Acting Sect Leader Maximus Radcliffe
Instead of being overly ambitious, Earth cultivators scaled down their solution to the size of a hundred square feet piece of machinery that acts as an incubator tank. Given the machinery ability to accelerate time at twenty-fold, it is an amazing feat that only the sect's crown jewel minor world surpasses. Off course, there is still a large number of limitations at this point in time but at the very least, Earth cultivators' solution has proven to be viable. Once this technology fully matures, Maximus believes that the sect will no longer need to spend an exorbitant amount of wealth to create a time accelerated minor world to grow spirit herbs below level five. Finding a solution for growing level five and above spirit herbs is still beyond Earth cultivators' ability at this point in time. Just like materials required to craft level five weapons, level five herbs are imbued with immortal law and an enclosed cultivation tank just wouldn't work.
This all comes down to how the incubation tank is designed to work. Spirit herbs below level five only need sufficient spirit energy and nutrients to grow. In a self-enclosed environment, all the nutrients and spirit energy required can be prepared in advance. The machinery while running in a time accelerated isolation field just needs to keep replenishing the soil and air with everything a spirit herb needs until all prepared resources in the tank ran dry. Given the infancy of the technology at this point in time, each machine can only run at twenty-fold time acceleration for a day before technicians are required to replenish the resources in an incubation tank for a level three spirit herb and a few hours for a level four spirit herb. Preparing nutrients and spirit energy for storage in advance is something that can be done but it is not the case when it comes to immortal laws. Until Earth cultivators can somehow figure out a way to harvest and store immortal laws to fuel an incubation tank, level five and above spirit herbs are beyond reach. This is another novel and unconventional idea the cultivation world has not put much weight on prior to this.
The technology might be cumbersome and the concept behind the incubation tank isn't exactly rocket science but it will still be something that rival sects will find replicating a pointless venture. This is provided the energy conversion array technology remains an exclusive possession of Immortal Ascension Pavillion and its affiliates. Maximus finds having access to almost unlimited spirit energy does opens up a whole range of possibility for cultivators to think big. Under past circumstances, even if any disciples of the sect did propose such an idea, the spirit energy requirement will limit its feasibility for large scale deployment. Each piece of this incubation tank machine is a total spirit energy hog. A level three spirit gathering array can only power a hundred such machines. Putting in the math, such a technology is not a practical solution based on past condition since each spirit gathering array needs to have their own exclusive buffer zone. As for spirit gathering array of higher level, the materials needed to build one gets exponentially rare and expensive that the return to investment ratio is difficult to justify.
Using a level three alchemy pill as an example, the key herbs need to be at least a century old and each level three spirit gathering array can only grow a hundred such herbs in five years using Earth solution. In a century, that would be two thousand spirit herbs of a century old. However, the sect would do much better in terms of production cost if it has the patience to wait for a century. A spirit herb farm powered by a level three spirit energy array could yield at least ten thousand spirit herbs of similar quality after a century. The production cost mismatch just makes Earth solution not viable when all other aspects are taken into consideration. Given the sect's wealth and ability, building the spirit gathering arrays is not a problem at all but spreading so many arrays over a huge track of lands will pose a security and maintenance nightmare for the team in charge of the task.
The runic fusion reactor changed the whole game. The sect just needs to keep stacking up more runic fusion reactor if they ever need more spirit energy. It is not something that a spirit gathering array could do. If Maximus build skyscrapers that is quite common back on Earth to house everything, he can build a facility that can house a very large number of incubation tank machineries and runic fusion reactors on a very small piece of land. Speaking of land, Earth cultivators have also redefined the value of land forever. Prime real estate is still very valuable but for anything less than prime land, Maximus can get as much building area as the sect needs now that space has becomes the new frontier.
Going up to space back on Earth is an expensive business due to the limitation in the science that makes it happen. In the cultivation world, Earth governments get to circumvent all their science limitation with runes and arrays. These governments have quickly built up all sort of space ships that are only found in their science fiction to test out what works and what doesn't. By this point in time, there are three type of registered space ship patent that has proven to be economically viable for transitioning between a planet and space and another five types of space ship design for interplanetary travel. As for interstellar travel, it is not a priority at this point in time when they have access to the ever-convenient portal technology. As long as a world's coordinate is known, a portal could easily get them there in seconds or minutes if the distance is ludicrously far away. All it takes is spirit energy. With Earth's interstellar science plugging in all the gap in the cultivation world's knowledge of space, space exploration has never been easier.
Maximus could proclaim that with confidence ever since the sect completed a portal facility up on a Lagrange point above Eldorin's space. The sect had quickly explored and fully mapped out the five star systems closest to Eldorin. Although none of the star systems have any life bearing planets, the sect has found fourteen planets within the Goldilocks zone than can be terraformed to sustain life. Getting a planet's atmosphere in order and introducing sufficient water to create a life bearing planets can be done by cultivators below the fifth major realm but adjusting a planet's gravity or shifting it slightly into the Goldilocks zone is an entirely different story.
Terraforming worlds are not something new in the immortal realm. It just can't be done in the lower realm because it needs cultivators that can harness the might of immortal laws to make that possible in most cases. This very reality makes the value of a none life bearing minor world in the immortal world much more expensive than what it is in the lower realm. Although it took a lot of work, a power cultivation organization in the immortal realm can still transform the purchased barren minor world into whatever sanctuary that fits their need. On a side note, Maximus believes that the entire immortal realm will go on a space exploration frenzy the moment this knowledge that the sect has come to master ever leaks out. It is a knowledge that is almost impossible to protect. Just like Immortal Ascension Pavillion, most powerful cultivation organizations knowledge of space is at a similar level and any gap in knowledge can be easily learnt by simple observations.
What is proven to be impossible in the past is now made possible with the advent of spirit battery. Fifth major realm and above cultivators are only expelled from the lower realm when they cause havoc to the spirit energy density in the local area. The presence of spirit battery allows them to circumvent this restriction. Regardless, terraforming in the lower realm is still something new and the learning curve although not challenging, it is still relatively time consuming as new modules need to be tested to figure out all the ins and outs of the entire process. This experiment has taken place on the fifth planet in Eldorin's star system (Eldorin is the fourth planet in the star system). The fifth planet has since been given the name Eleran. It is about thirty five percent larger than Eldorin and had a gravity that is slightly too high for healthy human habitation.
In the final result, terraforming Eleran to the right gravity level can't be done in a single session. Earth scientist has surmised that an Emperor realm expert could easily complete the terraforming in a single session and two or three sessions for a King realm cultivator but spirit battery technology is not mature enough to support spells of such grandiose. Given the current spirit energy storage density, Earth scientist has hypothesized that the battery will need to be the size of Earth's moon to power an Emperor realm expert spell of such grandiose. Although a spirit battery is not a single use item and can be recycled for long term use, creating a battery of such a gigantic size is outright impractical nor rationale from every single angle consideration. Reducing the scale of the spell might lead to greater inefficiency due to wastage and also takes more time. However, it makes a lot more sense financially without causing a lot of disruption to the entire spirt battery production supply chain.
The terraforming success also gave Maximus a great idea. It opens up a one time window of opportunity to make a fortune that might rival the sect's annual profit during its peak.