11: Researching the path to strength through the revival of spiritual energy

"After all, for the Alliance, there isn't much need for experts right now; what is needed most are scientific research talents capable of studying Spiritual Qi."

The Alliance knew that with the appearance of Spiritual Qi, all of humanity had reached a major turning point. Because, according to the Alliance's observations, besides humans, individual organisms such as animals and insects had also undergone mutations, or rather, evolution. Such creatures were termed Evolved Beasts.

However, these existences could not yet stir up any trouble under humanity's powerful technological weaponry.

But judging from these early signs, with the arrival of Spiritual Qi, the entire world seemed to have undergone evolution. If humanity could not keep up with the world's pace, it would sooner or later be eliminated.

Therefore, it was necessary to develop rapidly while humanity's existing foundation was still capable of suppressing everything.

On the 6th day, you successfully joined the Federal Research Institute.

The Research Institute was that cluster of hemispherical buildings you had seen before; your test report had come from inside there.

The experts at the Research Institute expressed a warm welcome for your arrival; after all, Transcendents with research capabilities were extremely rare.

After you entered, these people did not immediately drag you into research but first had you familiarize yourself with some of the Research Institute's relevant studies on Spiritual Qi and Transcendents.

First was the Transcendent. Research indicated that even for Transcendents on the Physical Body path, if they did not utilize their abilities right after Awakening, their physical strength would not exceed the limits of the human body by much.

From this, one could see how rare you were. Your situation was the only one of its kind since the appearance of Spiritual Qi.

Fortunately, the Alliance also had even more inconceivable Transcendents of the abstract conceptual type, so they just regarded your case as having a special Transcendent ability.

According to the research, all Transcendents required the consumption of Spiritual Qi to activate their abilities.

And Transcendents could not store Spiritual Qi within their bodies.

That is to say, when Transcendents activated their abilities, they were directly mobilizing the Spiritual Qi in the air.

These Spiritual Qi, after being converted by Transcendent abilities—especially when elemental Transcendents used their abilities—could erupt with tremendous energy.

As for how Transcendents became stronger, it was naturally summed up in one word: "Use."

It meant constantly using Transcendent abilities to enhance control over them. As proficiency increased, one could absorb Spiritual Qi from a wider range and erupt with even more powerful force.

During this process, Spiritual Qi would constantly scour the Physical Body, making it stronger and even indirectly extending one's lifespan.

Furthermore, all Transcendents were able to utilize Spiritual Qi to use their Transcendent abilities based on instinct; that is, they could use them just by wanting to, knowing the 'what' but not the 'why'.

Therefore, the people at the Research Institute speculated that Transcendent abilities were more like an external organ capable of converting Spiritual Qi into special energy to achieve all sorts of inconceivable feats.

Next was Spiritual Qi. According to research, Spiritual Qi was like a versatile, Advanced form of energy.

Humans absorbing Spiritual Qi could Awaken various Transcendent abilities, while animals absorbing it could undergo mutations and evolution.

Even some medicinal herbs, nourished by Spiritual Qi, became more potent and possessed various special effects.

There were also some metals that, under the infiltration of Spiritual Qi, possessed more properties.

Those machines you used to test your strength in Lincheng were crafted from these mutated metals combined with special Transcendent abilities.

Judging from all this, even with the appearance of Spiritual Qi, humanity remained the overlord of the planet; for other creatures to surpass humanity was currently impossible.

On the 8th day, you had read through most of the materials in the Research Institute, and then everyone at the Research Institute had you participate in their current research.

Currently, the Alliance's main research direction was how to utilize Spiritual Qi to make ordinary people stronger and make Transcendents even stronger.

After all, using Spiritual Qi to strengthen the body could increase one's lifespan. Who wouldn't want to live longer?

In this general research direction, because the Eastern Continent and the West Continent had different cultures before forming the Alliance, the methods they researched to achieve their goals also differed.

On the Eastern Continent side, based on some ancient fantasies about Qi refining, some knowledge of physical fitness, and medical research on the human body, they had created the Spiritual Qi Breathing Technique.

Later, experiments revealed that only Transcendents could Cultivate the Spiritual Qi Breathing Technique; ordinary people could not.

Moreover, the improvements brought about by Transcendents Cultivating were not as significant as simply using Transcendent abilities more and letting Spiritual Qi scour the body.

The West Continent's method was like the enhancement serums in movies: through research on the human body and utilizing various drugs to extract essences, they finally created a Spiritual Qi Enhancement Serum.

However, although there were finished products now, they could only allow people to reach the limits of the human body, not Breakthrough those limits, and the cost of the serum was too exorbitant.

According to tests, the human body limit for the Alliance was 1200 kilograms of strength and a speed of 20 meters per second. Of course, depending on the individual, some might not reach this, while others might exceed this value.

However, the West Continent was currently full of hope for this research direction because they had obtained some of your blood. Based on their research, they believed that your type was the evolutionary direction they were pursuing.

The Eastern Continent, on the other hand, still believed that things like Cultivation Techniques, which applied to the entire population, were more capable of raising humanity's overall level.

With your joining, the Research Institute here was also full of confidence in creating a Breathing Technique that ordinary people could also Cultivate.

After you joined the research on Cultivation Techniques, you first reviewed some previous research materials before following the others into the research.

On the 12th day, in just three and a half days, with your participation, the Research Institute had produced results.

Although they hadn't developed a Breathing Technique, they had researched a Body Refining method capable of strengthening the human body. After extensive calculations and deductions, the conclusion was that this Cultivation Technique could allow ordinary people to reach the limits of the human body.

Actually, this Cultivation Technique was the Basic Body Forging Technique you had created for the common people of Great Xia in the simulation. Since you had a sample, all you did over these days was modify the Cultivation Technique slightly to make it more compatible with the Physique of ordinary people in the main world.

This Body Refining method could lay a deep foundation for ordinary people, allowing them to better Cultivate the Spiritual Qi Breathing Technique later.

This achievement was like a potent stimulant, injecting vitality into everyone at the Research Institute. In their view, they had Advanced one step closer to their goal.

In the 2nd month, while everyone at the Research Institute was still devoted to the research of the Breathing Technique, news that brought joy arrived from the West Continent.

Through research on your blood samples, the Spiritual Qi Enhancement Serum on the West Continent could now allow ordinary people to Breakthrough the limits of the human body.

Later, after asking, you learned that it was because a Transcendent had Awakened an ability like analysis, and by analyzing your blood samples, they had deduced quite a few mysteries regarding human evolution.

As for why your blood contained this knowledge?

You felt that your body was, after all, enhanced by the Simulator. With the great power of the Simulator, perhaps the direction of your current evolution was that of some high-dimensional life form; wouldn't it be perfectly normal for your blood to contain some mysteries of evolution?