Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 291 The Status of the Century's Priest, Battle Plan
Even though Bai Ye was already a level 29 evolved powerhouse, he was slightly nervous when he met Father Su An for the first time.

It wasn't because of Father Suan's strength, but because of his reputation in Storm Holy City.

He is hailed as the most promising new priest of the century to win the title of Father of the Century.

There is an unwritten rule within the entire Vatican, the exact timing of which is no longer verifiable, but it has been widely accepted by the eight holy cities.

That is, each century is considered a century, just like the timeline of the old Earth era. However, the wasteland that has resurfaced today has little to do with the old era.

Rather, it is related to the path of evolution.

Based on the current research on evolution by various major forces, the earlier an evolution is completed, the higher its evolutionary potential.

This was proven long ago.

After all, every level of life at any evolutionary level has its own life cycle.

It can be roughly divided into three different stages: childhood, middle age, and old age.

Childhood roughly encompasses the period from birth to adulthood, a stage in which life is defined and finalized.

During this period, all life forms were full of vitality, and it was the period of their most vigorous life force and the strongest potential for evolution and development.

Moreover, because cells and genes are still differentiating and have not yet reached a fixed form, especially the amount of stem cells in the body, which can transform into targeted cells and have extremely high plasticity, the resistance to completing evolutionary transformation is also the lowest.

This evolutionary pressure increases with age, eventually forming a bottleneck in transformation, or even a constraint on qualitative evolution at a particular stage.

It becomes an insurmountable chasm, deterring people from venturing forward and leaving them with deep regret.

Therefore, in middle age, a crucial stage in life, even a small improvement requires several times the effort of childhood.

As we age, our cells become more stable. While there may not be many mutations, it means that it takes more effort to break the existing gene combination.

Li Hao is a good example.

His evolutionary talent is not low; he would rank among the millions of Rockhorn-based evolvers.

It's a pity that he missed the precious opportunities in his youth, and now he is almost 500 years old.

In the second-order evolutionary level, this period is the transition from middle age to old age. Coupled with the fact that he was young and vigorous and did not know how to protect his body, he repeatedly overdrawn his life force in battles, leaving behind a lot of sequelae.

The actual physical age of the second-tier body has reached the edge of entering old age.

However, as long as the late-stage second-order evolution is completed, the precarious physical condition can be saved.

After all, the breakthrough from the mid to the late stage, although not a transformative leap across stages, can still improve a poor physical condition under the stimulation of cells in the later stage.

As for the Vatican's internal system of using a century as a unit of time, it is based on the model of second-tier evolved beings and sets up a century-long infancy period.

In the thousand years of a second-tier evolver, the first hundred years are the childhood period when it is easiest to break through the evolution level.

Between the ages of one hundred and two hundred, one is in the adolescent stage, where cells and genes tend to stabilize, and the potential for evolution gradually declines. After two hundred years of age, one enters adulthood, becomes a mature life form, and the potential tends to be mediocre.

Therefore, only by evolving all the way to the late stage of the second tier in the first hundred years can one break through the shackles of the third tier in one go and become the evolutionary king who establishes his own school, with the greatest hope and potential.

Not only within the Holy Spring Cult, but in any major power, there are beings who can reach the second tier before the age of thirty, and the late second tier before the age of one hundred...

They are all promising talents who have a good chance of breaking through to the third rank.

However, this does not mean that one cannot become a third-tier king in middle age, even after the age of one hundred or two hundred.

Given limited resources, the former has a 70-80% chance of achieving a breakthrough, while the latter may only have a 30% chance, or even lower.

No force would be foolish enough to defy the laws of science and reality.

In the Hunter King Plan of the Hunter Guild, those who can become contenders for the Hunter King Seed are basically second-tier evolvers under the age of 100. The rest are between 100 and 200 years old and are just there to make up the numbers. Those over 200 years old have been automatically removed from the plan.

Similarly, the same applies within the Holy Spring Cult, and the conditions are even more stringent, including not only physical and age restrictions, but also the degree of affinity with the Holy Spring's power.

At this moment, the second-tier mid-stage evolver who walked in front of Bai Ye, the leader of the Salvation Army, was the most talented young priest in Storm Holy City in the past hundred years.

At the age of twenty-six, he successfully broke through to the second rank and became a powerful novice priest, directly breaking the record for the youngest priest in Storm Holy City.

