Chapter 417: Cultivating the Mind through Civilization

The Divine Vessel Civilization was approximately 13,000 light years away from the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. This was an extremely long and perilous journey, with every step forward shrouded in the unknown and challenges, potentially encountering hidden supercivilizations.

The Divine Vessel Civilization traveled by leaping forward through the creases of space and time. Due to the dense distribution of stars, the jumping distances were short, and their average speed was usually only 10% of the speed of light.

It was estimated that the Divine Vessel Civilization could reach the vicinity of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy within 200,000 years.

For the Divine Vessel Civilization, this journey was both a challenge and an exploration of their own boundaries.

In this uncharted territory, lurking civilizations might have already reached the rank of 2.9, hidden hunters in the dark, ready to deliver a lethal strike to other civilizations at any moment.

Any of these civilizations could be far more formidable than the Singer or the Edge World, possibly representing the highest level of civilization under the Dark Forest state.

As for civilizations of level 3.0 and above, they had even transcended the material domain and neither needed to hide here nor wished to; they had completely freed themselves from the shackles of the Dark Forest.

They had completely surpassed the limits of human imagination, and all rules and restrictions seemed meaningless, representing a true cosmic level civilization.

They could manipulate matter and energy throughout the universe at will, creating anything conceivable.

They could even manufacture a small-scale early universe with eleven-dimensional space and travel and convert through high-dimensional space.

They were in a state of wanting nothing, perhaps interested in art, or peering at all low-level civilizations, with few things left to pique their interest.

Sometimes they behaved capriciously, but their "whims" were the rules of the universe, just like the "Cosmic Farmer."

If the entire universe were compared to a "proton," then civilizations of level 3.0 and above were like the universe's "Magic Ring," capable of manipulating the entire universe and possessing some understanding of "beyond the universe."

They were truly transcendent beings outside the Dark Forest Theory because they themselves represented the "will of the universe."

Their only "enemy" might be the increase of entropy in the universe.

For them, the Dark Forest Theory had lost its meaning, for unless the universe were destroyed, they were indestructible as long as they wished it so.

In fact, once civilizations reached level 2.0 and above, they were no longer defined by the energy utilization index, but by the utilization levels of micro high-dimensional uses and the depth of understanding of the universal rules.

As for civilizations of level 3.0 and above, they were nearly synonymous with the universal rules themselves, almost omnipotent except against entropy increase, becoming the immortal legends amidst the cosmos.

*

Era of the Divine Vessel 380,000 years.

In this boundless core of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Divine Vessel Civilization sailed like a small boat, voyaging for a full eighty thousand years.

Even the civilization, after encountering several other civilizations, seemed to have broken the chains of fate that tightly bound it, advancing to a civilization of level 2.8.

But that year, the Divine Vessel Civilization faced the most dangerous crisis in hundreds of thousands of years; the civilization was on the brink of annihilation, its beacon light flickering in the wind, nearly extinguished.

The universe was like a brilliant river, flowing with endless secrets and miracles— and the Fungus Civilization was such a miracle.

The Fungus Civilization, a unique life form originating from the ancient times, vastly different from humanity and all known intelligent species, consisted of members composed of minute yet astonishingly powerful "bacteria."

These "bacteria" could not only survive independently but also connected through a mycelial network, merging into a vast collective. Members of the Fungus Civilization shared information and resources, forming a form of collective consciousness, controlling a "giant" body woven from countless mycelium.

This was somewhat like mushrooms, only these were moving, feeding, thinking community "mushrooms."

Their "giant" bodies, approximately the size of human bodies, could "simulate" sensory organs, action organs, and internal functional systems, embodying complex forms with strong survival abilities and creativity.

The Fungus Civilization, this group of extraordinarily intelligent microbes, leveraging its unique life forms, built warships that roamed the star seas, invincibly cutting through.

They were a perfect blend of the micro and the macro, allowing their technological development to accelerate like a runaway wild horse, astonishing the entire universe.

If the capabilities of the Fungus Civilization were only as limited as such, they would not be able to become a highly ranked civilization, and the Divine Vessel Civilization might still regard them with arrogance.

When the Divine Vessel Civilization encountered a faction of the Fungus Civilization, although they still treated them with a hundred percent caution on the surface, their hearts did not regard this seemingly insignificant opponent at the same level.

