Civilization Advancement Assessment

Lin Yi quickly composed himself.

Years of tempering his temperament prevented him from dwelling on his emotions for too long; after a brief moment of reflection, he shifted his focus to the upcoming Civilization Advancement Assessment.

Seven days may sound long, but in reality, it is extremely fleeting.

Since he had the rare, heaven-sent opportunity to live a second life, he had to plan ahead if he wanted things to turn out differently.

Therefore, before the assessment began, he had to ensure all preparations were in order.

Lin Yi paced back and forth, then sat down at his desk. As he tidied up the slightly cluttered surface, he began to carefully recall and organize information regarding the Civilization Advancement Assessment.

The territory of the Cosmic Human Race is vast and boundless. Every day, human civilizations on countless primitive planets reach a critical point, attempting to step into the ranks of interstellar civilizations.

Although the Cosmic Human Race has struggled through hardships among the billions of races in the star sea and can barely be considered a powerful group, there are hundreds of such powerful groups in the universe.

Furthermore, there are peak-level groups standing above them.

Consequently, within the Pan-Spirit Alliance—where the Spirit Race serves as the absolute core—the Cosmic Human Race is only slightly stronger than the average member.

To survive and develop amidst the brutal competition of the universe, and to allocate limited resources to screen and cultivate newborn human civilizations that possess true potential and can produce powerhouses, the Human Race Supreme Council established the "Civilization Advancement Assessment Mechanism".

Presided over by an Eternal Divine level existence who specializes in the Illusory Law, the assessment is conducted for all civilizations that meet the criteria for advancement.

After long ages of independent development, the human civilization on Blue Star had finally reached the threshold of an interstellar civilization.

Seven days later, a Divine Spirit Avatar of the Illusory Law would descend upon the outer space of Blue Star, enveloping the entire planet with a Divine Kingdom Projection to execute the cruel yet fair advancement assessment for the newborn civilization.

A high rating leads to resource allocation and vigorous cultivation; planets like Blue Star, located in an Origin Energy Barren Belt, could even be relocated to an Origin Energy Abundant Zone.

A low rating, however, results in the planet being relegated to a resource or soldier-source planet, left to struggle in misery while hoping that the pressure might force a heaven-defying powerhouse to emerge from within the civilization.

This is a rite of passage for a civilization.

Abyssal Beasts descend! The apocalypse begins!

Abyssal Beasts are terrifying monsters that exist between reality and illusion, simulated by the supreme power of an Eternal Divine level being.

They possess real destructive power and killing instincts, yet they originate from the Illusory Law and are infinite in number.

Swarming out from their nests, the Abyssal Beasts tear through order and devour life.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi could not help but feel a sense of emotion.

In his previous life, when the assessment that lasted for a thousand years on Blue Star finally ended, the people of Blue Star were filled with indignation upon learning the truth of the apocalypse.

Countless deaths, the struggle for survival across dozens of generations, and the fate of an entire civilization being toyed with at will—and because they failed to reach the required assessment grade, they only received a Level 2 civilization rating.

The entire Blue Star was reduced to a tool for providing resources, and almost all Blue Star people struggled in hardship.

He and his peers, who had achieved a Level 4 individual rating during the assessment and were able to leave Blue Star as Star Core level beings with their freedom, had entered the universe filled with such resentment.

But as time passed and their horizons broadened after venturing through the star sea—especially with the virtual network opening their eyes—the object of their resentment shifted from the Human Race Supreme Council, which formulated the assessment mechanism, to themselves.

What did they hate?

They hated that they weren't ambitious enough at the time, and they hated that they hadn't worked hard enough.

They hated even more that after reaching the Star Core level, they had slowed their pace of cultivation and allowed petty matters to hinder their progress, thereby missing the golden opportunity that was the Civilization Advancement Assessment.

Because they later learned that all initial human civilizations are protected by the Human Race Supreme Council before the advancement assessment.

This protection is intended to ensure that budding human civilizations can develop normally without being destroyed by external factors.

Why had Blue Star remained safe and sound despite the crises lurking in the star sea?

There were no star pirate raids, no stellar collapses, and no planetary impacts.

