Chapter 981 The Truth About a Level-4 Civilization
"I"m sorry. I would just like to ask, how do I find my friends who have already arrived?" w.a.n.g Zhong still missed Grai and the rest. Over the past two years, 156 people had been sent now, but they only had definite information about over 30 people. There was no news from Aiolos, Mu Zi, Grai, and the rest. In the Star Alliance, the lower levels did not have a convenient way of communicating like Skylink.
The elven girl looked at w.a.n.g Zhong and jeered at him. "This is not a missing persons counter. Think about how to survive instead." With that, she did not even care about them.
w.a.n.g Zhong shook his head. It looked like the citizens of the Star Alliance were not very friendly. However, he had expected this and had done his homework before coming. Although Uncle w.a.n.g and Aunt Shea were very impressive, he had never enjoyed special treatment when he grew up. Thus, he understood the life of the lower cla.s.ses in society.
When they walked out from the transmission area, everyone"s feelings were rather complex. They were Heavenly Soul experts high above the ma.s.ses, but when they came here, it was like being in the lower levels of society. They could only predict that their future would be full of difficulties. However, they were all Heavenly Souls. No matter how strong they were, as long as they were able to conquer the minor Heavenly Calamity, this meant that their moral mind was firm. They quickly controlled the dejection and unhappiness in their hearts.
Outside the transmission area was a large road that was covered in blue crystals. It extended towards a bizarre and motley area in the distance. Unlike the illusions in the Fifth Dimension, these were all real. There were even some people who could create these illusions.
There were many alien creatures that they had never seen before pulling carts, while various strangely shaped flying instruments carried energy resources. Although everyone was shocked, this was still within an acceptable range. The Star Alliance had the strongest cultivation resources and technology civilizations. The most advanced machinery civilization, which was a metal civilization, was a level-7 civilization in the Star Alliance. Simply said, they possessed the qualifications to enter the Star Alliance as their technology had climbed to the peak. In the Star Alliance, level-7 and level-8 civilizations were considered aristocrats. However, it was a pity that machinery races could not undergo cultivation and could only be a core power of the Star Alliance. Of course, their special characteristics were indispensable to the Star Alliance as the machinery races protected the civilizations in the Star Alliance. Interestingly, it was said that 9 out of the 22 civilizations that had once disappeared were machinery civilizations. They could cultivate their hearts, but this was a special case. This had happened once several thousand years ago, but never again.
Everything that they saw — including snails that were several dozen meters tall, flying objects, flying instruments that hummed, and shops that were on fire — overturned what they knew about the universe. Various noisy languages were translated into a language that humans could understand when they reached their ears. Everyone felt overwhelmed by these new experiences and luxurious surroundings.
"I never thought that we would become country b.u.mpkins." Wales laughed and said, "Since the Star Alliance has nothing arranged for us, what are your plans?"
"To us, cultivation is our priority. Let"s find a way to adjust to the environment here and overcome the gravity," said a young Heavenly Soul. "I feel like my legs are as heavy as lead. We cannot absorb the spiritual influence in this world either. If we don"t get used to this, we cannot even cultivate."
This was the truth. They all had the basics of cultivation. Thus, in this kind of high gravity environment, even though they could not do any kind of cultivation for now, as long as their bodies gradually got used to the environment here, they felt that their bodies would definitely become much stronger. When their bodies became stronger, they would naturally have a higher tolerance. They would slowly be able to absorb the extremely thick spiritual energy. This was the first step in establis.h.i.+ng a foothold here. However, they might have to spend a lot of time on this. With the several dozen coins they had in their wallets, they evidently could not sustain themselves until that time. Would they actually have to do as the toad said and find jobs as Heavenly Souls?
"Hey! You guys!" A gruff voice sounded.
Everyone turned around and saw a group of humanoid creatures on the opposite side of the crystal road. Their physiques were similar to a human"s, but they had horns on their head, and their skin was bright red. All of them were unusually tall and were at least three meters tall. Their leader"s skin was bright red, and he had unusually solid muscles. He waved to them and shouted, "Are you new migrants? Do you want to find a job? Come here, come here!"
Men with money had power, but men without money were nothing. When these Heavenly Souls walked out of the transmission area, they already understood. They did not reject the idea of a job. Furthermore, he had taken the initiative. There would be no harm in better understanding the situation.
