Talents Emerge, Worthies Gather

Meng Yi, whose will was firm and who knew exactly what he sought, was certainly not intimidated by the long Path of Evolution.

With towering mountains ahead and signposts clearly marking the way forward, he was more than happy—why would he ever stop in his tracks?

A latecomer with a path to follow was always better off than a trailblazer with no road at all.

Those background figures at the pinnacle of countless worldviews, or the Top-Level Players of Paradise who had nowhere left to advance—they were the ones truly trapped in despair.

"This is getting more and more interesting."

Shaking off his thoughts, Meng Yi began studying his personal exclusive room.

For 200 Paradise Coins, the exclusive room transformed into the underground Hive laboratory of Raccoon City.

For 800 Paradise Coins, all sorts of high-precision equipment from the Selection Dungeon filled every empty corner of the lab.

For 1000 Paradise Coins, he purchased several high-concentration nutrient storage tanks, various biological gene samples from Umbrella Corporation, and a wide array of experimental and medical drugs and materials...

He took out "Super Queen" from his Storage Space, and Red Queen immediately Connected to the technological equipment in the personal exclusive room, materializing into a lifelike holographic projection.

The charming little girl in red lifted her skirt, curtsied gracefully, and spoke with a respectful expression: "Chairman."

Meng Yi gave a slight Nod, walked two steps to a high-tech device, and embedded the 'tablet' he was holding into the reserved slot. Then he instructed Red Queen: "You hold down the fort. I'm going out for a stroll."

Red Queen's small face fell, and she puffed out her cheeks, muttering sullenly: "Yes."

Freed from the constraints of logic programs and belonging solely to Meng Yi, Red Queen was becoming more and more 'human,' slowly evolving toward the level of an Information Lifeform.

Meng Yi was happy to see this and let Red Queen evolve on her own.

He didn't need a tool that would soon be obsolete. If he had the chance to redirect the evolution of "Artificial Intelligence · Red Queen" from an Information Lifeform into a "Vassal · Psionic Lifeform" that fit his own system, that would be even better.

If he could actually pull that off, Red Queen could still play a significant role even in world dungeons without networks or technological concepts. Otherwise, she'd just shut down and become a dispensable mascot.

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

Iron Law One that all players must follow: No mutual harm is possible in the Paradise Public Area, and no personal abilities can be used. Players are "absolutely safe" in the Public Area.

Iron Law Two: High-permission players can access low-permission areas; low-permission players cannot access high-permission areas.

According to the Instruction Manual, players of each permission level have their own Public Areas for trading, enhancement, and leisure.

The entire structure of Paradise arranges the Public Areas of different permissions from low to high, like multiple layers of worlds stacked on top of each other.

Perhaps it's a "tree," perhaps a "tower," perhaps a "mountain," perhaps a "city," perhaps a "kingdom," perhaps a "planet," perhaps a "multidimensional universe"...

Depending on the player's own level of cognition and perception, the external form of the Paradise Public Area they see varies.

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

The "Player Residential Area" is easy to understand—it's a zone filled with personal dwellings.

For example, when Meng Yi stepped out of the "Tier 5 Permission · Residential Area," all kinds of buildings in various styles filled his view, and the interconnected streets were bustling with 'people coming and going.'

Many players who had reached Tier 5 had chosen to be 'Not Human.'

The door of the courtyard Next Door Opened, and Meng Yi, standing at his own doorstep, saw a creature with eight arms, Covered with blue-black scales, wearing light armor, holding eight icy battle swords, and slithering on a serpent's tail—a Snakeman straight out of a DND Worldview.

Meng Yi nodded amiably at his neighbor.

The Eight-Armed Sword Saint Snakeman, over five meters tall, was stunned for a moment, then grinned a ferocious fanged smile and let out a laugh, which counted as greeting Meng Yi.

It was utterly ridiculous!

An Eight-Armed Sword Saint Snakeman wielding transcendent swordsmanship with eight arms—at minimum, a single one could destroy a nation—and This fellow's smile was worse than no smile at all!

Suddenly, a beam of silver moonlight streaked rapidly down the street—a speed demon had appeared.

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

Besides the Eight-Armed Sword Saint Snakeman and the Moon Wolf, who resembled a mythical race, the other Tier 5 Players Could Not Be Underestimated.

A Cultivation Side Dragon Girl, with clouds swirling All over the body, vast misty waves, jade-like lustrous horns on her head, and flowing classical robes exuding an Immortal Wind Dao Bone.

And a Weird Side Lifeform, outlined by simple red threads, empty beneath a black veil, floating in midair.

