066. The Butterfly's Wings
Of course, this isn't free of charge.
Narrative-level civilizations have their own methods of mass-producing deities to handle certain special situations—such as dealing with the Speaker of [Society].
Even if they can't defeat [Society] itself, killing the Speaker would be a significant blow.
The 「Annihilation Temple」 specializes in this approach. They have an organization called the "Pantheon," which trains and organizes planet-consciousness beings, cultivated from soul maggots, into warriors who can repel [Society]'s invasions, then returns them to their respective planets to form a solid defensive wall.
The 「Empire of Heroes」 also produces deities on a massive scale, although the nature differs slightly. The principles, however, lead to the same outcome.
Whether it's mass-produced deities or official Pathway ascension, it all hinges on one piece of technology—the Ascension Platform.
"To think it's this thing… I need to tread carefully."
Li Aozi stood up and paced back and forth a few times.
Previously, when he discussed the issues on Azure Star with Du Zexin, N4, Xia Jianjing, and others, he proposed two solutions:
First, destroy the planet. Li Aozi would purchase another planet as an interstellar migration destination in advance.
Second, extract Entropy Lord's larva and throw it into a black hole, effectively sealing it.
The advantage of the first option was its reliability—it would eliminate the undeveloped Entropy Lord, making the star system completely safe.
The downside was that even then, many would die in the migration process.
The second option would save the planet, but the drawback was the time it would take.
At the time, Li Aozi subtly implied he would try to find a decent interstellar migration company, advising the people of Azure Star not to be too optimistic.
Even he wasn't too hopeful about sealing Entropy Lord. He intended to test the waters; if the narrative-level civilization insisted on destroying the planet, he would prepare for migration.
He would strive to prevent Azure Star's people from having to destroy their own homeland, but if narrative-level civilization refused, he had no choice.
Subjectively and objectively, destroying the planet was the most suitable choice.
But the emergence of the [White Obelisk] suddenly shifted Li Aozi's thinking.
"Absolutely, I must protect Azure Star!"
Once the [White Obelisk] is deployed, it can't be moved, and Li Aozi didn't want to lose this asset.
If managed well… perhaps Azure Star could take an independent path without being beholden to any civilization, avoiding becoming a subsidiary of other narrative-level civilizations.
No one wants to be a pawn; everyone wants to be the player.
In the universe, only [Society] and 'Narrative' are the players.
And the [White Obelisk] gave Li Aozi a glimmer of hope—a chance for Azure Star to develop independently and possibly reach narrative-level civilization status!
"If I take this route, my fate and Azure Star's will be tightly intertwined… though it seems that was always the case."
As the starting zone for players in the Yanxia region, Azure Star's player count was extraordinarily high, and Li Aozi guessed few planets had more players than those in Yanxia.
So be it—he wouldn't lose out.
Faced with the threat of Entropy Lord, Li Aozi would rather take the risk.
To personally cultivate a narrative-level civilization… what a grand, magnificent endeavor.
Although it was a faint hope, civilizations that developed their own Ascension Platforms weren't unheard of, though most were controlled by narrative-level civilizations.
"Still, I'll need to speed up. Though I'm leveling up quickly, Azure Star only has about 20 years left—25 at best, even without provoking Entropy Lord."
Li Aozi clicked his tongue:
"In 25 years, I have to reach level 120, transition to [Bishop], advance to Zeta-tier (ζ, the sixth Greek letter), and even dive once into a star system to qualify for the battle."
How powerful is Zeta-tier? — Powerful enough to destroy Azure Star with ease. Reaching Zeta-tier meant being a core force in the universe.
From Li Aozi's experience, leveling up beyond Delta-tier was tough—some missions took five to six years, with late-stage battles lasting over a decade.
He knew of a place where he might gain experience rapidly, possibly reaching level 100 in three years.
But he'd first need to reach level 90.
To level up quickly, he'd have to rely on players. But as he recalled, public testing was still five years away.
Five years… Li Aozi sighed.
With just a few beta testers, there wasn't much chance of rapid leveling. In five years, he'd be lucky to sort out his residency and education.
"Let's see if there's any activity on the forums."
Just as Li Aozi was preparing to deploy the Pathway Structure, he logged into the forum to check recent updates.
As soon as he entered the game section, a shocking announcement greeted him:
"Public Testing Fully Open: "Star Abyss" 1.0—New Expansion [Words of Scorn]!"
