GA: Chapter 165: Crisis in the Ocean and the Skies — An Era That Produces Heroes
Even so, they still felt a quiet pang of regret — regret on behalf of Qin Tian and the others.
Their talent was genuinely exceptional. Even among all of Huaxia, they stood in the absolute first tier — and setting aside someone like Bai Xuan, who had been granted authority over nature itself, they believed Qin Tian and the others ranked in the first batch even on a global scale.
But the living things on this planet weren't only humans. And humans weren't the only ones occupying the land.
Seventy-one percent of the Earth was ocean. The sheer number of creatures living within it was staggering — and among that staggering number, the emergence of natural talent exceeding humanity's was hardly impossible.
The mutated giant octopus that had torn through Haicheng's defenses — would you say its innate talent was weaker than Qin Tian's?
It wasn't.
But was it stronger?
Also no.
The three of them — Qin Tian, Huo Yu, Chen Bing — weren't incapable of fighting it one-on-one. But the battle would have dragged on too long, and the collateral damage could easily have worsened the already fragile situation in Haicheng. Ending it as quickly as possible had been the right call.
But precisely because of that, they couldn't be elevated to gods — couldn't become the kind of reassuring presence people could look to as faith.
Because their strength wasn't great enough.
Individual confrontation wasn't sufficient. What people needed was dominance. Overwhelming, crushing superiority.
But that simply wasn't possible.
Humans weren't a race uniquely blessed by the Earth. Or rather — the only one the Earth had truly chosen was Bai Xuan.
Everyone else? They were byproducts of the spiritual revival, nothing more.
So the only one who had been shaped — no, chosen — by the Earth itself was Bai Xuan. He was the only one who could rightfully carry the title of god.
The others were powerhouses. Saviors. Heroes. But the meaning of those words was entirely different from what Bai Xuan represented.
"Before the spiritual revival, the saying was that all life was equal and every living thing had its spirit. And now we even have a civilization leader chosen by the Earth itself — someone who doesn't prioritize by species, only by civilization's growth."
"But perhaps I'm a hypocrite — because I genuinely wish he belonged only to humanity. Only to Huaxia."
Another man's sigh joined the conversation.
"That may be precisely why the Earth granted him authority in the first place. You and I both understand what partiality can do to a civilization if it goes too far."
"Besides — he's already done more than enough for Huaxia."
"Rather than lamenting, we'd be better served thinking about the practical situation."
The administrator seated at the far right end of the table shook his head.
"Huaxia has no shortage of emerging talent right now — but ability users with real combat capability who can step up and be counted are still too few."
"People like Qin Tian's tier — we've only seen one appear. As for the Snow Lion Armor, based on what Comrade Huo Yu reported, at least seventy percent of what Bai Xuan has distributed is within Huaxia's borders — but we've barely identified any of them."
"Which means many of the people who've obtained Imperial Arms or consumed Devil Fruits are hiding among the general population. Some may be waiting to see how things unfold. Some may be prioritizing their families. Either way — this needs serious attention. Every additional combat-capable individual is another layer of security."
"If even a few more first-tier ability users emerged from that group, Huaxia would be considerably more stable."
"They will."
"They absolutely will."
"The beast tides Huaxia has faced were only suppressed because countless soldiers stepped forward one after another, spending their lives to push them back. Most of them didn't have exceptional talent — but the conviction to protect the people? That shone brightly enough."
"That's true..."
On the current state of Huaxia, they had done everything they could.
It fell short of the peace that had existed before the spiritual revival by a significant margin — but there had been no great collapse in order, and structure was being maintained.
Compared to other countries, what Huaxia had managed was already more than enough.
Take the Lighthouse Nation in the West, for instance. It had long since been swallowed by chaos, slaughter, and death. An unknowable number of civilians died every day — at the claws of mutated creatures, or under their own guns.
And yet even there, powerful ability users had voluntarily organized their own factions and were maintaining a fragile semblance of order among the surviving population.
What could you even say about that.
One thing they could be thankful for was that the spiritual revival had left current technology intact. If it had distorted the rules the way it did in novels — warping countless scientific formulas — that would have been a catastrophe for humanity.
Even with the spiritual revival producing ability users in large numbers, technology still played a crucial role in human society. No one wanted to abandon that path if they could help it.
The oceans, though, were no longer passable. The mutated sea creatures had made that much clear. Cross-border exchange between nations was limited to the internet now. Physical trade was simply impossible in the short term.
A navy had attempted to send submarines through the ocean toward another country not long ago. They hadn't gotten far before a massive mutated sea creature crushed them.
The skies had been claimed by mutated birds. Fighter jets weren't entirely useless against them — but barely. The birds killed before the aircraft could make a dent were almost certainly fewer than the aircraft lost.
As a result, ships, carriers, and fighter jets no longer ventured into open ocean or sky except under necessity. Short-range operations were manageable. Crossing the vast distances needed to reach another country? Completely out of the question.
As for combining spiritual energy and technology to forge a new scientific path — that was far harder than it sounded. It would take time. Perhaps an unimaginably long stretch of it.
This was a dark era. There would be endless bloodshed and sacrifice.
But it was also an era full of hope.
Countless heroes would rise from among the people — holding torches aloft, lighting the road ahead.
Every soldier. Every Spiritual Energy Bureau member. Every hero who stood up to protect the people and defend the nation. They were all foundations upon which humanity's future would be built.
Their existence existed for one purpose: to create an incomparably better world for those who came after.
Just as their predecessors had built a new Huaxia for them — they owed the same to those who would follow.
Times were changing. But humanity's civilization would not corrode with time — it would bloom with new radiance.
However dark the road ahead, however much despair lay in it — they would raise their torches high, take up their tools, and cut through the thorns to forge a new path.
"My strength still isn't enough."
After returning from Haicheng, Qin Tian had divided his time between relentless physical training in his practice room and using the Flame Dragon Armor's ability — which allowed him to siphon part of the energy from mutated creatures he killed to strengthen himself — to hunt as aggressively as possible.
In truth, the time spent in Haicheng had pushed his combat capability up considerably.
Especially after killing the mutated giant octopus together with Chen Bing, Huo Yu, and the mutated killer whale — a massive surge of energy had poured into his body in the aftermath.
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