Individual stone people were judged primarily by their computing power. Their method of reproduction was also quite peculiar, somewhat resembling budding.
Newborn individuals were born with a small amount of memory, and their computational and mathematical abilities were cultivated from childhood.
The higher their computing power, the higher the positions they would attain in the future; those with lower computing power could only perform basic work.
From this perspective, the stone people's "racial computing stats" were far higher than those of other civilizations.
But these stone people were not skilled at cultivation. Although their individual strength was fairly impressive, their growth was far slower than that of ordinary civilizations, and they even seemed almost incapable of growing stronger.
Bloodlines and the like had nothing much to do with them either. They were simply an indigenous species.
Thus, the emergence of the "New Path" seemed practically tailor-made for the Giant Mountain Civilization.
After a brief assessment, the stone people concluded that the existence of the "Light Talisman" might already have been exposed.
It was not that there had been an internal leak.
Rather, the "Light Talisman" belonged to a technological path from another World Cluster to begin with, and there was no telling how widespread it was.
Since they had found a Light Talisman overseas, other civilizations might have found one too.
"If multiple civilizations learn of this, there's a strong chance they'll scramble to buy up the Starry Night Shells!"
"While the news still hasn't been fully exposed, we should conduct private transactions with civilizations skilled at farming the Starry Night Shells as quickly as possible. Even if we have to pay a substantial premium, we must buy in bulk."
The leading Stone People said gravely, "If news of the Light Talisman gets out, we won't lose money."
"At the