Chapter 45: The Experiment Fails

In the laboratory of the spaceship Tang Yi, Tang Yi exclaimed, "Wahaha... it’s done, finally done! Now I can travel empty-handed wherever I go. Hehehe..." After more than ten days of intensive research, Tang Yi had finally succeeded in creating a storage space capable of holding living creatures.

"To be safe, I’d better test it first!" Tang Yi took the newly forged ring and headed to a warehouse in Sector Five of the ship. After pricking his finger to bind the ring to his soul, he waved his hand and caught a small monkey. With a flicker, the monkey vanished. Tang Yi probed with his spiritual sense and confirmed that the monkey was indeed inside the ring’s space. He then turned and exited the warehouse. When he tried to retrieve the monkey outside, an accident occurred. Tang Yi discovered that while the monkey did emerge, it didn't appear in front of him, but rather at the exact spot where he had first captured it into the ring. In other words, the refinement had failed. The ring had essentially become a key that opened a different phase of space. Tang Yi experimented repeatedly, but the result remained the same.

"Sigh, this ring would actually be quite useful for making a quick escape, even if it didn't turn out as intended. Since I’ve made it, I might as well give it a name. Let’s call it the God-Escape Ring. Yes, the Ring of Divine Evasion—anything produced by Tang Yi is a masterpiece. Hehehe..." Tang Yi engraved his mark onto the ring.

"Brother Tang, finished already?" Hua Shaojie noticed Tang Yi appearing in the conference room. They were in the middle of assigning specific tasks for the Menglan Planet mission.

"Sigh, let’s just say it’s only half a success. By the way, how are your preparations going? Are you confident?" Tang Yi sighed.

"Everything is ready. We can begin the acquisition operations in about a year. Currently, we are trading three types of local specialties between regions; after three months, we will increase that to five; in half a year, we will gradually add up to eight; and after a year, we will fix it at twelve. At that point, we can conduct our acquisition operations openly and legitimately. Not only that, we have already asked Jett to help us clone the growth environments for these twelve specialties so that we can eventually produce them ourselves." Liu Mingde explained concisely. *Liu Mingde truly has a talent for this,* Tang Yi thought to himself.

"Uh, very good. Have all the tasks been assigned?" Tang Yi asked.

"They have," Liu Mingde replied.

"Good. Then everyone, come with me! Meet at the space laboratory; I have some good news to share with you!" Tang Yi smiled mysteriously.

In the space laboratory, Tang Yi manipulated a three-dimensional image with both hands—it was the Menglan Planet. He had already reviewed all the data collected by Jett. With Tang Yi’s extraordinary abilities, after reviewing and analyzing the information, he reached a conclusion: on Menglan Planet, the average lifespan of an ordinary person is between 280 and 310 years. For those who practice martial arts or cultivation, the lifespan increases significantly. Overall, most things here operate at about three times the scale of Earth. The image in front of Tang Yi finally settled on the Central Continent.

"I will now give you a brief overview of the general situation on Menglan Planet. Although you’ve learned a little before, it wasn't enough, so you must listen carefully. First, let’s talk about your personal safety. Menglan Planet is different from Earth; it is not purely focused on cultivation and seeking the Dao. There are three systems here. One is known as Daoist Arts, which shares similarities with our cultivation path on Earth. This profession is called Daoist or Sorcerer. However, their cultivation potential is limited; they can only reach the mid-stage of the Tribulation Transcendence at most, though their lifespans can reach over six thousand years—that is the highest age Jett found on the planet. The other two systems are similar in terms of cultivation levels and maximum lifespans. One system focuses primarily on tempering the physical body, with the ultimate goal of reaching a physical strength equivalent to a low-grade spirit artifact. This profession is called Warrior or Fighter, similar to those who specialize in physical body refinement. The third system is called Magic. These professionals, known as Mages, primarily use their internal magic power to communicate with the various elemental energies in the world, utilizing these elements to fight and to enhance their own cultivation and lifespan."

Tang Yi paused, seeing that everyone was listening intently. He nodded with satisfaction and continued: "Now, let me talk about the local customs of Menglan Planet. The Central Continent houses eighty percent of the planet's population, spread across seven nations: the Great Zhou Kingdom, the Eastern Cloud Kingdom, the Radiant Empire, the Northern Plains Kingdom, the Western Cape Kingdom, the Dream-Return Kingdom, and the Southern Passage Kingdom. The Green Forest Continent is covered by vast forests, inhabited mainly by the Dwarf and Elf races. These two races are the super-environmentally conscious type; their populations are relatively small and kept at a stable level, unlike the Central Continent, which is experiencing a population explosion. The Heavenly Stone Continent is the only continent with no long-term residents. According to data analysis, this is related to the radiation on the continent, which likely stems from that massive Heavenly Stone. Ordinary people cannot survive there; currently, only those with cultivation skills go to the Heavenly Stone Continent for training at specific times. The Sand Continent and the Arctic Continent are places of extreme heat and extreme cold respectively, so very few people live there—at least compared to the Central Continent. People on these two continents live in tribal units, with no concept of nations. As for the unique high-speed shipping lanes on this planet, you know more about them than I do, so I won't repeat it. The key point I need to tell you is that since the great maritime expansion began five hundred years ago, exchanges between countries and continents have intensified. Currently, a situation has formed where four major academies stand supreme. Unfortunately, half of the locations of the rare minerals we want fall under the lands owned by these four academies. These four are the Divine Martial Academy of the Western Cape Kingdom, the Skyscraping Magic Academy of the Radiant Empire, the Natural Daoist Academy of the Southern Passage Kingdom, and the Three-Talents Comprehensive Academy of the Great Zhou Kingdom. Although each nation has many similar academies, these four are recognized as the absolute best. For instance, the Divine Martial Academy solely cultivates Warriors, focusing on the Warrior system. Warriors graduating from there are twenty to thirty percent stronger in all aspects than those from other academies. The Skyscraping Magic Academy focuses solely on Mages, and the Natural Daoist Academy solely on Daoists, while the Three-Talents Comprehensive Academy teaches all three systems. Although the graduates from Three-Talents might not be as specialized as those from the other three, they still firmly surpass all other academies. This has created a four-legged balance of power. You could say these four academies exist above the nations themselves. Since these mineral veins are located in the mountains behind their academies, trying to acquire these lands from them is essentially digging up the foundation of their homes." Tang Yi stopped here again.

"Uh, Brother Tang, have you considered just moving the mineral veins away directly, like we did on the Green-Green Planet?" Zhang Qiang asked.

"Hehehe... to be honest, I have already moved all the mineral veins from the uninhabited areas that I could. It did cause quite a few earthquakes, though there were no casualties, and even the animals were cleared out without harm. However, doing this near these academies would be impossible to keep so secret." Tang Yi paused and added, "But there is another way to obtain these mineral veins legitimately."

"What method is that?" everyone asked.