A Buddhist monk in tattered robes, with a gleaming bald head—Cough cough, a High-Ranking Buddhist Donkey.

A player radiating majesty, wearing a twelve-bead crown and a black-gold imperial robe, walking with a dragon's stride—likely from the dominion, legion, or summoning system.

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

A player whose entire body was like a giant Eyeball, Covered with irregular, twisted Wings—probably an angel-type player from the Old Testament system.

And then there was a player whose form was built from twisted, mutated tentacles, with an indescribable appearance that caused mental pollution just by looking at him—let's call him 'Cthulhu Expert.'

The Cthulhu Expert was way too heavy—wouldn't the Magical Girl-type female players be 'thrilled'?

A swordsman in white, Free and Easy to the extreme; a scholar with a brush in hand, smiling; a sword immortal riding a flying sword at breakneck speed; a half-beast standing upright amid gusts of demonic wind; a tech-heavy Information Lifeform with a mechanical body...

Meng Yi's neighbors were long used to the curious stares aimed at the 'new neighbor.'

With limited time to stay in Paradise, the motley crew of Tier 5 Players strode one by one into Mist Vortexes, heading toward their planned destinations.

"...A gathering of talents, a congregation of sages."

Even someone as steady as Meng Yi had to offer a rather plain 'compliment.'

Tier 5 Permission Areas are already so "full of talent"—I can't imagine what kind of monsters and demons are in the higher permission areas.

Using the sub-top-tier currency "Multiverse Core" as a reference, at a top-level player's tea party, the dishes on the table start with Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow, chopsticks forged from the Imaginary Tree, and they raise a glass to drink the Quantum Sea dry in one gulp?

Compared to "Evolution Paradise," the local customs of his home Warhammer Worldview aren't so unbearable after all.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the restless distractions in his heart.

With only 2B+1D+44000 Paradise Coins left in his pocket, Meng Yi recognized his place in the hierarchy as a "little brother."

His actual player level was only Tier 1 (lv5), but his hidden permission was a full Tier 5.

As a result, he was grouped with these Tier 5 monsters and demons, sharing the Tier 5 Paradise Public Area.

Instead of being in the Tier 1 area like Luo Ji, or the Tier 2 area like Firefly.

Birds of a feather flock together.

The facilities in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 public areas were of little use to Meng Yi now.

Having a hidden permission that exceeded his actual player level wasn't bad either.

At the very least, it broadened his horizons, allowing him to seize higher-level resources for rapid growth, without having to play out boring scenes like "hiding one's talent," "pretending to be friends," "showing off and slapping faces," or "playing the pig to eat the tiger" with low-level players.

"Paradise, let me ask—will my future instances be on par with Tier 5 (lv40~lv49) players?"

[Answer: No. Hidden permission allows early access to corresponding rank benefits; instance difficulty remains the same as the player's actual rank.]

Completing high-difficulty side quests in low-difficulty instances to raise hidden permission is a player's own skill.

This shows that "Evolution Paradise" encourages players to actively dig into instance depth and grow on their own—it wouldn't really let high-value 'good seeds' seek death.

Don't think too highly of Star Rail Emanator Level. It's just a regular Tier 6 player tier.

Take an example of a top-level Tier 5 player with later plot relevance.

"Player: I'm a Magical Girl," player level lv49, overall evaluation B++.

She started out as a fire mage, and at this stage, she's just beginning to touch the "Concept of Yang."

Going all out, she can pierce the Earth's core and blow up a planet. Her actual combat power can go head-to-head with weaker A-rank natives from derivative worldviews.

At most four more instances from now, the protagonist will reach star-shattering output at overall evaluation B. At A-, he can solo the Antimatter Legion "except for the Destruction Aeon."

Desperately barely shattering a star, going all out to shatter a star, casually serious to shatter a star, a casual strike to shatter a star—these are entirely different levels.

Players who roam countless derivative worlds through "Evolution Paradise," as long as they didn't die in their ascension quests and made it to Tier 5, are all ruthless characters who have initially forged their own path.

Starting from EX (Tenth Order) and above, Eleventh Order players' combat power nearly aligns with that of Primal Worldview powerhouses.

In the later stages, different paths lead to the same goal—there's no saying which is better or worse.

Top-level players mostly barter, using insights from other systems to draw parallels.

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

Or exchanging the Weird Immortal Emperor from Primal Perfection for a Grand Luo Golden Immortal from Primal Primordial.

Currently, the top players in Paradise are stuck at 15th Order (Semi-Transcendence), unable to advance to the nonexistent 16th Order. None of the Primal Worldviews have a 16th Order Transcendence either.