Chapter 12 Current Goals and Body Attributes

In this era, finding housing on any colony world was easy.

Fueled by birth incentive bonuses, the population of each colony world had been rapidly increasing, and every nation was engaged in large-scale infrastructure development.

During the early stages of interstellar development, birth rates steadily declined due to abundant resources, social advancement, and changing attitudes. To provide population resources for interstellar expansion, the Interstellar Commonwealth adjusted many systems to adapt to the environment. For example, it urged countries to implement birth incentive bonuses, moving beyond mere conceptualization and tax cuts to providing real money for having children. Families could receive monthly payments simply for raising children, enough to live as "slackers" in this era. The core idea of the system was simple: having children was profitable. Since most jobs were now done by mechanical workers, if you wanted to enjoy life without working, then have children and contribute in some way.

Each family unit had three child slots, allowing them to receive up to three birth incentive bonuses simultaneously. Once the children reached adulthood, the bonuses would cease. However, the slots would become available again, and having new children to fill those slots would allow the family to continue receiving those bonuses. The Interstellar Commonwealth used this system to continuously stimulate population growth, encouraging families to have multiple rounds of children. As a result, many families were large, having three new children just as the previous three were nearing adulthood, ensuring a continuous stream of birth incentive bonuses for the next decade or so. Zhou Jing's family, for example, was benefiting from their second round.

Many traditional concepts from the Mother Planet era were gradually becoming incompatible with the demands of interstellar expansion. Ultimately, the Interstellar Commonwealth chose to use stable financial incentives to vigorously promote population growth... The pragmatic formation of families was one reason why family values were gradually weakening in the interstellar era. This had become the norm, meeting the population resource needs of each country's interstellar exploration.

The abundance of resources brought about by interstellar expansion allowed the economies of various countries to grow rapidly. Combined with advances in productivity, there was no shortage of money, and allocating a portion of it was enough to support many similar high-welfare systems.

In addition, to prevent any single power from dominating, each colony world was jointly managed by multiple countries. The interstellar territories of each country were interwoven, distributed across various planets, with each country having a presence within the others.

For example, "Silverwind Star," where Zhou Jing lived, had been divided among fourteen countries for development and management after coordination by the Interstellar Commonwealth. These included three members of the "Top Seven Nations": the Redsun Republic, to which he belonged, as well as the Wester Union and the Silver Star Federation.

Silverwind Star had received twenty-five large-scale immigrations and had been under development for two hundred and sixteen years, with various facilities already well-established. So, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Zhou Jing found a reasonably suitable rental apartment.

The apartment was small, but the furniture was relatively clean, and utilities were readily available. The rent was 700 Nassau per month.

The Interstellar Commonwealth had launched a universal currency as a benchmark long ago. The unit was "Nassau," and its exchange rate was higher than that of any member country's currency. After years of promotion, it had become the common currency for everyday transactions on over a hundred colony worlds.

Zhou Jing had a total of 3720 Nassau in his account. Combined with his daily living expenses, renting for two months wouldn't be a problem, which was enough to support his plans.

He didn't meet the landlord at all during the rental process. The landlord had long delegated full authority to an agency, and everything was handled by mechanical assistants, making the process quite efficient.

He paid the rent that day and moved in with his bags.

"I'll be living here for the next two months."

Zhou Jing put down his belongings, looked around the room, and felt a mix of emotions: a blend of melancholy and anticipation.

He composed himself, went to the mall to buy daily necessities and an adequate supply of food, and then tidied up the apartment. Only then did he draw all the curtains and sit down in front of the computer.

Zhou Jing spent some time online, searching for relevant policy clauses regarding support for superhumans and the forced immigration system, and made a preliminary plan.

"Because of the existence of the Star Realm Travel Panel, becoming a superhuman is no longer impossible, but the prerequisite is to get a Star Realm Apostle (Xingjie Shitu) through the trial..."

Zhou Jing tapped the virtual keyboard, musing to himself.

Only Star Realm Apostles who passed the trial could transfer the acquired extraordinary abilities to their original bodies.

He had already renamed the world he had traveled to last time as "Beast World" in the panel's archives. The number was 001, which was currently the only Star Realm recorded in the archives.

How to discover new Star Realms was still unclear, so he planned to solve the visible problems first.

"To become a superhuman in the Beast World, I have to get a Star Realm Apostle to take the Strange Blood Potion (Yi Xue Yao Ji) as soon as possible to obtain the Strange Blood Warrior (Yi Xue Zhan Shi) superhuman system. And there are only about two months left until the departure of this batch of immigration ships."

Zhou Jing calculated the time in his mind.