"Let"s go over and take a look."
When everyone went over, the red-skinned man started his introductions. The job was very simple. They would be movers for the Stars.h.i.+p Company, and their main job was to help with the loading and unloading of products. He also provided rather complete procedures and contracts to look through.
The Star Alliance Contract was a process that had to be completed when trades were made in the Star Alliance. Everyone took a closer look and did not find any gaps that would cheat them. After all, they were official immigrants. It was not quite possible for them to be randomly captured as slaves. However, the rewards for this job were too little. Other than food and lodging, they would only receive two Star Coins every month.
"I believe that even new immigrants have heard of the Stars.h.i.+p Company!" The red-skinned man was full of confidence. He smiled and said, "We are one of the ten main pillars of the Star Alliance economy. We have standards and are stable! We have only said so much since you are new immigrants. Even though the compensation may be low, it is a safe job! If you look for jobs that offer a hundred Star Coins per month, nine out of ten of them are cheaters! You will have no say if you are cheated. They will sell you, and you will help them to earn more money!"
"Furthermore, the location of this job is at area C28. Although it is a rather remote area, it is far away from the Heavenly River. Thus, the effects of gravity and spiritual pressure will be lower. This is more suitable for weaker immigrants like you to get used to this environment and will be a great help for you."
The Stars.h.i.+p Company was mainly involved in transport services, personnel delivery, and product delivery. They claimed that their delivery network stretched to every corner of the Fifth Dimension. They were strong and were a golden brand. Furthermore, among the companies the Holy City had conducted trade with, the Stars.h.i.+p Company was considered one of the reliable ones. They were rather fair in buying and selling. They had a decent reputation with the higher-ups in the Holy City as being reliable and safe.
As for the low compensation… This group of people had never thought that they would come here just to be a porter for the rest of their lives. However, this was just a temporary stage. They would get used to the environment in the divine territory while having food and lodging. It was good enough not to have any worry about survival for the time being. Their salary was not within their consideration for now. On the contrary, just like what this red-faced monster had said, if the salary was high, they would start to suspect whether they were being cheated.
The group of Heavenly Souls were all very straightforward. The black-and-white contract was written very clearly and had the three-dimensional seal of the Stars.h.i.+p Company. There were no frauds involved in this. The others also made their decision very quickly. Although some of them had other plans, when they considered that they would be able to take care of one another here, they did not persist with their plans, except for w.a.n.g Zhong.
"I won"t join you. I"m looking for someone." w.a.n.g Zhong looked at the materials that the Patriarch Society had given them. The names of over 30 people who had come here last year and still maintained contact were written on the materials. Grai was among them. Furthermore, he was in this area, the Catanlyke District. In the human language, it was translated as "to dress well for a night walk".
The red-faced monster looked at him with a spurious smile. "Little fellow, don"t think that it is very easy to live here. The Stars.h.i.+p Company does not recruit people often. Typically, we will not look for weak races like you. Are you not joining us? You won"t be able to find us once you go beyond this village."
w.a.n.g Zhong declined to comment. He simply smiled and said goodbye to everyone. "If I have the chance, I will go to the Stars.h.i.+p Department in the Giant area to look for you."
"Okay! w.a.n.g Zhong, please be careful. When you find a place to settle down, let us know. We will maintain regular contact with one another. We are all from the Holy City, so we should all know about anything that has happened to each other." Among all of them, the oldest person, Zhang Guangbei, spoke.
He was from Uncle Zhang"s family and was 36 years old. He was loosely related to Uncle Zhang and had heard about him from Uncle Zhang. Although he did not quite approve of him, there was no harm in being polite.
"Brother Guangbei, Brother Karon, and everyone else, take care!"
"Take care!"
