At that moment, Immortal Program also learned of Brian Carter’s mental state at the brink of his limits through a psychic scan. This system, which had been cursed countless times by Brian Carter, finally showed a trace of mercy—it tossed him a dagger forged from adamantine.

It was precisely because of this adamantine dagger that Brian Carter survived an attack from a Black Wasteland beast for the first time. Although he didn’t manage to kill the spiked triceratops that assaulted him, and paid the painful price of having his left arm bitten off at the root, after dying dozens of times in a row, the joy of finally repelling a level-three creature brought a dramatic change to Brian Carter’s mental state.

“I’m going to live, and live well!”

That day, after losing his arm, Brian Carter was attacked again by a level-five creature—the “Golden-scaled Giant Python.” Before being swallowed into the python’s belly, Brian Carter shouted these words with unshakable determination in his eyes.

Chapter 7: Potential Unleashed

The higher the species, the lower its ability to regenerate and be immortal. Conversely, the more primitive the species, the more astonishing its regenerative and immortal abilities.

For example, a gecko can grow a new tail, but mammals and birds cannot. Even more primitive, an amoeba can keep dividing almost endlessly as long as the environment allows. The reason nature grants them such regenerative and immortal abilities is, at its core, to enable them to evolve more rapidly.

Humans have long since entered the evolutionary stage of advanced species. This is a huge bottleneck—a bottleneck in evolution. Because humans have become an advanced species, they are completely unable to gain the endless resurrection abilities of amoebas. This has doomed the pace of human evolution to slow to an almost complete standstill.

Without death, there is no evolution.

With the current technological level of the Earth Federation, it has already been scientifically proven and explained that humans can unleash their potential when struggling at the edge of life and death. This is a small trick within the laws of species evolution.

But not everyone can try this method. What does it mean to struggle at the edge of life and death? Perhaps it’s easier to understand if described as a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Who would be willing to risk a 50% chance of death for a possible slight evolution?

What’s more, whether one can even unleash their potential in such a state is still unknown...

As a result, many have sought other ways to force human potential and drive physical and mental evolution—such as ancient martial arts, drugs, or even gene modification...

However, one thing is certain: these compromise methods have many unpredictable side effects, and they also contradict the natural process of species evolution.

But this problem is perfectly solved in Immortal Program. Immortal Program is the crucial main control component of the Divine Forge Device, which itself is the pinnacle of technology in a level-twelve civilization. The original purpose of creating the Divine Forge Device was to allow a level-twelve civilization to advance even further, reaching the legendary godlike state of immortality and eternal existence alongside the universe.

For some unknown reason, this treasure, regarded as a gem by a level-twelve civilization, fell into the hands of George Washington of the Bordeaux star system. It was this that enabled him to achieve his great feat of unifying the star system. Among these, Immortal Program played a vital role in George Washington’s growth and transformation.

What is the pinnacle of advanced species evolution?

No one knows. Even a ruler as powerful as George Washington has no idea. Even the level-twelve civilization that created the Divine Forge Device didn’t know, for the device was made precisely in pursuit of this ultimate goal sought by all species.

In the process of dying, the evolution of advanced species becomes a possible variable. Even if this evolutionary coefficient is extremely tiny—one in ten... one in a hundred... one in a thousand...—as long as you are being tempered by Immortal Program, you can always achieve the ultimate goal of evolution.

If dying once isn’t enough, then die ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times. If suicide doesn’t work, then let dangerous creatures or environments strong enough to threaten your life force you to die again and again, making you stronger and stronger, until you reach the pinnacle of species evolution.

Of course, for now, this pinnacle is a completely unrealistic topic for Brian Carter. You have to know, the first to enter Immortal Program and finally escape from the five great trial scenarios, George Washington, died a total of twenty-three thousand times before achieving his invincible, star-system-shaking body.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed. Now, Brian Carter was no longer the weak and desperate newcomer to the Death Wasteland. He had gained the ability to fight black wasteland creatures below level four. Even level-five or level-six beasts might not be able to gain the upper hand against Brian Carter.

However, the degree of Brian Carter’s improvement still did not satisfy Immortal Program. Ever since Brian Carter killed a level-four creature—the armored millipede sandworm—and then went nearly ten days without a single death, he suddenly found that the beasts coming after him lately were getting more and more troublesome.

“Damn Immortal Program, you blue-haired little brat, you actually changed the system process and sent high-level beasts to attack me...” Even when facing a life-or-death crisis against a level-seven beast—the Overlord Saber-toothed Tiger—Brian Carter still kept a clear head, cursing out loud before being torn apart by the beast.