Arrival

Dressed in black with white hair, Su Ke stood before the console with his arms crossed, squinting at the image of the planet on the screen.

"The ship's preliminary scans found no information network or traces of technology on this planet, which means it is a backward, primitive world—or at least, its technology is underdeveloped," Su Ke muttered. "It doesn't seem to pose a threat, but I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Who knows? There might be peerless experts among the natives of a planet that has never made contact with the universe."

Some planets have natives who are unimaginably fierce.

For instance, the "Blade Race" mentioned in the original story: when the cosmic civilization discovered them, they found that this indigenous planet actually possessed one Domain Lord and twelve Universe Rank experts... It was an incredibly powerful planet. It was only because they hadn't developed technology and lacked spaceships that the Blade Race had remained on their home planet all along.

Furthermore, members of the Blade Race reach Planetary Rank as soon as they reach adulthood.

The human race in the universe is unimaginably vast, numbering in the tens of millions of distinct lineages, each with varying evolutionary efficiency, which can be roughly divided into ten tiers.

The fifth and sixth tiers both reach Planetary Rank upon adulthood.

Su Ke does not belong to this category, as his race reaches adulthood at eighteen, and he estimated that under normal cultivation, he wouldn't reach Planetary Rank until after thirty, which clearly didn't fit.

He belongs to the seventh or eighth tier of bloodlines, reaching Apprentice Rank upon adulthood.

In truth, cultivation promotes the evolution of life, and bloodline is crucial; a poor bloodline means a poor foundation! Cultivation speed is slow, and breaking through bottlenecks is difficult! A strong bloodline, conversely, means an excellent foundation and fast cultivation speed. If the bloodline is strong enough—like the first-tier human bloodline—one can become a "Domain Lord" directly, without even facing the dangers of bottlenecks.

With Su Ke's low-tier bloodline, no matter how hard he struggles, he will likely cap out at Stellar Rank.

Unless he encounters a special opportunity (like the master of Yunmo Planet seizing a Universe Rank bloodline) or uses something like a bloodline evolution agent to improve his lineage.

However, "bloodline evolution agents" are strictly restricted commodities in the universe. Without a certain status, one doesn't even have access to purchasing channels. Unless one spends a thousand or ten thousand times the market price to acquire a single dose, it is impossible to obtain.

Bloodline evolution agents are manufactured by the Virtual Universe Company, which possesses the strongest human technology; ordinary people cannot buy them. It is better for geniuses; after joining as internal members, they can receive bloodline evolution agents of different grades for free according to their genius ranking.

If one isn't a genius, they can only buy them outside... but paying a thousand or ten thousand times the price—where would he get that kind of money?

If he wanted to buy a single dose of a bloodline evolution agent, he would need to multiply his current wealth by a thousand or ten thousand times just to have a chance.

This is also why many people take such desperate risks.

Su Ke is similarly unwilling to accept his future fate, especially after being forced to flee his homeland by the Blood Spring Society. He craves power even more, which is why he is so eager to explore this mysterious planet.

"I hope this planet doesn't have any freakish races," Su Ke thought to himself. "Otherwise, even if I discover some great benefits, I wouldn't dare to take the risk."

The spaceship hovered at the planet's atmosphere, beginning a comprehensive scan of the world, using various technological means to probe in secret to obtain data on the planet as quickly as possible.

"This is the human race on this planet? There are actually many different types of humanoid races living together? How did they evolve?" Su Ke looked at the images captured and transmitted back by the ship, feeling quite surprised.

Judging solely by their appearance, they were similar to the vast majority of mainstream humans in the universe—there were slight differences in skin, height, hair color, and pupils, but they could still be confirmed as a human race.

Some races were rugged and ugly, resembling green-skinned orcs, while others were tall and beautiful, like elves.

If Su Ke were to stand next to some of them, the difference likely wouldn't be that great.

More importantly, this ship was equipped with large-scale life-detection instruments that most ships lacked. After a long period of global reconnaissance, the data was finally transmitted back.

"Detected a population of over 6.8 billion, mainly distributed across the planet's three continents and several oceanic islands."

"The overall civilization is in the feudal era."

"Apprentice Rank: 6.8 billion (including those below the first stage of Apprentice Rank)."

"Planetary Rank: 363,000."

"Stellar Rank: 10,617."

"Stellar Rank 9: 57 people; Stellar Rank 8: 394 people; Stellar Rank 7: 1,865 people..."

Listening to these figures, the corners of Su Ke's mouth twitched slightly.

It was a relief not to hear about any Universe Rank experts, which made his expression look a bit better.

But his expression didn't look much better than before.

360,000 Planetary Rank experts might be one thing, but 10,000 Stellar Rank experts... even in the Jialan Empire, only a few life planets would have so many powerhouses. For a primitive planet to suddenly produce so many, could it really be because it was uniquely blessed?

And the data collected by the ship was only surface-level.

As for the economy, religion, powerhouses, military, technology, and other aspects, a deeper understanding was still needed.

For instance, regarding those powerhouses, the ship could only detect basic data based on life reactions. What if there were Planetary Rank experts with domains hiding among them, or Stellar Rank experts who had stepped across the threshold of laws, or some peerless genius possessing the inheritance of an ancient expert... He didn't want to become the next Nuo Lanshan or Golden Horned Beast, delivering warmth to the local natives.

"I must learn their language and then understand their internal situation," Su Ke thought to himself. "It would be best if I could infiltrate their upper echelons."

It was troublesome not having an information network; otherwise, he could have hacked into it and quickly obtained a wealth of information about this planet.

Fortunately, the natives on this planet didn't look much different from the humans on his ship. By disguising themselves and mastering their language for communication, it would be much easier to infiltrate and collect information.

"Kadibus." Having made up his mind, Su Ke spoke directly to a Stellar Rank powerhouse beside him. That Stellar Rank expert was one of his two subordinates who were Stellar Rank 8 Psychic Masters—one specialized in illusions and soul attacks, while the other specialized in controlling telekinetic weapons for long-range combat.

Kadibus was the one who specialized in soul illusions.

"I want you to take two Stellar Rank 1 experts and 20 Planetary Rank 9 experts. Make your appearances as similar as possible to the natives in the images. You are to disguise yourselves, enter the planet, and infiltrate the interior to collect intelligence," Su Ke said slowly. "The first step is to translate and master their language and script. With the auxiliary light brain and the ship's remote support, I believe this shouldn't be difficult for you."

"Yes, Master." Kadibus was a tall, handsome man with emerald hair, fair skin, and pointed ears; he didn't even need a disguise to look like one of the races on a certain continent of this planet.

Su Ke looked at him. "You have illusions and can easily control or influence ordinary people. My requirement is that you must not alert the native powerhouses, you must not expose your identities, and if possible, do not harm them unnecessarily."

"Yes, Master." Kadibus understood perfectly. "I understand what you mean."

Su Ke nodded.

The strongest beings discovered on this planet so far were only at the Stellar Rank 9, and there were only a few dozen of them scattered across the entire world. Su Ke believed that with Kadibus's strength, he would certainly be able to complete the task he had assigned.

Once he had more information, he would then consider how to proceed with further actions.