Chapter 35 - Might Of Nations

Acting Sect Leader Maximus Radcliffe

Maximus has been busy ever since became public knowledge on earth. The impact across the socioeconomics and geopolitical policies have been far-reaching. Take local conflicts as an example, Russia has quickly wrapped up its war in the Ukraine. Both countries came to a compromise that neither party would have agreed under past circumstances. It seems like the future benefits coming from the cultivation world is way more important than whatever reasons they started fighting in the first place.

The stock market has been anything but exciting. runs on pretty much any VR headset that meets the minimum hardware specification requirement. All VR headset manufacturers share price on the stock market has at least doubled and it seems like those companies share price are still on a long term growth trajectory. This a no brainer when each manufacturer has been enjoying a sales boom. Consumers have begun making advance preparation in anticipation of release. VR headset has never been a mainstream mass market product and even with how each manufacturer have been ramming up production, it will probably still take years before the market stop experiencing a supply shortage. 

Negotiating with the countries are anything but fun but Maximus in this case has to thank the Chinese for their efficiency. It only took an Earth week for them to conclude the initial agreement and after that, the Americans, Russian and European Union stopped dawdling maximizing their benefits or arguing over the fine prints and signed their agreements as well. These economic powerhouses definitely operate on a different scale in comparison to even the wealthiest disciples Maximus has recruited to date.

As of the latest report on Maximus desk, the Americans, Chinese and Russians already have their own clandestine base operating outside of Eldorin. Not only that, the minor world each of the country had purchased from the sect is developing way faster than Maximus best estimates. It would appear that when you can tap into a large talent pool dedicated to their craft doing all the planning, advising and execution, everything becomes significantly more efficient. It has only been a few Earth weeks since each of those countries laid their first foundation in their new world and they have already completed at least a few new level one spirit gathering arrays, greatly increasing the amount of access slots at their disposal. Majority of these slots are assigned to their military, and not just your average military personnel. Those countries has been sending their best elites (Delta Force, Kommando Spezialkräfte, Special Operations Forces Command, Snow Leopard Commando Unit) into . 

The pace of infrastructure constructions are impressive but what truly amazes Maximus is the technological innovation that has been put forward. The inventions created by his disciples are child's play in comparison to what the countries are trying to pull off. First of those ambitious big inventions is a fusion reactor. One reactor is all it took to generate all the electricity their minor world will ever need for the short term. Most important of all, it is clean energy. Apparently, a working reactor in the cultivation world will also helps to accelerate the research of fusion reactor technology back on Earth as well.

Next up is space technology. Russia once again set the historical record of being the first Earth cultivator to reach space. The space shuttle the Russian invented is nothing like the conventional space shuttle back on Earth. It has the propulsion power to take off and break orbit without the assistance of booster rockets. Not only is new space shuttle environmentally friendly, it is also highly cost efficient. The high cost of lifting space modules up to space is one of the main reason a space station cost billions. Given the tendency of Earthlings for grand ambition, Maximus believes a space station is just the prelude to the age of space exploration. At that point, Maximus believes the number of worlds the Earthling will be able to colonize will no longer be limited to the minor worlds the sect sold them.

Being able to get up to space without costing an arm and a leg also means the ability to place satellites in orbit cheaply. Maximus can now confidently declare that a seamless and cheap communication network will not be far from being put in place across Eldorin. His disciples has already invented a communication tool similar to a basic mobile phone, the only last hurdle that needs to be overcome is the coverage issue. This last step will also soon be resolved once his disciples or any of the country managed to combine the two seamlessly.

However, none of these new technologies breakthrough can compare to the energy conversion array that has became a reality. The basis behind the idea of this groundbreaking array comes from the first law of thermodynamics (energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted). One of the scientists back on Earth has proposed that since spirit energy is also another form of energy, they can try using the first law to generate spirit energy. Cultivators have been converting spirit energy into heat, ice, lightning and whatever effect they desired since time immemorial. As such, it should theoretically be possible to do the same in reverse right? This idea has totally shaken Eldorin when the idea became public knowledge. Within hours, all twelve pavilion masters started picking side, assisting the different countries on this research and it turns into a frenzied race which country got got to the finishing line first. This research will be equivalent to the Manhattan Project back on Earth and every country capable of throwing their hat in the ring coveted the endless prestige that comes from being its first inventor. In this race, the Americans was the first to reached the finishing line, successfully obtaining the patent to the first energy conversion array. An Earth day later, the Chinese made a submission that altered the first energy conversion array by more than forty percent and improved its efficiency by more that thirty percent. More minor changes kept coming in from the other countries and up until today, the patent office are still receiving new improvement submission every few days.

This new invention changed the entire cultivation world playbook. There are some wonders of nature that are able to independently generate spirit energy but these natural treasures are so rare that to date, there are less than a hundred known treasures in the cultivation world that can generates sufficient spirit energy to empower a level six artifact or array. Spirit gathering array is the only way a sect or cultivator can artificially get access to more spirit energy to power whatever other arrays or artifacts a sect needs or increased the spirit energy density at a location. Even then, spirit energy gathering array has its own limitation, the buffer zones being one its biggest flaw. Take Oryn as an example, the city is now at its limit on the number of spirit gathering array it can accommodate within the city proximity. An energy conversion array will be different. The sect can stack as much of these arrays until it has all the spirit energy it needs. As a matter of fact, the sect might not even need to build anymore new spirit gathering array to increase the access slots for once the energy conversion efficiency reached a certain threshold rendering spirit gathering array obsolete.

With the ability to generate unlimited spirit energy, the sect now theoretically has the ability to "uplift" a world as well. The primary difference a world in the lower realm and the immortal realm is in its spirit energy density. With all the fancy and grand ideas Earthlings had in generating unlimited clean energy, Maximus believes he will be able to generate enough spirit energy on Eldorin to uplift the world into the immortal realm category. The fusion reactor that has been recently put into play can already generate a massive amount of energy and that is considered "low-tech" in comparison to the other futuristic concepts Earthlings have yet to invent. Dyson swarm, anti-matter reactor, quantum singularity core, zero-point energy, by the time Maximus is done, he should just resign as the sect leader for his incompetence if he still fails to uplift Eldorin into an Immortal realm world.

If not for the fact that Immortals Ascension Pavillion and all countries need to quickly boost its own population base, there is no longer any need for the sect to venture out into the worlds of the lower realm. Population is now the main stumbling block slowing down development progress. If not for the severe labor shortage, the sect and all countries could develop in complete safety within this sanctuary and emerge a thousand years later as some of the most powerful entities across the entire lower realm. They have land and all the spirit energy they will ever need to build a prosperous cultivation civilization.