Chapter 97: The Power of Emotion 5000

Chapter 97: The Power of Emotion 5000

Starfall Month, Day 11.
On a rather lonely day, the New Shirea World welcomed its first visitors who were not members of the Lord's Mansion of Moldavia.
A slowly flying reconnaissance ship descended onto the landing pad of Residential Zone No. 0001. Five members stepped out one after another, cautiously and curiously surveying this strange world.

"A disc-shaped sanctuary... I never thought something that completely defies the laws of physics could actually be built..."
The Elite Squad leader, Priest Omini, dragged his suitcase behind him, sighing as he looked up at the sun overhead and the massive branches of the World Tree, which stood like pillars of the world. There, roads and railway tracks wide enough for mana armored vehicles or even orbital battle trains stretched out. Lowering his head, Priest clicked his tongue in amazement. "Living in this world for two weeks, just writing a few detailed reports about our experiences? This is the first time I've encountered such a simple task."

"You can say that again."
Beside him, the knight, Clark, was hauling large bags of luggage out of the reconnaissance ship. This burly, golden-haired man rubbed his chin, hesitated, then spoke, then hesitated again, and finally let out a single exclamation: "Pfft."

The clergy member, Sade, who was using an instrument to measure the average concentration of supernatural power in the local world, seemed to understand the knight's words. He first glanced at the data on the instrument, then nodded and said to his captain, "The ether concentration is thirty-one times the average of Mycroft. With this level of ether supporting it, forget a disc shape—bowl-shaped, fork-shaped, even char-siu-shaped would work. This disc-shaped world might not be physical, but it's very magical, very ether-based."

"Who cares about all that? Ether is different from elements or mana; no matter how concentrated it is, it doesn't affect survival." Priest waved his hand decisively and said firmly, "The teacher said we can treat this mission like a vacation—too bad it's an official assignment, so I can't bring Su Er and Blanny. Otherwise, it really would be a vacation."

"You actually wanted to bring female companions? Captain, what are you plotting?!"
"Rebellion! Rebellion! This is mutiny!"

The journey passed amidst laughter. Every expedition was incredibly dangerous, and the Elite Squad rarely got a simple, easy task to relax. But even so, they didn't let their guard down. Those huge suitcases and packages all contained their armor, weapons, and various equipment.

Five men traveling together was naturally fast. Within ten minutes, Priest led the team to find the house they were assigned to stay in: 'Experimental Residential Point No. 1.' It was a three-story white villa with exactly five bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a balcony, an attached hot spring, a medium-sized double-layer plantation, and even an underground laboratory room—though the internal instruments needed to be set up by themselves.

It had to be said, the villa designed by No. 3 had a unique sense of fluidity from start to finish. This style, which Joshua called 'interstellar-era minimalist design,' felt like a futuristic scene none of the Elite Squad had ever seen before. The thought of staying here for half a month lifted everyone's spirits, and they couldn't help but cheer.

"Wow—this sofa is so comfortable!"
Setting his suitcase aside, the former elf, now hybrid modified creature and biochemical alchemist, Constantine, stretched his arms out and collapsed onto the sofa, which was neither too soft nor too hard. His pointed ears even trembled with pleasure. Coincidentally, the direction his head faced was a massive floor-to-ceiling window. The alchemist could look up and see the blood-red sky of the New Shirea World and the enormous branches of the World Tree. This immediately prompted another compliment: "This World Tree feels so familiar too. I can feel my elven blood boiling—I remember this was a seed given to the Marshal by the Nature Mentor."

"Familiar, my ass."
On the other side, the spellcaster Wayne, who was testing whether his magic wand could function properly in the high-concentration ether environment, glanced at the alchemist, who was sprawled on the sofa like a useless wreck. He couldn't help but reach out and flick the other's constantly twitching pointed ear, then said casually, ignoring the alchemist's glare, "You only have those ears that look elven—when we go to investigate the World Tree later, let's see if it recognizes you as an elf!"

"I am! I am!"
Hearing this, the alchemist, struck at his weak point, immediately rolled back and forth on the sofa. "Even if my body isn't, my heart is still an elf!"

Pfft.
Watching this scene, the words 'You? Worthy?' echoed simultaneously in the minds of Priest, the knight, and the clergy member.

The next steps were simple. The Elite Squad settled into 'Experimental Residential Zone No. 1' and began a series of investigations. For example, they took transportation to nearby industrial and farming zones, simulating the workflow of residents. They also conducted damage tests on specific areas to determine which zones should be protected or repaired first in the event of an attack.

