Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 182 Sudden Enlightenment, 52%
The six-month stagnation made him clearly aware of his limits.

It's time to unleash that long-accumulated power.

With this in mind, Lin Yi no longer hesitated, and his soul power, like an invisible hand, instantly enveloped the entire purple mist space.

"Come!"

With a thought, all the drifting spiritual energy seemed to be summoned by a king, no longer scattered, but flowing in wisps and strands, like rivers flowing into the sea, suddenly converging towards the core of his consciousness.

"boom!!"

In that instant, Lin Yi felt his thoughts, his perceptions, and his understanding of the universe were forcibly stripped of all constraints, and he expanded and rose wildly in a way that surpassed the speed of light and the boundaries of space and time.

The world around us "disappeared".

The sounds of waves, wind, and the tactile sensation of rocks—all external disturbances faded away.

His "vision" was no longer limited to his eyes, but seemed to have transformed into invisible tentacles, directly touching the countless intertwined lines of rules that constitute the deepest layer of this world.

The golden lines, representing "sharpness," "change," and "deterrence," were never so clearly and vividly displayed before his eyes.

They are no longer abstract concepts, but rather like living veins, flowing with timeless truths.

He "saw" how "sharpness" was born from extreme condensation and high-frequency oscillation; he "saw" how "violentness" originated from the instantaneous imbalance of the internal structure and the burst of source energy; he "saw" how "penetration" combined speed, quality and an indestructible will.
What is usually obscure and difficult to understand, and may take hundreds or even thousands of years to figure out, melts away as quickly as ice and snow under the sun at this moment.

Countless inspirations, like erupting volcanoes, collide, combine, verify, and sublimate in my mind!
This is an ultimate experience that is hard to describe in words; it is the wild burning and spread of sparks of wisdom on the field of rules.

Time has lost its meaning, space has lost its boundaries, and only the understanding of rules is being deepened, broadened, and elevated at an unbelievable speed.

After an unknown amount of time, the spiritual energy was finally exhausted, and Lin Yi's "vision" slowly withdrew, his senses returning to reality.

He was still sitting on that rock, the waves were still crashing against the shore, as if nothing had changed.

But Lin Yi knew that everything was different now.

He briefly looked inward, sensing the scale of his understanding of the rules.

52.1%!

A number that truly resonated with him.

It jumped from the previous 31.5% to a terrifying increase of 20.6%.

Based on my progress over the past six months, if I were to cultivate step by step, it would probably take thousands or even tens of thousands of years to achieve this.

Moreover, he could clearly feel that there was still a lot of lingering "reflection" of his epiphany in his mind, like fertile soil full of nutrients, which needed some time to be carefully digested and absorbed.

At that time, the understanding of the rules will surely increase even further.

However, amidst his joy, Lin Yi also keenly noticed a problem that could not be ignored.

"After the 50% mark in understanding the rules, the time required for sudden enlightenment increases exponentially."

Lin Yi calmly analyzed the situation in his mind.

He recalled the moment of sudden enlightenment: in the first 8 minutes, his progress was unstoppable, jumping directly from 31.5% to 50%, an increase of 18.5%. However, in the remaining 4 minutes, he only improved by 2.1%.

"The further we go, the more difficult it will become. Although this spiritual energy is valuable, the future demand will likely be substantial."

Having gained insights from upgrading from the Star Swirl level to the Star Domain level, it seems my lifespan is still sufficient.

But it's hard to say about things above the star domain level.
If relying solely on the natural growth of spiritual energy is insufficient to break through to the next realm within the lifespan limit, wouldn't that be a waste of such a tremendous opportunity?
This made Lin Yi even more aware that he must try his best to improve his rating and acquire as many initial resources as possible, and he could not slack off even after the assessment was over.

After all, many treasures can also help improve one's understanding of the rules. For example, the "Casro Horned Beast," which indirectly caused his death, is a star-sea beast whose horn has a powerful auxiliary effect on breaking through from the Star Domain level to the World-Evolving level.

Lin Yi knew very well why the Ziles family would directly kill them.

That thing is too precious. Once the news leaks out, even a star-domain-level family like the Ziles family might not be able to protect it.

Thinking of this, a cold smile crept into Lin Yi's heart.

Then he shook his head and focused his attention on what was in front of him.

"52.1% of the rules comprehension," Lin Yi assessed his own strength, "comparable to a fifth-tier Star Vortex. But, there's no need to reveal all my secrets."

"This small-scale abyss tide demonstrated a level of 41% understanding of the rules."

He made a decision quickly.

This is equivalent to the fourth rank of the Star Swirl level, which is considered to be in the mid-stage of the vast Star Swirl level group.

Next, Lin Yi checked his own energy reserves.

He doesn't need a detector to easily calculate his current source energy level; within the source sea, 556 source crystals are shining brightly.

Energy level: 55600.

This officially crosses the threshold of 55000 and enters the seventh tier of the Stardust level, which can be considered as the late stage of the Stardust level.

Although this amount of source energy accumulation seems somewhat "weak" compared to his terrifying understanding of the rules, when combined with the soul weapon and the application of the rules, his actual combat power can no longer be judged by common sense.

With his strength greatly increased, Lin Yi actually felt a bit of anticipation for the upcoming small-scale abyss tide.

Of course, he wasn't looking forward to how he would dominate the small abyss, but rather, as he made such great progress, he was looking forward to how others would perform.

"If all these preparations—establishing the Yuanwu Army, training the Training Corps, and popularizing the merit system—require my personal intervention to quell even a small abyss tide, what is the point of all these efforts?"

Lin Yi gazed at the distant horizon, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"Hopefully, I won't need to intervene."

He was prepared to intervene at any time, but deep down, he hoped to see the seeds he had sown already able to withstand the wind and rain on their own.
-
Ten days later.

Southeast of the Xia Kingdom, in the Cangwu Hills.

Three military motorcycles stopped outside the "B-07" nest, which was marked by rusted barbed wire and warning signs.

This is all the belongings and mobile base of the "Lynx" squad.

Captain Old Cat was the first to get off the bus.

He was around forty years old, with dark, rough skin and deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, the result of years of exposure to the elements.

Old Cat used to be a reconnaissance soldier in the field army. After retiring from the army, he became one of the first civilian martial artists with his solid foundation and ruthless spirit, and formed this team.

He quickly checked the miniature energy detector hanging on the front of the vehicle. On the screen, the large area of ​​dark red dots around the nest was relatively stable, and only a few scattered red dots were moving on the outermost edge of the Abyss Beast territory.

"Everyone, perk up. Check your equipment, same old routine."

Old Cat's voice wasn't loud, but carried the calmness unique to veterans: "Clear out the small fry wandering around the perimeter and collect low-level crystals."

(End of this chapter)