The income provided by the Cosmic Exploration Department was a choice.
One was to hold five percent of the world's origin for a long period, receiving annual dividends from the growth of that five percent.
The other was to directly sell it to the Cosmic Exploration Department, who would purchase it at a one percent premium, meaning Ding Yun would receive six percent of the world's origin upfront, and the world would no longer be hers.
Considering that five percent of a world's origin and authority wasn't of much use initially, and while more profitable in the long run, it required an excessively long time. If the world were to be destroyed by some accident, there would be no way to recover the origin at all. It was better to sell it off directly.
Thus, Ding Yun naturally chose the second option.
She then received six thousand origin coins instantly.
It had to be said, this income was truly touching. During her previous trials of golden fingers, she had only managed to earn three hundred to five hundred origin coins per trial. Receiving sixty thousand at once felt like winning the lottery.
Indeed, pioneering new worlds was more profitable.
No wonder the Great Voyages had enriched so many people.
Although Ding Yun was eager to move on to the next world at this moment, given the numerous problems she had encountered in the previous one, and many situations where her mind was completely blank, not knowing why they occurred, she suppressed her excitement. She decided to purchase more books related to cosmic exploration and study them thoroughly.
She couldn't just skim through them like before and then rush off to explore worlds.
Her success this time was due to luck; it might not be so next time. She needed to learn more to improve.
However, before Ding Yun could even buy books, Jin Xinxin's soul communication arrived again. She had a belly full of grievances and wanted to find someone to vent to, so she connected immediately.
The two soon appeared in the consciousness space.
"Ayun, how was your harvest this time? Was the process smooth? Let me tell you, mine was incredibly smooth. I finished conquering a world with ease."
Upon meeting, Jin Xinxin said cheerfully:
"As soon as I entered, I became a prince who had just died. The Emperor only had me as his son. Everyone was overjoyed when I woke up, and my father even issued a general amnesty for the whole country.
Many disaster-stricken areas had their taxes reduced.
Afterward, I smoothly became the Crown Prince. By introducing some technology slightly more advanced than that world's, I was hailed as having the disposition of a wise emperor. My father's health wasn't good and he passed away when I was sixteen. I naturally ascended the throne, appropriately increased food production, and rectified governance.
I then imprinted my mark into the world's origin. It felt effortless, and I barely used the golden finger.
How about you? Was yours smooth?
It should have been smooth, right..."
Jin Xinxin hadn't finished speaking when he saw Ding Yun opposite him, veins practically bulging on her forehead.
Ding Yun's mood at this moment was, of course, quite complex. Comparing them made her want to cry. What a shocking disparity.
Why could he directly become a prince, and an only son at that?
He didn't even have to fight for succession.
She had to become a starving old woman.
Was it just because his name had "gold" in it?
Ah, her heart was truly unbalanced.
Then, Ding Yun naturally vented her frustrations, incidentally recounting her experiences and actions, feeling exceptionally displeased.
Jin Xinxin, however, stroked his chin and said:
"Your starting situation was too difficult. Did you not sacrifice some of the world's origin at the beginning?
And you made it too complicated.
For your kind of start and world, it would have been simplest and most convenient to pretend to be a god and develop faith. Moreover, if you only developed faith, the world consciousness wouldn't have escalated its targeting level against you to grade four. Wait, you didn't buy the 'Cosmic Exploration Guide' and follow it, did you?"
"You can sacrifice world origin at the start?
I didn't see that in any book!
And what's wrong with the 'Cosmic Exploration Guide'?
Wait, I'm a bit confused now. Didn't you tell me last time that you could quickly suppress world consciousness by disrupting the world's destiny trajectory and killing the Son of Destiny? But why does it feel like the world consciousness is targeting me more and more intensely?
So what exactly is going on...
I feel like my mind is a bit muddled."
Ding Yun was now even more confused.
"Although the 'Cosmic Exploration Guide' looks like it was published by the official department, and it was indeed published by them, it's only the initial version. The latest version has been renamed the 'Gentle Exploration Series'!
My heavens, I finally understand why you were so aggressive and ended up so miserable. That book was published over thirty cosmic eras ago. The cosmic exploration policies at that time were a bit rougher, and their understanding and analysis of world consciousness were not as profound as they are now.
Therefore, part of that book is correct, part of it has better solutions, and part of it has been proven wrong. You searched and bought this book online, didn't you? You really shouldn't have bought it online.
You should have gone directly to the Cosmic Exploration Department.
Apply for a free copy of the 'Gentle Exploration Series'.
Searching for related books online, the 'Cosmic Exploration Guide' truly looks like the officially designated book.
Furthermore, some related books sold online, including memoirs by people who participated in cosmic exploration in the past, all have limitations. The 'Gentle Exploration Series' is a set of books that the Cosmic Exploration Department compiled recently, spending a lot of effort and manpower to integrate all previous experiences into the latest version."