Li Aozi was stunned, skimming through the content, deeply shocked:
"What's going on? Public testing already? This is five years ahead of schedule—at least a few weeks sooner than expected!"
No wonder there was no player feedback when he broadcast to Azure Star; the beta testers had logged off for a break, waiting for the servers to reopen.
"So, in a week, civilian players will flood Azure Star?"
He looked at the update list, which was mostly unchanged from his memory.
Except for one addition: an enhancement to the resurrection mechanic. Now, players no longer had to return from a respawn point.
"[Redemption] players can now build three types of redemption structures: field hospitals, makeshift life altars, and small churches, allowing players to rest and respawn in the wild—a feature that wasn't added until version 2.0!"
This effectively granted players a real-time save option. Initially, players had only three daily revivals, but now, as long as they rested well, each rest would reset a revival opportunity.
"This update drastically lowered the entry threshold and reduced player frustration… It was after this update that "Star Abyss" gained a massive player base."
"Wait, according to my memory, the reason for the "Layandin Medical Optimization Protocol"was the rise of David Lin's era, with the unsealing of cloning tech and artificial wombs, solving Azure Star's population issue. That allowed billions of players, and it was then that Qiqiao Network began reducing frustration and easing the revival mechanic..."
"In other words."
Li Aozi was somewhat incredulous:
"David Lin is already in power?"
Li Aozi hadn't realized the extent of his influence.
His first thought was Du Zexin—Du Zexin's whereabouts remained unknown, and without gravitational wave communications, Li Aozi couldn't locate him.
Yavanna, though David Lin's daughter, was of little help. She'd run off to outer space with him, going from a third-rate agent to a self-sufficient woman's rights icon, making clothes by hand.
After reflecting, Li Aozi realized David Lin's early rise might not be directly due to him, yet he couldn't deny a connection.
After all, no one in his previous life had rocketed him into space.
It could only be chalked up to the butterfly effect.
"Regardless, it's a good thing."
David Lin was pragmatic, foresighted, yet gentle in his approach—too soft on enemies, in Li Aozi's opinion.
With David Lin ascending five years early, the era of the Frost-Plated Federation would also arrive sooner.
"That means more players—maybe over five billion? Possibly even six, given Frost-Plated's growth—wait!"
Li Aozi suddenly remembered:
"Those players I encouraged on the forums, deciding to go to Frost-Plated, still intend to stir up trouble!"
Would this create difficulties for David Lin?
Li Aozi thought about it and figured it might not.
Even if players caused a lot of trouble, it wouldn't compare to the brutality of the Frost-Plated civil war. The ones who killed the most Azure Star people were always their compatriots.
Players need a "recognition filter" to play; sometimes their actions were wild, but the butchers and conservative military from Frost-Plated's civil war were true villains.
If need be, he'd issue difficult missions as the "Resonator" to divert the players' attention.
He'd leave the remaining challenges to David Lin.
Li Aozi continued scanning the forum for updates. Judging by registered users and polls, most players chose Tianhuan as their starting point, as it was excellent for leveling up.
However, due to Li Aozi's venture into space, 96.81% of [Domination] players opted for the Red Arrow Empire, known for its Omega Energy training centers and supportive stance toward Omega Energy users.
Li Aozi had already established the [Domination] Pathway and publicly shared his Omega Energy awakening formula before leaving Azure Star.
He had no interest in Azure Star's paper currency, preferring to turn all future Omega Energy users into [Mutants].
This change meant those awakened by Entropy Lord's influence, like Qiu Ran and Nomi, would become history.
Safe and regulated [Mutants] would replace dangerous human experiments, making Omega Energy development legal and standardized.
Li Aozi firmly believed that technology itself wasn't wrong; only the abuse of technology by the unethical was.
Red Arrow had numerous high-density cities, but he needed a location with high comfort, faith output, prosperity, and appeal to players.
He needed a place welcoming to Omega Energy users, with a high player population, preferably along an old-era coastline—not on the seafloor, lest his building get submerged after pushing back Entropy Lord.
After reviewing the information, Li Aozi made his choice.
Considering his legendary status on Azure Star, he decided to maintain his presence.
[You have selected [White Obelisk]]
[Please choose a location on Azure Star for the Pathway Structure deployment.]
[Selection complete—the Pathway Structure will be generated at the target location.]
[Target location: Azure Star—Red Arrow Empire—Elgar Coast—Elgar City]
[Pathway Landmark established. Ascend and become a god soon.]