by <unknown>
After thinking carefully for a moment, he still shook his head slowly and said, "That's still not right. The hominoid miners work in the sunless mines until their death without any hope, but doesn't the Imperium have a very advanced 'contribution point' system, which claims to honor all the experts regardless of their origins and ensures the smoothness of the channel of ascension?
"Every Immortal Cultivator has an opportunity of getting abundant 'contribution points' during their fights with the ferocious beasts in the world fragments. After exchanging the contribution points, they would be able to upgrade step by step and eventually grow into an unparalleled expert someday. As for those who die halfway, they can only blame themselves for not being lucky enough according to your theory."
Li Linghai laughed. "The contribution point system that claims to be absolutely fair and ensures a smooth channel of ascension? Even I do not believe such propaganda, and you do?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes quickly. "Not really. But… please explain it to me, Your Grace."
"Getting to the bottom of it, it is all about making the cake and dividing the cake. During the period of rise, the cake grows bigger and bigger. Naturally, it can be distributed in any way. However, once the cake reaches the limits or even begins to shrink, you will never be able to divide it evenly."
Li Linghai sighed. "The thousand years of history of the Imperium of True Human Beings, in fact, can be divided into the first five hundred years and the second five hundred years.
"In the first five hundred years, the Imperium expanded to all directions based on the center of the cosmos. A new Sector was discovered almost every year with triumphs. New territories, new populations, and all kinds of resources were added every year. New legions and fleets were established incessantly too. Naturally, the territories, legions, and fleets were accompanied by a great deal of jobs and opportunities.
"At that time, the channel of ascension for the middle- and low-level Immortal Cultivators was indeed smooth and unhindered. As long as they were determined, with the slightest luck, they might turn into a celebrity when nobody knew their name yesterday. Under the boost of countless resources, they could also train themselves into dominating experts.
"It was the golden age of the Imperium. Vigorous, ambitious, and thriving. At that time, the interest groups had not been rigidified yet, and social mobility was still very high. What you described was very true. The middle- and low-level Immortal Cultivators were passionate about participating in all kinds of wars to earn contribution points. Even if they died in the most painful way during the fights, they would only blame themselves for not being capable enough, and they would certainly not decry the high-level Immortal Cultivators for 'oppressing' them.
"However…
"About five hundred years ago, the territory of the Imperium of True Human Beings already expanded to more than 90% of what it is today. Having reached the limits, and when the expansion of the 'cake' stopped, the situation in the next five hundred years was entirely different."
Chapter 2158: The Strong Remain Strong! |
Thinking quickly, Li Yao already envisioned the picture when the phase of the Imperium's high-speed expansion came to an end. He blurted out, "In short, the resources in the universe are limited."
"Exactly."
Li Linghai said casually, "To put it more frankly, since the Imperium has only a limited ability of expansion and a limited territory, there are certainly limited jobs, opportunities, and intimidating power. One Sector could only have one master, after all, one sect could only have one leader and one fleet could only have one commander. Even a crystal mine could only have one owner, right?
"That was the center of all the contradictions.
"In the first five hundred years, as the Imperium expanded greatly, the vested interests had already split the positions such as Sector Masters, fleet commanders, sect leaders, or even mine owners. There would be no vacancy at all until one of them died!
"In the second five hundred years, it was often the case that the expedition army of the Imperium failed to find a single Sector after decades of exploration without bothering the cost. Or even when it found one, the new territory would be a land of desolation and nothingness. How could it help anything?
"Therefore, for the Immortal Cultivators who were born in the second five hundred years, even if they were talented, determined, and fortunate, it was impossible for them to rise to the sky in one step like their predecessors in the first five hundred years."
Li Yao smiled. "Don't the Immortal Cultivators worship 'survival of the fittest'? If the cake could not be made any bigger, they could always rob other people of their slices of the cake!"
Li Linghai replied with a smile too, "Do you think that the class of vested interests that was gradually ossified were all dead people who would just watch the ambitious latecomers rob them without doing anything first?
"Even an idiot should know which side had more ways to eat the whole cake, the existent interest holders who boasted abundant training resources, techniques, and even space fleets, or the silly guys who awakened their spiritual roots with luck and who stumbled into their current level!
"All in all, the existent interest holders who made a fortune out of wars in the first five hundred years and who had occupied the high grounds of the politics, economy, military, culture, and all the other fields of the Imperium gradually rigidified into lumps large and small under the names of family, sector fleet. Whatever their names were, they were essentially the same. They were the monopoly groups that were huge enough to swallow the whole world. They were the dominators and the oligarchs.
"As the dominating oligarchs who had concentrated all the resources, they were naturally free to come up with rules that were in their favor, allowing all the new resources to flow into their bloody mouth legally and reasonably. That is the logic of the big growing bigger and the strong remaining strong. The talents who rose later without notable backgrounds were absolutely incapable of competing with the oligarchs.
