Chapter 389

Chapter 389: Merit System – Professionalization

The utilization plan for the True Dragon’s body was quickly discussed, showing promising prospects.

This was a large-scale study led by several 2nd Level members, who urgently needed manpower. Fortunately, six months ago, the national academies had begun expanding to cultivate talent.

With a population of twenty million, people of all ages could learn the Qi Cultivation Technique, engage in the Three Major Techniques, and deepen their abilities and knowledge.

Although Tomorrow Nation had a significant gap in high-end combat power, its basic resources were practically limitless.

The researched Spirit Rice yielded astonishing amounts, easily able to sustain millions.

Various basic resources, reinforced by Spiritual Law, could also be produced in essentially unlimited quantities; cultivating basic practitioners was certainly not difficult.

Under this resource distribution, young people had generally started practicing the Three Major Techniques within six months. The elderly faced slower progress due to declining vital energy, but they were still moving forward steadily.

As for those unwilling to put in effort in cultivation or study, Tomorrow Nation did not impose mandatory commands; after all, it was a personal choice. When material wealth greatly increased, some would inevitably be content with the status quo, which indicated that living conditions in Tomorrow Nation had improved remarkably.

After all, if even basic needs for food and warmth could not be met, there would be no talk of relaxing and lying flat.

The entire population cultivated in these six months brought great surprises to Tomorrow Nation. Countless talents emerged; even ordinary beings, when considered in large numbers, produced standout geniuses in cultivation, research, and combat, all far exceeding the average of the Tomorrow Society in the past.

They flocked into the nine main departments, becoming pillars of support, significantly accelerating the development of Tomorrow Nation. After an announcement for replenishing manpower in the research department, crowds gathered, quickly filling the vacancies.

Although these individuals had only just scratched the surface, their ability to stand out under equal conditions proved their efforts and talents. The future development of Tomorrow Nation would obviously not be stingy in nurturing them.

Now, the development space in Tomorrow Nation was enormous. Tomorrow City occupied the original site of the Cloud Heavenly Spirit Sect, an area rich in spirit energy, but there were also the ruins of the Dream Marsh Spirit Sect and many other large areas.

Even with a population of twenty million, in such vast territory, it was merely a drop in the bucket, so there was no need to worry about stagnation in development for the next hundred years.

With a larger population came greater demand, and various research projects flourished.

Among countless research topics, Yun Ye was only focused on one:

『Merit System – Professionalization』

This topic was proposed by Yun Ye and led by Tang Si and Yang Yu.

From the very beginning of creating the upgrade system, Yun Ye had envisioned professionalization, but due to restrictions in scope and quotas, expansion was not feasible.

Now, with the Dao Artifact Resonance reaching 4.3 million, the basic Dao Domain had a diameter of 4,300 kilometers, which was quite sufficient.

Following the national-level Dao Artifact, a large investment in resonance for the Merit Panel had led to explosive increases in quotas, rapidly growing from thousands to tens of thousands.

Tens of thousands, in comparison to the population of twenty million, may seem few, but this is based on having a ‘complete’ Merit Panel.

A complete Merit Panel had an upper level cap of 200, with smooth upgrade difficulty and Skill Points incrementally increasing. Under these conditions, only tens of thousands could qualify.

If the panel were weakened, the quota could increase explosively.

“The rules of the Dao Artifact need to follow regulations; this will enhance effectiveness and reduce required resonance.”

“First, the rules of the Dao Artifact must be as fair as possible.”

“Second, it’s best if the rules have prerequisites and don’t create something out of nothing.”

“Third, even with sufficient acknowledgment, one should ideally bear responsibility.”

“The Chief of Rice chose to hunt demons to meet these three points, but that was many years ago; it’s no longer the best choice and needs to change.”

“Tomorrow Nation now sees scholars and practitioners progressing in tandem, with scholars being more important to some extent. However, scholars cannot obtain the Merit System to accelerate their growth. At the same time, the martial roles cannot freely use the system and need to align with the strategic simulations of the society.”

“This is unreasonable and misaligned; it needs modification!”

Yang Yu spoke, addressing a group of newly joined scholars who knew nothing about her team’s research direction.

“Team Leader, how do we make changes?”

Someone raised their hand to ask.

“This is our Twelfth Group’s research direction. Our current achievement is to clarify various systems, allowing everyone to awaken the corresponding panel. For example, practitioners skilled in Weapon Forging will awaken a panel that only deduces their abilities in that area, while those with Fire Spiritual Roots will awaken a panel that only deduces Fire Spiritual Law.”

“Because of these limitations, the required power significantly decreases. Originally one quota can now be divided into five or even ten quotas. If we further limit the virtue ceiling (level cap), we can increase the number of quotas even more.”

Yang Yu replied.

“…Team Leader, do you mean to let more outstanding individuals obtain a higher ‘virtue ceiling’?”

Someone in the audience’s expression changed.

Although they might not have the strength or energy to push their virtue levels to the max, facing such a cut was hard to accept.

