Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 2 Civilization Advancement Assessment
Lin Yi quickly composed himself.

His tempered temperament over the years prevented him from getting too caught up in his emotions. After a brief moment of reflection, he turned his attention to the upcoming civilization advancement assessment.

Seven days can feel long, but it can also feel extremely short.

It's a rare opportunity to live life again, and if we want to live differently, we need to plan ahead for many things.

Therefore, he had to complete all the preparations before the assessment began.

Lin Yi paced back and forth, then plopped down at his desk. While tidying up the slightly messy desk, he began to carefully recall and organize the relevant information about the civilization promotion assessment.

The human race's territory in the universe is vast and boundless. Every day, countless primitive planets' human civilizations develop to the point of no return, attempting to join the ranks of interstellar civilizations.

Although the human race in the universe has gone through many hardships and can barely be considered a powerful race among the billions of races in the starry sea, there are hundreds of equally powerful races in the universe.

Even more elite clans are listed above them.

Therefore, the human race in the universe is only slightly stronger than ordinary members in the Pan-Spirit Alliance, which has the Spirit Race as its absolute core.

In order to survive and develop in the brutal competition of the universe, and in order to coordinate limited resources and select and cultivate new human civilizations with real potential and capable of producing strong individuals, the Supreme Council of the Human Race established the "Civilization Promotion Assessment Mechanism".

Overseen by an eternal god-level being who specializes in the laws of illusion, the assessment is conducted on all civilizations that meet the advancement criteria.

After a long period of independent development, the human civilization on Earth finally reached the threshold of interstellar civilization.

Seven days later, a divine avatar of the illusory laws will arrive in outer space of Blue Star, covering the entire planet with a divine kingdom projection, and carrying out the cruel yet fair advancement test of the human race for the new civilization.

High ratings, preferential resources, and vigorous development are all possible. Even planets like Earth, located in energy-poor zones, can be relocated to energy-rich areas.

Those with low ratings can only become resource stars or soldier-source stars, suffering and sinking in misery, hoping that under pressure a powerful figure will emerge from their civilization to defy fate.

This is a coming-of-age ceremony belonging to civilization.

A monstrous beast descends from the heavens! The apocalypse begins!
The Abyss Beast is a terrifying monster that exists between reality and illusion, simulated by the eternal deity with supreme power.

They possess real destructive power and a killing instinct, yet originate from illusory laws, which are endless.

Swarms of abyssal beasts poured out of their lair, tearing apart order and devouring life.

Thinking about this, Lin Yi couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

In their previous lives, when the millennia-long trials on Earth came to an end, the people of Earth were extremely indignant upon learning the truth about the apocalypse.

Countless deaths, the struggle for survival of dozens of generations, the fate of the entire civilization was manipulated at will, and because it did not meet the so-called assessment level, it only received a level 2 civilization rating.

The entire planet Earth has been reduced to a tool for providing resources, and almost all Earthlings are struggling in misery.

They were the core-level individuals who received a Level 4 personal rating in the assessment and were able to leave Earth freely. It was in this resentful mood that they stepped into the universe.

However, as time went by, and as their knowledge broadened after venturing into the stars, especially with the virtual network which opened their eyes, the object of their resentment shifted from the Supreme Human Council, which formulated the civilization advancement assessment mechanism, to themselves, whom they resented even more.

What is there to hate?
I hate myself for not being ambitious enough, for not working hard enough.

He regretted even more that after reaching the Star Core level, he slowed down his cultivation and was held back by petty scheming, thus missing the excellent opportunity of the civilization advancement assessment.

They later learned that all the initial civilizations of the human race were protected by the highest council of the human race before the advancement assessment.

This protection was intended to ensure that the nascent human civilization could develop normally and not be destroyed by external factors.

Why is it that the Starry Sea is fraught with danger, while Earth remains safe and sound?
There were no space pirate attacks, no star destruction, and no planetary collisions. These were all handled by the initial civilization guardians dispatched by the Purple Gold Star Alliance, a subordinate body of the Supreme Council.