"The simplest example would be the contribution point system that seems fair and gives everybody a chance.
"Calculate contribution points with military credits and exchange the contribution points for training resources, military ranks, and government posts. It seems very fair and reasonable, right?
"But the fairest and reasonable system has to be carried out by specific persons. If the Immortal Cultivators who are responsible for carrying out the contribution point system are from the deeply-rooted noble families, how would they treat the Immortal Cultivators who are from the civilian class equally?
"Under the contribution point system, the measurement of the mission difficulty is decided by organizations such as the 'Military Credits Committee' in the local Sectors. It is needless to say that the organizations are all controlled by the oligarchs and the nobles, who can totally tailor-make some easy missions with a high reward of contribution points for the members of their families and inform those members to claim the missions before the missions are released. In such a way, the members of their families will get abundant contribution points without any risk in a justifiable way, right?
"Even worse, when some missions are too difficult, they will intentionally allure the Immortal Cultivators of poor backgrounds to execute them, and when the Immortal Cultivators suffer heavy casualties and the goal of the mission is more or less reached, they will add the members of their families into the team under the excuse that the mission is too difficult and requires more hands. Naturally, the members of their families will be able to deal the last blow and earn tremendous contribution points in the easiest way.
"So, under the seemingly fair contribution point system, if you are from a noble family whose history dates back to a thousand years ago, you will find many easy missions that have a high reward of contribution points or missions tailor-made for you that have rigorous conditions for claiming, every now and then. You can accomplish them easily without any trouble and earn tremendo
us contribution points, which you can then exchange for the training resources.
"But if you have neither connections nor a familial background as an Immortal Cultivator who fights your way and risks your life to get where you are, you will find most of the missions available are highly difficult, and the reward of contribution points are very low. Or they may contain unexpected dangers, and other people will gain tremendous benefits by stepping on your bloody head in the end.
"Occasionally, you may find certain missions whose 'cost performance' seems to be very high on the open mission platform.
"However, those missions will either be claimed by a certain member of the noble family that you do not know in the next moment or come with additional, harsh requirements. For example, only the Immortal Cultivators in the eleventh level of the Refinement Stage with a five-star certificate from the Hungry Wolf Crystal Suit Training Camp are qualified to claim it. It is needless to say that the mission is specially designed for a certain descendant of a noble family. You can do nothing at all except to watch them accomplish the missions easily.
"Tell me about it. Under such a contribution point system that is 'absolutely fair', how can the Immortal Cultivators of poor backgrounds compete with the Immortal Cultivators from noble families?"
Li Yao sighed and said, "So to speak, the Immortal Cultivators at the bottom level are truly rather painful."
"Of course they are. Other people have ten thousand ways to shove you out of the circle where the cake is divided, but you cannot say a word about it."
Li Linghai said, "It is already the latter half of the story to have the ability to join the game under the contribution point system. What matters more first is education.
"Theoretically speaking, the Imperium worships fair competition more than anything. The descendants of noble families, poor families, and even hominoids are eventually entitled to training. Whoever shows the most potentials in the early education will be most qualified to receive the nourishment of the abundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and the enlightenment of brilliant teachers. Without the gifts of training, they should be abandoned ruthlessly even if they are the descendants of the Immortal Cultivators. Only in such a way can the configuration of resources be optimized to achieve the purpose of the development of the civilization of mankind as a whole.
"However, it is still 'theoretically'.
"Theories are beautiful, but reality is cruel. Let me ask you. Which Immortal Cultivator family is really idiotic enough to present all the resources of their family to the hominoid descendants who have gifts and potentials while giving nothing to the younger generations of their own family?
"The descendants of the Immortal Cultivator families are nurtured by the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from the moment they are born. When they are still toddlers, the experts of the family will start to cleanse their veins and nerves and build their bodies. After they grow slightly older, they will get in touch with the most incredible arts. Not just the descendants of most hominoids, even the descendants of the Immortal Cultivators of poor backgrounds do not have such privileges.
"Then, in the national tests on talents, potentials, and everything else on the children between five to seven, it is only natural for the descendants of the noble families to be more likely to have higher marks and gain access to the academies of the highest level. That is still not considering the fact that most of the national tests are in fact under the control of the oligarchs.
"Just like what I said a moment ago, the strong remain strong, and the big grow bigger still. The monopolization of the oligarchs means the healthy, legitimate methods of resource configuration in the Imperium are already gone. The interest group, epitomized by the four Kurfürst families, will not stop until they have sucked the last drop of blood from the country.
"Of course, as the training technologies and the human strengthening technologies continue to develop, the difficulties for the hominoids of the imperium to advance into low-level Immortal Cultivators have been significantly lowered. After the strengthening modifications, it is possible for them to boast half or a third of the low-level Immortal Cultivators' combat ability.