“You can understand it that way. Members who are more capable and willing to act will obtain a higher virtue ceiling, creating a competitive mechanism.”

Yang Yu didn’t shy away from her belief that establishing this mechanism was necessary to maximize resource utilization!

This was the rule determined by the Dao Artifact, so there was no chance for human manipulation. In fact, she planned to suggest canceling the Dao Artifact wielder’s qualification for the merit system, directly using the rules of the Dao Artifact for evaluation. This would grant the merit system and be more fair for Tomorrow Nation!

Even though the quotas held by Dao Artifact wielders were few, it was still a privilege that she believed was unnecessary.

“Isn’t this undermining fairness?”

Someone couldn’t help but say.

“Distributing the merit system to more people is fair. You may question it, but in return, you need to come up with better proposals.”

Yang Yu said lightly. Even though she was young, as a practitioner, her knowledge and physical wisdom were extremely high—she was well beyond the reach of ordinary people. Therefore, she didn’t want to waste time debating with them.

Either provide a better proposal or follow her plan for systematic integration!

Her statement silenced the audience.

Most of the people there had just started their roles and were completely unfamiliar with the three principles of the Dao Artifact, so how could they quickly come up with alternative proposals?

Seeing no one continue to ask questions, Yang Yu waved her hand, and numerous images appeared in the air: “This is the system we have currently integrated. You now need to learn the logic within it before proceeding with research.”

“Since the various systems have been split, we now refer to the new merit system as the occupational system, and virtues are called ‘occupational levels.’ Meanwhile, obtaining ‘virtues’ has moved beyond a singular era.”

“From now on, occupations will be divided into martial and scholarly. Martial roles will continue to increase their occupational levels by hunting demons, while scholarly roles will enhance theirs through learning and research.”

“Learning is a prerequisite, and research is the responsibility of the scholarly roles. Additionally, the scholarly roles will acquire the occupational system through exams and points, so it also considers ‘fairness,’ which is not much different from hunting demons in martial roles.”

For martial roles to level up, they must defeat demons. The merit system gains energy from the slain demons to deduce various skills.

The responsibilities of martial roles are clear; they protect people from threats, yet fighting demons comes with risks.

Comparatively, the scholarly roles are harder to understand, needing to be viewed alongside the panel’s breakdown.

Learning is the prerequisite for upgrading scholarly roles.

In other words, scholars first accumulate knowledge and then directly learn through the occupational system.

The difference between knowledge and skills should be relatively easy to understand; it’s like knowing math formulas versus applying those formulas in practice.

Or imagining in one’s mind versus actual skill proficiency.

Scholarly roles do not have demons as an energy source, but due to the panel’s breakdown, they can only learn ‘knowledge-based skills,’ so relying solely on the Dao Artifact rules is enough. If that doesn’t work, they can create some True Heaven Instruments as computational power to join in.

True Heaven Instruments can replace learning, becoming a prerequisite for ‘upgrading,’ not an enhancement of skills created from nothing.

“At present, we need a new occupational role, so we have completed the organization, which will also be your primary focus for study going forward.”

“Formation Masters!”

Yang Yu highlighted the central words ‘Formation Masters,’ then drew a circle around them.

Surrounding the Formation Masters were professions that had made substantial progress but were not fully completed: Alchemists, Weapon Forgers, and Talisman Makers.

All of them were scholarly roles.

Naturally, since the highest combat power now resided with Yun Ye and Yuexin, martial roles were not in a position to compete; Tomorrow Society currently did not require martial roles.

However, there still were martial roles, with some already defined and others yet to be fully shaped, still in conceptual phases.

The formed roles included three: Spiritual Law Masters, Spirit Law Masters, and Physical Law Masters.

Occupational panels could be obtained in multiples but require better talent and character than others. Members could start with multiple roles or gradually acquire them, not being permanently fixed.

Unformed roles included some advanced concepts of the three basic professions: Talisman Makers, Dual Attributes, and Transforming Spiritual Law practitioners… all of these were ‘titles to be determined,’ ‘contents to be determined,’ completely unconfirmed and still needing collective input (hint hint).

Based on the ideas of Yun Ye and Yang Yu, nearly every occupation would be refined continually until they couldn’t be divided further or no longer needed division.

Through this method, quotas could rise to millions. Although still not equitable for everyone, this greatly expanded utilization compared to the previous scale of ten thousand.

Yun Ye valued this topic far more than others; these occupational plans, once organized, could enable Tomorrow Society to undergo a transformative change, creating an infinite positive cycle!

To gain resonance, one must fully embrace the philosophy and possess a firm will.

Directly obtaining panels clearly boosts recognition, and the more people who use it, the faster the resonance grows, and the quicker the quotas increase, creating an endless positive cycle!

Yun Ye had only one evaluation: the future is promising!

After observing the progress of the Twelfth Group’s research, Yun Ye quietly left Tomorrow City to continue his path of hunting.