"Tch!" Peter muttered dismissively. He had expected something mysterious and unscientific, but it turned out to be just a rating...

What was the big deal about a rating system? There were countless metrics in human society, from school grades and corporate performance reviews to the national GDP and CPI...

Using numbers to measure an individual's ability or even a nation's strength was commonplace. It was nothing new.

Even the Federation had an industrial index to define its manufacturing capabilities.

Who knew aliens had a thing for spreadsheets, too...

He kept his complaints to himself. As long as there were some new gadgets in it for him, he didn't care. Besides, this "Spirit Level" sounded pretty high-end.

As they conversed, the two switched control of their shared body. Peter regained control and immediately felt his stomach bloat uncomfortably.

*Spirit is not a fixed metric,* Black said in Peter's mind. *It fluctuates with an individual's growth and can decrease due to injuries or trauma. However, generally speaking, a person's Spirit Level will stabilize after they reach adulthood.*

*It is calculated based on five aspects: physical potential, mental potential, mindset, personal willpower, and self-awareness. Each category carries a different weight in the final score.*

*First, let's discuss physical potential. This includes several major categories, such as environmental adaptability, immune system efficiency, biological micro-management, and sensory perception...*

Black explained the concepts in thorough detail. To higher beings, these were basic cosmological facts. But to a primitive civilization, they would sound like pure science fiction.

Peter couldn't help but interrupt. "...Then how would you rate the human body?"

Black paused, seemingly calculating, before replying. *Your species' physical potential could be rated an eight or nine... However, physical potential carries the lowest weight in the overall score, as it can be easily improved through genetic or cybernetic technology.*

"An eight or nine? Is it really that high? Well, we are at the apex of the food chain on Earth, so I guess our physical potential is pretty solid. They say an adrenaline rush can give a person enough strength to lift a car!" Peter said smugly.

After hearing Black's explanation, Peter felt the grading system was impressively detailed. At the very least, it wasn't complete nonsense.

*You idiot... The scale goes up to one hundred. You're actually proud of an eight or nine?!* Black fired back without a shred of politeness. The entity chuckled inwardly; it had rarely encountered such a fool. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Peter bristled with indignation. "Even if the human body isn't the strongest out there, how could we only score in the single digits? Are you kidding me right now?!"

Black sneered disdainfully. *I must say, your species has been coddled by a paradise of a planet! There are races in this universe that can survive in ten times the gravity of Earth, the vacuum of space, and temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees Celsius. Can you do that? If you can, then I'll gladly give you an eighty or ninety.*

Peter scratched his head awkwardly and kept his mouth shut. Ten times normal gravity? Did Black think he was a saiyan? Did species like that actually exist?

Seeing that Peter was at a loss for words, Black continued. *Moving past physical potential, the second aspect is mental potential. This refers to the absolute limit of intellectual development, factoring in the number of neurons, structural optimization of the brain, the speed of neural transmission, and so on.*

*On average, humanity scores thirty points, with your absolute brightest minds scoring somewhere between forty and fifty. Barely a passing grade!*

"Huh? That low?" Peter murmured.

Physical strength was one thing; humans couldn't outrun cheetahs, climb like monkeys, or match the raw power of elephants. But intelligence was humanity's greatest pride. How could their brains only score in the thirties?

Still, considering the sheer scale of the universe, there had to be species out there vastly more intelligent than humanity. He muttered a reluctant agreement, deciding not to argue the point.

Black snorted coldly, deliberately withholding one crucial detail: Peter's brain would score twenty points at best.

The entity knew its assessment was objective, but it figured that telling Peter the truth would just trigger another expletive-laden tantrum, wasting another half hour of their time.

In truth, the human society Black had observed wasn't representative of the whole. The Federation was comprised of humanity's elite. If Black had averaged the score across all seven billion people on Earth, humanity would likely score a ten at most. By average Earth standards, Peter's intelligence was actually quite good.

*The third scoring category is mindset,* Black continued. *This refers not only to the individual's mental framework but also to the collective will of the entire civilization.*

At this point, Black's speech slowed noticeably, taking on a far more serious tone. *Both physical and mental potential can be augmented using scientific methods. Breakthroughs in biotechnology, for example, can drastically boost a species' score in these two areas.*

*But for an individual... once a mindset is fully formed, it is incredibly difficult to change.*

*Furthermore, once the collective will of a civilization reaches a steady state, it is virtually impossible to alter! It takes an apocalyptic upheaval to forge a new civilizational will!*

*Therefore, the mindset category carries massive weight in the final Spirit Level score.*

Peter found these concepts a bit abstract, but the logic seemed sound.

He frowned and asked, "What exactly is a mindset? What defines the 'will of a civilization'? Your explanations are a little too vague. Can you give me an example?"

Black considered the question. *On a micro level, a mindset includes a person's core concepts, judgment, reasoning, and logic. On a macro level, it encompasses a civilization's social customs, educational frameworks, and cultural norms. Simply put, every action you take is dictated by your underlying thoughts. The culmination of all these factors is an individual's mindset.*

*A civilization is just the sum total of its individuals. The collective thoughts and actions of the masses form the will of the civilization.*

Black seemed to sigh. *The universe is vast. If—and I mean a big if—humanity ever becomes a true interstellar civilization and earns the right to travel the Milky Way, you will witness countless bizarre primitive civilizations with completely alien mindsets.*

*Concepts that seem completely illogical to you are taken as undeniable truths by them...*

*Sometimes, even when a society knows its practices are self-destructive or fundamentally flawed, they refuse to correct them. They will stubbornly cling to their traditions all the way to extinction.*

*Because of this, the quality of a mindset and its resulting civilizational will can vary wildly. Mindsets that promote innovation and technological advancement receive a high score. Mindsets that breed stagnation and hinder progress receive a terrible score.*

*Scoring the mindset category is incredibly complex. It requires long-term observation to reach a definitive conclusion.*

Peter fell into a contemplative silence. Even though Black had summarized it briefly, there was a massive amount of information to digest.

The hardest thing to change in an individual was their mindset. The hardest thing to change in a species was its mindset. The same held true for an entire civilization.

Using humanity as a baseline, it wasn't hard to find examples of this. People were stubborn. Once they entrenched themselves in a belief, many refused to change it for the rest of their lives.

Even when objective facts proved their old ways were obsolete, they would defend their outdated, inefficient, and actively harmful traditions to the bitter end.

The real world was full of simple examples. Some men clung to toxic masculinity and abused their spouses. Even if they logically knew domestic violence was wrong, their ingrained behavioral patterns took over. That was a localized mindset.

Other people hated the peer pressure of corporate drinking culture, yet they continued to participate. That was just how the corporate ladder worked; to fit in and climb, you had to pressure others to drink with you. That was a systemic, civilizational habit.

Then there were the massive systemic issues—gender discrimination, systemic racism, rigid class systems... There were far too many ingrained cultural flaws born from flawed individual mindsets. Peter could easily list a dozen just off the top of his head. And naturally, that overarching civilizational will heavily influenced how the next generation of individuals thought, creating a vicious cycle.

If a society's potential was genuinely rated on this metric, then this "Spirit Level" test was a remarkably serious matter.

Peter rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought, something he rarely did.