Saying this, Jin Xinxin suddenly thought of something and smacked his forehead, turning to apologize profusely to Ding Yun:
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
This seems to be my fault. I guessed that you would definitely agree to register for world exploration, so when I picked up the 'Gentle Exploration Series,' I also got a copy under your name. Originally, I wanted to save you some trouble.
I'd give it to you directly after you registered.
So you wouldn't have to make the trip yourself.
But then I forgot about it. And the Cosmic Exploration Department, perhaps seeing that you had already received a copy of the series under your name, likely assumed you already knew about it and didn't tell you.
That's why you went online to search for information yourself.
Looking for guides to cosmic exploration.
And reading unreliable information.
My heavens, sister, I'm truly sorry!"
Originally, Ding Yun was thinking whether all of this was her own fault, whether she hadn't paid enough attention and didn't have a deep enough understanding of the relevant situations, which led to the current predicament. Then she heard Jin Xinxin's apology.
Immediately, Ding Yun gritted her teeth.
And let Jin Xinxin experience the "love of an elder sister."
She also extorted some origin coins from him while obtaining the "Gentle Exploration Series" that should have been notified to everyone who registered for the exploration plan to pick up at the office.
Only then did she let Jin Xinxin go and disconnect their soul link.
She carefully began to read the "Gentle Exploration Series."
Then, many of her previous doubts were explained, and not only explained, but solutions were also provided.
First, upon entering a world.
One could choose to enter the world directly, or sacrifice a portion of the world's origin to enter a new world.
The origin coins they had were world origin.
They were universal across all worlds.
Entering the world directly meant being randomly possessed by beings with generally poor status, luck, and other factors.
With bad luck, it was questionable if they were even human.
If a certain amount of origin was sacrificed, then naturally, various aspects would improve, allowing for a better identity.
As long as the outsider did not exhibit obviously destructive or aggressive intentions, not sacrificing world origin would make them akin to stowaways or refugees. It would be good if they weren't targeted, let alone receive preferential treatment.
World consciousness wasn't a saint.
Those who sacrificed world origin were basically like immigrants with capital, and they would naturally receive some preferential treatment.
As long as they didn't cause trouble or destroy the world.
All world consciousnesses welcomed such immigrants.
This was Ding Yun's first mistake. She didn't spend any origin coins upon entering, resulting in a very poor identity. Often, the gap in identity required many times the effort to merely compensate for, or perhaps was impossible to bridge. If she had been a princess, empress, or empress dowager, doing things would have been much easier.
There would have been no need for so much trouble and effort.
The second problem was the safety period.
The "Cosmic Exploration Guide" stated that there was a seven-day safety period upon entry, similar to a novice protection period, during which one would not be targeted by the world. However, this was a conclusion that was both correct and incorrect.
While it was true that she wouldn't be targeted by world consciousness for the first seven days after entering, every action taken during these seven days, or after entering a new world, would be known, understood, and remembered by the world consciousness.
Ding Yun had mistakenly believed those seven days were safe and had busied herself doing many things during that period.
But if she had done nothing.
The world consciousness would not have targeted her after seven days.
The reason the world consciousness's targeting level against her reached grade two after seven days was because of some actions she had taken during those seven days. This, in turn, involved another issue: what kind of actions would lead to being targeted by world consciousness? The content in the "Cosmic Exploration Guide" regarding this was also not entirely accurate.
The latest "Gentle Exploration Series" clearly stated.
World consciousness could be divided into two stages.
One was the juvenile stage, and the other was the mature stage. The specific stage depended primarily on the development level of the intelligent life civilization within the world.
Generally speaking, world consciousnesses in worlds where civilization development was prior to a technological explosion and universal education were mostly considered to be in the juvenile stage. Juvenile stage world consciousnesses had a distinct characteristic: they were more easily influenced by the consciousness of high-intelligence beings within the civilization. This was not particularly evident when facing beings within the same world.
But when facing beings from other worlds.
It would become very apparent.
The world consciousness in the world Ding Yun had previously explored was in a distinctly juvenile stage. The so-called influence of high-intelligence beings actually referred to the influence of the ideology of the aristocratic families and nobles in that world. Because intelligence itself included knowledge, and without knowledge, it was difficult to activate intelligence. Ordinary commoners with no knowledge were, in that world, not much better off than savages.
Naturally, they couldn't become high-intelligence beings.
Thus affecting world consciousness.
And what was the first thing Ding Yun did upon entering that world? Her first action was to offend most of the high-intelligence people in that world, offending most of the noble families, feudal lords, and powerful merchants.
Even though they didn't know who had stolen their belongings, they would undoubtedly harbor resentment.