"However, improving from a low-level Immortal Cultivator to a high-level Immortal Cultivator, or to be more exact, advancing from the Refinement Stage and the Building Foundation Stage into the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage, is now ten times more difficult than it was five hundred years ago. It is even safe to say that the channel of ascension in scale has been completely blocked.
"Besides, training consumes a great number of resources. The hominoids who have been strengthened and modified have a much higher demand for supplies too. It makes the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators further dependent on resources and their monopolies. As a result, they are forced to cling to the interest groups and struggle under the game rules of the oligarchs while they are exploited with their eyes wide open.
"You may even understand it this way—the high-level Immortal Cultivators discovered that the efficiency of exploiting the hominoids directly is too low and that it will be more convenient, straightforward, and efficient to allow a group of the hominoids to turn into low-level Immortal Cultivators before the exploitation."
Li Yao took a long breath in relief and felt like sweating. He said sincerely, "This is… very different from the components and operation of the Immortal Cultivators' society that I heard on Firefly."
Li Linghai said, "The Star Ocean Republic was destroyed by the Imperium. Naturally, what you accepted before was the brainwashing education that vilifies and demoralizes the Immortal Cultivators. It is only natural that you grow disgusted by the Immortal Cultivators under your preconception.
"Besides, the Imperium that is governed by the monopolizing oligarchs and noble families is truly a murky forest where the wolves and the jackals get their way!
"In the court, the noble ministers who hold the lightning trident flags on their shoulders and cheer for the Immortal Cultivators are in fact selfish scumbags who only consider for their small groups without bothering the general picture of the Imperium and the future of mankind. Not just you, even I hate their guts!
"But please believe that they shouldn't be what the real Immortal Cultivators look like. At the very least, the Imperium of True Human Beings that Blackstar the Great established in the past was nothing like what it is today!"
Chapter 2159: Blackstar the Great's Utopia! |
When she mentioned Blackstar the Great, the unparalleled man of the time, Li Linghai suddenly grew excited. Her eyes that had been as cold as ice all the time were glittering as she raised her voice and said, "In fact, the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators share a lot in common. A country that has developed for a thousand years will inevitably have all sorts of interest groups, the abnormally expanding cancers that suck the benefits of the people.
"The last years of the Star Ocean Republic are exactly the same as the Imperium of True Human Beings right now. Rotten wood was respected as officials in the court, and wolves and tigers occupied the sea of stars. The four Kurfürst families that control the politics of the Imperium today already took shape at that time, except that they were far less gigantic and awesome back then."
Li Yao thought for a moment and sighed. "In fact, when I was on Firefly, I read some of the files declassified by the National Archive Library. Your criticisms on the mess at the last years of the Star Ocean Republic are not entirely wrong."
Li Linghai looked at Li Yao in approval and nodded her head. "It is great that you honor the facts, unlike the other hypocritical Cultivators.
"All in all, the many diseases that the Imperium has today could also be found at the last years of the Star Ocean Republic, and it was already hopeless, which could be seen by the fact that a tiny Alliance of the Holy Covenant at the edge of the cosmos was able to crush the Star Ocean Republic's army.
"If the Cultivators' governance at the time was truly perfect, and the Cultivators and the
ordinary people were really united in the same community without any grudge, how could the Star Ocean Republic, which occupied the center of the cosmos and boasted many prosperous worlds, have come up with no solutions to deal with the outweighed Alliance of the Holy Covenant?
"Therefore, Wuying Qi, as the border commander of the Star Ocean Republic, motivated by the lofty ideals of saving the country, the people, and mankind, purged the entire Star Ocean Republic with fire and blood when he had enough of it, trying to cut all the cancers and make his country, his people, and his civilization great again!
"In Blackstar's dream, a great government that had absolute power and could reach the most fundamental level in the vast sea of stars would be the core for the renaissance of the civilization of mankind. The noble families and their traditions did not have a place in the utopia. Those who were to handle the specific affairs should only be the civil servants of the government and His Majesty's hounds.
"By the same logic, even the farmers at the most barren planet in the most remote space zone of the Imperium should pledge their loyalty to the government, to the Imperium, and to His Majesty himself, instead of being controlled by a certain sect leader, Sector Master, or fleet commander.
"In such a way, the Imperium would be able to carry out the best of 'fairness'.
"His Majesty and the government under him would directly control all the resources in the Imperium. A clean, rigorous, and independent prosecution system, and the cold and ruthless envoys who boasted high combat ability and pledged loyalty to the emperor, would monitor the implementation of the 'contribution system' in local places. Should any case of corruption or cheating be discovered, harsh punishments would immediately be underway.
"In the meantime, through the abundant resources that were directly under His Majesty's control, public education would be greatly promoted. The faculties of the public schools and the investment in the training facilities would be improved to ensure that both the descendants of the Immortal Cultivators and those of hominoids could be admitted into schools of similar levels equally, receive similar education, and be tested under the same rules. Origins did not matter, and potentials were all that counted. The strong went up, and the weak walked down. Everybody would be convinced by the fair system.
