The Benefactor

"You may rise," said Jin, not the least bit uncomfortable with someone bowing to him. He was, after all, an Emperor in Huaxia.

Even when he first became an Emperor, he felt no discomfort toward his position. To him, it was as if he were born to be a Ruler; it was his calling.

"Thank you, honorable Level 3 Citizen," replied Valen, rising along with his granddaughter, whom he forced to bow as well.

"Grandpa…"

The pretty 19-year-old girl had never seen her grandfather like this before.

Even when it came to the Heads of Districts, he barely gave them more than a single glance. Conversely, it was they who should be careful about not disrespecting the President of Astranova Industries, as they were the top of all space exploration companies in Redrock City.

Only a few other space exploration industry powerhouses could compare to Astranova Industries in all of Pacific Blue Star.

There was no shortage of Rank 1 and even Rank 2 Evolvers working for them as security and a show of power.

And yet…

What were they seeing right now!?

That mighty, domineering figure was acting all docile and subservient before someone who looked homeless??

Was this even reality anymore!?

"Mr. Jin, are you here to purchase a house at Lotus Lake as well?" asked Valen, making an effort to present the pretty woman beside him. "This is my granddaughter, Zara, and I accompanied her in selecting a villa today."

"She's single, by the way," he added without shame.

"Grandpa…!" Zara angrily murmured with a blush.

However, with her round peachy eyes taking furtive glances at Jin, she clearly held a certain amount of interest in him. After all, he may be shabby-looking, but his face wasn't bad, and his uniquely white and black hair was much to her liking.

Most importantly, if he was as her grandfather claimed, then she had nothing to lose.

A Level 3 Citizen. Who wouldn't be attracted to such a title?

Jin merely nodded, not the least bit interested in Zara. Even if the gaunt old man proposed marriage to him today, his indifference would remain the same.

"Tell me, Valen Astra, how did you know I was a Level 3 Citizen?" Jin inquired while skimming the information his status allowed him to obtain from Valen's personal information.

The crowd gasped in unison, the homeless-looking youth's words all but confirming the doubts in their hearts.

An actual Level 3 Citizen!

And they insulted him…

They were so done for.

Unbothered by the dread spreading through the crowd, Valen said, "With there being no more than a couple thousand Level 3 Citizens in all of Pacific Blue Star, whenever a new one appears, those in a high position like myself will keep an eye on the new additions. This way, we don't accidentally make a mistake when coming across one such as yourself."

"Of course, with tens of billions of citizens on this Life Planet, your name wasn't the sole giveaway. Rather… it was your restricted information."

"Oh?" Jin arched a brow, realizing that what Valen said made perfect sense. This could be considered one of the unmentioned and overlooked negatives to having his information restricted, as it made him stand out.

Then again, not any normal person would bother inspecting the personal information of someone, so none would care to figure out that his information was locked.

But with the recent change in the Level 3 Citizens list of Pacific Blue Star, Valen naturally sensed something off as soon as Jin announced his name. From that, he learned that, even with his Level 2 Citizen status, he couldn't discern anything other than the name of the young man before him.

By then, Jin's Level 3 Citizen identity had already been solidified as truth for the Astranova President.

'If it's only this, then good,' thought Jin, a bit relieved. 'Even though I accepted the Goddess's offer to disguise my identity on the Evolutionary Path Ranks Tablet, I didn't know if it worked until now.'

If Valen knew of his identity as not just a Level 3 Citizen but also as a Rank 3 Evolutionary Path Developer, he might just prostrate as Jin's descendant right then and there.

In comparison to a Rank 3 Evolver, a Rank 3 Evolutionary Path Developer was thousands to tens of thousands of times rarer. Additionally, they were just as valuable in the eyes of the Goddess, placing them many times above even Level 3 Citizens.

However, Jin chose to keep everything related to his identity as the Martial Dao Path creator hidden.

Why?

Because although countless would curry favor with him if he attached the credit of uploading the Martial Dao Evolutionary Path to his name, the cons far outweighed the pros.

Let alone what other humans might do to him out of envy or greed, the biggest threat was from foreign alien races. Not those from outside the Deep Sea Universe, but instead those who experienced a huge resurgence inside the Universe itself.

In fact, in the hundreds of millions of years since the shattering of the illusion, the Ten Thousand Myriad Races of the Deep Sea Universe, including humans, had yet to encounter anything else inside the Primordial Sea.

However, even if they had the opportunity to, not a single person would be willing to do it.

On the cosmic scale, they were at the very bottom. One wrong misstep and their whole universe could be swallowed up in a single gulp by an entity beyond their comprehension.

What would be the point of alerting something like that to one's location without first making proper preparations?

It was under this pretense of 'bunkering down and enhancing ourselves' that the Cosmic Human Alliance temporarily refrained from continuing their endless expansion.

But as time passed, with hundreds of millions of years flying by in a flash, the Ten Thousand Myriad Races who once kneeled under humanity's heel rose up. Regaining all lost power, these ancient and powerful races reignited an everlasting war between each other and humanity.

This war not only weakened humanity, it also further stalled humanity's goal of cosmic expansion into the Primordial Sea. As a result, the Ten Thousand Myriad Races of the Deep Sea Universe were put in a stalemate.

One where assassination and other vile methods meant to suppress the other races were employed.

And Evolution Path Developers were put at the top of assassination lists, as although geniuses were dangerous, they couldn't compare to the development of Evolution Paths that could potentially create high-rank Evolvers en masse for generations to come.

All in all, these were the reasons why Jin had to hide his identity as an Evolutionary Path Developer. He even used an alias, one that he named—

"The Benefactor?"