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.
The concept of terraforming is not something new to the immortal realm but even an emperor realm expert had limited success when it comes to terraforming a world that is devoid of any life. With all the new knowledge that Maximus has come to learn from Earth science, it is not that an emperor realm expert couldn't muster the power for a complete terraforming, it is just highly inefficient when they have no idea what needs to be done. Reaching the eighth major cultivation realm doesn't make a cultivator omniscient, it just gave them mastery over a single branch of the immortal law and over time, more branches of the immortal law. However, transforming a barren world into one that can fully sustain life takes more than that. Gravity, atmosphere, ocean current and the list goes on. Without a full comprehension, the new ecosystem will either quickly collapse or instable forcing regular intervention. As mentioned, without fully understanding what needs to be done, an emperor realm expert will have to spend thousands of years brute forcing solutions until the world somehow stabilize and there is no guarantee it will ultimately works out. Most emperor realm experts find such an undertaking too troublesome to be worth their effort when there is a possibility all the effort might amount to nothing. In any case, he is confident that the immortal realm will go on a space exploration frenzy the moment this knowledge that the sect has come to master ever leaks out. If there is a guaranteed method to gain more territory without resorting to war, most cultivation powerhouse in the immortal realm will make the attempt.
As for the lower realm, any attempt at terraforming in the past would be impossible. However, it 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 is still something new and the learning curve will be time consuming. A whole bunch of new modules will be needed and then tested to figure out all the ins and outs of the entire process. This experiment has been taking 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 analysis, the terraforming effort will probably take at least a decade to complete. Take adjusting Eleran gravity as an example, it will have to be complete over multiple sessions and that alone could take years. Earth scientist has surmised that an Emperor realm expert could probably complete the entire adjustment in a single session but a spirit battery that can store enough spirit energy to power a spell of such grandiose has to exist to make that happens. At the current spirit battery technology level, Earth scientist has hypothesized that the battery will need to be the size of Earth's moon to power an Emperor realm expert's spell. 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.