From star gatherer to leader of humanity

"First Form: The Spirit Monkey Supports the Mountain"

Xu Bai circulated his qi and blood throughout his body, as if carrying a huge boulder on his back, and raised his hands to the sky.

Second move: The Gray Wolf Tramples the Moon

With a change in posture, one foot steps forward into the air, the hands support the body, and the back arches, resembling a giant wolf.

As the coach called out the fifth move, some students were already unable to hold on and were swaying precariously.

"You haven't even mastered the fifth move yet, so get back to your hometown! Working in the factory is your only way out!"

"If you want to do this dangerous business, you still need to see if you're qualified!" The coach's stern voice rang in the trainees' ears.

The few shaky new students struggled to circulate their qi and blood to maintain the stability of the fifth move, the Bear Shaking the Ground.

"Sixth move, Tiger Crouchs!"

Immediately, only nineteen of the new recruits in Xu Bai's squad stepped forward, while the rest remained standing in place.

"Not bad, better than the new students from last year."

The coach walked around the nineteen men, feeling each of them with his hands.

As Xu Bai lay prone like a tiger, he only felt the coach's hand wander around his spine from behind.

"Those of you who have reached the sixth form can freely go to the spiritual energy room to cultivate. You will also spend three hours each day participating in the single-person training virtual room of the mining spaceship. Only those who achieve a score of 70 or above in the operation will be allowed to graduate."

"By the way, whether it's the spirit energy room or the spaceship virtual room, you need to pay with spirit energy to use them."

"Those who lack spiritual energy can first apply for a loan from a financial institution."

Following the coach's instructions, the nineteen people completed the sixth form, stood up, and headed towards the financial sector in the direction indicated by the coach.

Meanwhile, the other teams, whose trainees had completed their sixth training session, also began heading to the Finance Department together.

"My name is Zhou Qiang, what's your name, brother?" A tall, muscular young man approached Xu Bai and asked in a familiar tone.

"Xu Bai." Xu Bai's tone carried a hint of detachment.

"Brother, my brother is in the Caixing team. He's a veteran there. He's formed a small gang of about a thousand people. They help each other out. Once you join, a veteran will guide you, and you can get started very quickly."

Zhou Qiang moved closer to Xu Bai and whispered, "A Star Gathering Team has over 100,000 members and thousands of gangs and organizations of all sizes. A lone wolf can't survive in the Shattered Star Sea."

"I'm new here and don't know anything. Brother Zhou Qiang, please allow me to take a look first," Xu Bai politely declined.

"Alright, our Iron Ball Gang will only take 20% of the share. Let's add each other as friends first. More friends, more opportunities." Zhou Qiang nodded, bumped hands with Xu Bai, and added him as a friend on the terminal.

The finance department occupied an entire floor of the training building and processed loans for each new student with remarkable speed and professionalism.

"A loan of 100,000 strands of spiritual energy for ten years, with equal principal and interest payments each year. If you have no objections, please sign." The clerk glanced at Xu Bai and tossed out a contract displayed on a light screen.

Xu Bai glanced at the clause in the contract stipulating an annual repayment of 25,000 strands of spiritual energy, sighed inwardly, and signed the contract directly, because he had no other choice.

After signing, the 100,000 strands of spiritual energy arrived in the account almost instantly.

The Reiki Room is a 36-square-meter room, one of which has a wall made of mirrors.

"Although it's a loan, the spiritual energy is still plentiful."

"I'll try to advance to the Qi Refining Realm within five months. If I join the Star Gathering Team earlier, things will be easier to arrange. I can also choose a better cultivation technique, and I should be able to save up a little over 10,000."

"I wonder how much spiritual energy it will take to buy a mining spaceship."

As Xu Bai spoke, he clapped his hands lightly, and a mechanical voice sounded.

"Program started, beginning to replenish spiritual energy~"

A wisp of smoke-like spiritual energy began to fill the spiritual energy room, while Xu Bai practiced the seventh move, Giant Rhinoceros Colliding with Stars, in front of the mirror.

After three hours of cultivation, Xu Bai absorbed three hundred strands of spiritual energy to temper his blood and qi, making the first movement of the seventh form flow smoothly. Each of the eighteen forms of body training has nine movements.

"End of cultivation."

As soon as Xu Bai said this, the spiritual energy in the spiritual energy room was suddenly drained away, leaving Xu Bai with a feeling of emptiness.

"Do you need nutrient solution? It can quickly replenish your qi and blood after cultivation. One bottle consumes one hundred strands of spiritual energy." The mechanical voice sounded.

"unnecessary."

Xu Bai unlocked the spiritual energy chamber and left.

The virtual spaceship room costs 30 strands of spiritual energy per hour; the price made Xu Bai laugh helplessly.

He only used ten strands of spiritual energy in an hour playing games at the virtual arcade, but the price here has tripled, yet there's essentially no difference.

"So what if it's a trap? At least the trap for the Caixing team is relatively smaller."

When Xu Bai was in his third year of junior high school, he began to look up this information. Among the massive amount of information recruiting junior high school graduates, he found the one with the smallest potential pitfall in his eyes.

Moreover, every few years, one or two Foundation Establishment stage experts would appear in the Star Gathering Team.

