Age of Cosmic Exploration

"In conclusion, the Sage’s power has to follow these four rules. One, the future events or people observed by the Sage must be related to the Sage. Two, the clarity of future observed by the Sage is strongest on Double Grade S Cosmic Adapters and weaker on normal citizens; the more powerful the target, the clearer the vision. For normal citizens, the Sage has to meet face-to-face to activate its power. Three, the Sage can’t control the future seen. It might be completely insignificant or absolutely important. The future seen could happen in the range from the next 24 hours to a month. Four, the future can be changed, but the bigger the change involved, the greater the damage it will have on the Sage. The damage could be large enough to kill the Sage!"

Ren Tao scratched his head and said, "These are the four rules that I’ve managed to categorize so far from what you’ve told us. Of course, there might be hidden powers to the Sage that we haven’t discovered. Eva needed to discover those on her own; furthermore, the ability to change the future is simply too powerful. This is something Eva needs to conduct in-depth research on."

Eva shrugged and waved her hands in mid-air. She offered a girlish smile and said, "I’m not a Thinker, so don’t force me to categorize my powers or design the future, because that is the role of you Thinkers. Pushing them onto me is borderline child abuse, and I will sue! Furthermore, there is only one me but two Thinkers. Well, two and a half, since Captain Uncle can be considered half a Thinker."

A visible vein popped on Ren Tao’s forehead when she said this. Even though there were two and a half Thinkers, Yao Yuan naturally couldn’t put down his other responsibilities to accommodate Eva. Xiao Niao was a military major and the leader of Kurosan Ren-sei. He and his two best friends had perfect cooperation and were the star pilots within the Black Star Troopers. Kurosan Ren-sei had started to make a name for themselves and thus was often tasked with training new pilots. Therefore, Xiao Niao couldn’t escape from Eva’s demands.

In comparison, Ren Tao was more "otaku" in nature. As long as there was no active mission, his preferred activity was to let his Thinker’s power go to rest, sleep in some high places, read some of his old novels, or eat his sister’s home cooked meals. That was the life he loved the most. However, Eva’s appearance meant his lifestyle was in danger...

Actually, this was something they had discussed earlier. Eva’s power was simply too incredible. It was not something science could explain or replicate. Of course, perhaps those godlike civilizations could still do something like this, but it was definitely impossible for Level 4 and 5 space civilizations. Ren Tao and Xiao Niao came to this conclusion that eventually Yao Yuan reached as well. What was the meaning of the ability to see into the future?

It meant that the Hope’s safety was guaranteed to a certain degree, this was the most important one. There were other opportunities one could draw from this power, because being able to see into the future was an incredible cheat.

Of course, to perfectly utilize this power, other than reaching into the future, one also must be able to analyze these visions expertly, especially with regards to forming strategies. For example, if Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, or Yao Yuan had seen the same visions Eva saw, then there was a high possibility they would’ve come up with a plan that could dominate the space aliens without one human death.

When Eva heard this accusation, the smile froze on the young girl’s face and she offered with anxiety and fear, "Because I’m not sure what effect my actions will bring... Don’t underestimate me, I’m a university student, and I’ve read the related books on the topic of timelines, like Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect. A small change could cause a big difference in the future. When I saw the vision of the space merchants attacking, it was only a few days away. I’m not a Thinker, and as I’ve said, I can’t control the visions I see, so I committed to the two things that I felt would change the future the most. One was to pass Ren Tao the baby dragon that would eat through the metallic tentacles, and the other was to make sure Captain Uncle saw the space merchants’ hidden intentions. I couldn’t figure out a better plan. Plus, I couldn’t have just come to you guys, could I?"

Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and Yao Yuan sighed continuously, but they couldn’t fault Eva. After all, she was still young and not a Thinker. She was a new Homo Evolutis at the time, a completely new type of Homo Evolutis at that. The girl also admitted why she hadn’t come clean to Yao Yuan about her power. She was afraid her power wasn’t real and it was her going crazy. The negotiations with the space merchants was incredibly important, so if it turned out that it was just her psychosis talking, then she would be the biggest sinner against humanity. Finally, she had no choice but to act on her own.

After a discussion between the three, Ren Tao was selected to be Eva’s personal Thinker. Whenever Eva saw a suspicious vision of the future, she could contact Ren Tao through the phone at any time and Ren Tao had to pick up the call no matter what. This arrangement annoyed Ren Tao to no end.

No matter what, Eva’s arrival greatly improved Yao Yuan’s anticipation and excitement. The Hope had birthed a level 3 Time Watcher. This was instrumental to the future development of the Hope, especially with regards to his ruins exploration plan.

Of course, this needed some more planning. At the same time, Eva’s Sage power and cooperation with Ren Tao needed a long period of training. This plan would take hundreds of years, so it was not something that could be rushed.

Something that was imminent was the Hope’s scientific development plan. Three new universities for education of general science were built. Their target students were the general public.

The Hope’s general public were experts from all walks of life when they were still on Earth, from business, politics, language, law, and many more. After all, the adult population of the Hope was 120,000 people. That was not a small number, and almost everyone had graduated from a famous school. They were all intellectuals; however, due to the fragmentation of their school of studies, the number of scientists on the Hope was actually lacking. The Academy only had less than 5,000 people, including the interns.

Yao Yuan hoped the Academy’s number could reach one-tenth of the Hope’s total population, which would be 20,000 people. Of course, this was not to say that the larger the number of scientists the better because the true importance was quality not quantity. The scientific contributions of great scientists like Newton, Einstein, and Hawking couldn’t be replaced by numbers. However, the current situation on the Hope was a bit unique. They had just acquired almost all of the scientific theories for the 4th revolution and some for 5th revolution. In this case, numbers became important because numbers decided the efficiency of the Academy understanding these technologies. Therefore, having at least another 10,000 scientists with basic scientific knowledge was the Hope’s best current alternative.

Therefore, Yao Yuan poured in assets and manpower to build three general knowledge universities on the Hope and started recruiting students from all over the Hope. As long as the age was over sixteen and they had a high school diploma, be it one from Earth or the Hope’s high school, then the person was qualified to enroll in these three schools. The tuition was free and there would be monetary prizes for top students.

The three universities would teach subjects like biology, physics, astronomy, and the likes. Of course, the rudimentary classes would be equal to introductory courses in normal universities. From there, students with good marks would be picked out to enter intermediary classes, while the rest continued studying in rudimentary classes. The talents would be sifted through layers. The hope was to train the talents that were unfortunately eclipsed when they were on Earth, while simultaneously raising the scientific knowledge of the general public.

The learning process would last for two to three years and the best students to come out of this system would be enrolled into the Academy. They could be great scientists in the future if they worked hard enough. The average students needed to sit for a final exam, and if they passed, they would be awarded with a graduation certificate.

To increase the public’s desire to further their studies, Yao Yuan decided to provide some incentives. For example, better job treatment for workers with certifications. Workers with related certificates would receive 20 percent better treatment compared to others at the same post!

Money talks, Yao Yuan believed, and very soon the three universities would be overflowing with experts from all walks of life. He was praying for the appearance of an Einstein-level genius among the university students, because if there was...

The Hope would have hit the jackpot!