Unlike the second-tier evolved beings outside, the evolution and advancement of the Church do not rely solely on the accumulation of resources, but rather place greater emphasis on the clergy's affinity for the power of the Holy Spring and their understanding of various scriptures.

It falls into the category of being proficient in both literary and martial arts.

These conditions are far more demanding than evolutionary talent.

Bai Ye, a once-proud daughter of a first-rate power and the world-saving royal city, only reached the second tier at the age of forty. Thanks to the special nature of her spatial ability, she has been in a semi-dormant state for hundreds of years since then, and her actual age is currently less than ninety.

Aside from events related to evolution, Bai Ye almost always uses spatial abilities and hibernation pods to ensure that his physical body enters a state of hibernation with minimal energy consumption, thereby achieving age freezing.

This ability is the effect that all women dream of, but it shines even brighter in the age of evolution.

By freezing his age, Bai Ye successfully avoided the burden caused by the scarcity of wasteland resources, ensuring that his talents were not wasted due to the passage of time.

However, this strategy is also opportunistic.

Talented individuals like Bai Ye are almost ubiquitous in major factions in the wasteland.

The reason they are not out in the open is that most of them are being groomed as core successors and rarely appear in the world, in order to avoid exposing the core secrets of the organization.

After all, the harsher the environment, the more effective it is at weeding out the weak.

Individuals without much talent would have died long ago in an environment of extreme resource scarcity, and their chances of becoming evolved beings would be even lower than in the old Earth era.

But Father Suan before him was a true being with the strongest evolutionary talent.

Since he advanced to the second tier of power at the age of twenty-six, even though he volunteered to be exiled to Oasis Town to avoid the limelight, he is still not even forty years old.

There are still sixty years ahead for Father Suan to strive for the position of a third-order bishop.

According to the rules of the Holy See, as long as this town-level beast calamity can be perfectly resolved, Oasis Town will not suffer too much damage...

Based on this achievement, Father Suan's becoming the new bishop within the next few decades is almost a certainty.

This forced Bai Ye to take it seriously, even though the opponent's current evolution level was far behind his own at level 29, only at level 25, the mid-stage of the second tier.

However, the gap between the two, whether in terms of evolutionary potential or power and status, is vast.

Even after both sides successfully break through to the third-tier king level, their power will only increase. After all, the bishop backed by the entire Holy Spring Church is simply not on the same level as a third-tier king from an ordinary first-rate power.

The former had a fully equipped and resource-rich mobile city first, while the latter still had to work hard to accumulate even the core royal city of a large settlement.

The starting privileges of a bishop are the ultimate goal for many who have barely advanced to the third tier of kings within the last thousand years.

It was precisely this difference in status and position that allowed Bai Ye to rise to such a high position.

Not to mention that Bai Ye has become a wanderer and is wanted with a bounty on his head.

The Salvation Army under his command inherited their identity and resources because they had extensively researched and promoted the Immaculate Evolution, which led to a joint attack from various forces.

Behind the destruction of the City of Salvation, two top powers—the Vatican and a consortium of giant corporations—were involved.

Therefore, Bai Ye had to be extremely careful while also expressing his respect:

"The Salvation Army had no intention of offending the Holy Spring Church, much less challenge its formidable authority. This time, they intended to assist the Church in restraining the rebellious Li family in Oasis Town, but unexpectedly, they were kidnapped by the Wasteland Wolves on the way."

"The wolf pack leader coerced us into attacking the oasis together. It was thanks to Chief Lin's timely explanation that the Salvation Army was not implicated in the attack on Oasis Town and the looting of the Holy See, which would have been a genocidal charge."

"However, we are facing a great calamity right now. As members of the same race, we naturally need to work together to deal with the threat from the wolf pack of other races."

"Please rest assured, Father Suan, the Salvation Army is willing to cooperate wholeheartedly with the Church this time, striving to withstand the attack of the Wasteland Wolves and protect Oasis Town."

Father Suan nodded, quite satisfied with the attitude of the Salvation Army leader, Bai Ye:
"Chief White does not collude with the foreign races and understands the principle of mutual dependence in the present situation. Once the wolf pack's offensive is broken and Oasis Town is saved, the Church will naturally not treat you unfairly."

"The rock horn horse industry in Nongzhuang Village will receive the full compensation due at that time."

