I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

Even though we're mostly young people now, and there's no problem of unequal distribution, contradictions will only grow in the future.

"We can't significantly increase the population anymore."

"Expanding the population can still enhance our industrial strength... but the resources of a single Green Mountain will seem strained under the impact of a large population."

"The main contradiction at this stage is to find ways to raise the average level of the people to Level Three."

"Our children are all excellent... It's the quality of the population that counts, not the quantity."

This was a small epiphany Lu Yuan had.

The population had ballooned from 50,000 to 400,000 in about 50 years.

At this rate of expansion, in another 50 years, the population would become 3.2 million, and there would be even more talent, and military strength would be stronger.

Still, Lu Yuan resolved not to increase the population too much.

Actually, this was not cost-effective; more newborns would mean more Divine Skill Users, and the number of geniuses would also be greater.

And for everyone to reach Level Three, a massive amount of resources would be needed. After all, most people had no talent for cultivation and would get nowhere without resources.

Just like Lu Yuan himself, he was also built up from resources...

However, Lu Yuan was a soft-hearted person, and he still wanted everyone to live a little longer...

As for the development of civilization, well, less internal friction might not be so bad.

Naturally, Conch agreed with Lu Yuan's thought. She was also tender-hearted, and with her long lifespan, watching her old friends go through the cycle of life and death was no pleasure.

"Even Old Wolf is bound to get old..."

Only the orange Old Cat hesitated slightly. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

Its round eyes glanced at the two of them, "If you want to go for an elite route, that's not impossible. Just stack Divine Attributes to 12 points or more, equivalent to everyone being Engravers. At that time, it'd be awesome, as if everyone's a high-value talent."

But... how difficult could that be?

Every increase of one point in Godhood increases value by threefold, but the consumption of resources rises exponentially!

The current average is just 9 points; it still needs 27 times the resources!

12 points of Godhood is indeed a transformative leap, but before that, even a whole population of 11 points in Divine Attribute wouldn't yield much benefit.

Old Cat did some calculations, "Expanding the population has its benefits. With a billion people, you can casually pick out talents even if the standards are not too high, like one in a thousand. Easily, you could cultivate a million 12-point Godhood Engravers."

"Now you have 400,000 people. Even if you cultivate them all you can, the investment is huge, and you get just 400,000 Engravers."

"The former is simple and efficient, the latter... is only suitable for those civilizations with extremely low fertility, a thankless task. Why bother getting involved?"

Lu Yuan knew this too, and he sighed, "But don't you think the current atmosphere is nice? There are not too many contradictions, and everyone is quite idealistic, even willing to volunteer even if it's tiring."

"With more people... scarcity of resources will inevitably lead to severe competition."

"Once overzealous for profit, all sense of ideals and morality would be lost."

Old Cat pondered again and coldly said, "Comrade-in-arms, you're still better off as your blacksmith. If humans don't compete intensely, wouldn't they become like the Green Grass People?"

Conch's face immediately flushed red, "What's wrong with Green Grass People?"

"Heh, even if you are the Holy King, I'll speak the truth. The Green Grass People are really somewhat weak. It's unimaginable how such good conditions led to their extinction!" Old Cat ungraciously mocked.

"You you you... Cat Star People were also very weak!" Conch stuttered, "Didn't you also perish? And you still have the nerve to criticize us?"

"Who says we perished?" Old Cat raised its proud head, "Do you have evidence? Maybe the Cat Star People have ascended, you know?"

"The Green Grass People really did perish, the evidence is conclusive... Sigh, poor king, let me give you a stroke, don't be sad."

"If this current Human Civilization were changed to Green Grass Civilization, I think your kind hearted mate would agree too."

Conch couldn't out-talk this lowly maid and began using "telepathy" to seek Old Lu's help.

Lu Yuan teased, "I was thinking, you used to be quite good at trash-talking, how come you've suddenly turned into a lady? Show your true colors."

"De de despicable! Not only are you not helping, but you're also laughing! If you help me hit it, I'll agree to do any one thing for you... but only this one chance!"

Lu Yuan thought to himself, "If indulging in depravity is not allowed, what use is that one thing?"

He quickly shook his head, "That's a comrade-in-arms, how could I possibly hit it?"

He felt the law of shifting smiles triggered, and his whole being joyfully twisted and turned.

Cough cough, to tell the truth, Old Cat has always been rational, completely different from Lu Yuan and the Conch.

But it's precisely because of its rationality and its unfeeling nature that Human 18th Civilization has operated until now...

After all, a civilization indeed needs both good cops and bad cops.

Otherwise, Lu Yuan and the Conch would really just be an amateur troupe.

It took a long while before Old Cat finally let out a sigh.

Perhaps it was recalling the campus scenes of being petted by young girls, remembering the feeling of "being alive."

When the girls grew old, though new ones were born, the average lifespan of humans today did lessen somewhat.

Old Cat sighed deeply, "Forget it, you have the final say."

"This batch of people is indeed excellent, allocating more resources to nurture them is good."

"But a civilization can't be without newborns, you should plan a final population size."

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment, "Too many people, and it will be hard for the ship to turn around. Keeping the population under one million, about the size of a county city, with our type of management, should be no problem.

"If in the future, a person lives to five hundred, and two thousand children are born each year, we could maintain a sustainable population balance."

An average lifespan of five hundred years would require at least Level Three for the entire population, and even a large part at Level Four.

"If we could get more resources, we could allow for more children to be born."

"Possibly."

Old Cat spread out its paws and hopped away.

Whether to value quantity or quality, that's like the old man who lost his horse, who knows if it's a blessing in disguise... who knows?

...

...

Next, Lu Yuan had one last thing to do: transport the Rize Civilization spaceship with the Ghost head inside and pack it to take with him.

This was a promise he made during the technological trade.

This task wasn't particularly difficult; using the Tree of Life, he could simply instantaneously transport the spaceship out.

At this moment, the Tree of Life had grown to 160 meters high, weighing a colossal eight thousand tons!

Once everything was ready, Sky City took the entire mountain for a test flight, which coincidentally landed near the First Branch of the Rize Civilization.

Flying with a big mountain came with some small issues, such as some Pandora Crystal Stones losing control, energy supply not keeping up in certain areas, and so on.

Lu Yuan didn't blame the staff.

Everyone makes mistakes.

These details could only be slowly compensated for with time and experience.

At the latest high-level meeting, Lu Yuan emphasized, "We'll maintain our position here for the last few months, but then we must move forward. Seeking relics, collecting minerals, staying in one place too long is not good, we have to get moving."

"Our current direction of advance is still towards the core of the Human Mother Civilization, no issues with that, right?"

"No problem!" Everyone rubbed their hands together in eagerness, their morale was extremely high.

To be honest, in these twenty years spent transporting the mountain, human physical technology had indeed improved a lot, but progress in supernatural aspects was relatively ordinary, with the animals and plants on the mountain being the wealth they had had from before.

Other than unearthing a "Black Jade Mine," very little other trash was found.

This was also a universal law of the Pangu Continent; every civilization had to "get moving." Staying confined, lack of resources, only led to poverty and weakness.