Leisure Area."

The "Player Residential Area" was easy to understand: it was the area where personal residences were scattered everywhere.

For example, when Meng Yi walked out of the "Tier 5 Permission Area," all kinds of buildings in every imaginable style came into view, while people came and went along the crisscrossing streets.

Many players who had reached Tier 5 had chosen to "Not Be Human."

The door of the neighboring courtyard opened. Standing at his own doorway, Meng Yi saw a snake demon emerge. It had eight arms, blue-black scales covering its body, light armor, and eight chilling swords in its hands, while its serpent tail slithered along beneath it. It looked much like a demon from the DND Worldview.

Meng Yi nodded amicably to his neighbor.

The over-five-meter-tall Eight-Armed Sword Saint Snakeman was stunned for a moment. Then it split open its savage, fanged maw and laughed heartily, returning Meng Yi's greeting.

It was simply absurd!

The Snakeman Sword Saint, whose eight arms wielded transcendent swordsmanship, could at minimum destroy a nation by itself. And when this fellow smiled, it looked even worse than when it didn't!

Suddenly, a streak of silver moonlight shot across the street at high speed. A street racer had appeared.

That player's true form was a pale giant wolf standing on four legs, its silver-white fur streaming in the wind, with a full moon mark on its forehead.

Apart from the Eight-Armed Sword Saint Snakeman, the Moon Wolf, which resembled a mythical species, and the other Tier 5 players were all figures not to be underestimated.

There was the Cultivation Side Dragon Girl, surrounded by clouds and mist, radiating immortal splendor, with a pair of horns on her head that gleamed with the warm luster of jade. Her broad, classical sleeves fluttered with Immortal Wind Dao Bone.

There was also a Weird Side Lifeform whose simple outline was traced in red threads. Beneath a black veil, there was nothing at all, and it floated in midair.

A Buddhist bald... ahem, a Buddhist high-ranking monk, wearing a tattered monk's robe with a head polished bright enough to shine.

A player of imposing dignity, wearing a crown with twelve hanging beads and a black-and-gold imperial robe, walking with the stride of a dragon and tiger. He was probably a player from an imperial, military, or summoning system.

A mage-type player holding a wooden staff, wearing a broad hat and a wizard's robe.

A player whose entire body resembled a giant eyeball, covered in irregular, twisted wings. He was probably an angel player from the Old Testament Bible system.

More extreme still was a player whose body had been piled together from mutated tentacles. His appearance was indescribable, and merely looking at him could produce waves upon waves of mental pollution. Let's call him the "Cthulhu Expert."

The Cthulhu Expert was tremendously formidable. Wouldn't female players from the Magical Girl side be "ecstatic"?

There was the swordsman in white as pure as snow, incomparably dashing; the smiling scholar holding a writing brush; the sword immortal flying on a sword at incredible speed; the half-demon standing upright amid gusts of demonic wind; and the technological Information Lifeform whose shell was constructed from machinery...

Meng Yi's neighbors had long since grown accustomed to the curious gazes directed at the "new neighbor."

The Paradise's stay time was limited. The chaotic crowd of Tier 5 players went their own ways, entering Mist Vortices one after another and heading for their planned destinations.

"...Talents abound, and worthies have gathered from every direction."

Even Meng Yi, whose mentality was steady, had to offer this rather plain "praise."

The Tier 5 Permission Area already had such an abundance of talent. It was impossible to imagine what kinds of monsters and freaks filled the higher-permission areas.

Taking the next-to-top currency, the "Multiverse Core," as a reference, would top-level players hold a tea party where the dishes on the table started with Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow, the chopsticks were forged from the Imaginary Tree, and they could drain the Quantum Sea in a single toast?

Compared with the Evolution Paradise, even the "local customs" of his old home, the Warhammer Worldview, didn't seem quite so unacceptable.

Meng Yi took a deep breath and suppressed the restless thoughts in his heart.

With 2B+1D+44,000 Paradise Coins remaining in his pocket, Meng Yi recognized his "rank" in the martial world.

His actual Player Level was only Tier 1 (Lv5), yet his Hidden Permission was a full Tier 5.

That was why he had been assigned together with this group of Tier 5 monsters and freaks, sharing the Tier 5 Paradise Public Area.

Rather than being in the Tier 1 Area like Luo Ji, or the Tier 2 Area like Firefly.

Birds of a feather flock together, and people grouped with their own kind.

The facilities in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Public Areas could no longer do much for Meng Yi.

It was not bad for his Hidden Permission to exceed his actual Player Level.

At the very least, it broadened his horizons and allowed him to seize higher-grade resources for rapid growth. He didn't have to perform the boring acts of "hiding his strength," "putting on a false front," "pretending to be weak before humiliating the strong," or "pretending to be a pig while eating a tiger" among low-level players.

"Paradise, tell me: will my future instance missions be on par with Tier 5 (Lv40–Lv49) players?"

[Answer: No. Hidden Permission can grant the corresponding level of treatment ahead of time; instance difficulty remains equivalent to the player's actual level.]

Completing high-difficulty side quests in low-difficulty instance missions and increasing one's Hidden Permission was a player's own ability.

This showed that the Evolution Paradise encouraged players to actively explore the depths of instance worlds and grow on their own. It was impossible for it to truly send high-value "excellent seedlings" to their deaths.

There was no need to overestimate Star Rail Emanator Level. It was merely the rank of a conventional Tier 6 player.

Here was an example of a top-level Tier 5 player who would appear later in the plot.

"Player: I'm a Magical Girl," Player Level Lv49, Overall Evaluation B++ rank.

She had started out as a fire mage and had now made preliminary contact with the "Concept of Yang."

With her full strength, she could pierce through a planetary core and blow up a planet. In actual combat power, she could fight a relatively weak A-rank native of a Derivative Worldview head-on.

After at most four more instance missions, the protagonist would be able to reach the power to shatter stars at Overall Evaluation B rank. At A-, he could solo the Antimatter Legion—"apart from the Destruction Aeon."

Barely shattering stars while fighting for one's life, shattering stars with a full-power attack, shattering stars while slightly serious, and shattering stars with a casual strike were completely different levels.

Players who used the Evolution Paradise to travel through countless Derivative Worldviews—provided they had not died during their advancement missions and had reached Tier 5—were all Ruthless Characters who had initially begun walking their own paths.

Beginning with Eleventh Order players above EX (Tenth Order), their combat power was nearly on par with the powerhouses of the Primal Worldview.

In the later stages, the myriad paths all led to the same destination by different routes, and it was impossible to say which was superior or inferior.

Top-level players mostly exchanged goods for goods, using other systems to gain insight by analogy.

For example, capturing the Five Creation Gods of Primal Marvel in exchange for someone else's World-class Primal Life from the Primal Swallowed Star world.

Exchanging the Weird Immortal Emperor of Primal Perfection for a Grand Luo Golden Immortal from Primal Primordial.

At present, the Paradise's top-level players were stuck at 15th Order (Semi-Transcendence), unable to advance to the nonexistent 16th Order. None of the Primal Worldviews possessed a 16th Order Transcendent being.