The entire Star Alliance, which many races preferred to call as the divine territory, was divided into two layers that were like two different worlds. If one looked up, they would be able to see a world covered in fog in the sky. That world was called "Heaven", while w.a.n.g Zhong and the rest were on the "Land". It was said that only level-9 civilizations could directly enter, while other civilizations had to achieve a certain level of strength or have special ident.i.ties before they could enter. The Heavenly River flowed from the Heaven world, and there was no doubt that the Heaven world had the best resources. At the same time, there were only several million people there. Meanwhile, the Land was almost the same size, but several hundred million races were squeezed there. Even with the rules of the Star Alliance, there would definitely be some chaos when countless civilizations clashed. Various races lived together in the Land. The Heavenly River formed the center of the Land, and there were several hundred areas of varying sizes surrounding the Heavenly River. The closer they were to the Heavenly River, the thicker the spiritual influence present. Thus, the population density near the center was very high, and land was very expensive. The population density and price decreased progressively the further an area was from the center.
Level-7 and level-8 civilizations took up core positions in the Land. They were like the inner circle in Tianjing and received resources only second to the Heaven world. Meanwhile, civilizations between level-4 and level-6 occupied the middle circle, and the weaker civilizations were on the outer circle, waiting for their opportunity to get closer.
The Catanlyke District was in the middle circle, where compet.i.tion was the fiercest. Various large races mingled in this area. After all, this was a place where everything was connected. The mixed civilizations had also caused a blend of architecture. There were iron buildings that were several hundred stories high, which had ma.s.sive transparent bridges in the sky and had the aura of a highly developed civilization. Meanwhile, there were also strange and primitive treehouses. When w.a.n.g Zhong walked into the Catanlyke area, he immediately saw a ma.s.sive treehouse that was 40 to 50 meters tall standing beside an iron skysc.r.a.per. It was alive, and the tree branches were decorated with dazzling lights, waving to everyone who entered this area. "Welcome to the Mingu Treehouse. We provide the best lodging. Mingu Treehouse will serve you with all our hearts!"
When he sensed the energy from the tree, it felt like a level-9 creature on Earth… And this was an inn! w.a.n.g Zhong felt as if he was drunk. What did it feel like staying in the body of a living-tree creature? He curiously looked around. The prices were rather comical. Staying for one night in the cheapest room was already 10 Star Coins…
Forget it. After all, he was just here to take a look and did not have the right to seek novelty as a poor person. Lao w.a.n.g was extremely interested in the place where the top races in the Fifth Dimension gathered and was not disappointed. In fact, this had surpa.s.sed his expectations.
There were both night and day in the divine territory, but there was no sun or moon. The Heavenly River was the natural light source of the entire divine territory and would flow slowly for about 12 hours every day. During this period, the Heavenly River would not emit any light. This was considered as night.
It was now night, but this was the city where people dressed up for night journeys. The Catanlyke District was extremely bustling, even at night. According to the address that the Patriarch Society had provided, w.a.n.g Zhong went to find an alchemy shop in Tongluo Street, where Grai was supposed to be working. Grai had not been pampered and spoiled since childhood. However, w.a.n.g Zhong was rather excited as he did not know how Grai had changed over the past two years. With his wisdom, he would probably adjust to this environment easily.
"What? Are you looking for someone? What Grai?" The boss was a merman with long whiskers. He was plump and had a tri-cone on his head. When he heard that w.a.n.g Zhong was here to find someone, his warmth immediately turned into impatience. "There is no such person! Go away!"
w.a.n.g Zhong was rather used to this unfriendly att.i.tude. Humans looked extremely similar to the four top level-9 civilizations in the Star Alliance. They were called celestial people, and the races that were similar to them were called celestialoids. However, this did not help humans much. Simply speaking, it was like humans seeing a monkey that looked extremely human. One might be interested in placing it at one"s door to greet guests and put on an act, but it was ultimately useless.
Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Zhong"s att.i.tude was very good. He was here to find Grai. When he saw that the merman did not have a particularly irritable att.i.tude, he patiently asked him. The merman boss was probably worried that this muddled fellow would affect his business. In the end, he said, "I can have eight new workers every month. How would I remember someone called Grai! Even if he had worked here before, that should have happened several months ago. I have no impression of him! Where did he go? How would I know where the untouchables have been chased to? Hmph, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from those low-leveled civilizations have no brains or strength. You might even beg for food everywhere in the Catanlyke District! Fine, I have said everything I need to say. Hurry up and leave. If you don"t leave, I will get someone to throw you out!"