This would then influence world consciousness to target Ding Yun.
This was precisely why the world consciousness's targeting level against her had reached grade two from the beginning.
Later, when the world consciousness's targeting level against her reached grade four, it was mainly because her policies had completely offended all families with some background in that world. Previously, offending only the great families and powerful merchants had already escalated the targeting to the second level. Later, offending all large, medium, and small families, and even common scholars, reached the extreme.
The resentment of all noble families and officials towards her reached its peak, to the point of no return. Could the world consciousness's targeting level stop increasing?
If Ding Yun hadn't cultivated many talents and high-intelligence beings, and if these high-intelligence beings hadn't sided with her, it would have significantly delayed the world consciousness's targeting. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken her over half a year after raising an army for the world consciousness's targeting to reach grade four.
In comparison, the impact of changes in the world's destiny trajectory and the death of the Son of Destiny was not as significant.
As long as someone could promptly replace the role of the Son of Destiny.
Then there would be no major impact.
And this was referring to relatively important Sons of Destiny, like those on the level of Zhu Yuanzhang.
If he died, someone else could replace him to found a dynasty and become emperor.
As for alleged Sons of Destiny in the entertainment industry, such as certain film emperors or empresses, it wouldn't matter how many of them died, because they were of no consequence and had extremely weak destinies.
In short, for world consciousness, the importance of the Son of Destiny lay in what he did, not who he was. As long as someone else did the same thing, whether the previous Son of Destiny lived or died would be inconsequential. The transfer of destiny was also an easy matter and wouldn't significantly increase world targeting.
Therefore, Ding Yun's previous guess was wrong.
She might not have even killed the Son of Destiny.
It might have been that the majority of intellectuals in that world resented her to the extreme, influencing world consciousness.
Furthermore, the reason Ding Yun later found it so difficult to suppress world consciousness and imprint her mark on the world origin was primarily due to the excessively high targeting level of the world consciousness.
The targeting level signified not only the world consciousness's degree of aversion but also its level of vigilance.
Was it easier to imprint one's mark on someone who was a friend?
Or an enemy?
Was it easier on someone who had no vigilance?
Or someone who was constantly tense and on guard?
The final conclusions were undoubtedly the same.
World consciousness was no different. The more vigilant and targeted, the harder it was to imprint the mark, which was only logical.
The series also provided an example.
When world consciousness had no vigilance at all, simply becoming a top idol allowed one to easily imprint their mark on the world origin.
Therefore, Ding Yun's eventual difficulty in achieving it was basically her own fault due to her ignorance.
As for mature stage world consciousness, they were relatively simpler and easier to get along with. As long as the world wasn't destroyed.
It didn't matter how many people disliked them.
It wouldn't affect world consciousness.
Therefore, upon entering different worlds, one must first judge whether the world belonged to the juvenile or mature stage, and then implement different gentle exploration methods according to the actual situation.
At the same time, the series specifically mentioned that if the host body's last wish was not too difficult, it was recommended to help fulfill it first, which would facilitate further integration with the body and thus weaken its inherent abruptness.
It was said to have a certain benefit in reducing world targeting.
In addition to these contents, the "Gentle Exploration Series" also included many other details and specific examples. The final conclusion was that it was best to avoid offending people on a large scale, causing mass killings, or destroying the world, or even the environment.
By making some contributions to the world or intelligent life.
One could basically successfully imprint their mark.
If there were no great contributions, accumulating some faith would also suffice.
Gentle exploration was actually simpler and easier.
...
"So, if the original host's last wish wasn't too difficult, it should still be fulfilled as much as possible. Also, as long as the golden finger doesn't cause destruction to the world, it can be used normally.
It won't significantly increase the world's targeting level.
And the lower the world's targeting level.
The easier it is to imprint a mark on the origin.
There's no need to reach the level of a contemporary sage; just having some outstanding contributions is sufficient. It seems that slow boiling is indeed the best method for cosmic exploration.
I believe my understanding this time is correct.
Jin Xinxin was indeed right. In the last world, pretending to be a god was more convenient. In fact, my eventual success mainly relied on faith power. The promotion of new farming techniques and improved strains had just begun, and they didn't bring me much human luck or destiny. And I had only just become emperor, so I had no imperial power.
However, this cannot be entirely blamed on me.
It's still Jin Xinxin's fault for being so unreliable..."
After thoroughly reading the "Gentle Exploration Series," Ding Yun comforted herself a little. After submitting the tested and confirmed Anywhere Door, she went out for another shopping spree. Then, with her newly acquired All-Knowing Glasses in hand, she returned to her office and chose a world.
This time, she didn't go directly. Instead, as described in the series, she sacrificed one hundred origin coins, enough to obtain the status of a moderately prosperous family, before entering.