Wu Xiaoyu listened as they argued at length.
He more or less understood.
Spiritual energy was a force beneficial to the world and all living things within it.
It differed from the power of their Flame Star.
Although Flame Star had secret realms, adventurers, and magical beasts, its environment was extremely deadly to ordinary people.
Ever since the secret realms appeared, a certain force had filled heaven and earth. If people did not eat products from the secret realms, they would gradually weaken.
The longer they went without eating them, the faster they weakened.
Someone had refused to believe it and tried going a year without eating food from the secret realms. As a result, he aged directly into an old man, and five years later, he kicked the bucket.
This kind of aging was irreversible. Once a person's body began to age, even if they started eating food from the secret realms afterward, it would only maintain their current state and stop them from aging further.
Wu Xiaoyu's mother had died because of this disease, compounded by several other complications.
That was why he knew better than anyone that in a world like this, ordinary people could only keep working, keep working, if they wanted any chance of surviving.
And ever since the secret realms appeared...
The number of newborns had plummeted.
Only guild members, certain prominent families, or families with adventurers would choose to raise children and support the next generation.
Or rather, only they had the means to do so.
Otherwise, having a child meant gambling—gambling on whether the child could awaken as an adventurer before reaching adulthood.
This world was twisted.
Whether it was the adventurer guilds that ran rampant by relying on their powerful abilities, or the rules of that world itself...
None of it