Chapter 490

Chapter 490 Extra: The Beginning of Divergence

Lolan Hill carefully examined the data and memories stored within, feeling the changes of eras.

After the apocalypse, apart from a small number of elites who entered cryogenic stasis, most ordinary people vanished during the long dark ages, until nearly a thousand years later.

The humans who had been sleeping underground finally awoke, reigniting the flame of civilization.

Entering a new era, due to the harsh external environment, humans had to band together for survival, becoming more united than ever before. At this time, the total human population did not exceed three million.

Starting from the Antarctic continent, they migrated towards warmer regions. The fleet encountered many storms and attacks by strange beasts along the way, finally settling on a small island. By then, the remaining human population had fallen below two million.

After settling down, considering the various dangers that might be faced in the future and the possibility of the extinction of civilization, the Human Continuity Committee held its first meeting.

In the end, the committee decided that humans would temporarily suspend exploring the world and focus all efforts on developing aerial facilities. Under the guidance of extraordinary powers, they aimed to reach the sky.

Forty years later, the prototype of the anti-gravity device was developed, and the population had recovered to five million.

The first floating city was established, consisting of 65 giant reefs, each containing several anti-gravity suspension devices. There were trees, soil, and a cyclic ecosystem on them, capable of supporting 3,000 people.

These reefs maintained a close distance in the air, connected by chains. Each floating reef had its own purpose, some for planting, some for living, and some for defense.

Although rudimentary, this laid the foundation for larger floating cities.

Over the next 60 years, technology began to fully revive and develop in new directions under the guidance of extraordinary powers.

Almost limitless clean energy and controllable nuclear fusion, projects that had failed to succeed before the apocalypse, were now being widely applied, from the floating operation of cities to the propulsion systems of airships.

Technological advancements exploded, and the human population broke through the one hundred million mark, heading toward two hundred million.

As the floating cities could no longer meet the needs of development, humans began to counterattack the earth in the Twilight Era, around the year 3600 AD.

During this period, to fight or to become stronger, various organizations and schools emerged, with the most famous being the ‘Tree of Life Sect’ and the ‘Mechanical Parliament.’

Under the research of the Tree of Life Sect, intelligent races with extraordinary powers appeared. According to Lolan Hill’s speculation, these might be the prototypes of the orc races.

They possessed various animal traits.

But the Tree of Life Sect was unsatisfied; although orcs had some advantages, they did not have absolute superiority. Thus, a second plan was initiated, involving the ‘Dragon Project’ and the ‘Titan Project.’

Ancient myths inspired humanity endlessly. Top-notch technology combined with extraordinary powers might make things as magical as myths.

Dragons and giants appeared on the earth. The terms ‘Dragon Sequence’ and ‘Titan Sequence’ first appeared in records. The Dragon Sequence pursued comprehensive strength, whether in defense, attack, flight, adaptation, soul, and so on.

The Titan Sequence specialized in individual physical strength. They stood hundreds of meters tall, like pillars holding up the sky, walking on the earth.

However, in actual combat, the Tree of Life Sect gradually discovered the weaknesses of the Dragon Sequence—although powerful, they were difficult to replicate and reproduce slowly.

Quality advantages could not surpass quantity advantages. When facing numerous strange beasts in the earth and sea, these scattered dragons, though powerful, could not fundamentally change the situation.

Thus, the Titan Sequence gained even more favor from the Tree of Life Sect, with increasing resources being allocated towards it.

But there were still a few individuals within the organization who did not abandon this direction. After returning to the earth, they established new bases. Later, these bases were breached by the Mechanical Parliament, and a small number of personnel retreated underground to preserve their research results and gene banks.

—

Year 3697, October.

Writing diaries seemed like a distant memory, but with fewer colleagues left in the base, I had no other way to vent my thoughts except by writing.

Everything now seems like a dream, making one sigh deeply.

I still remember when I was nine years old, attending school in Cuiye Floating City, having just left the artificial reproduction chamber a few years earlier. The teacher on the blackboard told us about the distant past, how the earth used to be.

Sunlight shone through the window, casting sparse shadows of leaves on the young teacher, half in shadow and half in sunlight.

“Today, I will tell you about the collapse of the millennium fantasy.”

“In the previous era of civilization, the millennium, around the year 2000 AD, due to rapid technological progress, humans achieved space exploration, moon landing, and launching probes into outer space in just about twenty years.”

“According to human expectations at the time, technology would continue to advance rapidly. If humans could land on the moon in less than 20 years, it was reasonable to assume that colonizing the moon or Mars would happen within 30 to 50 years. After entering the millennium, humans would quickly enter the cosmic era, ushering in a new epoch.”

“Literature, movies, animations, games—all sorts of fantasies about the future filled the world, with gigantic mechanical structures, galactic operas, and grand goals.”

“These romantic and beautiful visions seemed like a perfect blueprint, luring everyone forward.”

“Unfortunately, history seems to take a Y-shaped turn. The world did not head in that beautiful direction but instead took another path.”

“What was once thought to be the beginning turned out to be the final swan song.”

“Technology related to space and the universe stagnated for a long time, internal conflicts raged, until the meteor shower that changed everything arrived.”

As a child, he laughed at the shortsightedness and foolishness of people on Earth back then, but he never expected that after humanity’s revival, they would still follow the same old path.

From initial cooperation to subsequent divergence and now mutual conflict, the Tree of Life Sect and the Mechanical Parliament have been destroying each other’s strongholds and cities.

Ironically, war forced both sides to continuously improve their weaknesses and learn from each other’s strengths.

The Mechanical Parliament began to imagine the perfect human, creating deities in reality.

The Tree of Life Sect miniaturized the Titan Sequence, no longer pursuing perfection and power in single entities but focusing on collaboration between individuals. To counter the Autonomous Legion of the Mechanical Parliament, we even developed resonance combat methods among series individuals.

And the Titan Sequence, which initially pursued individual power like the dragon, shifted towards pursuing overall cluster strength. Individuals practicing this sequence became like swarms of bees, enhancing killing efficiency through resonance collaboration. Its name changed from Titan Sequence to War Sequence.

They lived in ways they once detested the most.

(End of Chapter)