There weren't too many investigation projects, but there weren't too few either. Seventeen projects needed to be tested over two weeks. Now, half the time had passed, and only four projects remained. Combined with the extremely comfortable living environment, the entire Elite Squad felt like they were truly on vacation.

Naturally, they also went to investigate the Blood-colored World Tree in the middle of their stay and forced the elven alchemist to 'claim kinship'—but, unsurprisingly, the Blood-colored World Tree didn't recognize him as an elf and gave him the evaluation of 'a friendly intelligent magical beast,' which made the other four squad members laugh until tears streamed down their faces. This immediately triggered a small-scale internal rebellion, which was quickly suppressed.

Everything was perfect.
Except for one thing.

"This... is too comfortable."
Starfall Month, Day 19, the eighth day of the mission. The knight, who was cooking, brought a pot of potato and beef stew to the dining table and couldn't help but ask in confusion, "The disc-shaped sanctuary has abundant food, a perfect breeding cycle, and at full power, it can theoretically support over 2.5 billion people—that's almost more than the entire population of the Mycroft World! Even by our living standards, it could support over a billion people to thrive!"

The current population of Mycroft's homeland was close to three billion. With policies encouraging childbirth and significantly improved medical standards, it was predicted that the total population of the Mycroft World would exceed 4.5 billion in ten years.

But even so, the fact that a single disc-shaped world could house so many people with such a high quality of life was astonishing.

"Yeah."
Picking up a piece of potato, sprinkling a little salt and pepper on it, the clergy member stuffed the thumb-thick potato into his mouth, chewed, and mumbled, "Chew... I mean, isn't this too good? Chew."

"Yeah." The alchemist agreed with the clergy member. He picked out a piece of beef, opened his mouth—full of shark-like, jagged teeth—chewed the meat, and swallowed. "I heard this disc-shaped world is meant to transfer and relocate the people of Mycroft in times of crisis. Preparing for danger in times of safety is fine, but... the living conditions are too good. It always reminds me of the world of the 'Decay' Evil God."

Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but nod.

They had all lived in the 'perfect world' created by the Decay Evil God's avatar... They still remembered how the primitive elven tribes had declined, forgotten their heritage, and been increasingly influenced by the Evil God, growing weaker and weaker... An overly comfortable living environment was poison that corroded fighting spirit and willpower. If people lived in such a perfect world forever, how could society and civilization find the motivation to 'change'?

The Elite Squad wrote this doubt into their daily report and sent it to the 'Imperial Foreign Exploration Department · Strategic Development Division,' which had issued this mission.

Soon, they received a personal response from one of the few members of the Strategic Development Division, the legendary expert Joshua Radcliffe.

"You spotted the problem quickly."
Through the communication array, the warrior's calm voice sounded. "This is indeed a problem."

Joshua himself was the kind of person who couldn't stand boredom even in an absolute, peaceful utopia. He would always find a way to train himself, opening martial arts schools. Full and content, lacking fighting spirit? In his view, being full and content was the perfect time to strive—no need to worry about life's trivialities or environmental challenges, just focus and become stronger.

But even Joshua understood the principle of 'thriving in adversity, perishing in comfort.'

So, he explained to his students and squad members, "But the solution isn't difficult."

Whether the living environment is good or bad isn't an absolute value; it's relative. If everyone lived in leaky thatched huts and only one person lived in a sturdy, rainproof wooden house, then the person in the wooden house undoubtedly had it better. But is that absolute? Compared to someone in a brick house, a concrete house, a cement house, an alloy house, or even various utopian-like places, the wooden house dweller would also be inferior.

'Good' and 'bad' have always been determined by comparison. What Joshua did was ensure everyone could survive comfortably, allowing everyone to live equally and securely. At first, the relocated people might feel very comfortable, but after a while, they would take it for granted.

'One worries not about scarcity, but about inequality; one worries not about poverty, but about instability.'

Taking the meaning of this, Joshua made sure everyone lived in abundance and stability, ensuring everyone's life was protected—but there would always be those who lived better, more comfortably, and enjoyed more resources.

To compare with others, one had to put in more effort.

"Priest, do you know about games?"
Through the communication device, Joshua split off a thread specifically for the Elite Squad. His tone was calm. "The games in the psychic terminals, and those like Fae Cards that require money to play."

Everyone could experience the full story and all the gameplay of a game. They were also given basic cards (housing) for free and could obtain free resources through free means (daily quests and rewards). Even if someone paid nothing and spent no money, they could still play the game and even play it quite well.

But if someone paid, spent money—if someone worked hard to train and achieved results, like drawing a legendary card in Fae Cards, or obtaining an extremely attractive character or skin—they would become the center of attention. From then on, everyone would want that card, that character, that skin. Then, inevitably, some who were unwilling to pay before would, for various reasons, start to work hard and spend money.