In the human world, the Foundation Establishment stage is considered to be an existence that has already transcended the bottom level.

In the virtual world, Xu Bai stood in front of an empty spaceport, with a small, single-person mining spaceship, thirty meters long, parked in front of him.

"Please take your positions, students. We will now begin the tutorial."

Xu Bai landed on the mining spaceship; the control room could only accommodate two people.

Sitting in the control seat, Xu Bai looked at the densely packed joysticks and control buttons, and couldn't help but feel excited. Although it was a mining spaceship, it was still a spaceship that could fly in space.

"Beginner's Guide Chapter 1: Getting to Know the Instrument Buttons and Joysticks..."

What lies before me is…

Time flies, and five months have passed.

During this period, Xu Bai lived a life of going back and forth between the spiritual energy room, the spaceship virtual room, and the dormitory canteen.

The spiritual light emanating from his dantian kept Xu Bai full of energy every day. He was always the first to arrive and the last to leave the spiritual energy cultivation area.

With such diligent practice, he finally reached the ninth form in the middle of the fifth month, and then used 10,000 strands of spiritual energy to buy the cultivation technique he had already set his sights on.

"The biggest feature of the Spiritual Qi Technique is that it has no features. It is gentle and moderate, and the spiritual energy storage in the dantian is moderate. With each level of cultivation, the dantian can expand by three hundred strands of spiritual energy. It is most suitable for people with less than strong aptitude. It is the first choice for those with low-grade aptitude and no pitfalls."

"Moreover, the spiritual energy in the dantian of the 'Spiritual Energy Technique' is basically compatible with all spells, making it convenient to switch to other cultivation methods in the future."

"The Spiritual Qi Technique is easy to cultivate; it only takes half a month to advance to the first level of Qi Refining."

For the next two weeks, Xu Bai resumed his diligent study, opening up all his meridians in the spiritual energy room, advancing to the first level of Qi Refining, and officially becoming a cultivator.

"Now that I've reached the first level of Qi Refining, and my single-person mining spaceship control has reached a level of over 70 points, it's time to graduate early and get to work."

At the Hundred Refinements Sect, in an interstellar station—a spaceport specifically for docking mining ships—Xu Bai, having met all the requirements and completed the solo mining ship assessment, was brought here.

"The Hummingbird-class mining spaceship is 32 meters long, 8.5 meters wide, and 6 meters high. It has 80-degree lightweight nickel alloy armor, a maximum cargo capacity of 3,000 tons, a top speed of 0.1 times the speed of light, an internal life support system, AI-assisted piloting, laser cutting, titanium alloy mining claws, a primary crusher, a primary smelting furnace..."

"The most crucial feature is that it is also equipped with a spiritual energy engine, which can be driven by its own spiritual energy in critical moments."

Although he was already very familiar with the single-person mining spaceships produced by the Hundred Refinements Sect, Xu Bai still couldn't help but listen to it once more.

"The newly produced Hummingbird-class mining spaceship has 1.5 million strands of spiritual energy. It can be used as a loan for 60 years at an interest rate of 6%. No repayment is required for the first 10 years, and the principal and interest will be paid in equal installments every year for the next 50 years. If the loan is overdue for more than 6 months, the borrower will be required to obey all orders of the Hundred Refinements Sect."

"If you think the new spaceship is too expensive, you can rent it for 100,000 spiritual energy per year, or you can buy a used one for 700,000 to 1,000,000, but there is no warranty." A smile appeared on the salesman's face as he introduced the spaceship.

"We need a new one, and to add a twin-barreled machine gun on top. How much spiritual energy would that require?" Xu Bai didn't think the Shattered Star Sea was just a mining area.

"The basic twin-barreled machine gun has 50,000 strands of spiritual energy, the medium machine gun has 80,000, and the heavy machine gun has 120,000." The salesman introducing the spaceship became even more enthusiastic.

"Directly use a heavy machine gun." A strange glint flashed in Xu Bai's eyes.

"Okay, your heavy machine gun will be installed in one day. Just wait for notification on the terminal."

A light screen contract appeared in front of Xu Bai, and Xu Bai readily signed his name.

The next day.

Xu Bai returned to the spaceport and saw his own Hummingbird-class mining spaceship.

Although it was a small spaceship, it was a behemoth in Xu Bai's eyes.

The Hummingbird-class mining spacecraft has a dark gray, matte, streamlined shape. It is 32 meters long, 8.5 meters wide, and 6 meters high. A heavy twin-barreled machine gun is mounted on top, reflecting a cold light under the lights of the spaceport.

"If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be comrades fighting side by side for the next hundred years!" Xu Bai patted the hatch of the mining spaceship.

The spiritual light from his dantian flowed through Xu Bai's hand and covered the surface of the spaceship.

Hummingbird-class mining spaceship - Attribute: Agile [Easy to control, speed +20%]

The attribute panel appeared before Xu Bai's eyes, with "Agility" and its explanation in gray text.

"That's 10,000 strands of spiritual energy!"

"I wonder if we can add more attributes."

Looking at the attributes, Xu Bai was secretly delighted. He was not worried at all about the loan of 1.72 million strands of spiritual energy.