"If you perform exceptionally well and make great contributions, I will apply to the Holy City to have the arrest warrant for the Salvation Army revoked, allowing you to regain your normal status and freely enter and exit the various settlements under the jurisdiction of the Holy See."

Hearing Father Su An's affirmation and the resolution of the most important issue of his identity, Bai Ye was naturally overjoyed.

This is different from restoring one's status through strength after advancing to the third rank.

Even a third-tier early-stage king is not as effective as a single word from the Holy Spring Sect.

Moreover, by leaving the Wanderers ahead of time, the Salvation Army led by Bai Ye can legally roam the wasteland and engage in normal exchanges and cooperation with other forces.

They could even use this status to gain a dominant position among the remaining forces in the City of Salvation, attracting other branches to come and join them.

So Bai Ye spoke with a hint of excitement:

"Thank you, Father. I will do anything for you, even go through fire and water."

As the two talked, Lin Feng, standing beside the chariot, observed the movements among the mountains ahead while giving Bai Ye a look of disdain.

He never imagined that the once aloof and icy goddess would one day be so attentive.

This also reflects Lin Feng's unfamiliarity with the wasteland.

Although with the system's help, he also became an existence with extremely high evolutionary talent, he followed the path of alien evolution, the Rockhorn.

Therefore, no matter how talented one is, one cannot escape the same fate as Li Hao. Even if one breaks through the shackles with the help of technology and becomes a third-tier horse king, one is still only a third-tier mutant.

Two completely different genes within the body will clash violently during the King stage, leading to an unstable state and strength far below that of a pure-blooded third-tier cultivator.

With his condition declining, there is a very high probability that he will become a madman in the future.

Therefore, although Lin Feng is strong and a powerful gun-wielding superhuman, the upper limit he can reach in the future has been locked by his genetic bloodline.

It will not have a significant impact on the various forces and the overall situation.

Therefore, in Bai Ye's view, there was no need to pay too much attention to Lin Feng, and naturally there was no need to curry favor with him.

Father Suan was very peaceful with ordinary humans, and naturally even more amiable with powerful figures like Lin Feng, whose threats were manageable, and he didn't take Lin Feng's occasional impudent remarks too seriously.

At the same time, the Oasis Church also needs a rising new force to suppress the increasingly powerful local families.

Even in Oasis Town, despite the fact that local families could overshadow the church due to the distance from the central government, the church's position remained unshakable, firmly maintaining control over the Oasis warships.

In a super-large settlement like the Holy City, the Church's power and authority would only be even more supreme.

Any offensive behavior will be severely punished and taught a lesson.

Therefore, Bai Ye's extreme caution, even bordering on obsequiousness, stemmed from the vast difference in their backgrounds.

Lin Feng had not yet personally experienced the true terror of the Holy Spring Sect, this behemoth.

Especially the Father Suan, who was only a generation older than him, and the significance he represented in the church.

Those who can become Fathers of the Century are fundamentally different from ordinary priests who rise through the ranks by simply accumulating time and seniority.

After confirming Bai Ye's cooperative attitude, Father Su An did not continue with formalities and spoke directly:

"The final arena match will definitely not be as easy as the previous ones."

"His Excellency the Bishop intends to personally take the field, using the Undying Armor as cover, to ensure a sure victory over Li Hao."

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, put down the armor-piercing cannon in his hand, and suddenly thought of a possibility:
"What if Lang Ao remains inactive and waits until the final results of the competition are announced?"

"The next battle will be the final one, a life-or-death struggle for both the church and the Li family."

"It not only distinguishes between superior and inferior, but also determines life and death."

"In this situation, Li Hao will definitely not hold back anymore. Even if he uses all his trump cards, he will make sure to win the game. In the end, Li Hao will inevitably die, and the over-exhausted bishop will also find it difficult to fight again."

"Even with Bai Ye's help, we'll have a hard time withstanding Lang Ao's attack, and we might not even be able to take Li Hao's second-tier body..."

Upon hearing Lin Feng's analysis, Bai Ye's brows furrowed instantly; this was the worst-case scenario for her.

There's a high probability that he'll need to hold off the behemoth, Wolf Ao, all by himself.

Father Su An waved his hand and slowly began to speak:

"Don't worry, there's no need to wait until then."

"Although the battleship's giant cannons were prepared for the Wild Wolf Beast, they also allow Li Hao to experience the power of human industry."

(End of this chapter)