—The scores on the ladder rankings, the rankings on the power leaderboard, the badges in the arena, the champion's belt for first place, the thrill of victory in guild battles, the display stand showing off one's collection of characters—the 'Holy Radiance' achievement for the year's best priest user, the 'Legendary' card master title, the 'Invincible' title, all kinds of 'empty fame' would always stir human 'emotion.'

Of course, these weren't necessary. It was just that others had them, so one wanted them too... It was just the birth of desire, which gave rise to ambition and motivation.

Greed, dissatisfaction, the pursuit of vanity, attention, and the desire to show off—likewise, there was also the pursuit, the competitive spirit, the courage to lead and bear the gaze of the crowd, and the confidence to express oneself without fear.

This was humanity. The power of human emotion—this desire, this yearning heart—drove the small, intelligent life form of humanity ever forward.

"A good life ensures everyone has the same foundation. No one loses opportunities due to other reasons. Geniuses won't fade into obscurity because they couldn't eat enough as children. Ordinary people can use excellent living conditions to level out some innate talent gaps. These are the basics."

"But greed—human pursuit—has no end. As long as you stir this 'emotion,' even in a utopia, in a paradise, humans will ignite competition after competition."

On the other end of the communication array, Joshua raised his hand. In the warrior's palm was the 'Emotion Spectrum,' shining with endless light—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—seven colors, and the 'black' and 'white' formed by their mixture, coalescing in his hand.

Unable to bear others having what one doesn't!—The orange light of greed.
Unable to bear others becoming strong while one remains weak!—The red light of anger.
Unable to bear others changing while one stays the same!—The yellow light of fear.
Unable to bear, absolutely unable to bear, the damnable fact of being inferior to others!—The blue light of pride.
Same conditions, same face with two eyes and one mouth—why can he work hard and succeed while I can't?!—The purple light of envy.

Likewise, there was also the orange light of passion, the red light of courage, the yellow light of adaptability, the blue light of confidence, and the purple light of the pursuit of equality and fairness.

Gazing at this spherical spectrum core, Joshua chuckled softly. "Greed isn't wrong, because behind it lies pursuit. Dissatisfaction isn't wrong, because behind it lies competitiveness."

'Emotion' is like this—two sides of the same coin. One side grants people power, the other leads them to destruction.

"We cannot remain trapped within safe walls. We must step out of our current stable social model and try new possibilities. We cannot be constrained by a sense of security; we must explore with caution and fear—just as you were asked to come here and try. Well done, Priest. You've found the true meaning of this mission: the 'experiment of social models.'"

"But..."
On the other end of the communication array, listening to his teacher's teachings (jiaohui), Priest opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he only forced out one sentence: "But there will always be people who don't want to become stronger... Even in games, that's the case."

"So what? Everyone has their own way of life."
Joshua's avatar said in a puzzled tone. "Even now, not everyone in the Mycroft World is a transcendent. There will always be those who stop due to talent, personal mindset, or various reasons. What does it matter? As long as those who are unwilling, who can't stand it, are filtered out, that's enough."

As long as those who want to become stronger do so, that's sufficient.

"In the form of our civilization, some will always choose to grasp their own destiny, and likewise, some will always entrust their destiny to others."
Saying this, Joshua's avatar, specifically split off for the Elite Squad, gradually dissipated, leaving only the shining emotion spectrum glowing in the void, slowly transforming into streaks of light mixed with life energy and psionic energy.

Finally, the warrior calmly spoke his last words: "Not betraying the destinies gathered in your hands—that is the true meaning of protection. Just as you, as a captain, do not betray your squad members."

"Priest, I think it's time for you to try challenging the realm of 'Ultimate Essence.'"

...

A massive silver celestial body floated in the void, silent as if dead.

A thread split off specifically for answering questions returned. Joshua's main body remained unchanged, still continuously calculating and observing.

He was calculating the possibilities of the emotion spectrum, seeking a new path for supernatural power. He was observing the entire void, the entire Multiverse Star River, observing every place, from the largest to the smallest.

Not just Priest, not just the New Shirea World, not just the disc-shaped sanctuary used as an experimental observation field—through the omnipresent Restorative Pillars, Joshua crossed immeasurable, endless space, observing countless corners of the infinite multiverse.

He observed change, observed reform, observed battle and escape, observed 'emotion' and 'civilization.'

And so, at this moment, Joshua saw.

From the perspective of a true observer, he saw the progress and transformation of the entire Mycroft civilization.