Xue Ji woke up very early today. She got out of bed carefully and tucked the blanket in around Eva.
She had been awakened by a change in the spiritual energy environment.
The concentration of spiritual energy had clearly increased today, and you could feel it even in the city center.
She opened the news section on her communication terminal.
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[According to the Research Institute’s speculation, spiritual energy is also a component of the natural environment; a lack of spiritual energy is the abnormal state.]
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[House cats turning into cat-eared girls is real! A survey report on the current state of animals in the spiritual energy environment.]
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[New revisions to ability levels; military expansion is on the schedule.]
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[The number of naturally awakened individuals continues to increase – is that a good or bad thing?]
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[Scientific research is achieving breakthrough after breakthrough – is this related to the changes brought by the spiritual energy resurgence?]
Just browsing through them briefly, a lot has been happening lately; it’s almost too much to keep up with.
While Xue Ji was busy reading the posts, she suddenly got a message notification.
With her current permissions, any message sent directly to her main account was definitely not simple. Usually, Xue Ji uses an alternate account to take on some requests for practice, and her main account generally doesn’t receive any messages.
“It’s actually a message from the Research Institute.” Xue Ji was a bit surprised. Earlier, she had mentioned to Commander Ye her interest in joining the Institute, but then things got too busy and it was put on hold.
But a more likely reason was that, due to her and Ling Xiaoxiao’s very dangerous mental state at the time, Commander Ye chose to keep putting it off.
“Inviting me to help with the planning of the power system and the Ability University? Sure, why not.” Xue Ji decisively replied to them.
She had quite a few complaints about the current ability levels and the confusing names for the different stages, and had filed complaints with the Institute many times. Finally, she would get her wish to revise this messy system.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. After all, Ling Xiaoxiao wasn’t responsible for this part, and the people at the Institute were basically crossing the river by feeling the stones.
During the battle against Cain, Xue Ji had seen many different power systems, such as magic, cultivation, abilities, shamanic witchcraft, and so on. However, aside from abilities, all the other systems faced drawbacks like few users, high barriers to entry, and high consumption.
That’s why the initial official standards were set mainly around ability awakening.
After breakfast, Xue Ji told her mom to take care of Eva and headed out early.
The first phase of the spiritual energy resurgence was about to end, and Xue Ji felt more and more like there were undercurrents flowing. The sooner these things were perfected, the better.
…
Imperial Capital, Spiritual Energy Resurgence Research Institute.
Xue Ji finally met the researchers she had filed complaints about and argued with many times.
When everyone saw that the keyboard warrior who frequently traded passionate insults with them was a white-haired young girl, the previously tense atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
The way the group crowded around Xue Ji made it look like they were about to start a fight, and she felt immense pressure.
“I just let off some steam in the comms a few times; it’s not like it was that bad, right?” Xue Ji wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and said sheepishly.
The researcher responsible for picking her up, Wang Zhi, had a stiff smile. With this girl’s frequency of “just a few times,” that wasn’t really accurate. The key point was that this person had high permissions, so they couldn’t block her, and every time they had to read all of Xue Ji’s rants.
“Alright, alright, the work is what matters. Everyone, just disperse,” Wang Zhi said, leading Xue Ji to the seminar room.
After a brief introduction, everyone gave a basic overview of the power systems they had each investigated.
When it was Xue Ji’s turn, she, of course, introduced the mage levels.
Speaking of which, the mage levels were very similar to the ability levels – both had Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Transcendent. However, the final mage rank was called the Sage. Xue Ji had only temporarily reached the Sage level when fighting the Demon King.
After the investigators of each system finished their reports, Xue Ji was invited to share her own insights.
“I think the existing level system from the ability system is sufficient.”
“Keep the final rank names from each respective system, but unify everything else from Beginner to Super Rank.”
The proposal was immediately approved. The final rank names for the three major systems – Abilities, Cultivation, and Magic – were confirmed as Cataclysm, Soul Transformation, and Sage, respectively.
During the break, people would occasionally come to talk with Xue Ji, mostly curious if she had truly reached the Sage level.
Xue Ji smiled helplessly. In terms of total spiritual power, she had one foot across the threshold into Super Rank, since she couldn’t use her own magic power. It was like her level was being suppressed.
But in other aspects, she truly was at the Sage level, just unable to cast a Forbidden Spell on her own.
In the crowd, Xue Ji spotted a familiar figure.
She walked towards that person and greeted them.
“Soraka, long time no see?” Xue Ji grinned at the Nameless One, her companion from the fight against the Grudge Beast Lord back in the day.
“Uh, long time no see. I didn’t expect you to be the user of that Sage account.”
“Hehe, surprised, right? I’m technically your superior now.” Xue Ji was a bit proud and then continued, “So, why did you participate in the subjugation of the Grudge Beast?”
“All I can tell you is that my research direction is monster ecology, especially mimicry and parasitic types. When I saw the corpse of that giant wolf, I felt something similar would become active in City A.”
“So you got a sample of the Grudge Beast Lord, then?”
“Exactly.”
“Alright, leave your contact info with me. I’m going to explore some dungeons that have appeared in a while, and I might need your expertise.”
…
The second round of the meeting was about discussing the classification of various threats.
After the spiritual energy resurgence, all sorts of threats that previously only existed in legends had started becoming reality.
The data sent back by pioneers in the past six months included collections of anomalous events occurring in different countries.
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Fatal songs drifting over a certain area of the Mediterranean Sea, suspected to be the work of the Siren.
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Figures resembling Anubis, the jackal-headed deity, appearing in recent sandstorms in Egypt.
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Domestically, besides the emergence of two new dungeons, there was also an undead resurgence in an ancient capital.
Wang Zhi finished introducing this content; because there was so much, he chose to cut straight to the main topic.
“To adapt to the various crisis events that will appear in the future, we need to classify these threats and formulate corresponding emergency response plans.”
“We’ve made new revisions based on the previous disaster warning system. We will divide threats into three categories: Fierce Beasts, Anomalies, and Cataclysms. The intensity of these threats will be graded using colors.”
After listening, Xue Ji added, “Please add a category for prophecies and legends.”
Wang Zhi was puzzled at first, but thinking about the materials he had just seen, he understood Xue Ji’s intention.
Yes, the things from myths, legends, and prophecies were starting to surface; they couldn’t be underestimated.
“Does everyone agree with Xue Ji’s proposal?” Wang Zhi asked.
Amidst the chorus of agreements, a sharp voice of dissent could be heard.
“I disagree. You actually take myths and legends seriously?” The speaker was a middle-aged man, a representative from the Publicity Department.
“You lunatic. Spiritual energy has resurged, and you’re still clinging to those outdated ideas?” Xue Ji showed him no courtesy. After her reprimand, she didn’t even give him a chance to retort.
“Throw him out!” Xue Ji waved her hand, speaking to the soldiers nearby.
They came over, grabbed the representative from the Publicity Department by the arms, and escorted him out of the seminar room.
Wang Zhi asked puzzledly, “By the way, why was someone from the Publicity Department here for this meeting anyway? Who brought him?”
