Besides that, while technology in this world is advancing rapidly, the path of cultivation has also quietly risen.
After more than two hundred years of development, two major cultivation systems have now formed within the Federation: the first is the Psychic Adept system; the second is Body Arts.
Among them, the talent requirements for Psychic Adepts are extremely high, so they are very rare—there might not even be one Psychic Adept among ten thousand people.
In contrast, cultivating Body Arts is much easier; almost every Federation citizen has practiced Body Arts to some extent.
Daniel Zhang in front of him had also dabbled in basic mental secret arts, so his mental power was much stronger than that of an ordinary person, but he still hadn’t reached the level of a true Psychic Adept.
The Federation has specialized instruments for testing mental power; as long as your mental power reaches '1' and you learn hypnosis, you can earn the title of Psychic Adept.
Once you become a Psychic Adept, the Federation will reward you with a house, a car, and 100,000 Federation Credits.
In other words, becoming a Psychic Adept means you can enjoy a pretty good life.
Moreover, if you’re willing to join the military, the benefits are even better—you can earn at least 10,000 credits per month.
So how are the ranks of Psychic Adepts divided?
Those with a mental power value of 1 to 10 are called one-star Psychic Adepts. One-star Psychic Adepts generally only possess the skill of hypnosis.
If your mental power value is between 11 and 100, you’re a two-star Psychic Adept. Once you reach two stars, you basically step into the ranks of the elite. If you join the military, you’ll at least get the rank of second lieutenant. Two-star Psychic Adepts can learn telekinetic object control, and their usual weapons are flying needles and throwing knives.
Those with a mental power value of 101 to 500 are called three-star Psychic Adepts.
A mental power value of 501 to 1000 makes you a four-star Psychic Adept.
If your mental power value is between 1001 and 3000, you’re a five-star Psychic Adept.
A value between 3001 and 5000 puts you at six-star Psychic Adept.
If you reach a mental power value of 5001 to 10000, you’re a seven-star Psychic Adept.
Right now, the strongest Psychic Adept in the Federation is only at seven stars, but rumor has it that in other interstellar nations, there are nine-star Psychic Adepts.
As for the ranks in Body Arts, they’re split into four major realms: Warrior, War General, War King, and War God, with each realm further divided into nine levels.
But in this world, no matter how strong a cultivator gets, they still can’t surpass technology.
For example, single-soldier weapons like personal battle mechs are truly monstrous pieces of technology.
To give you an idea, a two-star Psychic Adept wearing a basic personal mech can go toe-to-toe with an ordinary three-star Psychic Adept.
But personal mechs are expensive—regular citizens can’t afford them, since even the most basic model costs over a million credits.
The most advanced personal mechs can sell for upwards of ten billion.
Anyway, back to the point—Daniel Zhang, despite lacking the talent to become a Psychic Adept, has reached level two Warrior in Body Arts. With his strength, he can barely operate a basic personal mech, so his biggest dream is to own one.
Unfortunately, his family is merely middle-class, so buying a personal mech is still a stretch.
After asking Daniel a few more questions, Ian started pondering his own identity problem.
Nowadays, every city is covered by the SkyGrid system. If you enter without an Identity Card, within three minutes special police will show up and invite you for a ‘chat’ at the station.
If you just forgot your card, it’s not a big deal—you’ll pay a fine at most. But if you’re a ‘black account,’ sorry, you’ll be shipped off to become a proud interstellar miner. That means getting sent to a deserted planet to dig ore.
Of course, the SkyGrid isn’t foolproof. If you’re carrying a Signal-Masker, it can’t detect you.
But Signal-Maskers are pricey—the cheapest costs over a hundred thousand credits, and if you run into an upgraded SkyGrid, you might still get caught. Top-tier Signal-Maskers go for more than a million, and rumor has it that if you wear one, no SkyGrid anywhere can find you.
The main thing is, you can’t buy Signal-Maskers in regular stores—they’re only sold on the black market.
Ian now faced two choices: first, have Daniel’s mother get him an Identity Card, but his background would be checked. He’d just appeared in this world, with no records anywhere, so passing the review would be tough—this option was risky.
Second, have Daniel buy him a Signal-Masker. Unfortunately, all of Daniel’s assets only amounted to a little over thirty thousand credits.
“What’s gold worth these days?” Ian asked Daniel.
Daniel replied, “A thousand credits per jin.”
“That cheap?” Ian was genuinely surprised.
Daniel explained, “With advances in human technology, mining and exploration have improved a lot, and some planets have huge reserves of gold. So naturally, the price keeps dropping!”
It’s true what they say—rarity makes things precious.
Ian had been thinking of selling some gold through Daniel, but since it was so cheap, he dropped the idea.
“What about jade?” Ian asked again.
Daniel said, “Jade is much more valuable. Psychic Adepts can absorb energy from jade, so ordinary jade sells for 100 to 500 credits per gram, and high-grade jade can go for over 10,000 credits per gram!”
Seeing jade was valuable, Ian took out several jade ornaments and handed them to Daniel, asking him to sell them and buy two Signal-Maskers.
Naturally, Daniel wouldn’t dare disobey his orders.
With Ian’s help, Daniel quickly changed the tire and drove straight to Plumridge City.
Ian, meanwhile, retreated to the wilderness and found a secluded spot to wait.
It was about 2 p.m. Daniel was efficient—three hours later, he returned, bringing two Signal-Maskers and handing over 170,000 credits in cash.
He sold one of Ian’s jade ornaments for 500,000 credits, bought two Signal-Maskers for 330,000, and had 170,000 left over.
Ian bought two Signal-Maskers because he’d brought Lynn Ning into the Divine Temple and left the previous world. Since he hadn’t settled down yet, he could only let Lynn stay inside a while longer.
Riding in Daniel’s car, they soon entered Plumridge City. Ian gazed curiously at the flying vehicles overhead.
But he quickly lost interest.
“Master, we’re here—this is the apartment I’m renting!”
Daniel drove the car straight into a single-unit apartment building.
Through their chat, Ian learned that under Federation rule, there are eleven inhabited planets. After years of migration, the home planet’s population has dropped below two billion, so housing is very cheap—a single-unit apartment like this rents for just 200 credits a month.