From star gatherer to leader of humanity

Shattered Star City, Immortal Path Street.

The entire Immortal Path Street is divided into three parts. The first part is the resource area, the second part is the cultivation method and spell area, and the third part is the largest area of ​​Immortal Path Street, the Hundred Arts Area, which is also the most lively place in the entire Shattered Star City.

Xu Bai looked at the overcrowded Hundred Arts Hall. These several halls alone could accommodate over 30,000 people.

As soon as I stepped into the Arts and Crafts Zone, my personal terminal received hundreds of "GG" messages from various Arts and Crafts pavilions.

"It turns out everyone is working so hard; I've been slacking off before."

Looking at the members of the Star-Picking Team taking classes in various venues, Xu Bai couldn't help but feel emotional, which reminded him of the most crazy time when educational institutions in the previous city were at their peak.

"Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, VIP Small Group, Individual Tutoring"

Xu Bai looked at the four most popular arts: alchemy, artifact crafting, talisman formation, and so on. The most basic beginner class cost 50,000 strands of spiritual energy per year, the intermediate class cost 200,000, the advanced class cost 500,000, the VIP small class cost 1 million, and the price for individual tutoring had reached 3 million strands of spiritual energy.

"Which should I learn first: alchemy, weapon crafting, talisman array?"

With the aid of technology, almost every human cultivator now possesses one or two skills in the art of immortal cultivation. However, most remain at the apprentice level, with only a few having the talent to break through and become formal masters of various arts. This stage is considered a breakthrough from the bottom.

The higher the rank, the higher the social status.

"Weapon forging is an essential skill. Guarding the Shattered Star Sea, you'll find all sorts of materials; for forging..."

It's also convenient to get up.

"The rest, learn one more spell."

With that in mind, Xu Bai no longer hesitated and went to the largest art gallery to enroll in a beginner's class on weapon crafting and talisman making.

The beginner class consists of ten lessons, all of which are practical and clarification sessions. You need to complete the materials package provided by Baiyi Hall and practice the skills. If you still have questions after completing these ten lessons, then you can attend them again.

Xu Bai received two data packages: one for weapon crafting and the other for talismans. Each package contained hundreds of videos, and the talisman data package also included several practice materials.

As for refining weapons, since a furnace is required, it can only be purchased from a magic item shop, and a good furnace costs millions of strands of spiritual energy.

When Xu Bai passed by the Magic Treasure Hall, he casually bought a basic Magic Treasure Furnace with a million threads.

You can also use a technological furnace to forge weapons, but technological furnaces are too large to fit in a storage bag.

At the spaceport, Xu Bai piloted the magical mining spaceship toward the Shattered Star Sea.

Upon entering the Shattered Star Sea, the spaceship transformed into a streak of light and flew into the depths.

Of the 3 tons of spirit ore that were initially discovered, only 1 tons were brought back; the rest was enough for Xu Bai to mine for two months.

The spaceship stopped in front of a broken celestial body containing moon stalactites, and the magical mining ship started the mining program, while Xu Bai cultivated the "Spiritual Qi Technique".

After a day, Xu Bai, whose mental strength could no longer sustain him, stopped cultivating and began to learn weapon crafting and talisman making.

Xu Bai looked at the video presentation in the weapon crafting data package, which introduced the development of weapon crafting.

In ancient times, the only way to forge magical artifacts was to condense the spiritual fire of heaven and earth and draw it into oneself. At that time, only Nascent Soul stage experts could tame the spiritual fire of heaven and earth and forge magical artifacts.

With the development of immortal civilization and the rise of array formations, people gradually began to use underground fire veins and magic weapon furnaces to smelt spiritual ores, allowing ordinary Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators to refine magic weapons. However, due to the insufficient spiritual energy of the underground fire veins, they could only refine treasure artifacts at most.

The Spirit Race invaded the human race, bringing with them a wealth of technology. This led to the fusion of the magic weapon forging furnace with technology, granting cultivators in the Qi Refining stage the ability to forge magic weapons.

Xu Bai watched the preview video of the weapon crafting data package with great interest, and kept watching it for five hours before stopping.

"Indeed, there are hundreds of unorthodox paths, each as vast as the ocean, and there is no end to learning them."

Looking at the mining progress on the data in the control room, Xu Bai turned off the video and controlled the magical mining spaceship to head to the next mining site.

Just as the spaceship was traversing the gaps between the shattered celestial bodies, a small, black probe ship, distinctly different from the style of the Terran spaceship, flashed by in the distance.

If Xu Bai hadn't expanded his mental power tenfold, he wouldn't have been able to detect that fleeting small black probe spaceship.

Xu Bai remained calm, glanced at the time, and decided to mine for two days before returning to report.

"That spaceship's style is clearly alien; they must have a purpose in coming here to explore."

"It definitely needs to be reported, but the timing and everything else have to be right. It's impossible to put myself in danger." Xu Bai's gaze was deep.

At these coordinates and depth, it would take an experienced angler at least two and a half days to get here.

The round trip alone would take five days, and he hasn't even finished the second day yet.

Four days later, at the Shattered Star City Security Department.

"For a newcomer like you, this coordinate depth is quite daring."

"We had already received information that the probe ship you saw was sent by the Ghost Face Clan, and we have already destroyed three of them in the past month."

"Things have been a bit turbulent lately, and there are likely to be major changes. It's best to stay in the city and rest during this period."

Xu Bai walked out of the security department, looked at the Shattered Star Sea in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh. Couldn't he just let him mine and cultivate in peace?

At the spaceport, before Xu Bai even reached his private spaceship's berth, his personal terminal received an important message from the headquarters of Shattered Star Twenty-Nine Cities.

"A ban on mining outside the city?"

"Alright, then I'll stay home and cultivate diligently, learning weapon crafting and talisman-making techniques."

In the nearly 100-square-meter living room, Xu Bai sat on the sofa, watching a video of a weapon-refining data package projected on the screen.

Xu Bai has watched over a hundred videos. All that's left is to successfully draw the runes with his mental energy so he can open the furnace and forge the most basic magical artifacts.

After reviewing the videos about runes again, Xu Bai began to concentrate his spiritual power and use spiritual energy as a guide to inscribe runes in the void.

Because of his frequent mental amplification cultivation of the "Spiritual Qi Technique" inside the spaceship, Xu Bai's mental strength is far stronger than that of a typical Qi Refining stage cultivator.

A basic psychic rune was slowly drawn in the void.

When the psychic rune was halfway drawn, his mental energy suddenly fluctuated slightly, and the half-drawn psychic rune instantly dissipated.

"Continue~"

Eight hours later, Xu Bai's eyes were bloodshot, his gaze wide with anger, and he looked completely broken.

Xu Bai had considered that it would be difficult to inscribe runes using mental energy, but he did not expect it to be this difficult. Even after exhausting his mental energy, he could not draw a complete rune.

"This isn't an easy job; you'll have to practice slowly."

Three days later, Xu Bai, who was using his mental power to inscribe runes, suddenly received a message from Qiao Meng on his personal terminal. He was distracted for a moment, and the rune he had just inscribed disappeared again.

Inside a restaurant on the food street.

A large private room for 30 people was filled with lone wolves, all talking at once about the change in the ban on going out to mine.

Xu Bai sat in a corner, listening quietly, occasionally picking up a piece of food with his chopsticks.

"My old friends from other teams sent me messages saying that things have been quite unsettled in each team recently. The Ghost Face Clan is eager to make a move and has sent out countless probe ships, wanting to swallow up this sea of ​​broken stars."