It can be said that without the Supreme Council, 99% of primitive civilizations would have been wiped out by natural disasters or enslaved by other advanced civilizations or space pirates.

Lin Yi recalled a comrade-in-arms in the mercenary group who had also joined after passing the civilization advancement assessment.

During a casual conversation, that guy mentioned that his civilization, "Campo," had over thirty documented cataclysmic crises throughout its history, all of which were inexplicably resolved in the end.

The most outrageous instance involved an asteroid that was almost in contact with the atmosphere when it suddenly disintegrated into dust.

It is probably this style of the Campo civilization's guardians, who only deal with problems when they come to a head, that makes the Campo civilization have an extremely strong religious atmosphere, because the gods really do appear when things happen.

Of course, the only time it didn't work was during the civilization advancement assessment.
Therefore, Lin Yi and his companions had very complicated feelings, and of course, they were even more resentful of their past selves.

Because aside from the initial protection, even the civilization advancement assessment itself, whether for an individual or for the entire civilization, is more of an opportunity than a disaster.

Putting aside everything else, the fact that the assessment was presided over by an avatar of an eternal god-level being demonstrates the importance that the Human Race's Supreme Council attaches to the assessment of civilization advancement.

What is the concept of an Eternal God? According to publicly available information on the virtual network, only the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Purple Gold Star Alliance, "Ming Luo," is an Eternal God.

Generally speaking, an ordinary civilization will only interact with eternal god-level beings during the period of civilization advancement assessment from birth to death.

Lin Yi thought of the college entrance examination that had just ended and the admission letter from Qing Teng University that he had just received today, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"How similar is this civilization advancement assessment to the college entrance examination and university education on Earth? Not only is the college entrance examination the best shortcut for ordinary people to change their destiny, but the principal is also the only high-level person in society that ordinary people have the opportunity to come into contact with in their lifetime."

"The massive resource supply during the assessment period is more like a four-year university study period. So if you don't take advantage of the unlimited resources during the assessment period to develop well, and you don't even get the 'Level 3' graduation certificate, then who can you blame when you get beaten up in the interstellar society?"

Of course, I can only blame myself for being so useless.
When the Abyss Beasts suddenly appeared, the Blue Star civilization struggled to survive amidst hasty and chaotic resistance.

The city was reduced to ruins, order was on the verge of collapse, and humanity eked out a living under the shadow of monsters, building fragile shelters in the ruins.

Technology develops slowly amidst struggles, and individuals evolve with difficulty amidst bloodshed and fire.

However, once the situation of the Abyss Beasts was brought under control to a certain extent, and humanity shifted from a completely passive stance to a strategic stalemate, the nations of Earth did not launch a full-scale counterattack to completely eradicate the Abyss Beasts. Instead, their initial cooperation turned into mutual obstruction and internal strife.

One of the key points is to covet the resources produced by the Abyss Beasts.

Defeating abyssal beasts of different ranks will condense a strange energy crystal—the Spirit Crystal!

It contains randomly generated "rewards" of varying values.

This is a way to cultivate and reward civilized behavior during the assessment, and it is the most crucial resource in the entire assessment process.

The level of the Spirit Crystal is directly linked to the strength of the Abyss Beast; each kill is like opening a blind box.

It could be a rare cosmic metal or biological material, a fragment or complete inheritance of a source energy cultivation technique, or a highly compressed pure source energy crystal.
It could even be blueprints for weapons or equipment that far surpass the current technological level of Earth.

This crucial resource caused a division among the high-ranking officials of the Blue Star civilization regarding their attitude towards the Abyss Beasts.

Some people believe that the Abyss Beast is constantly evolving and should be eradicated with all efforts.

Another group views it as a sustainable and renewable resource.

As long as it's within controllable limits, it can actually greatly contribute to the development of civilization, and even allow us to negotiate with intelligent high-level abyss beast kings to achieve win-win cooperation.

(End of this chapter)