Becoming a superhuman before the departure of the immigration ship was the only way to make avoiding forced immigration meaningful. Otherwise, once he was on the ship, they wouldn't turn around and send him back.

He didn't plan to live under the same roof as his family anymore. Accepting the forced immigration quota would settle the score, and they could go their separate ways in the future.

But interstellar immigration was a major event after all, and there were things to consider... Regardless of whether he immigrated or not, Zhou Jing felt that he had to take the initiative, so that he had the right to choose whether to go or stay, rather than being forced to comply.

"So, before the immigration ship departs, I need to have at least one Star Realm Apostle complete the trial and let myself obtain extraordinary power so that I have the choice of whether or not to board the ship."

Zhou Jing knocked on the table, confirming his current goal.

Two months seemed like plenty of time, but he wasn't 100% sure... After all, he had only traveled once and had no experience in successfully completing a trial.

In addition, he was also concerned about one thing - according to the immigration procedures, forced immigrants were required to undergo a physical examination, including a superhuman reaction test.

The superhuman reaction test could check whether an individual possessed superhuman abilities. This was a method used by the Interstellar Commonwealth to register superhumans, making it difficult for self-awakened superhumans to hide among the common people, making them easier to manage.

The test administered before boarding the ship was meant to conduct a survey to identify any hidden superhumans among the immigrants.

This detection technology wasn't particularly advanced. In fact, it involved analyzing various physical indicators of the test subject and comparing them with the physical standards of ordinary people.

This was because most superpowers would change some of the possessor's external characteristics, such as physical fitness, mental strength, energy reaction, and so on, making it difficult to hide them all.

As long as some indicators deviated, it was possible to determine whether a person possessed superhuman abilities and whether they had a "superhuman reaction" based on the error value.

Once it was confirmed that a test subject had a clear superhuman reaction... well, there was nothing else to say. They would be quickly registered and sent to the testing grounds with the staff, where they would demonstrate at least one extraordinary power to impress everyone!

Of course, there would occasionally be false positives, in which case a thorough physical examination would be conducted... a very thorough one.

However, the superhuman reaction test technology had its limitations: it could only detect whether a person was a superhuman, but it couldn't detect what specific abilities the person possessed, which was why they were required to demonstrate their abilities themselves.

Therefore, superhumans with composite or multiple abilities often demonstrated just one ability to pass the test, and the other abilities could be concealed in a legitimate manner.

This type of situation was not uncommon, and many publicly known Super League players had done the same. It was considered a legal loophole, and as long as they weren't too arrogant later on, everyone would turn a blind eye, as it had become a convention.

The Star Realm Travel Panel was too special, so he estimated that this simple detection method would be basically impossible to detect.

In short, he still had to obtain the Strange Blood Warrior system and disguise himself as an unremarkable physical enhancer.

"Two months, sixty days..."

Zhou Jing pondered, glancing at the electronic calendar.

Due to different environments, each colony world had its own local calendar suitable for residents to live by, but the Interstellar Commonwealth had set up a "universal calendar" to coordinate the dates of the entire civilization from an official perspective.

According to this calendar, the current date in the main world was - Universal Calendar, July 18, 2351.

"The date of the immigration ship's departure is set for September 19th, which is the deadline for completing my plan..."

Zhou Jing's eyes flickered as he thought to himself.

Of course, if he had to say it, there was another more direct way, which was to run away.

But after thinking about it, he decided against it... The vast majority of superhumans were still members of society, and even those Level 7 superhumans who could cause the heavens to collapse and the earth to crack were happy to accept support from various countries. How much more so for a fledgling like him.

"I should try to abide by the law as much as possible."

Zhou Jing muttered to himself.

It was impossible to become arrogant; it was impossible in this lifetime.

He wanted to become a superhuman, not to become a wanted criminal being chased around by law enforcement, potentially ending up behind bars one day.

Star Realm Travel was already exciting enough. He didn't want every day to be chaotic. It was better not to live too unpredictably...

"First become a superhuman, avoid forced immigration... As for what to do in the future, I'll think about it later."

With the current path decided, Zhou Jing felt a sense of clarity and knew what to do next.

Closing the computer, Zhou Jing summoned the panel and glanced at it, feeling somewhat intrigued:

"Speaking of which, my body's attributes are actually like this..."

Summoning the panel in the main world still allowed him to use some functions, such as viewing Star Realm plane files, the Star Realm Apostle Roster, and the Record Illustration.

Most importantly, the abilities and attributes of his body could also be displayed in the format of a Star Realm Apostle template, allowing him to intuitively understand his own condition:

[Attributes: Physique 4, Resistance 5, Perception 5, Spirit 7, Energy 0]

[Aptitude: Combat - [Blue], Spirit - [Green], Physique - [Green]...]