They even wondered how the Fungus Civilization, with its seemingly ordinary technological power, could have stepped onto the stage of the Galaxy Core, a place crowded with stronger entities? Humanity had estimated its rank to be no more than 2.3.

And the Divine Vessel had paid the most painful price for its arrogance.

Initially, the Divine Vessel Civilization simply dispatched a united subordinate civilization to easily eliminate them, but they soon realized the seriousness of the problem.

This subordinate civilization then experienced many bizarre phenomena, starting with individuals within the civilization reporting visions that should not exist, followed by a gradual impact on their minds, with the situation growing increasingly serious.

Facing such changes, the subordinate civilization ruled out one potential cause after another and finally realized that the situation was far from simple. Perhaps, in some corner of this space, there lurked a profound and mysterious existence. Hence, they quickly informed the Shenzhou United Center.

However, more shocking events were to follow. All civilizations that had had contact with this subordinate civilization invariably experienced similar bizarre events. For a time, fear and unrest spread like a plague within the Divine Vessel Civilization.

Facing this unprecedented crisis, the Divine Vessel Civilization rapidly initiated a comprehensive inspection and analysis procedure.

After numerous efforts by the Divine Vessel Civilization, they finally arrived at a chilling conclusion: The Divine Vessel had encountered an unknown high-dimensional invasion, and it was even pinpointed to be the doing of the Fungus Civilization.

The Fungus Civilization was not a mere level 2.3 problem; it was likely a level 2.9 civilization.

Their individuals had partly entered the High-dimensional World where, like ghosts, they implemented "spore parasite" tactics to contaminate high-dimensional consciousness entities.

Once they interacted with an individual of the Divine Vessel Civilization, they immediately recorded the "seed" information of the other party and silently infiltrated the target's consciousness entity to steal a vast amount of consciousness data and eventually infect the entire high-dimensional consciousness network.

In this moment, the terrifying invasion capabilities of the Fungus Civilization burst forth like a demon in the dark night, suddenly tearing off its disguise to reveal its ferocious true face.

Their tendrils had nearly infiltrated deep into the consciousness of every individual of the Divine Vessel Civilization, not only controlling the direction of thoughts but also acting like an invisible sentinel, monitoring every move of the civilization's individuals.

This scene, for Human Civilization, strangely felt familiar.

Just as when the Trisolarans had first invaded, using sophons to monitor everything of humanity, where every human activity was exposed to the Trisolarans.

Compared to the malevolent strategies of the Trisolarans, the Fungus Civilization was obviously very cunning, perhaps that is how they had destroyed many higher civilizations.

Moreover, the high-dimensional invasion of the Fungus Civilization was not so simple—the bigger crisis was that this type of high-dimensional infection seemed to have stamped every individual of the Divine Vessel Civilization with a "Thoughtcontrol."

It made all individuals within the Divine Vessel Civilization lose any courage to resist the Fungus Civilization, even starting to question the purpose of their own civilization's struggles.

This universe is a Dark Forest, and even the strongest civilizations will vanish along with the universe; then, what is the point of civilization's struggles?

Why not enjoy the present, during the final moments of a doomed universe, revel in the last years of civilization?

This type of ideological belief is actually the most fatal; it does not resemble the proposition "water is poison", a proposition that obviously defies reality and could possibly be overcome through long-term training and struggle.

It precisely hit the soft underbelly of human cognition, making it nearly impossible to resist, only to gradually lose the will to fight day after day, causing the Divine Vessel Civilization to slip step by step into the abyss, becoming an infantile civilization.

However, for Lin Sen, all this seemed like a cyclical destiny.

The end of humanity in the original timeline and the expected decadence of civilization by the Fungus Civilization were strikingly similar.

If this universe is conscious, then perhaps this universe would prevent any civilization from becoming level 3.0 or above.

Perhaps, this is not simply prevention but rather a deeper form of selection. The Fungus Civilization might just be a "mental training" arena set by the universe, testing each civilization's choices when faced with an existential crisis.

In response to this unprecedented crisis, the Divine Vessel Civilization's top center once again initiated the Wallfacing plan.

Lin Sen became a Wallfacer once more, and to divide Lin Sen's pressure, Logic, Rey Diaz, and Hines were also chosen as Wallfacers to jointly formulate a strategy against the Fungus Civilization.