A few years passed by.
John made sure to review the Akashic Records to know what was going on around him. Unsurprisingly a civil war was hitting hard. Mass starvation, religious fanatics popping up, new political parties talking about revenge against aliens they only had faint rumors about or just killing each other because they didn't like the other side.
Tiza and the oracle have been completely forgotten. Tiza herself has actually been ridiculed and vilified for her actions.
Most importantly, most people find it hard to become mere apprentice cultivators. Most have just given up on cultivating entirely.
All is well in the universe.
Well, except for one thing.
{The Akashic Records can only identify something that has been recorded and seen by the eyes of the living. There are approximately 30,000 black holes in your galaxy. Over 30 have been spotted in your region of space over the past 234,257,658 years near you. Exact estimation of arrival is unknown.}
"Sigh."
John was in a serious predicament.
He had an actual black hole coming his way and those four idiots refused to tell him how to survive.
He couldn't even really use real magic.
Yet the more he thought things over the more excited he became.
John was always good under pressure. He always said it was the only way to live. Without the possibility of catastrophic failure on the line he was basically a lazy loser.
More money means fallback plans, fallback plans means that it's time to relax. That's been his mentality for years.
So now that he had imminent death at his doorstep he was ready for just about anything, and he knew where to begin.
[Your understanding in the laws of space have increased.]
His plan was to be able to just move himself and his girls by increasing his understanding of the laws of space. He had to keep meditating and watching how the gravity on his surface began to slowly morph the surface.
He wasn't sure if anything was going to evolve on his surface but he didn't have room to compromise.
If he had more spiritual energy things would be a little different, sadly he had to work with what he was given. Surviving a literal blackhole was his only way forward, not some mystery reward from the system.
He was now capable of moving the entire planet. The problem was that it was mere inches. Even after using all his power. No, he had to understand the laws of space to the highest degree possible so he could cut the cost as much as possible.
….
A few months slowly passed by when John realized something.
"I haven't paid any attention to the rewards I've received."
John smacked his forehead in mild annoyance.
'How could I forget about that?'
Most of his rewards weren't all that interesting. They certainly were not useful either.
Of course that's not true for his moons.
They could surely benefit from it.
{CONGRATULATIONS! YOU CAN NOW CREATE DUNGEONS!}
{CONGRATULATIONS! YOU CAN NOW CREATE HERO SUMMONING CIRCLES!}
{CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE RECEIVED BLUE SPIRIT GRASS!}
{CONGRATULATIONS! YOU…
The list goes on for a little while.
The blue grass can only be transferred to a single moon and it requires a 1-star surface.
'Thats a no.' John just scoffed.
Why would he transfer so much qi to a single moon on a permanent basis? He's not even sure if he can protect it from invaders, and without a constant flow of qi the grass will just wither away.
He liked the two options but again, he wasn't interested in wasting energy. He needed a way to move away from the black hole, not fight it.
After scrolling for a little bit he found something that peaked his interest a little.
{CONGRATULATIONS! YOU CAN CREATE A SPIRIT VEIN}
John didn't know what a spirit vein was so he had to ask the system for help.
{A spirit vein is a random location where the qi flowing through a planet or satellite has been clogged and is incapable of flowing evenly in all directions. The host can choose to remove the clog at any time or change the location.}
"That's interesting, but why is it so valuable? Why would I want to do that?"
{A spirit vein is filled with a large concentration of qi. The surface may appear to be a 0.0-star planet, however underneath the surface there will be a large concentration of spiritual energy. In your case, a single spirit vein could produce an area with the same level of purity and concentration of a 6-star environment depending on the radius.}
John was absolutely floored!
So it's kinda like what happens if you put your thumb over a low pressure water hose.
This was exactly what he needed to create a high speck alien race!
He looked at the Akashic Records again to see what can be born in a 6-star environment and was happy to see that it was all tier 6 or even tier 7 beings and above!
That's without cultivating!
These were natural predators who could elevate his planet to higher levels. Beings that could fight and win against any opposition. The universe basically shines on planets that can give birth to creatures like these!
As long as they can't cultivate he can continue to have a 3-star planet.
That's why he was so against summoning anyone who potentially could cultivate.
'Wait… how does hero summoning work anyway?'
Out of curiosity he had to ask that question to the AR (Akashic Records).
{You can choose any method in a long list of methods. Would you like me to list how many hero summoning techniques and rituals there are?}
"Yes!" John was growing excited by the second.
{The most popular method for planets is summoning weak hero candidates who have high potential from random locations, another method is to place the soul of the recently deceased from another world into the body of someone who is also recently deceased. This method is more random and cannot be controlled. Another method…}
....
A few hours passed by until John decided to give up.
Most of the methods that were talked about later seemed like they were bottom of the barrel methods anyway.
"Implant the soul of a bug from a different universe and place it in the body of another bug? Why would anyone do that? Why would you grant it intelligence?"
{There are a few cases like this where said bugs have turned into the most powerful beings on their planets. One of them was a spider.}
Why did he feel like the AR was insulting his otaku knowledge?
"Either way I think I'll save this. I might have an idea for later."
For now, John wanted to focus on finding the perfect hotspot.
After giving the entire planet a deep scan he suddenly had an idea.
"Why should I hog all the good stuff?"
John had an excited smile on his face.
He wasn't sure what would happen if he stole all that qi from potential tier 6 beings but he didn't mind pissing off a few primitives first. The only thing that really mattered was creating them, not nurturing them. He would have to save his own planet for last.
So he called his girls and told them about his idea.
"That's brilliant! And I know just the place! I have an underwater cavern that has been building up a lot of bacteria, mold and other fungi."
"I have a massive cave system filled with water and pockets of lava."
"I have a weird plant that has soft squishy crystals that grow on the shells of a long dead turtle the size of a mountain stuck in a ravine. I think it fell there millions of years ago. The crystals seem to be some kind of living byproduct of its shell. I wonder what would happen if they were given room to grow?"
One after another all the girls spoke up talking about different places. A couple of them even had a few places to put them.
The more the merrier right?
After talking for a little bit John placed his first spirit vein on his own planet first.
Since he could manipulate his surface he could also move around his insides. It wasn't long before he created a super massive cave system with reinforced walls and ceilings deep underground.
There were crystal pillars for support, several tunnels that led to other cave systems that eventually led to the surface.
There was even enough land and light from the lava that made the place look like a paradise.
He made sure to place over a couple dozen places just like this scattered across the planet.
After a few days of working he finally placed his first spirit vein.