In the streets, w.a.n.g Zhong took a deep breath. He looked at the prosperous and fantastical world where it seemed as if dreams had seeped into reality. However, there seemed to be no human touch here. The situation was much poorer than what the Patriarch Society had reported. He was now looking at a more orderly place. In a complex place like this where various civilizations gathered, w.a.n.g Zhong was very cautious of the chaos that might break out.
He was not very worried about Grai and the rest. No matter whether it was Grai, Mu Zi, or Aiolos, they were true experts. It looked like he would not be able to find them in the short run. Next, he had to face this world and find a way to survive.
He turned back and looked at the arrogant merman boss, whose whiskers were flying everywhere. Even in the distance, he looked at w.a.n.g Zhong in disdain. One day, w.a.n.g Zhong would let all the races in this area know just how strong humans were!
To borrow a saying that had been pa.s.sed down in Tianjing for thousands of years, were aristocrats really better than everyone else?
Communication technology was not a problem to the divine territory as there were many kinds present. However, humans did not have the qualifications to use them. As a result, the members who had arrived here did not have a fixed way of communicating with one another. If they wanted to use the "Internet" in the divine territory, they would have to pay. Furthermore, the fees for using it were rather expensive. In general, civilizations that had not reached level-6 would not choose to access it, and only the wealthier civilizations would choose this method. In the divine territory, resources were concentrated among a small group of civilizations. As a level-4 civilization, the humans could not even think of receiving these resources. Furthermore, no individual so far had the right to access the network.
For the time being, w.a.n.g Zhong did not have any plans of biting off more than he could chew. Like a majority of the immigrants who had just arrived, he had to first survive and find a stable place to settle down. When he adjusted to the high gravity environment with thick spiritual influence here, he would then raise the issue of slowly increasing his power.
He had thought that it would not be particularly difficult to find a job. This was also the reason why he had rejected the offer from the Stars.h.i.+p Company. If Grai and the rest could survive here, why couldn"t he? However, after wandering around in the Catanlyke District for a few days, he realized that it was not as easy as he had thought.
As a prosperous area, there were many job opportunities in the Catanlyke District. However, everywhere he went where people were needed, they would think that w.a.n.g Zhong was decent at first glance. His celestialoid appearance was a plus for him, but when they took a look at his ident.i.ty doc.u.ments, their att.i.tudes immediately took a turn. In reality…
Pa pa pa!
The gate was shut!
Other than their appearances, humans were poor in terms of their physical power. As for their intelligence… They were a level-4 civilization. What kind of intelligence could they have?
Meanwhile, pretentious jobs were in great demand. The bosses were more willing to take in elves and half-elves compared to humans. When they boasted, they could even say that they were from the same family as a native race in a level-9 civilization 80,000 years ago.
w.a.n.g Zhong was very fussy about the other jobs. However, in terms of technology, even though the most professional airs.h.i.+p engineers and alchemists had come here, they could only be apprentices here. How about manual labor? w.a.n.g Zhong had not completely adjusted to the gravity here. He did not face any difficulty in normal movements, but if he were to do manual labor, he would be no match for the special alien races with powerful bodies.
As for service jobs… When he arrived in the divine territory, he had thought that service jobs would be more high-end since advanced civilizations that had been in the lead for countless years had gathered here, right? However, it was the exact opposite. The desire and ambition here were even greater, and the desire to breed was stronger.
He had the appearance of a celestial person. As long as he did not reveal his ident.i.ty, people would think highly of him. But the problem was, could he do those kinds of jobs… w.a.n.g Zhong had almost signed a contract in a bar full of feasting and revelry. Then, he saw a fat female toad pus.h.i.+ng down a tall, slender, and handsome creature who was serving alcohol on the sofa. His face turned red, and his eyes rolled back. The toad"s large tongue stretched into his mouth, full of saliva, seemingly unsatisfied with what she had. Mysteriously, the female toad even looked seductively at w.a.n.g Zhong, who was in the distance!
The next moment, Lao w.a.n.g ran away. He decisively rejected the only job that was willing to give him a chance. d.a.m.n, this was h.e.l.l. This was even more terrifying than when he was in Tianjing. Back then, he even thought that Ma Dong"s fears were unfounded. Now, as he touched the Star Coins in his wallet, he could not help but feel sentimental.
He had to lie low and not put on an act. Even if he did not have anything, he could not run out of money!