During the sixth Federation New Year, the entirety of the Noah was filled with a joyous atmosphere, and everyone wore a bright smile.

People ate and drank to their hearts' content. The presence of a large group of children, in particular, brought a lively and festive energy to the banquet.

The oldest children aboard were now five years old, and they were undoubtedly the most carefree group on the ship. Playing and having fun were simply in their nature. They loved the excitement, their new holiday clothes, and the vibrant decorations. Even the smallest treat could keep them happy for hours.

Whether they were toddlers running around or babies just learning to speak, everyone was immersed in this ocean of joy.

Inexplicably, the deep-fried mealworms had become the best-selling snack among the kids. The crispy treats, which tasted remarkably like savory potato chips, were snatched up by the children the second they came out of the fryers.

It was funny how children were completely indifferent to the psychological disgust that made the food so hard for adults to stomach. To the kids, the insects were just tasty, crunchy snacks. The adults didn't deliberately stop them; thanks to the Federation's relentless health campaigns, everyone knew it was a highly nutritious food source.

It also proved that people were incredibly malleable and receptive to new ideas when they were young.

The Federation leadership placed immense importance on childhood education. Their primary goal was to cultivate a strong sense of collectivism and teamwork from a young age. Of course, since the oldest children were only five and still in early kindergarten, they weren't learning complex physics just yet. At this age, the focus was purely on establishing a positive worldview and core values.

Unity, respect for knowledge, and the pursuit of wisdom, these cultural pillars had to be instilled early on.

Formal schooling would begin around seven or eight years old. At that point, they would be introduced to heavy subjects like mathematics, literature, human history, and cosmology. Overall, the upcoming academic workload for the next generation was going to be intense.

Among the swarm of children aggressively snatching up the fried mealworms was the towering shadow of an adult, Peter! Or rather, Black. The alien entity was currently controlling Peter's body, relentlessly hoarding food from the buffet table.

Eat less! Stop stealing from the kids! You alien parasite... you're an absolute disgrace!

...Don't you dare push that kid! Peter cursed incessantly in his mind. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Black happily snatched another handful of food and replied telepathically, "Are these your next generation? They look rather cute and foolish... There are quite a few of them. Your race seems to have an efficient reproductive capacity."

"But why is your total population so abysmally small? Did some kind of localized disaster happen to you?"

Black crossed Peter's legs, grabbed a fried worm, and tossed it into his mouth with utter contentment.

Delicious. Absolutely delicious!

The alien wondered to itself: how could this primitive race possibly know how to enjoy life so much? How could their biological sustenance be so flavorful?

It just wanted to keep eating!

After devouring thirteen different dishes in a row, Black was still eating like a maniac and simply couldn't stop. At the same time, it casually tried to extract information from Peter to learn more about the basic structure of the Federation.

...You better watch your step and not bump into any of them! If you accidentally hurt a kid, I'll immediately rip control of the body back from you! Peter threatened in his mind.

He was getting incredibly annoyed. Why had he so easily agreed to this damn alien's demands?

After a long and contentious internal dispute, the two of them had finally reached a fragile compromise.

Black had argued that it needed to conduct a comprehensive, real-world examination of the Federation to assess its true potential before it even considered serving an inferior civilization.

They agreed to maintain the 80/20 control split, but Black's allotted physical time had to be conducted under Peter's strict mental supervision. Furthermore, Black was explicitly forbidden from forcefully seizing control while Peter was sleeping.

In exchange for letting Black out to observe the banquet, the alien promised to reveal some fundamental cosmic knowledge to help Peter successfully act out his role as the "Extraterrestrial Diplomat."

You've eaten way too much! Damn it, how can you actually stomach those bugs in such large quantities? It's disgusting. And... aren't you ashamed to be stealing snacks from five-year-olds?! Peter cursed again, but motor control was still firmly in Black's hands. Peter could feel that his biological stomach was already stretched to its absolute limit, yet Black was still gorging frantically, completely unable to stop itself.

Yes, the advanced alien mind had been entirely hijacked by the human body's primitive appetite!

The situation was somewhat similar to a one-year-old baby who, having just been introduced to solid foods, wanted to eat absolutely everything in sight... right up until they vomited. After all, appetite was one of the strongest, most basic human instincts!

Black picked up a large glass of a carbonated beverage, downed it in one massive gulp, and then started gnawing aggressively on a roasted pork shank.

Eating like a starved animal, Black consumed the equivalent of three full adult meals in a row. Finally reaching the absolute physical limit of the human stomach, it stopped, letting out a long sigh of lingering satisfaction.

"Your starship seems exceptionally sturdy. Did you scavenge it from somewhere?" Black asked, holding a toothpick and aggressively picking its teeth.

This was a new physical skill it had just learned, and it felt incredibly satisfying to pick its teeth after a massive meal. It briefly considered taking off Peter's shoes to pick at his toes, wondering if that would feel just as good.

How could we have just 'picked it up'? It was a free gift from the Precursors! And don't you fucking dare take my shoes off! Peter snapped irritably. Although he was a slacker, he wasn't stupid; he wasn't going to just hand over classified Federation history to an alien.

Moreover, his stomach felt like a pressurized balloon ready to burst, and a wave of severe nausea washed over him. Peter was on the verge of forcibly seizing control, but to avoid breaching their diplomatic contract, he gritted his teeth and endured the indigestion.

Who told him to agree to let Black out for a massive buffet just to "examine human cuisine"?

Alright! You've eaten your fill, and your time is almost up. It's time to pay up. Tell me something useful! Even if it's not a full scientific blueprint, it has to be cosmic knowledge that humanity doesn't already possess! Peter urged impatiently.

Black remained silent for a moment. Handing over another complex scientific paper was out of the question. It wasn't a dedicated scientist by its own species' standards, and there were only a handful of technical blueprints in its core memory archive; it couldn't just give them away so cheaply.

However, it didn't want to completely break its delicate truce with Peter over a minor dispute.

So, what kind of information should it give? What data was safe to share?

It looked around at the human children running back and forth across the lawn, and finally thought of something. "Very well... let me explain the 'Spirit Level' classification system utilized by my race."

Oh? Peter perked up immediately, his nausea momentarily forgotten. Is it related to the soul? Psychic power? Psionic energy? Or something like magic?

Black was constantly throwing the term around, frequently using it to belittle humanity as a low-level, inferior species.

"Fool, of course not! The terminology might sound mystical to your primitive ears, but the concept is entirely scientific and not complicated at all. It is simply a comprehensive scoring system used to quantify biological and evolutionary potential."

"We conduct a strict, data-driven assessment of a biological creature's physical limits, neuroplasticity, cognitive processing speed, personal willpower, and depth of self-awareness. The comprehensive, aggregated result of these metrics is what we call an individual's 'Spirit Level'."