[Talent: [Combat Intuition] (Keen combat instincts)]

[Skills: None]

[Extraordinary Power System: None]

"So, my own panel data is like this."

Zhou Jing was very interested.

Everyone had areas they were good at and areas they were bad at. The most difficult thing to understand was often oneself, which was why people often wasted time on the wrong path.

The panel's attribute format directly showed what areas a person had talent in, which helped to understand oneself... Zhou Jing estimated that anyone's condition could be displayed in this format, and the body was naturally included.

"If the standard for ordinary people is around 5 points, then my body, due to a lack of exercise, is a little weaker than normal, except for Spirit, which is higher than normal."

Zhou Jing pondered, recalling the improvement in his memory after returning, and faintly felt that the period of consciousness descent on Star Realm Apostles was a process of tempering his mental strength.

"No wonder I didn't feel confused when I returned. It seems that each consciousness projection is slowly improving my Spirit."

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes, noting this guess in his mind.

Looking down, his own aptitude seemed pretty good, at least much better than the "Will Wood" vessel.

He had roughly analyzed the meaning of each aptitude color grade. Gray meant no talent, white was normal, and green was slightly talented.

As for blue, it should represent outstanding talent.

Perhaps the purple above corresponded to extraordinary talent, the level of a genius.

"My body's various aptitudes are mainly green and white, except for the [Combat] aptitude, which has reached blue..."

Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows slightly.

Blue was already so strong, so purple must be off the charts!

And in terms of talent, he also had a combat-related talent, [Combat Intuition].

"It seems that my guess was correct. I really do have a talent for combat..."

Zhou Jing felt inexplicably excited.

But then he thought of a new problem.

- This is my body's talent, but it can still take effect when I use Will Wood's body... So the body's talent, even if it is not displayed in the Star Realm Apostle's template, will still be brought into play to a certain extent.

"Well, although different vessels are used when descending on Star Realm Apostles, the controller is still my mind. The combat awareness I possess is my own experience and memory, unaffected..."

However, conversely, the Star Realm Apostle's talents didn't seem to take effect on the body, like the Agility talent, which he couldn't feel now. So the body was irreplaceable and was the core of exercising the Star Realm Travel ability.

Zhou Jing analyzed in his mind, feeling that this conjecture was reliable.

Speaking of memory, he couldn't help but think of the skills that "Will Wood" possessed - although they weren't displayed in the body's skill column, he still remembered many techniques for using daggers and hunting knives, as well as the vocabulary of the Terra Empire language, but only the ones he had learned and used with the Apostle's body.

For example, when speaking, he could no longer automatically convert the meaning being expressed into the Terra Empire language like when he was descending. He only remembered the words he had spoken as "Will Wood," and he needed to form sentences himself, just like learning a language normally.

And although the skills of wielding weapons were remembered in his mind, his body had no muscle memory, just like he had never practiced.

Zhou Jing's eyes lit up:

"Even if the Star Realm Apostle's skills are not transferred to the body, the relevant knowledge and memories will not disappear. What is remembered is remembered and will not be lost due to switching bodies.

So, even if he doesn't pass the trial, the body can learn from scratch. And with experience, learning will be twice as effective..."

However, even so, due to the difference in time flow between the two planes, Star Realm Apostles had more time to cultivate. Passing one Apostle to obtain abilities was still the most cost-effective.

It was just that the body could also cultivate on its own.

Systems like Strange Blood Warrior, which required external objects for enhancement, couldn't be learned on their own, but some knowledge-based extraordinary abilities, even if they weren't transferred, could probably be learned and cultivated into superhumans by the body itself.

"I've found another path, and I can focus on knowledge-based extraordinary abilities in the future..."

Zhou Jing noted this discovery and thought of a new trick:

"This can actually be exploited, right? Some knowledge-based abilities can be leveled up while using the vessel, quickly learning and turning them into memories. Then, when I return to the body or use the next Apostle, even if the skill isn't displayed, the knowledge is still in my head and won't disappear.

For example, if I truly learn all the vocabulary of the Terra Empire language, then even if the body doesn't have the language parsing skill, I will still master the language..."

Zhou Jing became excited.

Wonderful, he felt like he was gradually figuring out the mechanism of Star Realm Travel!

There seemed to be many tricks to be discovered between these mechanisms!

Zhou Jing was enthusiastic and couldn't stop.

However, he looked at the time, and it was already past 5 PM. The 12-hour travel cooldown had ended.

"I'll try traveling first. I don't know how my Star Realm Apostle is doing now."

Suppressing his interest in research, Zhou Jing closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered that starry space... which should now be called the Travel Preparation Space.

...

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(Thank you to Sima Nan for becoming the Alliance Master!)