This was because these threats were all handled by the initial civilization guardians dispatched by the Purple Gold Star Union under the Supreme Council.

It can be said that without the Supreme Council, ninety-nine percent of primary civilizations would have long ago perished in natural disasters or been enslaved by other advanced civilizations or star pirates.

Lin Yi recalled a comrade in his Mercenary Group who had also joined after a Civilization Advancement Assessment.

That fellow had mentioned during a chat that his civilization, "Kanbo", had experienced over thirty recorded extinction-level crises, yet all of them were inexplicably resolved.

The most absurd instance was when an asteroid was about to touch the atmosphere, only to suddenly disintegrate into dust.

Perhaps it was this style of the Kanbo civilization guardian—only intervening when things reached a critical point—that made the religious atmosphere of the Kanbo civilization so intense, as the gods truly seemed to manifest when needed.

Of course, the only time they didn't manifest was during the Civilization Advancement Assessment...

Therefore, the mindset of Lin Yi and his peers was extremely complex, and naturally, they were even more resentful of their former selves.

Because beyond the initial protection, even the Civilization Advancement Assessment itself, whether for an individual or the entire civilization, was more of an opportunity than a disaster.

Not to mention anything else, the fact that the assessment is presided over by an avatar of an Eternal Divine level existence shows the importance the Human Race Supreme Council places on the Civilization Advancement Assessment.

What is the concept of an Eternal Divine level? According to public information on the virtual network, the only Eternal Divine level being in the entire Purple Gold Star Union is "Ming Luo", the chairman of the Star Union Executive Committee.

Generally speaking, from birth to extinction, a normal civilization only interacts with an Eternal Divine level existence during the period of the Civilization Advancement Assessment.

Lin Yi thought of the Gaokao that had just ended and the Qingteng University admission notice he had received today, and could not help but sigh.

"This Civilization Advancement Assessment is so similar to Blue Star's Gaokao and university education. Not only is the Gaokao the best shortcut for ordinary people to change their destiny, but the Principal is also the only high-level social figure an ordinary person has a chance to encounter in their lifetime."

"And the massive resource supply during the assessment is more like the four-year study period of a university. So, if you didn't take advantage of the unlimited resource supply during the assessment to develop properly, and didn't even manage to get the 'Level 3' rating graduation certificate, then who can you blame for getting beaten up after entering the interstellar society?"

Of course, you can only blame yourself for not being ambitious enough.

When the Abyssal Beast suddenly descended, the Blue Star Civilization struggled to survive amidst hasty and chaotic resistance.

Cities were reduced to ruins, order teetered on the brink of collapse, and humanity eked out a living in the shadow of monsters, establishing fragile shelters within the rubble.

Technology developed slowly through the struggle, and individuals evolved with great difficulty amidst blood and fire.

However, once the situation with the Abyssal Beast was brought under a certain degree of control and humanity shifted from total passivity to a strategic stalemate, the nations of Blue Star did not launch a full-scale counterattack to completely exterminate the Abyssal Beast; instead, they turned from their initial unified cooperation into mutual obstruction and infighting.

One of the key points was their greed for the resources produced by the Abyssal Beast.

Killing Abyssal Beasts of different ranks would condense a strange energy crystal—the Spirit Shine Crystal!

Contained within it were randomly generated "rewards" of varying value.

This was the cultivation and reward system for the civilization participating in the assessment, and it was the most critical resource in the entire trial.

The grade of the Spirit Shine Crystal was directly linked to the strength of the Abyssal Beast; every kill was like opening a blind box.

It could be rare cosmic metals or biological materials, a fragment or complete inheritance of a Source Energy cultivation technique, or highly compressed, pure Source Energy Crystal...

It could even be weapon or equipment blueprints that far exceeded the current technological level of Blue Star.

This critical resource caused a rift in the attitude of the Blue Star Civilization's leadership toward the Abyssal Beast.

One faction felt that since the Abyssal Beast was continuously evolving, they should be exterminated with full force.

The other faction, however, believed that this was a sustainable, renewable resource.

As long as it remained within a controlled range, it could instead significantly boost the development of the civilization, and they could even negotiate and achieve win-win cooperation with the intelligent, high-level Abyssal Beast King.